This is so genius!!!

A Man That Will Make You Cry:

Okay, after watching many more videos from "Britain's Got Talent" on Youtube, I came across this cheeky young fellow. His story is unbelievable and I freakin hope he wins!!! I dare you not to get the chills and teary-eyed with this one...

A Girl That Will Make You Cry:

As I sat in my living room, watching this video, I couldn't help but cry. I dare you to watch and not cry!

One more movie from the future...

Okay, I didn't realize there was a trailer out for this film, but I found it. Enjoy!!!
-Nov. 2, 2007- American Gangster (starring Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cuba Gooding Jr., and directed by Ridley Scott)

Something I was thinking about...(for single people)



If you were single for the rest of your life, would you be content in just the relationship with God?

Yikes!!! Did I just go there??? Well, I understand that this is a pretty difficult question to swallow, much less answer. I haven't honestly answered it yet. I mean, up front I would say, "Ohhh yeah...I got that crap!! Of COURSE I would be...I mean, why wouldn't I..." but then when it settles in a little and I think about it, it is kind of sucky to think about. I don't want to be single for the rest of my life. That just blows!!! We are supposed to have a partner to go through this crazy journey with. Even though Adam had everything he could ever want, it wasn't enough until he had the "suitable partner" (Eve). But I wonder what it looks like to be so intuned with God that He is enough. I would like to think that we could be so intuned with God that we feel like we don't need anything or anyone else, until God's like, "Uh...bro/lady...I am everything and everyone you will ever need, but it isn't my best. My best also includes..." BAM!! God throws His BEST for you in front of your path and you are like, "HOT DAMN!...Uhh...I mean, THANK YOU JESUS!"
I would love to personally be in that place where I was so intuned with God that I feel completely secure in His greatness, His glory, His truth, His promises...and I would love that for you as well.

Thoughts?

Movies from the future:

Hey y'all, here are some movies that are coming out months and even years from now that I am so excited about and wanted to share with you so you might get excited too!

-Oct. 5, 2007: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (starring Brad Pitt)
-Dec. 14, 2007: I Am Legend (starring Will Smith)
-Feb. 8, 2008:Fool's Gold (sarring Kate Hudson & Matthew McConaughey)
-Feb. 15, 2008: Vantage Point (starring Matthew Fox, Dennis Quaid, & Forest Whitaker)
-Feb. 29, 2008: Semi-Pro (starring Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, Andre 3000, & Josh Garrett)
-May 16, 2008: The Chronicles of Narnia 2: Prince Caspian (starring Awesome Full Cast)
-May 21, 2008: Indiana Jones the 4th (starring Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, & Shia LaBeouf)
-June 13, 2008: The Incredible Hulk: The new beginning (starring Edward Norton)
-July 18, 2008: The Dark Knight (Batman 2) (starring Christian Bale & Heath Ledger)
-Dec. 19, 2008: Angels and Demons (starring Tom Hanks)
-May 1, 2009: The Chronicles of Narnia 3: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

SO, you smarter than a 6 yr. old?

Internal Happenings...
Hey everyone. I am sorry it took me so long to post a new blog entry. The truth is, I haven't had much going on in my life, other than a lot of internal thoughts, struggles, and feelings, and I wasn't too quick to talk these things out to the blog world.
I have been seeing a counselor for the last 10 months and have talked about things relating to what I am passionate about. The reason I started going was because I had no clue of what I was passionate about. The discovery of my passions led me to go to Africa to investigate those discoveries and to find some sort of confirmation for those. After returning from Africa, I have been dealing with a lot of thoughts and questions I have had about my life, about who I REALLY am, why I went out to Africa, how and when is God going to use me, will He actually use me for anything, am I usable, etc. There were so many questions that I had no answers to. This led me to begin a journey of honesty to myself, to God, and to certain people in my life. Apparently when you are honest, it opens up a lot of cans of worms and other things that have been buried for awhile.
So, two weeks ago, I went into a session with my counselor for the first time since I had returned from Kenya with hopes of talking about my time in Africa and not about what I was dealing with in recent times. BUT, because I had started a journey of honesty, I needed to continue it with putting talks of Kenya on a back burner and really go right into all I have been dealing with.

