CHRISTmas!

Okay, I have a lot to say, but I don't even know where to begin, or how to say it all.

I guess I'll start with Christmas. It was wonderful! On Christmas eve we had a nice supper together, and then played games. We had my friend, Vicki, and my neighbor, Zach, over and they added to all the fun! Right now my bedroom is torn apart because we're fixing it up some, so my bed was out in my oldest brother Erik's bedroom. So, I slept in his room. It was kind of a funny night... somehow the heat got turned off so it was FREEZING cold, and I kept having weird dreams and waking up (mostly because it was so cold!). Anyway, we all slept in on Christmas morning and that was actually really nice. I think this is the first year that I've slept in on Christmas. We all got up around 8:00 and sat around talking and such for a few minutes... then we all took our showers and got dressed. It was neat because it was just a nice, low-key day. We opened our stockings, and then had a nice breakfast. After breakfast we opened presents. It was a lot of fun... all of us just sitting around together, laughing, and enjoying ourselves. I got a couple of pairs of shoes which were really cool - one pair was neon pink and the other was neon green. :) I got two books - "Before You Meet Prince Charming" by Sarah Mally, and "Raising Maidens of Virtue" by Stacy McDonald. I've read both of those books before, but it's especially nice to own them. They are SUCH good books!! I would very highly recommend them to any young lady who wants to serve Christ. I also got a really nice handbag with music notes and Scripture about music on it. I love it!! We got some gifts that were for all of us - a bunch of Christian movies! We got Fireproof, Facing the Giants, Flywheel, and some others. I couldn't have gotten any better presents! I love my family so much. It was great to be with all of them for the past few days.

Now to tell you about all the WONDERFUL things God is doing in my life!! I don't know how to put it into words... He has totally changed me, and my view of life! A week or two ago, I was trying very hard to live righteously, but I didn't feel the passion and closeness of our Savior. I wasn't living completely for Him. I was tying, but I wasn't trying in HIS power, filled with HIS Holy Spirit. I just couldn't take that. I hadn't done anything the most people would consider a "big" sin, but I had strayed so, so far from where I needed (and still need!) to be. I got down on my knees and poured out my heart to God. I confessed everything I had done... all of my selfishness and pride, all of waywardness, everything. I prayed and begged God to reveal Himself to me, to give me a passion, to fill me with the Holy Spirit. That was my constant prayer for about a week. On Christmas day, He truly did show Himself to me. I can't explain it... I just had a total change in my understanding of Him. These past few days I have just CRAVED Him. It's wonderful!! I have been reading the two books I got for Christmas, another book called Stepping Heavenward, and of course, the Bible! It's wonderful. God is teaching me so, so, SO much about how I am to live. Please, please pray for me. I don't want to lose this passion. God is doing marvelous things in my life. He is SO INFINITELY GOOD! Praise Him!!

"I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice, and He gave ear unto me." Psalms 77:1

"I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known they faithfulness to all generations." Psalm 89:1

The Wilson Heart

Hey everyone,
I'm putting in a link here to a blog from a family I know of who's 7-month-old baby boy, Josiah, has Hypoplastic Left heart Syndrome (HLHS). If you take the time to read a little bit about him and the family, I know you will be blessed. Please pray for them! Pray for healing for Josiah and for rest and comfort for the whole family. They are a wonderful example of trusting God through hard circumstances!

TheWilsonHeart.com

Lessons...

Today I just have a thought to tell you about what God is teaching me. I have been learning to let go of things. I have a real tendency to be angry about things... which leads to bitterness. I used to just get depressed when bad things happened, but recently I've started getting angry. I've been watching a series of sermons on DVD by Paul Tripp called, "How to Be Good and Angry," and it has really been good for me. I realized that the reason people get angry is that we make our normal desires into demands. God has given us desires... that's completely normal and good. The problem is when a desire becomes a demand. We HAVE to control our desires! We all have a sin nature, and our desires can very easily take control of us. The human heart is an idol factory. We have to keep laying our desires down before God and not let them become controlling. I've been learning to keep returning all of the things God gives me to Him, and also learning to rise again after I fall and mess up. When you sin, don't fall into a pit of despair. It is right to feel grief over your sin, but don't wallow in it. Repent and keep going on to do what's right. Thankfully, God is SO merciful and good as I go through the process of learning these things!

"For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity." Proverbs 24:16, ESV

Thanks for taking the time to read! God bless you all; have a great Christmas!

