A Week Away From the Move!

So wow, it has finally begun to dawn on my that I am actually leaving the state of California! I don't know about most people who grew up in San Diego, but I personally never had a notion when I was younger or even starting college that I would ever desire to leave such a beautiful, well climated place....but guess what, I am doing it. One of the things I am excited about is being able to be surrounded by a lot more Green! Come summertime, California = brown + palm trees + ocean. I can't say i don't love the later two, but I am ready for a change. This last week i feel is going to be somewhat surreal. I already started getting stuff for the move together and putting it in the "staging" area.... also known as the garage. Lets just say, i can already tell that my car is going to be filled to the maximus. Among other things, one thing that I can say will be hard to leave is being able to see my nephew grow and develop. He is almost 5 months old and I have been so blessed to spend these months with him.
As you can see from this picture: 1) He is one of the cutest babies ever! and 2) He is deeply contemplating why life without his crazy uncle will be like.

I am definitely going to miss my family as a whole. It was somewhat of a strange transition going away to college for almost 5 years and then coming back and spending so much time with family again but it has been a true blessing. Now there will be super excited when I have the opportunities to come back and visit everyone!

This last week has been pretty rad because God has just been putting different people in my path and providing rad conversations which are encouraging me before I move to Portland. I have had many people asking how they can pray alongside me and others just talking with me. I have come to love and thrive on times at a coffee shop just talking with people and sharing what is going on in life. The irony is that I do not like coffee at all and half the time i just buy something merely to have a cup in front of me. I ask for the frufiest drinks on the menu including: Hot Chocolate, and my favorite: VANILLA CHAI LATTE. Usually they ask me "would you like whipped cream on that?" and in a non challant way i would respond "sure, i guess." as if to imply that I merely allowed it rather than actually requesting to make my already girly drink even sweeter. Sorry, that was quite a tangent, but fun to talk about non the less.

Today I got to go meet with a guy named Matt Carlson, who I actually just met a week ago because we played worship together at a good friday service. It was a blessing to be able to see how God is using him in the high school ministry he is running at Seacoast and just be able to bounce ideas off each other about ministry. It was a great encouragement. Now what I am very excited for is my opportunity to stop and San Luis Obispo for a few days while on my way to Portland next week. I am seriously longing for some well needed fellowship with some of my friends up there. It is going to be a great time for me to sorta unwind and get ready for what God is going to do in Portland.

I am beginning to ramble, so I am going to stop and come to the point which is that I am excited for the move and can't believe it is basically here.

HERE COMES AN ADVENTURE!!!

Moving Preparation...Getting Ready for a Journey

The official countdown has begun for my move to Portland Oregon. I leave 2 weeks from today, April 6th. This date kept being bumped back as the months progressed but I believe this is the right time for me to go. My temp job really needed me to work an extra week so I got a bonus to stay for one more week. The nice thing about that is the bonus is the perfect amount to pay for a car top carrier (you know, those big boxes that young families put on top of their minivan so that they have more room for their crazy kids in the car). Luckily for me, I don't have any kids to worry about, nor a minivan. What I have decided to do though is not do my large U-haul move initially, but just to take the essentials to survive for a couple months and then once I have my apartment and job stuff figured out, I am going to bring up all the furniture and other things. When you are crazy about music like I am though, the "Necessities" become challenging to fit in a car. Lets just say they include:
1) Full Size Keyboard
2) Electric Guitar
3) Acoustic Guitar
4) 2 Amps
5) All my pedals, cables, strings, etc

So this will definitely be like playing tetris, hoping I can fit it all. One of the things that I am really excited about with this move is that I am going to make a little adventure out of this move up. I am going to stop in Santa Barbara and hang out with my friend sean for a while, then cruise up to the beautiful San Luis Obispo to see some of my close friends who I miss a lot. I think it will be a real blessing to be able to have some good fellowship right before I move to a land where I truly don't know that many people. After SLO, i think i will be stopping in Pleasonton to visit my buddy tyler and then make one last stop in Chico to visit one other bro. I am just excited to do this trip even though in 2 weeks I estimate the gas prices to be at $12 a gallon... I am ready to get out and serve the Lord, trusting in His provision and realizing what a truly blessed life I have been given.

Preparing For A Journey

My dad and I decided to take a trip up to Portland to start getting an idea of where I am going to live when I get up here, to do some job searching, etc. We came up on Sunday March 9th and are staying in the Waterfront Marriott.
That is a picture at night right out the hotel window, so I would say that it was a pretty decent view! Well when I originally planned this trip, i expected to have gotten some responses from some of the companies which I have applied to so that I could get some in town interviews. Well, this wasn't God's plan I guess because I haven't heard from a single company yet. This trip has been more of a familiarizing trip of the Portland/Tigard area, which has been a lot of fun.
This is a picture from Multnomah Falls, about 30 miles outside of Portland. It was gorgeous there and just showed me how many adventures I am going to have while living out here. On the housing side of things, there are a few interesting possibilities that have popped up. First, there is a young married couple named Paul and Kirsten who moved up to Tigard already to help us start the church. They have said that I could move in there for a couple months while I job search if I would like, which could be a great option. I am still figuring out what to do, there may be another house I can stay in for a few months as well. I am just excited to get up here and get started with everything. I move in two weeks (depending on a few circumstances, may be moved back a couple weeks) but I am both excited, and a little nervous of the unknown.