After the meeting with him, my counselor said he learned more about me in that one session then all of the past sessions over the last 9 months. Fast-forward to today... I learned more about myself then I have over the last 27 years of my life. It was crazy. We began opening old wounds that I never really knew were there and that was SO difficult to do. I must say, however, it was already a liberating experience because over the last 5 years, I have really felt like I was crazy. I would do certain things, or think certain things, or react in certain ways or feel certain things, and I never knew why I felt that way. There was always a disconnection to reality for me so I felt like I was crazy...until today. Today, there were finally connections made to my past and questions of 'why' were answered. Yeah, there is still a lot to unpack and go through, but I now can move ahead knowing that: 1. I am not crazy, 2. There is always a cause for every hurt in our life, and 3. God has a passion just brewing in me related to my hurts and pains that He "plans" on using in the future for His name to be blessed and to help others.

I am on a journey toward health and it started with me being honest with myself, honest with God, and honest with a few close people in my life. I want to encourage you to do the same. Its not easy, but it is worth it. It is worth it if God can use you to your utmost capability through it all. I love you guys and am so blessed to have people in my life that care about me, that are concerned with how I am doing, and encourage me to desire greatness.

Adventure day...

Yesterday, we had a short day of mattress moving, so we had some free time. All of the other guys went and did their thing, so I was left to think of something to do for the afternoon. I grabbed my camera and started driving. As I was on the 5 freeway, I was trying to think of what I wanted to do. I wanted to do something full of adventure and something blogable. Then suddenly, the adventure came to mind, and I got very excited. I called around to get directions to this destination, and finally I got ahold of Mr. Kyle Rutenbar. He looked up this place and gave me the appropriate directions. So, I took off on the adventure. I made my way out of San Diego city going East on the 8.

I saw beautiful mountains like this:

After about 1 hr. and 15 min., I arrived to my destination. Here are some pics of this special place:

Well, if you haven't guessed it yet, I went to the quaint little mountain town, Julian. Its main industry is apples, which they use to make cider, muffins, and many other things. Its main delicious treat, however, is apple pie. Of course I had to get me sum-a-dat, but how could I know which place had the best? So, I decided to try two different places.

The first place was Mom's:

Here is what I had to choose from. I decided on the Apple Crumb.

It was quite tasty. I didn't think it could get any better...

...but then I stepped into a wonderful world of taste and titillation. Their name: Julian Pie Company. Their game: Pies.

Here are their pies:

As I was enjoying my pie slice, I was walking around this establishment and I began to notice a trend. All over the walls of this heavenly bakery, were magazine covers which feature articles all about Julian Pie Company. I didn't realize I was standing on holy ground. Here are a few of the magazines:

After quickly consuming the pie slice, my stomach, mind, and heart all came together in unison to say, "Hot dang that was good!!" So, I gave this pie...

Because of the unbelievable taste and quality of that slice, I had decided that it would not be smart if I came off the mountain without a pie, so I bought one. It was the smartest thing I have done in a long time.

I got in my car, and made the journey back, and it was seriously one of the nicest drives I have taken. I had my windows down, the music blasting, and a huge smile on my face. The moment when it all hit me was when a song from Martina McBride came on called Blessed. I have TOTALLY been blessed and I am so thankful.

Background Check...

Dear Julie Hibbard,

I was sitting here at home with a few confusing thoughts. See, when I was younger, my mom and dad taught me a few things about life, like: "Always look both ways before crossing the road", and "if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all", and even "you shouldn't bite other people because there are enough dogs doing that". I would now like to focus on the last one; Biting. Now, I was just wondering if you happened to teach Allison that biting ISN'T okay...because it just doesn't seem like a nice thing to do. I will now just let the photos below speak for themselves and then maybe you should speak with your daughter.

Thank you.

Sincerely, Josh (Victim)

Cute Girl vs. A Monster...

