I'M BACK, BABY!

BABY! I'M BACK! Finally got a new computer that actually works! Won't crash, and I'm all set to go with keeping you updated this time. There's nothing standing in my way of a good ole' post! So here's to the new semester of "blogging." I am on the eve of leaving for Dallas, and I am very excited but can't help but to be at least a little upset in leaving my home, where everybody knows my name. Haha. I will ultimately miss my parents. They're truly my best friends. I love them dearly, and it's always hard to leave. Alas, I have an amazing future ahead of me which starts...tomorrow. Haha. Your prayers are certainly appreciated. Will update later!

Exciting News for February!

Readers!
I am so happy to tell you guys about the phone call I got today!
Looks like I will be a Breakout Session Speaker for the Christ for the
Nations Worship Conference in February! So crazy. I'll be talking on
drums for two, one hour sessions! C'mon somebody?
I'm so excited! Pray
God will give me wisdom so that I can share it in my session!
I will be asking for wisdom from mainly, Keith Banks- my drum teacher at school!
Amazing drummer and amazing knowledge on worship and discipleship.

Please keep me in prayer and if you have any ideas on what I should talk about: let me know!

"If you were to be taking my session, what questions would you want to be answered as a drummer. (beginner, intermediate, or advanced) "

-Me

Reddi Whip. Get it!

January 7th: amazing day! Woke up early to homemade pancakes by my dad! Then relaxed, went out to lunch with my mom, errands, drums, shower, dinner, packed, desert & tea. Ending perfectly, with putting whipped cream on my moms face because she keeps falling asleep. Good times! :-)

January 6th Picture

January 6th: lovely day with the cast of How I Met Your Mother invade my house via DVD. Also, awesome dinner with my mom!!! And ended with more HIMYM with mom and dad! Oh yeah. Bought 10 pairs of sticks. NBD.

"You are the butter to my bread."

Geez. Keeping up with Project 365 is hard on the blog site! I've been keeping up on Facebook. Guess that doesn't count for anything haha. SO! I've missed 4 Days. Let me catch you up.


January 3rd: A great night in watching old videos with Nicole Cosma!!! Very grateful for video cameras. May seem a pain and dumb now, but years from now they a seriously priceless.


January 4th: just got some Entenmanns! How I love them! Special treat now since I can't find them in Texas. Looks like my fast of sweets will start a little bit later. ;-)




January 5th: hair cut and dyed. Car packed and shipped. Thought I'd make my mom special today since she has done so much for me, not only over the break but for some many years. It was our Valentines Dinner. (since I won't be home for the day, we celebrate it all as a family every year) I cooked it up and cleaned while she relaxed! Then had tea with whipped cream and watched a movie! Happy Valentines Day, Mom!

SO! There ya go! All caught up!

Today I just relaxed and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon by myself. Last night I watched Julie & Julia. Two true stories! Julia Child, a cook made famous by her French cooking! And Julie Powell, a NYC resident that went through Julia Child's cookbook in one year! Great story and movie! I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to relax and laugh! It really puts you in the shoes of Julia Child. Heck. Made me want to go out and buy her cookbook! I did want to meet her. Had high hopes till I found out that she died in 2004. My hopes were crushed! Oh well. (deep breath)

Now, I look forward and past my grief to the last couple days at home that I have! It's going to be really rough the moment of saying the word "goodbye" but all in all, I will be fine. I always am. I have amazing, honest friend down there that I absolutely love!

Give you a heads up for the semester.
January- will continue to record drums on two different projects at my church.
remember- watch me via internet. www.livestream.com/trinitychurch. I'll tell you dates and times!
February- worship conference and live worship recording that sells internationally will be happening! Very exciting! I will be involved, which will be fun!
March- Spring break! Hopefully going to see my brother in LA! If scheduling conflicts arise, I will go home! (win, win situation)
April- nothing happening as of yet.
May- I graduate the 2-year program at my school, Christ for the Nations! Woho!
Then just a couple days after graduation day, I fly off to california to start the 3 week missions trip/tour of the USA with my school. We will be going to Cali, East Coast (yes, NJ!) and then down south! It's going to be awesome! It will be Nights of Worships and worshops at different churches! I will be playing drums for it! I'll let you know when I'm in the NJ area! Hopefully, I will see YOU!
Then the summer. Ahhhhh the summer! How I LOVE you. I cannot wait to be back here for the summer!

SO! That is my life in a nutshell.

Oh yeah! I don't know too many details but it looks like I will be interning at my church in Texas! It will be a scholarship internship. (they will be paying my tuition) HOW COOL!?!

God is good! =)

Thank you readers for ..well. reading!

I will leave you with this: "You are the butter to my bread, and the breath to my life." -Julia Child

-Julie G.

Crabby Day!

These are my picture(s) of the day!!!
January 2nd: January 2nd: rough day on the Julie front. A bit under the weather and therefore being forced to sit on the couch and watch some How I Met Your Mother. Rough. ;-) Alas! Crab sauce for dinner. Reminding me of the summer time with my Ramella family in Ortley. :-)

Enjoy!

