Day 10: July 31, 2011

Sr High Mission trip: YouthWorks: Nashville, Tennessee.

I'm home!

Phew! What a trip, I love going on road trips but I forgot how tired they make you! Especially when you are the only one who can't sleep on the van (aside from the driver!) But I must admit... I am very glad to be home again.

Nashville was a cool city! Filled, with as I'm sure you could imagine.. tons of country twang! haha But for someone who has never been to Nashville, one of the most shocking things about the city is it's homeless population. And that, along with caring for the elderly were the two biggest focuses of the YouthWorks mission work during the week. Now, for those of you who know me, you may know that I have a fear of old people. So to say that this week was rough.. well, yeah. There was one day in particular in that my friend Sara and I had to assist in a nursing home worship service, and I must say that might have been one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do.  However, the way that day was then turned around is truly amazing. And I think I will save that story for a whole other blog tomorrow.

This YouthWorks trip was different from the ones that our youth group usually goes on because it was focused more on building relationships, instead of things like building houses. I don't want to make it sound like the whole week was awful and that there was absolutely nothing good to be taken away from this trip, because that's not true. Was it the best mission trip ever? No. Did I get pushed out of my comfort zone? Numerous times. Do I regret it? No.

There were other things/problems that came up throughout the week that had to do with the staff there having extremely strict rules, housing problems (like having to sleep on the 3rd and 4th floors but having to use the bathrooms on the 1st floor...?) or quite a few of us getting sick. BUT it's over now, we're home.. back in our own beds. And although throughout the week we were all getting caught up in the frustrations of everything, I hope that we can look past that now and find more of the good that we can take away from this trip.

For example, the people who rode on my van were AWESOME and we had such a great time! Doing anything from reading the 7th Harry Potter book out loud, to discussing who we would eat first if we absolutely had to. Or being able to just get away from home for a week and just be with some of my closest friends and hang out on my last youth mission trip. Although it was rough, we must admit that we will remember it. So I'm glad that I went and I'm thankful for all of the others who went too.

FUMC DENTON YOUTH GROUP,

THANK YOU FOR CHANGING MY LIFE.

I LOVE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU.

COUNTRY!!!!-twang!

And now, I'm going back to bed.

Goodnight.

:)

Day 9: July 23, 2011

NO BLOGS FOR A WEEK :(

I know the three of you who actually read this will be simply broken hearted... haha I'm only kidding! About being broken hearted.. sadly I won't be able to post any blogs for a week!

My youth group is going on a mission trip to Nashville, TN!

We leave the big D tomorrow morning at 5:30am... I don't even know what that time looks like, so that should be awesome! I don't know too much about the work that we will be doing while on this trip, but I'm sure it's going to be awesome. I've been going on mission trips since I was in 6th grade and this will be my final one with the youth group. And I'm so glad that two of my best friends will be going with me. We are going to make it an awesome trip. Leaving everything behind, and just focusing on what we are there to do.

I'm looking forward to escaping for a week.

I'm sure I will have some awesome pictures and thoughts to share when I am back!

Until then....

LIVE.LAUGH.LOVE WASTEFULLY.

Day 8: July 22, 2011

TRUST

"We’re never so vulnerable than when we trust someone – but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy."

 -Walter Anderson

"True, trust necessarily carries with it uncertainties, but we must force ourselves to think about these uncertainties as possibilities and opportunities, not as liabilities."

-Robert Solomon

"Remember, there are no mistakes, only lessons. Love yourself, trust your choices, and everything is possible."

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Trust, as I am sure we have each learned is a complex thing. When you have it, it is a beautiful thing. Trust is such an easy thing to lose, and you will find that once you do it is nearly impossible to get back.
So hold close those who you can fully trust, because that is something that some people go their whole lives without knowing...
Short, sweet, and to the point today.

LIVE.LAUGH.LOVE WASTEFULLY.

Day 7: July 21, 2011

Welcome to the gun show.

(Me, brother bear)

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”
- Charles R. Swindoll

I feel like after putting up this quote I don't even really need to type anything, it speaks so loudly on it's own...with words so true. So often when I look back and reflect on those times when I had a bad day sure, there was some kind of event that started me off on the wrong foot but it was my sour outlook on everything else from that moment onward that made the rest of that day continue on it's trek downward. I think it's because we find that it's so much easier to place the blame on everyone and everything else that goes wrong, rather than realizing that it's our attitude that's really the problem.

