Gentle

A couple years ago, I started to realize the importance of gentleness. How God calls us to be gentle. One of the fruits of the Spirit is "Gentleness". I always thought of this as weakness, incompetence, and pathetic. 2 years ago Maddie gave me this poem she found somewhere that describes gentleness. And it changed my whole view of being gentle. So here ya go....

GENTLENESS

Gentleness is not something shameful 

Or subordinate

Or second best. 

It is supreme strength of character--

Minus the muscle. 

Gentleness is being vulnerable and honest--

Removing your masks and forgetting everything you ever heard

About "macho" men and Marlboro "manliness". 

It says: can I help you?"

And "I'm sorry"

And "thanks a million."

Gentleness is admitting you have

Needs and hurts and fears 

And is willing to ask for help. 

It stands up for the rights of others

And not for your own.

Gentleness is the unfading beauty in a quiet spirit

Or an encouraging word

Or a kind smile

Or a good cry. 

It is being able to talk openly 

With a member of the opposite sex

Or to play with a child

Or to laugh with an adult. 

Gentleness soothes the broiling edge of anger

And hate

And prejudice 

And pride. 

It is strength that grows

From the inside out. 

Gentleness is a velvet-wrapped brick. 

This Quarter...

I MET.
I met Sophia
I met Gus
I met Tyler
I met Thanh
I met Aunt Shay

I LEARNED.
I learned how to park in tiny little parking spots
I learned how to study
I learned how to stay up and cram for a test
I learned how to get ready in 10 minutes
I learned how to do a long distance friendship with Maddie.

I LOVED.
I loved Jesus.
I loved Jake.
I loved Maddie.
I loved learning.
I loved my family.
I loved laughter.

I LAUGHED.
I laughed with Jake.
I laughed with Maddie although we were 528 miles apart.
I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.
I laughed with Tyler.
I laughed at youtube clips.
I laughed with my Dad.
I laughed with my Mom.
I laughed late into the night over silly things with Emily.
I laughed at STUPID youtube clips with Thomas.
I laughed with Jimmy Fallon.

I MISSED.
I missed Maddie.
I missed John.

I FOUND.
I found Tyler.
I found Sydney
I found laughter with new friends.
I found parts of me I didn't know existed.
I found the Vanilla Chai Tea Latte.
I found Jesus.

I SAW.
I saw the faithfulness of Jesus as he provided for me. Bringing me new friends, challenging classes, a mind capable of learning. Laughter. Joy. Peace.
I saw my best friend leave for Idaho.
I saw Maddie come home to surprise me!
I saw my sister be a drum major.
I saw my brother and Sam laugh so hard they cried.
I saw Jake do exceptionally well in golf this season.
I saw the Seahawks have an amazing season! (They still are!)

I RECEIVED.
I received a sense of peace and contentment found only in Jesus Christ. Jesus continually brought me closer to Him and reminded me daily that my life is here to glorify Him. Not me. Not what other's think of me. I am not here to impress anybody else but Him.

I LISTED.
I listened to Ben Rector.
I listed to an embarrassing amount of Chemistry Khan Academy videos.
I listed to 80's music. Cause it's just so great.
I listed to my sister's band show about 3000000 times. And loved it.
I listed to Thomas practice the bells.
I listed to my dad's advice.
I listed to God in the stillness. A totally new thing for me.
I listed to constant and gentle encouragement from Jake.

I WAS SO BLESSED.

"Christ took away your sins. Where did he take them? To the top of a hill called Calvary, where he endured not just the nails of the Romans, the mockery of the crowd, and the spear of the soldier but the anger of God. Saturate your heart in this.

 God didn't overlook your sins, lest he endorse the. He didn't punish you, lest he destroy you. He instead found a way to punish the sin and preserve the sinner. Jesus took your punishment, and God gave you credit for Jesus' perfection.

 As long as the cross is God's gift to the world, it will touch you but not change you. Precious as it is to proclaim, 'Christ died for the world,' even sweeter it is to whisper, 'Christ died for me'." - Max Lucado

This promise gives me chills.

Summer Lovin'

Tye-Dying bandanas for Summer Hummer!

The 2 best Summer Hummer Counselors in town!

Painted Plate date....

Girls downtown date!

It's always fun to get a picture of Jake and I at Summer Hummer. This is where we say we "officially met"4 years ago.

What a beautiful lot Jake lives on!

