no problems

I saw a great shirt tonight. So great that I took a picture of it. "No boyfriend. No problems."

I have nothing against guys, but life is definitely easier without a boyfriend. I can focus on all my friends at the same time and give each of them equal amounts of time. I never have to go through the heartache of break-ups. High school is busy enough without having a special someone, and I so love just having all my guy friends be my friends. :-)

in the presence of my Lord

Tonight in teens, Nikki and I led a small group prayer/devotion time. Somehow during it we latched on to the topic of death. I told the girls that for a long time my biggest fear was being killed in a car crash or having to go through a lot of pain while dying. God has changed my perspective. He is helping me to look at everything from the most optimistic point of view. Death isn't anything for me to fear because the other side is the presence of my Lord! I can't wait! Today I read in Psalms 116:15, "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints," and I remembered 2 Corinthians 5:8 "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." While looking this up in the concordance, I learned that it really means, "We are cheerful, excited, and ready to be away from this aching world and into the glorious presence of our Savior."

My time to go obviously hasn't come yet, and that means that God still has a job for me here. He'll help me press on towards the mark, looking forward to the day when I will see Him! Just thinking about that day fills my heart with an indescribable peace and joy.

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

check out

http://www.peach-thereandbackagain.blogspot.com

little sparrow

Today while driving to lessons, I saw a little sparrow in the middle of the road. His wing had been crushed, and he could no longer fly. That little bird made me remember the following song and verses. If God doesn't fail to see when a little bird falls to the ground, He will most certainly see me when I am struggling. Just last night a friend and I were discussing how when we're going through hard times, it's hard to get our hearts to accept what our heads know. I am so thankful that God doesn't rely on my trust in Him for Him to help me. He is my constant Friend and is always there for me. He never fails to pull me through cloudy times and to take all of my doubts away.

His Eye is On the Sparrow
(1) Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

(Refrain) I sing because I’m happy,
I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

(2) “Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

(3) Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Matthew 10:29-31 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

thoughts of the day...

Today I charred my hair. Yes, seriously. I was lighting the grill, so I turned the gas on and stuck the lighter in. And like most lighters, the crazy thing wouldn't light, so I pulled it out, lit it, and stuck it back in the grill. Slight problem here...I forgot to turn off the gas. The whole, invisible gas cloud caught fire with a "bwoomph", and flew right into my face. I am so thankful that God is the God of protection. He had me standing there, half-way bent over by the side of the grill trying to see if it would light, so that the cloud of flames mostly went above my head only hitting my forehead and the front/top of my hair. He also had me wear my glasses today instead of my contacts which could have melted to my eye during something like that. The only damage done is burnt hair that is only visible when I pull my hair back and a slight feeling of sunburn on my forehead. I am so, so thankful for God's protection.

My grandma's birthday is tomorrow, so we had her, my grandpa, and my great-grandma over for dinner. I (yes, I as a girl) grilled T-bone steaks. I also made my strawberry-almond pie and whipped up a triple batch of my 100% Southern biscuits.

Caution--deep thoughts ahead.

Today while I was grilling, I was talking to my dad. We were discussing how there is so much carnality in Christians today, how it is becoming the norm. I can't help but think about a good friend of mine who grew up in a Christian home but worked in a secular environment. He told me that he was so excited to get to the Christian college that God had allowed him to get into. He was excited about the further education, and the opportunities, but he was most excited about being surrounded by godly, servants of Christ. During the first two weeks on campus, things seemed that way, but as he got to know people better, he realized that the majority of the students were only different from his secular co-workers in one way--they called themselves Christians. But they watched the same movies, discussed the same things, and lived just as impure lives, but of course its ok, because it is under the guise of "Christianhood." (Take that last phrase as sarcasm.) Why do many Christians live that way? Why do they dabble in sin and think it's cool? Why do we forget what Christ did for us so that we could say "no" to sin and be have a conscious clear enough so that we can walk close to Him? I pray that God will convict me of any sins that are keeping me from being close to Him, and that He won't allow me to get caught up in the carnal Christianity that is so prevalent today.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?...For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

volleyball and new thoughts

Today was a great day! Church was wonderful, and I got a chance to give the Gospel to one of the little primaries. We were working on his memory verse, and through that, I was able to tell him how Jesus died on the cross and came back from the dead just for him. And how he could live in Heaven forever with Jesus by asking Jesus to save him. It was definitely a seed planted.

