¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo, Amigos!

Oh wow, stop the presses, I'm writing! Er, wait, does that mean I should say "start the presses"? idk.

My life for the last bit has been fairly routine. Work, church, crashing at home. Maybe reading some Shakespeare when I feel like it. Oh, geez, Hamlet is due tomorrow...better finish it tonight hehe. It's really really awesome. I would love to go see the actual play sometime.

Speaking of shows (although of an altogether different sort), I am going to a Relient K concert on May 30 at the Wonder Ballroom. I don't think you really realize how much fun that will be for me. I have been into this band since I was a preteen, and now I'm going to get to see them live. I know I know, it's just a show, not like meeting them or anything. But to me it IS a big deal. And some good friends of mine are going to go with me, so it'll be a fun evening.

Paul and Ethan are coming home from college soon! For Paul it's just a visit, but Ethan will be here all summer. :) I hope that there's some overlap time in my and Ethan's Home Depot jobs...that would be so fun to work with him. Although I think I'm starting to get a little more comfortable talking to the other people working there...I'm not really used to being the "new" person somewhere. Usually it's "new" people that come to my church, so it's tougher this way. But guess what: God threw open the door for me to give these people some WORD. lol but seriously, it's true! It's not all the time that someone hears you're a Christian, so they say to you, "I'm open to talking about that." I am so excited but so scared! I'm not a strong person, so being the one who is supposed to know the answers is intimidating. But I'm praying, and I would be thankful if you would too.

Steps for Life is coming up fast. I hope you can be there, whoever is reading this! I am so thankful that I got that whole day off work. It is so important to me to be there, since not enough pro-life people go each year. That is starting to bother me rather seriously. Pastor's right: how many people went to Luis Palau's big party? Thousands. How many go each year to the Walk for Life? A few hundred. What is wrong with our brains....

I don't know if you've heard of the fashion designer Christa Taylor. She's a Christian who designs and sells modest, beautiful clothing for women online. She also has a blog that talks about fashion, current stuff going on, and moral issues. I saw her at the Steps for Life last year (I didn't introduce myself because I wasn't sure it was her), but I found out that she's going again this year. Soooo I sent her an e-mail asking if she would maybe do a post on her blog talking about the PRC and the upcoming walk. She wrote back about three days later saying that "it couldn't hurt!" I was very happy! idk how many readers she has in this region, but maybe God will use it somehow. Either way, I'll be happy to meet her at the walk!

Campout 2008

Learning about the glories of heaven.
Drawing close to God.
Drawing close to God's people, my real family.
Lying on the docks, having good conversations.
Eating marshalades and throwing them.
Seeing the Predmores.
Singing to the Lord in the kitchen.
Calling Melinda all kinds of weird names.
Hiking up an easy hike...that practically killed me.
Boating across the lake with amazingly cool people.
Eating my mom's world-famous food.
Helping my mom cook that world-famous food.
Playing "Down by the Banks" and not feeling stupid about it.
Being silly.
Being serious.
Looking at my future with fear and happiness.
Seeing Vengeance Creek.
Trying ping pong and not caring that I FAILED.
Watching a new sport be invented (Ultimate Ping Pong!!!)
Hugging people.
Learning to trust God more than ever.
Watching four precious saints be baptized in the lake.
Crying for joy with them.
Remembering and missing Grandpa Bob.
Laughing at the cheesy and marvelous slideshow.
Counting the times people said, "It's cold out here."
Wearing the dorky life jackets.
Being honest with people who care about me.
Learning new things about myself.
Wondering about other people.
Loving and being loved.

My heart is full and yearns for heaven. But while I'm here, it soars to be with the church family that I love more than words can say. ♥

Rips in the Wings

Short post today.

I feel simultaneously secure, comfortable...and jittery, unsure. Not a good feeling. Don't even ask; it's one of those strange Emily schizophrenic moments that makes me want to hurt myself. I have been getting a little less confident about things lately. Everything from my walk with God to my likeability to my friendships to my looks to my family to--well I just have been having a lot of stupid doubts.

I'm reading the Randy Alcorn book Heaven. It was assigned to me by my mom, but I think I'm really going to enjoy it. He obviously can't possibly know all about heaven, but at least I know he truly searched the Word and has come to his conclusions with prayer and faithfulness.

Sometimes I guess we get caught up in living for God here (which is what we're supposed to do!) that we forget: every believer gets to spend all of ETERNITY worshiping God, loving Him, and communing with him--with all other believers from all time! What a gift the Lord has in store for us!

