skin.

So since I could remember, I've always had pretty bad skin. I've always been insecure about it too. It seems to be genetic, unfortunately. My dad had it bad and my mom had it bad, while they were growing up. 
When it came to treatments, I tried it all. Once it was so bad that I had to see a dermatologist. Which I would recommend, if you are able to go to one, then do it! 
But anyway, as I got older, I've noticed that most natural and organic remedies work best. 

Coconut oil:
I've been using coconut oil for my face for a year now. AND ITS AWESOME. While I was at bible college, I would apply coconut oil on my face and go into the hot springs and allow for it to just sit there as the steam kind of soothed and relaxed my face. Then I would wash it off with the hot spring water, which was warm and had natural minerals. (Note: I would do this at night.) My face would feel so SOFT and any swollen pimples were just.. not swollen again and smaller in size. It was great! 
But the days that I didn't go into the hot springs, I would apply coconut oil on my face, right before bed. I would rub it in like a lotion, so I wouldn't apply much. Then as soon as I was done applying it on, I covered that with a THIN layer over it and left it there. Yup, that's right. I went to bed with it on. Then the next morning, I would just rinse it off with water. Sometimes I would washed it off with Burt's Bees Orange Essence Facial Cleanser (sold at Target.) Either or. :) But before going to bed with it on, I would place a clean towel over my pillow so that I wouldn't get oil on the pillow case, but on the towel. Get what I mean?
And sometimes I even apply it 10 minutes before I shower (and I put it in my hair too), and wash it off my face once I get in the shower with a tea tree oil soap bar.
There are other techniques I used with it; if you want to know, just ask! :)
Coconut oil is so amazing in so many ways. I suggest buying it at Trader Joe's, their's is thee best.

Tea tree oil:
Now this, I started using when I started my first semester at bible college when I roomed with this awesome lady. She was the definition of a hippie. I miss her tons!
But yes. We drove to Trader Joe's and I picked up tea tree oil in a little glass container and tea tree oil facial cleansing pads. Those, my friend, are magical.
Not only does tea tree oil remove acne, but it controls the oil in your face, reduces inflammation, and it just feels tingly and nice.
I would dab it on a cotton ball and dilute it with water. (It's extremely strong. The smell is super strong when it isn't diluted. And it numbs. Yikes!) Then apply it on the pimples that needed it. Then shortly after, it would dry them out and they would disappear. 
With the cleansing pads, I would dab it on my nose (that's the oiliest part on my face) and wash it off with water. I would use it through out the day if I needed it. So you can use that whenever! I would also use it to remove make up whenever I ran out of facial wipes. And (again) wash it off with water. Highly recommended!
I also use a tea tree oil soap bar (that I have in the shower) for when I decide to apply coconut oil on my face. I just wash it right off with my tea tree oil soap bar. My face feels so clean right after!
Tea tree oil is awesome.

So part of the whole reason for this post was to lead up to the point that I have discovered a new face wash! All my life, I've used brands like Clearasil, Neutrogena, etc. They have all SUCKED and didn't do much of a good job, and left my skin so dry. SO DRY. Like it was FLAKING. I was so over having to hide it and having to pick at the skin that was flaking off. I was fed up and decided to go organic. BEST choice I've made for my face. I started using the brand Burt's Bees, and that is the only brand that does the job and DOESN'T dry out my face. 
So the new face wash I got is called Burt's Bees Soap Bark & Chamomile (sold at Target.) It removes dirt, excess oil, and make up. It softens skin and helps with acne problems. You can even FEEL it working in your skin as you use it. It smells great and FEELS amazing. It leaves you happy, with a soft face, and a great tingling feeling. It leaves you satisfied knowing it did the job. 
Here's more about it, if you want to look into it and read reviews:
http://www.burtsbees.com/natural-products/face-care-facial-cleansers/soap-bark-chamomile-deep-cleansing-cream.html

Hope this post helped you in any way. Remember that drinking water is also important for having clearer skin as well. Leave comments, questions, concerns, anything! :) 
Love you all.

Oh! And here's a picture of it:

p & p

I'm rereading Passion & Purity, by Elisabeth Elliot, this summer. I haven't got much to do, it seems, these last few weeks while in my hometown. So I decided to devour some good books while I have the time. P & P is definitely a great read, and I highly recommend it. EVEN if you're a guy. ;)
This is what the back cover says, if any of you are interested in picking it up:

In Passion & Purity, Elisabeth Elliot emphasizes the need to commit daily to Christ all matters of the heart and to wait upon Him. She teaches this often painful, yet rewarding discipline by candidly tracing her love story with Jim Elliot as evidence that she has been there.
Through letters, dairy entries, and memories, she shares the temptations, difficulties, victories, and sacrifices of two young people whose commitment to Christ took priority over their love for each other. These revealing personal glimpses, combined with relevant biblical teaching, will remind you that only by putting your human passion and desire through His fire can God purify your love. 