I remember the first time I ever saw this quote, I was in the 8th grade and I took it all the wrong way. I understood what it meant and I wanted to completely change my attitude, but in doing so I would get mad at myself, and put myself down anytime I felt the natural human emotion of sadness. haha I think it's a wonderful idea to want to change your attitude and make it better, but you have to do it in the right way, and for the right reasons. Don't do it for anyone else but yourself.

So today I am challenging myself, and anyone else who's up for it to truly embrace their attitudes! Have an open mind to new people and new situations that you are facing each day. Change it for the better, but do it for your own happiness.

Write out this quote, or put it in your phone. Somewhere that you can look back to it and share it with others! With a better attitude and a loving outlook on life it will make such a difference!

LIVE.LAUGH.LOVE WASTEFULLY.

Day 6: July 20, 2011



I AM

Sunsets, wind, rain.

I like to dream of impossible things.

Honesty, passion, and understanding

are important to me.

I find that everything around me

is a beautiful mystery.

I LOVE NEW BEGINNINGS.

I CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

      IN THE WORLD.

i have hope FOR A BETTER TOMORROW.

this is I.

I AM.

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This was actually an English assignment that I did at the beginning of the year, and I really love the way that it turned out. Today has been kind of a crazy day and I don't really have a lot of time to make a good blog, so I decided to share this.

I encourage you to take ten minutes out of your day to write your own, I promise it's really simple! If you would like to share it with me, add me on Facebook if you haven't already and I would love to read it.

Here is the line up of the poem:

Line 1: I am

Line 2: List 3 words of things you enjoy (it can be anything!)

Line 3: Starting with "I like...."

Line 4: Starting with " ___,___,____, are important to me" (so list three qualities or morals or something like that.. that's important to you.)

Line 5: Starting with anything that you want, I started mine with "I find.." (You're welcome to use that if you can't think of your own)

Line 6: Starting with "I love.."

Line 7: Starting with "I can.."

Line 8: Starting with "I have.."

Line 9: THIS IS I

Line 10: I AM

I hope you all take the time to do this, even if you never share it with anyone. It's just fun to discover who you are through writing.

LIVE.LAUGH.LOVE WASTEFULLY.

Day 5: July 19, 2011

"Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe
with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor to measure
words but to pour them all out, just as it is, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them,
keeping what is worth keeping, and then, with the breath of
kindness, blow the rest away."
        - George Elliot

To say that I am beyond blessed with the friends that I have in my life to me, seems like an understatement. Not a day goes by that I do not think of how lucky I am to have the people I do, surrounding me with that unconditional love that I don't always think I deserve. I wish I could somehow fit every one of my friends into a single picture, but today I only highlighted a few above.

"A friend is someone who understands your past,

believes in your future,

and accepts you just the way you are."
-Unknown

 I can honestly say that I don't think I would be anything close to the person that I am today without my friends. Each one of them, including the ones who may no longer be my friends have helped shape me into who I am. (I hope I turned out okay! 0_o) Throughout our lives we all go through hardships, and in my senior year of high school... I definitely had mine. But my friends really stepped up and were there, holding my hand, encouraging me, and giving me the hope and the strength that I needed to make it through.

I am forever thankful for each and every friend that I have made in my lifetime. As August 21st creeps closer and closer I find myself both extremely nervous and excited for the huge life changes that are going to happen. But any time I find myself feeling scared I just think of all of the people I have waiting to catch me, and I know... everything's going to be okay.

I love you all endlessly!

"Even though we've changed and we're all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across our face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will ever change to the point where we're not all still friends."

-UNKNOWN

LIVE.LAUGH.LOVE WASTEFULLY.

Day 4: July 18, 2011

I spent a lot of today driving. And by driving, I really mean getting lost.

My roommate and I had this big day planned out that we were going to go to Ikea and hit up all of these other stores out of town, the only problem was that neither of us knew how to get to these places. Well, because my car windows are currently covered with shoe polish >=/ she offered to drive since that would be safer. So around 10am we set out, two girls... one GPS ready to conquer the unknown! However, that GPS was not as all-knowing as we thought it was, and it pointed us in the wrong direction a couple of times. (granted one of those might have been a human error... but whatever.) Eventually, no matter how frustrated we were or how completely lost we felt.. we always made it to our destination.

