11 Lessons from 2011

Top 11 Lessons of 2011

11. When talking to someone on the phone, it is never safe to assume that you hear correctly. Ask them to spell their location so that it is correct before writing it down for someone else who will know what it was supposed to be. 

10.  Sleep, however inconvenient, is actually still necessary to life.

9. A GPS thinks it is smarter than it actually is: it tells you to exit a perfectly good road that will take you the right direction. As soon as you get on a major road that has signs pointing to the next location, you should turn the GPS off until the next time you get lost. 

8. People are generally not capable of making good decisions after 11pm. 

7. Planning is wonderful…as long as you're willing to adapt to whatever comes your way. A typhoon, for example.

6. Good planners make life simpler, not more complicated.

5. Other people will come and go through life. Family is forever, and siblings really can be best friends.

4. Life is not about the situations that challenge you, it's about how you respond to those challenges - and how you change.

3. There's the pain of healing, the pain of staying the same and the pain of getting worse. You pick your pain.

2. God really does work miracles, and he works the most often when you least expect it.

1. There is no need to ever be dismayed; God will strengthen, help, and uphold me with His righteous right hand. (Is. 41:10)

{attention pacifists}

I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. 

And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it.

-Jack Handey

*The air soft bullet proof vests, as well as the leather handgun holsters, magazine cases, and belts were made by Allen Penney. I highly recommend his work, and if anyone is interested in purchasing contact me and I will refer you on to him.

{the solution to incompetence}

All of man's misfortune comes from one thing, 

which is not knowing how to sit quietly in a room.

-Blaise Pascal

After 15 months...

...last Friday, my big brother got engaged. :) 

He sang her a song, asked her a question, and she said...YES! :)

O give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; speak of all His wonders.

-1 Chronicles 16:8-9

{one of those moments that makes babysitting worthwhile}

Merry's bedtime prayer:

"Dear God, please, please help us obey Miss Leah. She has it pretty rough...four of us, and only one of her! Help us listen to her and not fight with each other...and help the dogs not fight either."

For Jingle :)

I love the talks we have. I love that you can finish my sentences half of the time, and the other half you have no idea what I'm trying to say. Our miscommunications are hysterical. Our memories...memorable, to say the least. :) Our adventures epic.  Thanks for talking to me, laughing at my corny jokes, tolerating me when I'm not the nicest person to be around. Thanks for hanging up my towel in the bathroom when I forget. Thanks for letting me bounce on your bed when you're half asleep and talk to you. Thanks for telling me what to buy and not to buy when we're shopping, telling me what to wear, and for knowing where things in the grocery store are when I have no idea where to look. Thanks for being brutally honest with me, and expecting me to do the same. Thanks for hanging out with me, singing musicals with me, supervising when I'm 'cleaning' my room. Thanks for praying for me, and writing notes for me.

Thank you for being the best friend and little sister I could ask for. You're awesome.

{photo credit - Zac Foreman }

I wonder...

If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?

There is no music during a musical rest, but the rest is part of the making of the music. In the melody of our life, the music is separated here and there by rests. During those rests, we foolishly believe we have come to the end of the song. God sends us times of forced leisure by allowing sickness, disappointed plans, and frustrated efforts. He brings a sudden pause in the choral hymn of our lives, and we lament that our voices must be silent. We grieve that our part is missing in the music that continually rises to the ear of our Creator. Yet how does a musician read the rest? He counts the break with unwavering precision and plays his next note with confidence, as if no pause were ever there.
God does not write the music of our lives without a plan. Our part is to learn the tune and not be discouraged during the rests. They are not to be slurred over or omitted, nor used to destroy the melody or to change the key. If we will only look up, God Himself will count the time for us. With our eyes on Him, our next note will be full and clear. If we sorrowfully say to ourselves, “There is no music in a rest,” let us not forget that the rest is part of the making of the music. The process is often slow and painful in this life, yet how patiently God works to teach us! And how long He waits for us to learn the lesson!
~John Ruskin

Coffee

One of the easiest assignments in the world. Not to mention the fact that by the end of the shoot my hands smelled totally awesome. There's still a faint scent of coffee in the room. 

