Stinky

I've been stinky at posting what's going on. I've been a lot busier than I thought I was going to be...some day there will be a synopsis of everything!

How things are going to work

So It's been a while...but now that school is in session there will be more to talk about. I want to keep everything in order, so I'm going to do separate posts for each day...I may skip some days or such things as this depending on how busy I am.

Seven Pounds

So I realize I haven't blogged in a very long time. Surprisingly there is not a whole lot to talk about during summer. ...at least during my summer. I work. I baby sit. I watch movies. I hang out with friends. I'm getting ready for college. That is my life.

I mentioned that I watch movies. Well, generally speaking I watch about one a day...sometimes two...and occasionally none at all. Tonight I watched Seven Pounds. It's been out a while, but this was the first time I've seen it. For those of you who haven't seen it and want to...without me spoiling it STOP HERE!

It's about this guy who cause a car accident that killed seven people. He was the only survivor. So for the rest of his life he wanted to give back to people. ...to give the gift of life. He did this by giving away his house, donating a lung, part of his liver, bone marrow, and then his heart, and eyes. He gave because he felt he had to because of what he took. This made me think about what we take from people on a daily basis.

The best example I could think of is when we take peace from others. This can happen when we get unreasonably upset without cause. Or just by being grumpy. Or not being there when someone is in need. Or any number of things. But do we go to the next step? Do we try to give back? I realize he went to the extreme (and this story is complete fiction) but I still think there might be something to be learned here. What if we tried 1/10 as hard to repay the what we've taken. I think that alone could change the world.

Feel free to leave comments!

Things that make you go hmmmmm...

So...It's late and I should be trying to sleep, but I had to email myself something for work and I saw something that made me go hmm and I thought I'd share. On the yahoo page they have 4 stories that alternate which one is featured, but you can see all of them. Well the one that was featured had the headline: "Extra Pounds May Add Years." Now I found this particularly intriguing because about a week ago I saw a show...maybe Dateline...that talked about how if you starve yourself it turns on a survival hormone that extends your life. This hormone is found in red wine, they super-concentrated it and now have a miracle pill that you can take so you can eat whatever you want and supposedly get the benefits of not eating at all. By not at all I mean one meal a day that consists of wheat germ, and sea weed, flour-less bread, and stuff like that. Personally, I don't consider that food. Anyways, I found it EXTREMELY ironic that right below the "Extra Pounds May Add Years" there was an article with the headline: "Food That Keeps Your Belly Flat." A bit contradictory no?

Spiritual Warfare

I've told this story already probably to everyone that actually reads this, but I wanted to share it anyways.

So I not too long ago I was not in the place I wanted to be spiritually. I had been better in the past and wanted to get back, if not better than how I was. So one night I just made up my mind. I started journaling, reading my Bible and praying. On the third day of doing this I felt really depressed and confused and indecisive. I talked to Allison who said, "Well didn't you just start going after God again? Don't you think it's the devil attacking you?" This made a lot of sense to me, so that night I prayed over and over again, "I'm Yours God! I'm Yours! You won!" I could literally feel the depression lifted from my heart, the grip that the devil had on it fall away. It was the most amazing feeling!! What was really neat was that the feeling that replaced the depression, the indescribable happiness, didn't go away. I think it's here to stay! (Tee hee I rhymed)

I love God and just wanted to sing His praises.

Friends

I have the best friends in the world!! Allie spent the night Tuesday night (notice how I didn't say slept over). We went to sleep at 6:3o am and got up at noon. We watched a bunch of movies, decorated a phone for our dorm, and listened to a bunch of music. We laughed a lot. I love laughing!! It is one of my favorite pass times. It is also a fantastic way to burn calories. :) Wednesday was church day, and I love my whole small group!! They are such a great group of girls, I'm going to miss them when I go to college. Jennifer is amazing (she's the leader)!! Lately her sister has been coming and I adore her as well. I'm going to miss them like crazy!! Celia came over today. I'm so glad that we have started talking more! I just love all of them and wanted everyone to know it! :D

Shall We Gather at the River?

Water has played a vital role this weekend.

Yesterday I went to my aunt's pool for several hours. I got Sam to swim in the deep end and Sydney started to learn how to dive. It felt SO good to get back in the water. I only wrenched my shoulder once. :) However, I also managed to get burned. It's not a bad burn, but it is very uneven and is going to be very hard to even out.

Today, after church we went to the river for a baptism. It was my ex-step-great uncle that got baptized (I think). It was very neat. I'd never been to a baptism at a river before. There were two parts that were unpleasant. One, it was crazy humid. Two, the mosquitoes ate me alive. Like, I'm not sure I'm not going to need a blood transfusion after them eating so much!!

This is a short one. Hope all is well with everyone!

**Note

ok...the previous post says May 15th...well that's when I started this blog, but I really did just finish it today!

