What a Way to Start the Year!

So my first two weeks of my second semester of college are pretty much over. So far it's been fantastic to be back! Of course, the day I returned to school, my hometown got a BUNCH of snow and my brother got 2 snow days...grr...it just finally iced/snowed a bit last night...but it's like nothing. There was just enough ice on the first day back to have me slip on the way to my very first class however. My foot slipped out from under me, I flew into the air, and landed right on the tip of my elbow :( Took a minute or two to stand back up and luckily my laptop (which I was carrying) hadn't been harmed. To make a long story short, my elbow was swollen, was (and still is) bruised, and I chipped it. Sure makes working out interesting! Jumping jacks turn into looking like a person drowning in mid air...anyway.

So far I've been pretty good with my New Year's resolutions. I've spent a lot more time studying and sleeping, and I've still been able to hang out with my friends quite a bit. Had some fun taking a lot of photos and then Spring Sing has started recently. WOW! It is so much fun :) We have a pretty big group this year, awesome directors, fantastic choreographers, and I've already made some new friends! The homework here hasn't built up just incredibly yet, although I did only get 3 hours of sleep the other day from all the stuff I had going on. But that was remedied today :) Classes were canceled until 1!! :D And my orchestra class was pretty much canceled, so I got a day to sleep, and get caught up on some homework.

All in all, it's good to be back with my graceful *haha* and adorable roommate and all my friends, pretty much my second family :) God is good!

Home

Well this week has been so much fun! A lot of sleeping in, doing absolutely nothing, and being together with my family. I'm supposed to go back to college on Sunday, but there's a problem....a horrific ice/snow storm is supposed to blow through. :/ As much as I love snow, I hate the fact that it might be robbing me of one more day at home. I just love seeing all my old friends and being at my home congregation. Also, my family has some pretty fun times :) I mean, tonight my sister and I made dinner with my mom's help. We had meatloaf (which is not very pretty to look at while you're mixing it all up before cooking), mashed potatoes, green beans, and this apple caramel cream cheese dip with graham crackers. That was an experience. Last night we went and saw Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and since I was the one who had seen it before...guess who got to get popcorn refills. I love that movie so much! Especially when you put the religious symbology behind it of Aslan representing Jesus, it just puts the whole thing into a life perspective.

Anyway, you never realize how much you miss home until you come back after being gone. I've missed it all. From things like family, friends, and pets down to the way the stairs creak (and knowing which spots on each step creak), having to cuddle with lots of pillows and stuffed animals under multiple blankets because my room is so cold, that annoying spring that sticks up right under my shoulder blade, the front door constantly blowing open, and even my neighbor's yippy dog. Yes I love college, and it's a whole new experience with new people, but there's just something about home that puts me at ease and makes me content. I don't know...maybe I'm just being a sentimental sap...maybe not. But I do know that  only at home can things like having a marshmallow war, watching old Disney classics and old home videos make a great time. (Such feelings of home-ie-ness can be seen in this poem my Grandma Lavon always used to recite: Heap O' Livin')

If I feel this way about my Earthly home, I simply cannot WAIT to see my Heavenly home :) Maybe there Liam Neeson (the voice of Aslan) can narrate everything I do. Maybe that is God's real voice!...I doubt it, but it was worth a shot :) Since we're talking about animals and Heaven...I always used to wonder when I was little. Will my cat be in Heaven with me?? The answer is probably not...but a kid can dream :) (wow...I obviously have nothing to say since this post is so random so far...ah...oh well...you're the one taking the time to read it, not me. I just thought it...ugh...my thoughts must not be all that interesting after all...)

Well I suppose that's enough for one post. Mine tend to get just a bit wordy...I apologize :) Next time I blog I will know more spanish than I currently do! Yay for second semester of college! :D Till next time!

And remember kids, God made you special and He loves you very much! Bye!

New Years and Resolutions

2011. A new year.

2010 was full of so many exciting experiences for me! I went to Chicago on a choir/orchestra tour with some of my best friends, got a 1 rating on orchestra and choir contest songs, performed on stage with my brother, was accepted to Oklahoma Christian University and also to their Honor's program, won our school's Greek Week for choir for the second time, graduated high school 12th in my class of 400+,  planted a successful lily garden, went to the Bahamas, started my first semester of college, performed in the school musical, dressed up for my first ever midnight premier, got my first curfew violation for attending said midnight premier, survived finals, grew closer to God, and grew even closer to my family while making new life-long friends. God truly blessed my year and I'm excited to see what he has planned for me this year.

For the new year I have a few resolutions. Instead of trailing off throughout the year and forgetting to keep my resolutions, I ask each of you reading this to help keep me in check. 

