Old Lady Blogger :)

When my family moved back up here while I was still at school they set up my bedroom like such a wonderful family.  I came back and moved all my stuff in, it was wonderful.  The first night I climbed into my bed and it was nice and soft.  The verdict~ two mattresses and no box springs...  no support.  At the moment I thought - well, I didn't think - at the moment, I decided that the two mattresses are more comfortable.  Well... my opinion changed Wednesday... I started feeling a little stiff and old...  my back was aching!!  It has continued to ache... I do feel like an old lady!!  My mom says that she's experiencing sympathy pains!  My brother is trying to locate my box spring, and until then my mattress has been moved to my floor for support.

Here are some random pics of our pets from this week.

Thunder has this thing for lights or reflections and was going crazy with this one on the wall!

And our bird (idk what his name is, lol) found a new friend when we put the angel on top of the Christmas tree :) 

Christmas Program

This morning our church put on our Christmas Program.  I had to stay in the back with some of the not so well behaved kids so I have nothing about how the program went.  Others say that it was one of the best that we've put on.  I do know that we had lots of visitors and that four people got saved.  We had a family come and the mom and the grandma both got saved.  And then we had two kids get saved as well.  So all in all it was a great program.
This week Luke and Dakota are going to be gone, Hunter's finishing up his school for Christmas break, and I'm doing stuff around the house.  So it will be quite a restful week before Christmas :)

Officially Winter

Last night the guys went over with Pastor and Christian to chop wood for an elderly lady in the church and Mom, Mrs. Shuster and I all went and visited with Mrs. Hill.  It was a great time and in between the guys working we had a chili dinner, so all in all it was a great time.  When we left, Pastor had left ahead of time and Mrs. Shuster and Christian were following us.  We got to the end of a winding snow covered dirt and looked back and Mrs Shuster was no longer following us.  We turned around to make sure everything was ok and sure enough she had gone into a ditch.  
Of course, I leaped out of the car and started pushing the van out of the ditch, placing rubber mats under her tires for traction and directing her in what to do. It took me about a half hour to get her out.  All the while the guys were standing there watching.  
Well... at least that's the story I like to tell ;)  I don't think anyone believes it!! Lol...

AND....
Pray for us, Luke got his license!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Photo Shoot

Last Saturday with the fresh snowfall and because we were headed that way anyway, the boys and I decided to stop at a local garden to do a small photo shoot!  Here are the pics :)

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bl-y-eck!  It snowed a little bit yesterday, and then about half-way through services this morning it started snowing again, and then this afternoon it really started coming down!!  The roads were rough on the way back to church but by the time we left, they had cleared up at least a little bit... sooo.... Winter is HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Special Kind of Stupid

Finally Home

“When engulfed by the terror of tempestuous sea

Unknown waves before you roll

At the end of doubt and peril is eternity

Thought fear and conflict seize your soul

When surrounded by the blackness of the darkest night

Oh how lonely death can be

At the end of this long tunnel is a shining light

For death is swallowed up in victory

But just think of stepping on shore

And finding it heaven

Of touching a hand and finding it God’s

Of breathing new air and finding it celestial

Of waking up in glory and finding it home. ”

Chivalry...

More Blessed To Give Than to Receive

It is more blessed to give than to receive. 

I've been looking at this verse in a new light.  I guess you could almost say it's my own interpretation, but that doesn't seem right, so... :P
But I've been thinking about just giving my life over to God.  I've been fighting myself, I was afraid to give over because I was afraid that I wouldn't get what I wanted... I thought my plans were the best for my life.  What I didn't realize was that my plans weren't going to work.  Even if my plans are the same as His, if I tried the plans my way, they wouldn't work.  No matter how close to God's plans mine were, I had to give my life over to him and let Him work it out.  And if God's plan weren't the same as mine they could only be better.
I realized that "it is more blessed to give than to receive." I can only be blessed if I give my life over to God than to receive the things that I want.
As I was realizing that, Christian S preached in church last night, and he preached on the woman that touched the hem of Christ's garment for healing.  As he was preaching I started wondering a little bit about her life after she was healed.  She had spent the previous twelve years spending away her life trying to find 'the cure'.  When she finally came to Christ, she was broke.  Absolutely broke.  She had nothing! And, of course, Christian touched on that subject as his final point.  Picture the woman going home after she's been healed and walking in to an absolutely empty house, if she even had a house at all.  I can imagine her saying to herself, "Lord, why didn't you heal me any sooner" and hearing a small voice whisper in response "who's fault is that".  If she had turned to Christ sooner she would still have her possessions.  I applied that to my own life... I need to give my life over to God.  And the longer I wait, the higher the price I have to pay.
Taking those two thoughts I twisted them together and realized that I will be blessed, I won't have to 'pay the price', but only after I give my life over to God.  I won't receive what I wanted, but I know that it will only be better.