(Sappy warning) All of today's driving really got me thinking. When I first got my license I remember being so scared of driving, I mostly blame my drivers ed. teacher for that. But as I have grown up I have grown to absolutely love it, aside from the price of gas, but that's a whole other rant. But any time I find my mind clouded with something I love to just get in my car, and drive. Without any means of a destination, without any assistance from a GPS. But above all, my favorite thing about the drives I go on is that it allows me to discover new places, and notice things that I may have driven past for 10 years but never took the time to really see.

I love the freedom and the escape that driving gives me.

Notice what's around you!

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do."

-Eleanor Roosevelt

LIVE.LAUGH.LOVE WASTEFULLY.

Day 3: July 17, 2011



"Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit."-Peter Ustinov

I consider myself to be extremely lucky. I am surrounded by love in my life, and I would like to think that I do my best to surround those around me with the love that I have to give. Although I don't always do my best, I do try. Now endless forgiveness... that's something I'm not so good at. I agree whole-heartedly with the saying "Forgive and Forget"... but just because I agree with it doesn't mean I'm so great at actually doing it.

I think my problem is that I get too caught up in my emotions sometimes that I forget to just sit back and breathe and really just let go of things. When I get hurt by someone I tend to cling onto that hate that I feel towards them instead of just letting go. But what good does that do? If they made the mistake in the first place, do you really think they care if you're still hurting from it now? NO. So why hold onto it, the only person it's hurting is you.

So I'm challenging myself, and anyone else to let go of whatever it is that's still weighing down on your heart.

Write that person a letter and tear it up, smash a plate, smash a few watermelons. :) Whatever you need to do to let it go, do it.

And watch yourself be free to love fully again.

"The past is behind us,

love is in front and all around us."

-Emme Woodhull-Bache

Day 2: July 16, 2011

Today was a day filled with music.
I woke up this morning and was greeted with the news that the organist we've had at our church for 60+ years had passed away. Dale was one of the kindest and soft spoken men I have ever met, but man was he gifted when it came to music. For the ten years that my family has been at our church he has been up at the front, playing that organ like there was no tomorrow... and by the time he was done there wouldn't be a butt left in a pew, everyone would be on their feet for him. Aside from his musical legend that will truly be in our hearts forever, my favorite memories of Dale will be our silent elevator rides on Sunday mornings. For some reason my schedule and his always had us meeting up for the same elevator ride, and we never shared more than a few words but he always would give me the kindest smile.
Dale Peters, thank you for blessing our lives with your music. Rest in Peace.

"Music has the power to move a person between different realities: from a broken body into a soaring spirit, from a broken heart into a connection of shared love, from death into the memory and movement of life. Music has the power to touch the heart."-Deforia Lane

Music has always been such a big part of my life. I've always said that I would never want to live in a world without it. It's the first thing I hear when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I hear at night. Music is a powerful thing... And trying to explain what exactly it is about it that impacts us so deeply is difficult. I sometimes wish that I could speak through music, because words don't always do justice. I'm not saying that I want my life to become High School Musical... Oh Lord.... But there are moments, that Mumford and Sons does a hell of a better job speaking for me than I ever could. Just a thought.

LIVE.LAUGH.LOVE WASTEFULLY.

Day 1: July 15, 2011

I had to really sit back and think about what I wanted my first picture to be. Did I want to come off as a nature person and post some flower pictures...Did I want to come off as a crazy dog lover and post a picture of my two crazy dogs... Or should I start off by posting a picture of the people who are most important to me in my life, my friends.(All of which I am sure to be labeled as later, I mean I've got a whole year of this!) But I settled on this one.

See the beauty in everything.

That is what I want my mindset to be each and every day that I do this project. To see the beauty in each imperfection, because let's be realistic not every day is going to live up to our expectations. But if we all could just take 10 minutes out of each day to take a single picture that captured a specific moment that meant something to us, and then took the time to reflect on it... personally I think it might change the way a few people look at their lives. I think it really teaches you to apreciate each moment you have.

"Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know that you have for sure."- Oprah Winfrey

I am excited to do this project 365, I don't care if I get 10 people to follow me or if no one ever follows me. Because I am doing this for myself! I hope to find happiness and discover some new things through this long journey. Day one, complete...only 364 more days to go!

LIVE.LAUGH.LOVE WASTEFULLY.