When Life Gives Ya Lemons...

... simply make lemonade and sell it for $1.50 a glass, quickly becoming a Lemonade Millionaire. ;)

Feeling a little crazy this evening... I'm ill with a horrid-feeling throat. It's not 'sore' exactly but it feels tight and  swollen and I've been coughing like mad all day long, causing my left ear to feel as if someone is turning a screw winding tighter and tighter into my head. :P Also, my lower back hurts from all the heavy lifting and cleaning I've been doing and for some inexplicable reason, my left hand feels as if the fingers have been bent backwards, all strained and painful. In short, I'm not doing so well! 

However, despite feeling the worst I have in months, I got nearly half of our house photographed for the website! Progress! Our realtor is coming on Friday to meet with us for the first time and see the house, so we've been putting the finishing touches on it. :D 

While taking a break in between dragging myself around with camera in hand, and watching episodes of Scarecrow and Mrs. King, I spent a couple minutes on Pinterest.

That was my day, in a nutshell. Despite feeling rotten, I am so, so blessed, and things are most definitely looking up. I've been house-hunting online and made a secret pinboard of options... I'm excited about touring some of these places in person! There is a lot to choose from but we are searching for just the right one that I am certain God has set aside just for us, that fits all our needs and is the right price for our budget.

Daddy started his first day at work today and said it was great. We are so thankful.

How's 2013 treating you so far?

A Time to Save & a Time to Chuck It

Well, the big news is out! We're moving! YAAAAY!

My dad got a job working for a guy he's been doing freelance landscape designs for in the past, only now he'll be working full-time. He starts in January and will ease into working a regular 40 hours a week by March.

All of us are very excited, as this is an answer to our prayers!

Daddy's new job is an hour north of here, and we've decided we need to relocate - to be closer to his job, and to find a house that fits our changing needs a little better. We'd like to find something all on one floor, without stairs, so that Mama can easily access the whole house... and a yard with some flat, rich land for gardening, chicken coops, and a greenhouse. :)

And I wouldn't particularly hate it if we found one with a pool! *gigantic wink*

But anyways. This means a lot of work is ahead of us... so much to do! To show our gorgeous log home off to its full potential, we're going to be de-personalizing it and packing up most of our 'stuff'... and tossing the things we don't feel like hauling an hour north. :)

So today I've tackled my bedroom. More specifically, the beading table... it's going to be put away for now and my furniture rearranged so the room looks even bigger than it already is. That table is never organized, ever, so it's a huge job.

And then there's my walk-in closet. O_O (*shocked face*) - but that's a story for another blog post. :)

I'm just so thankful and overjoyed. For so long we've been hearing "Wait. Wait. Wait for now." And at last we've gotten a green-lighted "GO!" I feel like someone's fired the starting gun for a running-race.

So here I go!

Driver's License Test Results:

 The news you've been waiting for... the result of Julia's Driver's License Test! Well... it was a rainy, drizzly, cold, grey day and Daddy and I went down to the DMV and the person took my picture before I was ready (thankfully it didn't look too awful) and then the instructor and I went out to take the test, leaving Daddy waiting inside.

Oh all right! Long story short - I PASSED.

Thank. You. God.

Incidentally, have you ever tried parallel parking an 18-foot F-150 truck in an 18-foot parking space? Me neither. :D I didn't quite pass that part. Which sort of bummed me out - I practiced so much on that parallel parking (using a 21-foot space and caution cones) and I had it down cold, and then to go knock over three (out of maybe 12?) cones on the test... sigh.

 My score was 80, and I only needed 75 to pass. Double *whew*!!! :D

I sort of feel like this little fella:

"One... small... step... for... Mankind, ... one... huge... leap... towards... Julia's... future."

Here I go! :D

2011- It's been good.

I almost let the last day of the year slip by without a blog post to mark it. But then I noticed some of my sweet friends doing posts and thought it would be a beautiful experience to write my own on the last day of 2011. :D

First, a neat picture I snatched that perfectly captures the changing tides of these years...

This year, I.....