"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now." Philippians 1:3-5, ESV

Christmas Vaycay :)

So, I'm on Christmas vacation!!

On Thursday we packed up to leave for my Grandparents' (on my dad's side) house on Friday morning. We didn't expect, however, to get about a foot of snow, or to have our snow-blower break! We got a new snow-blower on Friday, and got up bright and early on Saturday morning to leave. When we left we had about 2 feet of snow, and we probably will have more when we get back!

Anyway, after a hectic morning of packing and cleaning, we left at around 8:30 AM and traveled for several hours, and with a few stops along the way, made it to Gma and Gpa's house at lunch time. Grandma made us a delicious lunch - she's such a great cook! After we were done eating, we sat around the table and shared Christmas memories. It was especially fun to hear my mom and dad's memories of Christmas as kids. Later we watched a movie together, and then opened presents!! I got a big purple storage box thingy (kind of hard to describe) that will look great in my bedroom. I also got some jewelry and candy. I love everything I got! Supper was wonderful. We had shrimp, homemade cream of broccoli soup, garlic bread, and fruit salad. The table was beautifully set, so it looked very lovely. We had quiet Christmas music playing in the background. It was so nice. It was especially nice to spend the day together with family.

Today we got up and went to my grandparents' church. It's really different from ours, but it was nice. :) Everyone recognizes me, but I don't recognize most of them - lol. As soon as we got home, we headed to my other grandparents' house for Christmas with my mom's side of the family. It was a great night. I got a lot of presents, too! I got a bracelet, some body spray, and shower gel from my aunt and uncle. My grandparents (on my mom's side) got me some earrings, sheets and a furry blanket, and candy. I also got to see my uncle's 2 month old daughter, Macy Elizabeth. She is so beautiful!! Tonight my grandma and I and maybe my brothers are going to watch a movie together, then head home tomorrow. God has blessed me SO much, and showed me such abundant love and mercy! He is the reason for the season, not presents or travel or any of that. And HE is what is truly bringing me so much joy. Praise be to HIM!!

I'm Back!!!

Hey there everyone!! Guess what - I'm back!

I haven't blogged for a while because it was getting very stressful. Life is still pretty crazy, but I'm going to start blogging again, even if I don't do it very often.

I won't write much now, because it would take a long time to try to summarize the past 3 months! I will try to keep you posted about what happens from here forward though, as much as possible. All that I'll say now is that God is SO GOOD to me! :) That's all for now friends!

Hey everyone, I don't think I'm going to be blogging anymore, or at least not for a long time. It is extremely hard for me to keep up with blogging amidst my busy schedule. So, sorry about that, but I won't be blogging for while.

Life...

Soooo...

Last Saturday we had drama team practice in the morning, and then we discussed with Pastor Jim, a few other adults, and a bunch of us teens whether or not we would be able to do the skit for the Teen Power-Up, and in the end we decided that the best idea would be to just go through with it, so I am SO EXCITED!! Please pray for the Power-Up that it will go well and many people will see Christ through it. I think it's going to be really good, and I can't wait! After we got home from practice, we went to a home-school picnic and stayed for a few hours. That was nice. I was supposed to babysit that evening, but it didn't work out.

On Sunday I had my friend, Vicki, over for the afternoon and we did a photo-shoot. (I always love it when we get a chance for a photo-shoot =]) We got a lot of nice pictures and it was a lot of fun. :)

Monday started another week or more school. Yesterday we had another drama team practice which went well, but it was a pretty long day for me.

Today I went to piano lessons and loved it! I'm getting a really nice book of Christmas songs this year. I know it seems way too early to be thinking about Christmas, but the songs take a lot of practice and I want to be able to play a bunch of them by Christmas time.

God has been teaching me a LOT lately! I've been memorizing a lot of scripture and reading a lot too. I have read all of the New Testament except Revelation this summer. I can't really write everything I've learned, but basically, I have been learning to walk with God all the time, have joy in Him, and not be ashamed of Him.

That's about it. Thanks for taking the time to read this! God bless.

