Where Have I Been?

If you've been keeping up with my new blog, you know that I've kinda gone AWOL. Keep reading to find out why.

One thing you should know about me is how important family is. Nothing means more to me than spending time with my family, being at the hospital when nieces and nephews are born, watching them grow, hanging out with the sibs, chillin' with my momma and pops...family is just such a blessing.

Let me just give you a bit of background. I'm the youngest of 4 kids. I live with my momma and pops because I have student loans and car loans...the same old story of most of my generation that went to college.

This is my momma and pops, and pops' bike. 

Yes, my parents are super rad.

The oldest sibling is my brother, Joe. Joe is pretty quiet. He is also 10 years older than me. He was going to college when I was 8. So you can imagine we've never really had a ton in common. A lot of my memories in high school of bonding time with Joe involved watching movies together. Which I know sounds cheesy and not very bonding-like, but for us, it worked. And when those movies were the extended editions of the LOTR trilogy, (Lord of the Rings for any of you who aren't fans, but should be), that's like 4 hours of together time. Now that I've entered adulthood, Joe and I have found a lot more in common, like being in the worship band at church together, shooting guns (yes. I did just say the "g" word. Don't like it? Don't read my blog.) and spending time with the nieces and nephews. He is married to a beautiful woman, Tawny. Tawny has 2 boys, Jordan and Kody who are great boys. I love having them be a part of our family. Here are her handsome boys all dressed up (for Easter, I think):

The next oldest is my sister, Debs. I'm closest to her out of all my siblings, we look the most alike, have the most similar outlooks on life, etc. A lot of my fond memories of growing up involve her. This girl can be just as crazy (if not more so) than me.  In high school, every time I went away for a week, I came home to some surprise from Deb. One time she made all kinds of signs that said various random things, or had pictures of llamas, or drawings of my head...Another time she used about 12 spools of ribbon and made a crazy pattern all through my room that I literally could not get in my door without doing some sort of 007 move. Not too many days go by that we aren't either emailing or texting or hanging out at my parents house. Deb is married to a super awesome guy, Roger, and they have 2 adorable kids, Violet  and Malakai (or Kai, or mallow cup).

Debs, Me, and Violet at Kai's birthday party!

This is the Kai Man. Or "Big M" as I call him. 

In order to keep this post from being an entire  book, I'll be posting random things about the kids and family as we continue on this journey into blog-land. So bear with me...we're almost done!

The next youngest sibling is my sister Beth. One of my favorites things about growing up with Beth was always having someone there. When I had to make the scary transition from an elementary school of about 200 to a junior high of over a thousand, Beth was there to help me be less scared. One of the things we love to do together is sing. We grew up singing together from toddlers, and we still sing together when she's home. Beth is married to a youth pastor named Justin. He's a weird dude (Deb and I pick on him like it's our job...but he dishes it right back.) Let me just tell you about Justin. When Beth met him and talked to my parents about dating him, Debs and I (we're the schemers of the family) came up with a questionaire of about 62ish pages for him to fill out. Some of the questions were like basic getting-to-know-you questions. The vast majority, however, were entirely nonsensical. (i.e. how do you feel about a girl who wears orange pants? You leg was just bitten by a deranged beaver - what do you do? What's your favorite color of llama?) Justin filled out the entire thing and sent it back! They also have 2 kids that are wonderful Emma and Craig

This is Emma and Me!

And here's Craiggers!

So there you have it. When we're all together we have 9 adults and 6 kids! At this point you're probably thinking...cool. Now I know all about your family, but I thought this post was about where you've been...

Well that's just it. I was with my family. We were almost all together, which is very rare these days, and so I took some vacation days from work, got up about 6:30 every morning and spent all day every day with my family.

But never fear, readers. I'm back!

-A.A.

Little Missionary Woman - Faithe Heuser

Today, I want to tell you all about my friend Faithe. (I call her Faith-e). I can't exactly recall where in my college journey I met Faithe, but I do know that from the moment I met her, 2 things were abundantly clear. She had an awesome sense of humor, and she had a passion for missions. A passion that she was ready to put into action in whatever way she could.

