Home Sweet L.A.

After the longest road trip, we have made it to L.A. and I started working on Monday. Britney and Beth came with me and we had such a great time. We got to see so much driving to the west coast.

We started at 6 am Wednesday morning. Our first detour was in Prague, OK. Not sure why but they have a National Shrine of Infant Jesus. It was so weird. We stopped in Amarillo to see the Cadillac Ranch. I do not know what the big deal is but now I can say that I have seen it. After 18 long hours, we spent the night in Flagstaff, AZ. Thursday morning, we made our way up to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. It was simply amazing. I have heard so many times that pictures do not do it justice and it's so true. From the Grand Canyon, we decided to take a detour to Vegas. I mean..why not? We have already driven about 20 hours at this point. We saw the Hoover Dam on our way to Vegas. We didn't spend much time at all there. We were there long enough to drive down the strip and see the famous Welcome to Vegas sign. It was good enough for this trip.

We rolled into L.A. around 10 Thursday night. It was so great to finally be in the city. I am pretty sure we packed in more site seeing in 3 days than most people do in a week! I have already been to Hollywood Blvd, Sunset, Rodeo Dr, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica Pier, Venice Beach, and that was just Friday! Saturday, we went back to the pier to eat lunch and ride the ferris wheel. We went to see the Dodgers play Sunday afternoon and it was crazy hot so we didn't stay the whole game. They left Monday afternoon. It was so much fun to have them here for those few days.

I started working Monday. It was a lot of driving around the city and learning where some of our ministry sites are located. We stumbled onto a taping of NCIS L.A. so that was fun to watch for a little while. Chris O'Donnell was within arms reach of us so that was fun! Jonathan and Jordan took me on the prayer tour Monday evening which is really my favorite part of CSM. It is such a great way to learn and fall in love with the city where God has called me. I am so excited about what God is doing here and that I get to be a small part of it. I will be updating more often (hopefully) so this is a great place to see what is going here in the city. Thanks so much for reading and praying for me as I begin this huge, life changing journey. I will be collecting home addresses and email addresses to send out prayer cards and newsletters. Please let me know if you would like to receive either one. You can email me at breanne@csm.org or send me a message on facebook. I love y'all so much. Thanks for being apart of my life!

LA...here I come...

Just writing that blog title is still kinda surreal to me! I am officially moving to L.A. to work with CSM. I will be the Associate Director of CSM L.A. I can't even begin to express how I am feeling right now. I am excited/nervous/every other feeling I could possibly have at this moment. This is probably one of the biggest decisions I have made in my life but I couldn't be happier. This opportunity is going to be life changing and will be one of the best experiences for me. It will be a nice push outside of my comfort zone and a challenge for my faith which is something I don't feel like I have experienced a lot of in my life.

I am going to miss Nashville and the friends I have made here so much. I feel like I have finally found myself and the people I have met here have been a huge part in that process. I know being so far away from everyone will be hard but now my family and friends have a new place to come visit/vacation!

I only have a month left so there is a lot to do and people to see. I get to start with going to see Bailee, Josh, and Lucas for the next five days. I can't wait to spend time with them. Please pray for me as I make this transition. Pray that my family will have the peace that I have about my decision. I am so excited for this next stage in my life and I want them to be just as excited for me even though the unknown is a scary for them. I can't wait to start working and share all of my experiences with y'all.

Happy Birthday Breelyn! Gifts71-80

My neice turns 4 today. She is the most precious little girl and I love being her aunt. I love everything about her. I love that she is a princess and a girly girl but can definitely hold her own. I love that she calls me BreeBree and the way she lights up when I come home. She is one of my favorite people in the world. My gifts for this week will be pictures of Breelyn.

Breelyn,
I love you so much! Thank you for showing me what loving unconditionally looks like. I am so proud of you and love being your aunt! You bring so much joy into my life and I can't wait to see how God uses you.

love, BreeBree

*love her spongebob sunglasses!
*She loves her Pops!
*She loves her baby brother most days...
*HUGE Kris Allen fan and loves the autographed picture
*always posing
*She would live outside if she could
*Even her "freak out" moments are cute
*First day of school
*Jumpzone birthday party
*Always be my little princess

Gifts 61-70

61. Driving with the windows down
62. video chats with Rachel
63. New life choices
64. Spring weekends in Febuary
65. Going away for the weekend and not having cell phone service
66. Building lasting friendships
67. Letting go
68. Coffee
69. taking pictures
70. The excitement of the unknown

My Big Brother

Today is Billy's 32nd birthday! Wow..he is getting up there! :) Even though we have our ups and downs as all siblings do, he has always been an incredible big brother! I have been truly blessed with my family. So, in honor of his birthday, I thought I would share some pictures of us from over the years. Since it is his birthday, I left out the awkward middle school pictures and only put up the cute ones! (Billy, you know the ones I am talking about!)


*Pretty sure he probably loved this outfit! I found several pictures of him in it.
*Christmas has always brought great memories for us! And apparently this year was no exception because this is the year Kid Sister and My Buddy came into our lives! Notice the 80's wood paneling!
*Ahh..Easter Sunday! This one makes me laugh so hard. I feel like even at that moment, he felt sorry for me!
*Never more in his element than when he was playing sports!
*This one is just sweet. My bright red headed big brother and big sister!

Billy, I love you and hope you have a great day!!

One Year

One year ago today I moved to Nashville. It's kind of crazy how fast time flies! It has been sort of a whirlwind. I feel like I have grown lot. There are so many experiences that I am thankful for this year. Here are some of the highlights of the past year....

*I found a church home in Cross Point. It's not just a place I attend. I began to serve and find my place there.
*My two dear best friends, Bailee and Josh, had the most incredible baby boy. Lucas James Bettencourt was born March 19th and changed their lives forever. I mean..seriously..look how cute this boy is..(even if he is wearing a Cowboys jersey!:))

*I had the priviledge of interning at Center for Student Missions. It was an incredible experience and really is a huge reason for my growth this year.
*I have met some pretty fantastic people that I now call friends and that has made the transition so much easier!
*JP got married and I had the priviledge of being a bridesmaid.
*I watched a friend's dreams come true on national television.
*Met two great girls that became my roommmates.
*Celebrated Wilbur's 100th birthday.
*Elijah was born! This has been a fun year of new babies!!
*Celebrating Christmas in Wheelwright, KY with Cross Point

All in all, I feel like it has been a pretty incredible year. Excited to see what the next year holds!

Gifts 41-50

41. Snow days
42. Remembering what its like to be a kid again
43. Birthdays
44. Starting a new small group
45. Lazy saturdays
46. Unexpected phone calls from my 3 yr old neice
47. Friends that love me despite myself
48. Weekend getaways
49. Good conversation
50. Listening to someone tell their story