day 090. [welch boys]

I can't believe that today came just as fast as it did. If you're out there wondering what I mean by this, I'm talking about the fact that today was my last real day in Oak Harbor. Again, if you haven't been paying attention I'm leaving Oak Harbor to head back down to Portland for school. I'm so pumped and ready for this school year, but I'm realizing that I'm going to miss Oak Harbor.

So since most of you have read my encounters with the youth group and the church I'm realizing that I would love nothing more than help out with the youth here in Oak Harbor. Obviously though it's not my calling. I've been called to do some work in Portland! That's what I'm going to do this year. Some honest to God, God work :)

Anyways, to what I did today on my last day in Oak Harbor. I ended up going to bed pretty early last night because my head was throbbing. With that though I woke up around 6 this morning. So I had a pretty early morning. I did my devos and I was also able to catch an episode of Pokemon. Even though I woke up that early I took a nap before noon.

When noon rolled around I headed over to the intern apartment to pick up my buddy Sean Welch. I've had different hangouts with him this summer, and I'm sure you've read them. We went out to China City to eat. We just talked about camp and what God had done through me. It was nice to get to talk to him about it. We also just talked about this upcoming school year. It's so important for me to be back down there. Not just because I'm going to school there, but I was called to be at that school. This seriously might sound weird to some of you guys, but it's the truth - I was called to be at the University of Portland. God had something in mind for me when I chose that school. I've gotta work it this year. I'm so excited!! AHHH!! TOMORROW!!!

Afterwards I knew I wanted to say bye to the Kingma's. So we went over there hoping that they'd be home. With our luck ... THEY WERE!! Well, all of them [Mrs. Kingma and Jordan] with the exception of Mr. Kingma. I love that family so much. Such an awesome family. Sean and I were there for a few hours just catching up with Jordan and Mrs. Kingma. It was so good to see them. To think the last time I saw that whole family, let alone go over to their house, was during senior year. That was two years ago! KRAZY!! O_o

Sean had to get going so I dropped him off home. When I got home though I finally found it in myself to finish packing. Also my last two books finally came in. Around 8 though Sean's little brother ... Steven came by so we could hangout on my last night. On our way to where we were hanging out we picked up Sharmaine because she wanted to hangout with us, haha. We pretty much treated her like the little sister she is. We were just flat out RUDE to her, but in a loving way :D

I could tell you where we went, but ... I won't. I mean I'll tell you we went to the beach and then Safeway, but what good would that do you? Once we got rid of her (haha) Steven and I went to the Donut House to get DONUTS!! We also got Sharmaine one because she made us pinky promise. Well, Sharmaine I had some of my fingers crossed when we made that promise. If you want to see her donut then you can go to flickr to see what we did to it ;)

Well, that was my last night in Oak Harbor. I leave tomorrow. I'm excited. I'm anxious. I could honestly pee my pants right now because it's full of fluids and the pressure on my bladder is INSANE! bahaha. Love you guys :D

PS. Steven did more damage to it than I did :)

PPS. In fact, if you want to see some of the pictures from today, my last day, just check out the flickr.

PPPS. Also, today is the last day of the third month :)

day 081. [senior photos: jordan]

Today I had the opportunity to finish up Jordan's senior photos. Now you guys know who this mystery senior was, ha. I know, nothing special, but hey I wanted to keep her a secret until I finished up her photos.

The main goal today with finishing up her senior photos was getting the volleyball ones done. You can check out what that one looks like if you go to my flickr account. If you look at the volleyball one you'll see that her face is lit up despite the fact that we were shooting in direct sunlight. That's because I ended up making a reflector. You see, yesterday we had a ton of problems with lighting during the volleyball net portion of her photos. Luckily, with a reflector and an adjusted exposure her photos came out really well this time.

I won't lie to you, by the way, today wasn't all that great of a day. It was more on the chill side, I probably could have started packing for school, but you know me - [and every other kid heading back to college] I wait until the last minute, haha.

I did hang out with my brother though today, which was awesome. We went to the Christian bookstore to get my ring fitted. While there I saw Poggie and Courtney. I love them both :)

I actually had a lot of fun hanging out with my brother. For those that don't know, we're ten years apart. Despite the distance in age, we are actually really close :D

I had a good phone date with Calley today! We talked about high school camp and how God rocked me. Seriously, give my blogs a read to get a glimpse of how God moved through me. I'm in the process of writing for my personal blog, so I'll link that when those blogs are done.