I did a computer test thingy--I entered my photo into a program to see what "celebrity" I look like. I did it with a few other girlfriends too. Michelle, Megan, and Danna. They ALL came out as looking like gorgeous, glamorous movie star ladies. I came out as Bill Gates. Typical. :'(

So I just got my ear pierced on the left side yesterday. Bishelly came with and we had fun. It looks pretty good too. Next one is possibly going to be a little hoop in the side of the ear. But I don't know yet. Maybe a little nose stud? When I get older, I'm almost definitely getting a tattoo on my ankle. None of these things have been okay'd by my parents...yet. They may change their minds yet. ;)

Mom and Lily did the first campout shopping today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (that's 23 exclamation points) That's exciting!!!

I think I'll end every post with a verse reference. But I'll just do the reference (it'll make you guys look it up yourselves haha) So go read...James 1:2-7. idk I just really love everything in James.

Weekend makes for very good times

So this weekend I had fun. On Saturday, we went to Blue Moon for breakfast with Aunt Lori, Mrs. Parks, and Michelle. Michelle and I completely BORED Lily to tears with talk about lots of girly stuff.
After a lovely breakfast of salsa omelette and hash browns, we stole Michelle and went to a camping/hanging out...sort of place for the afternoon. The Loynes' were there, but Megan was working so basically it was me and Bichelle with much more mah-velous GIRL talk. Lots and lots. We also waded in the creek and I found a heart-shaped rock! It's in my room now. Not sure what I'll do with it yet.
So when it was time to take Michelle home, we finagled to let me spend the night at her house, which is ALWAYS so much fun!!! We went over to their friends' house for a barbecue. I had a blast because the two little kids there have tons of wicked awesome Star Wars stuff. They actually had a classic Lando action figure with his original Jabba's palace helmet! So basically the evening was Parker and Noah (the two kids) showing me all their cool Star Wars stuff, while Michelle and Jordan made fun of me and called me a geek. Good times...
So Marinda brought her car, and she took Shelly and I to Hollywood Video. We rented a movie and Michelle bought four.
Then we went back to her house and watched Much Ado about Nothing, my favorite Shakespeare play! Michelle and Jordan went downstairs and watched The Pink Panther...I guess they can't handle Benedick's witty contemplations or Hero's tragic misfortune. But I loooooved it!!! Beatrice is my favorite character, and it's a rare thing when my favorite person in a movie is a girl.
So the next day was church obviously. Yeah and we did Communion cooking too. Not much to report there, except that I think we did it in record time! We even had time to rush over to Macy's and try on some crazy cool outfits! It was really fun, my girlfriends are so purty-ful in fancy dresses. (I looked rather out of place in a formal gown, lol)
Sooooo then there was Communion, a beautiful time of course. Except for Megan's "soft feet" comment! haha!
Robyn's coming over for lunch, so I gots to get working on that. Oh geez she'll be here in half an hour. Crap I'm gonna be so rushed!!!! Gotta go!

Spike on the Chart of Boredom...

Today was a mildly boring day, except for one interesting event. My mom and I were at Freddy's, and went to buy some Starbucks. We got our Starbucks and sat down at the tables with our lunch. I said grace over the meal and prayed for the evangelists downtown. When we said, "Amen," the girl at the next table said "Amen!" with us! She asked what church we go to and told us her church. We invited her to have lunch with us and so she pulled up a chair at our table.
We talked about stuff; it seemed like she was sort of a friendship evangelist type, or maybe she was just speaking vaguely.
A friend of hers arrived and pulled up a chair. Mom gave him some of our lunch, and he joined the convo. It was pretty neat. Only, I think they need prayer; the guy was not a Christian (my mom witnessed to him), and the girl--Brittany was her name--didn't seem to be being too careful about keeping company with a nonbeliever (especially an attractive single guy, that's pretty dangerous ground). So I just hope that she will be stronger in her faith, and he'll come to the truth.

The rest of the day was blah. Dad went shooting, Lily went to see Prince Caspian, and I bought a new purse. Ho-hum...

Chekt

So yeah church seemed extra cool today. I teared up during the sermon. When Pastor was talking about the disciples question to Jesus--"Who will be greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"--he said that their question should have been, "Do we really get to be in heaven? With God? Me, a vile sinner?" And it just hit me that I, wicked sinner, will be in heaven! With God Almighty! Jesus has taken all my awful, disgusting sins and allowed me to be with Him forever! I couldn't help it. I wept right there.

Lunch tasted good afterwards because we went to Panda Express. And everyone knows that Panda Express tastes better than pretty much any other fast food. I even tried something new today and skipped Orange Chicken!

My cat is sleeping on a pillow next to me. Ok now I picked her up and stuck her on my lap. She's complaining, but not moving away. Cats are pretty cool. It's cloudy outside and that is the one sucky thing I can think of right now. My grandma is shuffling around the house behind me; it's kinda creepy sometimes because she looks a little like a ghost. But at least she's a sweet granny ghost.

I think Mom and Dad are taking naps. Lily's at Mikhaila's house. *gasp* I just heard speaking! That means my Mom is up! She's grumbling. I think she's frustrated because the bathroom door is stuck.