School and skits and stuff

Hi! Sorry it's been so long since I've written (do I say that every time? lol =]). It's hard to keep up with posting. A lot has happened; I'll try to post a summary of it. Let's see... I started school this past Tuesday. It was hard to get used to it the first couple of days, but I think I'm adjusted to the new schedule now. I usually like school because I'm the kind of person that likes a very structured, scheduled, orderly life. (You may not know it by my bedroom, but it's true =P)

This past Wednesday I did school again, then in the afternoon was drama team practice for the Teen Power-Up. I mentioned before that we're doing the "Everything" drama, which is REALLY awesome and powerful. I'm not in it, but I go to the practices anyway to fill in for anyone who couldn't make it, and just to help whenever I can. We stayed through from practice until prayer meeting that evening. At prayer meeting we got some disappointing news.... we might not be able to do the drama. There was some concern that the dancing/choreography wouldn't be appropriate, and a couple of other things. Everyone has been REALLY praying about it these past few days. I think that it has a really powerful message that is exactly what we want to express at this event, and if we do it it will be a huge ministry. At the same time though, we don't want to offend anyone, or cause anyone to stumble. So PLEASE pray that we would figure it out and be able to make it happen.

Yesterday I went to piano lessons! I am on my 5th year of lessons and they just started up again for the school year. I'm really excited - I love piano! Then today hasn't been terribly exciting, just school and chores, but it's been a good day. Tomorrow will be busy... we have drama team practice at 10 AM, then a picnic to go to, then I'm babysitting from 4 PM until late that night. I'll write more later I guess! :)

August 28-30, 2009

Wow! It's been a busy weekend! On Friday we headed out in the morning to go see some of our friends from PA who we were meeting at a mall a couple of hours away from our house. We got delayed by a whole bunch of stuff - road work, traffic, etc. and we got there almost an hour late, which was a bummer since we only had a short amount of time. We met our friends at the mall, then window shopped for a little while, just talking and enjoying ourselves. We had conflicting interests though... my friend Emily and I wanted to look around in Deb, but the boys wanted to go to Zumiez. We all just sort of went around and had fun and then went to Subway for lunch. We ate and then continued to walk around and look at stuff. Emily and I went to Deb and tried on some really pretty prom dresses. The one she tried on was yellow and she looked like Belle from Beauty and the Beast! It was really pretty. I tried on one that was off-white and really fluffy and lacy and it was so pretty. If it was a little longer and was pure white it would have looked just like a wedding dress! It was really, really pretty. After that we had to leave, so we said goodbye and headed to my grandparents' house to stay for the night.

The next morning we had to go to a funeral for my Great Grandmother. I was really encouraged to find out that in her last days she had accepted Christ as her Savior and so now she is in heaven with Jesus! Hallelujah!! After the funeral and a meal we headed home.

On Sunday, my mom and I had nursery during the morning service. There ended up being 7 kids there - all under the age of 3! It was pretty busy, one was wailing and crying for her mommy, one was really tired, one had an accident in the middle of the floor, and the rest were playing happily, but quite noisily! It was fun though; I love little kids. I found out that a family in our church who lives about 15 minutes away from us is in need of a babysitter, so I am REALLY excited about that!! I love babysitting!

Today I got up early and did chores throughout the morning. We had auditions today for a skit called "Everything" that our youth group is doing on September 19th, so I headed out to go to that around 11 AM. Different people tried out for different parts, and after a lot of practice we finally decided who the cast would be. I didn't get a part and was pretty bummed about that at first, but I'm glad because we got the perfect people for each part. After we had the parts chosen we practiced it a few more times. It went very well for a first practice. I'm really excited to see what God will do with it!

And I think that pretty much sums up my weekend. God is good! :)

An eventful week :)

Wow! The past week has been good. Last Saturday I went to a youth event called the Gathering and it was REALLY good! I had to show up at my church at 8:30 AM because it was a 2 hour drive. We all carpooled and had a fun van ride. When we got there they were giving out door prizes different things and we all had fun trying to answer the questions, and just talking and hanging out. Then the whole group of about 430 people all sang some really awesome praise songs to God and it was so encouraging to hear that many voices raised in praising Him. After that, there was a message presented by a speaker and it was really good. It was about living out our salvation. When it was over we all filed out and made our way through the lunch line and just ate and enjoyed the nice day for a while. We laughed and had a ton of fun, then headed back in and there were more door prizes, and then more awesome praise music. There was another message which was REALLY good. It was about Esther, and how huge of a sacrifice she was willing to make to do what's right. If you think about it, she was really well off. She was the queen of Persia, she was considered the prettiest girl in the country, she probably had servants catering to her every whim, and basically anything she wanted could be hers, but she was willing to sacrifice all of that, even her very life, to do what God wanted. She was willing to live a truly dangerous life for Jesus Christ. I was challenged to do the same. I must be willing to sacrifice anything (including popularity, friends, reputation, etc.) for Jesus.

