this christmas, i am all about relational gifts. my church is involved in this "movement" we like to call Advent Conspiracy. i am really excited about it, for more than one reason. one, remembering why we give, because of what was given to us. encouraging people to spend less and give more at the same time. by giving more, meaning, putting time and energy and love into your gift. not just buying to buy and giving because we have to. instead make the gift personal and meaningful. two, america alone spends 455 BILLION dollars on christmas. WOW! there is a world wide water crisis. people are drinking out of mud holes and swamps, dying daily. it would cost 10 Billion dollars to solve the crisis. just a fraction. but somehow we can't do it. and that is just one of the many heartbreaking problems in the world. it would be amazing if we took a portion of the money we would normally spend and give it to the people who really need it. who need it to survive. three, imagine how are hearts and our holidays will change when it isn't all about receiving. i encourage you to look at the website and check it out. get involved. that is the big picture, but it all starts in us and in our homes. i hope that we can all get ideas and really make a difference! that is christmas.

http://www.adventconspiracy.org/

i just wanted to make sure my last post came across how i wanted it too. i know not many of you knew about my struggles. and i have a lot. but don't think either that i don't understand and don't think that this particular license issue is not a big deal. i am dealing with it and have been on the phone with courts and judges ever since trying to get it all figured out. right now it all comes down to money. and i am doing the best i can. i even sold my car for a cheaper one to help pay stuff off sooner. otherwise i wouldn't have down graded that is for sure! my whole point though in letting you all know what was going on, is just that i was so in awe of God at that moment. I should have gotten my car impounded and all that. i realize that. and i deserve that. but that wasn't the thing God wanted to show me. I asked Him just hours before to show me His greatness, and He used that situation to prove it to me. I just want you all to know too, that just because i believe in God doesn't make me perfect. and it doesn't mean i don't screw up a ton. i am learning. and i am learning through hardships and mistakes. i wish i didn't have to learn from my own mistakes, but i am human. I try to do the right thing, and i try to not to make mistakes, just as much as the next guy. and God doesn't take away consequences either for mistakes (i just was very very lucky on this one). He does however give you grace, mercy, forgiveness and a hand to hold to walk through it all with you. He is the perfect friend. no matter how much you mess up, no matter how much you hurt Him, He still loves you and still walks by your side and holds your hand through it all. I am really fortunate to have Him in my life. i love you all very much. and i hope that i clarified myself a little better. please email me or call me if you wanna yell at me too. i know i am so stupid. but thanks to my awesome family i am still loved ;)

so yesterday i got in a car accident. no one got hurt. everyone is fine. before i go into it more, i will start with a bit of a prequel. this week has been kind of stressful. some work drama, nothing big, just some stuff, and life has been so different lately. needless to say i am learning a lot! but it has made me question things. so at church yesterday, i asked God to show me his greatness. to really really reveal that to me in a huge way... with that said. i am not sure that you guys know, but my drivers license got suspended a few months back. i had no idea until i got pulled over for speeding. (the speedlimits on the freeways here are like 55mph, and that is hard to abide in a mini cooper, wink wink). anyways, the cop was a big jerk, and come to find out they suspended my license in California for 2 past tickets. i was making payments on those tickets but for some reason they failed to tell me that if i made payments they would still suspend my license if it wasn't paid in full within 30 days. i have been working on it. i was driving to bend yesterday to get some "sister" time. so on my way there, about 20 min away from her house, there was some construction going on, and everyone had to slam on their brakes, but i didn't have enough time to stop all the way, and i skidded into the car in front of me. shattered his back window all over my car. all i could think about was my license. so when it happened the cops didn't show up, we just exchanged info. i felt so lucky. then as i was driving the rest of the way to bend, about 15 min later, 10 cop cars swarmed around me, saying that an eye witness saw me do a hit and run. but as soon as they pulled me over, they confirmed that the eyewitness was incorrect. but still i was shakin in my boots. they were bound to look at my record. no joke there were 10 cops surrounding me. they felt so bad that they had scared me so bad. they were being so nice, they got all my info and my statement, and nothing, not talk of my license. wow. i sat there with them for 20 min. and nothing. i was talking to megan about it, when you ask God for things, like patience, or in my case to show me is greatness, he doesn't just all of a sudden grant you with this overwhelming fuzzy feeling, and then bam you have it. He puts you in situations where you can see it and He can prove it to you. and you can choose to see that in your situation. so with that whole long story i just thought it was awesome at how much He desired to prove that to me, just hours after i asked. He showed me His greatness when so many cops could have arrested me, impounded my car, the whole nine yards, but for some reason, they didn't and my record wasn't checked. i am in awe.

okay okay okay...sorry i am bad at this.

so, first off, i actually think my wrists are getting better. they still get numb, and my arm is still a bit achy, but nothing like before. so hopefully it is working. side effect though: MY HANDS SMELL LIKE NASTY GROSS DIRTY FEET. those braces don't breathe much.

and...

i had this one client right this review on me on city search, and i have gotten like 10 clients because of it. they read the review and wanted to come to me. this one guy today drove all the way from Eugene...i think that is almost 2 hours away. kinda cool...go to city search portland or pure salon. that should pop it up...

that is all for now...tatta.