First of all, update on our dear Alyse.
This morning her temperature was down to 99, Praise the Lord. And as I write this, it's back up to 103. Gah.
It had finally gone down, but that didn't cease her coughing and moaning and not eating or drinking...
You'll have to understand she hasn't eaten in 6 days. She drinks all she can, but she doesn't have an appetite, and so anything she does eat usually comes back up if she coughs to hard. THAT'S how hard she's been coughing. So as long as she keeps nibbling bits and pieces of things and stays hydrated...we'll see what happens.
As we're all freaking out, praying, trusting God in this, practically everything around us is doing the same thing. "Take her to the ER!" they say..."Get some IV's in her. It'll do her good..." they say. Yes, I know they're trying to help, and we're doing everything the doctor told us which is NOT to take her anywhere as long as her temperature is somewhat down... but even they can't fully understand all the thoughts and emotions our family is going through, and what ALYSE is going through. Even we don't fully understand that. The thing that never ceases to capture me is...her faith through all of this. Her trust, her assurance.
I'm known to freak. If something goes out of control in my life, I get angry. Or if I get majorly sick or something really bad happens, enough to miss out on events with friends or church or school, I get frustrated and tend to complain about it, and actually ask repeatedly, "God, why'd you have this happen? I don't understand!"
As God said to Job, we're not in place to question God that, to doubt His amazing abilities and control throughout the situation.
Through all this, Alyse's faith never ceases to amaze me. Who knows, to her, this might just be another sickness that she has to endure, and she might not be going through any of the "Why, God?"'s or anything of the sort like I tend to do. But on the outside, it seems like she has amazing trust through this. She, along with Mom, keeps in mind the assurance we have that God will work everything for the good of those who love Him(Romans 8:28). We may not see the tiny picture, but somehow...this virus Alyse has, this emotional testing for me, and this struggle for my Mom are all little brush strokes in this giant picture.
And throughout all this, all this stuff God is sending my way in order to make me trust Him...I'm getting there. It's a process, understanding God's love and trusting Him through everything.
The faith of a child...that's what I want. The faith of trusting God throughout everything, that may have come just because the child has no regrets, nothing really major to worry about yet...or just pure faith in the One that loves them.
Last night while babysitting some kids of parents involved in a Bible study from church, the 3 kids were all on the couch reading(such lovely children...ha) while I was drinking my tea and blaring Switchfoot on the stereo(hey, the kids should learn this stuff...). My partner for our "day care" system was gone that night, so it was only me on the job. Which didn't scare me...lets just say I was happy the sun took it's time while setting.
Anyways, while they were reading and "Dare You to Move" played in the background, one of the kids randomly stopped, put down her book, got on the floor and knelt and folded her hands and started praying! "Thank you Jesus for the sky, and the food you gave us...thank you for the beautiful flowers and the grass and everything you made..." etc. And afterwords, "We should make a prayer group! You wanna pray with me?" She was too quick to change her mind before I could join her, but I was simply touched by what she did. I wasn't quite sure why. Because a lot of emotions were running through me that day? Because of the faith she showed? Because of the simple act of praying to God was that important to her?! It was amazing! And she put me to shame.
So often do I take for granted the ability to pray to a God...that listens! That actually ANSWERS me! Have you ever thought about that?
You're not just praying to a golden statue, hoping that you'll get some sort of sign back as an answer..."Ohh, it's raining and there's some lightning, Bob. Looks like a no for you."
Uhhh, no. Even though we may not get the answer we want, or the answer WHEN we want it, God promises to answer and listen to our prayers. The little girl in front of me, while I stood there with my cup of tea with my jaw wide open, the way she sang "How Great Thou Art" along with me and the stereo(after Switchfoot, mind you)...it really moved me. Practically to tears, but I held it together not wanting the kids to freak out, "ARE YOU OK!? SHOULD WE CALL 911?!" because they'd definitely do something along those lines.
I want that kind of trust in God. That even though everything may be falling apart around me, I can remember(and stop forgetting...gah) those blessed assurances I learned as a child...that God will never leave, never change, and will always listen.
The urgent care clinic called us today with Alyse's test results back from Saturday when Mom took her in with the 105.3 temp. It turns out Alyse has a staff infection centered in her throat(cause of all the coughing), and they're giving us some antibiotics that should probably wipe it out. As we speak, Mom and Alyse just got home from getting some chest xrays for her in case the staff infection may cause pneumonia or something worse. She has a 103 temp. Apparently we won't get results back until tomorrow, so I shall keep you all posted. Until then...we'll continue to pray and trust. God is good.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sun was ACTUALLY shining today!!! :) And according to our weather forecast, it's suppose to be sunny all tomorrow and throughout the week, which I'm SO happy for. Apparently(recorded on March 16th), WA had 15 full days(4 hours or more) of rain in the month of March, from March 1st to March 16th. Uhhh, yes. I am totally ready for some sun. I think Spring is on the horizon. ;) Yay for warm weather-finally.
In reality, the sun shined through the storm today and WAY more many ways than one...
Tomorrow I start a new class, due to exploratory rotations, photography. ;) I'm really excited, and for all of you interested, I'll be posting the pictures I take on facebook and probably some on here as well. I took the class 2 years ago, and due to the instructor coming down with pneumonia(seriously, that and strep throat are going around our school like wild fire...), photography was canceled last week. So I'm really excited for tomorrow!
Tomorrow...AWANA. That's everything else that's tomorrow, aside from another brutal algebra test(God rest our souls)and science test on volcanoes. Bright side? We get to start making volcanoes on Friday. :D Which should be a blast(no pun intended).
Today was our ever-so-dreaded history test, which actually went way better than I thought it would be. Last night after babysitting I studied until 11 or so, and then was told I needed sleep to fight off the various sicknesses around me. In other words, I pretty much thought I was gonna bomb it. But it ended up(I seriously have NO idea why...)that I knew every answer on the test. Every one. Not counting the various current presidents of wars in the 1800's that I might have messed up...everything else was pretty much clear as mud. So we'll see when our grades get back.
Aside from that...stay beautiful, all my lovelies. Thanks for being here for me.
Love you all. :)
Loves!
Remey.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
i will trust in You and not be shaken.
i've never seen anyone this sick. ever.
since st. patrick's day, our little alyse has been drastically sick. yes, drastically. it started out with a simple and yet very odd 99-100 temp fever and some coughing. she had had a cold earlier, so this just made it worse. the next day(friday) she had the same thing, and during the night she threw up and hit 103. yesterday morning and afternoon it hit 105.3, which as you can tell, yes, can cause really, REALLY bad things to happen. even i don't understand all that the urgent care place explained, so im telling you guys everything we know.
saturday afternoon it was just my mom, me, nathan and alyse(dad's at another conference in D.C), and mom had the woman's retreat at church to attend. she left alyse with nathan and i at home, and then i went to babysit for some kids down the street for a couple hours, thus leaving nathan and alyse. when mom came by to check on how we were all doing, alyse had hit 105, we all freaked, and mom took her to the walk-in urgent care in town. they tested her for strep, infections, pneumonia, you name it. everything came out clear, which made them even more confused on why everything was happening.
they said they probably thought it was a virus(as she was laying asleep on the examination table...yeah. that says plenty enough there, doctors)that would come on and off, as it has been for all this afternoon. her temp comes down(yay), and it goes right back up. along with her coughing so hard that any ibuprofen or food comes back up, she hasn't eaten since wednesday night's dinner. sure, she's nibbled at things and drank some, but yeah, it's definitely not good.
the people at urgent care said that if her fever went over 104 again, we had to take her to the ER(which unfortunately, i wouldn't be too surprised if it happened), and they would run some major tests on her. otherwise, we're just suppose to try to get her to eat and drink and stop coughing so hard so throws up. yeah. not pretty.
seriously, i've never seen anyone this sick. ever. and it's freaking us all out.
she's living on our couch, and as i write this mom is still worried about my dinner which i never had despite alyse in front of her...oh, goodness. my mom is amazing.
through everything that's going on, us not knowing what to expect, what to do, mom is chill about everything. sure, she's a bit worried, but she keeps it all in God's hands no matter what's going on- especially with her pride and joy, "little baby girl". earlier today mom said that alyse looked like an Elmer's glue bottle-since her face is as white as a ghost, fairly complimenting her red hair...yeah. that shed a little light on the situation.
through any situation...we're called to praise God. there's a reason for everything. there's a reason why we must be forced through our horrid graduation projects, why people all over the place are dying every day, why alyse is majorly ill on the couch in the other room.
there's a reason, and God knows it.
i praise and thank Him for that blessed assurance...
maybe if alyse wasn't sick she'd get hit by a bus on the way to school. or she'd flunk her oh-so-lovely math test she has this week. im not sure, and those things are quite drastic and depressing, but looking at it that way always seems to help me. along with looking at it, yes, from a different perspective...
praising God through everything can definitely be hard, especially when you have no idea why it's going on and what's going to come of it. in this case, we're not sure what's gonna happen with alyse. we're praying she'll be better by tomorrow or the next day, which Lord willing, she will be, but we never know. hence the difficulty we're feeling right now when we have more answers.
on top of some other situations im going through right now, mostly at school, it's hard to have yet another situation where i have not the slightest idea in my right mind what's going on and WHY it is(especially when it involves my own flesh and blood)no answers, no nothing. in case y'all haven't noticed, it's hard to go from that. to still praise and thank God for his awesomeness in this situation...even though the storms may rage around me.
tonight at evening service, with all this in mind, we sang this song...which in my head, my perspective, my book, whatever you want...was a message from God through a ray of light on the situations at stake.
still, my soul be still
and do not fear
though winds of change may rage tomorrow
God is at your side
no longer dread
the fires of unexpected sorrow
God, You are my God!
and i will trust in You and not be shaken
Lord of peace renew
a steadfast spirit within me
to rest in you alone
still, my soul be still
do not be moved
by lesser lights and fleeting shadows
hold onto His ways
with shield of faith
against temptations flaming arrows
still, my soul be still
do not forsake
the Truth you learned in the beginning
wait upon the Lord
and hope will rise
as stars appear when day is dimming
God, you are are MY God!
and i will trust in you and not be shaken
Lord of peace renew
a steadfast spirit within me
to rest in You alone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsXMiysZfNQ
this gives me goosebumps. every. time.
that has to be my favorite verse(3). because...yeah. ill be honest here. when things start going all chaotic around me, i don't get what's going on, i don't any answers, i start to freak. i started getting "Moved by lesser lights and fleeting shadows," and it's terrible!
here, God is trying to get my attention all weekend to trust him, and instead, i go off and do what i want. ignore His words, His screaming, "Lauren, I'm here...." and instead, it takes my sister getting plagued with a 105.3 temp, several instances last night that i won't explain, and THIS tonight.
all that to move me. some of you may think it took just this to move me. no...it took THAT to move me. that much. wow.
God, you are my God. And I will trust in You with this thing, and not be shaken by lesser lights...
Loves!
