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It's been almost four years since I graduated from Cal Poly. Right now I find myself wondering, what have I done with myself since then? It's not enough to just do things, you know? You need to feel like you're building something with your life. I started feeling curious as to what I've been building over the past four years. This seemed like a good opportunity to go on a kind of pictorial tour to remind myself of what I've accomplished with my life since Cal Poly.

I spent a total of ten summers serving at Camp Good News as a counselor, Bible teacher, and missions teacher. I can't even count the number of kids I've worked with during that time, but I do remember some of the more recent ones, kids who touched my life tremendously.

These girls were in the last cabin I had, two years ago. We were the oldest cabin during the last week at Emmanuel Heights. I remember that there was a lot of conflict coming from a couple of the campers, but these wonderful ladies did their utmost to make even the most difficult situation feel lighthearted. The following year, the camper who had caused the most conflict in the cabin wound up accepting Christ and turning her life around in a lot of ways. I've had the privilege of getting to correspond with her a bit, and it's amazing to hear just how much better things have gotten for her. I am certain that God used these girls to speak to her during a difficult time. They certainly were a testimony to God's love in this girl's life.

I also went to grad school. What a challenge! Tons of reading, a big, new, scary city, a new group of people, and all my friends and family far away. I am glad to say that completing this challenge led me to figure out what I love to do: teach. I got to work with some amazing faculty, create quality research, and build a solid foundation for the next chapter of my life. Even though I was glad to leave Sacramento when I did, there are still quality people there who I miss, like my old church family, my thesis advisor, my favorite comm theory professor (pictured), and a few of my fellow students.


After graduating, I took a job at Cuesta where I got to teach lots of fun classes: argumentation & debate, public speaking, and group communication. What a wonderful experience! While it was weird having a former teacher as a colleague, I learned so much during this time about how to reach my students, how to manage relationships with fellow faculty effectively, and how to manage multiple jobs. I also became the asst. manager and, later, manager of the portrait studio. What a crazy time in my life! I learned a lot about handling conflict effectively and having the courage to stand for what is right, no matter what the consequence.

During this time in SLO, I also committed to hiking and exploring all that SLO had to offer. What a wonderful time I had! I hiked and hiked and hiked, sometimes alone, sometimes with friends. I remember one amazing hike where my friend, Yvetta joined me. I think that was one of my favorite memories of our hangouts. We had to cut our hike a bit shorter than intended because it rained, but we had such great conversation and such genuine enjoyment of the trail that it didn't matter. Yvetta actually took this picture on our hike. What an awesome day!


Speaking of friends, I got to build some AMAZING friendships during the past four years, with my family and friends who are as close to me as family. My sister and I have become so much closer since I left Cal Poly, and I love her SO much. I have certainly had to learn how to trust her to God and not take care of everything myself, but I think that both my sis and I have grown from the experience. I can't believe that I got to see her graduate from Poly, too!


Last May, I had the opportunity to spend time with my Dad and drive up to Washington to visit family. What a great time we had! We explored, shot lots of guns, and visited with family. So much fun!


Wow, we're only halfway through, and I'm thinking of more that has happened, so perhaps I should continue on another post! The rest to follow....