Two Years and Counting...

Two years ago I came to visit my brother and attend Summit at Cascade. It was on this weekend adventure that I met a goofy girl named Danelle. I had no idea at the time that she would turn out to be such a dear friend.


I remember our first meeting as if it were yesterday:
–I walked into Sanders Hall to register and as I began to fill out the paper, the girl sitting at the table said strangely, “Haven’t you already registered?” I gave her the same strange look and said, “No.” She then proceeded to tell me about a girl who had just registered and could have been my twin. After this I was attacked by Roni, who said that my new best friend was at Summit. To make a long story short my “new best friend” and twin, Danelle, and I hit it off great. Actually, it was more strange than great. Providence perhaps? Danelle and I found out that we had been placed to room together for that weekend. As we began to talk throughout the weekend we found out how parallel our lives seemed to be. I have to admit it was a little creepy.

From that moment and still to this day, Danelle and I know that it was all apart of God’s plan. It’s fun to look back now and see where our friendship has come from and and what we've come through. We’ve been through the freshman dorms together, broken a dorm window or two together, shared laughs too numerous to count, and many other wonderful memories that I thank God for.

I think we’ve only been in a fight once. –One year ago on our first anniversary. We were so mad at each other that we managed to ignore each other for 3 days. If you ask us today what the fight was about we just laugh. We can’t remember.

Danelle spent this last semester in Vienna with the study abroad program while I was here on campus. Luckily we were able to save a spot in our apartment/dorm for her, for when she got back. It’s not the same as it was last year, but that’s okay, it’s not supposed to be. It's still great!

We’ve both come a long way in the past year, both individually and together. We have an amazing friendship. It’s hard for me to look back at the “coincidence” of our first meeting and not give thanks to God. He knew what He was doing.

-This year, in celebration of our 2-year friendship, first meeting and our ridiculous fight, Danelle and I celebrated with a lovely breakfast and dinner.

She is a truly amazing friend and sister. My life has been so very blessed because of her.

The Gorge

I love to be outside. Perhaps one of the reasons I love Oregon so much is because of the alluring outdoors. During the rainy season, which is the majority of the year, the sun peaks it’s head out and we are blessed with a few rain-free hours. During this time Portland is flooded by people who wish to enjoy what limited time we are granted to enjoy the sunshine.
Spontaneity is called for in moments like these in which you must drop all that you’re doing so you can enjoy this sparse gift. You could go virtually anywhere in Portland and not be disappointed. However, to stand in complete veneration of creation, the Columbia River Gorge is where it’s at.

On a day such as this, some friends of mine called and asked if I wanted to go hiking at the Gorge with them. The next thing I knew the adventure had begun and we were on our way. As we were driving to the Gorge the sun began to retreat into the clouds. Upon the arrival to our destination what was left of the sun was microscopic. We decided that we would continue on our adventure into the sun with what time was remaining. Amazingly enough, as we began hiking the sun reappeared.

We hiked to a waterfall. I’m not sure which waterfall, so we will just call it “Gorge Falls.” It was a rather cold hike filled with occasional mists of rain; nevertheless it was a good hike.




Moral of the story? Enjoy the sunshine. Enjoy the outdoors. The end.