{Btw, playing with an off camera flash is way more fun with inanimate objects than people. They don't complain about the flash being too bright, or strobe lighting...or being moved around over nine thousand times. }  

In Acceptance Lies Peace

He said, "I will forget the dying faces;
The empty places,
They shall be filed again.
O voices moaning deep within me, cease,"
But vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in forgetting lieth peace. 

He said, "I will crowd action upon action,
The strife of faction shall stir me and sustain;
O tears that drown the fire of manhood, cease."
But vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in endeavor lieth peace.

He said, "I will withdraw me and be quiet,
Why meddle in life's riot?
Shut be my door to pain.
Desire, thou dost befool me, thou shalt cease."
Not in aloofness lieth peace.

He said, "I will submit; I am defeated.
God hath depleted My life of its rich gain.
O futile murmurings, why will ye not cease?"
But vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in submission lieth peace.

He said, "I will accept the breaking sorrow
Which God tomorrow will to His Son explain."
Then did the turmoil deep within him cease.
Not vain the word, not vain;
For in Acceptance lieth peace.

 -Amy Carmichael

{following the Piper again}

Joshua 'n Anna

A little over a year ago, the Courter asked the Penney if she would be courted. She said she would.

They're still changing together, and thought that pictures would be a good idea. So we did a shoot, and here are a few photos.

9.10.11

{because there's a purpose}

I was sitting there, replaying a scene; the conversation clear, sight vivid. I wished I would have acted more. Pretended that things didn't hurt, that there wasn't pain in the rejection. Life seems easier with unpenatrable walls. Steel armor to block out wounds. So I responded wrongly, in anger, to hide the truth. I failed to love.

I struggle with the pain, the knowledge that I'm vulnerable.

With worsening wounds. With wondering why.

With burning scars.

Then, a Voice, clear and True, spoke its way into my thoughts.

I have scars too.

The Perfect One, the One who loves, has scars. Scars that we've given Him.

I aruged back. I know You have scars. But Yours have purpose, and a meaning for us. My scars are deep, purposeless...they have names, stories, and their own power of torture.

Love spoke truth again. My Scars are deeper than you can imagine. Each scar has a name...one of them has your name. But I loved you anyways. I loved you when you hated Me, when you ran from Me. When you wounded Me.
My Child, I'm giving you the gift of scars. You can allow them to torture you, or they can be a reminder...a reminder to love.

These scars. Everyone has them. Some are large, tell tale of a painful injury or accident. Others are small, barely visible, but deep. Those are often the ones that remain the longest.

I often wondered what the purpose was of scars. It seemed for a long time that scars were just a reminder of something I wanted to forget. But I think now I know.

The purpose of the scars is reminder...reminder to love.

The word scar was derived from the Greek word schara, meaning place of fire. The scars we bear remind of times of fires, fires that everyone experiences.  According to the American Academy of Dermatology, no scar can be completely removed.

Not ever.

They're there as reminders to love. But a gift?

Have you not asked for Me to make you more like Myself? Will you reject the journey I'm bringing you on because it's painful? Will you accept the gift of being more like Me?

I want desperately to remember. To love. To accept scars as gifts. To be more like Him.

Show me your hands. Do they have scars from giving? Show me your feet. Are they wounded in service? Show me your heart. Have you left a place for divine love? 
~F. J. Sheen

{on walking into the kitchen before I fully awoke}

"How did the unwashed dishes multiply since 10am last night?"

If I wasn't going to work, I would go back to bed. The good thing is, I'm not driving our carpool to work today. That small fact will most likely save the lives of at least four other people. Somehow.

I'm think I'm running late...or early...

Reflections of sorts

{my thoughts exactly}

"Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appreared to them to be otherwise."

~the Duchess

C. H. Spurgeon; Evening, August 24

"If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith; he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution."—Exodus 22:6.

But what restitution can he make who casts abroad the fire-brands of error, or the coals of lasciviousness, and sets men's souls on a blaze with the fire of hell? The guilt is beyond estimate, and the result is irretrievable. If such an offender be forgiven, what grief it will cause him in the retrospect, since he cannot undo the mischief which he has done! An ill example may kindle a flame which years of amended character cannot quench. To burn the food of man is bad enough, but how much worse to destroy the soul! It may be useful to us to reflect how far we may have been guilty in the past, and to enquire whether, even in the present, there may not be evil in us which has a tendency to bring damage to the souls of our relatives, friends, or neighbours.

