FACELIFT!!!

My blog got a facelift!! I found this cute template (for free!!) on the internet and as soon as I saw it I was like, "This is totally me!!" So of course I had to download it (thanks Corinne for helping me)! :)

Graduation Ceremony

I sang at the CCA graduation tonight. It was a beautiful service and I was very glad that I went. Corinne came over this afternoon to work on business stuff and we got ready for the graduation together. Here's some pictures from tonight:

Thankful for friends who love me as much as I love them..... thankful to God for giving me happy days... and looking forward to many more.

Walk with the Dogs

Me, mom, Kristen, and her mom went on a walk today with our dogs. It was absolutely gorgeous weather outside and it felt great to get out and excercise. I decided today that I'll never be able to raise a family without a dog. You just can't grow up as a kid without a dog. We love Chloe so much.

We met this ADORABLE puppy out on the trail today! SO CUTE! She reminded me of what Chloe looked like as a puppy. How do people live without dogs??

New Chapters

Not sure what to title this post. It's just a mixture of everything!!


Yesterday was the last day of school for CCA. I went to the chapel service and left feeling rather torn with mixed emotions. As I walked out the door and it slammed shut it was as though that chapter of my life slammed shut as well. I'm sad that I'm not apart of the school anymore but incredibly excited to see what God has in store for me the next few years. I'm so excited to see where I end up going to college and all of the other major milestones that I'll meet in the upcoming years. Yet I'm also a bit scared. I guess I'm scared about stupid things like not doing well on the ACT, not getting into the college that I want, and other things that I just need to lay at His feet!! Fear is not something that we as Christians need to burden ourselves with but sometimes I just can't help it!!

Yesterday also marked the day that we closed on our house!! Praise God!! My Mom felt a huge burden lifted off of her the moment she dropped the keys into the new owner's hands. What an incredible relief to be done with that house. This whole year has taken a huge toll on my parents in alot of ways and I'm very thankful that the Lord chose to release them from that house. We can move on now that we're out of that rut and take on new challenges as a family. The "We haven't sold our house yet" cloud that was hanging over our heads is no longer there and for that we are grateful.

I'm sorry this is such bad writing. I'm can't seem to get my words to flow!! :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

I think I'm addicted.....

I'm addicted to facebook, email, blogging, and other people's blogs. This is not good!! I've decided this summer that I will limit myself to half an hour a day on the computer. So 10 minutes on email, 10 on facebook, and 10 on blogging (my own and looking at others). Bummer... why does the fun stuff have to be so time-consuming?!!

Grateful

Yesterday at work I had a long phone conversation with a sweet elderly woman that was blind. The poor woman has a terrible rash and she lost the appointment card for her appointment with a different dermatologist and then she couldn't find their number and when she did it wouldn't go through. Several times throughout the conversation she said, "Being blind just makes things so complicated. I'm so sorry you have to look up all of these numbers for me." Now maybe she was just trying to make me feel bad so that I would somehow manage to squeeze her in today. Either way, my heart went out to her. At one point in the conversation I just had to say, "I'm really sorry. This must be hard for you." I so badly wanted to give her a big hug through the phone!! Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. I ended that call with "new eyes." Thankful that I can see this beautiful world, that I have sight so that I can function and have a job, that I'll be able to see the faces of my husband and children. I can't imagine being shrouded in darkness 24-7. At times, I think that I would want to just give up and die.

So did you think you were having a bad day? Glance around your room and whisper a prayer of thanks to the Lord that He gave you eyes that can see. When you walk down the hall to see what your mom is making for dinner be thankful that you can see her face smiling at you!! I hope that we never take these simple, yet important things of life for granted!