Resolution 1: I will manage my time better and be more homework efficient. This semester of college was interesting. I tried to plan all my time between the musical, choir and orchestra, homework, sleep, and friends. You can guess what 2 things were usually put off till the last minute...judging by the title of my blog :) But I know I can do better and I'll still be able to balance these.

Resolution 2: I want to be wiser. Not just wiser as in knowing more, but wiser in God. The first step to achieving this is cutting the phrase "that's what she said" from my vocabulary. It's almost become an instinct to say it and I don't like that I do that. I didn't realize that this was keeping me from growing in wisdom until I read Proverbs 12-....well all of it actually :) But specific verses such as, "He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly comes to ruin" (13:3); "The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of the fool gushes folly" (15:2); "The Lord detests the thoughts of the wicked, but those of the pure are pleasing to him" (15:26); "A man of perverse heart does not prosper; he whose tongue is deceitful falls into trouble" (17:20); "Better a poor man whose walk is blameless than a fool whose lips are perverse" (19:1); and "He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity" (21:23) helped me to realize that I should probably monitor what I say a little more closely. 

As I said, please let me know if you see me start to forget my resolutions so I can get back on track :) Anyway, for me the new year has started out pretty good. I was at a church game night till around 1 a.m.  then got to sleep and woke up today to pack and peel potatoes. As I write this I'm currently heading to celebrate Christmas/New Years with my extended family. :) We always have a great time when we're together and I'm really looking forward to it. We get to spend two days with them and then all of the girls are going shopping on the Plaza!! :) A great start to a new year :)

I hope God blesses you this year and it's full of joy and laughter! 

p.s. Just a little side note to save me from another post. I randomly wrote this poem today.

A Bright Breakfast

I tasted a piece of the sun this morning.

That’s right, I drank it, in all its golden glory.

At first it scalded, but after letting it cool,

It settled down into a deeply glowing pool.

The first sip was pure warmth with a richness I can’t describe

And after a second it changed to a butterscotch-honey and my eyes opened wide.

I smelled something wonderful…like brown sugar? What could it be?

Meanwhile that cup of ecstatic joy began to brew inside of me.

My face became radiant and my step was lithe,

I hadn’t a care in the world. No worries, no strife.

As time flew by throughout the day,

I could feel the brightness fading away.

And as you sit there, listen to what I’ve said,

But the sun has now gone, the moon is rising, and I am going to bed.

Fear and Death Conquered by Christ

So last night I decided to take some initiative and get to bed before midnight. I did finally crawl into bed around 12:15 or so, said a quick mumbled prayer, and started my itunes to sleep to. After the first song, however, it didn't play any others and it was on shuffle and repeat all. I got out of my bed where I had just gotten comfortable (isn't that how it always happens) and checked it. Yep. It was just as I'd left it. So I decided to just replay the song. The same thing happened. Now when I'm really tired and it's early in the morning...well...let's just say I can get some delusional ideas :) For some reason I decided that since my music wouldn't play, God didn't want it to. then I felt like there was going to be a fire in my house sometime that night and God wanted me to be able to hear the smoke detector over my music. Well I kept stewing on that and then decided that I thought I was going to die for some reason. I don't know why on earth I would've jumped to that conclusion so quickly...other than the fact that it was now well past 12:00. So I got out of my bed and made an excuse to go downstairs so I could be sure to wish my mom goodnight and tell her I loved her. I came back upstairs and felt very unsettled so I grabbed my Bible and began reading.

I just randomly flipped open my Bible, expecting something miraculous to happen. The first passage it opened to wasn't one that particularly calmed me so I tried again. The second time, it landed on Romans 8...Life Through the Spirit. As I read, I began to realize that God wanted me to see that passage. I kept thinking I was going to die for some reason and then I saw the words, "because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death"(8:2). Eagerly I continued reading and saw even more about being free from sin and death. I know I've read this passage many times before, but it kinda seemed repetitive to me after a while...but this time I feel like I really absorbed what it said. Beginning to worry a little more than I had been already, I read, "The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God" (8:6-8). Knowing I hadn't been planning time to read God's word or have more than a few mumbled prayers to Him because of my "busy" schedule lately, I began to feel a bit guilty because I know God should come first in my life. I then glanced over to an underlined portion of text that read, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (8:38-39). Another statement I had read, and sung time after time, but really absorbed in this moment.

So I prayed. A heartfelt and meaningful prayer apologizing for my few "mumbled prayers" and asking for His help to make Him my main focus in life, the first thing I think about and the last thing on my mind when I go to bed. Sure I'd been a good person lately and I loved God and often talked about Him, but He wasn't always my main focus. Afterwards it felt sooo good to just give it to God. I no longer thought I was going to die, and so I picked my Bible back up and flipped to another random page. I'd flipped to Romans 3:21...Righteousness Through Faith...and read through 5:11. While reading, I felt as if God were speaking directly to me and comforted me even more. In these verses, faith justified by works is talked of and the verse, "There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus"(23-24). I think it may have been His way of getting my attention so that I would delve into my Bible and really give it all over to Him.