But I'm Right Here, Don't Leave Me!

Yes, I live!!! I doubt that this will be read since I haven't posted in almost a month...sorry. I've just been busy! Sort of...and a lot happened. And yeah, I just spaced.

Blogs are ironic. You post every day, thinking, "Dang, I wish I had something really interesting to say!" and fill up a couple paragraphs with random junk. Then something major happens in life, something that's never happened before. And you just don't have time or inclination to write about it because it's thrown such a hitch in your life! Eh.

Well, about this HUGE thing that happened and threw my whole existence out of whack for the past two or three weeks...I can't tell you. Yes, I'm cruel. But I'm also not a gossip.

But there's a moral to every story, right? The moral to The Secret that Nobody Knows is that when life hits ya hard, rely on God. Sounds like something your pastor's told you for forever, right? Me too. But I never really understood how IMPORTANT it is until now. You can be the most self-reliant, I-got-it-figured-out person in the world. But something will happen that you didn't expect. It will, I'm not kidding you here. And when that happens, you'll feel very small. And God will show how BIG He is!

Crying
by Emily

Life is but a dream, a dream
That passes in and out
Through waves of whisper and of scream
In its ship is tossed about.

Life is but to sleep, to sleep
And hope to one day wake
From never-ending wail and weep
Watching for dawn to break.

And in one one moment of blissful sun
Our Creator shines His grace
On me, a wretched, selfish one
And clouds flee from my face.

Life is sweet, o precious sweet
Each moment alive and strong
I feel my thrilling heart to beat
To the notes of my Maker's song.

okay, here's my first experience on the dunes, to the best of my memory. i'm not going to put a detailed account of what all happened and in what order; i want this to be more of a telling of how it felt.

the first time i went out on the dunes, i rode behind my best friend, megan. sitting on the three-wheeler at our campsite, her dad gave us a quick rundown of what we were supposed to do. "stay with us until we get out to the dunes. don't go too fast on turns. if you get stuck, call me for help." i figured that megan had heard it all before, but she listened carefully anyway. maybe it was just part of the ATV experience. so her uncle started up the engine of each rig, and we rode through the camp towards the dunes. every person we passed nodded or waved at us. it seemed to me that they all had the same feeling that we did, because, after all we were all there for the same reason. the feeling that everything here is so simple, so easy. you're here for one reason, to ride. those simple gestures of friendliness probably made the most difference in getting me relaxed and ready for the dunes.
when we arrived at the dunes themselves, the first thing i noticed about it was how...ready it was. it was ready for us. ready for us to zoom around on it. ready for me to get used to riding, and ready to get the others in their groove. on a hill of sand, you could ride up to the top and glimpse the ocean, or you could ride down to the bottom and feel the shade of the trees. i knew that God had made this place. the mere arrangement of it all proved, to me at least, that He wanted us to have a good time. so we rode on the hill for a while. then megan's dad told us that we were all going up to the top. he said that it would be easier riding up there. as megan gained speed up the hill, i panicked. my breath came in short gasps. my brain wasn't working. i was extremely tense. she rode faster, faster up the hill. at the top, there was a barrier of trees, with small, single file roads between them. we went in and we were swallowed into the narrow pathways between the trees. it seemed as though we would be riding through these trees forever. turn left, turn right, we were still in it. it went on forever. but it didn't go on forever. we rode through the trees, making turns often, ducking low branches, and then-
Bam.
we were out on a flat plane, as far as i could see. soft sand rolling on and on. the whole world seemed to be an open savannah, ready for us to play on. and i got this feeling, like...everything's cool. each thought that passed through my mind seemed infinitely okay. wherever i was in life, geographically, emotionally, or in time, it was the perfect place. i didn't want anything to be any different. not with my family life, my age, or anything. everything seemed alright.
i got to drive on the dunes myself, too. i don't know, but there's something about tearing up a huge area of sand that gives you the feeling of unlimited power.
and the beach...now there's a rush. the water licking at your tires, but never quite reaching it...the smooth, wet sand, just waiting for you to break the speed limit and get your heart pounding. and the sun, slowly fading into a pink and orange explosion as it vanished below the horizon. i could almost feel the ocean and the clouds watching me, to see if i fit into this world of revving engines and rushing speed. i think i passed their watchful test.
i think that it was a different person in me that returned from the dunes that night. it was a person who was satisfied. a person who knew more about the good life than she did only a few hours before.
the next time i went out, do you think that i felt the same exhileration? you bet i did. but did i get that same feeling of absolute cool? no, not really. i don't think that i'll ever get that again. but i'll never forget how it felt to be there, not just there physically, but to be THERE. do you get what i'm saying? maybe not. maybe i shouldn't have even said all this. but i wanted it written down somewhere, and so i guess that here is okay.