Remey.
since st. patrick's day, our little alyse has been drastically sick. yes, drastically. it started out with a simple and yet very odd 99-100 temp fever and some coughing. she had had a cold earlier, so this just made it worse. the next day(friday) she had the same thing, and during the night she threw up and hit 103. yesterday morning and afternoon it hit 105.3, which as you can tell, yes, can cause really, REALLY bad things to happen. even i don't understand all that the urgent care place explained, so im telling you guys everything we know.
saturday afternoon it was just my mom, me, nathan and alyse(dad's at another conference in D.C), and mom had the woman's retreat at church to attend. she left alyse with nathan and i at home, and then i went to babysit for some kids down the street for a couple hours, thus leaving nathan and alyse. when mom came by to check on how we were all doing, alyse had hit 105, we all freaked, and mom took her to the walk-in urgent care in town. they tested her for strep, infections, pneumonia, you name it. everything came out clear, which made them even more confused on why everything was happening.
they said they probably thought it was a virus(as she was laying asleep on the examination table...yeah. that says plenty enough there, doctors)that would come on and off, as it has been for all this afternoon. her temp comes down(yay), and it goes right back up. along with her coughing so hard that any ibuprofen or food comes back up, she hasn't eaten since wednesday night's dinner. sure, she's nibbled at things and drank some, but yeah, it's definitely not good.
the people at urgent care said that if her fever went over 104 again, we had to take her to the ER(which unfortunately, i wouldn't be too surprised if it happened), and they would run some major tests on her. otherwise, we're just suppose to try to get her to eat and drink and stop coughing so hard so throws up. yeah. not pretty.
seriously, i've never seen anyone this sick. ever. and it's freaking us all out.
she's living on our couch, and as i write this mom is still worried about my dinner which i never had despite alyse in front of her...oh, goodness. my mom is amazing.
through everything that's going on, us not knowing what to expect, what to do, mom is chill about everything. sure, she's a bit worried, but she keeps it all in God's hands no matter what's going on- especially with her pride and joy, "little baby girl". earlier today mom said that alyse looked like an Elmer's glue bottle-since her face is as white as a ghost, fairly complimenting her red hair...yeah. that shed a little light on the situation.
through any situation...we're called to praise God. there's a reason for everything. there's a reason why we must be forced through our horrid graduation projects, why people all over the place are dying every day, why alyse is majorly ill on the couch in the other room.
there's a reason, and God knows it.
i praise and thank Him for that blessed assurance...
maybe if alyse wasn't sick she'd get hit by a bus on the way to school. or she'd flunk her oh-so-lovely math test she has this week. im not sure, and those things are quite drastic and depressing, but looking at it that way always seems to help me. along with looking at it, yes, from a different perspective...
praising God through everything can definitely be hard, especially when you have no idea why it's going on and what's going to come of it. in this case, we're not sure what's gonna happen with alyse. we're praying she'll be better by tomorrow or the next day, which Lord willing, she will be, but we never know. hence the difficulty we're feeling right now when we have more answers.
on top of some other situations im going through right now, mostly at school, it's hard to have yet another situation where i have not the slightest idea in my right mind what's going on and WHY it is(especially when it involves my own flesh and blood)no answers, no nothing. in case y'all haven't noticed, it's hard to go from that. to still praise and thank God for his awesomeness in this situation...even though the storms may rage around me.
tonight at evening service, with all this in mind, we sang this song...which in my head, my perspective, my book, whatever you want...was a message from God through a ray of light on the situations at stake.
still, my soul be still
and do not fear
though winds of change may rage tomorrow
God is at your side
no longer dread
the fires of unexpected sorrow
God, You are my God!
and i will trust in You and not be shaken
Lord of peace renew
a steadfast spirit within me
to rest in you alone
still, my soul be still
do not be moved
by lesser lights and fleeting shadows
hold onto His ways
with shield of faith
against temptations flaming arrows
still, my soul be still
do not forsake
the Truth you learned in the beginning
wait upon the Lord
and hope will rise
as stars appear when day is dimming
God, you are are MY God!
and i will trust in you and not be shaken
Lord of peace renew
a steadfast spirit within me
to rest in You alone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsXMiysZfNQ
this gives me goosebumps. every. time.
that has to be my favorite verse(3). because...yeah. ill be honest here. when things start going all chaotic around me, i don't get what's going on, i don't any answers, i start to freak. i started getting "Moved by lesser lights and fleeting shadows," and it's terrible!
here, God is trying to get my attention all weekend to trust him, and instead, i go off and do what i want. ignore His words, His screaming, "Lauren, I'm here...." and instead, it takes my sister getting plagued with a 105.3 temp, several instances last night that i won't explain, and THIS tonight.
all that to move me. some of you may think it took just this to move me. no...it took THAT to move me. that much. wow.
God, you are my God. And I will trust in You with this thing, and not be shaken by lesser lights...
Loves!
Remey.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
something new...
Hello again, my dearies.If any of you have noticed or have been following this blog, you shall notice some lovely new changes around it's spaces and it's corners...
After some ever-so-kind prompting and prodding from my sister in Christ, I decided to revamp the whole thing with new fonts, backgrounds, text, information, the whole deal...
I'm going for the summer-warm feeling because I've been looking forward to summer SO MUCH lately, and I know some of you are as well. Also just because my blog obviously needed something new considering it had only been changed twice previously...
It's good to change it up ever so often. :)
Aside from the physical changes, I am indeed changing the focus of this blog.
Although this blog will consist(like it says in, "What's the Story?") of all different glimpses of me, my life, and almost everything that happens to me and I go through... it's also going to begin to portray
and represent the love story between God and me way more than it has.
I'm covered by His grace, set free by Him! My chains are gone. Because of His love, I live.
We're called to do everything of Him and for Him. Live for Him, love for Him.
As it says in Psalm 73: 1-3, "When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in the heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast to You. Nevertheless, I am continually with You; You hold my right hand."
Throughout everything, no matter how we treat Him or what we do, He will always be with us, continuing to hold our right hand through everything we may ever encounter in this fast spinning world...
We may slip, but He'll never allow us to fall.
After God has done all that for us, died for us, loved us when no one did...how else should we respond other than to give everything up to Him?
So...this blog is the next thing to go. :)
And definitely not "go" in the sense of sadly and remorsefully giving this to Him.
I'm ever so quick to do so! Instead of writing fully about things that are quite pointless and won't impact anyone, why not write about something that could truly help and/or impact someone in their walk with Christ? After all God has done for me...it's the least I could do.
Although it shall remain with it's normal title, you will start to notice my posts changing perspectives a bit.
And yes, of course, for those of you who love a good laugh or are interested in my crazy life and wish to see things from my fast-spinning world while drinking a lovely cup of tea or just procrastinating on homework a bit, no worries. :)
I will keep including plenty of random things and titles that you'll love along with what's happening with me lately.
So we'll see where this goes.
:)
I'm awfully excited for all of these changes...things definitely need to change once in a while.
Countdown to Spring Break: 13 days(counting weekends...)!!! :D
Loves!
Remey.
Although this blog will consist(like it says in, "What's the Story?") of all different glimpses of me, my life, and almost everything that happens to me and I go through... it's also going to begin to portray
and represent the love story between God and me way more than it has.I'm covered by His grace, set free by Him! My chains are gone. Because of His love, I live.
We're called to do everything of Him and for Him. Live for Him, love for Him.
As it says in Psalm 73: 1-3, "When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in the heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast to You. Nevertheless, I am continually with You; You hold my right hand."
Throughout everything, no matter how we treat Him or what we do, He will always be with us, continuing to hold our right hand through everything we may ever encounter in this fast spinning world...
We may slip, but He'll never allow us to fall.
After God has done all that for us, died for us, loved us when no one did...how else should we respond other than to give everything up to Him?
So...this blog is the next thing to go. :)
And definitely not "go" in the sense of sadly and remorsefully giving this to Him.
I'm ever so quick to do so! Instead of writing fully about things that are quite pointless and won't impact anyone, why not write about something that could truly help and/or impact someone in their walk with Christ? After all God has done for me...it's the least I could do.
Although it shall remain with it's normal title, you will start to notice my posts changing perspectives a bit.
And yes, of course, for those of you who love a good laugh or are interested in my crazy life and wish to see things from my fast-spinning world while drinking a lovely cup of tea or just procrastinating on homework a bit, no worries. :)
I will keep including plenty of random things and titles that you'll love along with what's happening with me lately.
So we'll see where this goes.
:)
I'm awfully excited for all of these changes...things definitely need to change once in a while.
Countdown to Spring Break: 13 days(counting weekends...)!!! :D
Loves!
Remey.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
flashbacks, summer...yesterday is gone.
Hello, all my darlings!
So if any of you follow my other blog that I do with some other girls, Days on a Whim, you'll notice that this post(or something close to it...a little changed) was on my other blog! Yes, I find it quite important to be on both blogs. But as of right now, since my computer is evil and resists to copy and paste whole posts, yes, I'm doing one of the most stupid and time consuming things ever... keeping the blog on half my screen and Days on a Whim on the other- totally retyping everything from the other one. Grand. Lovely. The things I do for a blog...
So don't be too terribly disappointed that you didn't get anything new from me, because new things will come, darlings. Patience... and I may or may not add some things in this post that aren't in the other one(ha, like this whole intro deal...), so just keep reading, grab yourself a cup of tea, and try to see things from my world...
Life goes on.
Things that have once scarred you will eventually wear off, but you'll always have some sort of a reminder of whatever you're flashing back on...
Honestly, I often have many of these kinds of flashbacks all the time about past regrets or something that I wish never even happened. And the thought of these things repeating themselves or coming back to haunt me seriously creeps me out.
But there's nothing you can do to help what happened other than to get back up and keep on going with your life. God's showing me that a lot right now...showing me all He went through so that I wouldn't have to dwell on everything that has already happened. He didn't just die for my sin, He died for the suffering I would and have endured. Took on our suffering, our shame, our loneliness.
Before He died, before I even existed, He already knew who I would become, what I would go through... what I would encounter.
He knew I would tackle loneliness and confusion for a good portion of my school life, struggling to fit in and have friends that I could actually trust and would understand and care about me. He knew that I would have a huge revival in November of 2010, but then be sucked right back into the same mindset and troubles of before that night. He knew I would continue to slip, but that He would never let me fall.
He knew. And He still does.
My thoughts, my quiet time, my time talking with my Father seem to always bounce back to this...
"God, I'm a terrible, wretched, sinful person. I can't fathom or believe that You still love me after everything I've done! Why just yesterday...."
"Daughter, be still. Your sins are forgiven, and you are as white as snow. Yesterday is gone. Your sins are gone- as far as the East is from the West. On the ocean floor, never to be seen again. Be still, for I am God. I'm here. I'll never leave or be angry with you, or bring back anything you've done- no matter what you do."
Oh my word, think about that!
Anything you've ever done, anything you've ever got involved with- it's all gone! Wiped out! On the ocean floor, behind you, never to be seen again.
When God looks at us, He sees us as white as snow only through Christ standing in for us. He sees you as what you were meant to be, not what you've become.
As these thoughts have been bouncing around in my mind, all at once I get to the point of realizing all this on a different level...as "Suddenly" by Tobymac(along with many others), which fits quite appropriately I would say...if you haven't heard it before, I compel you to open another tab and youtube it.
