Two nephews - Cole & Holden

I am so blessed to have two of my nephews, Cole and Holden, near me! When I go home on the weekends, they are just a couple of blocks away. I loved spending time with them in the snow today.

Holden - 5 1/2 years

Cole 13 years

He's growing so tall so fast!!

Tab, their dad, pulling them behind the fourwheeler..

snow and ice, everywhere!

There was snow, and then there was ice. And it completely covered every little thing.

i love winter

My mom saw the picture and wanted me to make a Christmas card with it for this coming Christmas, so here it is...

p.s. It SNOWED!!! :))

trying to invite people to my "writing" blog...

It says that I need to email an invite to people who want to follow my "writing" blog. So, leave your email if you want me to send an invite to you. Sorry for the confusion.

my other blog, the "writing" blog

Well, haha... I said a while ago that I was getting rid of my "writing" blog, that is to say http://mylovewriting.blogspot.com/, BUT, I have found that some people actually do read it. And as some of the pieces I post on there are too long to post on my regular blog (for fear of boredom from some :)) ), I am going to keep my "writing" blog, switching most of my writing to the "writing" blog. If you would like to be invited to this private "writing" blog, please leave a comment saying you would like to be invited.
*** ALSO*** if someone could be advise me as to how to make a blog private and invite these who want to be invited, it would be much appreciated. LOL. Because I have no idea :))

Boaz.

Just a very short poem I wrote a few years ago. Enjoy :)) By the way, I envision this character as a young little guy of perhaps 3-5 years old.

Boaz

Curls

With a hint of amber

dressed his olive forehead,

a luster of innocence

radiating

from sapphire blue eyes

and a simple smirk.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Yay! This friday night and Saturday we are "supposed" to get 6 or so inches of the white stuff!!! :)) And we don't get it very often. At ALL. So, I'm excited and hoping the weatherman is right; BUT, we all know only the One who makes these snowflakes knows whether or not they are coming down :)

What an amazing post about love!! Click on the word love in the sentence before to read it.

African literature...

I am loving my African literature class! I have already learned SO much to tell my little one when I DO adopt him or her sometime in the future. I'm loving learning about the culture, the griots that tell the stories/histories of ancient times, and everything in between. Of course, as with some things in every culture, some stories don't quite make sense, but you have to make something up to make your kid behave/follow rules sometimes :))

Matthew 14:22-36

Nothing is impossible for You, You hold my world in Your hands. You're more than enough for me, Jesus You're all I need. -- Kari Jobe.

"Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.
But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."
"Come," he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"
And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed."
Matthew 14:22-36

Having faith is important. Here it was the difference between Peter walking on water and sinking, Success and FAILURE. In GOD's will, not in GOD's will. And what is SO amazing, is even though Peter's faith slacked off after he thought about what could happen to him, Jesus held out His hand and rescued Peter. GOD is ALL for you! He wants SO MUCH for you to succeed! If you will but reach out and take His hand, not looking back, not looking down at the troubling waters all around you and what "could" happen, then Jesus will take you farther than you ever dreamed. He has plans for you. Will you let Him lead you?

Walk on the Water -- Britt Nicole

I absolutely LOVE this song by Britt Nicole. It speaks of taking Jesus' hand, He is waiting for you to take a step of faith and walk with Him on the water. LOVE IT! You can listen to it by clicking herehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R3K0sqgfvM&feature=related

With a new semester, there is a new creative writing class I have. Poetry, this time! :)) This is my first poem for this class. I do not claim to be good at poetry :) LOL. Comments, criticisms appreciated.

p.s. For privacy reasons, I am going to do away with my writing blog that I had created a few weeks back. I will still post on here some of my writing, and continue THIS blog :)


Untitled.

Crying. Screaming.
Tears staining dirt covered cheeks
Speak of her hurt.
She wants hope.
Just once more.
She begs for it, prays for it
With
ALL
She has.

The azure sky weeps.
It mourns for what it once knew.
It is terrified by what it sees below,
Corpses,
Evil,
Anger.

Her cry is but a drop in the
Sea of a million voices.
She says it cannot be heard.
But He has heard her prayer,
Has felt her tears and
Asks her to believe.
To have faith in the help she asks for.

The cool drops of a rain shower
Run down her face,
Washing away the devastation
And heartache she feels.
It is gone, if not just for this moment,
For she believes in
The One
Who has given her a reason to believe,
One more time.

i will follow you into the arms of the broken.