It's a super awesome read and I'm enjoying it as if it were the first time I've ever picked it up. I love that Elisabeth is willing to share all of what went on. 
Being 20 years old (almost 21) and single was so difficult, at times. Especially being from Bible College, where everyone gets married and has a "ring by spring." It definitely is humbling, but I'm grateful to say that the Lord has opened my eyes to the gift of being single. Praise Him. I can constantly bash on satan when I feel lonely because, truth is, I'm NOT lonely. The Holy Spirit dwells inside me. That is all I need to have to be joyful.
And because I'm single, I have 100% focus on serving Him. And I love it this way.
And if He brings someone else along side me, who is supposed to be there by the Holy Spirit's discernment, then I know for a fact that it's because of His timing.

I've been reading chapters 1-5 today and as I closed in on chapter 5, something really stuck out to me. 

One morning I was reading the story of Jesus' feeding of the five thousand. The disciples could find only five loaves of bread and two fishes. "Let Me have them," said Jesus. He asked for all. He took them, said the blessing, and broke them before He gave them out. I remembered what a chapel speaker, Ruth Stull of Peru, had said: "If my life is broken when given to Jesus, it is because pieces will feed a multitude, while a loaf will satisfy only a little lad."

Man, Jesus asks for all.
He gives all.
He asks for all. 
Let that happen and you WILL BE BLESSED. Dad knows what He's doing. :)

I'll try to remember to continue to post more things about this book. But till then, goodnight. <3

Please leave me comments if you read this!!! Or contact me in any form; I want to know what your thoughts and opinions are on this. Let's get a conversation going. :) 
Or even if you need prayer, I'll pray for you.

my Saturday.

My Saturday has been quite beautiful.

It consisted of God's love, iced chais, watermelon, sunflowers, mason jars, grocery shopping, and my friend sending me a cover of the Adventure Time theme song he did. And tons of other things! Right now, I'm just resting in bed and listening to the Jonas Brothers. (Which is great.) 

I just felt like posting a blog because I just felt like I should, haha. :) I'm in a really good mood, surrounded by God's love. in case you didn't know, i really enjoy my summer. here are some pictures i took today! 

the best iced chai i've ever made. wish you could taste how amazing it was. 

God was probably like, these would put a huge smile on
my daughter's face. cause they really do. thanks for making
them, Dad. they're my absolute favorite flower. <3

i was able to take them home with me. :)

just an outfit of the day photo of what i wore today (duh.) my hair is getting so long!

ccry summer service '13

Here are just a few pictures I took at this year's summer service in doing homeless outreaches.

awesome ocean breeze on the san diego harbor.

Laying in the middle of the street
with awesome people & watching
planes land in the San Diego
airport. God loves me a lot.

going up the elevator.

sweet mornings with Jesus & family.

my rad brothers serving thee great God. 

karen came back with gifts. 

Beyond blessed by this year's
summer service team. My church
family that The Lord has given
me is so awesome! 

walking downtown, serving God's people.

just one of my gnarly bruises from the trip.

best chai my taste buds have ever had. 

kohee would always come up to me
and give me this toy car because he
knew it was my favorite. he named it Monster Car. 

Kohee building a barrier of toy cars to protect the girls' room.

last night of summer service with my family.
So bummed its coming to and end, but so stoked
about what God has done these last couple of days.
Unity is amazing. Praise Him! 

at Ocean Beach BBQ outreach

Sean broke the news to the Reynolds kids about
the death of Flick, the pet grasshopper we
brought up from the Imperial Valley
to San Diego. They mourned for like 2 minutes. Haha!

words cannot express how awesome this picture is.

How beautiful are the feet of those who
preach the good news! Romans 10:15 

our youth pastor is talented. nbd.

coraly and sky.

walking to the Y in downtown.

7/10/13

God is so big and so wise.
He knows what we go through.
He knows what we should and shouldn't do.
He doesn't give is guidelines to burden us, but to bless us.
Wait on Him and you WILL be blessed!

-

hi family.

i have one small request.
i'm going through a lot and i'm in need of prayer.
so if you could please pray for me, that would be so great.
i need some of that being ministered to.
thank you.
Lord bless you.

july 2, 2013 - morning devotional

"If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, 

I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." 