Sweet Moments

If you haven't already picked this up from my blog, I am a very sentimental person. My walls are covered in keepsakes and I have several "memory boxes" full of artwork, papers, and meaningful letters from people in my life. As we approach the closing of our old house on Friday (Praise the Lord!) I actually am kind of sad. I'm incredibly thankful that we sold the house but the door is officially closing on that part of my life. I grew up in that house. We had many wonderful times there, and some of my most important "God moments" took place in my bedroom in that house. So I wanted for our family to go over there and walk through the house room by room, remembering all of our most vivid memories and I would write them down and put them into a scrapbook with pictures of the rooms. My brothers thought it was so dumb but thankfully my parents made them go and even though they'll never admit it, I think they enjoyed it. So we jumped on the trampoline together, climbed up in the fort, crawled back to the secret hideout beneath the stairs, and compared our hands to the handprints we made in our concrete slab 9 years ago- all of these we did for the last time. We'll never do those things at that house again. But I was glad we got go back and do it and jot down our memories before time takes them away. It was also good to end on a high note. There were many reasons that we sold the house but whenever I walk in, I feel this oppressive weight. I suppose it's from the long year it's been carrying two mortgages, and the regrets we feel from buying that house in the first place. I feel sick when I consider all the money that we poured into that house. YET- we have learned SO MANY lessons this year and have come out stronger because of it. Anyway, here's a few pictures from tonight.

Praise the Lord!! We close on Friday!!

Less than 48 hours and this house will no longer be our burden!

The Last Time on the Trampoline. :(

In the Secret Hideout

Corinne and I spent lots of time in that closet painting, hammering, and decorating that hideout! We formed a "club" and even attempted to write a book in there when we were in 6th grade!

Placing our hands in the tiny handprints from 9 years ago was funny. I still remember not wanting to stick my hand in that "gross concrete!"

Free Time?

Ahhh.... I finally found a moment to blog!! It seems as though I've been running around like crazy. Because of finals, I don't have worship team today or tommorow. This is wonderful because it gives me an extra two hours to work on homeschool stuff. I have probably half an hour more to do in math and literature and I'll be done. Then I have to study for and take the Constitution test. Not fun...

Yesterday was extremely busy. I had worship team, lunch with a friend, a 30-minute trip to the mall to find a black dress to wear to graduation since I'm singing in the choir (it was successful!! I got a super cute dress to wear at a bargain price!), work, and ACT prep class. By the time I fell into bed I was exhausted! I had to ask myself where the time in my life went where I had hours on end of free time. I used to devour a book or two a week and now I'm lucky if I read a book in a month!!

I have final plans for the summer and it's going to be jam-packed! I decided my new motto is, "It's better to be busy than bored!" I will definitely be living by that!! My days will be quite full but I'm thankful that I have been given the chance to work so many hours a week. It ends up that I'll be babysitting for a family of 5 kids this summer- 2 biological and 2 adopted from Ethiopia. So I will be "Mini Mom" from 7:30-1 and secretary from 1:30-5!! This babysitting job will not be an easy one but I know that the Lord has alot to show me through these kids. Since I'm not 17 yet, I won't be able to drive them anywhere. We'll be bikeriding ALOT. I'm hoping that I can pay one of my brothers a couple of dollars an hour to come with me when we ride places. I'm very nervous about crossing busy streets with 5 kids in tow. I'm praying for wisdom and discernment on how to safely care for this many kids, be a peacemaker for sibling arguments, be creative and fun in finding lots of activities for us to do so they don't get bored, and to be a shining light of Christ to them (it's a Christian family but I still want to be a good example).

I better get back to my school but I wanted to just post a quick report on my life, as boring as it probably sounds! :)

Fun Times

We had a fantastic weekend. The weather was beautiful and we were outside nearly the entire time. We made obstacle courses and raced eachother on the 4-wheelers, ate lots of good food, played games, and relaxed.

I was thinking today while lounging in their hammock under a canopy of shady trees that in just over a year I may be off at college and these memories will be so precious to me. We'll hold onto these times together as they become more scarce. What a blessing it is that God gives us these moments together as a family.

True Beauty

I got a new camera because my old one died. It has this awesome zoom/close-up setting and I messed around with it today in my aunt's beautiful gardens. I love capturing even a small part of this glorious creation God has made. I am in awe of the beautiful blossoms and and blooms and love how there's so many parallels between flowers and the life of a Christian. I've been given the command to shut the computer off so I better obey... i'll just leave you with the slide show.

You Know You Have Brothers If.....