I absolutely love this song that I have come upon in the last day or so. It is called "Follow You" by Leeland, featuring Brandon Heath.

Preach it, sista!

GOD is SO good! My bloggie friend, Linny, posted a great sermon on fear. Sermon? Yes, I said sermon :)) She was preaching! Preach it, Linny, sista!

Jillian, 5 years

Jilli,

I love you SO much, and I am so thankful that you are my niece. Love ya!

Auntie Natali

GOD is SO amazing!! I have been having second thoughts, or perhaps more accurately stated cold feet about going on a missions trip, and last night I was just sitting there, and I heard GOD speak in my spirit, "What I have shown you, GO!". I heard it so clearly! I am at a loss for explanation of how wonderful it felt to know that GOD is behind me 100%.

yay

YAY! A new picture of my youngest little nephew. I edited it for my sister.

Josiah Gabriel, 9 months.

I'm missing this little guy like something crazy! I can't wait until whenever I get to see him again...

I love you, Josiah! <3

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do. - Helen Keller

Africa is so heavy on my heart right now.

a love greater than anything I've ever known before...

You know, the past week or so has been eye opening for me. I have suddenly fallen in love so hard with my Heavenly Father, even more so than last year. To be honest, I didn't think it was possible, but GOD's mercies are new every morning, are they not? The more I seek Him, the more I fall in love with Him.

"When you come looking for me, you'll find me. "Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed." Jeremiah 29:13,14 [The Message version]

OH MY GOODNESS!!! Let's just say, I think something is really coming together for a mission's trip this summer. The place has changed - still Africa though :)) I'll let you guys know when I find out something for sure.

p.s. GOD is working big time in this one! Yet, doesn't He always?! I can't wait to tell you about it. I love His mysterious ways!

GOD truly is faithful!

In Exodus, chapter 2, the story of Moses is told.

"A man from the family of Levi married a Levite woman. The woman became pregnant and had a son. She saw there was something special about him and hid him. She hid him for three months. When she couldn't hide him any longer she got a little basket-boat made of papyrus, waterproofed it with tar and pitch, and placed the child in it. Then she set it afloat in the reeds at the edge of the Nile.

The baby's older sister found herself a vantage point a little way off and watched to see what would happen to him. Pharaoh's daughter came down to the Nile to bathe, her maidens strolled on the bank. She saw the basket-boat floating in the reeds and sent her maid to get it. She opened it and saw the child - a baby crying! Her heart went out to him. She said, "This must be one of the Hebrew babies."

Then his sister was before her:"Do you want me to go and get a nursing mother from the Hebrews so she can nurse the baby for you?"

Pharaoh's daughter said, "Yes. Go." The girl went and called the child's mother. Pharaoh's daughter told her, "Take this baby and nurse him for me. I'll pay you." The woman took the child and nursed him.

After the child was weaned, she presented him to Pharaoh's daughter who adopted him as her son. She named him Moses (Pulled-Out), saying, "I pulled him out of the water."" 1-10

Pharaoh had ordered the newborn Hebrew baby boys to be thrown in the Nile. How awesome is it that GOD used Pharaoh's orders against him?! Moses' mother was obedient to GOD. She put her child in a handmade basket to float down the Nile River, through the mouths of dangerous animals, raging waters, climatic conditions. She didn't know what would happen to her baby. She knew what could happen to him, too. He could be eaten alive, drowned, and much more. Yet, she still chose to trust GOD and His provision. She didn't say, "No, GOD, my baby will have a better chance of life here, hidden with his family than out in the water where You want him to be." Instead, Moses' mother chose to have faith, to truly believe GOD would protect her baby through everything because His hand was upon him. And GOD truly blessed and rewarded Moses' mother. He gave her son back to her. Back to her! To nurse, to cuddle, to love, to hold close to her again. AND HERE GOES THE BEST, MOST AMAZINGGG PART... GOD allows Pharaoh's daughter (the same Pharaoh who had ordered the Hebrew baby boys thrown in the Nile) to raise little Moses as her own son. A Hebrew (the lowest of the low in Pharaoh's eyes), his own grandson!

Oh me! GOD is good, is He not?! What faithfulness GOD speaks to me through this biblical account of Moses and his mother.

How many books will I have to buy?