Feeling very much relieved and ready for a good long sleep, I crawled in bed...for the fourth time...and went to bed. That is an entirely different story. I had a dream...I only remember the ending of it, but this girl from some random school wanted to  know how to get to my college...so I told her how to get there. Then for some reason we were going on a road trip there. She was in my car and we were trying to get to the highway...but I looked and was going 60 in a 40...then I heard the police sirens..."Great!" I thought, "My first ticket...ugh." I started to pull over but didn't have room because there was already someone who had been pulled over by another cop. It looked like I had room between that cop car and the other car so I started pulling over...whoops...underestimated the room I'd need...I was in a crash course for the policeman's car...I tried to brake quickly..........but ran into his driver's side...well let me rephrase that...barely tapped it...but it was enough to dent the side and make the mirror break off...
Then I woke up. I'd had dreams before where someone else was driving and we'd gotten squished by a semi, or rolled off the highway, and even one where I'd rolled into a lake...but why this one should simply be crashing into a car...*ahem* barely tapping the car...confused me. So I did what every American would've done...I googled it. Pages kept showing the phrase, "your life seems to be out of control." Right then I knew that being out of control of my life was the best thing that ever had happened. Because when I'm not in control of my life, God can step in and control it for me. This made having a dream that sends a message from my subconscious like that feel like a positive sign. I may have felt scared and worried in the dream, but as Francesca Battistelli writes in her song Letting Go,

This is a giant leap of faith
Trusting and trying to embrace

The fear of the unknown
Beyond my comfort zone

I’m letting go
Of the life I planned for me
And my dreams
I'm Losing control
Of my destiny
It feels like I’m falling and that’s what it’s like to believe
So I’m letting go

If you've read this far, I congratulate you on not falling asleep :)

Merry Christmas!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuE70GK_mq8

Well...no long and deeply insightful blog for you today. Just remember how blessed you are :) I mean if you're reading this then you have an education, you have a computer, and you have internet.

Anyway. Today has been a fantastic day! Just a day to sit and relax at home after working so hard in the store. My family went Christmas Caroling last night (as you can probably tell from the link above) and stayed out pretty late. I look forward to caroling with my family all year long! It's a time of family togetherness, and a time of spreading joy. The smiles I see on peoples' faces when we show up at their door really makes it all worth while :) As a result of staying out so late, none of my family got to bed before 2.  We all finally arose from our beds around noon-ish today and started opening presents an hour or two later. I got a lot of clothing and jewelry, some lotions, a Third Day CD, Eclipse, Toy Story 3, Beauty and the Beast (my favorite Disney Princess! The child in me was very excited to open this haha), and various other things. It was a very good Christmas day :)

After all the new clothes had been tried on and we'd had a little time to gather everything, my siblings and I went to play Just Dance on the wii. Lemme tell you...that game is harder than you'd expect! I know I got quite the workout haha Even if you can't dance (like me), it is a ton of fun! Once that was over we all piled into the kitchen to help cook dinner and get everything ready. It was a delicious meal! My mom's ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and cherry dump cake :) To top it all off we had Welch's Sparkling Grape Juice! And now I'm writing this blog while we all wait for our food to digest so that we can play the new board game our dad got us. Hopefully after that we'll be able to find "A Christmas Story" so we can watch it!

Everything I've described above is my family's traditions for Christmas :) I love each and every one and wouldn't want to miss any part of it. Please feel free to list any traditions your family has :) I'd love to hear them! May God bless you and have a Very Merry Christmas!! :D

p.s. Random thought: I really want to make a song about calculus by changing the lyrics to a modern day song...music video! :D Wow....how nerdy am I? 8)