You're always on your guard, never knowing when that sneaky boy might jump out from behind a door and scare you.

You have ever turned out your light at night and snuggled down into the covers to go to sleep and your mattress starts violently shaking because there's a cruel brother under your bed trying to scare you.

You have been greeted by plastic snakes, spiders, and various bugs upon entering your room or climbing into bed.

You realize halfway through your shower that shampoo is coming out of the conditioner bottle and conditioner from the shampoo bottle. Yep, my brother switched the stickers on my shampoo and conditioner bottles the other day. I'd already put a huge glob of conditioner in my hair and then put shampoo over it before figuring out something was wrong.

That was a good one Caleb!! Life wouldn't be interesting without you two!!! :)

Your sister,

Molly

Libi's Homecoming

I know, this is several days late. To be honest, I have been avoiding posting this because I'm still processing my thoughts and emotions from that incredible day. I've waited to blog about it because I didn't want this to become my journal where I pour my heart out. But I will share alot today. Libi was more beautiful than I could ever have imagined, and I could write and write about the evening. But... I won't (although this post will be long!!).

They arrived on time and then got through customs. There's these big double doors that the passengers exit through from customs and we stood right in front of them. So whenever the doors opened we'd all try to peer through in search of the very tall Mr. Arnold and Jacob. While we were waiting for them to arrive there was another group waiting for parents to come home with a little Chinese baby. There were two brothers and a sister, all with shirts saying, "Mia's Big Sister, Mia's Brother, and Mia's Bigger Brother." Watching them unite with their ADORABLE sister was actually harder (emotionally) to watch than the Arnolds because our family is exactly like theirs: two boys and a girl. I realized that I really never have completely let go of the dream of our family adopting. I surrendered that desire and hope to the Lord last summer in Guatemala. So seeing that girl recieve her precious baby sister into her arms from China for the first time was hard to watch because I've dreamt of that moment for years, never losing hope that someday it would actually happen. It aroused my desire to adopt even more and brought back my disappointment and sadness over my parents not adopting. And I haven't given up yet. Some may say it's foolish to hold onto a dream like that but why shouldn't I? Look at our God!!!!! He is SO AMAZING AND GOOD!!! I'm blown away by His power and we know that He is the God of miracles. I cling to the verse in Joel about how "God will redeem the years the locusts have eaten." Maybe that will apply to our family. We couldn't adopt a baby but maybe God would choose to give us an older child. Only God knows. I just have to rest in that.

There were probably about 20-30 people that came to see the Arnolds. I knew most of them through school or through Corinne's family and I love them all. They are a beautiful picture of what the body of Christ should look like and they have shown me what it means to love. They've demonstrated to me Christ-centered marriages, peaceful families, and thankfulness in times of trial. They're there for eachother during the rough times and there for the joyful ones. Through them, the Lord has given me a vision for my future and the reward for following Christ. So that was very special for me to see again the dedication of these families to go and support the Arnolds. I'm so thankful that the Lord has placed me in a position where I can experience and learn from these Godly people. I know that seeing them has changed me and has grown in me a desire to have that kind of bond when I have a family.

I think that's all for now. I could go on a tangent about the millions of orphans and i could write down the stories that Mrs. Arnold told me about the kids at the orphanage but i won't! Because those of you who read my blog are probably very tired of these stories and think that I am absolutely obsessed with rescuing these kids. So I won't go there today. :)

I didn't really get very good pictures. Mr. Semlow got AWESOME ones. So if you want to see additional pics. go check out the Arnolds blog to see a short slideshow ( http://www.libifaith.blogspot.com/ ). Mrs. Arnold wrote a sweet post about their homecoming and adoption journey as well.

Today we're cleaning, working in the yard, and the boys are doing homework. I'm having youth group kids over tonight and then our family's going to my aunt and uncle's house tommorow. We'll get back on Monday night.

