all that i can say - david crowder band

We sang this song in youth last night and I'm almost positive that it instantly became my favorite song. This song is so amazing and so true. I think I speak for most Christians when I say that some days it's just really difficult. We have those days where we just wanna cry or sleep ... or both. Things go wrong. We just have flat out sucky days where the last thing we want to do is sit down and read our Bibles or   even pray and we feel like we have nothing left to give. Why is it that the days we need God the most, we forget to turn to him and ask for help? Because we're human... and we think that we have to be strong and independent and do everything on our own. My mom always used to say to me "if you want something done, you do it yourself." and while, this is a quote that I pretty much live by... I can't do anything alone. I need God. Sometimes we feel as if God leaves us... like he sets our hearts down somewhere and forgets about us. But that's not the case. He's always standing next to us, but we forget to talk to him.

Lord I'm tired
So tired from walking
And Lord I'm so alone
And Lord the dark
Is creeping in
Creeping up
To swallow me
I think I'll stop
Rest here a while

And didn't You see me cry'n?
And didn't You hear me call Your name?
Wasn't it You I gave my heart to?
I wish You'd remember
Where you sat it down

Chorus:
And this is all that I can say right now
i know it's not much
And this is all that I can give
yeah that's my everything

Bridge:
I didn't notice You were standing here
I didn't know that
That was You holding me
I didn't notice You were cry'n too
I didn't know that
That was You washing my feet

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If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair...

Last weekend was amazing :) I drove up to San Francisco with one of my best friends, Brittany, and we watched our high school show choir "Soundsation" compete in a competition up there. Kevin, Chris, and Carson (some of our close friends) met us there as well. They're going to school up north so they had a much shorter, less boring drive. My boyfriend is in the choir and I was glad to be able to see him :) We got there Friday night and stayed until Sunday morning.

Friday I had work so Brit and I left around 1:30 when i got off and we drove up. That drive is so boring... we got stuck in some LA traffic and were kinda worried that we wouldn't make it there by 830... but sure enough we did. :) The performance went well.



Afterwards we experienced this crazy thing called the "San Jose Bike Party" we walked out of the auditorium and there were at least 1 thousand people on bikes... it basically looked like a huge bike rave. Not gonna lie, it was weird. After we finally got out of the bike infested parking lot, we went to check into our fabulous motel 6 in Palo Alto... ick. I was just glad we only had to stay there for a night because it was far less than glamorous :P After check-in, we drove over to the choir's hotel to hang out for  couple hours and then back to the motel ICK.

Saturday morning, we woke up at around 10 and showered, packed up our things, and got the heck outta there & drove to the beautiful, crazy, uneven city of San Francisco. By the time we arrived, we were starving and decided to eat lunch at this amazing little mexican resturant called "La Cumbre Taqueria" that was on man vs. food. We had THE greatest burritos ever and I could barely eat half of mine because they were so filling.

After our yummy lunch, we drove over to Haight St. It was really busy and fun and we went into some pretty interesting vintage thirft stores. After Haight, we went to China Town and looked around over there because the boys wanted to look at all of the illegal items they sell on that street. :P China Town was really busy and we didn't stay there very long.
When we were done there, we decided it would be fun to drive down Lombard Street... it turned out to be more scary than fun... but i'm glad we did it :)

After Lombard, we went to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 to walk around and hangout for a little bit. That was SO much fun. I got attacked by the bush man and some gold painted street performers. Weird. When we were done at Fisherman's Wharf, Brit and I begged the boys to go over to th Golden Gate Bridge and walk across it. We definitely lucked out because we got there right as the sun was setting. It was GORGEOUS! :)

By the time we were done on the bridge, we were extremely hungry again and Chris told us about this burger place over on Pier 1 that was on the travel channel's top ten burger joints in America, so we just had to check it out. The burgers, fries, and milkshakes were absolutely scrumptious and we were totally full once again.

It was about 10 o'clock by the time we left Gott's Roadside Burgers and we were finally ready to head over to Berkeley to spend the night at Chris's dorm. We drove over the beautiful Bay Bridge into the pretty college town of Berkeley and got to see where Chris lives. We got to sleep at around 130.

Sunday, we all woke up at around 930 with sore backs and necks from sleeping on the hard floor and were very tired. We got ready to leave and head home and we left at around 1030. On the way home, Brit and I ended up catching up with the choir's bus and we stopped at the same place to eat, but as we were getting there, they were about to leave, so we didn't really hang out with them. After getting our lunch, we got back in the car and continued the boring drive back to Lake Forest, CA.