Beating the Holiday Rush

Whew! What a day! This past week has just been crazy! I've been working with my family at Dillard's fragrance department selling perfumes and such all week and let me tell you...after walking around for hours on end over a hard tile floor with billions of scents in the air (and on your hand) it's enough to make a person go crazy! You encounter all types of people; people who are very rude and forward with you, people who are kind and sweet, and people who don't even speak english (which makes it very hard to tell what they want). On top of all of that, they come in bunches. The mall will seem dead and empty....then BAM! there are about 50 people in fragrance wanting help and prices on gift sets. There wouldn't be a problem with this, except my family works specifically for the Ralph Lauren/Armani company and we don't ring customers up for a sale. Usually there are only 1 or 2 girls with us who can so pandemonium ensues and no one is very happy about waiting. Then.....just like that....they're all gone, leaving our cases empty and bare. By the end of the day, that's just about what I feel like from working...like I have no energy left an no desire to do anything but zone out (and maybe blog a bit ;) ) Focusing on sales and trying to be the best sales rep I can kind of shove aside what Christmas is supposed to be about and what a happy and joyous time it's supposed to be. God always sends a few things to brighten my day though :) The other day there were 2 squirrely little boys that had come with their mom. At the check out I thought it'd make their days to have a little chocolate and so I grabbed 2 from behind the counter and walked over. I held one in each hand, a red wrapped one and a green one, and asked if they'd like some candy. They both immediately went for the green one...the younger brother got it and the older got kinda sad/mad and said "I wanted the green one!" The younger brother looked stubborn for a second and then quickly gave his brother the green candy and took the red one. I was amazed to see this behavior from such a young kid! He must have only been 5. It gave me hope for America's future that this little boy would be so willing to put away his own selfishness and look to his brother's interests first. I know you may be thinking "come on...it was just a chocolate...exactly like the other one...I see no significance in this" but no matter how small the act was, the little boy still put his brother first. This combined with seeing a precious little boy run around behind the fragrance counter with a huge smile on his face really made me smile.

Today I had a huge surprise. I got to see one of my best friends from high school who ran away the day after graduation. After a summer of little to no contact with her, I learned that she had come home again in October and soon after, learned that she was pregnant. Seeing her looking healthy and happy really just made my day. She told me that she was due in March and that she was having a baby boy. :) Although I may not approve of everything she's done in her life, I still love her very much...nothing could ever change that...and I'm glad she's home safe and sound with her family and realized that she couldn't have led a very happy or easy life without her loving parents or her Heavenly Father there to guide and help her.

It's days like this where I look around and realize how blessed I am. I have a very loving family who would do anything for me and who loves spending time together, fantastic friends, a great college and opportunity to gain as much knowledge as I can for the real world, and many more. Above all, I have an awesome and powerful God who will never stop loving me and will never stop loving you.

So as you run out to buy that last minute Christmas gift, make sure you share a friendly smile with the cashier or maybe treat them nicer than you usually do (I mean let's face it, they've probably had just as stressful a day as you). Because the truth is, you have been blessed. Even if you don't always see it, God has a plan for you and has blessed you greatly. I mean really, how else do you have the luxury to get out and drive to the local mall or Walmart, walk around in comfy clothing that is also warm in the cold winter's air, and purchase items of a range of costs, not to mention wrapping said items and placing them under the heavily decorated tree, and open the same type of presents on Christmas morning? Even if you're day is stressed and you just feel down with the Holiday blues...remember: God has blessed you :)


p.s. I know this blog was kinda random and all over the place...sorry about that :) Having 20 billion fragrances in the air for hours kinda confuses your brain and makes your head hurt :)

Simplicity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3N3eMv0Dbc

The link above is to the song Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman. In it, he talks about watching his baby girl grow up and his everlasting love for her. When examining the lyrics, we see a small, innocent child grow into a strong and beautiful woman, but we only see this from the father's perspective. The side we don't see is that girl's stressful and confusing journey to womanhood.

Growing up as a girl in today's society is difficult. Not saying it's harder for girls than boys, but I believe there is a lot more pressure placed on a growing girl. Pressure as to who they should be, how they should dress, activities they need to do to be cool, and etc, etc, etc, and trying to grow up as a good Christian girl puts the icing on the cake. Trying to make decisions as to who you want to be and how you're going to live your life can get very confusing. The reason it gets so confusing is because God made everyone different, he made individuals who believe every person should be the same, some who believe no two people should act alike, and still others who don't really care what happens. All these voices from all different areas of the world...it's enough to drive a person to the point where the only thing to do is scream! Unfortunately, in the huge cacophony of clothing ads, make-up commercials, and gossip reality show is the soft whisper of God trying to lead her in the right direction.

Why can't life be just as easy as it was when we were six? Everything was given to us by our parents, we were never in want for food or shelter, friends didn't create drama, boys had cooties, and school was easy. Every boo-boo could be cured by Mommy's kiss, Disney had the answer to everything, and sharing your crayons or your toys with someone made them your best friend. Everything was much simpler and we got more naps. :) I love naps.

In Matthew 18:3, Jesus says “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." This reminds us to have the same mindset of a child, one who is completely dependent on their parents for everything that they have, and be completely dependent on our Heavenly Father. 


In saying this, Jesus confirms that it is possible to retain childhood while still gaining the experiences and wisdom gained by growing up. All we need to do is live our life how God intended us to and depend fully on Him. Just as a child would. 


So as I go through my college life, full of new experiences, new friends, learning how to live in the real world, new challenges, and new struggles, I will try to give my entire being to God and let him lead my life, and watch me grow into the same strong and beautiful woman from the song.