Suddenly all of it's behind you
And I'm here to remind you
That yesterday is gone, so say goodbye
And suddenly the skies open around you
And Someone really loves you
And everything's alive
You'll have to listen to it to get the full essence of the matter, but it's quite beautiful...
Sometimes its in a instant
Sometimes we wait for years
But it comes down to the moment when faith eclipses fear
Your wandering is over
The other side is real
You've broken through
Your mountain moved
And mercy is revealed
In essence...yesterday is gone, so wave goodbye.
There's nothing you can do to change what had already happened, so instead of dwelling on the past why not look forward?
There's nothing I can do to change the quick decisions I've made to "fit in" during my previous years, to change how I treated others in response to how people treated and ignored me.
So life moves on.
Life is moving on, and currently, things are doing well. Life is moving slowly(which yes, is terribly ironic considering my usual perspective on life), but that will soon change, and winter continues to drag on and on...
I wish it would leave, honestly.
In my opinion, and many others, winter is pretty useless and sad without a good snow fall here and there, which we were so very blessed with that a few months ago. But aside from that...it's just cold, rainy, wet, windy(it's WA, people), and you can't really go far outside without getting sick or wearing at least 3 layers on.
So yes. I'm sick of winter, want it gone.
I really wish for warm weather. :)
To start pulling out my sundresses, flip flops & tank tops, not worrying about coats or rain, start going on walks with friends again, sketching and taking photographs outside, the whole shabang of oh-so-fabulous spring/summer. :) Even though I love spring...all the fresh smells and the flowers popping up everywhere, I really want summer. :)
Summer has recently begun to work it's way into my mind and never leaves. So when I'm stuck at school and walking in between classes around campus in the wind and rain, I can picture in an open field with wild flowers, the beach....
Aside from that, I have so much to look forward to this summer. it'll be the last summer I have before high school, and in August us freshman(yeah, weird...) shall embark on the Freshman Hike...which shall be interesting to say in the least.
But before school starts beckoning us back again, we'll have months of freedom...
I'll be spending a large portion of my summer in Maui along with my aunts, uncles, cousins...it's sort of like an unofficial family reunion except we know everyone so it's not too overwhelming and awkward. The only downfall is at this point, our grandparents are planning on not coming with us. This is the first time since my dad was in 8th grade(yeah, no lie) that they won't be coming! Absurd, right? Gah. And I know there are slight medical complications for this cause, but still...
You see, ever since my dad and his family (my grandma, grandmother, dad, and 2 other uncles) were little, their family has been going over to Maui every other summer for a whole entire month. Wow. They stay at the same place, get a fabulous deal on condos right off the beach, they know the island inside and out. And because of my dad falling in love with my mom and us coming into the picture(and of course my grandparents generosity), since I was about 5 years old it's been the same story for us.
We know the island inside and out. It's our home away from home...it's in our blood, you could say. And it's only by my grandparents pure generosity that we're able and blessed to go this often.
It's breaking my heart as I write this...after all, it's because of them that we can go in the first place.
So we're all hoping and praying that their medical issues disappear and that they change their minds in these next few months and enjoy probably our last time we'll be going...
Also, I'll be spending lots of time with friends!
Most of my previous summers are spent outside trying to entertain myself along with my siblings, and then occasionally finding someone that's available from church to go have some fun with. Because we like almost 30 minutes away from school and everyone who attends our school, it's not like we can just walk up the hill and visit whenever we want.
So I have a feeling a lot of you Anacortas people shall be seeing lots of me this summer...:)
But yes, I'll be spending lots of time with friends in Anacortes and with people I really haven't gotten to meet face-to-face before...which I'm terribly excited for. :) Then comes all the oh-so-high-and-mighty high schoolers in the church youth group that I'll finally get to join in June...which will finally give me something to do on Sunday nights. :)
So...friends, warm weather, Maui, laziness...
Oh, and plus the endless and unrestrained hours of taking photographs, write up some new things, post some more on my blogs(of course), and sleep and enjoy and warm weather and creation to behold outside...
The only things that stand in my way are...
Spring Break.
Perspectives.
Finals.
Presentations...
Graduation.
Bring it on.
So no... you people who keep up with the other blog I'm part of didn't get ripped off with content, did you? And tomorrow's Friday(praise the Lord), and I should be posting more hopefully this weekend.
Loves!
Remey.
So if any of you follow my other blog that I do with some other girls, Days on a Whim, you'll notice that this post(or something close to it...a little changed) was on my other blog! Yes, I find it quite important to be on both blogs. But as of right now, since my computer is evil and resists to copy and paste whole posts, yes, I'm doing one of the most stupid and time consuming things ever... keeping the blog on half my screen and Days on a Whim on the other- totally retyping everything from the other one. Grand. Lovely. The things I do for a blog...
So don't be too terribly disappointed that you didn't get anything new from me, because new things will come, darlings. Patience... and I may or may not add some things in this post that aren't in the other one(ha, like this whole intro deal...), so just keep reading, grab yourself a cup of tea, and try to see things from my world...
Life goes on.
Things that have once scarred you will eventually wear off, but you'll always have some sort of a reminder of whatever you're flashing back on...
Honestly, I often have many of these kinds of flashbacks all the time about past regrets or something that I wish never even happened. And the thought of these things repeating themselves or coming back to haunt me seriously creeps me out.
But there's nothing you can do to help what happened other than to get back up and keep on going with your life. God's showing me that a lot right now...showing me all He went through so that I wouldn't have to dwell on everything that has already happened. He didn't just die for my sin, He died for the suffering I would and have endured. Took on our suffering, our shame, our loneliness.
Before He died, before I even existed, He already knew who I would become, what I would go through... what I would encounter.
He knew I would tackle loneliness and confusion for a good portion of my school life, struggling to fit in and have friends that I could actually trust and would understand and care about me. He knew that I would have a huge revival in November of 2010, but then be sucked right back into the same mindset and troubles of before that night. He knew I would continue to slip, but that He would never let me fall.
He knew. And He still does.
My thoughts, my quiet time, my time talking with my Father seem to always bounce back to this...
"God, I'm a terrible, wretched, sinful person. I can't fathom or believe that You still love me after everything I've done! Why just yesterday...."
"Daughter, be still. Your sins are forgiven, and you are as white as snow. Yesterday is gone. Your sins are gone- as far as the East is from the West. On the ocean floor, never to be seen again. Be still, for I am God. I'm here. I'll never leave or be angry with you, or bring back anything you've done- no matter what you do."
Oh my word, think about that!
Anything you've ever done, anything you've ever got involved with- it's all gone! Wiped out! On the ocean floor, behind you, never to be seen again.
When God looks at us, He sees us as white as snow only through Christ standing in for us. He sees you as what you were meant to be, not what you've become.
As these thoughts have been bouncing around in my mind, all at once I get to the point of realizing all this on a different level...as "Suddenly" by Tobymac(along with many others), which fits quite appropriately I would say...if you haven't heard it before, I compel you to open another tab and youtube it.
Suddenly all of it's behind you
And I'm here to remind you
That yesterday is gone, so say goodbye
And suddenly the skies open around you
And Someone really loves you
And everything's alive
You'll have to listen to it to get the full essence of the matter, but it's quite beautiful...
Sometimes its in a instant
Sometimes we wait for years
But it comes down to the moment when faith eclipses fear
Your wandering is over
The other side is real
You've broken through
Your mountain moved
And mercy is revealed
In essence...yesterday is gone, so wave goodbye.
There's nothing you can do to change what had already happened, so instead of dwelling on the past why not look forward?
There's nothing I can do to change the quick decisions I've made to "fit in" during my previous years, to change how I treated others in response to how people treated and ignored me.
So life moves on.
Life is moving on, and currently, things are doing well. Life is moving slowly(which yes, is terribly ironic considering my usual perspective on life), but that will soon change, and winter continues to drag on and on...
I wish it would leave, honestly.
In my opinion, and many others, winter is pretty useless and sad without a good snow fall here and there, which we were so very blessed with that a few months ago. But aside from that...it's just cold, rainy, wet, windy(it's WA, people), and you can't really go far outside without getting sick or wearing at least 3 layers on.
So yes. I'm sick of winter, want it gone.
I really wish for warm weather. :)
To start pulling out my sundresses, flip flops & tank tops, not worrying about coats or rain, start going on walks with friends again, sketching and taking photographs outside, the whole shabang of oh-so-fabulous spring/summer. :) Even though I love spring...all the fresh smells and the flowers popping up everywhere, I really want summer. :)
Summer has recently begun to work it's way into my mind and never leaves. So when I'm stuck at school and walking in between classes around campus in the wind and rain, I can picture in an open field with wild flowers, the beach....
Aside from that, I have so much to look forward to this summer. it'll be the last summer I have before high school, and in August us freshman(yeah, weird...) shall embark on the Freshman Hike...which shall be interesting to say in the least.
But before school starts beckoning us back again, we'll have months of freedom...
I'll be spending a large portion of my summer in Maui along with my aunts, uncles, cousins...it's sort of like an unofficial family reunion except we know everyone so it's not too overwhelming and awkward. The only downfall is at this point, our grandparents are planning on not coming with us. This is the first time since my dad was in 8th grade(yeah, no lie) that they won't be coming! Absurd, right? Gah. And I know there are slight medical complications for this cause, but still...
You see, ever since my dad and his family (my grandma, grandmother, dad, and 2 other uncles) were little, their family has been going over to Maui every other summer for a whole entire month. Wow. They stay at the same place, get a fabulous deal on condos right off the beach, they know the island inside and out. And because of my dad falling in love with my mom and us coming into the picture(and of course my grandparents generosity), since I was about 5 years old it's been the same story for us.
We know the island inside and out. It's our home away from home...it's in our blood, you could say. And it's only by my grandparents pure generosity that we're able and blessed to go this often.
It's breaking my heart as I write this...after all, it's because of them that we can go in the first place.
So we're all hoping and praying that their medical issues disappear and that they change their minds in these next few months and enjoy probably our last time we'll be going...
Also, I'll be spending lots of time with friends!
Most of my previous summers are spent outside trying to entertain myself along with my siblings, and then occasionally finding someone that's available from church to go have some fun with. Because we like almost 30 minutes away from school and everyone who attends our school, it's not like we can just walk up the hill and visit whenever we want.
So I have a feeling a lot of you Anacortas people shall be seeing lots of me this summer...:)
But yes, I'll be spending lots of time with friends in Anacortes and with people I really haven't gotten to meet face-to-face before...which I'm terribly excited for. :) Then comes all the oh-so-high-and-mighty high schoolers in the church youth group that I'll finally get to join in June...which will finally give me something to do on Sunday nights. :)
So...friends, warm weather, Maui, laziness...
Oh, and plus the endless and unrestrained hours of taking photographs, write up some new things, post some more on my blogs(of course), and sleep and enjoy and warm weather and creation to behold outside...
The only things that stand in my way are...
Spring Break.
Perspectives.
Finals.
Presentations...
Graduation.
Bring it on.