• Became a better blogger! My total of posts for this year (including the articles I wrote for MOHL) is 102! Counting this post. :D Last year I only wrote 34 posts for Julia's Journal, mostly due to my old XP computer that didn't work very quickly.
• Got a new very cute laptop that helped greatly in becoming a better blogger, email-er, and writer.

• Nearly finished my novel, Lissie, set in Jane Austen's Regency world and with a similar but completely different plot line than Miss Austen's works. (I almost finished it this year, but I'm not quite at The End yet... but I'm only about 5 pages away, which is pretty close!) I'm very excited about it and have lots of ideas for the sequel swimming around in my mind.

• Went to two beautiful weddings, my cousin Kristen's on January 1st, and my friend Lauren's on December 3rd.
• Learned of two delightful engagements, my cousin Katie and my friend Allison H.
• Crocheted an ENORMOUS - thing. For Katie's wedding present. :) I will share pictures of it after I give it to her... don't want to spoil the surprise. :D

• Became even closer to my infinitely sweet friends in the group of MOHL writers! They are the sisters I never had. The weekly IM chats we've started doing refresh my soul and make me laugh so hard that tears run down my cheeks. There's nothing like Godly sisterhood.

• Improved my homemaking skills!
• Enjoyed fresh produce from our garden all year long!
• Hid under my bed while my parents butchered our first batch of meat chickens. ;)

• Went to the GHEA convention, and ran a booth in the exhibit hall for my jewelry and ebooks, which was such an amazing, thrilling, tiring, enriching experience. Met so many nice people that I don't even remember them all - sigh.
• Began regularly homechurching again with a great group of friends 30 minutes away from us.
• Found more fun blogs to follow and read! A list might be forthcoming.

• Discovered Perry Mason! ;)
• Started reading the "At Home in Mitford" series aloud to my family in the evenings, and reading the Bible and discussing it for a short time every morning at the breakfast table. I have so enjoyed this and I feel like my family is more closely-knit than ever... such a warm and cozy feel! It's truly wonderful.

•  Turned 20 years old in the lovely, fresh month of April. :)
• Gave my bedroom a stunning makeover to celebrate my birthday. Thanks for doing such a stellar job on my curtains and pillows, Mama!

• Watched a million (or so) movies with my brothers. :D Love you guys. I am so glad I have brothers who enjoy an intelligent movie (like a Jane Austen) as much as a just-for-fun one (Like Cars 2)
• Helped abovementioned brothers sort their vast collection of lego bricks by color.
• Went to see Courageous in the theater! (It was awesome.)
• Improved my frisbee skills with a lot of practice and sweat and dirt, spending quality time with my brothers and our friends up in P.T. city.
• Read a bunch of books, finding a few new favorite authors and a few authors I didn't care for. Dee Henderson was one of the authors whose books I liked tremendously, especially the Uncommon Heroes series about Navy SEALs.

• Drew a little closer to God, for which I am unutterably grateful and thankful.
• Began rising earlier in the mornings, and discovered I get much more done in the day when I do.
• Went through 2 months of Daddy not having any work, and learned to trust that the Lord's provision will always be there for the things we really need.
• Kept scribbling in my current little real-life journal, continuing the record of my life thus far that I started at age 11.

..... And did many other things that I don't have room to share. (Well, technically I do, but super-long blog posts get a little old...)



Winter is here, but so far it's been mild. I am looking forward to the coming of Spring, and yet knowing there are some hard days ahead sprinkled among the easy ones. January's frosts and February's cold winds are coming, but so are March's blossoms and April's soft breezes.

 Next Year, I'll....

•  Take my driver's license test on January 10th. And finally be able to go places and run errands on my own. A sobering, yet exhilarating thought.
• Go to three homeschool conventions to sell my jewelry! I'll be in Spartanburg, South Carolina for the Teach Them Diligently convention, Atlanta, GA for the GHEA convention, and North Carolina for the NCHE convention. If you're going to be at any of those, I'd love to meet you!
• (hopefully) start going to a ladies' gym with my mom. We're still waiting to decide on that, weighing the pros and cons.
• Play some more Ultimate Frisbee.
• Visit my Grandma in Florida
• Get to meet my sweet friend Rachelle in person! Still working on the hopeful details of that, but I am praying 'extra hard' for it to work out.
• Participate in the His Word in Our Hearts challenge that Meditations of His Love is doing this year, all year!
• Read more,
• Work more,
• Laugh more,
• Love more,
• Live more.

