Spalaky?

Here are some pictures from my weekend. My parents had their Ruby anniversary and we celebrated on Saturday. Chato decided to sit on some coats and Bella decided to put her pillow on top on the Chats.

On Sunday we played football outside and it was ridiculously cold so I was chasing people around and taking pictures. Heather willingly took a picture with me but some of my other friends had to be tackled.

Anyway..... I like my camera AAAAAAAND there's pretty much nothing else to report. I think tomorrow I'll go and see what this Christian Bible study on campus is all about. It'll be good to make some Christian friends.

...

I love the Shins. There is pretty much nothing better than doing school on a sunny day and listening to the Shins. Of course I wasn't doing that today, I was doing that on Friday. Today I have a slight fever and I took a nap after co-op. So today has become kind of a haze, I really shouldn't sleep in the middle of the day. It throws me off.

I can feel the tips of my screws sticking out, I hope they don't fall out... LOL. That would be creepy. "Elyse, there's a SCREW STICKING OUT OF YOUR LEG." me: "Oh really? umm... Ew? *faints*"

I feel like some tea and a good thing about today is that Heroes is tonight and I'm going over to Grandma's to watch it because OH MY WORD, it froze every 2 seconds last time we tried to watch it on NBC.com.

Some really good stuff has happened in the last couple of days and some really bad stuff has happened too. The Lord is good though, even when I feel, well, less than normal He is always there. He is always consistent. I'm so thankful for that. One of my oldest friends was baptized along with his family, God is so faithful and HE HEARS US WHEN WE PRAY. How many times did I cry out of frustration over my friend? I'm not sure. But I cried yesterday, when my friend was baptized. How great is our God!? To allow me to witness that... It's incredible.

Apparently some of my friends think that in 20 years I will be a novelist... WHAT!? I have no idea.... I thought that was pretty funny though.

Now, I have posted. It is random but it is a post and I shall go and get some warm liquid to ingest and try to concentrate on finishing the chem reading.

Laters!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy 40th Mom and Dad!

I'll try and put up a substantial post later, I'm so tired right now. The weekend was long and busy. For now, that is all...

On a different note...

Oh how I love thee city scape profile picture! I'm not sure if I will ever change you, for you amaze me. If the person that came up with that picture ever reads this post I would like to thank you, right here, right now.

And... I want to do well in college, I feel like I'm like a fish without water. It's a different thing. AND English is confusing, I thought I was doing well and then my teacher says, "I stopped counting your run-ons when I got to 5." This doesn't give me much hope. But it will do no good to worry about it, God is in control and I will trust that. I have hope from Him and He will never fail, even when I do.

Oh and yesterday was the chem study group and before we started, us girls prayed for a person in both of my classes who is going through a really hard time. It was wonderful to have friends that are willing to pray in public together. God created us to fellowship like that, to care for each other and to love Him more than anything. God knows best! It's a wonderful thing.

How are you doing?

A thought for the day....

"If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other."
Galatians 5:15

We need to make sure that what we say is God honoring and isn't coming from the emotion of the moment. It is better to not say anything than to say something rashly and regret it later. If we don't watch our tongues we will end up like this snake, eating itself.

This especially applies to the Church, if we keep back-biting and gossiping how will we be able to stand? We need to be unified.

"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."
Philippians 2:1-4

SNOW.

So here's my explanation. These pictures were taken yesterday by my Mom, Diesel had just scratched my face and you can see it in that picture of me. It was REALLY red, but you can't really tell in that picture. NAUGHTY CAT.

That slide picture is funny.

And the last one is of our lake, there was a sheet of ice, probably about an inch thick. But some people decided it was thick enough to walk out to the dock! I'm really glad they didn't fall in. Oh and so you can know just how far it is to the dock, it takes me about a minute to swim there.

He went from cute (hiding in blankets, to hunter extraordinaire, to just plain playing with his food....) Ew?

Ew?

My cat is disgusting and I feel like barfing, but only slightly. This is another reason why I like dogs more than cats.

That's all for now! Pictures to come....

[if I get around to it, I'm back to the proverbial grindstone tomorrow.]

Snow Day!!!!!!!!

No college today! It's quite nice to have a break.

What are you guys up to?

"I-I-I-I-I KNOW HOW TO TRANSFORM!!!!!"

I <3 Gnarls Barkley's song Transformer, it makes me want to dance.