So no... you people who keep up with the other blog I'm part of didn't get ripped off with content, did you? And tomorrow's Friday(praise the Lord), and I should be posting more hopefully this weekend.
Loves!
Remey.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Finals. Tea. Puddle Jumping. SUMMER. More Deliverance...
Ha! Another one of these lovely little titles...:)
Any of you who keep up with the other blog I'm apart of, "Days on a Whim," you have probably noticed that I've been less than persistent on contributing on some lovely posts. And I'm sorry!
I love that blog with all my heart, I blog with two of my dearest friends on it, it's what started me on blogging in the first place...but the simple problem is, since I've started this blog on my own, I've been trying to make it as fun and carefree as possible- complete with posts and posts and posts...
"HA!" you say. "Our dear Remey, it's not that hard to copy and paste a post to another blog...silly you, deary."
Ha. Yes. Quite funny. :) I've already received that helpful tip from Reney, and discovered our newish computer's seem-to-be only flaw is copying and pasting posts to other blogs. Doesn't make sense, does it? Lovely.
Not sure what the deal is, I just know it's shiny screen laughs at my frustration and disappointment. Some day I shall figure it out...
So anyways, y'all are probably wondering about my title. :)
Oh, another lovely title with no strings attached (*cough* *cough* aside from the fact that you have to read my posts to understand them...).
Finals! I know all you lovely college students (Ahem... Reney, Kaili, Cami, etc...) are going to be plagued with evil finals this week at Skagit for various classes. Which sucks, plain as day.
But I'm reminding you now(if any of you even read this...) that you're looking forward to a wonderful spring break in only a week! And most of you are free from all this on Thursday, I believe...at least that's what I heard from most of you.
People that are being plagued with finals this week or in the next coming weeks, I wish y'all the best of luck, and knock 'em dead, girls. YOU SHALL PREVAIL!
Ahhh, tea. I love tea with all my heart. :)
Before a couple weeks ago, I wasn't much of a tea drinker. More on the chai once in a while, and hot chocolate with whip cream and chocolate syrup, and of course, COFFEE. :) Oh, coffee...
But tea! Yes, tea. A couple weeks ago while babysitting many, many children of adults currently involved in a bible study from church every Monday night, a dear friend introduced me to THE best(no exaggeration whatsoever...) tea in the history of teas. Ever.
Lady Grey... a combination of black tea plus some citrus and all other lovelies put together in a nice little tea bag. :)
Aside from that, I always feel like I'm in a different time era when I'm making a tea pot full of tea, while pouring it properly into a teacup, and drinking it while talking in lovely English and British accents... oh, my imagination at work.
Anyways, it's quite fun. :) And the tea is good... I've drank far more cups than need be these last few days, but granted the caffeine does nothing more than make me talk more than I usually do(which I assure my family, isn't too much more than they're use to...), and it doesn't effect my sleep whatsoever. Yay! :)
Today we made yet another trip down to Seattle to visit my grandparents for the afternoon along with my uncle, aunt, and other uncle and our two cousins.
Driving there and driving back, it was raining. Pouring, if you will. Tremendously.
As as we drove through the Costco parking lot, the freeway, the highway out of our dear little town, I saw puddles. Puddles and puddles. Puddles perfect for jumping in!
I seriously had the weirdest feeling in the world to open my door, jump out of the moving car, and run outside in the pouring rain for some puddle jumping...
Granted, I hadn't eaten all morning, and was listening to some songs consisting of some minor thoughts about rain.
Aside from that, I was daydreaming out the window. Again.
And all the little raindrops plopping around in the puddles looked like little dancers as they made their way around the puddle and then promptly popped right back out and onto the pavement.
It was an interesting car ride, there and back... a time for thinking, praying, daydreaming...
SUMMER.
Oh, am I ready.
The sun on my skin, and warm air, the lovely smell of freshly cut grass, tanning, walking, photography, writing, shopping, laughing, friends, family, Hawaii, freedom...
Yeah. I'm pretty excited.
And although I'm too lazy to pull up a calendar and make a proper countdown...it shall come soon enough, my darlings. :)
Along the lines of deliverance...oh, dear.
So if any of you are in the midst of a hard time right now, can't see a light in the end of the tunnel, hopelessness...yeah, that whole deal. God does and CAN change that. He can take a situation that looks horrible from every angle you look at it and turn it into something beautiful.
I totally didn't understand this fully until today, when God delivered me yet again from something(yet not as small as a dentist visit, mind you...).
I'd been praying for this situation and the people involved, that God would move their hearts, because it was obvious that there was nothing further I could do and that I just needed to stay out of the way and let God do His work.
Well...today I was about to take another step deeper into the thick jungle of the situation(which I know now would not have been the smartest thing to do) but before I could even do it, God answered what I had been praying for. Or, rather, I was actually listening for His answer. And He moved this person. He moved them to the point of me almost being moved to tears and jumping up and down in front of them screaming, "I'M SO PROUD OF YOU! IT'S ABOUT TIME!" which, yes, I refrained from doing so. :)
The situation might not have been so important for them, but it certainly was for me.
It was like a line of dominoes. In the case of this happening to them and everything that I mindlessly got involved with, them being tested tested me, them being moved moved me.
But, even in situations like that where that may not seem to be a miracle(which trust me, it was), miracles happen. Hearts are softened. Walls are moved and taken down.
So please, don't lose hope. After all, we have the most assured and most bright hope of all.
For all of you lovelies with finals this week, I wish you best of luck. :)
And eat lots of chocolate and bananas... I hear it helps. :)
Countdown to Spring Break: 19 days! (and yet I'm not too lazy to pull a calendar up for this...interesting.)
Loves!
Remey.
Any of you who keep up with the other blog I'm apart of, "Days on a Whim," you have probably noticed that I've been less than persistent on contributing on some lovely posts. And I'm sorry!
I love that blog with all my heart, I blog with two of my dearest friends on it, it's what started me on blogging in the first place...but the simple problem is, since I've started this blog on my own, I've been trying to make it as fun and carefree as possible- complete with posts and posts and posts...
"HA!" you say. "Our dear Remey, it's not that hard to copy and paste a post to another blog...silly you, deary."
Ha. Yes. Quite funny. :) I've already received that helpful tip from Reney, and discovered our newish computer's seem-to-be only flaw is copying and pasting posts to other blogs. Doesn't make sense, does it? Lovely.
Not sure what the deal is, I just know it's shiny screen laughs at my frustration and disappointment. Some day I shall figure it out...
So anyways, y'all are probably wondering about my title. :)
Oh, another lovely title with no strings attached (*cough* *cough* aside from the fact that you have to read my posts to understand them...).
Finals! I know all you lovely college students (Ahem... Reney, Kaili, Cami, etc...) are going to be plagued with evil finals this week at Skagit for various classes. Which sucks, plain as day.
But I'm reminding you now(if any of you even read this...) that you're looking forward to a wonderful spring break in only a week! And most of you are free from all this on Thursday, I believe...at least that's what I heard from most of you.
People that are being plagued with finals this week or in the next coming weeks, I wish y'all the best of luck, and knock 'em dead, girls. YOU SHALL PREVAIL!
Ahhh, tea. I love tea with all my heart. :)
Before a couple weeks ago, I wasn't much of a tea drinker. More on the chai once in a while, and hot chocolate with whip cream and chocolate syrup, and of course, COFFEE. :) Oh, coffee...
But tea! Yes, tea. A couple weeks ago while babysitting many, many children of adults currently involved in a bible study from church every Monday night, a dear friend introduced me to THE best(no exaggeration whatsoever...) tea in the history of teas. Ever.
Lady Grey... a combination of black tea plus some citrus and all other lovelies put together in a nice little tea bag. :)
Aside from that, I always feel like I'm in a different time era when I'm making a tea pot full of tea, while pouring it properly into a teacup, and drinking it while talking in lovely English and British accents... oh, my imagination at work.
Anyways, it's quite fun. :) And the tea is good... I've drank far more cups than need be these last few days, but granted the caffeine does nothing more than make me talk more than I usually do(which I assure my family, isn't too much more than they're use to...), and it doesn't effect my sleep whatsoever. Yay! :)
Today we made yet another trip down to Seattle to visit my grandparents for the afternoon along with my uncle, aunt, and other uncle and our two cousins.
Driving there and driving back, it was raining. Pouring, if you will. Tremendously.
As as we drove through the Costco parking lot, the freeway, the highway out of our dear little town, I saw puddles. Puddles and puddles. Puddles perfect for jumping in!
I seriously had the weirdest feeling in the world to open my door, jump out of the moving car, and run outside in the pouring rain for some puddle jumping...
Granted, I hadn't eaten all morning, and was listening to some songs consisting of some minor thoughts about rain.
Aside from that, I was daydreaming out the window. Again.
And all the little raindrops plopping around in the puddles looked like little dancers as they made their way around the puddle and then promptly popped right back out and onto the pavement.
It was an interesting car ride, there and back... a time for thinking, praying, daydreaming...
SUMMER.
Oh, am I ready.
The sun on my skin, and warm air, the lovely smell of freshly cut grass, tanning, walking, photography, writing, shopping, laughing, friends, family, Hawaii, freedom...
Yeah. I'm pretty excited.
And although I'm too lazy to pull up a calendar and make a proper countdown...it shall come soon enough, my darlings. :)
Along the lines of deliverance...oh, dear.
So if any of you are in the midst of a hard time right now, can't see a light in the end of the tunnel, hopelessness...yeah, that whole deal. God does and CAN change that. He can take a situation that looks horrible from every angle you look at it and turn it into something beautiful.
I totally didn't understand this fully until today, when God delivered me yet again from something(yet not as small as a dentist visit, mind you...).
I'd been praying for this situation and the people involved, that God would move their hearts, because it was obvious that there was nothing further I could do and that I just needed to stay out of the way and let God do His work.
Well...today I was about to take another step deeper into the thick jungle of the situation(which I know now would not have been the smartest thing to do) but before I could even do it, God answered what I had been praying for. Or, rather, I was actually listening for His answer. And He moved this person. He moved them to the point of me almost being moved to tears and jumping up and down in front of them screaming, "I'M SO PROUD OF YOU! IT'S ABOUT TIME!" which, yes, I refrained from doing so. :)
The situation might not have been so important for them, but it certainly was for me.
It was like a line of dominoes. In the case of this happening to them and everything that I mindlessly got involved with, them being tested tested me, them being moved moved me.
But, even in situations like that where that may not seem to be a miracle(which trust me, it was), miracles happen. Hearts are softened. Walls are moved and taken down.
So please, don't lose hope. After all, we have the most assured and most bright hope of all.
For all of you lovelies with finals this week, I wish you best of luck. :)
And eat lots of chocolate and bananas... I hear it helps. :)
Countdown to Spring Break: 19 days! (and yet I'm not too lazy to pull a calendar up for this...interesting.)
Loves!
Remey.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Deliverance, Taylor Swift, Fluoride...
Y'all may have noticed I'm fond of having odd titles hooked up to my posts.
Sometimes they'll have everything to do with whatever I'm about to write about, and other times they're a bunch of compiled thoughts from the post put together in one dandy little line.
This one is one of those compiled thought titles... that don't really make sense until you read the post.
