Friday, January 22, 2010

Extraordinary disappointment...

Well, I'm sick.

Yesterday, I was supposed to go to one of my best friend's house for a double sleepover and the long anticipated (by us) premiere of the movie Extraordinary Measures. But, I woke up feeling cranky and tired and terrible. And I knew that would be a rotten way to spend a double sleepover. Plus, I would hate to give my friend or any of her many little brothers and sisters my sickness.

So, I cried as my mom called her mom to say that I wouldn't be able to come. I was nearly heartbroken. I just couldn't understand why God would have me get sick at the exact time that I wanted nothing more than to hang out with my dear, dear friend. Why, after we had both been praying that nothing would go wrong, did He see fit for me to come down violently with a virus?

All I could do was think about the verses in the Bible that talk about God's love and Providence. I believe that God is Sovereign over everything. Everything? Even sickness? Even death? Even movie premieres and double sleepovers and teenage girls? Yes. EVERYTHING.

The following verse gave me comfort:

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

The truth is, I still don't know why it was good and better for me to have gotten sick than to have gone to my friend's house. But I do know that it WAS what was GOOD and BEST. Because I am a child of God, and He works all things together for the good--the further sanctification--of His children. Even if it's hard or difficult. What an incredible thing! What an incredible promise! Who is like our God? NO ONE! He is the best, most loving Father that will do what is best for His children, no matter what.

So anyway. Please join me in loving Him more and more every day!

Here is one way that He has blessed me during this awful virus:

Has anyone heard of Watch It Now on Netflix? Well, it's something where you are able to watch select movies and T.V. shows on your computer right from their website. Anyway, as I was looking for something to watch, I stumbled upon a FANTASTIC version of Jane Eyre. It was a 1983 version starring Zelah Clarke and Timothy Dalton as Jane and Mr. Rochester, respectively. They were phenomenal! I was enchanted for nearly 5 hours!

Also, I am in the midst of reading Sense and Sensibility, as I've stated before, so I've decided to put up a poll. Who is your favorite male lead in this novel? I plan to do more polls like this in the future, and I thought this would be a fun one to start out. Please vote for your favorite and then leave a comment with who you voted for and why!

Okay, I should get to bed...just one more thing. I wanted to let y'all know that I actually and genuinely enjoyed myself at Driver's Ed! My teacher is very fun and nice (he actually remembered my older sister and said that I look just like her!). There are a couple kids that I know that are in the class, one being a girl that I knew a while back but had fallen out of touch with. She's super nice and I went up to her and asked to sit by her. So now, I'm not stressed in the least. Praise the Lord!

p.s. I apologize for any grammatically incorrect sentences or misspellings--I'm exhausted and sick at the moment ;)

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The time has come

(How's that for a better title?)

Well, here I am, at 6:47 in the morning, showered and dressed. What's that? Why am I awake right now instead of sleeping in my soft, warm bed? The answer is simple. Driver's ed.

Yes, starting at 8 o'clock this morning, I will begin learning all of the facts necessary for driving. I'm taking a class that is on Wednesday mornings for 15 weeks. I am insanely nervous.

Not really, it's just fun to say. I am a little nervous, but who wouldn't be?

So anyway, I hope I survive this class so I can come home and tell you all about it. :) I'll try to post later today, if not later this week.

p.s. any prayers would be appreciated ;)

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Owl City

Okay, all of my post titles are really lame. No ingenuity whatsoever. I'll have to work on that. Anyway...

Has anyone heard of Owl City/Adam Young? He's a guy from a just an hour south of where I live. As the story goes, he started making music on the computer in his parents' basement in the middle of the night as a result of insomnia. Some of my friends really liked him and so I thought I'd look him up. I really liked what I heard, and Amazon was selling his new cd (a download, like iTunes for people like me that don't have real iPods) for $6, so I bought it. I LOVE IT! The songs are super sweet and happy. You have to come over so I can play them for you. Well, I guess you might not like it unless you are like me and don't mind a little cheesiness for the sake of utter sweetness and cuteness! I listen to it while I do Algebra 2 and my lit. study guides. The songs make me so happy. Even my mom likes him!

And on top of all of that awesomeness...he's a Christian! I don't have a twitter account, but I saw on his website a tweet that was talking about glorifying Christ Jesus. Actually, he's been to my church and he really likes my pastor. Well, our church is split into three campuses, so he's been to the southern-most one, but it still counts, right? :)

So, now I'm jealous of my friends who first told me about him because they are going to one of his concerts in May. How cool is that?!?!

Anyway, you should listen to him and let me know what you think! And if you've already been exposed to this happiness, tell me your favorite songs. My favorite by far is Vanilla Twilight. So. Stinkin'. Sweet.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Sense and Sensibility

Well, so far for my book group I've read: Wuthering Heights, The Three Musketeers, and Frankenstein and now it's on to Sense and Sensibility. I'm very happy about this selection, as you may have guessed :). I love both movie versions that I've seen and I've started the book more than once but I have never finished it. Part of what I love about having a book group is that you have to finish. And it's fun, too! Trying to figure out what other people will think, mentally "bookmarking" an especially touching moment so that you can share it with a group, and, well, just talking about any book makes it so much better and more in depth. Speaking of which, I have yet to read more than half of this week's assignment, so I'd better get off of Blogger and get into the world of the Dashwood sisters, Colonel Brandon, Willoughby, and Edward Ferrars. Farewell!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Amy has a blog!

My sister Amy now has a blog, at www.hehassavedme.blogspot.com. The name of her blog is "Coming to Jesus". She's only 9, so I don't expect her posts to be very regular, but they are so sweet when they come that I thought it might be worth it for you to become a follower. :)

I'm so sorry...

...that I haven't posted in so long!!! The holidays etc. had totally taken over my life, but now that we are starting school again (well, we will on Monday) I'm hoping to take over the reigns again. Hopefully this will mean that my New Year's resolutions will be able to actually happen. Here they are:

1. Personal daily devotions in the morning (I am reading through the New Testament at night, but I think it would be best to start my day in the Word. I'm also hoping to start journaling more.)
2. Blogging more often (at least 2-3 times per week, hopefully even more)
3. Exercise and drink lots of water! (Ideally, I'd like to exercise every school day, but I'd be happy if I did Mon-Wed-Fri faithfully!)

Well, I'm hoping to post more about each holiday soon, (and maybe even with pictures!) but I don't have the time right now. I'll just say that my family had a wonderful, peaceful holiday season, remembering Jesus throughout the precious time :)