15 Days...

To everyone complaining about school tomorrow (including myself):

3 weeks til Christmas break

WE. CAN. DO. THIS!

The end :)

Your Stereotypical Thanksgiving Blog

Let me start off by saying Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!  There are soo many things that I'm extremely thankful for, yet soo many things I take for granted every day.  I know most of these are going to sound super cheesy, but whatever. I mean everything I say, and cheesy is what I do best (well, that and crazy!)  

I am SO incredibly blessed to have such an awesome family!  No, we may not get along ALL the time, but that's normal, right?  And sometimes I may feel like I'm the only normal person in my family (then again, what IS normal anymore?), but they're always here for me and I am soo happy that I'm part of this family, no matter how weird we are. 

I don't know how many times I've said this already, but I'll say it again...I seriously have THE greatest friends anyone could ask for.  Both school and church.  I know that I really take them for granted all the time, and as hard as I try to not take them for granted, it's just one of those things that comes with being human.  I don't know what I would do without all of these incredible people in my life, and I'm soo happy that I have so many people who have my back.

I could write like 10 more paragraphs about the tiny things that I'm thankful for, but I'm not going to waste your time with that.  With that said, I'm SO happy to live in America.  Sometimes, it totally sucks and I wish I could live anywhere but here, but compared to people in most other countries, I have it pretty easily.  I mean, clean water, electricity, clothes, people who care about me, etc.  Most of the world doesn't have any of that, and would kill to have the opportunities that I have.

Lastly, I'm SOOOOO blessed with some amazing adults in my life.  I've been doing Bible Study/Small Groups since 5th grade, and I've had my fair share of leaders, and I seriously love all of them to death!!  Cindy, Stephanie, Janelle, Janna, Michele, Lena, Jessica, Jenn, Kristen, Irene, Sarah, Stacey, and Alyssa, you guys are INCREDIBLE and have had a huge impact on my life over the last 5 years.  Thank you all for putting up with me and always being here when I need someone to listen or a shoulder to cry on.

It wasn't until the last 6 months when I truly realized that as quickly as God can bring someone into my life, he can also take them out of my life.  However, after thinking that one over time and painful time again, I realized that I have NO control over what happens, and all I can do is accept whatever God decides to throw my way.  "No lapse of time or distance of place can lessen the friendship of those who are truly persuaded of each other's worth." - Unknown

Let me end with this, Psalm 107:1 says, "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."  I'm super thankful to live in a country where I am free to worship God whenever I want to without being persecuted.  I am also soooooo happy that God was willing to send his only son to die for ME when I really do not deserve eternal life at all.  Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!!!  Now go stuff your faces with food and enjoy these pictures!!!!

THE three<3

My school friends are a little crazy...

                                   Favorite senior, Kayla!!!

Michele, one of my amazing leaders/mentors since 6th grade

Janna and Alyssa...two of my other amazing leaders (please disregard the Dodgers shirt, I try to forget that we like rival teams;) )

ALYSSA!!!!!!!!!  We have THE weirdest story ever, no joke, and we have the same brain, and she's my second mom, and one of the biggest influences in my life. EVER.

The roses and the thorns

Mi familia, Giants fans for the win.  Love them soo much!!

Unconditional Love

Proverbs 17:17- A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

Having grown up in church, this was one of those verses that we had to memorize for Awana, but that's about it.  I never really thought about the actual meaning of the verse until the other night.  After talking to one of my friends about how it wasn't fair that I had to help two of my other friends make up even when it meant that after they made up, I would go back to third wheeling it up all the time.  She told me that no matter how much it sucked, it's what good friends do, and there really wasn't much I could do about it.  At first I was kind of upset because it wasn't the answer I was looking for, but after I thought about it some more, this verse popped into my mind.  First, I had to look up the definition of adversity (fortune or fate; a condition marked by misfortune, calamity, or distress), and everything kind of clicked.  

I realized that no matter how sucky things might be for me after helping someone out, it was the right thing to do.  Not only because that's just what good friends do (even though that IS important), but also because it's what GOD tells us to do.  He doesn't say that a friend loves only when the situation will work out in their favor.  He says that a friend loves at ALL times.  I know that I want to make myself available to any of my friends when they need it, but I need to work on accepting that I may not get anything out of it in the end.  I need to be willing to help out and love on them unconditionally, no matter what may happen.

SO HAPPY!!

I got my permit.  One step closer to being able to drive wherever I want to.  The end.

You Never Know Who's Watching You...

"'To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.' No matter how down you are there is always someone out there that you inspire. That you make happy. It doesn't matter who it is. There IS someone out there happy to have you in their life."

So, the other night I was randomly watching music videos on YouTube, and I decided to watch "Hello World" by Lady Antebellum.  I looked at the top comments and saw the above quote.  You don't even know how true this is in my life.  It wasn't until a few months ago that I realized that not only can someone be inspired by someone older than them (DUH!!), but someone can also be inspired by someone younger than them.  Until then, I only thought that it worked one way, not two.  I have to admit that I still kind of think that it's one of THE coolest things ever to be an inspiration to someone I'm inspired by.  It's hard for our generation to be ourselves around everyone because of the fear of being judged by other people, but TRUST ME, just be yourself, I'm positive that there's someone out there watching you, and you never know who you might inspire.  Don't lose who you are, and it's ok to be a little weird sometimes.  I mean, we're all a little weird, right?

Inspiration, from English homework...?

"Love no friend whose life is only words."

So, I'm sitting here doing English homework, right?  And one of the questions mentioned this quote from Antigone.  At first, I was just answering the question, but then thought about how this can totally relate to my life right now (I seem to be doing that a lot lately.)  Anywho, right now I'm definitely dealing with stuff that relates to this.  I am a firm believer that "faith without actions is dead" (James 2:17), and I think this goes the same with relationships.  Time and time again, I've had to deal with people saying things that made me feel good about our relationship, but then did absolutely NOTHING to prove that what they said was the least bit true, and if anything did the exact opposite.  I know that I'm supposed to love on them no matter what, but it's super hard right now, especially when they're making me doubt our friendship this much and when it's gotten to the point where I can't really believe anything they're saying right now.

Well, it's late and this is only going to get me fired up when I really need to go to bed!  Night internet world!!!