Sunday, July 30, 2006

Long Night Drives

I drove for about 6 hours yesterday, 3 of them being at night. It was pretty hard to stay focused but we made it back alive.

Not without technical difficulties like my Dad's left lens popping out of his glasses, or running around town looking for a bathroom. It was entertaining.

Oh and a couple days ago I held $6000 dollars in my hand, but now that money is gone since Barbarosa bought a car. A mint green car, or as he is saying "sea-foam green". So now there are 5 Mercedes in our front yard, since my Dad bought another car. It's like the same as my Mom's car, but a year older. So I'll be driving one of those when I get my license.

I'm going to my sister's house today and tomorrow we are going camping, although I'm not sure where.

Friday, July 28, 2006

Personality Profiles

These people are people that I have seen, but not talked to, in the last couple of days.

A Mom: This girl had a boy when she was in high school, when this boy was in the ages of 2-4 she met another guy. They proceeded to live together and she got pregnant a little bit later. A little baby girl was born just before Christmas.
Now fast forward about 2 years, my Mom and I are down at the lake. We see this Mom come and sit down with a notebook and a pen, she proceeds to smoke a cigarette and draw intently on her notepad. Then her little girl comes toddling down past her mother in a diaper, the little girl goes into the shallows of the lake and plays around for a bit. I'm pretty sure the Mom didn't glance up at her daughter more than two times. The only time she got involved with her daughter was when the little girl took off her diaper.

The little baby girl: I wanted to go and play with her, she was very happy splashing around in the water, at one point she looked at her Mom and began talking animatedly in baby speak with hand motions. A couple minutes later she stood in the water and watched a father playing with his baby daughter and a grandfather playing with his grandchild. My heart bled for her because her Mommy and Daddy probably won't be there for her very often in her life.

An Albertsons shopper: I was over by the live lobsters (lately I've been very entertained by them.) and I saw her, she was so tan it looked like she had spent about 9 hours in a tanning booth. Which for those of you don't know is far too long, you only go in for 15 minutes. (I personally have never gone tanning) She was dressed very immodestly and she had heavy, heavy eye makeup on.-

An older man at Albertsons: Sometimes I'll go out and sit on the bench while I'm waiting for my Mom to finish shopping, I saw the immodestly dressed lady walking to her car. An older man walked up to the doors, but he looked at her and got so distracted that he walked into a lady's cart. I laughed quietly but I wondered if the lady realized how harmful her dress was, she probably does.

There is another lady I'd like to write about, I saw her on the streets of T-town. Some people think that women in her line of work are happier (for lack of a better word) than they are. But I've seen more of her type while I've been driving in town and their faces are so sad. They live very sad lives, giving themselves away for money. I wonder what is left of themselves after they are in that trade.

All these people want to be loved and noticed, they want their pain taken away, they carry burdens that they probably don't want anymore.

My heart hurt for the little baby girl, I wanted to be her friend, I want to show her Christ, I want to be there for her. But then I realized that mostly I wanted to play a part in her life that is most like an aunt, her own aunt was just in drug re-hab and hangs out with the wrong crowd. All I can be to that little girl is a kind neighbor, maybe I'll have a conversation with her when she's older that will plant seeds for the Lord to provide people to water and that He will cause to grow.

God loves that little girl, He loves her mother, father, aunt and everyone else on my list, oh and plus everybody else on the planet.

He loves them so much, even with all their issues. He loves you and I so much, even with all our issues. These people that we see in our daily lives see us, they see the way we act. Can we show them Christ's love in the way we act? You bet. I can show people that I've never spoken to kindness in acknowledging their existence. Granted, I wouldn't suggest that male readers of this post smile at prostitutes, it might give them the wrong idea. ;)

People notice how you act, they notice how you treat your parents, your spouse, your pet. Sure, not everyone notices these things, but God also watches us and He wants us to be kind to each other.

Let's be kind of each other, let's plant and water seeds, let's watch God work in people's lives. Here's a revolutionary idea, let's pray for them!