On Sunday I went to the morning service and really encouraged by the sermon to stand and fight. Pastor spoke form 1 Kings 19, about Elijah. Elijah was a man of God, but in this chapter, things got tough and he went and hid and pouted. He listened to Jezebel's threats even though he KNEW how much more powerful God is. We can't let the enemy bully us into that state! We have to stand our round and not try to run from our problems.

That afternoon we went to a coming home party for my friend Abby, who just got back from Papua New Guinea. It was SOOO nice to see her and her family again! We all spent time together and had a crazy and fun time. We stayed there until 12:30 AM talking and it was really encouraging.

The other days this week haven't been very eventful, so I won't write about them. That's all for now!

LIfe is good, eternal life is better! :D

Hey everyone! God has been teaching me soooo much lately! I have been learning about being truly set-apart for God, and really having joy in my Christian walk! I have been reading the book "Set-Apart Femininity" By Leslie Ludy, and it is an AWESOME book! All of the books by Eric and/or Leslie Ludy are really good! Something I have learned is that we often spend way too much time feeling depressed that our relationship with God doesn't seem close and vibrant and personal, and too little time actually SEEKING him and striving to become closer to him. In Sunday School we have been talking about holiness, and it is SOO good! The only way for us to become holy is to be daily in God's word. Doing a a short little morning "devo" every day doesn't cut it, either. We really have to seek Him, and let Him search our hearts, and ask Him for His wisdom. We really need to be living out His word, too. It doesn't matter how much we read it and think about it and memorize it if we don't obey it! So I have been really striving toward holiness and joy in my walk with Christ.

I also have found that I love hymns!! A lot of songs these days basically say "Life stinks, everything is hard, you're all alone..... but God is good so don't give up." If you ask me, that's a pretty depressing outlook on life! Yes, life is hard. Yes, the world will be full of heartache and disappointment. But that can't be our focus. We need to let nothing get in the way of our joy. If we are walking with Christ, there will be joy. Even when Paul the Apostle was imprisoned and hated by many people he was full of joy! The more I seek God, the more joy He brings. I have really been seeking Him a lot lately, and let me tell you, it is so worth it! :)

Now to write about the events of the past week... my brothers came home from Lamoka on Saturday for GOOD! They have been at Lamoka most of the summer and now the camp year is over. I'm really happy to have them back. Saturday was also my dad's 47th birthday! I baked him a German Chocolate cake with coconut-walnut frosting, which is tradition in out house. He loooves that kind of cake and frosting, so we always make it for his birthday. That evening was our church's annual Sunday School picnic, so we went to that for a few hours and it was fun. This Saturday is a youth event called the Gathering, and I am SO excited! That's about all I have to say now. Thanks for reading, fellow bloggers! :)

Some hard times.

Hey everyone. The last few days have been hard ones. On Sunday, I found out about 10 minutes before church started that I had to play morning offertory. I have played piano for 5 years now, but I still don't think I'm very good at it. I don't even know why they choose me to do morning offertory, but it's fine I guess. It was a little crazy, though, because I had no time to prepare or practice something to play. I didn't do well at all, but I got through it, and I didn't do it for man's applause, and that's all that matters I guess. Sunday night was a lot of fun - it was SNAC night. SNAC stands for Sunday Night After Church, and so that's what it's called because that's exactly what it is! We have it about once a month, and this time was a TON of fun!! Someone left the dehumidifier off in the gym, so the floor was crazy slippery, which made for some funny (and some painful - lol) falls. There was soda and some snacks, and also lots of fun games. After we played a bunch of crazy and funny games, including human tic-tac-toe and capture the flag in the wet, dark softball field outside, I was able to talk with a few friends and it was really nice and refreshing.

On Monday evening, things took an unexpected turn. My parakeet, Julie, was sitting on the floor of her cage and was not looking good at all. I was really concerned, but I didn't know what to do for her at that hour of night since she was sleeping, and I very much wanted be. So I decided to see what I could do in the morning. I slept in a little, and around 7:45 my mom came in and woke me up. Then she told me that my bird was sitting on the floor of the cage. I knew this already, but I had forgotten. I got up and looked at her. She looked awful. I was thinking about what I should do for her, and then she let out a feeble "peep," and fell over on her side. What I didn't realize was that right then, she died. I thought she was still alive , so I was talking with Mom about what we should do. I didn't know if she was suffering and I should put her out of her misery, or if I could nurse her back to health. Then I suddenly realized what had happened and I said, "She may already be dead!" I reached in and picked her up and found that she was. It was the most awful thing... picking up her stiff, little body and realizing that she was gone. I held her and cried for at least an hour. I would have cried more, but I had to get ready to leave for the day, because I had an appointment at the dentist.

