What's Going On.

Hello everyone! Well, it's been awhile... -again. :)
Things have been moving kind of slow and fast around here, at the same time :)
On the slow side, there is school, babysitting and reading (Oh, I'm reading a great book called 'Eragon' ... One of Justin's favorites, that he has been wanting me to read for a while now  :D)
On the fast side, I just realized TODAY that my piano Federation is in FOUR DAYS. Oh my good golly Moses. I am NOT ready!!!! :P XP
I have been *stressing out* about Federation all day! Blah.
Oh my goodness. It is FANTASTIC outside today! I went running/hiking for about an hour (although it seemed much longer) hehe.
Well, I have been listening to a *TON* of 80's pop music the past few weeks. Mom and Dad are always like "Whoa. That song brings me right back to high school" and I'm like "Someday I'll be saying the same thing about the same kind of music !" :)
Okay. I have to tell you about our "adventure".
For the past month the door handle for my bedroom has been getting "stuck" and it's been really hard to open the door.
Last night, Rebekah and Emily were in my room... and it was about 1:00 in the morning. Well, we were all just talking and hanging out, and then when we were all done we headed for the door. And it would NOT open. We all tried REALLY hard to open it, but we couldn't open it for the life of us! So, we tried yelling...but everyone was in bed and no-one heard us... and we were like "Oh no! I have to go to the bathroom!" We were COMPLETELY stuck. So Emily and Rebekah and I opened up my window and crawled onto the roof of our house, and we walked over to my brother's window! So, all three of us girls are on top of the roof... in our pajamas... FREEZING... and we get to Matthew's window and we start knocking on it and yelling "open up!" We have to go to the bathroom!"
So, Matthew woke up to that sound outside of his window and FREAKED OUT. By the time we "calmed him down" through the window, he just stared at us "dumb-founded". :D Haha! It was SOOOO funny!
Once he let us in we all couldn't stop laughing! (Oh, and Rebekah and I both had to go BACK to my room by the roof later, to get back in bed!)
Agh. Good times. :P
So, this morning Mom and Matthew spent thirty minutes tearing our door down. So now, *sniff* *sniff* I don't really have a door for  my bedroom! :( :D
..so anyway.. that's about all the excitement going on around here!

Being an "Obvious Fanatic"

  Okay, so I have already put this on Facebook as a "note".... but I wanted to also make it my blog post. 

            Something that God has really placed on my heart, lately, is how Christians need to pick up their cross daily. It is so easy to just read  the Bible, memorize verses, and yes, even make really good facebook status’. It’s even easier to “dress up for Church” on Sunday and put on a “good face”.

 But how are we living our every-day lives? Are we, truly, “living up” to all we say we are? In James 2: 14-18, it states: “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.” How are we living up to this at home? Are we respecting our siblings, parents, or spouse? Are we, physically, helping them? “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” -1 John 3:18.

We are disciples for God. We are Christians. Are we shinning the light clearly? When someone is drunk, you know in less than five minutes with the way they walk, talk, and act, that they are obviously intoxicated. It shouldn’t be any different for a Christian. It should be just as obvious that within five minutes anyone can tell “hey, there is something different about this person.” (-and, different, in agood way :P )

Think of it this way: “We are like windows.” We want to remain pure and clean so that anyone can see God shining through you. How can a person see anything through a dirty window? Let the Lord’s radiance shine clear and bright through you. How can we claim to be witnesses if we keep our music, fashion, speech and morals separate?  All of this excess "trash" is just "fogging up our windows". We don't have to be "of this world" just because we are in it. We definitly can't waste our God-given time "blending in with society." 

It’s so amazing that God wants to “shine through us.” He will make beautiful things out of us. :D Please don’t become complacent in your faith –but rather, be concerned with the way you have been living and Give it all to God. He will fix it. Let’s be fanatics for Christ. Let’s live for him. Let’s live in such a way that it is obvious for anyone to see who we are living for. “I'm not extreme, I'm redeemed with faith, to serve a God who's extremly great.” –LeCrae. 

:D

Okay. I have lived about three months without watching "Gettysburg" of "God's And Generals" :) I am such a Civil War geek   X)   VERY much craving to hear a Southern accent I turned it on for the first time in waay too long, yesterday :) Wow. Oh. Wow.  I'm on "cloud nine" (I know, I know... some of us get that feeling by watching Johnny Depp on a big screen, but all I require is a cup of tea and a war movie)

Emily gave me about three yards of brown material, because she hasn't used since she bought it... a LONG time ago, and so after weeks and weeks of begging for it, she has given it to me. Now that I've got it, I have an "artistic block". 31/2 yards of material. The possibilities are endless :/ (I guess there are worse problems to have ;P)

Changes!

Wow! It's been a long time since my last post, and so much has changed. First of all, God has gracefully revealed to me who my "real" friends are. I am so happy to finally have good friends that really care about me. (Rachel, Tabbi, Jonnah!) It's wonderful to finally have friends who share the same morals and dreams as you. That has utterly, changed a lot in my life. It's hard to come to "grips with reality" sometimes. It's hard to find out that you have been believing "lies" this whole time. It hurts to put so much hope and trust in someone and watch them break it all. The Lord is helping me through every step of the way :) He has given me SO much support through my "real friends" and family. It feels good to be loved. REALLY LOVED. :D
Along with all of that ^^ He has been guiding me by opening and closing doors. Lord willing, I am going to take the ACT in April. I am *SO* nervous... but you know what? The worst that could happen is that I just have to take it again!
Festival is coming up... I have to memorize four piano songs. I am NOT excited, but I do love the Hymn playing that I get to do. I forgot how much I love to play Hymns. :)
This week I have been working on my "Jean Patch-Skirt". I finished it today :) I'm so proud ;D I have been watching a lot of Doctor Who this week! Over the weekend I "glued" my hair into a Mohawk. :D It was CRAZY.  I had no Idea how hard it is to form a Mohawk... huge "respect points" out there, for anyone who does it on a regular basis!


