Acts of Kindness

Today was great!
I woke up and went to church - we were helping to package food for Haiti with a company called NUMANA. It was tons of fun! I went and was working at a table with my grandparents, my parents, and some other adults that are friends of ours. I was in charge of scooping out rice and pouring a cup into the bag. I did this for a few hours, but I wasn't complaining!

Instead, I was thinking back to last summer when I went with my youth group to Salt-Lake City, Utah. We were at an Evangelical Church of America conference. One afternoon, all we did for like 5 hours was do package food for third-world countries. That wasn't even our original plan for that afternoon! Our plan was to take naps and maybe workout some...but do nothing important. But my and my friend Lydia started to feel guilty...so we went to the food-packaging and had a BLAST!

Anyways, I was reminded of how fun it actually was while I was working the table today. It felt good to get away from my own little world and go do something for other people - people that really need our help! So if you're reading this, I hope that his might offer some encouragement to do the same thing. Just go out and do something for someone! You might be surprised....

blown tire

Today was a very educational day. I felt like I learned a lot of things and I got things accomplished! I haven't felt this good about myself in quite a while!

The first experience was this afternoon. My mom had schedule her hair appointment at around 3 pm - right at the time when my youngest sister Rebekah had to be at a band sectional. So my mom asked me to drop her off for her. The rehearsal was only going t last for about 15 minutes so the plan was for me to sit in the car and wait for Rebekah to get done. Then, I'd go to school and pick up my other sis (Jessica) and take everyone home. Basically, my name for the day was 'chauffuer'.

I grabbed a few magazines, my ipod, and I left the house to drop off Rebekah. I then proceeded to run over an iron grate that was in the middle of the road, consequently, blowing out my tire. We had to pull over in the Home Depot parking lot so I could survey the damage. it wasn' pretty, lets just put it that way...

called my dad. took him 1/2 an hr to get to us from where he works. Rebekah and I figured that of all the places to get stranded, we were in the best spot. It was close to home, there was a car place just down the street, we were at Home Depot where "manly men" go shopping, AND the YMCA was right next door where "manly men" workout! :D we had fun.

the educational point to this story was that I learned how to change a tire....i don't think i mentioned that....

"cast all your anxiety on him....."

Another Monday, another day of that placed called "high school"....i don't know how much more of it i can take. luckily, i only have a little over a month left anyways. i just hope i can survive until then.

i finally look normal again after my wisdom teeth were removed. just a few bruises here and there, but the swelling is gone! i can face the public again.

in my life right now i have so much going on in life - it's keeping me awake at night. i literally cannot sleep because i'm thinking about everything going on - last night especially. i was lying in bed last night, pondering my thoughts and feelings, running through my schedule, thinking about the future...it was crazy! i began to feel very anxious. it's like life is so boring right now, and i feel like something big is coming....and i want it to come more than anything! but i don't even know what it is...

i couldn't stand it anymore. so i picked up my Bible, flipped to the back, and look up the verses that fell under "anxiety (anxious)". i read these two that gave me great comfort

1 Peter 5:7 "Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you."

Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious in 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."

PRAY

My ginormous cheeks are finlly starting to die down! Praise Jesus! But really feeling a bit depressed. There's been a lot of death over this spring break though. A family whose kids went to East died in a tragic car accident. Only one daughter survived and she's now paralyzed from he waist down. And the football coach from Heights (my high school), his daughter, Regan, crashed her golf cart into a barb-wired fence. She crushed her skull and they took her off of life support this morning. It's hard to complain about my condition when there's is so much worse...so if you read this then be praying for their families. No one should have to go through something like that. But it's in God's hands and He has a plan.

Hot moisture

Hot moisture is what I'm going to be working on for the nex few days. Apparently, after the first 24 hours, ice won't do a whole lot. So doctors recommend Hot moisture to help take down the swelling. I don't have any pain except for when I look in the mirror! Having chipmunk cheeks is probably the worst part about this whole thing! I reall hope it goes away by Sunday morning. The last thing I want to do is to go to church looking like I was beat up. :(

salt-water rinses

Ok so I'm going on day two without my wisdom teeth. Of course, the operation itself really wasn't that bad - but at the same time I knew that the recover was going to be the worst part. Turns out I was totally right. Although, my older sister definately had a worse time in recovery than I'm having now.

The antibiotic and the Motrin com very so often....but no Loritab was necessary! I pride myself on that. I also began the salt-water rinses today. Yes, three times a day I take sips of warm water with 1 teaspoon of salt thrown in. So delicious...oh yes and did I mention that this was the last spring break of my high school career? I'm really enjoying it

Day 1

well today was it. the first day without the wisdome teeth.

waking up from the surgey was a trip...i woke up and was listening to the nurses talk about their boyfriends. And then the patient next to me was talking about HER boyrfriend too! They were everywhere! and i actully felt left out! God must have a sense of humor....

i should be in bednow, so i'll update more tomorrow - when the swelling worsens...

