yeah... a lot has happened.

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST IS VERY BRIEF BUT YOU WILL WISH IT WASN'T

So yeah... here's a VERY abridged version of some life events since my last post, in no particular order...

On May 21, I replied "OF COURSE I WILL" to a very important question.

More about this later.

Ha.
:)

Lucas, one of my friends and classmates, and I lead a team of 15 on a mission trip at the Portland Rescue Mission.  It was certainly a challenge, but it was worth every minute and seriously rocked my world.  These people have since been so dear to me, and God is so good!

Finished up the year with this INCREDIBLE class at Ecola.  AHHH these people mean so much to me.

Yep. :) LOVE these people.

My beautiful friend Angie took this picture.
And yes, it's the same guy from the first picture.
OH have I got a story to tell you. Oh boy. Hahaha!



And now that I've tortured you a little with my vagueness...

HELLO AGAIN!

Little by little I will follow up with more and will be able to share with you guys a bit of my life again!  It's been an INSANELY crazy past five months. (Which I will be sharing with you in time.) And the months ahead are only gonna get a little crazier. (Which I will also be sharing with you.) But it's time I start using this lovely little thing called a BLOG again, since I do have a small amount of time on my hands now. :) God is so good and I have learned so much, it's truly unbelievable.  Oh man.

And it's also 2:29 in the morning, so I shall continue this soon when most of the world in the Pacific time zone are awake and when my writing skills are actually a little more apt for the task of writing things!  Goodness, why do I decide to do these things at such illogical times?

Until next time... :)

-barefoot mangosteen

christmas and the new year. in review.

December 22: A few of my Ecola friends met up and had Chinese food in Portland to bid our good friend Kevin (top right) farewell before he headed off to Moody Bible Institute!  This was during our "after party" at my house.  It's what we call a "typical family portrait." Ha.

OH HEY GUYS!

It's been a crazy past few weeks.  Christmas, New Years, and, of course, Ecola starting back up!  I just finished my first full week back in Cannon Beach and so much has happened that I feel as though I've been here for a month. 

First thing is first: I hadn't mentioned earlier, but one of my Ecola brothers, Andrew (the photographer featured a couple posts ago), stayed with our family for two and a half weeks for various reasons during Christmas break.  He left the few days around Christmas to be with his family but for the most part was a McBrearty for a couple dozen days.  Of course my family was slightly apprehensive (but mostly excited) to have a guest for an extended amount of time; it turned out to be a ton of fun and Andrew fit in as if he shared our DNA.

Anyway... CHRISTMAS!  With just the 4 of us (my dad, mom, 15-year-old brother Mark, and myself), we celebrated Christ's birth with all of our usual quirky traditions - having good family friends over for late dinner and gift exchange on Christmas Eve, opening one gift on Christmas Eve (PJ's, as usual), my brother and I doing our crazy Christmas dance (roll around on the floor in giddy excitment), reading through the book Jotham's Journey (an Advent series about a boy on intense adventures during the time of Jesus - check it out!), my dad and I waking up at 5:00 in the morning to open a present before everyone else, and eating [way too much] delicious food (my mom is an incredible cook...oh, and an incredible mom too).

NEW YEARS - At dinner time on December 31, my family (and Andrew) volunteered at my church at an outreach called The Jesus Table!  This is where many volunteers from my church spend hours cooking and preparing a meal for 75-100 guests from the community who are in need of a free dinner.  There are cooks (my mom), servers (my dad and my brother), people who dine with the guests to get to know them and share good conversation with them, and, on the occasion of New Years, a few people who played/sang some music to bring more joy to the even (myself and two of my best friends and their dad)!  Here are some moments for you - 

My dad getting some delicious twice-baked potatoes ready to serve.

My mom cooking up some delicious sauce to put on the chicken. ("Supreme Sauce" I think she called it.)

From left to right: Steve (Emily & Erin's dad), Emily, me, and Erin singing some classic tunes.

 Mark (far right) and Andrew (to his right) as well as Marks' friend Brian from church stand ready to serve dessert!

The wonderful guests enjoying the meal, the music, and the company :)

That's just a snippet - it was wonderful.  Everyone worked joyfully and so evidently for Christ.  I used to have a ton of bitterness against church (more on that some other time), but when I actually get to participate in things like this, I see the genuine hearts and ready minds and I can't help but rejoice.

After we finished serving and laughing and eating and cleaning, we headed over to my grandma's where we talked and laughed for about an hour (More on my grandma in another post - I love her). With Andrew over, we of course mainly played with a bunch of sparklers and fireworks and tried not to get burnt by flying sparks and flames.  

Sparklers galore.

Here Andrew flinches from a wild little crackleball. (Notice that thing in the sky?)

More of Andrew's wonderful reactions. (That thing in the sky is a Chinese lantern! Ha!)

Mark bravely throwing a firwork into the street, only a second or two before it goes off.

Sometimes this happens.  (And sometimes it doesn't go up but instead it goes straight at us... and we RUN!)

Last but not least, here is the exact second 2014 began.  Featuring the McBrearty's and our honorary McBrearty, Andrew Riley.

Ecola-related update soon to come. :) God is so good. Happy New Year!

-mangosteen