Romans 15: 13 
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Waiting...

Keith Green is one of my all-time FAVORITE singers! Wow. He has some GREAT songs! My brother and I have been listening to him non-stop for the past few weeks! "Make My Life A Prayer To You" is my favorite!!
Well, we have been pretty busy, with all of the "Christmas stuff" going on! Lot's of performances... Rebekah had two ballet performances. It always makes me cry when I see her dance. She is SUCH a great ballerina. And she is SO grown up! :'(  She practices at her ballet school everyday. We are constantly taking her to Springfield. Sometimes I'm frustrated with how much she practices... but it's really her passion. And she's going to be a professional as soon as she's out of high school. *insert extremely jealous frown*oh well... I guess the Lord has something else, great, planned for me! It can be very frustrating, staying at home and being the "babysitter" for my brother all the time. But I know it's important. I know this is where God has me, for a reason! I need to make the most of this, and stop complaining. Who am I to second-guess what the Lord has set before me? :)
I had a GREAT time at the Christmas party on Friday! Agh. It was great to see Rachel, and Tabitha! (You both mean SO much to me! )
I have been contemplating "career paths" and what I'm interested in... My Dad and I were talking the other night about "medical careers" and I think it would be SO cool to be a "Surgeons Assistant". I don't know... you don't have to go through five years of training, to do that, most people can get there degree in about two years at OTC, which would be great... because I don't want to spend all my time in college... I really just want to get married! I know I'm going to do some sort of "mission work", with Muslims, and any sort of degree in the "medical field" can open a lot of doors abroad. Well, that's what has been on my heart, lately... Just praying for direction!    Hebrews 12:1 "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us."  

I'm Dreaming Of a White Christmas!

Christmas time is here! All of Sunday all of us "kids" decorated our rooms for the "Christmas Competition"  (whoever has the best decorated room wins) Rebekah and I spent all day organizing, de-cluttering and decorating our room! We have a small pink Christmas tree and we made orange, blue, and pink snowflakes to hang from the ceiling :) It's pretty cute! I have a lot of black and white turn-of-the-century photographs, so "black and white vintage" and the "pink modern" are a really fun combination. I am so excited about Christmas! I have been listening to the "Relient K" Christmas album, and one song that has really stood out to me is "I Celebrate The Day"  the lyrics are so great! My favorite Christmas song ever, is "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" the words are just so beautiful!
Anyway. I haven't sewn ANYTHING in almost a month and I am REALLY wanting to sew a dress! I have been saving my money for a while now... and I found a vintage pattern on ebay that I L.O.V.E.D. -so I bought it! I'm REALLY hoping it comes soon! I have been so "day-dreamy" today! Paying attention for school was really hard, and I completely RUINED an attempt to make a coconut cream pudding. Waaaaaaay too much salt :( Let's hope I don't burn dinner! haha ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow. I can't believe I haven't posted ANYTHING in SO long! Golly Moses. Well, let me see if I can catch you up on the "craziness" that's been going on around here ;) The piano recital -that we all dread- was last week, and since I was sick I didn't have to go! Agh. what a relief. I have never been so happy to be sick! I did miss choir though... I didn't get to see Rachel on Friday.. :'(... which was sad....  (I saw "The Tourist" again, and it made me miss you! ) On Sunday we had a family come to our church from New York, they were just visiting... Such a cute family... they are a folk band (and pretty popular up there) so the dad played an AMAZING piano, and the wife played the accordion -which made us sound like a "polka church" ;D  I have been babysitting a lot, and there is NEVER a dull moment with that little kid ;-) He asks the weirdest random questions! "I know our bodies are filled with blood...but WHY?" or "Are you English? You must be, because if you were French I wouldn't be able to understand you." :) Agh, it's so funny! Well, for Thanksgiving this year we are going to be having two of Dad's half brothers come over... I am happy and stressed at the same time... The youngest is married and has a daughter, he has come so far, and is actually a cool, fun, SWEET guy now... he is always asking questions about God and stuff. He has come a looong way. He used to be "horrible" -we aren't even going to go there! But I can't really say the same about the other brother... he is very "rough". Full of "colorful" talk and r.e.a.l.l.y scary morals! I know as a Christian I am supposed to love him, but that is very difficult sometimes! Oh well, and it doesn't help that since he lost his house, him and his girlfriend with her son will be living with us for an "indefinite" amount of time!Gosh :/  Pray for our sanity! I am excited about watching the "Thanksgiving Parade" on T.V. in the morning (which is a tradition) and then my sisters and I bundle up in coats and run the mile loop around our house :) And at midnight all of us "kids" stay up for 12:00 (which is NOT as hard as it used to be! LOL) when we can "officially" listen to Christmas music!  On a random note... I am addicted to coffee! I used to only want coffee if it was a "Frappuchino Starbucks" thing   but just recently I have really started liking normal hot coffee! Agh. Yummmm!