Thursday, July 27, 2006

Lessons in patience

I wrote about patience and humility about a month ago and I've been learning lessons in patience today.

There are a couple things you need to be patient, you need to pray, pray almost without ceasing. Keep the communication line open with God.


Today Grandma needed to go shopping so I asked to go with her and Mom. I drove them to where they needed to go. This morning I had been struggling with some issues and I was unusually quiet, deep in thought while I was driving.

I brought my Bible to read again some passages I had memorized at camp, so while Mom and Grandma shopped at Albertsons I sat by Starbucks and read. After reading some chapters I got up and looked for Mom and Grandma, my sad countenance and worries had disappeared.
Being patient is so much easier when I read God's word and when I was talking to Him. I felt renewed after being in His word. Although I know I will still have difficulties in being patient, I will have bad days in which I fail completely at being patient, but I know God is teaching me how to be patient.

The main thing in any virtue is relying on God to give you that virtue.

I feel like these verses relate to my day.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

- 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

I'm going to be sore


Because I went swimming today! This is a monumental occasion because the lake that I live by has Canadian Geese and as we all know geese are nasty. I always get swimmers itch. But I don't really care, the lake was won-der-ful.

Mom and I went swimming, it was fun. We swam for half an hour, that's pretty much the best workout I've gotten since my ankle thing. We swam out to the middle of the lake and back.


Pretty lake, eh?

Have I mentioned...


WHOA! That is a large bug.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

This is crazy.

I was on the Rebelution and I read about Abraham Cherrix and his struggle with Hodgekins disease. Here's the story, just scroll down and read that "fighting for his life" part. It's just insane, really.

Here's a link to a good article about it.

Let's all pray for this situation, oh and another prayer request, my good friend Mary and her family is in need of prayer. Her Grandmama has bruised her spine. Please pray for healing for Grandmama, peace for Mary's family and that they would all be shown how much God loves and watches over us.

Thanks for praying.

Monday, July 24, 2006

Love

God's love is unfailing. He will never love me less if I mess up, He will never love me more if I succeed. His love stays constant.
How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.
Psalm 36:6-8
But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
Psalm 33:17-19



Sunday, July 23, 2006

Hothothothothot!!!

It has been soooo hot! At youth group we had a water fight. It was funny because there were only 3 students there, all the rest were at the church softball games. So we had a water fight, it was fun, I got wet, other people got soaked. After the fight and the clean up of the water balloon mess we ate ice cream. Then we continued on with the Chip Ingram series on Spiritual Warfare, I'm really learning from that series. It's quite good.

Anyway, hopefully it'll cool down tomorrow.

I want to go swimming somewhere, maybe the lake or something. Also, this week I want to see a very good friend of mine, I haven't seen her in a while and I want to catch up with her.

Friday, July 21, 2006

Gizmo



This dog is my Grandma's pet. Gizmo probably weighs about 16 or so pounds when she really should only weigh about 8. She has a really sweet personality though, unlike my Grandma's cat. I and Barbarosa call her Lucifer. That cat will bite you when you pet her. Eviiiiiil I tell you, evil.

Oh and I just saw Oklahoma, the play not the movie. Betty, Tim and their parents were in it. It was good to see them again.
Now I shall go to bed because I am very tired and I have to get up early tomorrow.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Do you even realize?

That when you walk out the door you might not come back the same? Do you know how quickly and randomly stuff happens?

I drove to Target a couple hours ago with Mom and as I was driving I thought about May 10th. I drove that day too, I had no clue that when I backed up out of the driveway it would be my last time of doing that for 2 months. As we leave our houses everyday, as we get up in the mornings and go about our days things can change dramatically.

I was looking at pictures of when I came home from the ER on the 10th, it seems like that day was years ago.

Things can change so quickly! Don't forget God in your day. He brought me through this, He has taught me so much since the 10th.

Even if things change quickly and dramatically in your life remember that God has ordained all your days. As I look back in my journal and prayer journal in days before and after my fall I realize that God was preparing me for what I was about to go through. I had no idea that my life would change when I was going about my day on the 10th, I didn't know that when I wrote that God can take care of tomorrow and all our worries that God would show me just that. Things that I wrote in faith then are statements of truth that I have seen God fulfill now.


