award and end of trip!

How pitiful, a week gone by since my last post. I apologize to the couple of people who might actually care. ;)

Moving on...I was awarded! Thanks so much, Piper!! It is the Liebster award again (that's been going around quite a bit lately), so this time I'm just going to answer her questions. Sorry. No time for awarding other peoples...and my answers are going to be pretty short. :P I'm in a terrible rush (which will be explained). :) Anyway, here are her questions!

1) Do you like Owl City? (I'm sorry, I had to)

    Their tunes are catchy...sorry, but I don't like them all that much. ;)

2) What is your favorite blog post (on your blog)?

    Ummmm......I don't know. I'll think about it. Maybe update with the answer.

3) What do you do when you're home alone?

    It's been a while since I've been home alone...read? Listen to music? Call a friend and talk to her on the phone?

4) What do you think makes your blog fun to read?

    Umph. It's honest?

5) How often do you wear headphones/earbuds?

    Not that often, actually - I love listening to music, but it's usually just out loud - on the radio, YouTube, my bro's iTouch....for some reason, I can't get earbuds (most of the time) to stay in my ears. This can sometimes be very annoying.

6) Do you like writing? If so, how dedicated do you think you are to it?

    Yup. Not dedicated at all. ;)

7) What's your favorite thing about music?

    It's one beautiful way to worship our Savior.

8) If you could have any pet (that you can actually legitly have), what would it be?

    A chinchilla. Totally legit. ;) (Okay, maybe not really...)

9) Do you like painting?

    Um, yes, I would, only I can't remember the last time I painted... :P

10) Do you like rain?

     Definitely.

11) What inspires you?

      God. Er, wait, you asked "what"...umm...life. Does that count? Cuz it's totally true.

And...guess what, peoples? (Note: the following is my explanation for the terrible rush.)

WE'RE BACK!!!

You know, back from our summer trip? Which, by the way, I have had an amazingly fantastic time this summer! And now...I am SO happy to see my friends! Soon. Very soon.

Annd...since we just drove up to the house, like, five minutes ago, I'm not going to sit here on the computer. Moi has work to do. Lots of it.

Farewell!! Love and blessings to all!

photo challenge pic

Here's the picture I'm entering in Ireland's photo challenge:

The photo challenge ends on the 15th, and even though I knew about it last month (when Ireland posted about it), I decided to wait until now, just in case I happened upon a better picture than any of the ones I had at the time. I'm glad I waited, because about a week and a half ago, I noticed these flowers outside of a library my mom and I went to, and I snapped a few quick pictures before hopping in the car. I'm so happy it turned out so great! (In my opinion, anyways, which might be just slightly biased.) I really didn't edit it all that much - it didn't need it. It's a beautiful flower.

Speaking of flowers...I have fallen in love with them. Ask my family; they'll immediately start complaining about how I constantly lag behind on nature trails nowadays because of my tendency to stop in delight of finding a new flower. And then take a million pictures of it, of course.

Please tell me you do that, too. No? Oh. I must be special, I guess. ;) Just kidding!

Back to what I was saying...I've taken so many pictures of flowers that I believe I'm going to do a flower post soon. But it'll have to be before we get back because I'll be too busy then, with school work and catching up with friends and all.

Anyway, I hope you liked the photo, and that you've had a wonderful start to your week! Love and blessings to you all. 

who i am

We drove up Pike's Peak today - it was beautiful. Cold, but beautiful. We brilliant Floridiots Floridians wore, of course, shorts, t-shirts, and flip-flops. It was not only 41 degrees up there, it was windy and kinda rainy (we even saw some hail). Brr.

{As I'm writing this, I'm watching the Olympics. Watching the fastest man in the world and his ego. Do you know how many times I've heard Usain Bolt call himself a legend? Did you see how he didn't congratulate anyone else? Do you know how many times you can hear the pronouns "I" and "me" coming out of his mouth? Boy, is it hard to love someone with that attitude. Jesus, help me love my 'enemies'...and help me remember that our fight is not one of flesh and blood, but one against "against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." --Ephesians 10:12}

Driving back, we were listening to music in the car. And a verse in one particular song hit me...sadly, I cannot remember that particular song (I think it was Newsboys...?). Oh, the imperfection of the human brain.

Anyway. I do, thankfully, remember what I was hit with...and it was so simple, but something I needed to be reminded of. And it was so clear.

My struggle with sin does not define me. Really, it doesn't. Yeah, being a perfectionist, trying to do it on my own, being a "good girl"...those are all struggles of mine. But they don't make up who I am....you wanna know who I am?

"Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God."