The fire of strife is a terrible evil when it breaks out in a Christian church. Where converts were multiplied, and God was glorified, jealousy and envy do the devil's work most effectually. Where the golden grain was being housed, to reward the toil of the great Boaz, the fire of enmity comes in and leaves little else but smoke and a heap of blackness. Woe unto those by whom offences come. May they never come through us, for although we cannot make restitution, we shall certainly be the chief sufferers if we are the chief offenders. Those who feed the fire deserve just censure, but he who first kindles it is most to blame. Discord usually takes first hold upon the thorns; it is nurtured among the hypocrites and base professors in the church, and away it goes among the righteous, blown by the winds of hell, and no one knows where it may end. O Thou Lord and giver of peace, make us peacemakers, and never let us aid and abet the men of strife, or even unintentionally cause the least division among Thy people.

From Spurgeon's Morning and Evening

9:05pm

{what goes through an ADD person's mind in the space of about 20 minutes...or is it time span? I'm not sure. Which reminds me...}

Today began the second week of being back to work after being gone for a month. From the looks of things, this will be another 40+ hour week. And somehow, I have a blister already, on my left pinky. This is odd for two reasons: 1, I'm right-handed; 2, it's my PINKY! How do you get a blister there?
 

At work last week, I forgot to bring silverware for lunch. I had pasta, which wasn't really an eat-with-your-fingers type lunch. After scrounging around the cabinets, all I found was plastic knives. So, I put my chopstick training to good use. I actually think that chopsticks with a serrated edge would be a fabulous invention. Not only would you be able to eat your food, you'd be able to cut it as well. Just a thought. Anyways, the two knife idea worked fabulously. But I still brought silverware the next day.

 

I love my job. It's wonderful manual labor. The only thing I don't really like is the whole items-being-backordered thing, then the catch up process after we get in the shipping supplies and/or items to ship. Last week we ran out of a certain kind of sign box. This is our biggest box, and is custom made. After several days of allowing the orders to back up, we finally got the boxes today, an hour and a half before quitting time, and in time to run out of 9x4 blue magnets. Not only that, but the phone/computer line was broken, so there was no internet, which means that the packages can't be labeled using FedEx's handy dandy system. Everything will have to be entered in by hand until the phone line is fixed. The first good thing is that that’s not my job. The second good thing was that I got my paycheck from last week, which made me immensely grateful to have a job, despite the glitches in the system. All things considered, I have a lot to be thankful for. :)

I've been thinking a lot about different things since coming home from China, and re-evaluating a lot of goals. I've been thinking a lot about this quote shared in church last Sunday:

"Ambitions for self may be quite modest … Ambitions for God, however, if they are to be worthy, can never be modest. There is something inherently inappropriate about cherishing small ambitions for God. How can we ever be content that he should acquire just a little more honour in the world? No. Once we are clear that God is King, then we long to see him crowned with glory and honor, and accorded his true place, which is the supreme place. We become ambitious for the spread of his kingdom and righteousness everywhere."
 ~John Stott

I'm wondering what ambitions I have that are insignificant and selfish? What ambitions should I have to further Christ's Kingdom?

Which reminds me again of China, and the fact that my 8 gb memory card is now finished downloading.  So, now I'm going to process and delete some of the photos from the trip.

 

                      This photo is in Pinghu, shot from a bridge over one of the many canals. Unedited.

After an 8 and 1/2 hour work day, plus two hours of driving, I tend to be tired and say things like....

"I can win, I'm just laughing too hard!" :)

I can tell I was in China for three weeks. When I subconsciously attempted to pick up my fork and use it as a pair of chopsticks, I realized even more. Especially when the fork flew across the room.

I miss China. I didn't think I would.

The street outside of the hotel. The view from the balcony that, well, had the best view. :) 

Home from China!

I'm finally home. Many memories, many photos, many new friends. One thing I've seen more than ever is God's never-ending faithfulness and grace.

Wade (my co-teacher), me, and our assistant teachers-Sunday, Eunice, Haylie, and Cally.

More after sleep! :)

The quote of the day...

"Don't they know we're talented?"
~a friend

What is currently occupying space on my desk and mind...