I have a feeling that 2012 is going to be another beautiful year.

 Happy New Year!

I'm thankful for ...Memories

 Today I'm thankful for memories.

We set up a table in the living room and pulled out two huge bins of unsorted old family photos, printed years ago and left in the dark. They'd been in their bins, undisturbed, for a really long time. My mom decided a little while ago that it was time to finally do something with them, so we found some photo albums and bought them inexpensively... and now are getting out the old pictures to finally sort and put them into books for easy viewing. :)

And wow... the memories that are surfacing! Even ones I'd forgotten about. And some of the photos I had never seen. How precious they are. Maybe I'll post some photographs of the photos on here sometime... I refrained from taking a picture of all the pictures spread out on that worktable in the living room, for I confess - we've made a royal mess! :D

It's incredible seeing what I looked like at five months old. And five years old. So cute! (What happened? Ha-ha-ha...) My brothers were such chubby little grinning munchkins! I wish I had those years back so I could give them another hug while they were still so small and adorable. Not that they're not adorable now, but they're just BIG and adorable... which isn't the same, somehow! :D It makes me wish I had been a better big sister.

It's also amazing seeing the clothing styles back then, even for kids' clothes. Especially if you're looking at pictures over 15 years old. It's so strange to see how much it's changed since then. I imagine one day that my children will look back at the pictures of me when I was a little girl and think it looks funny too... after all, it will have been a generation ago.

Also - I have promised myself to buy three or so video cameras and keep them in various places around my house one day, so that I can capture ALL of the cute moments with my children in the future. :D And take lots of pictures!!! I plan to invest in tons of CDs and/or flash drives to store my millions of digital photos. :D The moments and memories are just so special. :D

That's what I'm thankful for today. The memories. And the future looks even brighter. :D

 Speaking of future... my favorite season is almost gone! Here's a little fall wordart I found somewhere, as a farewell to Autumn... ;)

Can you believe there's a chance we might see SNOW in my yard tomorrow? That's what they say! And it feels like it outside too... there's a certain raw coldness in the air that feels like snow could happen. Shocking, really! ;) We'll see what happens. :D

Have a lovely week!

A segment from my (interesting?) life

I mentioned a short while ago that I could hardly wait for the first 'crisp' feel in the air... a sign that Autumn has arrived. Well, it was here today, but I think it felt more 'sharp' than crisp! It was 50 degrees when I woke up this morning. And for someone used to the stifling upper 80's and 90's it was definitely a surprise! ;)

Apparently tropical storm (hurricane?) Lee was to blame for the nice wet front of rain that washed across the southeast yesterday and today. The only trouble with it was that yesterday we attended a Labor-day get-together at a friends' farm and we were outside or under carports or gazebos for most of the day. :D I felt damp all day long! :) Of course, that was partly due from perspiration... as we played Ultimate Frisbee and also threw the frisbee around in a circle for a good part of the day. I *love* frisbee. :D We had a great time even though we did get a little wet. ;)

Today I had the chance to get back to my laptop and do a little graphic design! :) I made some new blog backgrounds that I plan to release shortly (hint.... raspberry. And teal. Yeahhh.) and I whipped up a couple headers to go with backgrounds I'd already made.

Here's one of them - it matches two backgrounds, the ones called Brownie Points and Pink Brownie Points. :) (they're in this post)

Click Here to see more! :)

(I have 3 made so far, and WAY more are coming soon)

I also finally got to making a custom blog header for one of my sweet friends, Sarah, and it looks great with the background she picked from the Jane Austen series! :)

Also, I don't think I've told you about the FALL backgrounds I made! :D But I won't wax lyrical about them. You'll have to actually click here and go see them yourself. Now which one do I want to use??
O_O! Decisions, decisions.....