Slight Hiatus

HELLO!
Ok, everyone!
Yes, I am BACK! What happened was my beloved HP Laptop Entertainment PC had failed me by crashing tragically one sunny afternoon in Dallas, TX. NOT TO FEAR! It has been brought back to life by my smart, witty tech-savvy neighbor, Jason. Thank you very much J-Coz!
For the new year of 2010 I have decided to do a couple of things.
1)Project 365: Snapping a picture of an object or person 365 days out of the 2010 year. (meaning, everyday for those of us who didn't pay attention in elementary school)
It doesn't end there- I am also adding a description of what the picture entailed in that specific day.
I will be doing this task on blogspot so come back everyday!
2)Starting the Daniel Fast alongside of my cousin, Nikki. You can learn more about it here: http://danielfast.wordpress.com/daniel-fast-food-list/ I am actually allowing chicken due to the excessive drum playing I do while at school, I rather not pass out. Or come close...again. SO! We are doing that as a precautionary measure.
3)I will be journaling, somewhat here for you guys to read and give your opinion on and to know what's going on in my life so you can also learn as I am learning.
4)I will be reading the "One Year Bible" brings you through the bible in one year, like is says. It was given to me by my parents and I'm pretty stoked about it. If you don't have one of these bibles and like to read the bible here's a tip I learned from the founder of my school. Read 3 chapters (M-S) and 5 on Sunday! Simple as that.

So, you are caught up with what I am doing right now!
Keep comin' back for mo'

I'll be here.

-Julie

I got someone to love me.
For who I am.


Here are some pictures from Christmas Break 2009

Yet, Again. I have Failed At Communication!

Hello Everyone! It's been way to long!
Busy + No Internet makes for a bad blogger!
What have I been up too??

Well! I came home March 6-15th as most of you know!
Thank you for making my Spring Break memorable and
AMAZING! It was great seeing all you teachers! =)
After that, just a normal week at Christ for the Nations!

Then! The week of the 23rd is where God MOVED!
24th of March, Cindy Jacobs (www.generals.org) a known
prophet was speaking at our school and that Tuesday night
something out-of-this-world happened!!! I started just
praying earnestly that God would pour out a new anointing
on myself, and my drumming! I wanted something powerful and
strong! Five minutes after I prayed that, my friend turns to
me and says, God has a word for you! (When this happens, what
I mean by "God has a word for you" is my friend, heard something
about me in her heart, from God, to tell me. Hard to explain! Sorry.)
And she told me "God wants you to know that He is going to pour
out a new anointing on you and especially your drumming! When you
play drums, chains will be broken as well as strongholds that
are over people!" Man!!! How amazing! After that, I say down and
just was in TOTAL AWE of God. It was ridiculous! I started to weep
and just love on God.

The next day, after my drum lessons, my drum
teacher had a word for me also! He told me about my character, how it
is really good, and I shouldn't let others words change that.

Thursday,
Cindy Jacobs was prophesying over the student body- different people she
heard words for, again, hard to explain! All of a sudden, she says "where's Julie,
Julie the drummer?" So I look up and she turns around to look at me (I was sitting behind the drum kit) And she says "God is going to use you greatly through your drum playing. You are going to prophesy over the drums and strongholds and chains will be broken with your playing! WOW! What an amazing Word from God! How crazy of an anointing and blessing is that?! I felt so unworthy of this! God is good! I'm sorry for all the "Church-talk" its sometimes hard to explain things, like this! I hope you semi-understand! Just know that- God has His hand on you- He knows everything there is possible to know about your past, present, and future. It's so mind-blowing!
Just makes me, personally, realize how BIG God is, and how small we are! Geez.

Anyway!

In between all of this I took a trip to a ranch for an outreach which was great!!!





Then also went to my friend, Bethany Stephens ranch! AMAZING! Except, her Turkey.
Yeah...followed me around. I was pretty scared. City folk. =)

Enjoy the pictures!


















Thank you all for supporting me through this amazing time of my life! God is faithful with everything. He will NEVER be mocked. If He tells you something, there's no turning back, it WILL come true. =) If you're looking for someone to love and to be loved. Jesus is the answer. He loves you very much, even if you don't think or feel it...He's right there. Just talk to Him, He'll answer! Guaranteed!

Incommunicado!

Yes, It's been over a month! But I do have good excuses!
1. Barely any internet.
2. Busy playing and practicing drums.
3. Trying to spend less time on the PC.
4. Live Recording.
5. Went on Road Trips.

So let me catch you up!

January was pretty much getting my foot healed up and practicing drums, learning A LOT at school and just trying to get deeper in God's Word and in my prayer life! It's been an amazing experience getting closer to God's heart! He has shown me soooooo many new things about himself that I had no idea about! Peace, care, mercy, and just pure love! Makes you feel so whole, never feeling alone- He's just always there to give me comfort or advice, or even a hug when I miss home! I've continued to play drums at my church, Trinity! It's been going awesome! It was a great church with awesome leaders and pastoral staff! So, that pretty much sums up January!