(not pictured - some of the best tea in the world)

Lest you think that I've waited until the last minute to study, you're wrong. I still am 36 hours and 21 minutes away from the test, or 2,181 minutes, respectively. And I'm studying.

Reflections of a July 4th Victory

Today is a day we celebrate freedom. Legacy. We celebrate those who fought and died for our homes. But what of those who fight the battles of everyday life? Those who have won the victory, freedom in Christ? Those who have fought for the souls of their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren? They are often forgotten.

I knew a woman who fought the good fight. A year ago today she went home to freedom. To her Country. People don't realize the impact they can make on other's lives. I know that Mamaw didn't. Some people say they're Christians, others live it. It's those that live as Christ-followers that leave legacies.

My great-grandmother knew that we were in a battle. Every night she would pray for her family. If she fell asleep before she had prayed for everyone, she would pray again from the beginning. She left a legacy of prayer.

She encouraged me to create, and never laughed at my measly attempts to craft beauty out of hot glue, yarn, and styrofoam. She told me to use my hands to glorify God.

I watched Mamaw forgive the unforgivable. She knew that though there were things she didn't understand, God would work all things for good to His glory. She encouraged others to view things from His perspective.

Frequently you don't realize the value of someone until you've lost them. I know I didn't treasure enough the gift of knowing her. I would be so grateful to talk to her again, to listen to her stories, hear her praying for me. But I'm so grateful for her legacy of prayer, of running the race well, of loving her family.

Before she died, Mamaw kept saying that she had to get up, that she wanted to go to church. I wish I could have seen her excitement to enter her Country to forever worship God. She won the victory.

I can't wait to see her there.

(My family with Mamaw on her 99th birthday)

" O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" ~1 Cor. 15:55

From reading this morning...

We would be better Christians if we spent more time alone, and we would actually accomplish more if we attempted less and spent more time in isolation and quiet waiting upon God. The world has become too much a part of us, and we are afflicted with the idea that we aren't accomplishing anything unless we are always busily running back and forth. We no longer believe in the importance of a calm retreat where we sit silently in the shade. As the people of God, we have become entirely too practical. We believe in having "all our irons in the fire" and that all the time we spend away from the anvil or fire is wasted time. Yet our time is never more profitably spent than when looking up to heaven. We can never have too many of these open spaces in life- hours set aside when our soul is completely open and accessible to any heavenly thought or influence that God may be pleased to send or way. Someone once said, "Meditation is the Sunday of the mind." In these hectic days, we sould often give our mind a "Sunday," a time in which it will do no work but instead will simply be still, look heavenward, and spread itself before the Lord like Gideon's fleece, allowing itself to be soaked with the moisture of the dew of heaven. We should have intervals of time when we do nothing, think nothing, and plan nothing but simply lie on the green lap of nature and "rest a while."

Time spent in this way is not lost time. 

~Streams in the Desert

For Dym

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." Prov. 27:17

It's not often one of my own images intrigues me so...

...and I wonder why fog has such a pull on me...a longing to see what is hidden by the veil of mist, to know what is behind the curtain just out of reach...to see the source of the haunting music...a drawing to follow the Piper into the unknown...

"The Piper is coming nearer," he said, "he is nearer than he was that evening when I saw him before. His long, shadowy cloak is blowing around him. He pipes-he pipes-and we must follow...round and round the world. Listen-listen-can't you hear his wild music?"  ~Rainbow Valley

Raincatcher

It's raining.

It's been a long time since the tears of heaven have washed the dust of earth.

I always loved the short summer showers. The refreshing massage of moisture into the thirsty soil. Those times when the slow, steady rhythm would commence and convince the world that it was always so, only to abruptly stop before we could question why it came.

But the winter rains - the harsh, beating, driving rain that cuts through to your heart - the storms that never stop. Those drenching, depressing, never ending deluges of precipitation that can never make up its mind as to what form it wishes to manifest.

I think of the rains and see my ungratefulness. How I only wish for the warm summer rains. The peace. How when the dark storms come I long for something better.

And it's the same with life.

I want the gentle, growing, refreshment. I forget that the storms are what carve beauty into mountains. That trying times are what makes me more like Him.

When will I learn to catch the rain with empty hands?

I want to be a vessel that receives what the Gardener and Sculptor has seen fit to give. To desire to be grown, but also willing to be beaten down by storms. To see the gifts as what they are.