You know what another thing makes me want to do? The "gradmax " makes me want to like.... Do something drastic. In my easy/Iwishicoulddropoutofitbecauseidon'tneedit class we have to go to this site and fill out this "gradmax" survey every week, it lets the teacher know how we are doing. If we aren't doing so well, like if we are feeling overwhelmed by stress the teacher will talk to us. The assessment asks questions like, "How are you feeling today?" and then they have a chart and you can like on how you feel. 1 being great, 6 being so-so and 10 being "Couldn't be worse..." And then you think you are done with the annoying personal questions and they give you like 10 MORE!!!!! Mary and I were sitting near each other in the compy lab and we would look at each other and laugh. Or think about clicking the "couldn't be worse" button. =P

Seriously, I'm in this class because I had to be to get into the program. I am not really doing this of free will. So it's hard when the teacher asks, "Why are you in this class?" I don't want to hurt feelings! And since I don't really want to be there I don't really want to open up and share my heart with people. Yes, I will be honest. But the whole thing with gradmax is they want to know our stress level and how much we worry about stuff. I'm sitting there thinking, I don't usually worry about stuff because I know Christ is in control. When I do worry I need to take it to Him, not my college's staff.

At least I get to hang out with Mary. I hope I get to see her next quarter too.

Oh and in the free planners they give out they have June as the "Gay, Lesbian, trans gender, bisexual month".... This made me sad and angry and confused.

It makes me so frustrated I must pull out the "ajkdhkjakjadskfjkas!"

They also have women's history month, or whatever crud they said. They had no men's history month. What's the deal? Where's the equality? It's so stupid and such a lie. You can't have unity without Christ being the thing that makes us one! He is the only way and the only truth! There is no other way.

I know this passage is long, but it's SO true. Since I was home schooled my whole life before now I was never really confronted with such blatant sin, such hatred of God....

18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Romans 1:18-32

Pray that I would be a light there, they need lights and I need prayer. Another thing I'm praying about is that I would meet more Christians and that we would be able to meet together and pray and read the Word. I don't really have the same schedule as for instance, Jaho. So basically all the Christians that I know, I don't see. Maybe God is doing that so that I am more friendly to others, I don't know... But His plan is great and I will trust Him!

Oh and you can read an update on Molly and Betsy's Dad here. Please keep their family in your prayers!

Electrons

If there was a school for atoms this is how it would go down....

The popular kids (aka the Noble gasses) basically want nothing to do with anyone else, they are happy by themselves. There is no striving for friends, they are pretty much full of themselves.

Row 7: almost popular but not quite there. Since they are snubbed by the inert gasses they turn on others (they view them as a lower class) and steal friends, basically they just bully them into hanging out.... To sum up, they are bullies.

Since you can probably figure out the social structure yourself I will move on.

Metals are pretty easy going, they'll give up money if the higher rows want some and they just want to give, give, give. As long as they can chill with the aforementioned row. This is speaking of an ionic bond, it's a give and take thing.

Non-metals have covalent bonds (that means they share), so it's not really a bullying situation. For instance, "May I please have that CD." "Sure thing, can I have it back on Tuesday?" "Yup."

Hydrogen is kind of a rebel, it doesn't want to be like row eight it just wants a friend/clothing item. So it finds a stray electron (friend, clothing item) and it's BFF for life.

If you can't tell, I've been studying Lewis dot structures for Chem. Fun stuff. This class doesn't seem like as much work as college, go figure. =)

If you would, please pray for my friends, Molly and Betsy's dad. He's having some medical troubles and has had a few surgeries, his ribs are broken and he has blood clots in his leg. Please pray for their whole family and for his healing.

Update?

OK so life is really busy, it seems like the New Year's party was like 5 weeks ago.

My classes are pretty good so far. English is confusing, hopefully that will be cleared up soon. I really need to get a good grade. Anyway, I'm not going to complain because if I did that would be stupid, seems like I've been complaining since Tuesday. Yesterday God was really working on my heart, just like, "You can't act like this, you can't be filled up with anger and bitterness." So today was better, God is in control and I can't change things. It'll all turn out according to His plan.

I'm getting to know a couple people better. Kim is really nice, she's in both of my classes and she has 3 kids. She's probably about Kristy's age or a little older. Anyway, I feel better now that I'm making friends.