Catching Up

When I sat down to write this blog, I was going to attempt to describe every detail of my life that I have yet to write about, but some of it just doesn't matter, so I chose to spare you.



GRADUATION!!!


Let's see...we will start with the day of. I had to pack and get ready because I was going to be staying the next few nights with all of my family from CO. So I started getting ready early...too early. I was completely ready and packed about two hours before I needed to be, and since I am not a patient person, this was very difficult for me. Well, we pick up Allison and are on our way, however we failed to account for the massive amount of traffic. I was worried for a while that we were going to be late, because they told us to be there at 5:45, which, to me didn't make much sense, since the ceremony didn't start til 7. We get there, put on our caps and gowns and then wait, and wait, and wait, and wait...and wait some more. It was miserable. SO hot!!! I was the third person to walk across the stage, so then I had to wait on the other 427. About half way through I really wanted to shlump forward and not sit up any more, but NO ONE else was shlumped over, so that would have looked really bad. Once the ceremony was finally over I tried to find my family, but there is no way to get up from the floor where the graduates are to up where the parents are without going outside, so I climbed up. Yes, climbed, in a dress, heels and everything! (I'm just that hard core!! ;)) Any who...then the pictures started...and they didn't stop until Sunday!!! That is 4 tedious days of picture taking!!! My cheeks were plumb worn out by the end. I had a great time while all of my family was here. We went to the Parthenon, Rotiers (nom nom nom), a barbecue at my grandparents house...which turned into a concert, my party, and a fish fry. While we were all at my party (which was at Legends Steakhouse), I got to see most of my family all in the same room. It was surreal! I loved it so much!! Thank you to all of you that traveled all this way to see me! It was amazing!

So now it is June 11th, nearly one month since graduation.

Right after everyone left, I went to Washington DC. It was really neat, and surreal (yes I do like that word. I've yet to find another one that describes my feeling so perfectly.). I mean you hear about DC all the time. It's in movies, in the news, but actually being there and seeing all the buildings I've seen on the big, and small screen was dream-like. Although, it may have been dream-like because I was SO tired and practically asleep on my feet. The group we went with was a Catholic school group. I attended mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Immaculate Conception. I'd been to a Catholic funeral and wedding, but never just a mass. It was very interesting. Conversations I had with the priest gave me lots to think about...as if I don't do enough of that already.

After DC I wasn't home for another several days. I was socializing A LOT. Then it was my birthday. Allison spent the night (we stayed up til almost one), and we got up to go get my license at 5:30 AM. She must love me a lot... any who. We went and got breakfast at McDonald's and had Dr. Pepper that was more like crazy carbonated soda water, with not very much Dr.Pepper flavoring. We get there at about 6:45 and the place is suppose to open at 7. There were some people ahead of us, but it wasn't too bad. I got the number A002. This makes me think we will be out of there in no time and that I will be the second person to go. FALSE. There are also Cs and Gs and other letters that happen to go before A. How this works I'm not quite sure. Any ways, it still didn't take long...and it really didn't feel long because Allie and I laughed the whole time. We were most definitely the happiest people there. :D Well we get out of there at about 8 am. What is there to do at 8 am? I can tell you: NOTHING. So we went to Starbucks, where I was tragically disappointed in my coffee...or lack there of...it was all milk and sugary syrup and not enough coffee. Then we thought we'd go to the mall. We figured it probably opened at 9. We got there a few minutes before 9 and were sitting on a bench when one of the mall walkers asks us if we are waiting for the mall to open. Then she informs us that Book-a-Million opens at 9 and all the other stores don't open 'til 10. So we sat there for a bit trying to decide where to go from there. We decided to go to Target, the TJ Maxx, and then back to Smyrna. We went to Chic-Fil-A for lunch and ended up spending about 2 hours there. Haden came and visited with us for a while. Then we met Dana at the Target (and Ross) in Smyrna (we waited in the patio furniture section) where we got a bunch of dorm stuff. Then Allie and I came home and took a nap. Then she left, I watched a movie, ate dinner and Papaw came over for cake and ice cream. Happy Birthday to me!! :)

Since then I've read a book, laid in the sun, organized my room and bathroom like you wouldn't believe, checked up on some college stuff, applied for a job at McDonald's :/...such things as this.

Well that's all for now, but I plan on getting back into the habit.

My Life

So, the last couple of posts have had some deep meaning or have been thought provoking, I decided it was time for a 'me' update!!

My last day of high school was yesterday, and it was only a half day...which is a funny story...lets start at the beginning.

