hmmm...

so, i realize it's been almost 3 months since i last said anything, and this post isn't going to be particularly informative, but i thought i'd leave a small bit anyway. suffice it to say, i've had an unexpectedly busy semester. busy, but fun. i've grown closer to some of the most amazing girls i've ever met and further from some friends i never thought i'd forget, but, more importantly, i've grown. and for that, i thank God. actually, some friends and i were talking about that, how much we've changed in the last two and a half years, and i have to say, of all the things i expected, this was not in the picture. i never expected to be one of "those" girls, wearing colors or caring (at least a little) how i look. i never expected to sit up half the night having deep conversations and laughing my head off with a girl who wears more pink than barbie and actually enjoys listening to the gaithers, and least of all to have come to call her one of my all time best friends. yeah, there have been a lot of "unexpecteds" here. it's been tougher than i thought it would be, and some of my greatest learned lessons have come with a lot of pain involved. but i wouldn't trade it for anything.

so, as yet another semester winds down to a close and i contemplate the fact that a year from now i'll be getting ready to graduate (and that terrifies the crap outta me), i thought, being in a christmassy mood, i'd post the lyrics to a christmas song i absolutely love for others' enjoyment (because i'm so sure anyone other than me reads my thoughts...). so, here ya go. this is "i celebrate the day" by relient k:

and with this Christmas wish is missed
the point i could convey.
if only i could find the words to say to let You know how much You've touched my life,
because here is where You're finding me, in the exact same place as New Year's eve.
and, from a lack of my persistency,
we're less than half as close as i want to be.

and the first time
that You opened Your eyes, did You realize that You would be my Savior?
and the first breath that left Your lips,
did You know that it would change this world forever?

and the first time
that You opened Your eyes, did You realize that You would be my Savior?
and the first breath that left Your lips,
did You know that it would change this world forever?

and so this christmas i'll compare the things i felt in prior years
to what this midnight made so clear,
that You have come to meet me here.

to look back and think that
this baby would one day save me,
in the hope that what You did
that you were born so i might really live.
to look back and think that
this baby would one day save me.

and the first time
that You opened Your eyes, did You realize that You would be my Savior?
and the first breath that left Your lips,
did You know that it would change this world forever?

and the first time
that You opened Your eyes, did You realize that You would be my Savior?
and the first breath that left Your lips,
did You know that it would change this world forever?

and i, i celebrate the day
that You were born to die,
so i could one day pray for You to save my life

pray for You to save my life

pray for You to save my life...

stuck in my head

so, it's late. and i can't get the lyrics to this song out of my head...so, my brilliant plan is to write them here, in the vain attempt that perhaps the song will stop playing over and over in my head and i can go to sleep, something for which my roommate would be grateful...to make matters worse, because the song was written by a member of our praise band, i can't go find it online and listen to it all the way through anywhere...until wednesday, that is!!! :) i'm so excited for the worship cd/dvd to come out!!! anyhoo, here goes. if i'm not mistaken, the song's called "uncovered". here's the chorus:

"Holy Father, uncover me
You the Truth that sets me free
break my pride till all i see
is all of You
uncovering me..."

that's the only part i can remember, so that's the only part you get...love, love, LOVE that song. props to harrison for some amazing song writing skills God blessed him with. anyhoo, now i shall go attempt again to sleep...night, night world.

...again...

yeah, so, remember me? i'm the one who forgets i have this and goes weeks without writing...


anyhoo, it's spiritual emphasis week hear on the mountain. clayton king, who is the most amazing preacher known to man, is speaking. i encourage you; if you are anywhere within the vicinity of lynchburg, va, come hear this man speak. you will not leave the same way you came in. amazing message tonight on accepting God's discipline and realizing it is yet another demonstration of His perfect and unfailing love. interestingly enough though, what spoke to me the most tonight was not actually his message; it was the song we sang right before the message. i've heard the song about a million times before; i absolutely love it/ it's by hillsong, and it's somewhere on my mp3 player (no idea where; i can never find the songs i'm looking for on there when i'm looking for them...). but tonight for some reason, the lyrics to that song absolutely hit me, like stabbed me in the heart style. anyways, since i really have nothing more eventful to write on here, i'm just going to put them up here. i encourage you to really think about these words...

mighty to save

everyone needs compassion
a love that's never failing
let mercy fall on me
everyone needs forgiveness
a kindness of a Savior
the hope of nations

my Savior
He can move the mountains
my God is Mighty to save
He is Mighty to save
forever
Author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

so take me as You find me
all my fears and failures
fill my life again
i give my life to follow
everything i believe in
now i surrender

my Savior
He can move the mountains
my God is Mighty to save
He is Mighty to save
forever
Author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

shine your light and let the whole world see
we're singing for the glory of the risen King...Jesus
shine your light and let the whole world see
we're singing for the glory of the risen King...Jesus

my Savior
He can move the mountains
my God is Mighty to save
He is Mighty to save
forever
Author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

phew!