February has been a roller coaster!!!
The Live Christ for the Nations recording was the 13th. Everyone put a lot of work into it and I am sooo proud of them! All my friends played and sang on it. Also, one of my close friends Bethany Stephens actually wrote and sang her song on the recording called "You Deserve it All." A powerful declaration to God! She is an amazing songwriter and an anointed singer and woman of God! I love her to death! Melanie (my best friend) and I were in the Choir for the recording. (And yes, for those of you who know I can't sing must be wondering- how did this come about? well! Since I am on a Student Worship team I am required to be in the choir!) It was A LOT of fun, but also exhausting! You must all listen to the CD and watch the DVD! I can honestly say, there is not one song on the CD that I do not like and is not found int he bible! Amazing! It comes out May 8th! Please please please get it! It's awesome! (www.cfni.org)

JESSICA FREEMAN


MICHIYA TANAKA


GABE ALLRED


MICHIYA


JUAN PARK


JEREMY ALDERATE





JOHNNA ALLEN


WORSHIPPERS


BETHANY STEPHENS


BENSON EAPEN


Singers


MELANIE AND I


MELANIE AND CAMILA


MELANIE AND ANDREW





Valentine's Day was a lot of fun! I got a surprise flower delivery from my parents!!! They are amazing--


The following week was very busy! Wednesday I played for the night service at Trinity, Friday was a night of worship at Lakeshore Church in Rockwall, Texas! Gabe (the worship leader here at CFNI, also leader at Trinity Church) asked me to play along with other CFNI students! It was a lot of fun, the hospitality of that church, and servant hood couldn't even be put into words. Those are the people I look up to and hope to be!!! True servants of people and therefore of God!!!
Then the next day, the 21st of February I traveled to Louisiana with Robert Quintana and a group from CFNI! We left at 8am Saturday morning for our 4-hour drive to LA! We arrived at Natchitoches and were greeted by my friend and peer at CFNI along with her family and the pastor of the church with a Home cooked meal! AHHH! It was great to be around that! Again, hospitality was more than words! The pureness of these people's hearts blow you away! After we stuffed our bellies we had an hour or so long sound check for the Night of Worship later at 7pm. Afterward we went back to the hotel to relax and try to nap! 7pm came around and we headed to the church, prayed up and were off to bring the congregation into the throne room of God! It was an amazing night, God showed up in a great way!
Again, God is just showing me, and I'm sure all of my friends all new things and it's a great place to be in! But it's also a very challenging place to be in because the Devil hates us getting closer to God, means he's loosing his grip on us and we have our faith tested. Anyway, enough preaching! After the night of worship we all went to a sit-down Sonic! SOOOOOOO Good!!! Ahh! The pastor blessed us with that great meal! Great people!
Got back to the hotel and the guitar player and bass (who were rooming together) forgot their key and went directly to the front desk as we went up and discovered they left their door open. SO! I told my friend Benson (a singer) that he should take all their stuff since they left it open! So he did as much as he could before I heard them coming back! This was at around 10pm. They didn't realize their stuff was gone till around 1am! Haha, they even reported it to the front desk. Benson ended up telling them what happened and returned their stuff. It was a great memory! The next morning we had the Sunday morning service and it was again, a blessed time. They prayed over us and took an offering up for us. These people are the real deal! MAN!!
If only every church was like that! A lot more people would be reached.
Afterward, the pastor took us out again to a nice restaurant and blessed us! Seriously...AMAZING people. I pray everyday that they are blessed ten-fold!!! For all my family and friends-- I apologize. The pastor, knowing I'm from New Jersey, made a deal with me to say "Y'all." Now, that just DOES NOT HAPPEN. However, I felt as though the least I could do was say a word in return for all the church had done! So, he said if I liked the food Sunday afternoon I had to say it. And the food was pretty awesome...so yes. YES! OK!!! I SAID IT! Ahhhh! But never again!

=) here are some pictures from the trip!

(L-R) MR.PATTON, ROBERT QUINTANA, JAMIE BIRKENFELD





GROUP PHOTOS!




JAMIE AND BETHANY


PIGLET AND POOH, I MEAN ROBERT AND TIM


JAMIE BIRKENFELD


BETHANY STEPHENS


God is doing amazing things here! A spirit of just selflessness has come over all my friends and myself. It's a great thing to get in the habit of. Just blessing others, whether its in serving or financially! When the Lord see's that we have a pure heart of blessing others and we realize that all we have is actually His anyway, He blesses us in return.

I'm loving being in the will of God. There's really NO OTHER PLACE I'D RATHER BE!
What a great time to grow and learn!

=)

I pray blessings over all of you who read this and whom I love every night!
I speak life over you and believe that God will show you new things in the near future. Go near to Him and He will make himself known to you.

-JMG