if you REALLY knew me, you would know that...

i want to do something a little different than what i have been writing.  i have been thinking lately about what people know about each other, to put it simply.  there are always things that people dont know about you.  i think its fun to learn more about each other so here are a few things that you might not have known about me... i like to call it "if you REALLY knew me, you would know that..."

so, if you REALLY knew me you would know that...

1. I FULL HEARTEDLY LOVE JESUS CHRIST
2. i really like the LAKERS
3. derek fisher is my favorite player
4. i secretly love country music
5. if i could go bare foot i would 365 days a year
6. i don't like small cars at all
7. i LOVE my family
8. i hate being alone
9. im pretty sarcastic
10. i cant stand it when people chew with their mouth open

that is just a few things that you might not have known about me.

technology

what would happen if you had NO technological devices right now?  would you be able to finish your conversation? would you miss that e-mail? would you not be able to get to where you are going? I think in this day and age we, including myself, relay on our cell phones, computers, ipods and what ever else we use on a daily basis too much.  if all of that was taken away for just 24 hours without any notice that it would be gone would you be fine with that? or would you feel disconnected and not know what to do with yourself?  cell phones are great, but i think we depend on them more than we might think.  we dont even realize that we carry it around EVERYWHERE we go.  with the technology now, we dont need anything else, all we need is on that one device.  but, what happens when you suddenly dont have that device anymore? our world gets turned upside down and we dont know what to do with ourselves.  we let our mind wonder if you are missing out on anything because you cant text anyone back if they texted you.  or you have to actually go onto your computer to see if you have any new e-mails.  eventually we wont need to leave our house because you will be able to do ANYTHING if you have access to the internet.  its kind of weird to think about. so think about it! how attached to your phone are you?

moving day!

it feels so nice to be able to get back on the internet after not having it for about 5 days.  we did not have internet or TV or anything of that matter because we MOVED!! 4 years in waiting and it is finally here! we officially moved in 4 days ago so we are still living in boxes but slowly we are unpacking everything.  this new house is such a blessing, and only the Lord could have made this happen.  we have been looking and looking at different houses over the past 4 or so years. we looked at this house over and year ago and had to let it go because there was no way we would be able to swing the deal.  a year later the Lord is still so faithful and the deal was going to work this time! so after praying and praying, here we are! it feels like we are living in a dream or on vacation. it does not seems real yet.  im sure that will wear off but for now we are all loving it! it is a little bit of a bummer that i will only be here for another 5 months but im happy that my family is able to have more space and we no longer have to live on top of each other.  the Lord is faithful to answer always, we just need to be patient to wait on HIS timing and HIS answers.

happy adoption day!

today everyone got to miss school and we all went to the court house to sign adoption papers for Skila.  it was so great! this is now the 5th time we have all went to go sign adoption papers for the members of the hatten family.  its such a great celebration. a bunch of people/social workers come that have kinda walked through the whole process with us.  its fun for them to come and see that a case has finally ended and the child is in a good home.  after sitting in traffic for an hour and a half we finally got to the court house and all went through security and went up to the waiting area for our court room.  usually it doesn't take to long but today everyone was on their own schedule so we ended up waiting another 2 hours to be seen by the judge.  if you know anything about kids you know that you cannot tell them to just sit down and wait patiently and we will go in as soon as they call us. so everyone was getting a little antsy. finally some volunteers came and had some coloring pages for everyone so that was a good time passer (even i was coloring :))  finally they called us in.  we all took a seat at a long table in front of the judge.  the judge says his thing and my parents raise their right hand and say their thing. its really neat.  then my parents sign the papers and bam! just like that she is officially adopted.  she is now officially a HATTEN.

after everything is signed we all get to go where the judge sits and take a picture.  so if you couldn't guess that is what this is a picture of.  we then all went out to brunch to celebrate.  Skila has been a joy to everyone she meets and im so glad to call her my sister.  LOVE YOU SKILA MAY!!

a day of love

all to often people think of valentines day and think "i love valentines day!" or "i hate valentines day!" you know this is also singles awareness day or S.A.D. day. either way you look at it you people all around you are happy and lovey or sad and grumpy.  so take your pick, either be lovey or grumpy or you could just make the best of it.  we have so much around us that i think its only fair to make the best out of what ever situation we may be in.  if we want this day to be about love, we should think about the love that jesus has for us. i mean it is valentines day, the day of love and the ultimate lover would hands down be Jesus Christ.  so why dont we make this day more about him?

can you not listen to this song and really think that jesus DOES really love us? i cant, its so great.  i think we know it but we need to be reminded of it because we lose sight of what really matters.  so i hope that you think about the real meaning of love this valentines day.

a great weekend

last weekend i went to winter camp with my jr highers at forest home. wow! what a weekend it was! so many students so many laughs so many fun times.  i hung out with my girls just about every moment of the weekend. it was one of my girls birthdays on saturday when we were there so we all had so much fun singing to her and celebrating her 13th birthday. the best part of camp with hanging out with everyone 

this is a picture from our cabin. 

paulina, natalie, karla and paris

love these girls! 

living for what?

it has been a while since i have last said anything, partly because i still dont exactly know what i want to say so that the whole world could read it if they wanted to.
yesterday my mom went to a funeral for a little girl who was 4 years old.  so sad.  she died in a freak accident where a TV fell on top of her.  it is so sad when you think of that. 4 years old so so young, she still had her whole life to live.   why jesus wanted her to come home to him im still not sure.  in my eyes she was robbed of her life, she had 2 parents who loved her and took care of her every need and a brother and sister who loved her dearly.  i wanted to go to the funeral but i was unable to go because of work and school.  the word "funeral" has the word "fun" in it. if you ask me there is NOTHING fun about a funeral. i guess you have to think of where she is going to be going, she gets to meet jesus! that is an amazing thing i cant wait till i finally get to meet him! i do hope that its not for some time though because i feel i still have a lot to do with my life before i meet jesus face to face.  i have heard of so many freak accidents lately that i have been think a lot about what am i doing with my life and does it count for anything.  am i living for myself or for something more.  i believe that i am living for something more. i believe there is a wonderful God out there who has this whole world under control even though it does not seem that way if you look and see all that is going on.  i would like to say that i am living every moment of every day for jesus but in reality that is not true.  there are times that i feel ashamed to be called a christian.  i know for a fact (thankfully!) that i am not the only one who thinks that but it does not make it any better.  if i believe whole heartily in jesus why do i not let it show sometimes?  i also believe in the devil and that he has a lot to do with that.  im allowing him to take over what i am feeling.  i do not like that and fully want to change that about myself.  so that is what i have and will be working on in my personal life.  im going to conquer the devil and not let him into my life.