This was the last sentence in my daily devotional book, Daily Light. It made me realize that allowing Christ is beneficial to us. Not only does He knock AND come in if we let Him, but He DINES with us. He sits and DINES with us. That is something so beautiful and so incredible to me. That the Creator of the heavens and earth wants to sit with us and dine with us. This is so real and so lovely. He cares about us. It's, like, He feeds us AND He keeps us company. He gives us the Word for food and is always by our side, the Holy Spirit. And I'm not saying that I only came to Christ because it was beneficial to me, me, me. Nor am I saying that you too should come to Christ because it would benefit you, you, you. So you can get rich and prosper in this life, or whatever. But what I'm saying is that it benefits our soul. It satisfies our soul when we make that choice. He comes in and fills that deep, deep void in you that can't be satisfied by drugs, smoking, alcohol, your friends, your addictions, money, music, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, sex, and anything else that you seem to grab hold to. Let Him come into your life and clothe you with righteousness, that is only from His Son, Jesus Christ. Let Him provide for you. He WANTS to dine with you. You just have to let Him come in.

vbs. // weekend.

So my plan was to blog daily about how each day of vbs went for me. Unfortunately, I couldn't because our internet went out and wasn't able to. :(

Overall, vbs taught me patience and love towards the kids who attended. If you personally know me, you know that I absolutely LOVE kids and talking to them. But I have trouble opening up to them. Then again.. I have trouble opening up to anyone unless I really trust you.. BUT ANYWAY. This past spring semester that I finished in Bible College, I got to volunteer at a local Good News Club with children from K-5th grade and that tested me EXTREMELY. It was extremely hard for me to enjoy working when these kids were out of control. It was only the Lord that held me together because I would've quit on day 1. But praise Him, because I believe He used that in order to be able to prepare me for this summer's vbs. And I believe I'm going to be used more in this area in the future.

ALSO!

I got to spend my Friday & Saturday at the bay in beautiful San Diego with a few of my close friends. One of whom is leaving to Australia; so we wanted to enjoy these last moments before she leaves for five months to do something rad for our Lord Jesus Christ! :D 

We had such an amazing time and made so many new memories. From being criminal victims, sneaking in a jacuzzi at midnight, to being "backup dancers" in a rap music video at the beach. It was so great. I wouldn't trade these memories for anything! My Father is so good to the max foeva! 

Here are a few pictures I took of the trip! :)

subs at the beach.

mission beach.

                                             

hotel lobby.

hotel view.

us girls at coronado. <3

my henna tattoo at mission.

my face at the beach. :)

luigi's at the beach breakfast @ mission.

mission.

fireworks from our hotel room.

sd skyline.

reminder of His sufficient grace. <3

coronado.

I will post about day two if vbs as soon as I can! I'm on my phone right now and it's a bit harder to type. & our Internet is out. So as soon as I can, I'll update you all. Thank you for reading and being patient with me. Love you guys.
Bye! <3 ❤

kingdom chronicles l

Today was the first night of VBS at my church and man, was I BLESSED by it! Please, please, please, if you can join us in prayer for this! The kids as well as us helpers need to be soaked in prayer for the strength of the Lord. For salvation for those kids who don't know Him, and for solid foundation for both who know and don't know Jesus. To know truth and not error.

The theme this year is "kingdom chronicles." Everything around the church is midieval decorated. Ephesians 6:10-19 is the focus:

"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put    on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel"

To have on the "full armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." The battle is on and the battle is real. Prayer is powerful. And truth is real. Our God is big and He is mighty. Jesus will defeat. And He will forever reign.

I'm being stretched by doing this. I'm getting out of my comfort zone and being so blessed by it. Only He could have done that. Only He knows what I need. Thank You, Jesus.
Believe me, I was stoked, but I was overwhelmed as well. I don't know why the Lord has me here, but I know He will use it mightily.

I will continue to write about how it all went down daily, if I can! 

Thank you for reading, and have a blessed night! :)

i n t r o .

Hi, to whomever is reading. :)

I just wanted to make a short introduction for my blog, before I post the link around. Just to make a few things clear! Like it says in my "about me" section, I just want to make this blog useful to keep those up to date, or maybe even minister to. And who knows! You could possibly even minister to ME! :D This blog will be of a large variety. Whether it may be silly posts, serious posts, or anything else. I just want this to be enjoyable to you AND me. 
Plus it's nice to spill out once in a while.

Thank you so much for reading!

Blessings. :)

rollin.

It's currently midnight and I'm completely wide awake. With a ton of homework, with school in the morn. School likes to do this to me. But I'll catch it's blindside. 

I still need to publish an intro for my blog and I will! As soon as I'm done with my summer course, I will! :) 
I finish in two days, so it's not really that bad. I'm just loaded with work and tests.

I turned in 4 job applications as well. Your prayers are appreciated. 
Oh, the adult life. 

[Romans 12:12]

Love you guys.