Afterwards though I went over to the house that Kristen was house sitting for. While there Greg, Kristen, and I watched Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. It's such a good movie, but it's definitely not House of Ross appropriate. I'm surprised that Greg actually ended up liking the movie.

Anyways, not to end the blog, I'm heading to bed. I have donuts and devo's to head tomorrow. On top of that I have a photography competition to judge! Night guys :)

day 070. [breakfast]

Do you guys remember Jordan? If not, read this post. Read it? Got caught up on who he is? Good.

Anyways, this morning both Jordan and I went out to go get breakfast at Starbucks. In fact, we sat in the same spot. It's like what we usually do.

Like in the last post about Jordan, going to breakfast with him is always fun and interesting. We always have good conversations. Ranging from God (almost always) and bringing it to a close about school and how much we love it. Today was nothing short of any of those conversations.

Again, we have had an interesting friendship since we met during our Freshman year. We did not like each other. Looking back, I wouldn't have liked me either, haha. But almost 6 years later look at us! We're as good as friends and we can only become closer friends with the years to come. It's exciting to know that Jordan's got the right things going on in his life. Keep doing what you're doing Jordan!

Once we were done there I had to get home and get ready for work. I used to work in the Oak Harbor orthodontist office, but as of late I've been moved to the Arlington office and am now working for Dr. Theis.

I'm slightly bummed, but the thing is, I'm working with a new orthodontist and that means I'm making more connections that may end up helping me out in the long run. CONNECTIONS FOR THE WIN!!

It'll take some getting used to on my part having to go to Arlington to work, but I'm sure I'll be fine. Unfortunately, I leave soon so I won't have much time left to actually work there. When I come home for breaks though I'll definitely have more of an opportunity to work in the office :)

As for this evening, I didn't do much. I was so exhausted from work today, and having to be up early to go to breakfast, that I decided to just kind of lounge around this Friday evening. Not exciting one bit, but it's ok because everyone needs their rest, and today is my resting day!

PS. Today marks Week #10 :)

PPS. Kevin should be in town tomorrow so we can finish up his photos!!

day 029. [jordan]

I had so many photos to choose from today that it was actually hard to really choose which one I'd use. My day isn't even over to be honest with you. Long summer days call for long summer nights!

Anyways, I had breakfast with a good buddy of mine from high school. Jordan Kingma. He and I have an interesting relationship, that has only gotten better since we've become friends. We absolutely despised of each other freshman year, but sophomore year things started to turn around. Come junior year we started to go to breakfast with each other. It was something he did with his dad, so he decided to do breakfast with me. Senior year we managed to keep it going. Sadly, we've gone to breakfast twice this past year, but I guess that's what happens when both of us have college lives. It's alright. We spent today just really catching up with each other seeing as the last time we saw each other was literally 6 months ago. It was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to doing breakfast with him with the two months we have left before we go back to college!

Tradition, he always picks me up, which means he always drops me off back home. So after he dropped me off back home I finished up on a project that needed to get done now so I could ship it off to someone. In fact, there's another portion of it that I need to get done, but that won't take too long. I just cleaned, unpacked from not only the summer session but I ended up going through some stuff from fall and spring, and then I just did other little crafts whilst watching the World Cup. Good job today USA!!

The best part about today though was a home cooked meal. THANKS MOM!! After dinner though I went out to get some ice cream at DQ with another good friend of mine, Pam Dupa. We were there from 7 to about the time it closed. Just catching up and talking Photography. Things will never change the way I see it, ha.

Pam had to get going and I decided to go stop by Wal*Mart to see if they had embroidery floss. Unfortunately, they do not. Fortunately enough for me though I ran into another friend, Paul Jewell. We go back to 8th grade. Paul, if you read this, I'm sorry for killing your Machoke as it was evolving into a Machamp back during sophomore year. If there's any way I can repay you [besides my first born child] let me know, haha! Good times with that kid during high school.

Now even though it seems like my night is about to end, it's only about to begin. Just waiting for a few friends to get back into town from watching Toy Story 3. Once they get back ... it's all fun and games from here until the sun rises.

First day back in Oak Harbor couldn't get any better. This summer is totally shaping up to be a good one!