1 Hour Lunch Date...

The other night, as I lay in bed thinking like I always do about that time, I had asked myself a very profound question. One that, if written in a book or novel of sorts, would more than likely go down in history as the most profound question ever printed, spoken, thought of, or even not thought of. The question I asked myself was, "Josh, if you could eat lunch with any one person on this planetary establishment we call Earth, who would it be and what would you eat?"

Well, thank you for asking such a profound question Mind-O-Josh...I would have to say none other than the genius and comedic Earth angel, John William Ferrell. You probably know him as Will Ferrell. Born on July 16 1967 and began blessing the world on July 16 1967, in Irvine, CA. Son of Lee Ferrell, Keyboardist and Saxophonist for The Righteous Brothers.

I just think it would be so absolutely amazing of a time. I would just be laughing the whole time, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I would probably ask him what his favorite thing about me is. I would NOT talk about or try to impersonate any of his characters. I would ask him what his favorite role as a Movie actor is.

I would probably eat something along the lines of a Club Sandwich with a side of fries and a Diet Coke.

Well, if I were to answer the question with more of a serious, spiritual response, I would have to say Billy Graham. He is a deep, bucket of golden nuggets of wisdom that I would love to dive into. I would love to hear his stories and struggles and thoughts about his walk with Christ.

So, now I ask you, if you could have lunch with anyone, for 1 hour, who would it be with and what would you eat?

Terget Circles

Here are some of my observations and thoughts that I have after visiting Target in Foothill Ranch 2 days in a row:

-I like the convenience of a Starbucks where I can get a delish bev or a free triple-filtered water if I so desire.

-Target does a great job at pulling off the Grocery/Clothing/Various Merchandise gig.

-Toasted Coconut Marshmallows look quite disgusting!!! -I would like to take better advantage of name tags when interacting with employees of all services like Grocery stores, Restaurants, etc.

-I still hate when people talk on their cellular telephones while standing in line and while paying for their merchandise.

-Pushing a cart full of Cool Whip (40-16 oz. containers to be exact) is entertaining, but not as much as when I could say, "I really love Cool Whip!" to a confused customer. -I'm sad that Kristen Wiig's character on SNL doesn't actually work at Target, but I am glad that Beatrice from Ghana does. -What I am most please with is that Target provided me with somethin that no other store has EVER provided: a funny greeting card. My friend Annie and I had a contest to see who could find the funniest greeting card. She did it! Not only did she find the funniest greeting card in the contest, but of ALL TIME! So, without further adieu, I would like to present to you "The Funniest Greeting Card of All Time":

Where Has This World Gone?

So, I saw this commercial the other day. It was a Volvo commercial, featuring it's newest car, the S80. What is so special about this car? Well, I wouldn't be blogging about just any ol' car commercial. In this particular commercial in a series of commercials for this model, they are highlighting a security feature called PCC (Personal Car Communicator). What the PCC does is multifaceted.

"The Personal Car Communicator (PCC) is your car key's smart connection with your Volvo S80 applying the latest in two-way radio technology. When in range, you'll always know the status of your car. Locked or unlocked. Alarm activated or not. If the alarm has been activated, the heart beat sensor will also tell you if there is someone inside the car. The PCC also includes keyless entry and keyless drive."

Ok, the thing I want to highlight is the fact that this flippin' car has technologies that can sense a heart beat of an intruder; the HEART BEAT OF AN INTRUDER!!! Are you serious? To that I would like to say, "Where has this world gone?"

"This is why I'm hot...

I'm hot cuz I'm fly. You ain't cuz you not. This is why, this is why, this is why I'm hot." Well, I had this song stuck in my head the whole weekend. I would sing the song, but with different words that would be related to whatever I was doing or what was going on. You should try it after you listen to it and see how fun it is. The song is called 'This is Why I'm Hot' by MIMS. Give it a listen and see what you think. You may think it is a fun song, or that it is the most absurd song ever. Me, I thought it was a fun, but absurd song. Welp, see ya later!