Faith-e and I had some classes together, but we never really became good friends until she lived right across the hall from me in West 7&8 (a moment of remembrance for the apartments that are no longer in existence). I was so blessed by this girl's unwavering desire to serve overseas. It was amazing to see her willingness to change her plans as God lead her heart to a country she wasn't expecting.

Faithe graduated from LBC with me in 2008, more than ready to see where the road of missions would lead her. I am so excited to be able to watch her journey as she continues to prepare to be shipped off with BCM International. (learn more about BCM here: http://bcmintl.org/) Right now, Faith-e is in the process of raising support for her 2 year adventure in Ireland.

Instead of me boring you with all the details of Faith-e's journey from a college student to a missionary raising support, check out her awesome blog:

www.littlemissionarywoman.blogspot.com

You can read all about her time in Ireland learning to drive, preparing for ministry, and just a little bit about the awesome girl, herself!

And if God should lay on your heart to donate to her ministry, well that'd be pretty awesome as well. But even if you aren't able to financially support her, she could always use people praying for her and supporting her through reading her blog!

(disclaimer: Faith-e did not ask me to write this post. In fact, she will have no knowledge of it's existence until after it's posted and I put the link on her facebook wall.)

-A.A.

Average Ali 101

So why am I blogging?

When I first started blogging, I had a clear purpose: to update my family, friends, and supporters of my trip to Romania. (you can read all about that trip here: aliromania.blogspot.com)

This is me. In a phone booth. In Romania.

But this blog is different. There's not a clear, set purpose. So what kinds of things will I be blogging about? Anything that inspires me!

I love to read. So sometimes I might do a book review. Sometimes I might just post a quote that really got me thinking. Sometimes I'll post about my passions and interests. Sometimes I post about a life lesson that I'm learning. This blog is going to be a reflection of  who I am. So if you want to get to know me, stick around!

And what's up with the dandelion?


I love dandelions in the seed form. As a child, I would close my eyes and make a wish and blow the seeds (much to my father's chagrin) into the air. And now my adorable nieces do the same thing. To me, dandelions represent hopes. Dreams. Wishes. Goals.

This is not me. This is just some random child I found on the internet.

Every time I see a fluffy dandelion I'm reminded to keep dreaming, keep wishing, and keep hoping.  As C. S. Lewis put it "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."  And so it seemed fitting for me to use this symbol of hopes and dreams as a part of my blog. For You will soon find out that I am a dreamer.

So who am I? Here are some random facts about me to get things started.

I am a 22-year-old legal assistant.
I am a pianist and a singer.  By range I'm a mezzo, but I mostly sing alto cause I like it better.
I am a daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, aunt, and friend.
I am 5 feet tall with blonde hair and green eyes.
I love summertime, but fall is my favorite season.
My favorite color is mint green.
My favorite Dr. Seuss book is "Horton Hears a Who".

Thanks to my best friend, I own the "Party Edition." I know you guys are all totally jealous.

And here is where I'll leave you for now. What are you waiting for? Go dream a new dream!

-A.A.

Where Death Meets Life

This morning at 4:40 a.m., my Uncle John passed away. This is not what I thought would inspire my first post,  but life has a way of changing your plans. So...

Sometimes, death can be a friend. We often view losing a loved one, as just that. Losing. And for us still left on this earth, it is a great loss in our lives.

Uncle John battled aggressive cancer for a long time, and things kept getting progressively worse. His last few days were spent in the hospital with severe pain, until he breathed his last and instantaneously found himself in the peace of Heaven.

Sometimes, death is a friend. When death means an exchange of suffering and pain, for peace and worship in the presence of Jesus. When death means never hearing "The cancer is spreading", "we've found another tumor" "the chemo just isn't working" again. When death means spending eternity with the Great Physician.

So while we mourn the loss of a great man in our lives, let us rejoice that he now has life, eternal life, in the presence of his Savior.

a.a.