Undying Love

"It is a marvel to me why God allows characters like mine to defile His Church. I can only account for it with the thought that if I ever am perfected, I shall be a great honor to His name...The time may come when those who know me now, crude, childish, incomplete, will look upon me with amazement, saying, "What hath God wrought!" If I knew such a time would never come, I should want to flee into the holes and caves of the earth." -Stepping Heavenward, by Mrs. E. Prentiss

Do you ever feel like that? Please tell me I'm not the only one. I have felt that way so many times over the past few months - I despaired of ever being who I know I should be (and can be, with the Lord's help), but the Holy Spirit reminds me of how far God has brought me already. I wanted to just give up, but the Holy Spirit always encourages me. I was lonely, but the Holy Spirit always comforts me and has shown me once again how blessed I am to have my family. I was tempted to "beat myself over the head" for one thing or another that might have caused others pain, but the Holy Spirit offers forgiveness and peace. As I sit here pondering, tears flood my eyes; probably in part just because I'm an emotional teenager, but looking back over the past few months...God has been testing me. I'm afraid I have not successfully passed His tests - I suppose only He can answer that, however. Honestly I don't know that I can tell you what the purpose of the tests are - the extremely painful and confusing trials - but I can go on, because I know that I know that I know they are for my good. Somewhere along the road, someday soon, I will stand on a hill and look down over the path He chose for me and say with a smile and joyful tears, "I see!" Someday soon, I will be shown the whole front of the tapestry He is weaving, and will stand in awe of its beauty and perfection, in a way I can't fathom right now.

I know that it's worth it - trusting Him. It is a journey. I have had to put things into His hands about which I care very much: relationships, school, my future, even the words I speak and the thoughts I entertain...And I have to keep giving them to Him. It's as if, just when I think I have released something, I realize that I'm really still holding on to it, insisting that I have control over this aspect or that. When will I realize that He loves me more than I love myself or anyone else? That He knows what will bring me joy and satisfaction; He knows me better than I know myself. He knows where I am best suited for Him, and He knows how to get me there. His ways are so much higher, His thoughts not our thoughts. A way may seem right to me, and maybe it is - or maybe He has a better path; who am I to judge it?

Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees. ~Victor Hugo

My soul has been on its knees much as of late; both in pain and gratitude. He gives me so many blessings I do not deserve. When trials come, shall we focus our thoughts on the light that we know is with us? For it is only through the night that one can reach the morning, and it may be that our time in "the dark room of faith" will prove to be the moment before the light begins shining most brightly.

"The night is far spent, the day is at hand..." Romans 13:12a

Randomly Tagged

Spencer tagged me to post "15 random facts that I'm not afraid to admit about myself."

(Oh, and happy belated Thanksgiving, by the way!)


1. This is the first time I've been tagged in the blogging world (and I've been in it for almost 3 years thus far!).

2. You know the first letter in the famous "Disney" signature? Well I didn't realize that that was actually a "D" until...Well until earlier this year, I think.

3. As far as credits go, I'm almost a second-semester college sophomore.

4. I looove applesauce, but my favorite fruit is kiwi fruit (in America we just call them kiwis, but I've got NZers that read my blog, so....I thought a clarification was necessary ;) ).

5. One of my brothers has told me several times that (for some strange reason) if I were a cat, I would look like my own cat, Faith...Hmmm.

6. I used to be extremely ticklish, but now there are only a few people who can tickle me 'til I laugh hysterically (my dad especially).

7. I really do not like it when people start to tell or ask something, and then say "Nevermind."

8. I'm left-handed, in case you didn't already know by reading that piece I wrote for Mada's blog last year.

9. My family is very health conscious. That means, among other things, that as a general rule we don't use a microwave, we don't eat things that have HFCS or MSG or partially hydrogenated oils in them, and even most of our household cleaners are natural.

10. I shocked my cousin earlier this week by telling her that we had actually "slept in" that day.

11. One of my brothers (the one that is younger than me by 5 years) is now taller than me and has feet that must be almost twice as large as mine (ok, that might be a slight exaggeration).

