Summer Time

Hello loyal CAKES fans! (special shout out to Jenna Lee and Melissa Adams!)

Here is an update as to what the CAKES gals are all up to this wonderful summer of 2012.

C - Cindy is having a Brainy Bake-tastic Bobby-Bangy Berkeley summer. She's studying hard through the summer sessions at Cal and baking a lot of fun things, so I hear. And she got the CUTEST hair cut to a short little bob with bangs! Gotta love Cindiva. Way to go, girl!
A - Attrace is practicing her Spanish skillz and learning about biodiversity in Costa Rica! Que fabulosa! Sounds like a lot of fun. And her host family has three dogs and they really like her. Or at least I presume they would.
K - Kelsey is in good ol' Ptown (that's Pleasanton) this summer and interning in Sunnyvale where it is, in fact, sunny. Most days.
E - Emily Rose Gilson is doing an amazing internship research thing in Berkeley. It's the Short Term Educational Experiences For Research in Environmental Health for Undergraduate Students. Aka STEER. In the Division of Environmental Health Sciences in the School of Public Health. BASICALLY SHE'S A GENIUS. Nothing new about that.
S - Sadie is engaged. Did we mention that?! YEAH SHE IS. And she is in her home-town SLO-town this summa. She's interning with CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) for SLO county! Sounds like hecka GTs (good times) from what she's told us!

We hope you all are enjoying your summertime! Can't wait for all da fun timez to come in the Fall!

God Bless you and America,
~K

apartment meeting

tonight CAKES had an apartment meeting, perhaps the first one of the semester. certainly the first one in a while. I am glad we had one. we talked about all sorts of things, from summer logistics to apartment aesthetics to what next year will potentially look like. it was good to hammer things out, and honestly, just to have some time where we are all together. it is rare. one fun thing, we recently implemented the "jingle jar" (just made that name up). we put loose change or coins we find randomly in the jar and when it fills up, we will go get a treat together. cute, right? so that's that. a glimpse into our collective life. OH! and we cleaned out and organized our freezer and i found food i didn't know i had!! like Christmas morning!!

-S

He Put a New Song in My Mouth

As we (minus A) sat around in the living room, some studying, some not (S)

We rewrote the lyrics to Break Every Chain//Jesus Culture

You know, just your typical Sunday night.

Enjoy (:

"There is flower in the name of Cindy

To smell every chain

To smell every chain

To smell every chain

(mine was the first, so not as creative)

There is ice cream in the name of Sadie 

To freeze every brain

To freeze every brain

To freeze every brain

There is studying in the name of Emily

To ace every test

To ace every test

To ace every test

There is sleeping in the name of Kelsey

[Emily: NOOOO!]

There is absence in the name of Attrace

To miss all the fun

To miss all the fun

To miss all the fun"

21!

Things I can apparently now legally do, among others, according to Sadie and the internet -

• purchase alcoholic beverages
• buy a gun
• rent or buy an apartment and/or house without a co-signer
• buy a car without a co-signer
• gamble in vegas

How exciting a life I can now lead. Be right back - got to go buy a new house...

~A

and the soul felt its worth

Happy Christmas! Since the CAKES Christmas blog-post is quite a responsibility, I am going to make this short. I hope you all are having lovely Christmas seasons and enjoying time with family and friends. I pray that the joy of this season is drawing your hearts closer to Jesus and stirring up awe at His grace. Last night at the Christmas eve service, my pastor opened the closing prayer with this:

"Heavenly Father, what a privilege it is to be Yours."

This is so simple, but such a beautiful truth to remember. My prayer for you is that during this season you are remembering that you belong to Him who sent us the greatest gift that could ever be given. How sweet it is that "the most wonderful time of the year" can last all year because of its true and marvelous meaning.

<On a more shallow note: roommates, I got a Kitchenaid mixer (not the stand kind though)! Yay! Now we have a mixer!>

-S

fall semester 2011 - check!

finals are over and half the CAKES have gone home.  the rest of us will be out of berkeley by the end of the weekend.  it's supposed to be a good feeling, right?  the end of finals? 

for some reason, as i walked out of my last final this evening, i felt no sense of joy. in fact, i was feeling quite the opposite. perhaps the best way i can describe it is as an absolutely overpowering sense of weighty relief (is that an oxymoron?  too bad, because that's how i felt). this semester was hard. and draining. in so many unanticipated ways. and i think the weight of all the would-should-could have beens came crashing down on me in that moment with the realization that it is finally over.

but God always knows what He's doing. soon after getting back to cakes-ville, my mommy called and then a little later emailed me this video (hence the Chinese subtitles).  it is kind of long, but i am sure you are all either done with finals or need a reason to procrastinate, so watch it. to the end.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feVmD4dlW28&feature=player_embedded

i am not particularly inclined toward liking biology right now (checked my bio 1a grade on bearfacts already and it wasn't great), but this is undeniable. it cannot be coincidence. for those who trust in the Lord, He will literally hold you in His hand and carry you all of the days of your life.  Psalm 33:18 says that "the the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His steadfast love".  the God who created the universe knows intimately your every action, word, thought, and feeling.  so i better believe that God has wonderful things in store for me - this semester was meant to cultivate my trust in this truth. 

i'm sorry if this was a little heavier than anticipated for a post-finals post =P  have a wonderful Christmas break!

~A

happy finals week.