bikes, earings, chex mix & sunsets.

A morning all to myself. I rode my bike along the river and stopped at the lighthouse to read my bible. I packed a granola bar and banana for breakfast. It was overcast so the clouds were beautiful and the light hit the water just right. I read Matthew 5:14-16 and it was a great encouragement.

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.











I tutored the Asian girls again. Their names are too confusing for me to remember, haha. They are starting to understand some of the things I've been teaching them and it makes me really happy to see them getting it! They gave me a Snapple to drink and I immediately regretted it because I wanted to fall asleep. It must have been those 62 grams of sugar.

Laurel and I spent the afternoon and evening together. Check this out.. She is leaving tomorrow for the Harvest Crusade which is going to be amazing. I'm so excited for her! While she's gone, I leave for a family vacation and when I get back she leaves 3 days later for school. This is going to stink, big time. We decorated shoe boxes today. They are covered in pictures of the two of us and will be used to store letters we send each other. Laurel got her ears double pierced today! She squeezed my hand and I think it hurt her more than she lead on. They are adorable though and I think I want mine too. We did the usual sunset and chex mix tradition and almost spent $5 each on MyFroYo, haha. We also visited Erwin and Christina. It's always fun to see them. They gave us each a glass of water and we talked photo talk for a while. I just love spending quality time with such a wonderful friend. Laurel's the best!

Children

Meet Emily & Parker.



These are the kids my sister nanny's for and she's taking a trip to Seattle so I get to watch them next week for a couple days. It will be fun, I know it!

Saying goodbye to Andrew was a struggle. I'm not really sure when I'll get to see him again. He really has no reason to come out to this side of the country and I don't see anything taking me to the east coast anytime soon. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Early bed time for me. I figured I could relax and read a little bit. Carly called and told me to go look at the sunset. I did and it was beautiful. I'm glad I didn't miss it.

Greatest People.

First of all, I have the greatest best friend. We rode bikes this morning, shared our creation pictures, had smoothies and talked about life. I needed a good best friend talk to put me in my place. It really hit me today how much I'm going to miss Laurel. She leaves in a couple weeks. My eyes got watery thinking about it.

Speaking of leaving, my mom flies to Ohio tomorrow and Andrew goes back to New York. I'm not quite sure when I'll see him again. Also, makes my eyes tear up.

I'm kind of doing a terrible job at this 365 project. I've missed so many days of taking a picture. Today was one of them. I guess my new years resolution has turned into more of a blog post everyday telling about what goes on in my day to day life than the whole picture aspect. I'm okay with it though so no worries.

I tutored two Asian girls for the second time today. They are both very sweet but teaching english is quite challenging. God must know that this will help me in my future of being a teacher. Or, he just wants me to be a servant. I think that's a better answer.

Campaigners was uplifting.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:16-19

God's love for us is far greater than anything we can imagine, even though we have deceitful and selfish hearts.

We were asked if something would change about our lives if Jesus was living our lives? Would our actions, words and decisions be the same or different? That really got me thinking...

Second of all, I have the greatest mom in the world. I have never seen someone who cares so much. I really don't know where or who I would be without her.

Lots of tears have come the last couple of days.. I'm not quite sure why. Things are changing. I suppose that's a good thing.

Oh my stars.

Cause I know a lot about closing doors,
but not enough about what opens up yours.

Oh my my,
Oh my stars,
Everything you see is ours
or it could be if you would try.
I wish you would
I wish you might
Oh oh,
if everything you've said to me has been true
then all my stars are leading me to you.



If this song didn't take the thoughts from my head than I don't know what did.

I had fun taking Amanda Simons' senior pictures. Her friend Kelsey came along for moral support. And then on the way back home, a beautiful sunset was on display.

Gives Me Hope.

My best friend died in a car accident on his way to deliver me soup for my cold.
Found in the car was also a bouquet of flowers and a card that read:
"We've been best friends for the last 5 years. Now, let's be lovers for the next 50."
Unforgettable LGMH

For 4 years, I've sent letters to 5 soldiers overseas.
And when I was diagnosed with cancer, I didn't have enough money for my own treatment, and sent a final letter to each of the soldiers. All 5 of their companies donated their paychecks to me, because my letters gave them hope.
THEY gmh.

I am a third grade teacher.
Most kids come in with notes or messages written by their mothers in their lunch sacks.
One little girl's dad left, and her mother abuses drugs. But her 12 year old brother never fails to write "I love you" on her brown paper bag.
He GMH.

I was diagnosed as a diabetic when I was five years old.
My brother who was turning three at the time saw me cry after getting an insulin shot. He walked over to my mom and asked, 'Mom, can I have diabetes, too? I don't want her to be alone.'
My brother, now and then, GMH.

Today, our history teacher was telling us about a man who was famous for transporting Jews to safety during the Holocaust.
A student in the class said "That's my grandfather."
Our teacher began to cry, and said "He saved my entire family."
Beautiful coincidences GMH

Five years ago, I witnessed an overweight girl being harassed. A group of "popular girls" had pulled down her pants while we were leaving school. The girl grabbed her pants and ran away crying. Our school's star quarterback chased after her to comfort her.
I just came back from their wedding. GMH.




Reading other people's stories like this gives me hope.

Home

Slept in, relaxed, played Yahtzee with my parents.

needtobreathe, enough said.

Jesus is here on a mission to make disciples.
Because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. -Psalm 16:10
"Go" in Greek means "as you go", it's not just once. When you go along your daily business you make disciples. We have to go "all out" for Jesus. We have to give up what we value the most which is approval... Approval of our friends, family and peers. We have to choose Jesus's approval if we want to go all out for him. There is a payoff for risking what is most important to us and giving everything to the Lord. Our lives can be compared to two things, the red sea or the dead sea. The red sea has an inlet and an outlet, to consume Jesus and then to share him with others. The dead sea has no outlet to be a disciple. Another thought, all of the 12 disciples except for Peter were teenagers. Jesus was the first youth leader. He chose them because they were all in for him.
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. -Colossians 1:27
The spirit of God lives in side of us and we can listen to him at any moment.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. -Acts 1:8
Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria can symbolize different groups of people in our lives that God wants us to reach out to. He doesn't need us to change lives but he desires to use us.

There are people hurting all over the world but it takes people who aren't content with just going to church but living to help those in pain and striving to make a difference.
That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." -Romans 10:9-13

We are all a piece of art and God is our artist.
For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance of us to do. -Ephesians 2:10
I'm giving God the paint brush and letting him choose the colors.





Today is the day that I'll get to see Needtobreathe! We camped out in the third row for three hours. The people in front of us were waiting for Skillet which wasn't until 9:30 so they let us go in the front row. We were right in front of Seth! He is without a doubt the most beautiful human being I've ever seen, male or female. Laurel already called him but she has a little bit of competition now because I'd really like to marry him! Haha.









That concert was truly one of the greatest times in my life. I almost had tears in my eyes. We then waited an hour and 45 minutes to get their autographs. They were all so sweet and would genuinely smile at you. When Seth looked into my eyes, I thought I was going to melt.

This photo is by Jennae Piatt:



Please meet Seth. My future husband!