graduation...

is in less than 3 months.

wow. i can hardly believe that my time at augusta christian is going to be OVER in 3 months. it's so weird. i can barely believe that in 3 months, i'll never have to write a poetry response again, i'll never have to get an admit slip from the office again, i'll never have to take an intense AP stat test again, i'll never be in another chapel on tuesday mornings at 8:47 a.m., etc. there's so many things i'll never have to do again. this routine of augusta christian has been in my blood for over 8 years. almost half of my life has been there. half of the life that i remember has been there.

i hung out with some of my friends last night. it hit me that we won't be doing that in about 6 months. i cannot begin to imagine my life without them. as much as i am ready to get the next chapter of my life started, it's going to be weird to see this one end...

quite possibly the sweetest love story i've ever read...

i have to do poetry responses for my english class. we get to pick what poem out of a pack of poems our teacher gave us. the one i did for this week was called "The Exchange" and i just had to post it on here.

"The Exchange"

Ron Rash

Between Wytheville, Virginia

and the North Carolina line,

he meets a wagon headed

where he's been, seated beside

her parents a dark-eyed girl

who grips the reins in her fist,

no more than sixteen, he's guess

as they come closer and she

doesn't look away or blush

but allows his eyes to hold

hers that moment their lives pass.

He rides into Boone at dusk,

stops at an inn where he buys

his supper, a sleepless night

thinking of fallow fields still

miles away, the girl he might

not find the like of again.

When dawn breaks he mounts his roan,

then backtracks, searches three days

hamlets and farms, any smoke

rising above the tree line

before he heads south, toward home,

the French Broad's valley where spring

unclinches the dogwood buds

as he plants the bottomland,

come night by candlelight builds

a butter churn and cradle,

cherry headboard for the bed,

forges a double-eagle

into a wedding ring and then

back to Virginia and spends

five weeks riding and asking

from Elk Creek to Damascas

before he finds the wagon

tethered to the hitching post

of a crossroads store, inside

the girl who smiles as if she'd

known all along his gray eyes

would search until they found her.

She asks one question, his name,

as her eyes study the gold

smoldering there between them,

the offered palm she lightens,

slips the ring on herself so

he knows right then the woman

she will be, bold enough match

for a man rash as his name.

think before you speak.

how many times in a single day do we open our mouths without thinking about what is going to come out of it next? too many times to count. recently, i opened my mouth pretty large and said a bunch of things i should not have. i'm experiencing the painful consequences now. i mean, God did give us TWO ears and ONE mouth for a reason, right?!?!

i know that when i'm going through lots of pain sometimes, i wonder what i did wrong and why God is punishing me.  but sometimes, we didn't do a big thing wrong, and we still go through lots of pain.  i know i completely messed up in this certain situation in my life, and i'm reaping what i sowed, but what about those times when you didn't do a huge major thing and you're still experiencing a lot of pain?! i mean, we're definitely not all perfect by any, any means, but do you ever just wonder why God is allowing you to go through all that pain?

well, to sum it all up, here's a quote from my youth pastor, "Sometimes, God is allowing you to go through lots of pain because He's preparing you for a lot of purpose."

think before you speak. it will save you a lot of pain. but, sometimes the pain will make you better in the long run.

inspiration.

just some encouraging quotes for a weary soul.


When you stop trusting God & start doing things on your own, that's when things mess up. But when you trust in God fully, that's when you get the desires of your heart.


No one is useless to God. No one, at any point in his or her life, is useless to God – not a little child, not the unattractive, not the clumsy, not the tired, not the discouraged. God uses his children.
– Max Lucado


You will understand what prayer is for when you understand life is war.
- John Piper


Whoever is happy will make others happy, too.
- Anne Frank


Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
- 1 Timothy 4:12 


To be right with God often means to be in trouble with man.
- A.W. Tozer

sweet smiles.

almost every single time i walk into a room and my "nephew" Jack is there, his face bursts into this huge smile when he sees me for the first time. and every single time he does that, my heart overflows and i am speechless. he just sits there smiling and even laughing sometimes and it makes me feel so, so...loved. because he loves me and i love him!


i was thinking about it today and how it must make God feel when we do something according to His will and how it pleases Him. how must God feel when we smile at Him? when we smile at God? when we show Him we love Him?

so, smile at God today. and everyday.

snow.

so, today it snowed in georgia.

like for real snow. i'm talking 4, 5 inches. i was astonished. all day at school everyone was like, "it's gonna snow. we're gonna get out of school early."

and i was like, "yeah, right. snow, in augusta? whatever."

but, my God decided to show His power to me pretty blatantly--because it snowed and it is snowing and it has been snowing since 3:00 P.M.

pretty much one of the best days i've had in a while!

lots of snow falling in the backyard!

pretty snow-covered trees :) 

"He says to the snow, Fall on the earth..." - Job 37:6