And I'm trusting you'll keep reading, because who doesn't want to know about fluoride, right? (:
The other day (2 days ago, to be exact) I had the opportunity to visit the dentist...a new one, actually, who I knew nothing about and had absolutely no clue in my right mind who this person even was. Apparently, we had switched dentists about a year ago, which I had no idea about because I hadn't been to the dentist for about 2 years...and for those of you who keep up with your trips to the dentist when you're suppose to, you will probably realize you're suppose to go every year. Yeah...it'd been about 2 years since I'd been to any dentist, and this guy kept repeating, "Whoa. Your teeth are in really good shape for avoiding the dentist for so long." Which I wasn't sure if this was a compliment, or something to make me feel guilty, but I knew he was partially joking...
It's not like I hate the dentist.
I don't hate it as much as I hate peanut butter. I don't hate it as much as I hate spiders, bananas, or snakes...
No, those things I definitely can't stand. At all.
And I love the feeling after you visit the dentist of pure-cleanliness and squeaky clean teeth...
But the dentist...yeah, I'm just not a big fan of someone reaching in my mouth for an hour or so without food or water or anything to do... just sitting there.
And with my regular case of the giggles and not being able to sit still for long... it just wasn't a good combination of all those.
So I don't hate the dentist, I'm just not too fond of it... a strong dislike, if you will.
So yes, you could say I avoiding it for a while. And like I called it an "opportunity" earlier, it wasn't really an opportunity at all considering I had 0 say on the matter. Apparently you have to be 18 or older or just a ridiculously rude child to keep your parents from sending you to the dentist...ehhh.
If I had the choice, at first I would most definitely NOT go.
But after the dentist told me I was a couple months away from gingivitis and a couple cavities...yeah, considering I've never had a single cavity in my life and have just about had enough with braces and all, I'm thinking I'll keep up with the yearly visits from now on...
On the note of deliverance, I shall admit that I wasn't looking forward to going.
I had these little fears and thoughts that I would have a bunch of cavities, they'd have to drill out my mouth, and I'd be screaming bloody murder while people in the waiting room gave my mother strange looks...
I'm not really sure why these thoughts plagued me and continued to throughout the whole day, but it was literally the suspense that was killing me.
Instead of freaking out and totally running out of the office(even though I was freaking out thoughts-wise...), I calmly sat in my chair and brought this whole situation to God, praying that if it was His will, that He'd deliver me from this, He'd make it less painful than I thought, and overall, that He'd take away my sense of taste for the next hour. Ha. Silly, right?
But that fluoride is NASTY...
The moment came when they called my name, and I turned around to my friend who got dragged along under the circumstances of us carpooling with her, and I said, "If I don't come out alive, you can have my iPod and everything that's in this purse...*hands over purse*...wish me luck..."
And me being me, I probably, strike that, definitely made the whole situation way more dramatic than it needed to be. My friend in turn laughed at me the whole way there and the whole way back repeatedly saying, "Dude, it's only the dentist."
So while I sat there in the oh-so-intimidating chair having this nice lady with a southern drawl (which yes, totally cracked me up and made her even more sweet) cleaning my teeth, I thought about some things...
1) "Lord, take away my taste in this next hour. Because that guy in the important looking white coat just asked what flavor fluoride I wanted, and it aint gonna be pretty..."
The fluoride had the be the worst part of the whole thing, so I was glad when it was done.
And strangely and surprisingly enough(my lack of faith...again), my sense of taste literally diminished from the time they had me bite into that tray of pure and utter evilness (fluoride...)
to the time where I was starting my $5 foot long not an hour later!
I thought I was dreaming, and apparently, so was the dentist.
After they had put it in, I asked "Was that really suppose to be flavored? It really wasn't that bad..." And he, with a shocked expression, replied, "Uhhh, yeah, you picked one of the strongest flavors. That's weird...glad it wasn't too bad for you."
Whoa! Deliverance! Even in the midst of me freaking out and having lack of faith, God totally delivered me and answered my prayer for something that I seriously thought wouldn't happen had to be one of the silliest things I had ever prayed for...(:
2) "Hmm...at least they have some good music..."
As a country station was playing in the background, at the exact same moment of the fluoride and the desperate prayer to God, I heard "Love Story" blast in the background, "We'll make it out of this mess..." which was totally something I could relate to at the time. Ha. It cracked me up!
So although I couldn't sing... I gingerly hummed along to every word of that thing with the laughter of the dentist and his hygienist behind me...(:
And now with my teeth squeaky clean, another year to go, and yet another craving for a subway right now... I look back and think, wow, that really wasn't that bad. I just made it seem like I was gonna die or something.
Praise the Lord for being done (for another year!!!).
Praise the Lord for Subway.
Praise the Lord for His divine deliverance.
And praise the Lord for Spring Break... which, by the way, is in 22 days... :)
Loves!
Remey.
Sometimes they'll have everything to do with whatever I'm about to write about, and other times they're a bunch of compiled thoughts from the post put together in one dandy little line.
This one is one of those compiled thought titles... that don't really make sense until you read the post.
And I'm trusting you'll keep reading, because who doesn't want to know about fluoride, right? (:
The other day (2 days ago, to be exact) I had the opportunity to visit the dentist...a new one, actually, who I knew nothing about and had absolutely no clue in my right mind who this person even was. Apparently, we had switched dentists about a year ago, which I had no idea about because I hadn't been to the dentist for about 2 years...and for those of you who keep up with your trips to the dentist when you're suppose to, you will probably realize you're suppose to go every year. Yeah...it'd been about 2 years since I'd been to any dentist, and this guy kept repeating, "Whoa. Your teeth are in really good shape for avoiding the dentist for so long." Which I wasn't sure if this was a compliment, or something to make me feel guilty, but I knew he was partially joking...
It's not like I hate the dentist.
I don't hate it as much as I hate peanut butter. I don't hate it as much as I hate spiders, bananas, or snakes...
No, those things I definitely can't stand. At all.
And I love the feeling after you visit the dentist of pure-cleanliness and squeaky clean teeth...
But the dentist...yeah, I'm just not a big fan of someone reaching in my mouth for an hour or so without food or water or anything to do... just sitting there.
And with my regular case of the giggles and not being able to sit still for long... it just wasn't a good combination of all those.
So I don't hate the dentist, I'm just not too fond of it... a strong dislike, if you will.
So yes, you could say I avoiding it for a while. And like I called it an "opportunity" earlier, it wasn't really an opportunity at all considering I had 0 say on the matter. Apparently you have to be 18 or older or just a ridiculously rude child to keep your parents from sending you to the dentist...ehhh.
If I had the choice, at first I would most definitely NOT go.
But after the dentist told me I was a couple months away from gingivitis and a couple cavities...yeah, considering I've never had a single cavity in my life and have just about had enough with braces and all, I'm thinking I'll keep up with the yearly visits from now on...
On the note of deliverance, I shall admit that I wasn't looking forward to going.
I had these little fears and thoughts that I would have a bunch of cavities, they'd have to drill out my mouth, and I'd be screaming bloody murder while people in the waiting room gave my mother strange looks...
I'm not really sure why these thoughts plagued me and continued to throughout the whole day, but it was literally the suspense that was killing me.
Instead of freaking out and totally running out of the office(even though I was freaking out thoughts-wise...), I calmly sat in my chair and brought this whole situation to God, praying that if it was His will, that He'd deliver me from this, He'd make it less painful than I thought, and overall, that He'd take away my sense of taste for the next hour. Ha. Silly, right?
But that fluoride is NASTY...
The moment came when they called my name, and I turned around to my friend who got dragged along under the circumstances of us carpooling with her, and I said, "If I don't come out alive, you can have my iPod and everything that's in this purse...*hands over purse*...wish me luck..."
And me being me, I probably, strike that, definitely made the whole situation way more dramatic than it needed to be. My friend in turn laughed at me the whole way there and the whole way back repeatedly saying, "Dude, it's only the dentist."
So while I sat there in the oh-so-intimidating chair having this nice lady with a southern drawl (which yes, totally cracked me up and made her even more sweet) cleaning my teeth, I thought about some things...
1) "Lord, take away my taste in this next hour. Because that guy in the important looking white coat just asked what flavor fluoride I wanted, and it aint gonna be pretty..."
The fluoride had the be the worst part of the whole thing, so I was glad when it was done.
And strangely and surprisingly enough(my lack of faith...again), my sense of taste literally diminished from the time they had me bite into that tray of pure and utter evilness (fluoride...)
to the time where I was starting my $5 foot long not an hour later!
I thought I was dreaming, and apparently, so was the dentist.
After they had put it in, I asked "Was that really suppose to be flavored? It really wasn't that bad..." And he, with a shocked expression, replied, "Uhhh, yeah, you picked one of the strongest flavors. That's weird...glad it wasn't too bad for you."
Whoa! Deliverance! Even in the midst of me freaking out and having lack of faith, God totally delivered me and answered my prayer for something that I seriously thought wouldn't happen had to be one of the silliest things I had ever prayed for...(:
2) "Hmm...at least they have some good music..."
As a country station was playing in the background, at the exact same moment of the fluoride and the desperate prayer to God, I heard "Love Story" blast in the background, "We'll make it out of this mess..." which was totally something I could relate to at the time. Ha. It cracked me up!
So although I couldn't sing... I gingerly hummed along to every word of that thing with the laughter of the dentist and his hygienist behind me...(:
And now with my teeth squeaky clean, another year to go, and yet another craving for a subway right now... I look back and think, wow, that really wasn't that bad. I just made it seem like I was gonna die or something.
Praise the Lord for being done (for another year!!!).
Praise the Lord for Subway.
Praise the Lord for His divine deliverance.
And praise the Lord for Spring Break... which, by the way, is in 22 days... :)
Loves!
Remey.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Perspectives & All That Jazz...
Perspectives.
This word seems to be popping up everywhere these past couple weeks, if not months. And if you have kept up with this blog, I believe in my last post I mentioned the "Perspectives" project our class will be working on for the next four months preparing us for high school, growing up, all that fun stuff...preparing us, potentially, for life(which is HUGE...we're only 8th graders, remember?)
Along the lines of the project, things regarding it will soon start jam-packing our schedules at school, switching around our normal classes for time to work on all the papers, boards, assignments, etc... all to make time for this thing. It'll be worth it, though.
Our class is ready to grow up. This is plain as day...
Half of the time we're mature, and then half the time...alright, more than half the time we're the total opposite of mature and laugh about anything we hear or see. Which doesn't really qualify as immaturity, but... you just have to see us to understand it all.
So yes... we could definitely become a bit more mature before we face those oh-so-intimidating doors of the high school building right across campus while "Fifteen" rings through my ears...
Besides the mature part, our class seems to love drama... and this isn't along the lines of "Romeo and Juliet" drama. This is more along the fine line of "I think he likes me..." "Uhhh, no. He likes me." Or most commonly, "Woah, I thought I was her friend." "Apparently not, considering she said this about you...", and so on and so forth. It's pointless, it's frustrating, and above all, it's hurtful and cruel. If you've been on both sides of this ridiculous and painful fence, you can relate to how I'm feeling as I write this.
