Jesus is good!! There is something about being with your family...even if you're just chillin on the couch...just loving life!!! I get to spend be next 24 hours just being. Absorbing family and all that that includes. It feels great...like feeling you belong. My brother is leaving Tuesday ....timing? Perfect. I love life...thank you Jesus!

Happy yet?

I am not alone...

I WISH I HAD RUBY SLIPPERS....

still remains

RAIN
- elle klein

there's something about the rain that brings me closer to you. you can see it coming and hear it fall, the scent is in the air. it hits my face, i look up and see your grace as it covers me. it soaks through my hair and penetrates my soul; i feel renewed, i feel refreshed as i twirl- hands out reaching for you. the little drops plummet down bringing life to earth. the happiness builds inside and escapes my lips with a smile of gratitude. the blessing of rain never comes to late but when you feel down, it reminds you of who you are but also that there is always more. rain has a way putting you in your place but loving every moment of it. your grace is enough and still remains, and i wish it would rain every day.

I miss those rolling hills and sharp jagged rocky formations that reach toward the God that made them. I miss the snow that reflects the sun, even on the warmest summer day. and the beautiful turning rivers and streams that whisper softly to you as you lay there under the sun. all this is calling to me, the city is big, and cold. home is where your heart it...

happiness is...

"The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature."

- Anne Frank

"Happiness cannot come from without. It must come from within. It is not what we see and touch or that which others do for us which makes us happy; it is that which we think and feel and do, first for the other fellow and then for ourselves."

-Hellen Keller

"The most I can do for my friend is simply to be his friend. I have no wealth to bestow on him. If he knows that I am happy in loving him, he will want no other reward. Is not friendship divine in this?"

-Henry David Thoreu

And blogging from my phone becomes a new favorite. I go thru life making lists of things I love....it makes each day just a little bit better. But life has been crazy enough as it is. And I thank God for the craziness...it keeps me on my toes, my head up, facing him- ready to follow!

So I was just thinking how amazing this really is...how I am laying here in bed texting my blogs because my Internet just died. And wow there went the power too....can we talk about ghetto really fast. Wow.

My day was full and I'm tierd....that swim back did me in...but it made my life that much happier. I praise you Jesus for the life you give....

Wow!!! You have got to be kidding me!!!! Technology is rediculous!!!

I'm trying blogging from my phone???

AMAZING BECAUSE IT IS...

This song....simple but so powerful

amazing because it is- the almost

I was so scared of everything you put in front of me
I've been marching to every part of me
Just to see
see
Why you need me to be
The boy you need me to be

Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
That saves a wretch like me
I once was lost
And now I'm found
Was blind but now I see

I just wanna see

I'm the type of person who lets fear drive
I'm the type of guy that lets it drive
Cause I'm addicted, I'm needy
I'm lost without you
I need you
I need you

Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
That saves a wretch like me
I once was lost
But now I'm found
Was blind but now I see

Amazing grace (amazing grace)
How sweet the sound (how sweet)
That saves a wretch like me (that saved a wretch like me)
I once was lost
But now I'm found (you know I'm found)
Was blind but now I see

Amazing grace (you're amazing)
How sweet the sound (you're amazing)
That saves a wretch like me
I once was lost (it feels so bad when you're lost and alone)
But now I'm found
Was blind but now I see

61 days....GOD IS GOOD!!!

i feel so accomplished. God is good and gets all the glory. i felt alone, even surrounded by almost 100 students, but God has revealed himself to me, and i am blessed. God has shown himself to me in my lowest of lows and brought to me the people i need the most. i am thankful i was in that low place in order to see both sides of the valley i am in. i get the privilege of looking back, and seeing who i was, what God has brought me out of but then also looking ahead to what God has in store for me now! i am so excited to see what He will bring. He is so good to me, i do not deserve His love, and yet He gave it all for me. i am humbled everyday. i praise you Jesus.

i was thinking about how much life is like a roller coaster...and found this on the internet....not sure who it was...but i agree....

LIFE AND THE ROLLER COASTER

November 1, 2000

"I have never figured out why people will pay thirty-six dollars to get into an amusement park so that they can rides that scare them silly and raise their stress level to the max. Yet, the amusement parks (I find the name a little strange) would go out of business if it didn't have rides that sent your stress level off the chart. We pay, and pay big, to be beat to death in a little cart dropping off a hill and flipping us upside down two or three times stopping just in time for most people to catch their stomach.

On the other hand, let some outside stress come into life, something we didn't pay for, and suddenly the world is coming to an end. Since everyone says we can't have stress, or at least not the kind we don't pay for, then we must have a fix.

"Doctor just give me a vacation, some place warm please." "Can't do that? Well -- maybe a pill? A drink?"

How come we can be so brave and tough on the roller coaster and be so whimsy and whinny when the boss wants the job done by five? Actually, I've done a done a little thinking on this matter (Some of you stop laughing right now!). I think I have come up with four simple reasons why "unpaid for" stress get us down so quickly.

First, life's stress events get us down so easily because we are not expecting them. On the roller coaster you knew when you got to the top of the hill that stress was shortly coming. No one can predict exactly when stressful event in life come but we do know they will. A life that is "prayed up" and in touch with God is prepared when those stress related moments come. God's safety straps of love help you hold on and you of his care. The closer you are to Him the easier it is to hold on.

Next, we doubt or forget the security and safety of the Lord. When some youth from my church talks me into riding one of those silly rides, I do so only because I believe that they are somewhat safe. You would never get anyone, with any sense, to ride one of those things it they thought they might really die. When life sends us through the loop, it is assuring to know God is with you all the way. We get stressed out when we forget that we can depend on the security and protection of the Lord.

Another reason the amusement ride is fun and normal everyday stress events drain us is because we lose sight of the end. No matter how high the hill, no matter how fast the ride, no matter how many loops, the roller coaster ride has the glorious end when you can stop and get out. The knowledge that there is an end has helped me through many a tough ride in life. Focus of the simple truth that what every event has an end.

Lastly, but perhaps the single greatest reason we get stressed in everyday life but survive and enjoy the stress of riding "The Wild Thing," is our mindset. We go to an amusement park with the full intention of riding the rides for the thrill of it. We make it fun (Okay some of us do). When we view life with the mindset that this is going to be fun, suddenly stressful events aren't any more that a roller coaster ride.

Hang on tight and enjoy the ride!"

--- Author Unknown --- Sent in by Joyce C. --- Singapore

life goes on....

Remember that one time when i was actually going to keep up and keep writing, why? why does life get so busy so that the most important things get pushed aside? that is sad, and yet life goes on. that has been my catch phrase for the last few months, 'life goes on'. i am not sure what i really mean when i say it besides 'oh well'. This has been my struggle. i am in a place that i am unsure of, and scared of, and maybe getting comfortable in....too comfortable. Can you get to comfortable in a place where you are constantly challenged, encouraged and not constant? Is that even possible?
i dont have the answer....
i was inspired to write because of my friend, to write and share life.
my life has been crazy lately, and i love it. God is continuing to throw me for loops, big and large, some that i love looking back on, others i love looking back on how i conquered them, only with Gods help.
I have thought many times in my Christian life about the end result of many situations if i were not a Christian.....suicide came up most of the time. But God is good, and God will sustain!
God is capable of taking the worst situations and making the best outcomes! He loves us, and proves that to us over and over again!
as my facebook status says right now:life really is good, just open your eyes beyond your situation and see the big picture God is painting....its beautiful!!
amen and amen