wow. so it's been a while. the last month has absolutely flown by. (plus i'm absolutely terrible at keeping up with this whole blog thing...) let's see, what's happened since last i wrote?...

well, as i said, i got a job. i worked as a lead cashier at murdoch's for a little over a month, before i quit to move back up to va for another year here on liberty mountain. my mom and i made the trip together again; we had several close calls, but God kept us safe, and we arrived last thursday in lynchburg, va, where we unpacked my junk, ate, and crashed. and i was thrust strait into student leadership orientation and the full title of prayer leader on my hall. i won't lie; it was a little nerveracking at first, to think i might be responsible for the spiritual welfare of a bunch of girls. i struggle enough with my own messes; i don't need to be screwing up other peoples' lives. but, as always, isaiah 40 prevailed, and last night i led my first ever prayer group.

and it was amazing.

if i needed any more convincing that this year is going to be an amazing year for my hall, i don't now. the freshmen that we moved in over the last three days are absolutely amazing, and i can't wait to get to know them better and spend a year both teaching and learning from them about Christ.

and now, leadership orientation is drawing to a close with one last 40 minute seminar tomorrow morning, and the returning upperclassmen will begin pouring in tomorrow with a few early arrivals. and i won't lie; i'm a little nervous for them. (if i screw up with the fish, they don't know; but the uppers will know in a heartbeat...) but i'm also really excited. i firmly believe that a lot of the hall's attitude will be determined by the attitude of the leadership core. and ours is amazing. so i think we're set. i have some butterflies, but i'll make it.

in other news, i have a fish. he's a betta. he lives in a huge vase-bowl-thing with texan decorations all over it, and his name is pecos bill. he's about as random and adhd as me, and he loves the david crowder band. life's good.

i'm also struggling a little with homesickness. i just found out a friend from home is pregnant again, and i miss being home and hearing in person. but what's even scarier is when i think that the next time i see my family, i will be graduating in exactly a year. that's positively terrifying...maybe i need to go read isaiah 40 again...

hope your week's been as amazing as mine. :)

oh, the irony...

so, i have a job.

but not where i wanted. those who know me know i was trying to get some different experience this summer by getting a different job that i had last summer. i actually was really excited about this position at hallmark, but the lady turned out to be kinda leading me on, and i didn't get the job. so, as a last resort, i went back to murdoch's, because they told me last summer that if i needed a job again this summer, they'd hire me. and they're not so bad. they pay's alright, and the people there are always really nice. most of my bosses and managers are great, and i've met some really amazing people working there, because the place is this pier out over the ocean, a total tourist trap. like i met this one lady (kinda) from japan last year, and we didn't really talk much, because she didn't really speak much english, but the cool part was that she used a credit card, so it was like this really weird cool looking japanese credit card, and when she signed the receipt, it was in japanese with like the symbols and everything. my manager and i admired it for a while later that day, when she was cleaning out my register. but yeah, the job's not bad or anything, it's just that the hours suck. on weekends, if you work the late shift, you don't get home till after midnight. ridiculous. anyways, so i went over there this morning to drop off an app and i was home maybe ten minutes when i got a call from the owner patrick, saying i start tomorrow morning at nine. so, that's you're update. i wound up back at the place i was trying to avoid. the unfortunate thing is, i know when my dad gets home, it won't be "well done, you got a job for a few weeks before you go back." it will be "see, i told you. if you'd gone over there in may, you'd have had a whole lot more income over this year." alas, i dread those words. isn't the important thing that i got a job? why does he have to turn it around to a lecture for me. i'm sure there's a lesson God's trying to teach me out of all of this, but i'm feeling just a bit hardheaded at the moment, so i'm not gonna think about it...

blessings in disguise...