We headed out for a long day. First we went to the dentist and I got my night-guard (something sort of like a retainer that I wear at night because I grind my teeth and I have TMJ) fixed. After that, we headed to an oral surgeon for my brother, Zach, who had to get all 4 of his wisdom teeth out. We got there 1/2 hour early, and they were an hour behind schedule, so we ended up being there for a total of 2 and 1/2 hours. In that time I read and memorized a lot of scripture and read part of the book "Set-Apart Femininity" by Leslie Ludy. It was a long time to just sit there, but I had a good time with God and managed to forget Julie's death. On the way home, I remembered it. When I got back I sat on my bed and cried more. Julie was more than just a bird, she was a very special pet and friend. She wasn't just a family pet, she was MY pet. I bought her, kept her, cared for her, and trained her. She was like a little friend.

Wednesday, I got up and worked most of the morning. Then I went out and buried Julie alone. I had a parakeet a long time ago who belonged to my great grandma before she died. We kept him (the parakeet) for a long time. For the first few years he was cared for by my older brother Erik, and then Erik passed him to me. He was a very special friend, too. He eventually died of old age, and that was really painful for me. That happened about 4 or 5 years ago. We also had to have our dog, Misty, put down a long time ago, maybe 7 or so years ago. Both of those pets are buried near each other in our woods. Their deaths were hard for me to bear for a long time, especially since I was so little when I lost them. But, time goes on, and we've since gotten a new dog, and I got a new parakeet. Then when Julie died, and I buried her near the other 2 pets, I felt the pain of losing all 3 pets all over again. I cried the whole time.

The rest of the day was dull and hard. The only reason it was hard was just because it was so hard on me emotionally to lose Julie. In case you're wondering how Julie died, she has been sick for probably about a year now. I don't know how she got sick, or what she was sick with, but I could tell she was. I have nursed her through several times when I thought she was going to die, but she never got completely better. I guess this was just all her body could take, and she died. I feel horrible about it. I feel like if I had paid more attention she might still be here, but I don't know. Without a vet, she probably wouldn't have lasted long, and I couldn't afford to take her to one. She served her purpose on earth, which is to bring glory to God and pleasure to both God and man. It really comforted me to remember that God says that He sees every sparrow that falls, and cares about it.

I guess, over all, it has been very hard these last few days. The pain won't go away for a long time, but it will eventually. It's not like losing a person, but it's still hard. I have really been taught to lean on God through it, and to trust Him, even though it doesn't seem fair that I should lose her. God does not withhold any good thing from those who love Him, so I know that even though it's hard, it will be okay. God has lessons to teach me through this, and I am ready and willing to learn them. Please pray for me, this is a really hard thing for me. I know it sounds childish to make such a fuss over such a small thing, but it is really big to me. So please pray for me. Thanks.

Lessons from LOTR

Hey! I haven't posted in a while because there hasn't been much to tell about. We have mostly done lots of chores for the past week.

