Life!

Hey y'all! Sorry I kinda disappeared off of here for quit a while. I got busy and stuff and kinda fell behind on this, BUT I will try to be better at this blog stuff from now on.

Life has been one wild, amazing roller coaster ride here lately, and I thought I'd share a little bit of it with you. Well, I finished up class 2 at Animation Mentor, with my awesome mentor Jeremy Cantor...but unfortunately, I didn't end it too well. I wasn't grasping a lot of the concepts of body mechanics and it caught up with me in the last assignment, and I ended up failing the class. I hate that, but it's not a totally bad thing...being that I really didn't have a solid understanding of everything, having the opportunity to go back through the class with another mentor who will teach it their own way, different than what it has already been presented to me (which was amazing by the way) will help me get a better grasp and understanding of the material before moving on to more advanced stuff. It would be better to get the basics down now, than to move on to more advanced stuff and still have trouble with the fundamental stuff and really struggle. I am looking at the possitive side of it and I know only good will come from it in the end and I am excited to start the class again and meet my new mentor and class.

At that, if you didn't already know, and if you're an AM student, you probably have noticed that I am not around the campus...and that is because I am taking a leave of absence this term. The reason why: a new amazing job! So, here's the story. God is absolutely amazing in so many ways! I just want to say that. I have always had a love and passion for kids and I have always thought it would be great to do something in the ministry somehow. While I was going to school to be a pilot, it was being a missionary pilot....but when I changed degrees to be an animator, I never really thought their would be a way for me to use that passion to serve the Lord. I figured I would just be a whitness and a light to others that didn't believe in God or didn't know anyone who lived for Christ...but that was about the extent of what I could have invisioned. Well, get this- I tweeted the blog to my Animator Letters Project to Lee Unkrich, the director of Toy Story 3, and he liked it enough to re-tweet it so all of his 100,000 followers could then see the link to my blog. One of his followers on Twitter happen to be the art director at a church in Grapevine, about two hours from where I lived in Whitehouse (Tyler area), and he forwarded my blog on to the animation director, who is now my boss. The church is Fellowship Church and they have one absolutely incredible...BEYOND WORDS...amazing, childrens curriculum that they started called Elevate and I now animate the Bible stories for them, to be used as part of the curriculum and seen by kids all over the world. I am so thankful for this amazing opportunity, and know beyond a shodow of a doubt that God orchestrated it all and He is the reason I am here. I am so glad to be able to go to work every day and work with people who are on fire for God and know that what I am doing is for the Kingdom; spreading the Word of God to kids around the world who may have never heard of Jesus before. A little over a month ago, I would have never imagined I would be doing something like this, and I am just so blessed to be where I am right now. I love what I do. It's been pretty challenging since I came in with no prior knowledge of how to use the software, but thanks to God, I have been catching on pretty fast and moving right along. Talk about something to keep you motivated when you sit down in front of the computer, knowing that what God is using me to do through those characters on the screen is impacting the lives of kids...I love that.

So I have been at the church about a month now, and like I said I am loving it. I have been making a lot of great friends...meeting new people every day! I just went and saw Transformers 3 tonight with a group from the church and then went and ate at some place I don't even know the name of...had a blast! I love everything about the church. The service is amazing to say the least! It is very contemporary and I have yet to hear a message that was anything short of amazing. I just noticed I have said the word amazing about 50 times already. Oh well, I have a very limited vocabulary, so I have to re-use word a lot, so just get used to it. Anyways, I am living in an apartment in Grapevine all by myself for the first time in my life...as in, not the first time to live in Grapevine (which it is..) but the first time to be on my own. I have lived with my parents for my whole 23 years of being alive (minus the year I was away with the army and a few months here and there for training) so being out on my own this past month has been an experience, and so far a pretty good one. I love it...although it does take some getting used to. I'm not the best cook and have already burned nearly everything I have attempted to cook (basically whatever I can stick in the oven or microwave). Last week I tried to cook a family sized box of chicken alfredo that I was SO excited about eating...I love chicken alfredo! Not to mention, it was going to last me several days, so I was looking forward to that. Unfortunionately, I stuck it in the oven and then accidently fell asleep and woke up at 5:30 AM to the most awful smell I have ever smelt in my life...yep, I left it in the oven all night and it was as burnt as you can get it. I think I almost cried when I realized I wasn't going to be able to eat any chicken alfredo. So yeah, it's been great so far, but I gotta say, I really miss my family. I have always been VERY close to my family and always lived right there by all of them. Literally...my grandparents (dad's side) lived right nect door and my other grandparents (mom's) lived about 2 miles down the road. I spent just about every day with my grandparents, mainly my grandpa, and I miss them all so much. It's been tough being away from them, but I have called and talked to them, and even went to Whitehouse to visit once and they are all doing great.

Well...there you have it! I don't write in several months and then when I do, you get a book! :) That's me for ya! Haha! I hope everyone has a great 4th of July and enjoys some fireworks! I know I am. I'm going to the 4th of July thing the church is putting on and will be volunteering with it tomorrow so I'm looking forward to that. Also, my mom and brother are coming up this weekend to visit, so that will be great! Can't wait! Well I'm going to leave it at that for now, and I will try to write some more later!