For Christmas/my Birthday, my roommate, Sarah got me a new devotional to piggy back from Becoming a Woman of Simplicity. We loved that study, so we figured we would love anything else Cynthia Heald did.
Well Saturday morning I opened up the Good Book.
utilized my keurig coffee maker.
&& started :
I loved chapter one. We started out defining excellence from a biblical standpoint.
From the beginning we need to realize that excellence is not perfection, but essentially a desire to be strong in the Lord and for the Lord.
I am really excited to unveil some of the Lord's truths for me in this study!
The suggest scripture for memory for chapter one is...
"And this is my prayer, that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,"
I saw that I had a new follower of my blog and I decided to read some of her stuff.
Found an idea to blog about because as you know, my blog is going through a little dry spell.
so..
5 things I wish I could do...
1. Play Guitar. Seriously, I look up guitars all the time (even ukuleles...& banjos). I'm obsessed with watching acoustic covers on YouTube. I would love to sit down and just play one day. && one day I will, and you can bet your bottom dollar I will blog about it. :)
2. Draw. Seriously, yall. I can't even draw a straight line with a ruler. I wish I could decorate my planner prettier, doodle cooler and make cards like this girl. I even wish my handwriting would improve and start looking like an adults, not a high school freshman's.
3. Run a marathon. Ultimately, this is on my bucket list (along with learning to play the guitar & other things on this list). && I run.. but no way in this world could I run a marathon at this moment in my life. Ultimately, I wish I had the lung capacity & heart rate to accomplish this today.
4. Write. I love to blog - but I usually fill it up with pictures because I am just terrible at writing and forming sentences that sounds great in my head. My mom hates paper assignments, when she proofs she ultimately changes the whole paper. (eeeeek!)
5. Sail a boat. I was blogging around a couple weeks ago and I saw these engagement pictures that were taken on a sail boat (they both loved to sail).. & all I could think to myself was man, that would be awesome. i would to sail a boat on my own. i would love to at least have the opportunity to try.
I could seriously could go on and on with my wishful thinking about things I would love to be able to do. But these are what came to mind first. So now it is your turn.
It's been a long, hard week.. and it's only Wednesday. However, from this week, I was reminded of a lot of things. Things about myself, God, school, friends, money, well, a lot of stuff -- so I thought I would share just a few with you.
1. God works in mysterious ways but in all he is good and he is faithful.
2. Yahoo Answers is a wonderful, wonderful thing.
3. 90's boyband videos crack me up but boyyyy do I love them.
look at the turtle neck? && does nick lachey have pink lipgloss on?
4. I cannot handle the stress of an interview.
5. Blogging is NOT for losers.
6. I can't seem to get over my thing for strange blonde hair, blue eyed boys.
7. I wish I had a tan - so going to the gym would be less filled with insecurities, and pictures with flash could step down as winter enemy.
8. Spring break is within my reach.
9. Looking for a house to live in for the next two years in Raleigh is slightly stressful, but really, really exciting.
I have terrible news. Remember these sweet, sweet boys, I babysit? Unfortunately, their dad had some complications with pneumonia and past away this weekend. Kelly, the mother is a strong, Godly woman and is praying for strength as she gears up to take on this challenge God has presented to her. She is trying to prepare for the struggles ahead and knows through prayer, faith and love she will get through this for her family and herself.
Kelly sent out an email and included this:
John was an amazing man. He was loved by so many. It was not his time to go and I do not understand why he is gone. I will so deeply miss him. I was blessed beyond measure by his life and love, which for me was truly unconditional. What an example of Jesus he was and will continue to be to me and the boys. He loved his men's groups, his work, family and most of all, his God. He is with Him now, dancing in the streets and beconing us all to come when it's time.
What a hardship to go through at such a young age? Not to mention, the boys. I cannot imagine. So please, please, please pray for Kelly and the boys. Pray for direction, strength, keeping faith, hard love, encouragement, all of it. Keep her in your thoughts, as a reminder that life is so incredibly quick, and you have no idea what tomorrow brings.
"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit"
Ahhh. Just the most relaxing feeling, sensation from just breathing in this country air.
At this very moment, on this beyond beautiful day I am listening to the outside speakers singing sweet sounds of the Oldies & 80's as I have the view of
a rusty, vintage dump truck, a barn, a dog that is so relaxed he looks gone, and a hammock.
disclaimer: sorry.. these aren't high quality, I just used my camera on my Mac.
I also have to view to my right of a garage and a basketball goal.
&& looking a little further I have the view of horses, and Pilot Mountain.
Although I am drowning in Chemistry Webassigns right now, looking around is just enough to relax me. I love cities, I mean love them! But something about all these trees, how the breeze run it's fingers through my hair, how the sun hits each grass blade so eloquently, how slowly all the garage doors get filled, and how excited I get knowing my mom is cooking tonight. No more railroads blowing across late at night, no two bowls of cereal for supper, no locking my bedroom door, no shower shoes. I am thankfully away this weekend. Resting in the gorgeous atmosphere I get the blessing to call home.
I gladly inherited his love for music, sports, & television.
One of the reasons I want to learn to play guitar is because of him.
He pushes me harder than anyone I know.
He is the picture perfect model of a father.
I firmly believe I have the best dad in the entire world.
He lives by certain sayings and reminds us of these sayings every single chance he gets.
Sayings like...
The main thing is not to get excited.
Meaning: don't freak out / remain calm / don't jump to conclusions.
If it was easy everyone could do it.
Meaning: simply that it's suppose to be hard -- thrive off it.
Don't fuss, don't cuss & never settle for less than your best.
Meaning: don't agrue - love, don't cuss - smile, & never be satisfied with less than your absolute best efforts.
Make a difference in a positive way.
Meaning: leave your mark on someone or something every chance you get, and make sure that mark is for the good of others, the world and yourself.
"Have I told you lately, that I love you"
Meaning: well you know the meaning of that. But dad never, ever forgets to tell his girls how beautiful we are before going out.
He is the hardest worker known to man.
&& shows Ashley, Ryan and me how a man is suppose to treat and love a woman.
&& being silly is never overrated.
The whole reason why I decided to write this post was because I was painting my fingernails the other day & I went into the bathroom to run cold water over my fingers after I finished painting. My roommate was like, uhh, what are you doing? You just painted your nails.
So I told her about the beauty trick my dad taught me.
After applying a coat of nail polish, run cold water over your fingers, allowing the water to run off the edges of your nails. This hardens the lacquer. Keep under the water for around 30 seconds, then pat dry & move on to your next coat.
How he knew this? I don't even wanna know, but I am sure glad he did. I use this trick every single time I paint my nails! My dad is great for any advice.. from school to beauty he has read his parenthood books well! :)