Sunday: My grandpa decides to take my family out to lunch after church. We go to the Golden Wok, which is a Chinese buffet (all you can eat I might add. I had 2 full plates of food and 2 dessert plates...) I tried raw oysters on the half shell for the first time, but I ate it wrong. Instead of just letting the whole thing slide down, I tried to bite and chew. I would not recommend this for anyone who would like to keep their lunch. (I did keep mine, but it was a little difficult.) I also tried sushi. I've had California rolls before, but never true sushi. It was pretty ok. Not my new favorite food, but I would probably eat it again. Anyways, the story begins at the end of the meal when I got my fortune cookie. It said you will receive an unexpected gift next Tuesday.

Monday: I took the US Government and Politics AP exam during periods 1-3. The multiple choice was easier than I thought it was going to be and the free response questions were more difficult than I thought they were going to be. I ended up leaving early out of fifth period, and was told that my sixth period already knew about it.

Tuesday: I get called to the office first thing in the morning. I found out that I had won a set of tires out of a drawing of students with perfect attendance. I thought this was extremely ironic, seen as how I don't own a car. I was told that I had to be at the Central Office at 1:00 on Wednesday to get my picture taken and receive my certificate. I also got, in the mail, a laptop that my Grandpa Jones bought me for a graduation present! (thanks again! I love it!) We also received our caps and gowns for graduation. I realized later that night that my fortune cookie came true!! (My siblings are not happy that theirs haven't come true yet...)

Wednesday: Dana took me to the Central Office so I could get my picture taken with the Bridgestone representatives. There were students from other schools there as well. I found it extremely ironic that it was a special thing for perfect attendance and people from two of the schools didn't show up. Anyways, after that we did a little shopping for my graduation party and picked up the kids.

Today: I've been trying to get all of my papers organized. They were beginning to take over my room, but I think I've contained them now. It was a daunting task, that's for darn sure. Now I'm going to eat.

God: The Ultimate Genie (title to be read in announcer voice)

At church Wednesday night, David (the youth pastor) mentioned that he watched Aladdin with his wife over the weekend. He talked about how if Aladdin had rubbed the genie's lamp and turned down the three wishes, 1) the movie wouldn't have been as good, and 2) we would be screaming at the TV, "ask for a million dollars, ask for a new car, ask for something!!" He made the point God can do greater things than the genie. BUT He has to be called upon. Every time God did something great it was because He was called upon. Okay, time for my own thoughts. First of all, I thought about how genies have limits. They say, "you get three wishes and here are the rules." God gives an infinite amount of "wishes", and there are no rules. Yes, He can choose to not grant every one, but still, it's a cool concept. Imagine what this world would be like if we called upon God. Imagine the changes that could be made.

Further Explaination

So, I must make an addendum to last nights blog. I didn't really say what I meant, or at least it came off wrong. Ok. What I meant was that even though that's how we deserve to be seen, but that's NOT how God sees us. Instead, He loves us, so much so that He sent His only son. I guess what I'm getting at is how undeserving we are and how great God is. --sorry for the confusion.

Late Night Thoughts About Children

Last night my mind was reeling while I was trying to go to sleep, so I had to write down 3 blog topics. I'm going to start with this one because it's the shortest.

Those of you who know me well, know that I don't have a high affinity for children. I find them abnoxious, ignorant, selfish, demanding, disrespectful, among other things. Anyways, while talking after church last night with Allie and Haden, about God's relationship with us, and using a father son relationship to exemplify how God feels about us. I got to thinking about how God is our father, and that He sees us the same way. I mean, we defy him, try to do things on our own; we have all the bad qualities I see in children. While I've always heard, "we are the children of God," I'd never thought of it like that before. It gave me a complex.

US priorites

This is just going to be a quick blog. I just hopped on and our homepage is the MSN website. There is a flashing screen that always has 3 messages. The first was that the swine flu alert has been raised to a level five and that the global out break is imminent! Then the next thing that flashes up is "Do you know sci-fi?" And then, "Bikini Beauties: Celebs at the beach." What the heck!?! With a global outbreak of the swine flu (honestly, I haven't decided how scared to be yet. I don't know enough about it, but currently I'm not too worried) the next most important thing is pictures of scantily clad women on the beach?!!! Seriously?!! I think this is a nation that has its priorites all messed up. But hey, that's just me.

Scholarships and College and Some Other Stuff

Scholarships are extremely frustrating!!!! I hate not knowing. You apply in February and don't find out if you got it until July! I also hate failing. I'll turn in an application or essay that I think is absolutely brilliant and then not get the scholarship. Tis quite frustrating. It's also frustrating that the amount of household income for federal assistance is so low. I wish it were higher. I mean really if you still have two siblings at home and all that, do they really expect you to be able to pay for college as well? If they do, they are sorely mistaken. Anywho...it's probably ironic that I am writing complaining about it, instead of writing scholarship essays...but really...to what avail. Anywho...