12. I love the outdoors, and I like to walk in the rain.

13. I've heard some people say that they thought the first Narnia (directed by Andrew Adamson) was boring - well I happen to LOVE that movie. So there.

14. It's not unusual for me to get extremely chilly at night, so I sleep with quite a few blankets over my sheets - I think there are four layers of blankets and comforters on my bed right now (but remember that it's winter here at the moment).

15. We watched Walle recently - another film to add to Pixar's list of total successes!


As for tagging other people....Hmm. I suppose I'll tag Guitargirl and The Editrix - there aren't many readers of this blog to tag, and some have already been tagged by Spencer. ;)


I apologize in advance if my next post is not on schedule - I have so much work to do at the moment...I'm hoping that (Lord willing) I can get caught up this weekend, but I thought I should warn you just in case. Maybe some more photography will be in the next post? We shall see.

I thank God for you - may He bless and keep you. :)

Echo!

I'm back - not that you probably noticed that I was gone, but I was. I apologize for not giving you all some sort of indication of how long I would be away from the blogging world; frankly, I had rather intended, because of certain circumstances, to take a 2 month blog hiatus. Circumstances changed, however, and I've decided to continue; yes, yes, I know how extremely grateful you are. :P

I'm not going to spend too much time on this, as probably virtually every US blog in existence has already covered it; but I do have to say a few things about the election. I am not ashamed to say that I voted for McCain and Palin - not because I support them in and of themselves, but because the alternative was so utterly awful. Is it possible that America just voted a Socialist into office?! God help us. I heard something that almost frightened me a little this morning - today Obama is going to get his first US Intelligence briefing. That man is going to know the country's top secrets; I guess I knew that before, but it just jumped out at me. I told my mom that, and she said that we needed to pray for him. My first reaction was Pray for him?! For what? Horrible, I know - forgive me. I think that was the first time ever that I simply didn't want to pray for someone. I didn't want to pray for Obama. A man who wants my dad (who is in a bracket well above Obama's definition of "middle class" in the economy) to give more of his well-earned money (nearly half of which already goes to the government) to Obama to distribute as he chooses...The man who wants to legalize abortion completely, who wants to treat with terrorists, who wants our brave American troops to surrender when on the verge of complete victory. The man who's pastor of 20 years said unrepeatable things in church, and allowed that man to baptize his children. The man who's wife said that she was proud of her country for the first time while on the campaign trail. I could go on and on. No, I did not want to pray for that man. Almost immediately after, however, I knew my mother was right. Like it or not, he will probably be the President for the next four years - and, as President of the United States, he will be the leader of the free world. I'm not trying to sound America-centric, because I'm not; I know the reputation America has in other places, and I know America has its major faults. But America is arguably the most powerful country on earth. We should be praying for Obama - that he would make wise decisions (as impossible as that seems - with God all things are possible). Hard, I know; but I think it's very important for us Christians to realize that by God's hand kings and rulers rise and fall - I'm not happy about the election results at all (upset, frustrated, disappointed, and disgusted - but not worried), but I do need to keep in mind that God works all things for His plan, and for the good of those who love Him. And I just happened to read this in my Bible reading today:

"I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." - 1 Timothy 2:1-4

Coincidence? I don't think so.

On a lighter note, perhaps I should do as a friend of mine did and join a 'group' on Facebook that said, "If Obama becomes president, we're moving to New Zealand."

Here's a political cartoon that I found quite humorous:



And here are some quizzes that I took recently "just for fun"...

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The Inland North
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The South
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

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Which American accent do you have? Neutral You're not Northern, Southern, or Western, you`re just plain -American-. Your national identity is more important than your local identity, because you don`t really have a local identity. You might be from the region in that map, which is defined by this kind of accent, but you could easily not be. Or maybe you just moved around a lot growing up.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

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I knew that I had a plain ol' American accent - despite living in Texas for my entire life thus far. ;) Now I have to show these quizzes to my Michigander cousin to prove it to her.


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Your result for The Commonly Confused Words Test...

English Genius

You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 93% Advanced, and 93% Expert!

You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!

Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it!

Take The Commonly Confused Words Test at HelloQuizzy

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I should have gotten 100% percent on that one - being such a grammar freak. :-/




God bless. :)

Everyday Humor

I don't know if you all will find any of these at all humorous, but they highly amused us. ;)

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Ajoyfulheart: *walks in room* *panicked gasp* "[Notmyown]! There's a huge spider on my bed!"
Notmyown: "That is not a huge spider."
Ajoyfulheart: "Yes it is!! Can you come kill it for me? Hurry, before it goes under my covers!"
Notmyown: "Kara, what are you going to do when your husband is gone to work, you're at home with little kids, and there's a spider?"
Ajoyfulheart: *pause* "....Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

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One evening, when we had another family over for dinner, my brothers and the visiting boys were playing around upstairs (mostly with guns and lightsabers - i.e. Davy Crockett meets Mace Windu). At one point, all of the boys suddenly came running full-kilter into the family room yelling in terror, diving behind and jumping over furniture, and just generally scrambling for cover from something. The rest of us looked in the direction from which they had come, to ascertain what had caused the boys' distress - a moment later, my little four year old sister came walking in, holding a lightsaber in each hand.

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Notmyown: "I have a question--"
Grandma: "I have an answer! I hope they match!"

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*During an IM conversation in which I was explaining to my cousin how to go about doing a particular something or other on the computer that she couldn't figure out*
Traci:"welllll....i don't know THAT much about computers i just know that when you press certain buttons certain things happen i have no idea WHY!"

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Our family was sitting around the dinner table discussing state senators and representatives, one of whom my dad had been to see a while before. All of a sudden, my four year old sister said matter-of-factly, "That's because ears belong on your head."

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One of my current jobs includes being a transcriptionist for a couple of doctors. The following was on the tape, and made me burst out laughing.
Doctor: "...with phenol and alcohol."
*pause*
Other voice, high and digital-sounding: "Be KIND to them!"

(That doctor has a young son, so very likely it was a children's video playing, or something of that sort.)

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This one my cousin Traci told us. She and a group of friends went to the theaters to watch Spiderman 3. At one point in the film, Peter Parker actually knocks MJ to the ground - when they came to that scene, a little boy in the movie theater shouted indignantly, "He hit a girl! That's illegal!!"

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Grandma: "We should stuff all of our nuclear waste into socks--that way, half of it would disappear immediately!"

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The family was having a serious discussion at the dinner table one night, and had been doing so for quite a while. Finally a pause came in the conversation, and my four year old sister sighed and said dreamily, "I wish I could stand on my head..."

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(Scene: Ajoyfulheart, sitting on her bed and reading a book. Notmyown, sitting at my desk working on my computer.)
Ajoyfulheart: "I wonder if I were to fall off a high building, would it hurt more to be curled up in a ball, or stretched out flat?"
Notmyown: *turns in swival chair and just looks at Ajoyfulheart for a long moment*
Ajoyfulheart: "What?! I was just wondering, in case I ever fall, so I could know!"

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My 8 year old brother: *Walks up to Mommy* Mommy, what do you think it would feel like to be a crab?

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My 8 year old brother and 4 year old sister, who had just been outside romping around for a while, came tramping in, and Baby Girl immediately sat down to remove her shoes. Her brother, on the other hand, continued to march away, ordering in a military fashion, "Come on, soldier!" His brave soldier's response? "MY SHOES ARE DIRTY!" and she burst into tears.

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Someone had brought their 10 year old grandson to my mom's workshop that she was teaching the other day. My brothers being gone to a Bible study, Baby Girl attached herself to him and offered to play with him. Ajoyfulheart and I were in the kitchen, finishing up the dishes and tidying, when Ajoyfulheart turned to me and said, "Did they goes upstairs?" I replied that I didn't know, and she assured me that she heard them running up the stairs. Preferring to keep them downstairs, where they could be watched, I went in search of them, and found Baby Girl wandering around in a sitting room just outside of my brothers' room (where, unbeknownst to me at the time, the boy was hiding). She immediately informed me that they were playing hide and seek, and that she was looked for "the boy," as she called him.