A sad note in my otherwise joyfully harmonic life... I learned this morning that one of my favorite DJ's on my favorite Christian radio station has passed away after a long battle with cancer. :( I cried. (I still get tears in my eyes when I think about it, actually...) She was such a sweet lady and her voice has cheered me up many a morning. I almost got to meet her once at a craft fair where I was running a booth for my jewelry and she was going to be there at a booth for the radio station, but when I was there I had to stay with my booth and wait on customers and never got to go over to the radio station's booth. Now I guess I'll have to wait until we meet again in heaven.

Just another reminder that this is not our home, and that we should never take any of our days here for granted. Or any of the people in our lives, for that matter, because none of us know the day or the hour when we might be called home.

Well, I hope you all have a beautiful week! I'm off for a family movie night.

My New Bedroom Makeover

For the first time in my life, my bedroom is cuter than my blog. :) We did a makeover for my 20th birthday, and I sprung for some spectacular fabric from Fabric.com that really created the whole feel. That was the biggest purchase I made for the makeover.

Unfortunately I don't have 'before' pictures to show you because I didn't take any. My room was just kind of an odd mix of odds and ends and different colors... although a feeble attempt had been made to focus on hot pink, and purple. I hadn't done a makeover since I moved into my room nearly 6 years ago.

At that time I had a 'full'-size canopy bed with embroidered pink curtains hanging from it. And that was very cute, but after a few years I got tired of it, and grew up, and tried to change the look without really doing much.

I'm not a 14-year-old anymore, but a 20-year-old young woman, and I wanted my bedroom to reflect that while still keeping it fun and fresh... not to mention functional. ;)


Ok, ok enough interior-designer dialogue. Here are the pictures! :D

The Bedroom. *swoon* Yes, I love it. Before I say anything else, HUUUUGE kudos to my extremely talented mother who helped me measure out and purchase fabric and then sewed my new damask curtains and bedspread! Mom, you are awesome. You helped me put to life the dream I envisioned for my room. Love you. :)

I really wish these pictures did the curtains justice. They are much more dramatic in real life and are a huge fashion statement in the room on the two big windows. (Oh, and please excuse the lighting in these photos. The human eye sees the light as cozy and warm/bright, and the camera sees it as yellow or glaring white.) Not like I'm expecting camera creators to outdo the Lord's fabulous creation of the human eye anytime soon. :D

I have pink painted wooden floors, and a bound piece of tan carpet over top. I also keep the thick, fluffy, plush piece of carpet (that I use as part of the setup when I have a jewelry booth somewhere) in the middle of the room so my feet can enjoy it whenever I walk into my bedroom. :)

The biggest thing in the room is my queen-size bed. We are actually planning to make matching pink and brown decorative pillows with tassels and trim and diferent coordinating prints of pink and brown fabric. I will post more pictures when those are done! :)

The stuff along the wall by the door. I repainted the wooden shelf underneath the mirror from yellow to white, and the black and white collage frame and the 3-piece frame above it are new. You can see a basket on the low table with my current yarn project in it... a purple afghan for a cousin who is getting married in March. :)

This is the view directly across from the door, with my jewelry worktable by the window. The overhead light is off in this picture so the room is 'cozier' but still bright with sunlight streaming through the windows.

The biggest change I made to any piece of furniture in my room was this dresser. My wonderful Daddy repainted it white instead of the yellow and blue it had suffered under for years. Trivia fact: this dresser used to belong to my grandparents on my mother's side - it was part of a bedroom suite that they received as a wedding present. It looks cute and chic (if a bit antique...) now, with a new coat of paint and new pink and brown knobs.

 Here is a close-up of one of the knobs. I got them at Hobby Lobby along with two new lamps, all 50% off! (I do love a bargain.) They were some of the few new things I purchased for the room makeover, along with some new wall decor.