Two nights ago I watched "Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring", and last night I watched "Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers". I absolutely LOVE the LOTR movies. I also gained a lot spiritually from it. Tolkien (The writer of the LOTR books) didn't intend for it to be allegorical, but I found it to be in some ways. Some of the things that really struck me are:
-The hearts of men are so easily corrupted and deceived.
-Frodo has to carry the ring, which is evil, with him, even though he doesn't want to. In the same way, we have the burden of a sin nature that we have to take with us, even though we don't want it.
-Frodo never HAS to put on the ring, but he does several times when he wants the easy way out of situations. If we have been saved by Jesus Christ, we never HAVE to sin, but we do so many times when we are tempted.
-Then there's Gollum: he started out as a normal, hobbit-like creature, but he allowed the ring, and what seemed like pleasure, to poison his mind. He became a hideous, worthless, disgusting creature. Likewise, as Christians, we don't have to be hideous creatures, but if let we the temporary pleasures of sin poison our minds, we will be.
-Gollum meets Frodo, and realizes that he doesn't have to be Gollum. He can be Smeagol, which is who he would be if he wasn't under the control of the ring. He realizes that he doesn't have to be a slave to its power. He wrestles with this for some time. He is torn between his addiction to the ring, and his desire to be free. By the end of the series, he has completely given himself over to the ring's power, and his greed for the ring brings him to his death. We also don't have to be ugly creatures. We don't have to give ourselves over to sin. If we are born again believers in Jesus Christ, we have the power to fight the temptation to sin. We can be made new in Christ. We DO have sin natures with us though, and if we don't continue to wrestle against them, we will give in. Sin has the power to tempt us still, and if we don't fight it, we'll give in, and sin always leads to ruin.
-Gollum struggles constantly with his own self. One side of him tells him that he NEEDS the ring, and that Frodo, who helps him and understands him, is a thief, while his other side tells him the truth. We, as Christians, often struggle with listening to lies that Satan puts in our minds, instead of the Truth from Christ. If we listen to the lies, we will give in to sin, and it will destroy us.

All of that goes to say that you can learn SO much from so many things, if you think about it! Instead of just watching a movie, I try to pick it apart and see what the worldview is, and what there is to be learned. I hope that all makes sense. That's all for now. God bless! :)

My birthday! :)

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't written in so long. It's been busy! Let's see... on Friday we headed to my Grandparents' house, and we spent the day with them. We watched TV for a long time and talked. Then we had supper and they made me a cake for my birthday! :) It was nice. I got a present which was jewelry, nail polish, and lip gloss. AND GUMMY BEARS!! I love those things - lol :).

On Saturday it was my birthday!!! YAY! We headed toward home at 8 AM and Mom said she was planning something special but wouldn't tell me what. After about 2 hours of driving, we showed up at Camp Lamoka, where my brothers work! See, I worked there for one week on a Ministry Team last year and I LOVED it, and my brothers always tell me how much fun they have working there, so I wanted to go there again and meet all their new friends! I met some friends, and enjoyed a couple of hours there, and I found out I was going to my brothers' friends' house with them to spend the afternoon there! I was nervous at first, but it turned out to be an AWESOME day!!

On Sunday, I had 2 friends over and we did a photo-shoot in a beautiful field. It was so pretty! We all wore coordinating colored dresses and the pictures turned out so nicely! Later, I opened my presents from my parents. I got: an AMAZING black hat with studs on it. (That sounds punk-ish but it's actually really cute) and I got very pretty earrings, and a big purple plaid pillow, and an awesome little purple plush doggy. The 2 friends I had over, Danna and Glory, gave me $14 and one cent! The one cent was because it was a day late. :) All in all, I had an awesome birthday and awesome weekend!

I have also been learning a lot about sin. I often feel like I'm a slave to sins that I keep doing over and over, but then I realized, I am NOT a slave! I have been freed by the blood of the Lamb! I don't EVER have to sin again!! I won't be perfect, of course, but it is very relieving to know that sin has no grip on me, and I never have to sin again. It's a battle though, and it has to be fought! It's guerrilla warfare. The enemy has been defeated, but refuses to give up, so he sneaks in and tries to cause as much trouble as possible. Therefore, we must watch and pray!! God has taught me so much. Please pray for me, that I will fight the battle and not give up.

That's all I have to say now, so toodles! :) :)

Surprise Party!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Disclaimer: This was actually written on Wednesday, July 29, but I couldn't post it then. So, pretend it's the 29th as you're reading this! Sorry about that.

Wow! So, I really have a lot to say! So way back on Sunday I went to church and was able to put in the final details for a surprise birthday party for my friend, Brittney.

Then, on Monday, I went shopping all afternoon/evening for the party. Well, that's not all I shopped for, but a lot of it. We (my mom and I) went to Wal-mart and shopped for food for the party and also got Brittney a present and got most of the decorations at Dollar Tree. Now, Dollar Tree has some nice things and I really was able to do some good decorating with their stuff, but their balloons are TERRIBLE! They pop for no reason at all!! Anyway, we got all the things for the surprise birthday party, and we also went to salvation army, and I got 2 nice skirts for $5!! I love second-hand stores. My mom also went birthday shopping for me (I waited on a bench by the entrance =]) because my birthday is this Saturday! We got home at almost 9 PM, exhausted, but it was a good day.