--John 1:12-13

I'm a child of God. Not by anything I've done...but because of His love.

That is who I am. That is what defines me. Not anything of myself, but Christ in me, the hope of glory.

Who are you? What do you let define you?

p.s. this was the highlight of the Olympics so far for me :)

linkin' up!

So today, Britt over at Encouragement for Everyday Struggles is having a...

Although this is Britt's 3rd time having a Q and A linkup, this is my first time doing it, so let's dive right in...

1. What is your favorite Bible story?
    I'm not really sure - ever since I was little, I've always liked the Parable of the Ten Minas, although I'm not really sure why.

2. What colors is your room?
    Um, I don't really have a color theme in my room - white walls, blue bedspread... :)

3. What is your favorite meal? (lunch, breakfast, dinner?)
    Definitely dinner - I was actually just telling my mom today that if we only needed to eat breakfast and dinner, I'd totally be fine with that (it seems I never know what to eat for lunch anymore. Anyone have any {simple} ideas for lunch? Right about now I'm just scrounging up whatever leftovers I can find in the fridge - that, or snacking on fruit and carbs. :P)

4. What is/was your favorite subject in school?
    Writing, Language Arts, all that good stuff - I like to write. :)

5. Are you a shy or outgoing person?
    I think I'm somewhere in the middle - I used to be pretty shy, but now I'm more comfortable and friendly when meeting new people, I think. Like Britt said though, I'm not exactly the person who always knows exactly what to say and can make everyone laugh - unless they're laughing at me (or politely trying not to). ;)

6. Are you a more reserved or expressive person?
    Kind of reserved, especially with people I don't know very well, except for a couple of people who I just immediately clicked with and, of course, close friends - then maybe I'm too expressive (translation: I talk wayyyy too much :P).

7. How many brothers and sisters would you like to have?
    What I'm blessed with right now, three (mostly amazing) bros, haha. ;) Love you guys!! :D

Wouldja like to join in the linkin'-up fun?

a rambling post

I'm sick. Went to sleep last night with a sore throat, woke up with a stuffy nose and tired body tagging along. Thus, I stayed in bed most of the day - just about the only times I got up were to refill my water bottle (about 7 steps from me), go to the bathroom (about 2 steps from me), or eat a meal (which did not include lunch...because I was too lazy and not hungry enough). Nathan was the first one contaminated, and now Nicholas is the only one who, so far, is feeling totally fine (or so it seems)...because in an RV, if one person gets sick, everyone gets sick.

So, while in bed, I finished a book I'd started yesterday, a novel by Beverly Lewis, titled Sanctuary. It was really good. Now that I think about it, I liked it a lot. If I had more energy, I probably would have realized that as soon as I finished it. My brain seems a tad sluggish today.

I haven't been outside once today. How sad. I'm going to change out of my PJs in a bit (yes, it's 8pm, and I am still blissfully wearing my PJs) and grab my shower stuff and walk over to the RV shower and - can you guess? - take a shower. I needed one when I woke up today, but I didn't want to get all my stuff together and everything. I'm so lazy...it really is slightly a problem. 

In Sanctuary there was a part where the main character thought to herself that (words in brackets are mine) "Something about the Plain [in this case, the Amish] style of living made hard work seem altogether natural." I want to have a better work ethic. I don't feel too bad about relaxing so much today, because I'm sick, but there are times where I put a hold on contact in a friendship because I don't feel like making the effort to type up an email or make that phone call, or I skip doing my very small chores because I'd just rather go on the computer or read a book or take some pictures, or I complain when asked to do something because it's more work than usual or I'd rather be doing something else or...yeah, I can be quite lazy.

"Do everything without complaining or arguing,"

--Philippians 2:14 (NIV)

I have to (sheepishly) admit that I often quote this verse to my brothers without remembering that God's Word is for me, too...that log-and-speck thing, you know?

"Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,"

--Colossians 3:22-23 (NIV)

The difference between working out of fear of men and out of reverence for the Lord is, well just that...fear or love. You can work for the Lord and do it out of fear. But what Paul means here is to work for the Lord out of love and gratefulness and worship. Even if it's not directly to the Lord as you might think might be serving Him...by living life to the full, you're serving Him. In everything you do, do it for Him.

Will you join me in obeying His Word, in working cheerfully and wholeheartedly, in being grateful and patient, in living life to the full? Not just, you know, tomorrow, or a couple of days, or a week...it's a good place to start, but how about your whole life? How's that sound?