If we hired some secret Hollywood directer to put up some secret cameras all over our class and campus for a week or so(which the odds of this are 0, but I've always wanted to do that or make a documentation of all the craziness that happens in the 8th grade...), we could probably make a number 1 box-office hit and make millions in the time it takes you to take an average length history test. That's how crazy it is. Only about... 1/3 of the class, maybe, sees how crazy we are and how much we're ready to move on from tearful afternoons and confused arguments to something more mature for us.
And then there's the confused bunch who gets sucked in the middle and involved in it without even wanting to. Cue me...
What's the main cause of all this? I'm not really sure there's a solid main cause. I know it all revolves around jealousy, greediness, gossip, and making yourself feel better by putting other people down which isn't OK(I've been on both sides of that, so no, it's definitely not OK...).
So there's no main cause for all those crazy emotions that take captive us 13,14,15 year olds(aside from growing up, mind you. And for those of you reading this, I'm sure these situations can relate to high school as well...).
But there is a main cause for why we've been prone to act like this since we've hit kindergarten(besides us being sinful human beings, of course).
God is definitely not the solid foundation of our class. We go to a Christian school, for pete's sake, and we're as bad(to some degree) as any public school out there.
-Instead of taking our situations to God, we take it to our friends for "advice" which usually turns to gossip and backstabbing and then ends up in broken or destroyed friendships that may or may or may not mend up...
-Instead of praying for our enemies, we plot on our next move to make them jealous or to take revenge on what they did to us purposefully to hurt us or we just took it the wrong way(misunderstandings are definitely a huge part of this as well).
-Instead of building ourselves upon God's truths in His word, we're basing practically everything we do on what "she said about me the other day" or on "who fits in"...with whoever the "in crowd" really is, anyways...gah.
We act on emotions. That's pretty much the downfall of our class.
And thus, half of us see this, half of us are blind to the fact.
Here's where the whole "maturity" and "perspectives" comes in.
Regarding our class, it's all how you look at a situation(perspective) and how you handle it(maturity).
I know I've quoted this dear friend a million times, and they probably don't believe me that I quote them at all(which is silly, because you're quite full of helpful and encouraging things, dear...), but I'll quote them again:
"It's all about how you look at a situation. By changing how you look at it, it can change everything."
Think about that for a couple seconds if not a minute or so.
(this is rediculous and doesn't apply to me. I'm just gonna keep scrolling down...)
Uhhh, yeah. I know you people:) Please think about it...
.
..
...did you really think about it? I hope so...
At the time she told me this, I was actually in the middle of something sticky like this at school. I had absolutely no idea what to do, and I was just so sick of what was going on.
So I went to her. Someone I love and can trust and rely on... and people older than you usually know more from experience, si? Not that that's the main reason I turned to her, but it's true. Plus, she actually understands and actually cares about what I'm talking about. That's probably the main thing that gets me talking to people, especially her. I'm not sure about y'all, but if someone doesn't understand or care about what you're talking about, would you talk to them a lot about your struggles and ask for advice? Uhhh, I'm thinking no...
What she said didn't shock me, it just hit me really deep. More than I expected, actually. I'm thinking it hit me deeper because how I was looking at my situation(and how had been looking at pretty much every situation I'd been in for the months beforehand...) wasn't helping how I looked at anything. Meaning... I'll explain in a way y'all will most likely understand and it's easier. I was looking through the camera lens (situation) at a different angle that left everything dark, gloomy, hopeless... nothing really made sense. No light could get in, because I wasn't allowing any! I had no idea where to turn, and I wasn't turning to God like I should have. I kept the angle of the lens gloomy and gray, until I started talking to this dear friend of mine, and she pretty much said exactly what I need to hear, as hard as it was(she's probably thinking that this was a long time ago, which it was, but I just now got enough strength and courage and whatnot to post this out).
Getting out of the pity pit (ouch) and turning the situation around totally helped, and showed me some things.
1.) I don't have it as hard as some people do.
I know tons of people in my life and around the world that are starving, struggling to support their family, scarred from past experiences, stuck in depression, etc. And here I am, with God putting what looked like a mini-hurdle compared to those things in front me me, and I immediately stop and say to Him, "There's no way I can jump that thing."
2.) I'm terribly blessed where I am.
Aside from not being put into those situations above(which mind you, situations like that can be an act of God's grace and a blessing because they can cause you to further His kingdom and grow to be more like Him... thanks Jill, I seriously didn't understand and/or acknowlege that that for a long time), the blessings that God gave me, has been giving me and will keep giving me along with His grace, love and mercy for me everyday totally, without one single doubt, outweigh any hurdle or obstacle that God puts in front of me through His grace alone. Anyways, I was and am terribly blessed- and in the midst of the struggles I was facing, I forgot to look at all of that. I forgot to see all of God's unfailing love for me, His mercy, and His forgiveness for every time I have and will mess up and turn my back so stubbornly away from Him. I forgot to look at my amazing family, friends, and all the people in my life that mean so much to me and help me with so many things(which definitely includes you, the people I've quoted numerous of times in this post alone)that I face.
Woah. I was seriously not planning on typing that much at all! This post could be called way more than "Perspectives", because it's becoming way more of a post about the way you look at things and about a project that will be behind me in 5 months(and yet I'm still dreading...why is this?!).
So back on the maturity/perspectives note.
When I was little, my mom always said it was a good thing that I missed the birthday cut-off by a couple weeks which put me in the grade below instead of the grade above.
So in other words, I could be a freshman, but I'm not.
And when I was a little girl I made sure to tell everyone that I should in fact be placed in a grade above where I actually was...silly me.
Anyways, that way I was the oldest in my class. I could potentially drive first, be 18 my whole senior year, and in essence of everything, handle things that would go on in my class on a somewhat... different scale than mostly everyone else who would be in my class.
At times, yes, I totally hate being behind a year back because mostly all my closest friends are highschoolers. Granted I'm close with few people at school, but it's different.
I notice this all the time, and it cracks me up that I get along with them so well and just fit in well with them. :)
Although, once it's time for youth group after our evening service at church, and everyone goes walking off and I just stand there, it gets sort of lonely and awkwardish. Luckily, I have my ever-so persistent sister never too far behind me. :) But you get what I'm putting out.
But although there are plenty of times I wish I were a freshman already, there are plenty times where I am totally glad where I am. And it's the times where I'm not as thrilled about where I am when I need to remember this:
God put me where I am for a reason.
He sees the big picture, there's a very logical reason that He sees why He put me where I am, He knows what He's doing. Although I don't see the picture, I have the assurance that He does.
Who knows, maybe if I was a freshman this year I would randomly break my arm(like my older brother did...ha) on one of the high school snow trips because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, or be taken captive by evil ninjas prowling around our school looking for freshman girls to capture and force peanut butter down our throats(which doesn't normally happen, but it'd be a cool movie, right?). There's a reason why I am where I am. And that's what I need to focus on.
So lets see... I'm not really sure where my thoughts drifted too, but it seems like they are nearing a dead end. I guess this post was meaning to make you think about perspectives. How you look at things.
If I chose to look at everything through the gloomy angle of the camera lens, I would be unhappy as an 8th grader, totally intoxicated in the drama of our class, and probably held captive by evil ninjas with peanut butter.
Think about the perspective of how you're viewing your situation. Are you viewing it how the other person may see it(tough...)? Are you viewing the endless blessings that you're Father is giving you each and everyday that we all take for granted...? And lastly... are you viewing your trials or struggles in your life as a gift by the grace of God... to help you grow in Him, and further His kingdom?
On my advice, I would start now. Don't waste another moment to ponder these things, to bring your situations to God. He knows why you are going through these things.
It took me 14 1/2 years to realize that... and I don't even have it all figured out yet. :)
It's called life, darlings. Figuring things out as you go...
Countdown to Spring Break: 24 days... :)
Loves!
Remey.
This word seems to be popping up everywhere these past couple weeks, if not months. And if you have kept up with this blog, I believe in my last post I mentioned the "Perspectives" project our class will be working on for the next four months preparing us for high school, growing up, all that fun stuff...preparing us, potentially, for life(which is HUGE...we're only 8th graders, remember?)
Along the lines of the project, things regarding it will soon start jam-packing our schedules at school, switching around our normal classes for time to work on all the papers, boards, assignments, etc... all to make time for this thing. It'll be worth it, though.
Our class is ready to grow up. This is plain as day...
Half of the time we're mature, and then half the time...alright, more than half the time we're the total opposite of mature and laugh about anything we hear or see. Which doesn't really qualify as immaturity, but... you just have to see us to understand it all.
So yes... we could definitely become a bit more mature before we face those oh-so-intimidating doors of the high school building right across campus while "Fifteen" rings through my ears...
Besides the mature part, our class seems to love drama... and this isn't along the lines of "Romeo and Juliet" drama. This is more along the fine line of "I think he likes me..." "Uhhh, no. He likes me." Or most commonly, "Woah, I thought I was her friend." "Apparently not, considering she said this about you...", and so on and so forth. It's pointless, it's frustrating, and above all, it's hurtful and cruel. If you've been on both sides of this ridiculous and painful fence, you can relate to how I'm feeling as I write this.
If we hired some secret Hollywood directer to put up some secret cameras all over our class and campus for a week or so(which the odds of this are 0, but I've always wanted to do that or make a documentation of all the craziness that happens in the 8th grade...), we could probably make a number 1 box-office hit and make millions in the time it takes you to take an average length history test. That's how crazy it is. Only about... 1/3 of the class, maybe, sees how crazy we are and how much we're ready to move on from tearful afternoons and confused arguments to something more mature for us.
And then there's the confused bunch who gets sucked in the middle and involved in it without even wanting to. Cue me...
What's the main cause of all this? I'm not really sure there's a solid main cause. I know it all revolves around jealousy, greediness, gossip, and making yourself feel better by putting other people down which isn't OK(I've been on both sides of that, so no, it's definitely not OK...).
So there's no main cause for all those crazy emotions that take captive us 13,14,15 year olds(aside from growing up, mind you. And for those of you reading this, I'm sure these situations can relate to high school as well...).
But there is a main cause for why we've been prone to act like this since we've hit kindergarten(besides us being sinful human beings, of course).
God is definitely not the solid foundation of our class. We go to a Christian school, for pete's sake, and we're as bad(to some degree) as any public school out there.
-Instead of taking our situations to God, we take it to our friends for "advice" which usually turns to gossip and backstabbing and then ends up in broken or destroyed friendships that may or may or may not mend up...
-Instead of praying for our enemies, we plot on our next move to make them jealous or to take revenge on what they did to us purposefully to hurt us or we just took it the wrong way(misunderstandings are definitely a huge part of this as well).
-Instead of building ourselves upon God's truths in His word, we're basing practically everything we do on what "she said about me the other day" or on "who fits in"...with whoever the "in crowd" really is, anyways...gah.
We act on emotions. That's pretty much the downfall of our class.
And thus, half of us see this, half of us are blind to the fact.
Here's where the whole "maturity" and "perspectives" comes in.
Regarding our class, it's all how you look at a situation(perspective) and how you handle it(maturity).
