Nothing fits like an old pair of jeans, so why do we toss out all of the other "olds" in our lives??

      Life is not a popularity contest, so why do I feel like I am losing? I am 22 years old, and tonight I broke down. It dawned on me that in a lot of areas of my life I am the "old news". The new comes in and the old is just "there". And I found out that being the "old news" to people hurts. It is like having a reliable friend, and you know that they are always going to be there for you through thick and thin, and so you tend to forget about them and their feelings. Until that one day that you need someone and no one is there for you, EXCEPT your old friend. Then you finally see the value that they are to you.
     I feel invisible a lot of the time, and it really does do damage on your soul. After my break down, I got to have some alone time and think. To me a lot of the time, God is the "old news". God is there ALWAYS, and I take him for granted. I forget about Him so much of the time, because "new things" pop in to my life, and they are more exciting than trusty ol' God. I tend to lose the value of Him in my own mind and place that value on other people and things. And I cannot imagine how He feels. If I feel this upset and insecure about feeling like the "old news", how much more does God feel? He loves me SO much more than anyone has ever loved me, or that I have ever loved anyone else. So to ditch him THAT MUCH of the time... goodness.
     My prayer for myself is that I can stop giving God a downgrade and place Him where He belongs, all of the time. That is my prayer for you as well.

Also, think about the people in your life now. Who have you taken for granted lately? Who have you tossed aside as your "old news"?

valentine's day...

     So many people hate Valentine's Day. As for me, I love it! Not for the flowers, chocolate, presents, etc, because in all honesty that is not my favorite part. For me, my love of Valentine's day comes because to me it is an excuse to magnify your expression of love for the person that you love.
     Last night's Valentine's Day was amazing!! I went to Andrew's house at 7 and he had a whole spread of food out and he was chopping away. My Valentine's day consisted of being cooked a totally amazing dinner that included shrimp scampi ( one of my FAVORITES!! ), Seared and baked chicken with ginger, garlic, onions and yellow and orange peppers  ( also my FAVORITES!! ), asparagus ( yes another Favorite ) and rosemary and garlic mashed potatoes ( which I had never had before! ). Then he got me some Milano Chocolate Melt cookies because I am always wanting some chocolate. On top of that the table was set nice with a single rose and a card that he made with an amazing bottle of wine! I mean COME ON that is amazing.
     These things are not out of the ordinary for Andrew. In fact last week he brought me a bouquet of daisies', tiger lilies and mums. He always loves to cook for/with me. And he loves to randomly write me an amazing note just to make me feel special. But it was Valentine's Day so he amped it up! THAT is why I love Valentine's Day. I totally disagree with the notion that it is the ONE day out of the whole year that you do something special for the one you love. To me that is bogus. You should treat every day like it is "Valentine's Day" when it comes to the person you love ( my mom and dad have always told me that, and I totally agree!).

      Sorry if this post came off as " ANDREW ROCKS! LOOK!" hahaha But when I think of loving someone I think of him, and I think he loves me so well!

what's love got to do with it??

         What is my youth group up to now a days? Well, we are tackling the topic of loooove. Here is an awesome video put together by Rob Major with a top ten song as the lyrics. Is this what we all hear day in and day out, and what is poisoning our minds.
         I hope that you are set back a little bit with the actual words and meanings of these words, all claiming to be singing about love, but when I really PAY ATTENTION to the words I hear lines like: " Girl drop it to the floor, I love the way your booty go" and " SO put it on me, lets move the space between me and you, now rock your body" and "They turn me on when they take it off"... I mean really?? If that is love, I don't want it.
       Love is so much more. When I think of someone I love, I think of Andrew. Someone who makes me strive to be the best version of ME that GOD created me to be. Someone that I can show the love of God BETTER with. Someone who loves me for ME. Someone who respects me. Who provides for me in every way he can. He makes me FEEL beautiful, and I mean I ACTUALLY FEEL beautiful! He CARES about me and my feelings. He does not think that my "problems" are small, he works with me through them. He will do anything for me. He treats me like a DAUGHTER of God!! SO SO SO much more.
    
          Now write me a song about that.

 Here is the video....

"knit picking"

     How many times in a day do you over evaluate someone or something in your life? In my personal evaluation of my life and of the people and places around me, over evaluation and then ultimately dissatisfaction plagues us.

     Take a look at the church. At Passion, Francis Chan, talked about how in America everyone "church shops", we go from church to church when we have even the slightest hint of dissatisfaction with the music, pastor, people, child care, etc. We do not simply soak in the word of God and view it as mighty, powerful and life changing. We judge and scrutinize so much and are left with a feeling of disappointment.

    In my Art History class I have found out that being an art historian is all about over analyzation and scrutiny of the piece of art. I see the piece of work and I am amazed at the talent, but without skipping a beat my professor picks the piece of art apart. It is no longer an amazing interpretation of someone else's mind and imagination, but it turns into a piece of art that is wrong, that was not painted correctly, a mistake is "here" and that woman in the photo is not the ideal woman like it should be, etc. It takes all of the excitement and whimsical elements out of the art. There are art historian scholars that argue and debate over the art work, in every way possible, and I do not get it. I wish we could view it as an amazing and wonderful expression of another human being. God gave that person the talent and the imagination to paint that work of art, we should appreciate it.

    I have found myself lately "knit picking" a lot more lately and it is killing me. I do not know what has caused me to feel the need to look at the most minuet details of life and compare and contrast, but I need to figure it out soon. Comparison is the evil in my life that drags me down. What is dragging you down today?

the gift of time.

      I am babysitting over night for 4 days straight this week. Me and 3 kids, and the amazing Olivia Edwards is over with us too!! If I have learned anything this week, it is that someone just BEING with you means the world. I find my greatest joys and pleasures in the gift of pure TIME with someone. Olivia has been such an amazing blessing to me, we have been hanging out together non-stop for the past 2 days, and it has been wonderful! We have not done anything EXCITING but just being able to spend time with her is the best. We have laughed so hard, watched really random stupid shows when the kids go to bed and we have been able to actually have real conversations.
     Not only did I see this awesome gift of time in the context of Olivia and I, but Cami, Charlie and Desi have been given that gift as well. We have all been hanging out being silly, building forts, creating a Mini amusement park, laughing, playing football, soccer, wii, and whatever else we can think of, but we are all together and there has been no complaints. They see and feel the love and the gift of time, and it's a glorious thing.
     I think I am now seeing what my mom and dad meant all of these years when they answered my question of " what do you want for christmas/your birthday??" with " I just want to spend time with you." It makes so much since. You want the people that you love to want to spend time with you. I honestly feel that the gift of time can cure a sloo of "sicknesses". Depression can be softened, tantrums can be stopped, insecurities can be turned into security and the feeling of not being loved can be feelings of PURE love.
     I feel that God feels the same way as I do. Spending time with Him, brings Him such joy. And it will bring us pure joy as well. God can and will cure our "sicknesses" just with time spent with him and in his word. So grab your Bible and get to digging for the perfect prescription for whatever sickness you have ( corny I know, but I think it works!).