Jake and I had the most fun date! We spent an entire day in Seattle and got to go to Pike Place, an amazing ice cream shop, and got to go to a Mariners game. I am beyond spoiled by him!

LOOK AT MY LITTLE CAR! It's mine! I bought it. With my money. My name is on the title. IT IS MINE! Her name is Dorothy. She's a stick shift, so that is.... interesting. I feel like I am 16 again and completely nervous to be on the roads. But she is a champ! 

This is, by far, the best thing I have found on Pinterest yet. I was laughing so hard. Enjoy!

the story of the metal chicken

Here we go!!

I believe it may be time to be done blogging. I don't find many exciting things to blog about.

But that seems a bit sad to say goodbye to this little ole friend of mine. So I figured I would just start using it to post photos. A quick thought. A funny clip. A good song.

I want to re-read this blog when i am older and remember what it was like for me when I was whatever age that may be. What music did I like? What made me laugh? What was so important I would want to capture it in a photo and save it?

So here we go.

Quick. To the point. Simple.

Probably really boring for all you readers.... (All 2 of you). But that's alright. Maybe one day I will find enough energy to blog about real stuff and write inspiring stuff. Maybe not. We shall see.


A new song I found and LOVE! This song captures everything good about summer. Good ole John Mayer. Pulled through with another great song that will be on repeat for quite a while on my iPod and computer.

graduated

done

Tomorrow is my last day of High School. I've been spending hours just thinking about that. Thinking about how fast it went. Thinking about the friends. Thinking about the laughs. Thinking about grades and how ridiculously unimportant they seem when you are just a day away from being done. But most of all it comes down to me thinking about God and His faithfulness.

He has been so faithful and so good to me.

I vividly remember crying and asking my parents to please keep me home and homeschool me. But they sent me off cause they knew God had big plans for me. I remember asking God, "God, just give me one friend. Just give me one friend that loves You."

And He was faithful.... so very faithful.

If I start writing about how much Maddie means to me I will start crying. And I am not feeling like crying tonight. So I wont. She means the world to me. I will never ever have a friend like her again. She is the true meaning of friendship and I know I am beyond blessed to be one of the few people who has such a strong and amazing friend. See... tears are already filling up my eyes. 

I asked God for a youth group to encourage me, build me up, and teach me.

And He was faithful.

I asked God for my college decision to be clear. And He has been so faithful. I am going to SPSCC for a year and then hopefully transferring to Bellevue College for their Radiation Tech program.

So tomorrow I finnish. I walk out the door at 12:30 and I will be done. Wow. I am not sad, I am just in awe that this day is finally here.

Thank you Jesus for bringing me here to my last day of High School. You have helped me make good decisions, you have kept me healthy, you have guided me, you have held me tightly in your grip. You have brought me friends, you have given me laughter. You blessed me with a family that loves and supports me. You have given me Your Holy Spirit that has molded me into the young woman I am today. I wish there was some other way to say, 'Thank You', but that seems that is all my heart can say. Thank you Jesus. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

Sweetness

A friend of mine posted this a while back, and I've wanted to blog about it for awhile. So here ya have it!

"Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let the pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even thought the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place."

I don't know how well you can read it, but there is a line in this that says "Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness" And I LOVE that!

This world is bitter. There are bitter people. Satan has some really nasty stuff here on earth that can just harden a heart and give you a sour attitude. It is so difficult and sometimes takes every ounce of my strength to love people and just be kind. There are so many days where I would rather sit alone with Maddie at lunch rather than sit with some kids that desperately need some loving. It would be so much easier to space out and fake compassion rather than really sincerely listen to their stories and what is going on in their lives. 

But I do NOT want this world and Satan's tactics to steal my sweetness that God has given me. I refuse to let this world and sin take way the gift of love and compassion God has given me. This world, no matter how messed up it may be, is beautiful. It is beautiful because a beautiful God created it, and He shows us His love through it in so many ways.

On another note, I am reading this book, Jesus Is by Judah Smith, and it is fabulous! I would strongly suggest this for anybody. In one chapter he is talking about messing up and failing and what God thinks of all of that.

He describes how when we fail, God does not focus on the failure like we do. God rejoices and CHEERS because we tried. He went on to describe how when he (the author), watched his son walk for the first time he was hootin' and hollering and cheering him on. He was crying he was so proud of his boy. Sure, the toddler only took 2 wobbly and shaky steps before falling on his butt, but he tried! And that is how God looks at us. Cheering and beaming in pride because we tried. He doesn't focus on the sin and the failure because thats what Jesus died for and His grace and mercy covered up! How cool is that?