The Life of A Sister/Ladies Night

Ok, so tonight we had a ladies' night with our church.  So... I decided to use heat rollers to curl my hair... I didn't think it would work, I kept asking myself "why am I doing this to myself.  I mean, I have a lot of hair... I mean, A LOT of hair!  And I didn't think the rollers would hold it... and I mean all the pain.  I don't know how many of my readers have brothers, not to mention 4 brothers that only have one sister... I mean, if you had this situation, and you walked out with metal pins stuck to your head holding in a bunch of rolls, you can only imagine brothers!  Lol, anyway... after enduring the teasing, not to mention the pain of of metal pins stuck to your head holding in a bunch of heat rolls, I took out the rollers and it was better than I thought it would be...  After a few techniques I learned from school (Thanks Priscilla and Karina ;D) it was really nice...  Top it off with a gray newsboy cap, SCORE!
Ok, so anyway... the Ladies' night was great, and I got to hold little Arlin for quite a while.  Naturally, I couldn't hold the cute little guy for more than a few minutes without snapping a picture!!

SNOW!!!

We got some snow on Sunday morning!  Yuck!  I wasn't ready for it at all... I think I must have gotten spoiled with the lack of snow from last year!! It's still hasn't melted so my brothers are excited.  It's so cold around here, and I'm not one much for cold.  But, oh well... it's only the first snow and it's just going to get colder so I'll get used to it!

Thanksgiving Pictures

Thanksgiving Day was really warm, so we took our dog for a walk at a nearby river access. It was gorgeous outside! 

Hunter running the dog

My sweet new shoes!

Hunter digging in the sand

Thunder must have thought it was really warm!!

Beautiful Platte River

That night we played Apples to Apples.

The next day we went for a walk and it was much less than gorgeous!! It was freezing cold and snowy!! 

We tried upgrading Thunder's fetching stick, but after trying to drag it...

He gave up and tried finding a smaller stick.

Gun Control

1. "Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do
not."~Thomas Jefferson


2. "Those who trade liberty for security have neither." ~ John Adams


3. Free men do not ask permission to bear arms.


4. An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.


5. Only a government that is afraid of its citizens tries to control them.


6. Gun control is not about guns; it's about control.


7. You only have the rights you are willing to fight for.


8. Know guns, know peace, know safety.
No guns, no peace, no safety.


9. You don't shoot to kill; you shoot to stay alive.


10. Assault is a behavior, not a device.


11. 64,999,987 firearms owners killed no one yesterday.


12. The United States Constitution (c) 1791. All Rights Reserved.


13. The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the
others.


14. What part of 'shall not be infringed' do you NOT understand?


15. Guns have only two enemies; rust and politicians.



16. When you remove the people's right to bear arms, you create slaves.


17. The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.

We had a great weekend up north, and....... my brother let me borrow his camera, so I have pictures coming soon :)

Taste of Homekeeper!!

Wshew!!  So, tonight after church we're heading up north for Thanksgiving weekend.  And, this morning we went to clean a bus. (Yes, we're back to cleaning tour buses, bl-y-eck)  And then we got back and I was joking with my mom that I feel like a mother!!  I was doing laundry and packing for our trip, making dinner for us and a friend and cleaning the kitchen, helping Hunter finish up school, and not to mention finding time to take a shower, do my hair and make-up, put my contacts in, get ready for church and such!  Wshew!!  I was cutting onions and the laundry needed switched and I had a headache coming, and I went into the laundry room exasperated and cried "I feel like a mother!!!"  lol! Anyway,
Happy Thanksgiving ya'll!!!  Have a good weekend!!

