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.

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!

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 :)

Come, Ye Sinners

This is one of my all-time favorite hymns. I love Fernando Ortega's rendition with Amy Grant. It's beautiful. Here it is:

Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love and power.

I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior,
O there are ten thousand charms.

Come, ye thirsty, come, and welcome,
God's free bounty glorify;
True belief and true repentance,
Every grace that brings you nigh.

Come, ye weary, heavy-laden,
Lost and ruined by the fall;
If you tarry till you're better,
You will never come at all.

I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior,
O there are ten thousand charms.

View Him prostrate in the garden;
On the ground your Maker lies.
On the bloody tree behold Him;
Sinner, will this not suffice?

Lo! The incarnate God ascended,
Pleads the merit of His blood:
Venture on Him, venture wholly,
Let no other trust intrude.

I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior,
In the arms of my dear Savior,
In the arms of my dear Savior,
O there are ten thousand charms.

However, they left out one of my favorite verses:

Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel your need of Him.

How amazing is that? All we need to do is to know that we need Him. And, He is the one that gives us the grace to realize that! He does everything! I love believing in a Sovereign God and Saviour. :)

Silly siblings

This evening, my brother and sisters were helping me prepare the craft for my 2-year-old nursery class that I teach every other Friday. The theme this week is "Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?" and so we were tracing and cutting out little bears, little shirts, and little pants. Well, I messed up the eyes of one of the bears, but instead of tossing it, Keith and Erin decided to have some fun with it. Here's the sad result:

The bear on the left is the poor bear with the makeover, while the one on the right is what it should look like when my little nursery children finish their craft. Sunglasses, armpit hair, what was supposed to be a mohawk, eyebrows, and a barely visible belly button are the lovely additions that Erin and Keith came up with. In fact, worst of all of those, is one you can't see. A tiny "B" under the left armpit, and a tiny "O" under the right armpit. Nasty. They named him "Bob, the BO Bear. Yuck. And yes, they were nearly dying of laughter.

Alliteration

Keith, Amy, Erin, and I came up with this lovely alliteration this evening. Can you think of anything to add?

Because a big beautiful, blue, butterfly* bit me on the butt, my bitten bottom's big, bruised, blistered, and burns bad when I sit on the beach watching belugas blow and bouyant, burly, boats battle on the bays of Brazil.

Can you guess the letter we repeated? Try reading it out loud. It sounds funnier. :)


*Yeah, not sure the last time a butterfly bit someone's behind, but it made for a sillier sentence. See, it's addictive! I can't stop!