A cute assortment of things adorns this shelf under the mirror... some perfume, lotion, and pretty knicknacks that I got at yard sales. :) Also a couple artificial roses. Not 'too' fake-looking... and they never wilt... :)

Are there any Bath and Body Works fans on the blog? Can I see a show of hands? Me too! :D The Berry Vanilla scent... oh my. So lovely and feminine... I tried the travel size fragrance mist and fell in love with it. Yum.

I really like the new collage picture frame and 3-part frame I found... the collage I filled with black and white pictures which I posted about earlier, and in the 3-part I tucked some photos in the ribbon section, pinned a few cute pieces of paper and a black and white photo on the bulletin board section, and in the middle I put some stamped pieces of paper with scripture on them and a sketch I did of some flowers.

I actually drew the sketch from a skirt I had with the flowers on it... I looked at the flowers and then drew on the paper. But I still think I can't draw that well. (although, maybe I could if I tried hard enough. My dad draws for a living, after all. I should have inherited some artistic genes from that combo!) All I can do now is copy things - much like Rose from Louisa May Alcott's "Eight Cousins". :) But I have other gifts God has blessed me with that I prefer to use over drawing.

A rack of Chandelier earrings is on the right.

The painted surface of the table by the door. (No, I didn't paint it) The clock/radio/cd player I've had since I was 11 years old... the adorable pink-polka-dotted mug I got for a dollar at a thrift store! *score!*

This corner cabinet went through a dramatic change too - I repapered the back of the shelves with pink, white, brown, and tan (with ordinary paper and scotch tape) ;) And I taped polka-dotted ribbon and leftover beaded trim along the edges of the shelves. I also added new flourishy paper shapes that I printed off of the computer.

(You can see one of the top shelves - brown - in this shot)

Close-up of a blown glass hummingbird I got while on vacation in the smoky mountains in Tennessee. I love blown glass, and hummingbirds. :) (note teacups and saucers on either side, and china cats in the background)

Another close-up. I have about five of these little ceramic high heeled shoes that I found a couple years ago at a garage sale... they were kinda pricey for garage sale knicknacks (a dollar apiece...) but I thought they were so adorable. :) The fan in the background was brought back from China by some friends that went there to pick up their adopted baby.

I absolutely love teacups and teapots... even though I'm not much of a tea drinker. I like fruit juice (apple, cran-grape, raspberry lemonade) a lot, but don't really care for other drinks like soda or coffee or tea. ;)

Oh. That LAMP! Mmmmm. *happy sigh* I think the pink and brown lamp with a ribbon and rosette is my favorite object that I bought for the makeover. To update the dresser surface, I relegated an old jewelry box to my closet and replaced it with that cute box covered with roses.

Close-up of the sweet pink rose candles and sconces above the dresser on either side of the lamp. I got both candles at a thrift store for 50 cents. (Again, these are SO much cuter in real life...) sigh.

My jewelry worktable. This is where every single pair of earrings, every necklace, and every bracelet that I sell was made. Daddy made the little stand-alone shelf on the back and stained it a dark chocolate brown. The tall white plastic drawers in the corner hold all my beads in separate compartmented boxes. It's an efficient, inviting workspace.
(and that's my walk-in closet in the back of the photo. It got a complete organize job too.)

 Lastly, I did a bit of organizing. The corner cabinet behind the door (below, left) got a complete re-organize, and all our videos are now sorted by live-action and animated movies. (Oh, and the hot pink gerbera daisies on the top shelf have been replaced with creamy ivory and soft pink artificial flowers that match better. I found those at the Dollar Tree.)

And (above, right) I removed the G.A. Henty books from my bookcase (never fear, they are now happily residing in my brother Mark's room) which freed up enough room to straighten out the whole thing and organize it. It is much improved! :) In earlier pictures, you can see the two stands of earrings on top of it.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this in-depth look at my bedroom! :) I'm so happy with it. Now, when I walk into my bedroom, I get the feeling that a sophisticated young woman lives in it, not a little girl. :D Which is exactly what I was hoping for. :)

Definitely the best birthday present yet. ;)

Just me having a little chat.