Heartbreaking

Maria, the 5 year old daughter of Steven Curtis Chapman was killed last night. She was hit by an SUV driven by her brother who didn't see Maria in the driveway. The girl died later at the hospital. PLEASE PRAY for this family. Sweet Maria was adopted from China and the Chapman family has been monumental in growing the spirit of adoption throughout the country. Thousands of eyes are on them, watching and waiting to see how they will handle this incredible tragedy. My heart aches for them, and as I tossed and turned trying to fall asleep last night after hearing this news, my mind kept turning to this boy that accidently killed his sister. The guilt he feels must be incredible. I can't begin to fathom the emotions and turmoil that this family must feel. Please join me in prayer.

Restoring Order

This post is a little delayed but I will just pretend that it's not a day and a half late! :)

On Monday night I got home from work, ate dinner, and tackled my very messy room. I can't stand being unorganized and for me, in order to function I have to have my desk and my room neat and tidy. I think everybody has one area of life that they use as a "constant." Something that's always there and something that they can always do no matter what the circumstances are. Being organized and having a clean room is probably mine. Even if my life gets stressful, chaotic, and frustrating, at least I have one area that isn't out of my control!! :) So I restored order to my desk and room.

I also went to our Christian bookstore and bought a daily devotional book. I'm not going to let myself skip devotionals anymore. The fact that I can convince myself I don't need to do it is proof enough that I DO!!! So my new and most important goal is to start doing a devotional each and every day and to not let this be one of those "highs."

Tonight we have our first leadership meeting at church. I cannot wait for tommorow afternoon to come because I'm going to go see Libi come home from China with her family!! :) :) :) I'm SOOOO excited. So I will post pictures on that sometime. I always lose it when I see the homecoming of adopted kids so I'm anticipating being an emotional mess. I'm sure I'll fall more in love with the miracle of adoption and, of course, want my family to adopt even more (if that's possible!).

I realized this weekend that there is a spiritual war going on RIGHT NOW over the adoptions of the orphans. I've watched Guatemalan adoptions get held up again and again; and now none of them are being processed at all. There's a family with a tiny baby girl in Ethiopia who's sick in the hospital- and they can't go and hold her their precious daughter as she cries. A different family was in the process of adopting an 11 year-old Ethiopian girl- but she ran away from the orphanage on Friday to try and find her family. She became depressed that she wasn't getting adopted and so she decided to go find her step-sister. Ethiopia has been without rain for several weeks now, preventing the hydro-electric plants from producing power. This is forcing frequent blackouts which further prevents court dates from being fulfilled and therefore adoptions are being postponed. The devil is doing all he possibly can to prevent these children from coming home to loving Christian families. Despite the efforts of many families to adopt, there are still millions of orphans. This is not just a "problem" this is a CRISIS. I think of the Prince Caspian movie when Peter leads the Narnians into battle yelling, "For Aslan!! For Aslan!!" I want to be in the army yelling, "For the Lord!!! For the Lord!" I don't know what the Lord has in store and what the future holds. I want to be at the front lines of this battle. Yet I feel so helpless right now. I'm praying that the Lord shows me what I can be doing even now for these children. My selfishness and fear so often holds me back from following His will. I wrote in my prayer journal yesterday, "I WANT to be stretched and broken, Lord. Please show me what it is I am to do with my life. Do something BIG! I'm so ready! Take hold of the Church and give us a shake. Convict us and carry us, God."

So I don't know. I guess you could say I'm just waiting. Waiting for further direction, praying that my plans to be an elementary teacher are what God wants me to do, just hoping that I'm doing everything I can to be the person God wants me to be, and that I'm being a productive soldier in this battle!

Perfect Weekend!

It has been a fantastic weekend so far. Last night, I went out with some church kids to go see Narnia. It was GREAT!!! I highly recommend it. Totally worth the money. Then I slept over at Kristen's house and we slept in until 9:45!!! That was wonderful. I've had to get up early every weekend for the past month and it felt soooo good to just sleep until I was rested. I told my mom when I got back, "If only I got this much sleep every day!! I would be so efficient!!"


