Wednesday, October 15, 2008

feliz cumpleanos

My birthday was earlier this month and I am officially legal! whoohoo! You know how when you have a birthday EVERYONE asks you if you feel older? I have never felt older, usually most people this young don't. But this year I do! I feel pretty stinkin old. 18 is a big year, or so I'm told. I was talking to Scott via facebook chat the other day and we were evaluating the pros and cons of an 18th birthday. There really aren't too many pros as we discovered. You get to vote, and you can sign yourself out of school any time you want. The cons list however seems to be much more numerous. You can go to real, legit, martha stewart jail now, you are responsible for a lot more things now, like once you turn 18 you don't need a parent to sign anything for you leaving the responsibility of wise decisions up to me. But still, nothing too exciting comes with being 18, however I can get a tatoo on my own now! AND buy lottery tickets...whooo! I've heard the pick 3 is the way to go. I also have been planning with a dear friend to set up a library background in her living room, dress in oversized flannel vests and a pair of trousers, fake accents, and smoke a pipe for the first time. However, those plans seem to be falling through...hec hum.

I have always LOVED birthdays. And selfishly, especially my own. But suprisingly this year of all years I wasn't really too intense about it. No roller rink party this year! My birthday overall was fantastic though. I only go to school until lunchtime so that was excellent, and a friend of mine MADE me cookies!! ...not bought, MADE them! i know right? But thanks to facebook everyone can keep track of birthdays now, so all of my "happy birthday!" salutations at school was really nice too. Speaking of facebook, why is it a highlight of birthdays to see how many notifications you can get of a bunch of people saying the same thing? Because it's a self centered world, and we love to see how many people appreciate and love us. Mm hm. Maybe thats why it hurts so much when that one person mentions NOTHING about your birthday, because we feel like they're saying we have no value to them and that we aren't important enough for him to remember one day.

So my best friend threw me and Tom a surprise party last night!! I loooooooove love love love love surprises. Apparently there was a whole big plot that we were deceieived into with a mutual friend of ours tagging along for the ride to inform the party when we were coming. We were told it was a "halloween party" and it was, just with a surprise party mixed in! nice, right? check! I also feel that my awesome friend Sophie and I had the best costume of the century. We were homeschoolers. We wore these unfitted, shoulder padded, shin-length, up to the neck, little house on the prairie dresses, slicked our hair back tight with some nice bows, wore the ugliest shoes [that were strangely comfortable, go figure] and ruffled socks with our dress shoes. oh we were a sight. and we also were tied for most original/best costume! which was nice because we didn't get all frumpy for nothing! We continued to not only dress like homeschoolers but try to act like them at the party, we carried Bibles around and were going to stand off in the corner awkwardly at the beginning of the party. Not that I don't like homeschoolers, we both were actually homeschooled for a large majority of time. But we know the stereotype all too well and felt the need to convey and contrast it for everyone. I'm pretty sure we were the only ones who truly appreciated it. Eh, such is life.

Monday, October 6, 2008

It Is Well.



I am satisfied with what the world brings
I have made my mind to make my bed inside peace
I am satisfied with all this sky can bring
I have made my mind to live my life inside of peace


[Friends & Romans -- Move]



There is something peaceful about the sound of "tranquility" Peace is such an overused word, its reduced to a slogan, something known but not fully experienced. But since we have not overused the word tranquility, it sounds so appealing, so... peaceful.

God promises us "perfect peace," that is tranquility. But its important to note that perfect peace isn't a product that He offers, but a result. It is the result of a steadfast mind, a mind that COMPLETELY trusts God.

The better we focus our mind on God, the better we trust, the more we will experience the perfect peace that comes from God alone. This peace, or tranquility, passes all understanding. I don't think perfect peace is the result of God just removing all the chaos in our lives. Instead, it is the result of a mind that is focused solely on Him.


"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
1 peter 4:6-7