On Tuesday, I cleaned the whole house. I cleaned the bathrooms, washed dishes, folded laundry, vacuumed, and everything! Whenever we do something big in our home I get all OCD and everything has to just PERFECT. So I did that, and baked cupcakes, and did some stuff like that in preparation.

Today was a CRAZY day! I got up at 7:40, which was later than I had planned, so then I rushed like crazy. I took a shower and got dressed quickly, then tidied up the house again quickly, and went straight to decorating. I did banners, posters, streamers, balloons, and SO many fun things!! It looked absolutely awesome. We left around 12:10 to get everyone rounded up. The people who came were: Brittney, Emily, Kyla, Ally, Becca, and I. We went to pick up Emily first, then headed towards Brittney's house. We had a couple stops to make along the way, including picking up Kyla, and then we met Ally and Becca at the end of Brittney's road. Then we all got into our vehicle and my mom drove us to her house. We got party noisemakers, jumped out of the vehicle, and ran and barged into the house without knocking (yes, Brittney's mom knew we were coming =]) and blew all the noisemaker horns as loud as we could and RAN into Brittney's bedroom and shocked her out of her mind!!! She was so confused as to what was going on. See, her birthday was actually 9 days ago, so she totally wasn't expecting this. When we started singing Happy Birthday she understood it was a belated birthday surprise, and she was stunned enough at that! Then we told her that there was a totally decked out party planned and that she was coming to my house to party all day, she was TOTALLY surprised!! It was the most hilarious thing ever. Her face was priceless! She looked stunned, surprised, excited, and even scared! When we came in she was absolutely speechless! So once she got her wits together, we headed back in our van to our home where the party was set up, and played awesome fun games like Mad Gab, Catch Phrase, and Apples to Apples, and we opened presents, ate, laughed, and had an AMAZING time!! Then all but Emily (who wasn't able to come) headed out for prayer meeting. So we were sad we had to leave Emily. :( But that was the official end of the party and then we went to prayer meeting and that was good too. So all in all, today was one of the BEST days I've had in a long time!!! I LOVE MY AWESOME FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!!!!! :D :D :D <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 !!!!!!!!!!!

Saturdayyy

Today my brothers came home. Cody was at TLC (teen leadership conference) and Erik was working at Camp Lamoka. Cody works at Lamoka too, but he took this week off for TLC. It was hard for me because when Erik got home he told me about how great this week at camp was, and when Cody got home he told me all about how great TLC was, and I stayed home all week. I had a good week, but it was still hard because I would have loved to be at either of the places they were. Then also we were considering going to a graduation party today, but it didn't work out because of the business of the guys getting home. But I'm still alive and God is still good, so who am I to complain?

I also watched part of "Incredible Creatures that Defy Evolution III" which is the 3rd DVD in a series of DVD's about absolutely amazing creatures that completely counter evolution. It was great to see how awesome our God is and to see how intricately designed everything in this world is.

This evening I was feeling really negative about the whole day, so I took a long walk to get my attitude right again. I walked out and then sat down on a hill and prayed and thought and then headed home. Now, I am feeling very refreshed and thankful again. God is good! :)

Busy, busy!

Whew! I am exhausted! It's actually almost 11 at night as I'm writing. So, yesterday I had my friend, Vicki, over from about 2-8 PM and we had an absolutely awesome time! Mostly what we did was talk. Which, if you know me, you know that talking is what I do best! And we looked at funny pictures and cracked ourselves up, and we took a walk. So it was really, really good to be able to see her.

Then today my friend, Courtney, came over and we talked, then went for a walk and talked some more. When we were about half a mile from home, one minute it was sunny, and then Courtney looked up and said "Is that rain?" and, sure enough, it was sprinkling. Then about a minute later, it started to DOWNPOUR! We ran into the woods, but still got soaked. When we got back we changed into cozy PJ's and were gonna make hot cocoa, but we didn't have any, so we made coffee. (I don't really like coffee, but with enough cream and sugar in it, it's good lol) Unfortunately, I accidentally put the filter in wrong and it got filled with grounds. So we had to re-filter it! haha. It was about lunch time so we thought we'd get some food, but we were really in need of groceries! And I mean REALLY in need of them! So after a lot of searching we came up with rice, cottage cheese, baked beans, and broccoli for lunch. haha. It was a CrAzY day!! So I have had an AWESOME 2 days!