Children see the gifts. In any weather they'll run into the rain, catching liquid with their mouths, hands, empty glasses held high. An umbrella is simply a larger vessel to use, not a shield from the elements.

So I purpose to be grateful. To receive the gifts, and to catch the rain with empty hands.

A few of Morgan's bridal portraits

Due to request, here's a few of Morgan's bridal portraits. Morgan has been like a big sister to me, and I was so excited to be able to share in this time in her life.

I'm so excited for you, Morgan! More bridal/wedding photos will come...soonish... :)

And then there were crickets

Some neighbors and friends have been out of town for the past week and I have been feeding their animals. Before they left, SA was giving me the rundown of everything to do when she mentioned that I would need  to pick up crickets for the bearded dragon. "Crickets? Are you serious?" I said. She was very serious; but, it wouldn't be a problem, because the people at the pet store would get them out and tie the bag shut. The bag would then stay shut until I had come back to the cage to let them out.

So, yesterday I got crickets. Thirty-one of them, to be exact. Then I left the crickets in my car in the parking garage and went into Starbucks to study for a few hours.

That bag that was supposed to stay shut? The one that the crickets wouldn't escape from? When I got back to my car, that bag was empty.

 Totally empty.

And 31 crickets were hopping around in my car. IN MY CAR! You must understand, dear reader, that I just don't do insects. Don't pick them up, don't let them touch me, don't like them, etc. And now, there were 31 crickets in my car just waiting to attack me.

About half an hour later, 27 of the crickets were hopping around in the parking garage.Yes, I counted. There were still 4 at large. On the way to pick up my brother from work I found Number 28. He was thrown out the window at a stoplight in Houston.

After dropping my brother off at his destination, I went back to the pet store to purchase more crickets. I had a rather lengthy conversation with the manager explaining that the crickets escaped and that they needed to give me 31 free crickets. He wasn't amused. I asked if there was a female manager that would be more sympathetic, and was laughed at. No, I would still have to purchase replacement crickets. So I did. But not before having them double bagged and fastened shut with 6 rubber bands.

Those crickets managed to stay bagged long enough to get them to their cage, where they await certain death from the bearded dragon for their unfortunate brothers' crimes. I also found Numbers 29 and 30 in my car this morning. Number 31 still hasn't been found. Hopefully either the pet store person was incorrect in his counting and there was only thirty crickets to begin with, or Number 31 managed to escape into the parking garage. I may never know.

I do know, however, that I will not be purchasing crickets again.

Never.

Graduation!

So, about a month ago, I graduated! I didn't post then, but figured late was better than never. :) I rarely knew where my camera was most of the time, because random other people were taking pictures for me. Here are a few of family and people that I graduated with...

The awesome people I had a party with!

Sister pic!

 After the graduation meeting/practice thing.

 On stage...

My cousin and I

 I suppose my mom thought that since she had a daughter graduating, she was graduating as well somehow.:)

 My brother practicing for graduation...or being a pirate? not sure.

The most logical thing in the world to do with the balloons that were on the table!

I have tons more pictures, but decided for time reasons (actually, because I didn' feel like uploading them all) to just include people that graduated with me and family. Hope y'all enjoyed looking!

I knew mopping was on my 'to do' list.

When I get in a hurry, I often forget important steps. Hence more work. But you know, sometimes you need to get things done and end up doing them without meaning to, and end up being very productive. For example, here's the steps to getting around to mopping the kitchen- even when you DON'T think you have time.
Step 1- Act like you're filling up a water bottle. Actually, fill it up.

Step 2- Screw the lid on. Just don't. Like, leave it so...(continue to next step)
Step 3- You pick up the water bottle (by the lid), actually only pick up the lid dropping the water bottle and spill a gallon of water on the kitchen floor.
Step 4- Mop it up. See, I told you you were being productive!

The only problem with this kind of productivity is, when I finish the task I didn't start out to do, I've forgotten the original task. The water bottle is still, as far as I know, downstairs on the kitchen counter.

A hope when things go wrong

So far today I've lost important papers, had my plans turned upside down, ran into a wall (yes, I did), hit my head really hard on a chair, and had a knife dropped on my foot. But...

"Surely there is a future, and [my] hope will not be cut off." :)

This will be a great day! :)