And.... I'M SO GLAD IT'S THE WEEKEND, OH MY WORD. *sigh*

Other than that, I finished up Colossians um... Last night? (I think.) Time has become a mush and I can't really distinguish between days now, heh. Anyway, Paul talked about how Epaphras was "wrestling in prayer" for the Colossians, I was struck with how much I need people to pray for me. I was also struck with how much I need to pray for others, we need to pray for each other.

Right now I need your prayers about school, about English, I need to understand (completely) what my teacher is talking about because we have a test on Tuesday. I also need wisdom for how to be a light at my college. I need prayer for my attitude, that God would continually remind me that Jesus never complained as he was carrying the cross, therefore I have no right to complain about school.

What can I be praying for you about? You can email me about it if you want, but seriously, please tell me. Let's be encouraging each other and spending some time before the throne of God interceding for one another.

So this is the New Year....

What have I done? Some big events have happened in 2006.

From about January to February Mom was staying with Ruth in England because of Ruth's surgery, this meant that we were without her for about 3 weeks. It was so odd and sad, I love my Mom. The day before she flew home there was a big windstorm and the power went out, nerves were frayed but God supplied a beautiful sunset. That gave me a time to just relax and talk to Him about the storm, Mom being gone and how awesome He is. God showed His intimate/huge love for me in that moment.

In February I started driver's ed, this meant I had to not help in Awana which was very sad. It was my first time in school. I met Mr. M, who I later found out had a stroke and was paralyzed on his right side.

Skip ahead to May (obviously nothing interesting happened in March and April), I backed out of the driveway not quite aware of how fragile my life is when I came back I knew just how fragile I am. I broke my ankle at some friend's house. I cried at the ER, man... Life was busy that week. It didn't seem so bad after I broke my ankle though, I had bigger things to think about. But I cried because they said that I might need(LOL, here are some gross pictures, the last one is REALLY gross because of the really, really long leg hair. Ew. Here's a cool one though.) surgery, because my new-ish jeans had to be cut open (just kidding) and because, "OH MY WORD I JUST BROKE MY ANKLE, I CAN'T SLOW DOWN NOW.... THERE'S SO MUCH TO DO." But God had other things planned. God, again, was there. He was there in the quiet time, the time of riding home to tell my Dad about my fall. He reminded me (by a song on the local Christian radio station, it actually can be a useful thing although it gets annoying how they play songs over and over again. NO VARIETY.) that He is in control, I can't understand His reasons but I just need to trust Him. And I did. Lots of people prayed for me during this time. Later in the week they said I needed surgery, so I got surgery. 10 screws and a plate. The recovery was hard and using crutches was lame, but at least I have 2 legs. After about 3 months I could finally get back to driving, hallelujah.

One day in the summer I was feeling bitter about how I couldn't run when I saw a girl sprinting down the street, that night I found out that a girl I know had her leg amputated. Don't complain about what you don't have, you have SOMETHING, be grateful. Her attitude amazed me (and continues to do so) she is a testament to God's work in her life and I respect her highly.

That summer there were a lot of injuries and surgeries, again, God's plan is great and He had a purpose for allowing those things to happen.

This year was a roller coaster in my Spiritual life, I would go back to legalism (not doing things for God and in response to His love for me but because it was a routine) and God would draw me near again and this happens again and again. God also showed me what it means to be a woman, how beautiful (soul and body) He made us and how He can use our beauty to bless others and draw them to Him. He also showed me how He is the only one who will fill this thrist for validation that I have, that we all have. Like He told the Samaritan woman, He has living water and she will never thirst again.

In August we got a kitten, he's been a huge blessing to us. God took him away for a day, that taught me a lot.

I turned 16 in October and got my ears pierced. John took an Ambulance ride.

In November something happened, I'm not sure what. Umm.. Yes. I met with the college counselor.

This month John had lots of doctor's appointments and tests, but they have scheduled him for surgery a week from Friday which is also the day I take my drive test. John will have his gall bladder out and join the cool club of people that have had surgery, woot, woot. But please pray for him.

This year a lot of stuff has happened, fo sho. God has been in each and every thing that has happened. His plans are good and far above ours.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it"

-Isaiah 55:8-11

So as I sit here with my back hurting, feeling sick, feeling sad because of the weather and slightly anxious about starting college tomorrow I look back on the year and realize today is not the end of the world. This cold will go away, my back pain will stop and the sun will shine again God is faithful to be with me now. Even when my back hurts and my nose runs, He never leaves. If you are feeling grumpy or sad, look back over the year and see what God has been doing in your life, it'll change your perspective.

Forever God is faithful. Amen.