Family

I am so thankful for my family! It was so good to see Ben for a short time a few weeks ago. Here is one of the pictures we had taken. (Thanks, Lora, they're awesome!)

last weekend

Well, since an entire week has passed, I have finally taken time to post some pix! Rhoda and I took a bunch of our friends home with us for the weekend. We had a blast! It was so relaxing and fun and we made lots of memories!

My mom (with everyone's help) made Indian Tacos! They were sooooo delicious! And very long over-due lol! We also played softball, sang around campfire, roasted marshmallows, went to church, had an amazing Sunday Dinner with all our church friends, and lots of other nice relaxing things.

I am thankful for our new house where we had room to entertain, thankful for my family letting us share all the space with so many friends, and thankful to all my Salem friends who welcomed more GBSers, everyone was so gracious and friendly!

the whole group of us :)




Megan and Chris are a lil too happy about their frybread! LOL



Wow! soooo yummy! (i couldn't finish it!)


Well, it is very late, tomorrow is our all-school picnic (oh yeah!), homework catch-up day, and 'do all the other things that got put off this week' day :) So tata for now!

Thoughts

Sometimes I get distracted. Push God down my list. Others take first place. Easy to lean on. They are tangible. One problem. Tangible things fade. They fall and break. They let me down. Why is it so hard to put God first?

Dear God, why am I so stupid? Thank You for reminding me. You created me with relationship in mind. You love me! You DIED for me. No one else has done that.

And You speak. I just have to listen. I can see results of Your work. Praise God! You are the center of my joy! I am excited to see the future You have planned for me! My life is in Your hands!


Reading over this and past blogs I realize I could be seen as wishy-washy. I hope not! I do tend to blog when I am 'dry'. I need to practice blogging my many happy thoughts.
But this morning I was thinking in my devotions, "Why is it hard to focus thoughts on Jesus? It seems I can sit and think and dream and wish life away." Then I started adding up things God has done for me and I got blessed! I will start directing those wandering thoughts to His character.
Wow, thoughts are powerful, they get me in trouble sometimes! :D

Cincinnati Pops Orchestra

this picture is not great quality i actually took it on my cell phone from clear up in the balcony
(yes, my camera is still broken, sniff sniff)

Tonight was the first in a long time that I have been to the Music Hall downtown. A group of us went and heard the pops. It was a lot of fun! I enjoyed most of the music. There were three tenors singing selections from different musicals and some of them... well we will leave it at that! The arrangement of the Overture to Phantom of the Opera that they played was AMAZING!!!

It was also a 'strange' experience in some ways. Let me explain... other times of going to the symphony I have often observed people who would go and sit by themself. I tried to figure out their background, personality, and what would inspire them to do such a thing. I have thought of doing it myself just for the experience, but hadn't. Well, tonight, since we hadn't ordered the tickets ahead of time, we were all spread out. So, I finally got my chance to sit alone. I'm still not completely sure how I liked it. Interesting for sure, watching all the old couples sitting nearby, how cute lol!

Anyhow, so much for the randomness. After all the fun tonight, I need to do homework tomorrow!!! Everything is sooo busy already!

Oh, yeah, I can't tell you about the Pops without telling you about my ticket! Myself and this freshmen girl were standing in line to buy our tickets when this lady walked up and asked if we were waiting to buy tickets.... I figured she wanted to get in line too... we said yes, then she handed me this envelope and said, "Well, here are a couple free tickets, they are really good seats!" then she rushed off! Crazy! We were sooo happy though! We traded them in for ones nearer our friends.

well, it is getting late, and i am getting 'rambly' lol! leave me comments!

~until later :P

quote for the day

"We are either making spiritual progress, or we are drifting. There is no standing still!"
~Dr. Alan Brown

Labor Day weekend

lots of fun activities and memories happened this weekend! I didn't take very many pictures but here are a few.

my best friend, Amanda, surprised me and came to visit!


I also had several other friends come for the weekend including my sister, Anna. We all had a lot of fun.


the main attraction all weekend was the famous cincinnati fireworks.




my camera worked fine all weekend until monday morning when I wanted to take some more pictures......

very sad, hopefully it can be fixed but i am doubtful. thus, here is a very funky picture of Anna, Jo, and Brad, sorry guys!

i was just surfing the blog world and was realizing how much i have missed getting updates from some friends, acquaintances, and other random people i don't even know.

i just about cried when i in vain looked at one dear soul's page and still no update after three long months. i once looked to this person for encouragement and advice and stability. poor viola really must have died! some terribly weird person must have loved her plastic flower blog so much that they went out with bow and arrow...... so that they would have a grave to purchase them for.... oh surely not!

okay happy thoughts! happy thoughts!!!

scattered thoughts

back at school.
smack in the middle of school revival.
so many things going through my little brain.
awesome sermons provoking thought.
not much time to sit and blog.
class in the morning.
work in the afternoons.
here are a few of those thoughts.

busyness causes automatic pilot.
then serious decisions happen automatically.
life flows by subconsciously.
wait, what did i just do?
must stop.
think.
analyze.
yet over-analyzing to a fault is just that.
a fault.

then today's sermon.
what about self?
who/what defines me?
this brings music to thought.
awesome lyrics.....

Mirror
~Barlow Girl~

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, Have I got it?
'Cause Mirror you've always told me who I am
I'm finding it's not easy to be perfect
So sorry you won't define me
Sorry you don't own me

Who are you to tell me
That I'm less than what I should be?
Who are you? Who are you?
I don't need to listen
To the list of things I should do
I won't try, I won't try

Mirror I am seeing a new reflection
I'm looking into the eyes of He who made me
And to Him I have beauty beyond compare
I know He defines me
You don't define me, you don't define me.

well.
time has passed.
more sharing later.

Ecstatic!!!

I am so excited! Today Rhoda and I are traveling home and tomorrow my family is going to St. Louis to pick up Ben from the airport! Wow it seems like an eternity since we dropped him off for boot camp in January!

yeahoooooo!!!!! k k, calming myself now :P

Well, I gotta go pack now, just wanted to share the good news! laterz

Holiday World

I want to post a few pictures from our trip to Holiday World this past Saturday. There were 21 of us that went. I had soooo much fun! All day I was screaming and laughing on all the rides. Such good memories to make with friends right before going back to school.

(I'm still not on my own computer, so the promised pictures from NM will just be shoved once again to a later date. I might eventually just upload them all to photobucket or something)