People, God is so faithful, He takes care of us in ways we cannot know now. Make statements of faith, because God will come through for you.


Psalm 139 is so true for me, here are some key verses.


"O LORD, you have searched me and
you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?" -verses 1-7

Catnip

So today I cut down the catnip and parsley, both were growing to huge heights and widths.

Fuzzball would keep the catnip to a small size by rubbing on the birdcage we had around the catnip, if you had been here and walked around in the back yard you would have seen a copper birdcage covering a catnip plant with gray cat hair on it.
See that picture? Imagine the cat is gray and there is drool coming from the corner of his mouth, that would have been Fuzzball.


Alas, Fuzzball is no more. So the plant is huge. Ahem, I mean, was huge. It isn't huge anymore.

Here for your reading pleasure is an article about catnip.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Free!


I had an appointment with Dr. Bacon today. He said that my ankle looks really good, so now I can walk around with my brace off more. I feel happy. Kind of like that octopus, except not that happy. I think I can start driving maybe tonight or tomorrow, depending on how far we are driving and if I go anywhere. My ankle isn't swollen right now, which is amazing because usually when I go out for a couple hours Dennis will swell up. But my ankles look basically the same, except Dennis is redder than the other leg, for some weird reason.

Dr. Bacon said that I can't run, because that's putting like 3-5 times my weight on my ankle. So he said swimming or bike riding would be good. Mom was talking about going to the pool in the mornings, so that would be good. I'd like to get back into bike riding, I enjoyed that. Maybe I can get Dad to ride with me, he's the least gimpy most likely person to ride with me. It'll be good to exercise.

I went to Fred Myers and I saw
these shoes in black. I like them, but they are 40 Frosty's there sooooo, I'll wait to get them.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Mommie Dearest....

Happy birthday, Mom!

Monday, July 17, 2006

Good bye, Fuzzball

You were a good cat, but now you are gone.

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Camp

5 Mile Lake was kind of a mixture of all the other camps I've been too. The worship was good and the talks were even better.

A guy named Jesse spoke about God's incredible love for us, later in the week he split up the guys and the girls on 2 nights to speak to us. He spoke to the guys about being a mighty warrior, Tyler said he was talking about integrity. The night after that he spoke to the girls about beauty. About how we (the girls) are all beautiful. His talk to us was really, really good. He referred to Proverbs 11:22, "Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion." He talked about how most of the girls at camp were doing a really good job at being discreet but some were not doing good at all. I looked over and saw a girl crying, she had been wearing some pretty tight and low shirts. His talk has impacted me, I no longer have the urge to compare myself to other girls. Because we are all beautiful, God created us that way. He made us individuals because He likes variety.

The games looked fun, but I didn't play. I was actually pretty glad not to play. My team was the Spicy Christian sandwiches, the team game theme was fast food.

My counselor's name is Jolene, she's an oncology nurse at St. Jo's. She called me swollen leg. Her story was pretty amazing. God took everything away from her and then He helped her to let Him do what needed to be done. She wasn't sure she was going to graduate from nursing school because she was going through a huge trial but she asked God to do it for her and He did.

A girl on our Spicy team had surgery on her knee in June and she was on crutches, so we gimped around together. I am really glad I got to know her, I have her email address and some other addresses so that's cool.

5 of the girls in my cabin were really immature, like majorly so. They were boy crazy, and make-up obsessed. They didn't take cabin time seriously most of the time. The first cabin time we were talking about 1 Corinthians 13, Love is patient. I was having trouble being patient with them and then the words sank in. Love is patient, love is kind.... So yeah.

Todd and Tyler were playing poker with M & M's for chips. That was entertaining.

There was a girl named Amanda there, she was going to be in our cabin but our leader moved her because she wanted her to be with other girls from her church. Amanda has a really rough family life. She walked around camp smiling, the last day of camp she gave me a hug and thanked me for being such a good friend. At the bonfire there was this girl crying, for no reason except that she was leaving camp. I thought about Amanda, she was sad to go home because she had made new friends but she was going home to a rough family. I don't know about that other girl's family life but I don't think people should cry for reasons that aren't really that serious. Amanda didn't cry. I hope that her family comes to love Jesus and to love each other.