After I got back from Kristen's I made myself presentable (a.k.a. shower and makeup!!) and we picked up sandwiches from Quiznos and headed to the park for a family picnic. We used to go to the park for picnics all the time when we were kids but we hadn't gone in a very long time. It was so much fun to just sit in the gorgeous weather and talk and remember picnics from when we were little. After we ate my mom and I managed to get my brothers to let us take some pictures (not an easy thing to do!). We then came home for an hour and went on a fairly long bike ride to get ice cream. We all came home and crashed after that (my legs feel like jelly right now even though I'm sitting down!). Probably a good indication that I'm out of shape..... maybe I'll excercise this summer.....



Here's a few pictures (if you can't see it on the screen just push "View All Images"- sorry, I'm still working out the bugs):

Lots of Music!!!

The past 24 hours have been filled with lots of music!! Last night we had a concert at which Caleb played drums for Concert Band and I sang a couple of songs with the choir. This morning, we had an extended worship time during chapel. Both of the events went very well. The worship time was fun and as you'll see from the pictures we dressed up the stage with lights and even fog machines. The fog machines were not a good idea though because they smelled SO BAD and so I didn't want to take a breathe to sing!! :) I put together a little slideshow of the videos and pictures we took. It's kind of comical because I picked this mellow piano music and then all of a sudden the band will start blaring. Sorry about that. Poor planning on my part but I was not about to change it after having already gotten it on YouTube.

Tuesday....

It's a Tuesday. There's really nothing exciting going on right now but I feel the need to talk... so I'll just let myself ramble for a minute or so.

The Lord has been teaching me recently about patience. He has been revealing to me the intricate depths of His will and the delicate details of His plan for my life. He's shown me areas in which I have not exhibited patience and have tried to move things along faster than He wants!! I do not want to do anything or be anywhere but where He is. So often I get wrapped up in how I think things should work. I forget that He has it under control and I just need to seek His face, where He will make things crystal clear and give me direction on how I should live and handle certain circumstances.

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him, do not fret."

Psalm 37:7

On a different note, this week our friends, the Arnolds, are in China getting their precious baby girl. I have experienced such joy from reading their blog ( http://www.libifaith.blogspot.com/ )and looking at their pictures as they journey to bring sweet Libi home to their family. It has also been very hard. It's very difficult for me to watch these families bring their kids home because I SOO desire that. My heart aches when I see the smiles on the faces of their family and to see the pictures of the kids in the orphanage. I long to bring a little one home and give them a family- but that is just not God's plan right now. So my lessons in patience are being put to the test this week as I seek my Father's face and trust in His plan. Trusting that He has a perfect plan for me and for the millions of children without homes. Life isn't all fairy tale endings but I hope that maybe my future holds a husband who will join with me to make a difference in the lives of these precious children. I love what Elisabeth Elliot says in one of her books, "...where the will of God is, that is where we also want to be. Learning to rest in His hands and receive each day with thanksgiving is the lesson for now. Psalm 31:15, 'My times are in your hands,' is my comfort."..... a spirit of restlessness and resistance can never wait, but one who believes he is loved with an everlasting love, and knows that underneath are the everlasting arms, will find strength and peace. God is in the waiting. 'It is God who arms with strength and makes my way perfect.' Psalm 18:32" I take heart in knowing that God is in the waiting.. that He has a beautiful and perfect plan for my life and that He is raising up families to adopt the children that I love so much. For as I said, I want to be where HE wants me and I just want to follow His will and not my own.

Thanks for listening to my heavy but happy heart!! I'm just learning and growing- but I have a joyful spirit and am grateful for all of the blessings that the Lord has lavished on me.

Chocolatey Wisdom

I know- that's the weirdest title EVER!! I'm strange. It does fit though just read on...

Have you ever had Dove chocolate? Yummy. The little squares with the foil wrappers that have messages written on them? Yep. That's what I had today. I don't believe in luck but I do believe that God can teach us lessons through anything- even chocolate wrappers. So I know you're just dying to hear what wisdom was instilled in me today by my candy! :)

My first piece of chocolate had a wrapper that read: "Dare to love completely." Now most people would interpret that as loving their boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse/etc. I read that and thought of God. Do I love Him completely?? Do I love Him and trust Him SO MUCH that I am willing to hand over my greatest hopes and desires, the things I hold dear to me? No matter how much I think I've surrendered to Him, I still have some things that I love more than Him. My idols. So as I sat and typed out an insurance claim at work I munched my chocolate and thought about that question. I feel like the Lord is challenging me to search my heart and find the things that I hold above Him- the things that are taking up space in my heart where He should be.