This afternoon I went to a birthday party for Alessa. We started the party off by playing volleyball, which is so not my sport. I just play it for entertainment--that is, the entertainment of the people playing with me. Lol. After that we had a cook out, and talked and talked and talked...

I also was introduced to a new concept. The thought that Scripture memory should be like my music memory--where I spend so much time listening to it, and practicing it, and having it play through my head that it just becomes memorized. I'm not saying that I'm going to quit spending set aside time working on my memory passages, but I am going to try to meditate more on specific verses that God brings to me in my devotions, meditating on the verses so frequently that they become a part of me. Back to work goes the little marker board hanging on my desk......

Psalms 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

hiho, hiho, into blogland i go

Ok, Ok, I know the title is really lame, but I felt like naming it that.

Today Nikki and I went shopping to celebrate our birthdays (two and four months late). We both picked out graduation dresses, but for the life of us, we could not find matching shoes even after scouring 11 stores!!!! If we found some that we liked, the store didn't have the right size or a pair cost as much as the dress. You'd think that somewhere in that crazy metropolis we'd be able to find shoes. I guess today was not a predestined new shoes day....

We also went to Olive Garden for lunch. Nikki had never been there before. We both had chicken scampi (my favorite entree), and their wonderful salad with the fresh Parmesan cheese (Yes, I have to agree with Josh. Cheese makes everything better.), and their special Italian dressing. Oh, and breadsticks. Olive Garden has really good breadsticks.

This weekend, we have been doing a lot of practicing for a wedding next Saturday in the big city. In my past five years experience of playing for weddings, I have learned a couple things. To name a couple...(1) Canon is most annoying and overused wedding song. (2) If you're playing outside in the country on a windy day, take 4 extra people to hold your music on your stand. (3) Plan lots of extra music in case the pastor is a couple hours late.

Enough random, nonuseful information for tonight.

this made me cry

For those of you who were praying about what I should do with my life....I think that God gave me an answer. This poem was written for me by one of my students, and it made me cry. God has really blessed me with being able to teach students and to learn from them.

To My First Violin Teacher

It all began when I was almost six,

The violin I did desire to play.

My parents said to wait a year

To see if the feeling went away.

Next year I wanted to play so bad.

Little did I know I'd have to practice a ton.

My parents admonished me I must not quit

If at once I had begun.

Poor Kayty, you had to bear

My squeaky, sour notes and also

Daydreaming and looking in the mirror.

Watch our for my, oops .... bow.

However, I had to "endure" some things too,

Such as, "Play it again, just one more time."

"Okay, this is the last time, I promise you."

And bright colors, hot pink, yellow, lime.

Kayty, you've been my teacher for those six years.

You are the best violin teacher ever,

But now you are going away to college.

I will never find a teacher like you, never.

-A.G.-

coincident or what?!?!?!

Today I got my third test grade back from my History of Civilization correspondence class. I was very happy with my grade, but was amazed. Every test that I have taken this semester I have gotten the exact same score. Not like letter grade, but exact same number score! 66/80! B+ all the way. I just thought that was very weird. Maybe the test that I took today will break the trend with an A. :-)

I had a funny memory yesterday, but yesterday's post was too sad to include this. Our youth group took a mission trip to Yeddo, IN to help with a VBS. One night we had a bonfire, and to further entertain ourselves, we played "Honey, If Ya Love Me..." World's best game. For those of you who have never played, everyone sits in a circle, and then a guy attempts to seduce a girl into smiling by saying "Honey, if you love me, please smile." (They can also ad lib.) The girl then replies (without smiling or she has to pop the question to a guy), "Honey, I love you, but I just can't smile." Anyway, game described, I'll finish my story. I was doing really well. I don't think that anyone had pulled a smile out of me yet. Then Blake comes up to me, sits down and says, "Honey, I love you, and I wish we could make things work between us. But, let's face it...................................You laugh like a donkey." Oh my goodness. I think I died laughing only to be resuscitated by a smore. I will never, ever forget that.