I know I've quoted this dear friend a million times, and they probably don't believe me that I quote them at all(which is silly, because you're quite full of helpful and encouraging things, dear...), but I'll quote them again:
"It's all about how you look at a situation. By changing how you look at it, it can change everything."
Think about that for a couple seconds if not a minute or so.
(this is rediculous and doesn't apply to me. I'm just gonna keep scrolling down...)
Uhhh, yeah. I know you people:) Please think about it...
.
..
...did you really think about it? I hope so...
At the time she told me this, I was actually in the middle of something sticky like this at school. I had absolutely no idea what to do, and I was just so sick of what was going on.
So I went to her. Someone I love and can trust and rely on... and people older than you usually know more from experience, si? Not that that's the main reason I turned to her, but it's true. Plus, she actually understands and actually cares about what I'm talking about. That's probably the main thing that gets me talking to people, especially her. I'm not sure about y'all, but if someone doesn't understand or care about what you're talking about, would you talk to them a lot about your struggles and ask for advice? Uhhh, I'm thinking no...
What she said didn't shock me, it just hit me really deep. More than I expected, actually. I'm thinking it hit me deeper because how I was looking at my situation(and how had been looking at pretty much every situation I'd been in for the months beforehand...) wasn't helping how I looked at anything. Meaning... I'll explain in a way y'all will most likely understand and it's easier. I was looking through the camera lens (situation) at a different angle that left everything dark, gloomy, hopeless... nothing really made sense. No light could get in, because I wasn't allowing any! I had no idea where to turn, and I wasn't turning to God like I should have. I kept the angle of the lens gloomy and gray, until I started talking to this dear friend of mine, and she pretty much said exactly what I need to hear, as hard as it was(she's probably thinking that this was a long time ago, which it was, but I just now got enough strength and courage and whatnot to post this out).
Getting out of the pity pit (ouch) and turning the situation around totally helped, and showed me some things.
1.) I don't have it as hard as some people do.
I know tons of people in my life and around the world that are starving, struggling to support their family, scarred from past experiences, stuck in depression, etc. And here I am, with God putting what looked like a mini-hurdle compared to those things in front me me, and I immediately stop and say to Him, "There's no way I can jump that thing."
2.) I'm terribly blessed where I am.
Aside from not being put into those situations above(which mind you, situations like that can be an act of God's grace and a blessing because they can cause you to further His kingdom and grow to be more like Him... thanks Jill, I seriously didn't understand and/or acknowlege that that for a long time), the blessings that God gave me, has been giving me and will keep giving me along with His grace, love and mercy for me everyday totally, without one single doubt, outweigh any hurdle or obstacle that God puts in front of me through His grace alone. Anyways, I was and am terribly blessed- and in the midst of the struggles I was facing, I forgot to look at all of that. I forgot to see all of God's unfailing love for me, His mercy, and His forgiveness for every time I have and will mess up and turn my back so stubbornly away from Him. I forgot to look at my amazing family, friends, and all the people in my life that mean so much to me and help me with so many things(which definitely includes you, the people I've quoted numerous of times in this post alone)that I face.
Woah. I was seriously not planning on typing that much at all! This post could be called way more than "Perspectives", because it's becoming way more of a post about the way you look at things and about a project that will be behind me in 5 months(and yet I'm still dreading...why is this?!).
So back on the maturity/perspectives note.
When I was little, my mom always said it was a good thing that I missed the birthday cut-off by a couple weeks which put me in the grade below instead of the grade above.
So in other words, I could be a freshman, but I'm not.
And when I was a little girl I made sure to tell everyone that I should in fact be placed in a grade above where I actually was...silly me.
Anyways, that way I was the oldest in my class. I could potentially drive first, be 18 my whole senior year, and in essence of everything, handle things that would go on in my class on a somewhat... different scale than mostly everyone else who would be in my class.
At times, yes, I totally hate being behind a year back because mostly all my closest friends are highschoolers. Granted I'm close with few people at school, but it's different.
I notice this all the time, and it cracks me up that I get along with them so well and just fit in well with them. :)
Although, once it's time for youth group after our evening service at church, and everyone goes walking off and I just stand there, it gets sort of lonely and awkwardish. Luckily, I have my ever-so persistent sister never too far behind me. :) But you get what I'm putting out.
But although there are plenty of times I wish I were a freshman already, there are plenty times where I am totally glad where I am. And it's the times where I'm not as thrilled about where I am when I need to remember this:
God put me where I am for a reason.
He sees the big picture, there's a very logical reason that He sees why He put me where I am, He knows what He's doing. Although I don't see the picture, I have the assurance that He does.
Who knows, maybe if I was a freshman this year I would randomly break my arm(like my older brother did...ha) on one of the high school snow trips because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, or be taken captive by evil ninjas prowling around our school looking for freshman girls to capture and force peanut butter down our throats(which doesn't normally happen, but it'd be a cool movie, right?). There's a reason why I am where I am. And that's what I need to focus on.
So lets see... I'm not really sure where my thoughts drifted too, but it seems like they are nearing a dead end. I guess this post was meaning to make you think about perspectives. How you look at things.
If I chose to look at everything through the gloomy angle of the camera lens, I would be unhappy as an 8th grader, totally intoxicated in the drama of our class, and probably held captive by evil ninjas with peanut butter.
Think about the perspective of how you're viewing your situation. Are you viewing it how the other person may see it(tough...)? Are you viewing the endless blessings that you're Father is giving you each and everyday that we all take for granted...? And lastly... are you viewing your trials or struggles in your life as a gift by the grace of God... to help you grow in Him, and further His kingdom?
On my advice, I would start now. Don't waste another moment to ponder these things, to bring your situations to God. He knows why you are going through these things.
It took me 14 1/2 years to realize that... and I don't even have it all figured out yet. :)
It's called life, darlings. Figuring things out as you go...
Countdown to Spring Break: 24 days... :)
Loves!
Remey.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
this world keeps spinning faster...
There will be days where I'll have one song stuck in my head from the moment I wake up to the moment I fall asleep... and there will definitely be days where I have at least 7 or 8 songs circling around my mind all day long at 100mph fighting for each other's attention...
This weekend just happened to be a bunch of compiled days where I have a whole playlist stuck in my head that I've been humming and/or singing since Friday night... yeah. It's weird.
So, obviously, I'm gonna share it with you. (:
1. Breakeven- The Script (ehhh...interesting explanation.)
2. Run to You- Lady Antebellum (classic meaning behind this one...)
3. Healing Begins- Tenth Avenue North (an amazingly talented group I've gotten to know and love in the past few months especially...)
4. Everything- Lifehouse (and this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyheJ480LYA, which has moved me to tears a couple times and I've shared with a few of you...)
5. Ours- Taylor Swift (She's Taylor. That's all that needs to be said. :D)
6. Dare You To Move- Switchfoot (who I've been blaring wayyy to much lately...)
7. Rhythm of Love- Plain White Tee's (for like, what, the 4th week in a row...?)
8. You and Me- Lifehouse (Lifehouse...another band I've recently fallen in love with...)
And a bunch more than would get stuck in your head and drive you crazy as well...
It occurred to me today (and a long time before today...it just struck me today the most) that weekends simply go wayyyy to fast. It's already Sunday!
And I'm not really a Monday person. The only joy I have in Monday's(unless something amazing happens like glow in the dark nail polish...but how often does that happen?) is the incredible feeling at the end of the day when I realize that it's officially over. ;)
But what's something that could brighten up my Monday?
Sun:) The warmpth of the sun as I walk from class to class on campus, the amazing feeling of wearing a short-sleeve shirt without freezing to death, closing my eyes and picturing I'm in Hawaii..
Yeah. That'd be nice. :)
It's such a gorgeous day today outside, even though it's still cold. I'm hoping it warms up fast for more ways than one... I'm too ready for summer.
On a different note, this last week I finished my panda/snowman clay sculpture in art class...
It started out as a panda...and then dramatically ended up looking like a snowman complete with a top hat, scarf, and buttons... yeah, it's quite interesting and whimsy. :)
I'm hoping it survives it's firing in the kiln and doesn't explode and die and all that sadness because I still have to add some colored glaze to it... so we'll hope for the best, I suppose.
And as we speak, I'm trying to be converted to the "Bieber" side of my school by a couple of people via facebook... yeah, right.
Countdown till Spring Break: 26 days.
It's become...somewhat of an event for some of us... :)
Loves!
Remey.
This weekend just happened to be a bunch of compiled days where I have a whole playlist stuck in my head that I've been humming and/or singing since Friday night... yeah. It's weird.
So, obviously, I'm gonna share it with you. (:
1. Breakeven- The Script (ehhh...interesting explanation.)
2. Run to You- Lady Antebellum (classic meaning behind this one...)
3. Healing Begins- Tenth Avenue North (an amazingly talented group I've gotten to know and love in the past few months especially...)
4. Everything- Lifehouse (and this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyheJ480LYA, which has moved me to tears a couple times and I've shared with a few of you...)
5. Ours- Taylor Swift (She's Taylor. That's all that needs to be said. :D)
6. Dare You To Move- Switchfoot (who I've been blaring wayyy to much lately...)
7. Rhythm of Love- Plain White Tee's (for like, what, the 4th week in a row...?)
8. You and Me- Lifehouse (Lifehouse...another band I've recently fallen in love with...)
And a bunch more than would get stuck in your head and drive you crazy as well...
It occurred to me today (and a long time before today...it just struck me today the most) that weekends simply go wayyyy to fast. It's already Sunday!
And I'm not really a Monday person. The only joy I have in Monday's(unless something amazing happens like glow in the dark nail polish...but how often does that happen?) is the incredible feeling at the end of the day when I realize that it's officially over. ;)
But what's something that could brighten up my Monday?
Sun:) The warmpth of the sun as I walk from class to class on campus, the amazing feeling of wearing a short-sleeve shirt without freezing to death, closing my eyes and picturing I'm in Hawaii..
Yeah. That'd be nice. :)
It's such a gorgeous day today outside, even though it's still cold. I'm hoping it warms up fast for more ways than one... I'm too ready for summer.
On a different note, this last week I finished my panda/snowman clay sculpture in art class...
It started out as a panda...and then dramatically ended up looking like a snowman complete with a top hat, scarf, and buttons... yeah, it's quite interesting and whimsy. :)
I'm hoping it survives it's firing in the kiln and doesn't explode and die and all that sadness because I still have to add some colored glaze to it... so we'll hope for the best, I suppose.
And as we speak, I'm trying to be converted to the "Bieber" side of my school by a couple of people via facebook... yeah, right.
Countdown till Spring Break: 26 days.
It's become...somewhat of an event for some of us... :)
Loves!
Remey.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
the beginning of the end.
This last Friday our homeroom teacher got our whole class to settle down (which wasn't easy) so she could talk to us about our next few months as 8th graders.
She didn't say this, but she implied it's "the beginning of the end".
She talked to us about our huge "Perspectives" project coming up. In the project we'll be making a huge tri-fold poster board dealio about ourselves, pictures, dreams, goals, etc.