On a different note...I am SO excited for college. Allison went to SOAR this past weekend (it is for freshman and their parents to get aquainted with UTM and register for classes and all that jazz.) (I will go at the beginning of June) We now know our dorm!!! We will be in Ellington Hall room 325!!!! I'm SOOO excited!! Yes this does mean that we will have to go up and down THREE flights of stairs everytime we want to go some where, but that also means we have a built in stair master! I'm pretty sure I've decided on my classes: Honors Calculus, University Physics, Philosophy, Spanish, and General Studies. Since I'll be in the Honors program there is an honors class I will have to take as well. I'm SO excited!! I believe move in day is August 27 and we start classes August 31. Have I mentioned that I'M SO EXCITED!!!!?

Lets see here...I have 8 school days left!!! I can't wait for everyone to get out here for graduation. We are going to have a blast!

I have decided that I need/want more adventures in my life. Adventures like hiking and 4 wheeling, and riding horses again and such things as this. Fortunately there are lakes near UTM, so perhaps I'll find some adventures there.

Well that's about all for today!

...and a little bit of ranting

I HATE COLDS!!!!! Ok, a little known fact is that I get migraines. I've had TERRIBLE migraines. However, migraines do not take away your ability to breathe!!! I really enjoy breathing, especially when sleeping. Waking up feeling like you are being suffocated is not a pleasant experience. I am extremely ready to get better. If anyone has a magical remedy, please let me know.

5'9.5" on a good day

So...I was talking to my dear cousin Brad last night and I was telling him a story. In said story I mentioned that I am 5'9.5" on a good day. Well, he interrupted me to say, "And on a bad day, I turn into a midget!" This made me laugh a whole whole lot. I told him I was going to write a story and blog about it, but instead I've been thinking about it (like the best obsessors do), and decided to go a different route. I got to thinking about how true that is. When it's a good day, I hold my head high. Nothing can bring me down, and in fact sometimes I even bring people up! On a good day I can handle anything! I am superwoman. I laugh and smile and kid and dance and have a down right splendid time. However on a bad day...things are a little different. I slouch. Everything gets me down. The more stuff that happens, the shorter I become. My bags weigh me down more than they would any other day. I sometimes bring others down with me. By the end of the day I am probably only 5'. I realize that's not midget sized, but it's still a big difference. I just found this interesting and thought I'd share.

Little Bit a This, Little Bit a That

This is the first posting on my new blog. I thought I would start out by explaining the name: Little Bit. While trying to think of some clever name, perhaps one of my nicknames, I was thinking about what this blog was going to contain. I was thinking a little bit a my life, a little bit a my views on politics, a little bit a the Good News, and a little bit a whatever else tickles my fancy. (For those of you who are grammar OCD, yes I am aware that the "a" should be "of" but I liked it better this way so I took a little be of writer's liberty.)

My life...well...I'm about to GRADUATE!!! I'm extremely excited and cannot wait!! My last day is May 6th and I graduate May 14th. I am going to college at UT Martin. (Martin is a little tiny town in west Tennessee) (The colors of my blog were chosen because they are the colors of UTM) I'm not 100 percent sure what I am going to major in, but it will most likely be math or science related.

My views...I've noticed, and experienced, that many people these days are stressed and worried. High anxiety has invaded nearly every household. If there not anxious about how the economy is affecting them, they are anxious about an illness or a relative or any number of things. It's really easy to give advice, and a whole other thing to follow it. I can say, "Just trust God" all day long, but there are times when I don't hear listen to what I say. Trusting is easier when life is good, than when you are going through something difficult. However, this is the time that tests your faith. This is when it counts. This is why we are so lucky to have a relationship with God. He's got it all figured out so that don't have to. To sum this up: Let go and let God.

More of my views (different topic)...Many of you have heard of or experienced the tornados that hit Murfreesboro on Good Friday. There are two stories I would like to share, but first, some stats. 2 people were killed a 30 year old girl and her 9 week old baby. 41 people were injured and about 250 people lost their homes. The Red Cross chose to set up at New Vision Baptist Church, and were going to let anyone who needed a place to stay, to stay there. Only 4 people showed up. Some say this is because communication was down, but where did the others go? They were taken in by neighbors and loved ones. This just goes to show that there is still goodness in people. The other story is what happened to a friend of mine. Carrie was driving home from Murfreesboro with her mother right before the tornado hit. They were going to go on 24 but becuase it looked so bad they chose an alternate route. On Thompson Lane, they were going to go to Red Robin to use the restroom, but instead chose to go to the BP. This is when they saw the tornado touch down about 50 feet away. They ran inside the building as fast as they could and were hiding in the bathroom. Carrie was praying that they would live the whole time. The BP was left untouched, while every other building around there was either destroyed, or severly damaged. I still can't get over how cool that it. We drove to Mboro today for my brother's birthday party, and I saw the damage on Thompson Lane for myself. It is simply incredible.

Well I think that's all for today. Please feel free to leave comments!