Weekend Activities and Pictures

So Friday morning we all packed up and drove to my grandparents house and spent the night there.   Sometime in the afternoon we drove over to my grandma Covey's apartment to see my aunt and uncle and get some stuff that my grandma had left us and some pictures.  Then in the evening we had a yummy dinner and some cake and ice cream and then played a game of Loaded Questions which I had gotten for my birthday which was Saturday.  Then Saturday we got up and did a few more presents and then packed up the van and got ready to go to the funeral.  We left the funeral around 5:15 and got home around 9:45.  When I finally went to bed, I laid awake for a while just thinking about everything that has taken place in my life these past months!  And then about my birthday.  Wow! I'm 19!  G-as-p! I'm so old!  I always picked on one of my best friends about being older than me, but now I feel old! lol!  I know most people reading this are like "19's not old", but trust me, I feel old!!  :-P
Anyway, here are some pictures from the weekend.  I still don't have a camera but my grandma sent us some pictures!

Opening presents Saturday morning!


My Grandma made carrot cake for me.


The tennis shoes are shoes that we had at work back in Shipshwana, and I kept telling Luke that I really liked those shoes.  They were on the clearance table, the only size they had were my size, it was like providence!  But, I left to go to Alabama and when I came back, my brother told me someone had bought them.  My brothers had gotten together and bought them for my birthday!
The other shoes are some super cute ones that I had wanted for a while too... Sooooo spoiled!! And then my older brother bought me some perfume that I had asked for.
Even though my birthday wasn't exactly what I had wanted it to be, it was still ok.  Thankful for family who knows what I'm missing and still manage to make my birthday fun!
 

It's a Boy!!

Arlin Carol 

November 13, 2012

9 lbs 13 oz

Congratulations Josh and Colleen!! 

On The Way

I'm going to be an auntie soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Well... not really.  Not technically.  But... practically!  My friend Colleen is at the hospital now, maybe having her baby as I type.
And further news on my grandma, we found out today that the funeral is Saturday, so we'll probably drive down Friday night and come back Saturday night after the service.

A Legacy and the Breaking Point

My dad came over this afternoon to tell us that my grandma had passed away.  We were all very sad to hear about it, but glad to know that she's in heaven.  I stopped for a moment to think about what she's done for us.  She raised my dad and his four siblings by herself through many hard times.  And even though my dad isn't where he should be, if it weren't for him, my mom wouldn't be saved.  And if my mom wasn't saved, well... you know how it goes.
My pastor preached last night about 'breaking points'.  There has been so much going on in my life the last few months.  Some family problems, coming home from school, losing contact with some of my closest friends, adjusting to being at home, and now this.  God promised that he would never test us beyond what we are able to bear, and that's what I find encouragement in.

SO ME!!!

This perfectly describes me!  My mom is always talking to herself and I think it runs in the family :O  I don't do it nearly as often as she does and usually it's thinking to myself and sometimes moving my mouth to my thoughts!!  Lol...
I hope everyone has a great week!!

Forever and always,

Happy Birthday... A Day Late :O

Yesterday was my brother's 18th birthday! G-AS-P!!!!  HHHH, I feel so old :-P  My grandparents came over this afternoon to celebrate his birthday, and while they were here we also threw in a second birthday celebration.  I do believe someone else is having a birthday next week!  :O

I can't believe all that has happened this past month... it's definitely been a change for me!  I spend so much time wondering what's gonna happen with my life now.  What's the next step?  Where's God taking me?  I often wonder "what could have been" and more so "what will be".  Does anyone else do that? 

Anyway... my tutoring thing is going well... I traded them out yesterday, and was getting ready to print of all the homework I had put together for them and my printer wasn't working... sooo.... I put it on my flashdrive and tried it at another computer... aaaannnnnndddddd, that printer wasn't working.  Soooo... I took my flash drive to the library to print the stuff off there with like 10 minutes until we had to leave, and... guess what... that didn't work either.  Surprise, surprise.  As some would say... 'girls and computers'  but... usually it's not my fault, so ;)  I ended up throwing together a make shift homework pack for them on the way to the church and hopefully it will work out!  