My second piece of chocolate had a wrapper that read: "Lose yourself in a moment." That could also be interpreted in a different way but I didn't look at it that way. When I read that phrase I thought of a picture I took at my aunt's house this week:

When I saw this picture pop up on my computer screen after I uploaded all of my farm pictures from my camara I was mesmerized. I couldn't believe how beautiful and detailed the flowers were. It was one of those moments when you are just captured by the intricate design of our Great Creator!! So when I read the phrase Lose yourself in a moment I thought of this picture and how I was just lost in awe of how big our God is and how if He cared enough to create those petals and blossoms how much more must He care about ME?!! My life has details woven into it that are much more complex than the creation of this flower. Our God just blows me away!!

So that's my chocolatey wisdom for today. Look for God in the little things today because He is there!

For those of you looking for the video go to the post below this.

Finally.... the video

I think I FINALLY got the video to work. After attempting to load it on multiple media websites and messing around with the video itself, I finally downloaded it on YouTube. As I write this it's processing but it should be ready to view within an hour. Please let me know if this doesn't work.

Enjoy!! :)

Copy and Paste into your website bar thingie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu1kcvuHyYo

The Video we gave my mom for Mother's Day

OK, I'm going to attempt to post this video. We'll see if it works! :) It really is a great video, though I am a little biased since I did make it myself. Even if you don't like this kind of thing it'd be worth it just to see my aunt crash while swinging over the creek in Arizona, right Aunt Diane?I had so much fun going through pictures of when we were young. Sometimes my brothers and I don't always get along and the past few months have been particularly frustrating for me in that area of life. Seeing the pictures from years ago when my brothers and I were best friends was encouraging and I was motivated to keep putting forth effort to mend the rough spots in our relationship because a close relationship with siblings is to valuable to lose.



So please don't make fun of my nerdy glasses or bunny teeth, OK?!! Just focus on the more recent ones. Sit back and enjoy the show!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day!! We woke up to a cold and rainy morning but it didn't dampen our moods. It was a very full day. We woke up and went to church, came home, ate lunch, and then my Mom and I went to the nursing home so I could model my prom dress for their "Mother's Day Tea." I did it with my friend Kristen which made it alot more fun than if I'd done it by myself. Then we came home and I finished my mom's gift which was a DVD with a slideshow of pictures and home videos on it. I'm hoping to post that on here next if I can figure out how! :) Then my brothers and I took Mom out for dinner (my Dad's working today) at Pizza Hut. After dinner we came home and my Mom opened our gifts which consisted of some cute Post It notes and the video. We just came up from watching the video twice. My Mom liked it. :) You might have to click "View All Images" to see this slideshow. It does work, I promise. Sorry, I'm still figuring out how to do this.

Day at the Farm

Today was a day at the farm. Our main priority was to help my aunt move stuff to their new house. We did some of that but we probably played more than worked. Sorry Aunt Diane!! It was a gorgeous day outside and I actually got hot and put on shorts! We had a great time riding around their new land on the quadrunners and we managed to fit in a card game and ice cream too. On the way there and back I worked on my Mom's special Mother's Day gift. I will post tommorow night with pictures after we're done with our Mother's Day stuff. I'm having a terrible time getting a slideshow on here so I'll just post a few small pictures.

National Day of Prayer for the Orphans in Guatemala

Today has been named the first National Day of Prayer for the Orphans in Guatemala. You can check out the person's blog who started it if you'd like ( http://thejujucrew.blogspot.com/ ). Please lift up a prayer for these precious children. The government has put 2000 some adoptions on hold to "investigate their legitimacy." That means they have to round up 2000 birthmoms and try to get them to come in for interviews. At many of these interviews, the mothers will be guilt-tripped into taking their babies/children back even though they have no way to take care of them. I can't even attempt to fathom the pain that these adoptive parents would feel if their adoption fell through.

