help!

I have the amazing opportunity to return to the place that changed my life. My team of 11 girls gets to travel to Uganda and spend 3 weeks there working in Eydie's children's home. I cannot describe how excited I am to go back. But, I need to raise $2800 to go. And I need to have $1000 of that in by February 11th. and let's just say that as of right now, I'm nowhere near meeting that goal. So, I'm asking for your help. I know that not many people in this world read or care about this blog. But, if you happen to be reading this, all I ask is that you would think about donating. My trip last May literally changed my life. And I would SO appreciate any help you could give to get me back there.

Here is a link where you can read my team's updates from last May. This may give you a glimpse of what you would be supporting...
http://www.calbaptist.edu/spiritual-life/international-service-projects/default2.aspx?id=13711&photo_id=13773

And here is the link for donating...
http://www.calbaptist.edu/isp/fundraising/
Once on this page, click the "proceed to online giving form" link. Once into that site, make sure that you choose the ISP tab under the "Category & Funds" section. And then put my name (Bradyn Brown) and my team's name (Uganda: Children) in the comments section.

Thank you again for helping me get back to Uganda and these amazing children...

best day ever.

This past weekend, I had to opportunity to go to Santa Monica and be reunited with some of my staff :) On Friday, me, Ash, Sarah, Carissa, Hannah, and Kelsey drove down to Jana's new apartment. We all went out for pizza and then made monkey bread at Jana's apartment. It was lovely. It was so good to get to hang out with some of my girls. Jana just got engaged last month, so of course, most of the night was spent talking about girly wedding stuff :) but more than that, it was so good just to catch up with everybody.

On Saturday, Ash, Sarah, and I got up pretty early (Jana had to leave to go dress shopping) and headed out to explore Santa Monica. We stopped at Starbucks and headed towards the pier. We parked kinda far away from the pier. So it took us a while to get there, but that was just fine with me. I love the beach. And I love walking in the cool, salty breeze. And the weather was just perfect. We made it to the pier and walked around a little bit. And of course, we took a ride on the ferris wheel :) which was so much fun! We ended our exploration with a little lunch at Bubba Gumps. mmmm...

Can I just say that these two girls are SUCH a blessing to me?



I so needed a day away from campus and from homework. And spending the day with these two was exactly what I needed. They are a constant encouragement to me. Our conversations are so precious to me. I just adore the two of them, and getting to spend serious quality time with them was incredible as always.

And then there was the ride home. At one point on our ride home, Ashley (who was driving) told me and Sarah that she had one more surprise for us but that we needed to blindfold ourselves. So, Sarah and I complied and covered our eyes. Somehow, and I don't know how, I just knew that we were taking Sarah to her boyfriend Kris and that he was gonna propose.

Sure enough, Ashley drove us to the orange groves here in Riverside where Kris was waiting for Sarah. He took her into the orange groves and asked her to be his wife. I immediately started crying once Ashley confirmed what was going on. I felt so honored to be a part of the day that one of my best friends got engaged. And I am SO excited for Kris and Sarah.

Basically, Saturday was the best day ever :)

semester #2

well I started my second semester of the nursing program yesterday. let's just say I'm a little overwhelmed already. Just looking at the master calendar for one of my classes makes me want to cry. But, I'll just have to figure out how to push through it. It's only 4 months until summer :)

In other news...


Jess, Kris, and Bre took me to go get my ears pierced yesterday. I've had my ears pierced before but they always got infected, so I let them close up. We'll see how it goes this time.

welp...

it's back to the grind. I'm heading back to school today. I'm going to pack everything up as soon as I post this :) Christmas break has been lovely. It has been exactly what I needed. It felt incredible to have a life again. I absolutely loved being able to spend time with people whenever I wanted. And now, it's time to give that up again. It's back to school for another ridiculously hard semester. On a positive note, I am excited to get back and see my roomies and my friends. It's been really weird not seeing them every day. And, I'm going to Disneyland tomorrow as the last hurrah of Christmas break.

Christmas break, you've been good to me. Until next time...