Looming doom of death

Went out and got the AWAKENING CD with my mom the other day - I can't stop listening to it!!

I have about two more days of freedom before I go under (a.k.a get my wisdom teeth removed). I've been trying to prepare my mom for all the materials that I know I'll need. Yes, I hate to say it, but I am actually quite nervous for the surgery. I can handle a sudden appendectimy, but at the same time I didn't see that one coming. With my wisdom teeth, the thought of this appointment coming has been looming in the back of my mind for the past month. Don't you hate that?! I'm praying for a quick recovery - because the last thing I want to do is spend my senior spring break in bed for a week looking like a retarded chipmunk. That's just not my idea of fun.

So before the surgery I'm goin to get a pedicure and then afterwards, I'll get my hair done. Sort of as a "Hey, way to survive!!" thing. I'm going to have tons of fun blogging about this! You'll definately want to read about what I'm going through this week.

Awakening

The Passion 2010 CD - Awakening - is finally out!! Actually, it came out yesterday. Because I was there over the new years for almost a week or so, I really want the CD as a reminder of the AMAZING worship that I took a part in while we were in Atlanta, GA. Here are my favorite songs out of the 12 on there: Awakening - Chris Tomlin, Say, Say - Kristian Stanfill, Our God - Chris Tomlin, How He Loves - David Crowder Band, Healing Is In Your Hands - Christy Nockels, YOu Alone Can Rescue - Matt Redman, Chosen Generation - Chris Tomling, With Everything - Hillsong UNITED.



Those are just my favorites. But when I get the CD I'm sure that I'll end up loving all of them. My plan is to go home today to convinve my mother to use her credit card so I can order it online today. Perhaps she knows of a website where I can get it for a really cheap price...hhmm....

anchor*ed

The retreat was awesome!! I love these weekends when I can just disappear and think through my life and my relationship with Christ! They've been a huge blessing in my lfe. Lots of memories have been made at Westminster Woods, and I sincerely hope that there are still more to come!

Four-day week at school comin up! I'm pretty sure I can survive until this weekend. I have my concert comin up on Sunday...the wisdom teeth wll be removed next week. I want you all to know tthat I'll be doing oe of those series-posts on the wisdom teeth next week. It'll probaby run from the day of removal to the day when I'm better, or something close to that. I wonder just how entertaining that will be...

TGIF

Finally, it's the end of the week. Currently, my mom and my grandma are roadtripping to K-State to pick up my older sister. Once she gets home, she and are going to have some bonding time while we shop at Wally-World. I'm on a mission to get a few things befor the retreat this weekend.

Speaking of retreats....we leave at 4 pm this afternoon. I'm really excited to get away, and i'm pretty stoked that my bff Lydia is going AND Whitney, Kelly, and my mom ad sisters. It's going to be an epic weekend. I wish that more of my senior friends were going, but I'm determined to make the most of my time there. Besides...it's my last one and it would be a shame to miss out on all there is because i'm sad some people are missing.

So forget about them, forget about the people I text. Just focus on me and God and my life. Fellowship with those that are there and make new friends.

a sweet and bitter providence

Thank goodness this week has gone by pretty quickly. I can't stand it when the days just creep by - I start going stir-crazy!

Well last night we finsihed our talk on college in my small group biblestudy. we decided that each of the senior girls was going to pick an Old Testament book and teach on it for one - maybe two- weeks. I decided on Ruth, because I love that story♥ but also because my mom is currently reading A Sweet and Bitter Providence by John Piper. I figured if the book was lying around the house, I could use it to gain some thoughts. We'll see how it goes!

Future snapshot

So I've been thinking ahead to the next couple of weeks, and just for kicks and giggles I'm going to give everyone a snapshot of what's going to be happening in my life.

This week, I work tonight & tuesday. Wednesday I have biblestudy and thursday I have piano in the afternoon. But Friday, at 4 p.m. I am leaving on our spring retreat with my youth group. It's gonna be interesting because I might be the only senior girl that's going, but at the same time it's an awesome opportunity to get to know the younger students. I'm really looking forward to the time to get away from my busy life here at home and to be given time to just focus all of my attention on God. it's sad, because I should be doing that anyways, but I come up with all sorts of excuses.

The plan is to get back from Westminster Woods (retreat location) around 12 p.m. on Sunday. If this is the case, then I'll be going to WWE (Wichita Wind Ensemble) reh that afternoon. But that night, my cousin Emily is coming into town. She lives in NC and we never get to see her! So i'm stoked about that. ANd then it's a repeated week of work and school. Our spring break actually starts on Friday, and Saturday I have my oconcert rehearsal. Then the concert is at 2 p.m.on Sunday at Friends University!! It's the very last one that I will be apart of and that alone makes me extremely happy - hope that's not a bad thing ;)