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Today Was A Fairytale

This was the first Valentine's Day that I actually had a real "Valentine." It was a great day. Eric and I had a delicious picnic at Irvine Regional Park and we relaxed under the trees in the soft grass for a couple hours and then we walked around the ark for a little while. After our picnic, we drove to the spectrum and we saw the movie "Valentine's Day" which was really good. Eric got me this huge pink bear and it's really soft. I'm planning on sleeping with it tonight. :)


I have always loved Valentine's Day. Which most people might think is weird considering I haven't ever had a "special someone" to actually spend it with. I just love the fact that there's a day completed devoted to LOVE. Now don't get me wrong, I think that every day should be as filled with love as Valentine's Day is... but if we're really going to be realistic... it's just not. People are too busy... too self absorbed... too caught up in their lives to remember to just LOVE... and not jut love the people that they love every single day, but everyone in general. 


Love is such an amazing gift... a gift from God. God has given us love and that's a gift that must be shared with the world because without love, we are nothing. God tells us to love people just as he has loved us. 


Just a thought... :)
Goodnight, world. I love you.

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Grace Like Rain

I just talked to a friend of mine who i've know since 8th grade. We haven't always been super close over the past 5 and a half years or so but we've always remained in contact with each other. Our freshman year we were probably the closest. We hung out and talked just about every day. After freshman year, he i guess just went into this downward spiral and started drinking and partying and stuff and it continued until a year or so ago. Since our freshman and sophomore years we've done so much growing. I had the opportunity to talk with him tonight and i was so blessed to see all of the amazing things that God is doing in his life. He has such an amazing testimony to tell and I can tell just how much he wants to share it with the world.
It is so amazing and inspiring when God gives me the opportunity to talk with certain people and show me what he's doing in the lives of some people who I haven't talked to lately. One year ago, if someone were to tell me that I would see such a change in this guy, I don't know if I would've really believed them or not.
God is so amazing. It is so incredible when he reveals himself to me in little ways like this one.

Goodnight. <3

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Heaven Song - Phil Wickham

So today I shadowed Miss Natasha who is the first grade teacher at work. She is pregnant and is due to have her baby girl, Evelytte, in the middle of March and I will be taking over he class while she is on her 6 week maternity leave. I'm so excited that my boss is trusting me with this. It's going to be such a fun learning experience for me. I already know the first graders very well because they are with me after school everyday. There is only seven of them so I don't think I'll be too overwhelmed. Natasha is awesome and she has been making sure that once the baby comes, every little thing I will need is nicely organized and her lessons are easy to understand. 
I'm so glad that this is going to happen... it's all in God's plan. I want to be a teacher and this is going to give me six whole weeks of experience. It's so great! 
These kids just think, "Oh.. Miss Ally is going to teach us our new lessons while Miss Natasha has her baby and stuff..." Little do they know that they're gonna be the ones teaching me. 
Not that they don't every day already. Kids are smart... they push you... they challenge you. I have gained so much experience from these kiddos just by hanging out with them everyday. No matter how much they push my buttons sometimes... I love them. They have brought so much joy to my life. They all have so much potential and I really just can't wait to see what kind of amazing things they'll do. 


Goodnight. :)

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Life In Technicolor - Coldplay

Life really is so amazing. We only have one, so we should make it count, right? We're always complaining about how "bad the economy is" and I think that we are forgetting how much we still have. Take the situation in Haiti for example... these people were already living in total poverty and then this earthquake happens and thousands and thousands of people are suffering even more so than before. And yes, our country is doing what it can to help these people... but still, I think we really need to take more time to take note of how amazing our lives are.
So you're not making six figures a year? You are still rich. You're unemployed? You're wealthy. You are struggling to keep your home, your car, your family together? You are  blessed just as much as any millionaire. Because GOD has a hold of your life. I understand these times are extremely difficult for a lot of people. I struggle too because it's not easy becoming an adult and trying to make it in this world on an extremely low income but we are not alone. We have help... constant help and we are all guilty of putting God on the back burner... we cannot just sit around and do nothing, yet expect God to perform miracles in our lives.
Life is short... we should be doing everything we can to make the best of it. We are not promised our next breath. Our Lord, Jesus Christ never told us that life would be easy. But it is always worth it.

Matthew 6:33-34
"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own"

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