Cali and Back

So this last weekend I just went down to Chico, California to be a part of my good buddy Tyler Curtis and his now wife Noelle's wedding! It was amazing, such an awesome time to be able to not only be a part of a wonderful wedding, but also be able to just hang out and see some good friends. This was my first time in California since I moved to Oregon 3 months ago. The sad part is the majority of what I saw of CA was all smoke.... There are way too many fires going on. I am not sure if there are any fires in Oregon right now but there is even faint smoke up in Portland from i believe Northern California. That is pretty crazy.

Ok, here is a little overview of the weekend: Last thursday night I got off work at 11:30 and got home a little bit after 12am, got to bed by 12:30 and then woke up 4 hours later to get on the road to Chico. I drove down, 2 red bulls and 8 hours later I survived the journey and entered into Chico and got to get lunch with my good bud Adam at subway. We had practice that afternoon at 3 for the songs we were playing in the wedding. I sang and lead the worship song Beautiful Lord during the beginning of the wedding just to promote corporate worship in the wedding and showing that God was the center of this relationship. We also played Take My Life during communion. Amanda Tredger sang the verses and then I sang the choruses. After practice we had dress rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. Finally, all the guys went over to one house and hung out, joking around, playing poker and just being guys, giving tyler his last night as a bachelor a great one. The next day after we all woke up, we picked up the tuxes and had another worship practice to make sure that the music went swimmingly. The wedding was in Noelle's Father's church and was beautiful. Tyler's uncle was playing flute during the intro while people were being sat and as the groomsman (including me) ushered people to their seats. Well, there was slight confusion and Tyler's uncle stopped playing earlier that he was supposed to so when the mother's were being sat i ran up and started playing something random on guitar which i made up on the spot just to allow people to be seated. Crazy, but i think it went fine. Both songs that we sang in the wedding went great and seemed to be received well. Tyler and Noelle were picked up in a horse drawn carriage and brought to the reception. The reception was a great time and once the dancing finally started, the bridal part truly took over the floor and showed Chico what dancing was all about! Fast forward to sunday, drove the 8 hours back and now I am in portland again. I was greeted last night with thunderstorms, lightening and some hydroplaning on the freeway. But this trip was amazing and refreshing The fellowship with my Cali friends was awesome for me and it was just a great time.

Well we finally heard back from the elementary school and at this point we can't use it for Colossae church service. The main reason is they haven't found someone who will work to open the buildings and close up on sundays. Please be praying that we are able to get into the school soon or that God opens some new doors. Obviously their is a reason for why there is struggle to get in and I believe it will strengthen us as a church and prepare us to move forward when the time is necessary. Pray that God will provide an employee who maybe wants to go to our church so the opening and closing part won't actually feel like work for them. Also, I am in the midst of finding a new house for me and 2 other guys in tigard and would love prayer in that. We haven't found anything yet. There are some houses that look decent online but seem to be pretty ghetto.

So life is great and the little surprises are refreshing. My sister Chrissie, my bro-n-law Josh and the cutest kid in the world, my nephew Matthew will be up in Portland in 2 weeks, so I am super excited about that. That will be a huge blessing for me and will truly uplift me.

Life is Good
God is Good