Friend Look-Alikes Part 1.

Meg Ryan looks like my friend Annie Summers ???

Pomegranates??? More like Pomegranthatsdisgusting.



Today, I went to Coffee Bean with my friend Annie Summers to enjoy a delish beverly and chat it up. Unfortunately, only one of those things took place while we were there. I ordered a new Spring07 bev of theirs they call Pomegranate Fru Tea Ice Blended Drink.

Well, it had a non-tasty kind of taste. It didn't taste like much, but what taste was there, wasn't good. Whatever you do, avoid this drink. They have many more options that would be much better. I took the risk of trying something new and it backfired. So, it was a total disappointment. But hey, my consolation prize was having a rad convo with a rad girl.

(Side Note**- If you have ever been to the new food court in Foothill Ranch, you might have noticed a rancid smell hovering in the air around the Cleaners and Childcare establishments. I do NOT know what it is but it ISN'T good!!! Just breathe through it and you'll be fine.)

I Heart Model Homes

Yesterday, March 19th, I had the opportunity to go with my friend Allison Hibbard to a wonderful new development by Shea Homes called Vantis in the lovely city of Aliso Viejo. We went there based on the recommendation of Ryanne Dearden-Witt. So, as we are driving up into this community, we go around a sweet Euro-style round-about. So fun because you can just drive around in a circle for awhile and not get bored, but we didn't do this because Allison was driving and I don't want to be THAT demanding person.

We were super hesitant to walk into the info office because most of the time, you have to talk to a lame Rep that wants to walk with you and be lame during the whole tour, but Nancy, was very cool and gave us a map and sent us on our way. What a treasure(*Note: as I typed this, I was pronouncing it in my head as Tom Holladay would say it) she was! So, we went over to the first Plan in North Latitudes and went through it. It was sweet. A large, beautiful 3 story, Downtown-style living where it is long, and narrow. So cool...anyways. We went through many, many places, and Allison loved this place that was Golf/Pink themed. It was cute but I didn't like it because of the smell. Weird, I know, but noses don't lie...ask Shakira.

We finally came upon this glorious place in which I LOVED the master bedroom. Please take a gander of the pics below.

As you can see, the room had beautiful dark brown, wooden floors. The house had a beautiful green theme throughout. Loved it.

The room had a kick-ass bathroom with checkered tiled floors, awesome orange walls, a nice large shower, and a cool black and white design on the ceiling.

It had a comfortable retreat area as you walked into the room. As you can see, there was also an opening with cool design that actually opened up into the great room down stairs.

If this room wasn't bitchin' enough, the retreat area had to have some books on a stand in which one of those happened to be, none other than, The Purpose Driven Life book. So glorious!

With all of the love that I felt in this room, you would think that there would be no way that I could love something more...well, you and I were both wrong. After we finished walking through like 11 places, we went over to, what they call, City Drive. Over in that area, there are Business/Residential plans. They are like what you would find in much of Europe and US downtown areas where you have a buisness area downstairs, and you live above it in a residential area. They were UN-BE-LEIV-A-BLE!!! I need to figure out a business I can start so I can move over there. So, this will be your assignment...figure out a business that I should start and let me know.

Thank you for reading about my wonderful day with Vantis development....and Allison.

"Back to Life. Back to Reality"
Wow, what wisdom in those 6 words. Well folks, I am back home now...and have been here since Monday, but I finally got back to normal California time today. But now I have to set my clock forward??? Stupid farmers!!! Why do you need 1 more night-time hour? You aren't working...soooo...what's the deal?
It has been an interesting transition back home. I haven't had that "super difficult" time since I have been home like a lot of others say they do. I mean, I miss the heck out of those adorable childen in Africa, but I am not in depression or anything like that. What does that mean? Does that mean I wasn't really touched? Or that I don't care? Or what?
Well, I am looking for a job and not sure what I am going to do. Any suggestions?

Hey Y'all. Here are some more pics. Enjoy!!!