I think that was about all the interesting things.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

I'm back!

Camp was so awesome.

Mom and Dad picked me up and we went to Costco, I forgot that I was back in the real world again. I was really smily at camp, because people are friendly at camp so they smile back. But back here people aren't friendly, it's sad.

It's a good thing to be smiley.

This week I was bugged by a Huskie. I got lots of hugs. I saw a guy named Matt get part of his tooth knocked out. I met some really awesome brothers and sisters in the Lord. Green tea came out of my nose. *cough* Two guys tried to put their arms around me at different times.... I evaded them to the best of my abilities. I was very, very creeped out by that. I got 13 letters, consisting of 4 from my parents, 8 postcards from Kristy, and 1 from Mrs. Williams. But, I didn't have to sing! WOOOOHOOOOO!

It was good times. But I'll try and get a big post about it up later.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

camp offage



I'm going go to camp tomorrow morning, at 8 in the morning. Should be fun.

I went to another church baseball game, I got a sunburn. >_<

Saturday, July 08, 2006

JOHNNYDEPPJOHNNYDEPP!!!!!!!!


You've got to love the Johnny. Especially with that hair, he's the only one I've seen that actually looks good with dreds.

So yeah I saw Dead Man's Chest. I thought it was really good, but most of the people I talk to don't like it. Barbarosa said there was a really bad innuendo. But I didn't catch it cause I'm a sheltered child. There were also grossies, a bunch of them. Not as bad as King Kong, but close.

On Monday I'm going to a Village Missions camp, there are five guys from my church going. I'm the only girl so it should be interesting going into a cabin of girls I don't know.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

"Stop coffeeing me!"

Kristy, Mom and I went shopping today. I got some lotion (like a bunch, I think I'll save most for presents) a jean skirt, 2 tank tops (at Old Navy) and I ate a Pretzel. I found some flip flops at Vans. Soooooooo comfy. Oh teh my wordz. They were 20 Frosty's but hey, if they last for 2 or so years I'm down with that. They have good support for my ankle so yeah.

I saw Tim? (XD) at the mall too. We were walking when I saw this guy and I said to Mom, "That looks like Tim (?)." It was him, so yeah. He looks like he's about 25 now. It was good to see him again. I showed him my scars, he hadn't heard about my surgery and stuff.


My foot is still swollen, but I'm learning how to walk again. Hopefully I'll stop limping soon.


If y'all could pray for my Grandma she's really depressed and she hurts a lot. There is something that's causing her a lot of pain and she needs to have a better attitude about it. But I think only God can help her with that. So please pray for her mental attitude and her physical condition to improve.


Ruth called today, she's doing a camping trip in London. She and her friend are walking 180 miles and camping along the way. So Kristy and I talked to her. It was funny, I don't think I've been on the phone with all my sisters in a while.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

The 4th


Happy day!

I hope you all had fun and didn't get blown up.
At the moment I'm really tired. So I'll tell you more about the last couple of days later.

Sunday, July 02, 2006

I sat next to a Marine today

Yeah, he goes to my church and I'm friends with his sister. He came back from 29 Palms for a little family visit. I saw him at church... Then I saw him again at the church softball game, I sat in front of him and then I saw him at youth group.

Anyway, the Marine and a guy sitting next to him were talking about stuff, I'd join in at random points. But most of they're conversation was not good, it made me really thankful to have some godly young men in my life.


Josh walked over to the stands to get some water from his dad, I was so glad to see someone my age who actually shares my beliefs and lives them.

To my male friends, thank you for following God in the way you are. Thank you for respecting us girls in the way you do. I truly appreciate it. If I didn't know you I would lose hope for the male race (outside of my family).

This next week will be busy, some family is coming and for the 4th we are having a ton of people coming to our house. Then a week from today I'm leaving for camp.