Here's the list of prayer requests that I came up with:

1. Wisdom and strength for each birthmom as she's questioned by officials. I have no doubt that it's the Lord's will for some children to return to the birthmother. Some of the moms are as young as me- I can't imagine making heart-wrenching decisions such as these at this age.

2. Strength, comfort, and understanding for all of the adoptive families.

3. Financial provision for the orphanages and foster families caring for these sweet kids as well as financial help for those adopting.

4. Pray that God would hold the very hearts of these children (specifically the older ones). They so long to be loved (i'm starting to cry!). Pray a hedge of protection over them that they won't become bitter and hurt because of their abandonment.

5. Pray for the hearts of the judges that they would be moved to compassion.

Happy Day

Today's been a happy day. Nothing really has made it a particularly good day- it just is!! I went in to school early to run some vocal stuff with the team that's on tommorow and I was concerned because I woke up with a REALLY bad sore throat. Singing with a sore throat feels and sounds bad so I was just praying that it wasn't strep or something like that. Thankfully, it got better as I woke up and I think that my allergies have just kicked in all the way now. Thank goodness for allergy medicine!! :) Since it's finals week for the college girls at work, I worked the entire day at the office. One of the girls from church that also works at the office is home from college. We talked and laughed as we worked and I really enjoyed it.

This weekend is filling up so fast. I'm going to Corinne's tommorow to work on business stuff and I think we might go see one of my church friends dance in a ballet. Saturday we're going to my aunt and uncle's house to help my aunt with her new house. I'm excited to see what she's done to it so far. Sunday is Mother's Day. Have you gotten your mom a gift yet? I'm still working on my gift. I was asked to model my prom dress at a local nursing home on Sunday afternoon for some sort of Mother's Day program. I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a model but whatever. The Lord puts unique opportunities in our path. Hopefully I'll be of some encouragement by going and taking part in it.

I truly hope you are having a wonderful week and that you have seen the tremendous blessings our great and faithful God has lavished on us.

Writer's Block

My two goals for tonight were to write my final book report and compose my fundraising letter for NYC. Everything I write sounds so stupid!! I don't know why but I can't seem to formulate anything that sounds remotely educated. Funny how sometimes you just can't get the words out...

The Key

Yesterday my cute little car went into the shop for some TLC. (Kristen, you'll be glad to know that the brakes are now silent!) Anyway, when I brought it home I still hadn't attached my car key to my keychain. When I walked inside I set my purse down and set the single car key down somewhere. This morning, we were getting ready to go to school and I realized that I still hadn't found the key to my car. Of course, the spare key that we had was missing and the first thing on my mom's to-do list for today was to go get some more copies of the key. So I start to get a little scared because we had no way to get into my car and we had to get to school. I skipped eating breakfast and looked ALL OVER the house but could not find my key anywhere. So I began to pray that the Lord would reveal the careless spot I had set the stinkin' key!! Finally, with 5 minutes to spare, I found the key. Sitting out in the open next to the filing cabinet where I had set it while I filed away the receipts from the mechanic after I'd gotten back yesterday. As I thanked God that I had found it He gave me this word picture that I thought was really cool. This is kind of what I sensed Him saying to me:

"What is the key to life, Molly? You have accepted me as the key to your life but some haven't. Everyone's life needs a key for them to be complete. That key is sitting right out in the open just like yours was. People keep searching. They try different things, searching long and hard. Yet I am that key. I'm sitting right here, ready for them to accept me. I don't promise perfect circumstances, but I promise eternal life and unending love. Through me, they will find complete joy."

It might be kind of a stretch but it makes perfect sense in my mind and I was encouraged by that. I was especially encouraged because I'll be ministering to alot of searching people this summer in New York and I felt that God was giving me a sense of the hopelessness they must feel and their misery despite the fact that He's right next to them if they would just accept Him. He is a good God and He longs to comfort His hurting, searching children. His gift of salvation is free to those who ask.............Have you given Him the key to your life?

"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

Matthew 16:19

Snow Cones!!