so yesterday, my mom, who was borrowing my car while hers was in the shop, was turning a corner about a block away, on her way home to her loving, perfect, eldest daughter, often mistaken for an angel, when, lo and behold, my muffler fell off. just fell off. are you kidding me?? yeah. my luck, i tell ya...anyways, she managed to get the car home, where i laid hands and prayed...and then cursed it to oblivion in nothing...so, i had to drive my mom to the dealership, and my dad's brilliant idea is to use his old car, the one i'm taking my stereo from...yeah, that piece of...junk...so, i had to drive the clunker. half way there we realize there's something wrong with the tires, but we have to get mom's car. so we keep going, we get to the car place, and i check my tires. there's a bubble each on at least two of them. brilliant. so i have to drive home. i drive about 25 the whole way back, because testing my luck is inadvisable, and finally make it about a mile and a half away, when, oh yes, it starts raining. well, the windows were down because myrtle doesn't have a/c, but i soon realized i couldn't put them up. why, you ask? the wipers don't work, and it's generally advised that you stay on your side of the yellow line. loads of traffic (it's the weekend on a tourist island), a zig-zag way back, and it starts raining while i am without wipers. oyve. so, i'm making my slow way home amongst the traffic and now rain, windows open with the water pouring in so i can watch the line and look for the stop signs, the tires, shady as is, don't have traction because they've been sitting for a year and a half, on slippery roads that are just wet enough to make hydroplaning a likely possibility. i make it home (the trip taking altogether about 3 times as long as it should have), roll up the windows, turn off the car, open the door, and it stops raining. inevitable. i was wet.

but see this thought occurred to me. maybe i needed to get wet. when all was said and done, it wasn't that big of a deal. it only rained toward the end of the trip, the part of the road i know best. it could have rained the whole way, and i think i've only ever driven on harborside rd twice. i didn't have a blowout, and i could have. very easily. but the best part of this story happened this morning. a friend from church came over, for other some reason unrelated, and found out about my muffler issue. and he offered to fix it. just like that. amazing. people like him deserve a metal.

in other news, i spent most of the day trying to find random tools to get my car stereo out and never actually could find them anywhere. it seems they make everything to put them in, but never expect you'll want to take them out or, heaven forbid, lose the thing that came with the stereo. oh well, i'll have to figure out some ingenious way to make it work. at any rate, i'm out for now.

life in forward motion.

oh, oh, 3 posts in less than two weeks. i'm getting better.

so, i've been job hunting. to no avail. apparently to get a job in this town you have to know people. specifically the mob. should i be putting this in writing? if the mob reads this, i do love y'all. you're my favorite. i love italian food. :) at any rate, hallmark is supposed to call me back later today. they look like the best bet thus far. this is getting irritating though. i've managed to get enough between loans and scholarships to have paid for this upcoming semester at school, but my bank account has not yet recovered from this last semester's drive home (gas prices! ouch!!) and vacation (yes, i had to have that t-shirt). and i'd like to be able to buy food when i get back to va, preferably before i go back to work... that would be nice. never fear, the most important has already been paid for (harry potter :)), but if i don't get a job soon, my bank account won't be the only thing suffering; my ears might actually fall off from my mom's nagging -- the downside to saving money by living at home over the summers...

ah well, i'm passing time by doing what i love, reading harry potter. i was reading through all the books before the release of the final, and i'm about halfway through ootp now. i think i'll get back to that in a bit. actually, i was gonna work on my car this weekend (which is a prayer request in and of itself) and switch out the car sterio in my dad's clunker for the one in mine. long story, but the gist of it is that my dad's old clunker was my first car and went to him when i bought my newer car. at any rate, when i was driving ol' myrtle and i didn't know if i'd be able to buy a new car before i went off to school, but knew i needed one, i was fixing up myrtle and i bought a new sterio and installed it (which, incidentally, i don't recommend; pay the money to have it installed. i almost shocked the crap out of myself and i blew out the sterio i'd bought. fortunately walmart didn't ask questions when i brought it back and they exchanged it for a new one no prob :)). later, actually about two weeks before i left for va, i had saved up enough money for a "new" car (it was new to me) and with a little help from my grandparents (which they've never let me forget; i love my family) i bought daisy (i name my cars, yes), my beautiful blue/green 97 cavalier, complete with penguin steering wheel cover and pink palm tree freshener hanging from the rearview. she has had to have work off and on, and will probably need a bit more before i return again to va in august, but she's my baby. enter issue. her sterio sucks. and i paid for the one in myrtle. and i want mine back. my dad says it's his. i might strangle him with his oxygen tube. mom says i should just wait till he's taking a nap saturday and work on it. which i will. he hasn't even driven myrtle in like four or five months. last i heard, she wasn't starting. my sterio. oh well, that's my plan for the weekend. pray i don't electrocute myself. because i would. anyhoo, i'm out.

HARRY POTTER!!

one month till the seventh and final installment of the harry potter series is released, deathly hallows!!

yay!!


ps - this is my attempt at posting more regularly and less sporadically...i need help...

alas, vacation is over...

just got back from branson, mo! here's some pics.




me and my cousin, patience. :)




adhd does not even begin to describe it...




she honestly thought she could take me. obviously, i couldn't let her go on, operating under such delusions. sisters today...




so, is everybody else humming the theme to titanic?...

i'm home!!