I also learned a lot. I read Isaiah chapter 1 today and if you've not read it recently, GO READ IT!!! It was so convicting, it made me almost cry. It is God telling Isaiah what to tell Israel, and it's all about their sin. But He doesn't leave them hopeless, He promises to be with them and to forgive them if they will put off their sin and follow Him. It was really a great encouragement and very convicting.

I also started to watch a lecture thingy on DVD by Paul Tripp, and he was talking about how the mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart, and it was, again, very convicting. We often say, "If my circumstances were better, I wouldn't be having an angry outburst." Well, maybe you wouldn't be at that moment, but that's not the problem. For example: A man is in a traffic jam. He is angry because he's already late for work. He hits the dashboard and yells, "If I weren't in this traffic I wouldn't be so frustrated!" Well, if it's the traffic's fault, then you would think everyone in the traffic jam would be upset. But then, there's a woman in the car in front of him and she is just SOO happy! You see, she's putting on her make-up, so she is really grateful for the extra time! The reason the man is angry is because something is getting in the way of what he wants, and he is choosing the wrong response. If He were more focused on living for Christ, he could be in the traffic and be joyful. We are, by nature, worshipers. We were created that way. Now, not everyone worships the right thing, but everyone worships. Some worship food, others money, others appearance, etc. We don't realize it, but we are often worshiping things in subtle ways. The way to tell if something has become an idol is to stop and consider if you would be upset if you didn't have it or it didn't work out right, or whatever. If you would be, it has an unhealthy hold on you. Wow, isn't that a scary thought! That means for every time we get upset, we are worshiping the wrong thing! So I have been very challenged, especially today, to keep my focus on JESUS not ME. Tough, but SOOOO worth it! And I could really use prayer, so please do pray for me as I am growing in Christ and living out life.

That's all I have to say now, so thank you to anyone who took the time to read it! =]

Another day done...

Today was actually a busy day. I spent the morning doing yard work and washing our van and vacuuming it. It's hard to keep a minivan clean when you live on a dirt road! So I spent the morning in the hot sun sweating and working hard. But it feels good. Then this afternoon I attempted to sew. Yes, that's right - sew. I mean, I have always hated sewing and I'm horrible at it. And, I don't have the patience. But, I tried it. I thought I'd start with something simple and small, since I don't have a sewing machine. So I tried to make an A-line doll's skirt. I cut it, and then hemmed the bottom of it by hand, which took a long time. And, I only ended up bleeding in one place! Haha. :) Then after all that work, I realized I cut it totally wrong to make an A-line skirt, so it will either be a wrap-around skirt or a shawl. Anyway, I think I will cut some more fabric tomorrow or the next day and try again for an A-line. Then I went to prayer meeting tonight, and it was very encouraging. I'm especially thankful for all of my good friends, it's so nice to talk to all of them. And speaking of friends, I'm having my awesome friend, Vicki, over tomorrow afternoon and I'm very much looking forward to that. :) I also fell asleep while sewing today and slept for like an hour. Haha. It seems like I'm always tired lately. I take a nap almost every day. I love sleeping. lol. So that's how my day has been today, and now I think I'll go outside and roller-blade and maybe listen to my mp3 player. :)

Another seemingly dull day made bright in Christ :)

Hey all! So, not an awful lot has gone on the past few days, but hey, that's my life! :) Yesterday I didn't do much of anything. Today, I did lots of chores and cleaned my room, which now feels so much better to be in.

I was reading in Jeremiah chapters 1 and 2 this morning. I love those chapters!! God comes to Jeremiah and tells him that He has called Jeremiah to be a prophet and to do huge things. Jeremiah responds by saying "What? Me? I can't do that! I'm just a youth!!" But God replies saying "Don't tell me what you can and can't do, I made you! And I will be with you every step of the way. Don't be afraid, you will be able to do anything if you follow Me." That is so often how I feel, like I'm just a kid and I'll never be worth anything. But God is showing me how to take one step at a time and follow Him day by day... even though it doesn't feel like I'm doing anything worthwhile.

So that is all that I've done today. I'd like to take a walk now, but it's pouring rain. maybe I'll just sit outside on the porch. Goodnight :)

HELLOOOO!

hey! So, I've never posted on my blog before. I only made it so I could follow other blogs, but, i think i will post. Although, I doubt anyone will read it for a long time. I don't have time to write much, but I'll just say that I am headed off to church this morning, and I'm glad to be able to do so, and I need to hurry and get ready! So if anyone has read this, please comment so I can know if it's worth anything to post on here. thanks :)