I made snow cones for our family last night!! They were the first of the year and we enjoyed them alot!!

The Snowcone Eaters!!

CALEB HAS A BRAIN FREEZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tales of a Frustrated Shopper

My mom and I went to the mall last night in search of some simple jean capris for me. I soon discovered this task was NOT simple at all. We went to multiple stores where I tried on multiple pairs of bermudas (since I couldn't find many capris). I was shocked when every pair I tried on was cut to fit like spandex. Excuse me, but if I want to wear leggings I'll buy those myself!! I was so frustrated that I couldn't find one pair of jeans that fit modestly. Some girls certainly would've gotten them if they were me. They would've said that they fit perfectly but I knew that it wasn't right. It's sad that girls feel the need to dress that way in order to get attention. I also realized last night why some girls feel fat even when they're not. I'm not overweight (at least I don't think so) :) and even I had trouble finding modest non-hip hugger jeans. It's no wonder there's millions of girls who feel they need to lose weight. I just hope that the Lord will give those girls Dads and men in their lives who tell them they're beautiful and build them up. If a girl doesn't have that positive reinforcement and if they don't feel pretty and loved then it's bad news. So I still don't have enough capris but it's ok. We'll find some eventually and it was a good reminder of our desperate need for Jesus to fulfill us.

Monday Musings

I have nothing very exciting to report today, just random thoughts and updates on my weekend.

It was another great weekend. I never used to have amazing weekends but now that I have more friends my weekends are full and enjoyable!!! Friday night I hung out with some youth group kids and we painted our Sr. High room at church. The paint job looks great- I'll have to take some pictures next Sunday. Saturday morning we went to our friend's Bar Mitzvot ceremony (Jewish celebration of when a boy becomes an adult) at the local temple. We came home from that and I cleaned my room and transferred all of our digital pictures to the internet in case our computer breaks down. While I worked on that I watched this show called, "Raising 16 Children." This homeschool family has 16 kids!! And all of them are biological!! Is that not crazy?!!! I seriously do not think that I could handle more than 2 births. How about 16 adoptions?!!! :) I can't even handle a flu shot- how am I supposed to sit there and let them stick me with needles for an epidural?!!! I think that adoptions would be alot less physically painful!!! That's far off in my future so I won't worry about that yet. Anyway, I admire the parents of that family very much for letting God plan their family and for raising their children to be Godly young men and women. Saturday night I hung out with youth group kids again. And Sunday was the usual church in the morning, I had Corinne over to work on our business orders, and then we had a praise and testimony service at night. I never know what to share but I always enjoy hearing other people's testimonies and of course the worship part of the service.

Like I said, a pretty random post. Sorry for the boring update!

My Daddy

I have a great dad. He works SOOOOOO hard, is hilarious, and loves us very much. Sometimes he doesn't quite know what to do with a teenage daughter (especially when she's having a bad day) but all in all I wouldn't trade him for anything (well....... maybe a sister). Just kidding, Dad.

Today my parents and I had our first serious conversation about my "academic future." My mom and I had tossed ideas around and the same with my Dad but we hadn't all sat down and really discussed what we were going to do. I was shocked when he started listing all of these reasons that I shouldn't graduate early and that I should just take things slow and easy. By this time I was really scared because I figured my Mom would jump in next and agree with him. I could feel my well thought out plans going down the drain. Thankfully, Mom happens to disagree with Dad on this subject (very unusual) and so she defended my case after Dad was done with his list of reasons. After our drawn-out discussion Dad reluctantly agreed to let me go to college a year early assuming it works out for me to graduate next year (which it should unless something drastic would change).

Mom walked out of the room and I looked Dad straight in the eye and said, "You just don't want me to leave, do you?!!!" I was right. He's just too attached to me!! That's pretty special. So we joked for a few minutes and I finally convinced him that if he ever wants me to get married he better let me leave sometime!! (he's a big advocate for marriage in college if the Lord wants that). All in all, the discussion ended on a high note and was very productive. I'm now registered to take the ACT and the PSAT in September as well as an ACT prep class in May (yuck).