So yeah, I turned 19 last Saturday. I don't feel a bit older, although I may joke about being 'so old'. :D What was I worried about? Mama jokes that she and Daddy made my childhood so wonderful that I didn't want to leave it. ;) It's partially true - I had an amazingly enjoyable, wonderful, incredible and happy childhood growing up 10 minutes from the beach, climbing our huge carrotwood trees, swimming in our pool, riding my bike up and down our quiet dead-end street and playing for hours on end with my two younger brothers and the little girl who lived across the street. It was truly idyllic. (well, except for the occasional surfeit of mosquito bites.) :D

Childhood, with all it's happinesses, also carried a lot of 'growing pains', so to speak. It wasn't all easy! Learning life lessons is tough! While I am by no means done learning, and I'll always be God's child, it's nice to look back and see all I've come through. Being an adult, instead of a child, will mean a lot more responsibility, it's true. But it'll also hold some of the sweetest joys imaginable. :)

Today I took a brisk walk, going twice down and up our quarter-mile driveway. I was trying to work some of the kinks out of my stiff muscles - although the walks 'up' were quite a lot less brisk than the walk 'down'... we have a rather steep gravel driveway, so in parts it's more like a hike. :D

The reason I was stiff was that the day before yesterday, Sunday, my family and I went to a get-together for some homechurches in our area. We had a wonderful time, and I was thrilled to play a game of Ultimate Frisbee with friends old and new. :D Since it was the first game I'd played in months, and I relentlessly pushed myself to the limit of my endurance, I was stiff and sore all over for the next couple days. :D But it was so worth it! I'm really competitive - always have been - and my favorite way to play Ultimate Frisbee is to race out as soon as the frisbee is thrown off, and to play the middle of the field, staying in the middle of the action whenever possible. :D So you can see why I might be a bit tired afterwards. :D

As for upcoming news, I'm going to be running a booth in the vendor hall at the GHEA convention this year for both days - consequently, I may not be on my computer for a while. (I only have about 2 weeks left to prepare!) I'm selling my handmade jewelry, featuring my all-time favorite jewelry elements... Swarovksi crystals, pearls, and fine glass beads. I'd love to see you there! :)

Back to Cyberspace Once More!

Hello, my dear sweet blog readers! :) It's been ages since I've done anything on my poor desolate little blog here, and I regret it very much. The truth is, I've been neglecting my computer sorely for the past 2 months or so. In a way, it's a good thing. I used to constantly be on the computer, working away at different projects and things, checking my email every hour, but this wasn't a healthy way of life because it ate up far too much of my time. For some reason, it's taken a wild swing in the other direction for me and I've been focusing on my crochet and jewelry making and reading, and the computer work has fallen by the wayside! Hopefully I can adjust back to a balanced middle ground and incorporate some computer into my life again. :D

Now, for your regular weather update: ;)
I don't know about you, but where I live in Georgia the air has been filled with pollen for the past couple of days. A few rainstorms yesterday cleared the atmosphere a little bit, but there's still plenty of the yellow dust left. What surprised me very much though, was the sudden and miraculous greening of all the trees and plants roundabouts! In a matter of days every twig and branch in the woods in which my log home is nestled were sporting lovely new green foliage - that elusive shade that's only seen when the leaves first make their appearance. Beautiful! :) I'm looking forward to the profusion of blooming flowers that, hopefully, will come out soon.

My grandmother and great-aunt Barbara were able to come for a visit over Easter weekend and we had a wonderful time with them. Some highlights of their stay were giving my grandmother her first computer lesson, (in preparation to getting her a computer of her own) showing my aunt Barbara how to crochet (Ah, what fun! I love crocheting!) and attending the Easter Sunrise Service at Callaway Gardens, spending a gorgeous day exploring the gardens and visiting the butterfly house.