Is there any time that it's tough for you to work wholeheartedly? Hey, and by the way, have you been watching the Olympics?

p.s. I had to go take my shower and then post this...most of the lights are out and we're settling down to bed (it is 11:30ish). Anyway, just wanted to say...being clean feels good. And I'm talking about more than just the outside.

p.p.s. OK, well, I couldn't post this last night (at, like, 11:45 or something the filter that I have on my computer shuts down the Internet connection), so I'm posting it this morning, but I'm not changing anything that was actually from yesterday. :P Hey, at least I'm posting, right? ;)

awarding fun

Today I was awarded the Liebster Blog award by the amazing Ireland from A Pearl of Great Price!! Thank you, Ireland!

First of all, of course, the rules:

1. You must post 11 facts about yourself
2. You must also answer the 11 questions that the awarder has given you, and create 11 questions for your awardees to answer in turn.
3. Tag 11 fellow bloggers.
4. Notify them that they’ve awarded them.
5. No tagging back.
6. The 11 blogs that you tag must have less than 200 followers.

So, 11 facts about myself - here we go!

1. I am a triplet!

2. My family is exactly 7 weeks into a 9-week RV trip that we're on, mostly around the Western United States - starting from Florida and traveling along the southern coast to California, up the California coast to Washington, eastward to South Dakota, down to Colorado (where we are right now), and then heading back through Arkansas and such to Florida again. :)

3. I hiked up a 10,000 foot mountain with my family yesterday, 6 miles round trip, 1,000+ feet up...and I had only had about 6 hours of sleep the night before, give or take an hour. :P Ah, well - we had fun!

4. I am the only girl of four kids.

5. I, oddly enough, am looking forward to this upcoming school year. :) I have a lot of courses I'm excited about - I'm homeschooled, so I'm doing some curriculum simply at home with my brothers, some on Florida Virtual School, and some out-of-the-house classes with (mostly) other homeschoolers.

6. I don't like eating bananas just by themselves...but I like them in smoothies, in pudding, etc. I know, I'm weird.

7. Speaking of, I just made a smoothie for lunch with half of a (large) banana, most of a peach, most of a mango, about 20 frozen blueberries (we don't have any straw berries :( boo-hoo), and, of course, ice - it is delicious!! I wish I could give you some...but I just drank the last sip. ;)

8. I haven't watched any of the Olympics this year!! :( We haven't had TV reception at the campsites that we've been staying at while the Olympics have been going...maybe tomorrow we'll get reception at our new campground that we're going to? I hope so!

9. Um...ah...er...let me think...oh! I don't need braces. :)

10. Hmmm...well, my parents went out on a date last night, so my brothers and I watched Mars Needs Moms while they were gone. I have to say, I actually think it was quite good. It didn't have the unnecessary things that many movies, even animated, kids' movies, have - the only small, two things I could think of were that the main character wanted to watch a movie about zombies or something (not shown), and the female Martians' suits were kind of tight, but only around their hips and such. It had great morals of conviction, healing, redemption, consequences to our actions, sacrifice, and showed how important a loving parent is to a child and vice-versa.

11. I'm turning 15 this year (already?!) on November 16th, and I'm hoping to get my permit around then!

Now, here are my answers to Ireland's questions:

1. On average how often do you blog? Not often enough. ;) Probably somewhere around a week or a week and a half on average, I'm not sure. It's pretty amazing that I'm posting again so "soon" after my last post, which was 5 days ago.

2. How many siblings do you have? I have three brothers.

3. Are your siblings younger or older? Well, like I mentioned earlier, I'm a triplet, so I have a brother who is a minute older (Nathan), a brother who is a minute younger (Noah), and a brother who is a year and a half younger, to the very day (Nicholas).

4. Do you like to swim? Yeah, I do like to swim, but most of the time I'd rather do something else.

5. What is your favorite season of the year? Autumn, most definitely...maybe spring, but even in spring it gets so hot so quickly in Florida.

6. Favorite holiday? Hmm, I don't know...Easter? Christmas? Thanksgiving? One of those three, I suppose.

7. Favorite band/singer? Oh my, there are so many that I love to listen to! Singers...I really like Kari Jobe, Jason Gray, Britt Nicole, and Francesca Battistelli. For bands, I like Tenth Avenue North, tobyMac, Newsboys, and Casting Crowns.

8. Do you have any pen-pals? If so how many? Well, not by letter, but I have been emailing, IMing, etc. with two girls who I "met" through a blog - one of them I actually got to meet earlier this summer on our trip!

9. How long have you been blogging? I've been blogging for a little over two years if you count my old blog (which I started on July 18, 2010 on Weebly), but I don't post on that one anymore; I've been posting on this blog since December 26, 2011, ah...7 months, 1 week.

10. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ooh, good question...probably just simply taking a walk with friends/family.

11. What is your favorite thing to do inside? It depends, but I definitely enjoy reading, playing games with my family, and going on the computer (email & blogs for the most part).

Well, that was fun! :) OK, about awarding people...because I want to get off my laptop and it's a beautiful day outside and I can see the mountains from where I'm sitting and the cool breeze is wafting into our RV through the open windows and I just got a bunch of good novels this morning that I might possibly crack open...because of all this, I'm going to be lazy and simply tag anyone who wants to do this award! Really, go ahead and do it - I know you want to. :)


Have a wonderful Saturday evening, everyone! I'm planning on eating a delicious dinner outside in the cool air with my family and sitting around a dancing, smoking campfire and getting my fingers sticky with s'mores and going out driving with my family to look for elk...what about you? What have you done or are going to do today?


p.s. does anyone know what liebster means? :)

beauty

You know...we're all beautiful. I'm not just talking about inner beauty. We're all beautiful on the outside, too.


The Psalmist doesn't say without reason,

"For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well." --Psalm 139:13-14, NIV

And...he's not just talking about being wonderfully made on the inside, but on the outside, also. Each of us are beautiful, for God created us, each one, in His image!


Our bodies are simply shells. Our spirits, on the other hand - those are the eternal things. Our spirit will live forever, and truly, my spirit - in whatever form - will live with Christ in paradise. Forever. What a gift!!


But back to what I was saying. What I just learned a few days ago. Because I didn't know this before...that we are all beautiful, physically beautiful.


I read a book. Called The Martyr's Song, by Ted Dekker. And I had to read most of it a second time before I got it...


Yes, this shell, this flesh, is not eternal. But God created all of me, including my body, my face, my hair, my toes, shaping each feature the way He wanted it to be. He creates beauty - He doesn't create fractured, broken, ugly things (remember, "Your works are wonderful, I know that full well"?). Look around you! Look at the beauty of pure nature! Yes, there are animals killing each other for food, predator and prey...that, however, was not in the holy and pure design of God. Instead, all was peace. And joy. And love.


So, who creates beauty? Yeah, that's right: God. God creates beauty.


Then why do we allow people to tell us what beauty is in a human being, loved in God's sight? As if they know! If one doesn't know God, one doesn't know beauty. Not true beauty. They might see glimpses of it in His creations...but they can't define what it means on a person. They can't create beauty.


Beauty is not in the popular clothes, the jewelry, the make-up, the long eyelashes, the clear face, the perfect lips, the curvy figure, the tanned skin...


I might sound crazy, but that's not beauty. That's not all beauty is, at least. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...and the Beholder is God. If someone has all that, all of what I just listed above, they are beautiful. And if someone has none of that, they are still beautiful. Period. Not one over the other. We are all beautiful.


I'm not sure if I'm getting my point across clearly. I hope I am. It's a slippery concept at first, like trying to grasp water as it slips through your fingers. You have it....and then it's gone. It takes some time getting used to, changing your whole perspective on the subject, but once you do...it's so simple, so clear, so right.


And why is this so important? I mean, really, our physical bodies don't matter all that much when you look at it from the eternal perspective...but to know that we are all truly, truly physically beautiful...it changes everything, things that are eternally important. It's going with God's truth and going against the enemy's lies. It's totally against what this world says, totally against the message I've become used to.


It's against pointing out a certain person and thinking they're prettier than the rest. It's against wanting to get closer to a certain person simply because they have a "pretty" face and fashionable clothes and stylish hair. It's against comparing and favoring the girl who's thin like a twig over the girl who's not so much so. It's against looking at myself unhappily, being unsatisfied with how I look. It's against wanting to be thinner, not for health reasons, but instead just hoping that if you lose more weight you'll look better...that's losing sight of the truth that we are all beautiful.


In the knowledge of this truth...there's no reason to compare myself to others...no reason to judge others instantly merely by what they look like...


Instead, I know that they are beautiful...and loved. so dearly, dearly loved. oh, how loved we are!


Read The Martyr's Song. Listen to what God is telling you. Not only through this book, but through His Word, too, most definitely...just spend time reading through it. Nothing else. Just...listen to Him, read His Holy Word. It - He will change you and grow you like you could never imagine, tenderly, firmly, lovingly, forever.


And this relatively short novel I read the other day...it also brought a change in me. Through it, God may show you something different than what He showed me...but it won't be totally different. Because it's all connected, all related. To each other. To life. And most especially...to God.


May you have a faith-filled, joy-filled, love-filled, hope-filled, grace-filled...God-filled week, you beautiful, beloved child of God.