"Baby Girl, I need to you come back downstairs. Let's find Dallas [the boy] and you two come downstairs to play, ok?"

She responded, looking at me very earnestly, "Ok - I need to find the boy before he steals something!!"

I laughed, telling her that Dallas was not going to steal anything! and called for him. He came running out of the boys' room - the door to which was about 3 meters from where Becca had been standing...LOL Little kids have almost NO discretion.

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One afternoon when Ajoyfulheart and I were folding laundry, I had tried several times to start a conversation with her about this or that, but to no avail - she would give a brief answer and then go back into her own world. After one such attempt, she exclaimed, "I'm thinking!!" and then again fell silent.

A while later, I said something else to her, and she cried, exasperated, "[Notmyown], you just wrecked my train of thought and now it's ruined!!"

I began laughing, and she said in a sulking manner, "I know what you're thinking, and it's not funny," whereupon she also burst out laughing. :P

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Last summer we were spending time with some new friends from Australia, and somehow got on the topic of restaurants. We asked them if they had ever eaten at "Outback" (a very well-known steakhouse chain here in the States).

The dad's reply was, "Oh, no you don't want to eat anything from the outback - the food is...eh...kinda iffy."

We all had a good laugh, then explained that we were indeed talking about an actual restaurant, not the Australian wilderness.

Joy in every little thing...

...Like new, cute little flats that absolutely delight me. (And I'm not a very frequent shoe shopper...)

Patriot Day, 2008

A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

September 11, 2001, was etched into America's memory when 19 terrorists attacked us with barbarity unequaled in our history. On Patriot Day, we cherish the memory of the thousands of innocent victims lost, extend our thoughts and prayers to their families, and honor the heroic men and women who risked and sacrificed their lives so others might survive.

Since 9/11, we have recognized the threat posed by terrorists to the safety of the American people and worked to protect our homeland by fighting terrorists abroad. We are confronting terrorism by advancing freedom, liberty, and prosperity as an alternative to the ideologies of hatred and repression. Our Nation pays tribute to our courageous men and women in uniform serving around the world and the devoted members of our law enforcement, public safety, and intelligence communities at home who work night and day to protect us from harm and preserve the freedom of this great Nation.

Seven years ago, ordinary citizens rose to the challenge, united in prayer, and responded with extraordinary acts of courage, with some giving their lives for the country they loved. On Patriot Day, we remember all those who were taken from us in an instant and seek their lasting memorial in a safer and more hopeful world. We must not allow our resolve to be weakened by the passage of time. We will meet the test that history has given us and continue to fight to rid the world of terrorism and promote liberty around the globe.

By a joint resolution approved December 18, 2001 (Public Law 107-89), the Congress has designated September 11 of each year as "Patriot Day."

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim September 11, 2008, as Patriot Day. I call upon the Governors of the United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as appropriate officials of all units of government, to direct that the flag be flown at half-staff on Patriot Day. I also call upon the people of the United States to observe Patriot Day with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and remembrance services, to display the flag at half-staff from their homes on that day, and to observe a moment of silence beginning at 8:46 a.m. eastern daylight time to honor the innocent Americans and people from around the world who lost their lives as a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

GEORGE W. BUSH

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The same sun, across the world...

Isn't that a strange thought? Though there may be a million miles between us (ok, maybe just thousands for Spencer and I...I'm not a very good judge of distance), we all see and feel the same sun every day. We gaze at the same moon every night. Isn't that amazing?

Anyway, in keeping with Mada's recent post, here are some sunrise/sunset/cloud pictures taken in Texas over the course of the past few years. Not nearly as fantastic as the New Zealand ones, but God does too brilliant of a job to allow me to call them anything less than beautiful. ;)

Oh, and I'll post some more landscape pictures soon. :)


{{The first 4 were taken at the beach a few years ago, where we stayed in a condo with some friends for a weekend.}}

I know, this one doesn't actually belong the sunrise/sunset/cloud category, but I love the way the pattern in the sand matches the pattern of the clouds in the previous picture.