Yesterday, my darling wonderful dear friend Allison H. came with us on a shopping trip to celebrate my 19th birthday, and we had such a blast! Before we left Allison presented me with a GORGEOUS journal with a cover that had been ribbon-embroidered by her. It was so beautiful! :) We stopped by Bath & Body works, and got matching bottles of fragrance mist, browsed the incredibly awesome store of Ross (where I always find something I absolutely love!!) in this case, finding some lovely skirts and a few picture collage frames (among other things). We went out for lunch at Stevie B's pizza and I was able to experience the astonishingly wonderful baked potato pizza... seriously folks, you gotta try some of that... :) Anyway, we came home loaded with goods from our shopping spree. Allison joined my family as we went out for dinner at a charming little Greek/Italian restaurant in my small home town and I had the most delicious Greek chicken salad ever. Oh. Wow. :)

Then, on top of that, Allison got to spend the night! I haven't had a sleepover since I was .... let's not think back how many years, shall we... And this one must have been the best yet. :D Allison and I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning whispering and trying to stuff our giggles into pillows so that we wouldn't wake anybody else. We ended up getting about 5 hours of sleep, making me take a nap this afternoon to catch up on some rest. :) This morning we watched Sense and Sensibility, which Allison had never seen before... She told me she loved it! Yeah! Score one for the Jane Austen fans! :)

Yes. You did read that fact correctly up there. (That is, if you're paying attention) I did say "My 19th birthday". It's tomorrow, actually, (April 10th) and I have a beautiful cake planned out that I will bake... involving fresh strawberries and vanilla and strawberry cake. :D I've felt so many mixed emotions about this birthday that I've finally decided it's time to stop trying to analyze my feelings and just go with the flow, enjoying the happy moments. :) On one hand, I am thrilled to be another step closer to being a full-fledged 'adult'... but on the other, something in me mourns the passing of childhood. I realize this MUST seem melodramatic to my friends who are already in their 20's... but that's how I've been feeling for the past month or so. 19 seems so much older to me - am I really finished being 18? ;) Like there's really anything I can do about it anyway! :D I am excited about what this new year will bring across my path.

Well, I have thoroughly enjoyed dipping my toes into the pool of blogging once more. Hopefully it will be followed by a big splash as I dive back in! :D

Oh yes - did anybody notice the new blog look? What do you think?

Much love, hugs, and many blessings to you, my friends!

A Farewell to Lukewarm

The other day, I was feeling lonely. I didn't have any reason to feel lonely... my family was bustling all about and there were plenty of people around me... well, I was lonely for somebody special. I began to feel discontent, wondering why no handsome young man had ever expressed interest in me yet.

Suddenly it was like I woke up in surprise, and realized what I was doing... I took a deep breath, prayed a little prayer, and whipped out my handy-dandy copy of Before You Meet Prince Charming by Sarah Mally. Throughout the day I read and meditated on the wisdom found between those pages.

Reading that book - I was inspired and convicted. I had been feeling lonely because I was empty and wasn't filling myself with the Word of God. Well, I thought, That is going to change right now!

I made a committment to myself that I was going to read my bible and pray every day.
It didn't matter what time of the day I did it... morning, evening, a quiet afternoon... but I was going to do it every day. And so far I have, and it has been wonderful. I have been reading my dad's copy of the Geneva Bible... which was translated by early Reformers in Geneva, Switzerland, and was the Bible that the pilgrims carried over on the Mayflower. The language is simpler and easier to understand, yet it's not a 'modern' translation like the NIV (which removed a long list of verses from the Bible) or something like that.

Personally I don't like the NIV, just because of the changes they've made and the things they've removed, but what really matters is that the Bible is read often, not what translation you read it out of.

I got to thinking, while I was reading Before You Meet Prince Charming, that I had been a very "Lukewarm" believer. Instead of seeking the Lord's will for my life and actively filling myself with the Word of God, I had been drifting along behind my parent's 'wake', just going with the flow and not making much effort on my own.


And you know, it makes sense that God 'spews us out of his mouth' if we're Lukewarm... even us humans prefer a nice hot cup of steaming tea or coffee... or an ice-cold glass of water, to a lukewarm, room-temperature cup of liquid.

So... I am resolved to be washed in the water of the Word,

And 'steaming hot', on fire for God.

And "Lukewarm" has no place in my life anymore. :)


To God be the Glory!