Aside from that, we'll be writing various papers on our 8th grade year and on ourselves, our relationship with God, and a portion about service. Our presentation will consist of 4 parts, and the week before or after final semester exams we we'll present everything in front of several members of the school board, our homeroom teacher, the elementary and middle school principal, and the HS principal.
Yikes. So as she explained this to all of us... it kinda hit us all that the rubber is finally hitting the road.
We're growing up!
And as I'm prone to say, the world does indeed spin way to much for me to catch it.
We've got like 4 months left of... freedom? Less to worry about?
So in retrospect... March is the beginning of the end of K-8th grade for us.
Aside from these scary presentations, we will also be having 8th graduation, and the 8th grade trip which consists of river rafting plus whatever else our amazing teacher wishes to surprise us with.
So there's tons of stuff to look forward to, tons of stuff to accomplish, and tons of stuff to start in these next few months before summer.
And after summer, the first week of school to be exact, the entire 8th grade class will be embarking on the Freshman Hike. 5 days in the mountains hiking, enjoying the sites, no bathrooms, carrying all of our stuff in backpacks, sleeping under the stars...the whole shabang...sort of like a survival of the fittest type thing. This is meant for...bonding purposes? Yes, I suppose that's what the school thinks it's meant for.
But it'll be fun. It'll be interesting. I'll be challenging. I'm thinking it'll be everything our class needs in more ways than one.
As for right now, I'm enjoying where I am. ;) And HS is definitely gonna rock.
I'm totally blessed with all I have here and now, anyways.
An amazing family that loves and cares about me and I care about them.
A relationship with God my Father who will give up on me or change, no matter how much is changing in my life.
Amazing friends that I can talk to about anything and are always there for me.
And food, water, shelter...all that grand survival stuff. :)
Here's to the next 4 months and so on not being the beginning of the end, but the beginning of...
something new.
Loves!
Remey.
She didn't say this, but she implied it's "the beginning of the end".
She talked to us about our huge "Perspectives" project coming up. In the project we'll be making a huge tri-fold poster board dealio about ourselves, pictures, dreams, goals, etc.
Aside from that, we'll be writing various papers on our 8th grade year and on ourselves, our relationship with God, and a portion about service. Our presentation will consist of 4 parts, and the week before or after final semester exams we we'll present everything in front of several members of the school board, our homeroom teacher, the elementary and middle school principal, and the HS principal.
Yikes. So as she explained this to all of us... it kinda hit us all that the rubber is finally hitting the road.
We're growing up!
And as I'm prone to say, the world does indeed spin way to much for me to catch it.
We've got like 4 months left of... freedom? Less to worry about?
So in retrospect... March is the beginning of the end of K-8th grade for us.
Aside from these scary presentations, we will also be having 8th graduation, and the 8th grade trip which consists of river rafting plus whatever else our amazing teacher wishes to surprise us with.
So there's tons of stuff to look forward to, tons of stuff to accomplish, and tons of stuff to start in these next few months before summer.
And after summer, the first week of school to be exact, the entire 8th grade class will be embarking on the Freshman Hike. 5 days in the mountains hiking, enjoying the sites, no bathrooms, carrying all of our stuff in backpacks, sleeping under the stars...the whole shabang...sort of like a survival of the fittest type thing. This is meant for...bonding purposes? Yes, I suppose that's what the school thinks it's meant for.
But it'll be fun. It'll be interesting. I'll be challenging. I'm thinking it'll be everything our class needs in more ways than one.
As for right now, I'm enjoying where I am. ;) And HS is definitely gonna rock.
I'm totally blessed with all I have here and now, anyways.
An amazing family that loves and cares about me and I care about them.
A relationship with God my Father who will give up on me or change, no matter how much is changing in my life.
Amazing friends that I can talk to about anything and are always there for me.
And food, water, shelter...all that grand survival stuff. :)
Here's to the next 4 months and so on not being the beginning of the end, but the beginning of...
something new.
Loves!
Remey.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
a love story between a girl and her camera...
When I first started this blog, it occurred to me that I would have tons of things to put in it.
Quotes, songs, lyrics, events of that day or week, favorite things, and new pictures. :)
My dear friends who are reading this (and any of you who have randomly stumbled along this blog, even though the chances are incredibly slim...), these are for you who haven't seen what I love to do and haven't experienced it first hand because I haven't had the amazing opportunity to take pictures with or of you.
I love to capture moments. Moments of joy, moments of confusion, moments of pure happiness and craziness. Faces, random objects... moments that show and reveal bits of God's glory on this earth.
I'm crazy about things outside... as long as I have some type of coat or something suitable to the weather condition, that is. lol. And here in WA... a coat seems to be mandatory almost always.
But I've always loved the sound and smell of rain, flowers, trees, sunsets, blue skies... etc. And I love capturing them in photos.
Some of these pictures are as old as a year, and some of them are as recent as a couple weeks ago. But this is a shortened version of a compiled collection of my all time favorites... let me know what you think. ;)
Our cherry tree in full blossom. ;) This picture always reminds me and gets me excited for the upcoming season of spring. And summer. Boy, am I ready for summer...
Last Spring/Summer I had the amazing opportunity of...well, boring days. Days that had just the perfect amount of sunlight with 0 schoolwork and nothing to do. So I took the awesome day and spent it outside exploring my street in all it's glory. This picture is actually one of of neighbors plants, but it grew over their cement divider(they know our family way too well...) to our concrete on the opposite side. Full of wonderfulness, these beautiful flowers started losing petals as well, creating a lovely background for this loner-plant.
Last fall early winter our family took a trip to Coopville/Whidbey Island to stay in a beach cabin one of my dad's patients owns. It was right on top of a cliff, and you had to take a winding staircase down the stairs to reach the beautiful shore where (even though it was raining practically the whole time) we spent most of the time at.
This is probably one of the cutest pictures I've got of my adorable little sister. ;)
Along the side of the same cliff and beach, there were really beautiful and ignored trees that I doubt anyone would make a double take to see them. They're absolutely gorgeous, and I loved how some of the leaves still had their little bit of Autumn spark to them.
So I'm actually not quite sure when I took this photo... it probably was in the spring last year, as well. But I'm practically in love with the glorious creation God allows me to see every morning out my bedroom window of Mt. Baker. ;)
This photo was actually taken a couple weeks before Christmas of 2010. Granted it was extremely cold outside, I did what I normally do and face the cold for a couple good shots of our good ol' fence and some curly plants from our yard.
This one was also taken a couple weeks ago I believe... we got home just in time to see God light up the sky. This always reminds me of "Light up the Sky" by The Afters. Haven't heard it? Look it up... good song, indeed...
This one actually has somewhat of a story behind it... ish. It was at the end of spring when I took this, so all of the petals on the flowers were depressingly falling off and blowing away along with sun and warm weather. My mom and dad were outside doing yard work I believe, and trimming back tons of our plants, and it was a somewhat beautiful day outside so I got myself off of the couch and away from my tea to see if there were any good shots to be taken of the flowers before my parents trimmed the remains of spring from our backyard... and this is what I found.
Ended up being one of my favorites, and this was back when I didn't have a camera of my own so I was using my brother's. Boy, was he surprised to see what I had on there...
Quotes, songs, lyrics, events of that day or week, favorite things, and new pictures. :)
My dear friends who are reading this (and any of you who have randomly stumbled along this blog, even though the chances are incredibly slim...), these are for you who haven't seen what I love to do and haven't experienced it first hand because I haven't had the amazing opportunity to take pictures with or of you.
I love to capture moments. Moments of joy, moments of confusion, moments of pure happiness and craziness. Faces, random objects... moments that show and reveal bits of God's glory on this earth.
I'm crazy about things outside... as long as I have some type of coat or something suitable to the weather condition, that is. lol. And here in WA... a coat seems to be mandatory almost always.
But I've always loved the sound and smell of rain, flowers, trees, sunsets, blue skies... etc. And I love capturing them in photos.
Some of these pictures are as old as a year, and some of them are as recent as a couple weeks ago. But this is a shortened version of a compiled collection of my all time favorites... let me know what you think. ;)
Our cherry tree in full blossom. ;) This picture always reminds me and gets me excited for the upcoming season of spring. And summer. Boy, am I ready for summer...Last Spring/Summer I had the amazing opportunity of...well, boring days. Days that had just the perfect amount of sunlight with 0 schoolwork and nothing to do. So I took the awesome day and spent it outside exploring my street in all it's glory. This picture is actually one of of neighbors plants, but it grew over their cement divider(they know our family way too well...) to our concrete on the opposite side. Full of wonderfulness, these beautiful flowers started losing petals as well, creating a lovely background for this loner-plant.Last fall early winter our family took a trip to Coopville/Whidbey Island to stay in a beach cabin one of my dad's patients owns. It was right on top of a cliff, and you had to take a winding staircase down the stairs to reach the beautiful shore where (even though it was raining practically the whole time) we spent most of the time at.This is probably one of the cutest pictures I've got of my adorable little sister. ;)
Along the side of the same cliff and beach, there were really beautiful and ignored trees that I doubt anyone would make a double take to see them. They're absolutely gorgeous, and I loved how some of the leaves still had their little bit of Autumn spark to them.So I'm actually not quite sure when I took this photo... it probably was in the spring last year, as well. But I'm practically in love with the glorious creation God allows me to see every morning out my bedroom window of Mt. Baker. ;)This photo was actually taken a couple weeks before Christmas of 2010. Granted it was extremely cold outside, I did what I normally do and face the cold for a couple good shots of our good ol' fence and some curly plants from our yard.This one was also taken a couple weeks ago I believe... we got home just in time to see God light up the sky. This always reminds me of "Light up the Sky" by The Afters. Haven't heard it? Look it up... good song, indeed...This one actually has somewhat of a story behind it... ish. It was at the end of spring when I took this, so all of the petals on the flowers were depressingly falling off and blowing away along with sun and warm weather. My mom and dad were outside doing yard work I believe, and trimming back tons of our plants, and it was a somewhat beautiful day outside so I got myself off of the couch and away from my tea to see if there were any good shots to be taken of the flowers before my parents trimmed the remains of spring from our backyard... and this is what I found.
Ended up being one of my favorites, and this was back when I didn't have a camera of my own so I was using my brother's. Boy, was he surprised to see what I had on there...
So I find beauty in odd objects... I find beauty where people would normally find something a waste of time, or useless... this is a fine example.
And lastly... this one. :)
Sunsets have always intrigued me... it just shows that glory and awesomness of God in just a little portion of something we take for granted. All. The. Time. It's crazy! We are so blessed where we live to be by the ocean, the mountains... to see THIS!
This one was taken last summer when my family went camping out by Deception Pass-ish... I'm not quite sure where it's located, I just know you drive to Deception Pass, then somewhere else, then take a ferry, then drive... BAM.
Wait, I remembered now... silly me. ;) This is right across from Port Townsand (if any of y'all know where this fabulous place is). It's absolutely gorgeous.
So that is all for now. There are tons, TONS more, but that shall be saved for later purposes or else I'd be stuck with nothing else to post. :)
Hope y'all enjoyed it. ;)
Oh, and happy Friday tomorrow! YAY for weekends!! :D
Loves!
Remey.
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