Due to the nature of my adventures, my time on the computer will be limited. However, I will still do my best to chronicle my travels as much as I much as I can.

Today: 
Being the responsible person I am, I got to bed early and had a very restful night....... ::chuckles:: Kidding! I went to bed pretty late last night, but I got to sleep till 9:00, so it was that bad.

----Church
     Church this morning was excellent. The sermon was a continuation of Romans 8. Today's topic was about the three assurances of "there is therefore now, no condemnation." I have a tendency to be very works based. My parents have raised me to believe that nothing I can do will "let God down," mainly because I'm not the one holding God up. He holds me up. However, even with all the head knowledge, I tend to have trouble forgiving myself. While it's important to take sin seriously, I have a hard time letting it go. A very selfish habit, if I do say so myself.
     Anyway, this morning was such a wonderful reminder that there is now no condemnation for God's children. Nothing we can do will condemn us if we have Christ. It's not like God is "somewhere up there" saying, "Oh come on, come on, you can do it, don't sin....no...no...NO! Darn it, now you have to be condemned." No. :) Christ has already paid the price, and because of his sacrifice, there is now no condemnation. Such encouraging words. (Thank you pastor Dale!)

----Drive
     When we came home we loaded the car, and got ready to go. It wasn't until I was about to head out the door that I realized I'd forgotten to eat breakfast (I had been in a rush to get church because of my late start). So I shoved a down a quick bowl of yogurt and cheerios, and then we made it out of Medford by 12:40. My mom and I get a little bored sometimes, so on almost every car ride, we have invited R.C Sproul and Tim Keller to come along with us. They always have wonderful sermons, and they make the time go by very quickly. ;) :) (Sermons on CD's) On this car ride, however, we talked the whole 6 1/2  hours to Palo Alto!
     We began the conversation by talking about love. Relationship love. My parents love stories, my love stories, love counseling, love confessions, love everything. From there we moved to Russian history, Indi/pakistani history, religious wars, the french revolution, the roman/ottoman/mongol empires. My mom just recently finished a world history course as part of her masters, and she and I both LOVE world history. I won't bore you with the details of our conversation, but it was so much fun to talk about something we are both so passionate about. :) After that we moved onto theology. This wasn't as new because we are always talking about theology, new twists in the bible, new concepts, new books etc. However, it was nice being able to hear some of the connections my mom had made. Then we talk about DI, and persuasive. I'm already overwhelmed, and I haven't even started. Lol. :) I'll manage. :)
     We were able to drive the whole time, only stopping once for lunch and Panda Express. Their orange chicken is my fav.or.ite. except for the fact that it's really bad for you. :P :) We were making good time, when suddenly traffic came to a stand still. A complete stand still. No one was moving. Period. So we got off the free way and managed to go most of the way via side streets. When we had to get back on the freeway we realized two of the four lanes had been shut down. It was still really hard to see what was going on. Then we saw it, looming ahead of us. A bridge. A very large one at that.

We pause this story for a short commercial break. ;) :) Do you run into walls constantly? Are you always hurting yourself with random objects on accident? Do you stub your toe on carpets? If you answered yes to all these questions your name is probably Belle! Now, if you are a belle, you will understand what it's like to have an irrational fear of people. One Belle was even heard of preparing to use a pencil as a defense weapon. (If you want the story email me.) Ok, seriously though. I am terrified of strangers. I'm scared that someone will try to attack me. It's lame, but whatever. Well, my mom is the same way. Except with bridges. Now back to the story. 

     As soon as we saw the bridge, my mom began to worry that something was wrong with the bridge. Needless to say, the next five minutes were spent in fervent prayer. As we began to cross the bridge I said, more to myself, "I bet they're filming a movie." Sure enough, guess what they were doing! They had shut down 2 lanes. Twenty-five miles of freeway had been closed down to film a stinkin movie. There was some famous actor there, but I couldn't see who it was. :P Anyway, we were very thankful to make it across the bridge and to Palo Alto safe and sound, and while the sun was still up at that.

----Palo Alto
     California. Beautiful, sunny, amazing California. If it weren't for the lack of seasons I would be perfectly content living here. The weather was incredible. Warm, but with a slight breeze. My poor cousin Charlie was sick, and Uncle Mark was working, but Auntie Lara, Jack, my mom, and I all went to the city to have dinner.
     We went to a gorgeous Italian restaurant that was situated right on a lovely street full of big stores. Needles to say I was in heaven just at the sight and feel of it all. Then we ate..... Wow! The food was incredible. Our waiter was wonderful. The service was amazing. As soon as we were done with our salads our dinner was placed before us. There was no time between the two. This was a very new concept for me. We don't have that many fancy restaurants in Medford, and even the fancier ones are most often lacking in food preparation. It felt so lovely to be at a nice restaurant where both the service and the food were wonderful. The caesar salad dressing was made from scratch, as was the penne. Yum.my. :)
     After that wonderful experience we walked a few blocks down to an authentic gelato place. It was so nice to finally have real gelato again. Nothing will ever compare to the kind we had in Bolagio, but it was the closest yet. By the time we were done there, my stupid body started acting up and I started shivering. In my defense it was getting a little colder. All the same, we decided to call it a night.

"Goodbye, Until Tomorrow"
     One thing I have learned: when you tell your mom (in my case) something that you have been keeping from them for a long time, suddenly a huge burden is lifted and you feel free. That's what today was like. After confessing to my mom yesterday about everything it seemed that today I was able to, for the first time, really enjoy myself. I'm hoping that this journey brings new beginnings and discoveries.
     Like I said, I'll try to keep everyone updated as much as I can, but I am on vacation so my time on the computer will be limited once I really get going. However, for the next week I'll be able to post regularly. Thank you so much for making me feel so missed and loved. I miss you all dearly, and I can't wait to see some of you soon.

Yours Truly,
Belle
<3

My cousin Charlie working on a drawing of his. Let it be known that he is not tracing anything, or looking at a picture. This is purely from his imagination, and any recollection he has of ironman. :)