Now to close with a piece of advice from Shannon. While on vacation, she summed everything that she said up with, "Never swallow a hot noodle." Recently she has turned it into a limerick.

There once was a noodle with cheese,
That went down my throat with ease,
But, my, was it hot.
It burned quite a lot.
As the noodle went down with the cheese.

memories....

Today one of my violin students gave me a tulip. As I was walking home carrying the little flower in a red plastic cup, I realized just how much I am going to miss each of my students when I leave. I started teaching 8 years ago; I was ten, and Kayla was 6. Now I'm 18 and she's 14, and we still work together every Monday. Over those years I've had 16 students, 11 of whom are still with me. They are more than students to me; they're my friends and little encouragers (although at times I might call some little devils. :-) I'm praying that when I leave they will be able to find a better and more inspiring teacher. God has never failed to provide teachers for me; He can do the same for each of my little violinists and pianists, my friends.

interior design feeling day

OK, so today, I really wish that I could major in Interior Design. I've actually been feeling that way for a while. But string perf. is definitely the more logical choice. I think that my college major decision would be a lot easier if the guy that I'm going to marry would just show up soon. My life pretty much relies on what he's going to do. Cause if God is going to have him minister in the States, I could do ID, but if He's going to take him to a foreign field, music would make a lot more sense. When it comes to what I love, I love Interior Design. I could spend hours on BHG Paint-A-Room, and when I'm somewhere and I'm bored, I mentally dissect rooms and overhaul them. I hate to practice. Blehk. I do love to perform, but to perform, I have to practice....So anyway that's what's going on in my small brain right now. If you read this, you might pray that God would give guidance over these next four months.

in memory of jack sparrow

According to Blake, Wednesday, April 19 is official pirate talk day. Just thought I'd let all of you who never read my blog anyway know that. The PCs (Partners-in-crime...my two middle sisters) already talk to each other in Pirate constantly quoting our favorite movie, which is probably pretty obvious...Pirates of the Carribean. So if you're a fan of Jack Sparrow or Will Turner or Elizabeth Swann, join in the fun.

easter rainbow

God sent a very cool Easter Rainbow to brighten a dreary day. The pictures do not do it justice, but they are still half-way cool. :-) Isn't our God an amazing artist?

utter randomness

I have no idea what I'm going to write...I just feel like writing. So for all you people who never read my blog anyway, here goes. :-)

You know, life is pretty interesting without a computer. I was not able to be on my computer (for undisclosed, restriction reasons) for a whole 3 days. I got a lot of things done--was able to write some papers, read some books, practice. I often wondered if I could survive one day with out my computer (not counting using it for my prayer time, scripture meditation, and Bible reading), and I found out I can!!! Pretty sweet. I'm not as addicted as I thought.

Random thought from moi. It's really hard to type with a band-aide over the top of your middle finger. I know this from personal experience.

I made strawberry-almond pie for Easter dinner today. I'm only halfway prejudiced, but it was REALLY good. I had two (small) pieces. Don't worrry...my diet, as usual, starts tomorrow.

Oh COOL news! I'm published. Well, kinda. My favorite blog, www.bjunewsletter.com , mentioned Yours Truly, Moi!!! Pretty exciting! Blake used my idea! And it came from my favorite movie! And Oh! I'm excited! Lol. The things we get excited about out here in the country.

So ending on a high note, have a great day and leave me a comment. I love comments.