:)

in loving memory

the world may never again be quite the same. certainly liberty will not. today we are mourning the loss of one of the greatest advocates of christianity of our time. campus is quieter, teachers are more subdued, it seems a silence has fallen here. i was packing when our dorm got the news. it's weird to think next year when we get back on campus, dr falwell won't be here attempting to run over students. i can't even imagine those graduating this year, losing the chancellor less than a week before graduation. and he was so much more than a chancellor; he was like a grandpa to each of us. he'd listen to you anytime you needed; he talked to the students one on one; he'd try and make this as close to a home and family away from home as possible. his death has left us with this gaping hole on campus, and i doubt it will ever be quite filled in the same way. we will never forget the man who taught us to strive to be the best and work for our "bhag". the falwell family are in our thoughts and prayers.




gone but not forgotten.
jerry falwell will forever live on through his students.
1933-2007

bleeding orange and maroon

today we are all hokies.

too true...

Once upon a time in the Kingdom of Heaven, God was missing for six days.

Eventually, Michael the archangel found him, resting on the seventh day. He inquired of God, "Where have you been?"

God sighed a deep sigh of satisfaction and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, "Look, Michael, look what I've made."

Archangel Michael looked puzzled and said, "What is it?"

"It's a planet," replied God, "and I've put LIFE on it. I'm going to call it Earth and it's going to be a great place of balance."

"Balance?" inquired Michael, still confused.

God explained, pointing to different parts of Earth, "For example, Northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth while Southern Europe is going to be poor; the Middle East over there will be a hot spot and the Antarctica in the South will be very cold. Over there I've placed a continent of white people and over there is a continent of black people. God continued, pointing to different countries.

"This one will be extremely hot and arid while this one will be very cold and covered in ice."

The Archangel, impressed by God's work, then pointed to a large area and asked, "What's that one?"

"Ah," said God. That's the SOUTH, the most glorious place on Earth. There are beautiful mountains, lakes, rivers, streams and an exquisite coastline. The people from there are going to be modest, intelligent and humorous and they're going to be found traveling the world. They'll be extremely sociable, hardworking and high-achieving, and they will be known throughout the world as diplomats and carriers of peace. A truly great people."

Michael gasped in wonder and admiration but then proclaimed, "What about balance, God? You said there will be BALANCE."

God replied wisely..."Wait until you see the loudmouth obnoxious people I'm putting north of them!"

pics

Create Your Own

spring break!!!!

i don't know what the problem is, but for some reason, it deleted this post and i don't remember what i wrote, so whatever.

so...

i'm twenty!


actually, i have been for a couple of days now, but whatever... :)

true love.

"love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
-- 1 corinthians 13:6

so this passage has been speaking to me lately. and since it's valentine's day and the world, or at least the western hemisphere, is focused in on love, i thought it would be a good time to share this. it's quite a different description than that of today's society. endures all things. can you imagine what we'd be like today if we followed that part alone? no more divorce. no more church splits. no more war. no more hate crimes. no more murder. just from that one statement...at any rate, consider this the next time you casually tell someone you love them. it might give you a new perspective.


ps -- since it is valentine's day -- otherwise known as singles awareness day -- and i'm sure there are other singles out there dealing with the pressures of society on relationships, here:

"in the fear of the Lord, there is strong confidence,
and His children will have a place of refuge."
-- proverbs 14:26

so cuddle up with some chocolate and know that the God of the universe is your refuge today. :)

"that's what love is about - free will. we choose to love. and God chooses to love us. but that's also where evil comes in. we have free will. we choose to do evil. we chose to eat from the tree. and Christ chose to die on a tree...because we choose to do evil...that's love."
-- dr caner

it snowed!!!

yay! first snow of the year last night!!! :)



we went out and played for a while...









and i made a snow angel...otherwise known as me in my true form...







:)

:)

soooo, i'm supposed to be reading my history book and doing a few diff eq homework problems, but ummm...not so much...i'm feelin just a bit add tonight, thus, i'm watching a wee bit of f.r.i.e.n.d.s. --

"multiple, oh so many papercuts..."
-- chandler

-- before i begin my homework...anyhoo, i just thought i'd jot down something i've been finding comforting more recently...

"be strong, do not fear!
behold, your God will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God;
He will come and save you."
-- isaiah 35:4b

it's just been teaching me a lot lately, so maybe it will mysteriously be passed on to help someone else who reads...anyways, i'm going to return to avoiding my homework...enjoy.