Hmm...

Ya ever have it where you can come up with a great blog post while you're working on stuff around the house, and then when you go to blog about it, it's like 'poof' gone... you have no idea what to post about.  That's been my life since my last post.  And now I sit here words flowing through my mind, but not through my fingers onto the keyboard.  Not that I've ever been the creative sort, but I seem to have lost the little creativity I had.
Lol, so, no, my post isn't all about how I can't think of what to post about, trust me.  I keep thinking about a comedy my family watches of an old preacher that answers a question with... "I don't know, you don't know, they don't know, only God knows".  That's pretty much how I've been feeling... I can't seem to get my thoughts down into words for anyone.
Last night we had Colleen's baby shower... it was lots of fun.  My mom and I did the games, and those went fairly well.  She's due on the 18th, but I'm hoping she has the baby on the 17th....  for personal reasons to be revealed after the fact :P
I haven't found a job yet, but I am doing a volunteer tutoring job with a bus family from the church.  I am just putting together a curriculum for them, I don't actually do any work with them.  Putting together a curriculum is turning out rather challenging because I've never taught before, and it has to be stuff I copy and print offline and from old curriculum that my mom used because they can't buy anything.  I'm also taking over teaching my youngest brother.  So lots of teaching experience, which will come in handy for when I homeschool.
Other than that, not much has been happening.  I'll finish up with a song that has been really encouraging to me recently:

You been on a long and troubled road 
At times you felt cheated 
To have to bear this load 
While others who would barely even try 
Would spread their wings like eagles 
And soar into the sky 

Chorus 
It doesn't matter who you are 
It doesn't matter where you've been 
It doesn't matter what you've done 
Jesus is softly calling 
But because of who He is 
And because of where He's been 
Because of what He's done 
You can start all over again 

This guilty burden you have had to bear 
Has made your life so weary 
Even though others aren't aware 
Of the mountains of mistakes 
You've tried to hide 
With a smile on your face 
And a broken heart inside 

Home Again

Hhhh... it's been an interesting week.  It's an experience transitioning from living in a peaceful girls dorm, to back at home with three rowdy brothers.  But oh well, that's home.   I've finished unpacking all my stuff and am settled back in my room.  And then Monday and Tuesday night we went to Bro. Oullette's church in Bridgeport to hear Bro Sam from HBBC and Paul Chappell form WCBC.  It was nice to get out and do something!
Anyone that knows me personally would know I've been an emotional wreck this past week, but it is slowly getting better.  I've just gotta keep trusting God, knowing that He'll work everything out to his perfect will.  The week's also been made more difficult with the fact that the cold I've been battling for the past two months has won.  And it really is putting me down for the count.  I hate being sick, it doesn't happen often, but when it does, yuck!
One humorous thing that's kept me laughing is that every night that we get back from church, we'll church onto our road and without fail a possum will run across the road.
Sorry, that's been a rambling post!! I'll talk to ya'll later

Miss Me, Anyone?

Well, I guess I lied in my last post!  I found out right after posting it that they were working on a new filtering system that would block my blogger.  So, how am I posting??

Well, in the last week my life has changed drastically!!!  I had my life all planned out, telling God what His will should be for my life.  Now, I'm not saying what I thought was God's will isn't.  I don't know what God will for the rest of my life is.  But anyway, amidst all these changes and also due to some financial problems my mom, pastor and his wife, the dean of students, and my dorm mom decided that it would be best for me to sit out for the rest of the semester.  So, here I am at home.  It's quite an adjustment, but....  Mom showed up Tuesday and talked with me and some of the staff from the school talked to me about leaving.

 At first it was a surprise for me, but now I've decided to just spend this break just praying and seeking God's will.  Like I said, the life I had planned out for myself could be God's will, but it might not be.  All I know is God's will for today.  I've made lots of decisions this past year that I regret, but there are also some things that have happened that I'll never regret.

So, off I go, seeking God's will for today.  And when tomorrow comes I'll seek God's will for tomorrow.

Live life to the fullest in the moment, but remember that each moment will

add up to a life time that you will either be proud of or regret.  As you

come upon each moment, choose carefully what the fullest will be in the long run.