Hey peeps from the block. I hope you are all doing well. I am finally able to utilize the interweb to communicate to you all. We are in a bit of a down time, resting and relaxing, as we wait for team 2 to fly in. The first 2 weeks with team 1 was anything but short of awesome. I have met so many people and have done so many amazing things already. It is unbelievable to think that I have 4 more weeks to experience more amazing moments. It is hard to fully express what each of the experiences were like through a blog, but I will do my best.

We have gone to 4 orphanges, 3 schools, 4 churches, we have handed out Mosquito nets to help in the fight of malaria, I danced with a tribe of people in Pokot, we had 3 people from our team get baptized in a river, we attended church services on Mount Elgon where I shared my testimony, we spent 9 hours on a mountain in Narok when it was supposed to take 3 1/2 due to extremely muddy roads and having our 7 vehicles getting stuck, unstuck, and stuck over and over again. We finished the first 2 weeks off by going on a safari in the Masai Mara Game Reserve which is apart of the largest game reserve in the world and I believe is the largest amount of protected land in the world. During the migration period, there are more animals in one place than anywhere in the world. We got to see lions, elephants, giraffes, zebra, hippos, all kinds of birds, all kinds of deer-like animals, and the very elusive Leopard. I'm telling you, if you have never been to the Masai Mara, the best way I can describe it is that it is God smiling at you and then winking and saying, "as much beauty and magesty is surrounding you for hundres of square miles, you are more magestic and beautiful because you are my greatest creation and I love you." That is what I felt going through that safari.

Inspite of the amazing places we have been and the incredible people we have met, and that breathe-taking safari we were on, my favorite time here so far was an unplanned hang out session with kids outside of a church in the heart of Kitale called Deliverance Church. Inside the gates, people on our team were washing, feeding, and painting the nails of street kids. There was also a medical clinic and a showing of the Jesus Film going on. I decided I wanted to go outside the gates and hang out with the kids who couldn't make it inside. So, I grabbed one other guy, Ryan, and we went out. It was so amazing. My heart was just bursting with joy and love for these kids. I kept hearing God saying, "This is your passion. This is your heart beat. This is who I created you for." I had 6 kids hanging on each arms, kids hugging me, I was throwing them in the air. The only time these children get any physical touch is when someone is beating them up or abusing them. I have not been able to stop thinking about that time since it happen.
From these first 2 weeks, I am able to say with confidence, that whatever I do, wherever I am, I must work with Children. I don't know what this looks like and what it means, but I know it is so. I am very excited to see what else God shows me during these next 2 weeks. I love you all, miss you all, think about each of you daily. I pray that God is ever so present, ever so leading, and ever so in the midst of your life, today.
Please enjoy some of the pics I included below.















Sorry, Kenya internet is flippin slow so it is hard for me to post pics so this is all I can do for now. Enjoy!

The Night Before I Leave


Hey Y'all. I am still awake the night before I leave, although I should be asleep already. I am just too dang excited to go to bed. It is hard to explain the feelings I have within me. I mean, I am enjoying my last Fat Tire before I leave, so I guess that is a nice warm feeling inside. But there is a lot of anticipation mixed with excitement for the unknown mixed with expectancy for many God-encounters.
SIDE THOUGHT: My friend Megan stopped by briefly at the house today as I was packing, to say goodbye, as she has been in Antartica for the last 2 weeks. Well, she shared with me one of the things she was praying about for me and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. She said that she is going to pray that God will allow me to truly dream while there in Kenya. Not the night-time dreaming...the kind of dreaming that we used to do as kids. Can you remember the last time you just dreamt of the future, of what could be, of just the most far-fetched ideas?

I would like to challenge you to dream big, and to have an even bigger God. The bigger the God the bigger the dream. I would also like to challenge you to ask yourself, "What am I passionate about?" I asked myself this question a year ago and in just a few hours, I will get on a plane to investigate this.

I love you all and am thankful for your prayers and support. I look forward to sharing more stories and thoughts with you and to read more comments from you so keep them coming.

Stay Tuned...

blog posts about my time and experiences, to come once in Kenya.

-Josh