And then Judah Smith goes on and creates such an encouraging image and says

  "I picture God up in heaven. and I think that he must yell "HEY! GUYS! (referring to the angels) LOOK! He is trying! He is trying to love! He kinda sucks at it, and its kinda back firing! But look! He is trying to love people!" And the angles must think "Uh... What do you see in this moron? He can't do anything right and constantly disobeys you." And all God says back is "Yea... He is goofy and kinda pathetic. But HE IS MINE!"

And honestly, I just think that is so cool. Of course that is what God is thinking. Cause God is a Dad. And Dad's cheer loud and encourage with all they've got. They hoot and holler loud and they tell you they are proud of you. Dad's dont care that it wasnt a professional performance or that it wasn't the best. They are just proud because you are theirs. 

So there are some of my thoughts as of right now. In conclusion, I am completely in awe with God and falling more in love with Him as the days go by. Life is good my friends, life is good.

Facebook Stalking and a Beautiful God

I was facebook stalking some random friend of mine a few days ago, and I ran across this picture that she took. WOW. Just look at that... The colors, silhouettes, clouds, water....

I sat there looking at this picture for a long time. And all I could think was "God is so beautiful."

 Then it hit me... We don't deserve a world this beautiful. God could have made this world black and white, nothing exciting, and just plain boring. But He CHOSE to make colors, and shapes, and the sky, and sunsets. He made the air have particles that reflect light in different ways. He gave us eyes that allow us to see it all. He gave us a sense of wonder to experience it. Think about all that goes into JUST admiring a sunset. All of that is a gift. And then it sunk in even deeper, that the God that created all of this with a whisper is the God that's planning my life. He is the master and creator of MY life. He might have whispered the world into existence, but He knitted me together.

And then I realized... I'm gonna be just fine.

2012

Twas a great year... good ole 2012.

When it comes time for me to write about an entire year, rarely do moments or events stick out in my mind; rather the people I got to spend them with. So here are a list of people who made my year absolutely fantastic!

Emily. I would truly say that I have the most amazing sister in the entire world. She can make me LAUGH like nobody else. She is easy to talk to and always willing to listen. We giggle for hours and I love her to pieces! Thanks for the memories, laughs, late nights talking, and hours of movie watching, sister!

Oh Maddie.... my Maddie. I really don't know what to say. She makes my life so eventful. So full of joy and laughter. She is seriously my other half and people at school know that. If you find me, you have found Maddie. She makes me laugh, she helps me be a bit more logical. She listens to me talk for hours, she tells me everything. She is an amazing example and role model to me and I look up to her so much! I am so thankful God has continued to allow me to have such a fun friendship with this beautiful chica!

Thomas. Thomas is slowly turning into one of my favorite people. Such a stud. It's ridiculous. I love how much he loves baseball, his friends, XBOX, wrestling (Ok... I dont ALWAYS love that side of him), laughing, being goofy, and being incredibly athletic. He has a great sense of humor and I feel that it has just been over this past year we have really clicked and become good friends. I love you, Thomas!

Maja. She was so awesome. She was a foreign exchange student from Denmark and became one of my closest friends. She was really funny and told LOTS of stories about Denmark and her life style over there. Loads of fun to get to know someone from another country.

Kaisha BANNON! Woot woot! Kaisha got married this year to Cody. Cody is another awesome person of 2012, but I didnt have a picture of him. Sorry Cody. But Kaisha is awesome. And I have got to see her a lot this year and I think she is totally AWESOME! Words dont do justice to the pure amazingness that she has. And her husband is awesome. And well... they are just... awesome.

What WONDERFUl (and cute, might I add) parents I have! They have helped me so much this year with helping me figure out college/friendships/working.... life. They are such a great example and I really do hope to be like them one day!

And last, but most definitely not least, Jake Shier. What an awesome boyfriend. This guy seriously is the sweetest most thoughtful person I have ever met. I hate to get cheesy and ooey gooey. But seriously. He constantly listens, cares, takes me to fun places, laughs with me... Kinda everything a good boyfriend should be; and then some! Incredibly thankful for him and the role he has in my life. 

Well 2012, you have been wonderful. Thanks for the memories, the people, the lessons learned. It has been quite a ride and I have loved it all.

Helllllooooooo 2013! Hello CHANGE! Graduating High School, going to college. This will be quite the adventure! I'm ready for it though.

 Here we go!