How many books?! That's right - twelve books. Wow. And for only 4 classes. That doesn't count the $200 spanish book I already have. Thank you, Jesus, I don't have to buy that one again! :))

Well, other than the prices of 12 books, I'm happy today! Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new semester, with African Literature [very happy about this one, for I'll need to know something of my future children's heritage, and this is a great start], Seventeenth Century Literature, a Poetry class, a class on the American Revolution and Federalist era, and Spanish level 4. All this for an English major/History minor :) I love it, though!

Can I just say, I am SO in love with GOD and His Son Jesus, that I think I might explode?! And in a very good way! When I was a kid, I never knew the love they spoke of ran this deep, encompassed all it did, and lasted forever. I am so glad I was raised in a church that preached the gospel, a family that adored GOD and brought me up surrounded by the church. It surely was a blessing!

"Oh, thank God—he's so good! His love never runs out. All of you set free by God, tell the world! Tell how he freed you from oppression, Then rounded you up from all over the place, from the four winds, from the seven seas. Some of you wandered for years in the desert, looking but not finding a good place to live, Half-starved and parched with thirst, staggering and stumbling, on the brink of exhaustion. Then, in your desperate condition, you called out to God. He got you out in the nick of time; He put your feet on a wonderful road that took you straight to a good place to live. So thank God for his marvelous love, for his miracle mercy to the children he loves. He poured great draughts of water down parched throats; the starved and hungry got plenty to eat." Psalm 107:1-9

A new semester and prayer

Oh me! Six books for one class! What in the world????

This is me, thinking this morning. LOL. I am going to buy books this afternoon for my five classes that start this friday, and for just ONE of my classes there are SIX books to buy! Is this not c-r-a-z-y?! I'm hoping this class has cheap paperbacks to buy. If not, I can't imagine how much this is going to cost me.

However, even though one must buy hundreds of dollars of books, I am excited to begin a new semester. Two more semesters to go! Only one more to go after this semester! Then I will be a college graduate. As I may have stated before in previous posts, I should be graduating this coming May, but I'm behind in a couple of classes, and my major has 2 more class requirements than others, SO, yeah...

As I continue with my education in becoming a woman with a Bachelor's in English, emphasis in creative writing, I look to GOD's word to understand what will come next. I only know what GOD has said, that there is a future ahead for me. Where that future lies, I have no idea. Only He knows :)) Whether I am to stay in North Carolina and teach (as my plan is of right now), or whether I am to move somewhere else, only He knows. I am praying about it, and that's all I can do. I have to wait until I know for certain, until He puts a peace in my spirit. I know that I am to teach the "least of these", but where they are, I have no idea. And it's a beautiful thing. My life is just beginning, it seems, and the most exciting part is right around the bend.

I have just began reading a devotional by Beth Moore, called Voices of the Faithful, and one of the prayers at the end of the daily devotional is...

King of Kings and Lord of Lords, I focus my eyes upon You today. Keep distractions far from me. May I follow You wholeheartedly. Amen.

And that is my focus, my goal. I want to follow everything He has for me and nothing else. It will cost me something, but the beauty of it is He already gave His Son for me. I must pick up my cross and carry it, too.

"But King David said to Ornan, 'No, but I will surely buy it for the full price; for I will not take what is yours for the LORD, or offer a burnt offering which costs me nothing.'" 1 Chronicles 21:24

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." Colossians 3:23

I completely surrender to You, GOD, to everything You are about, everything You stand for, everything You want to do, everything You're doing. My love, my life, my hands, my feet, my purpose - I give it all to You to use as You will. Please, dear Lord, I hold nothing back.

finally, i'm back!

Wow, I haven't posted in 12 days! What a bummer! Yet, I did post on CHRISTmas Eve, the next day was CHRISTmas, then the next few days were a mix of family fun & sickness. Then, this past friday I left [on a whim] to visit my sister Kimberly and her family in Florida until yesterday. So, now I'm back!


"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

And, even though it's a few days late, here is my New Year's resolution. I know, I know... stereotypically it doesn't follow through a week later, BUT this one will. I want to grow even further in my relationship with GOD. This past year has been a time of great growth in my faith, in my love, and in my joy that I have in GOD. I can't imagine my life being different, but I know there are plans for me to prosper, plans for a hope and a future even further from today. And I am SO ecstatic to see what they are! In 2010, I hope to read my Bible more fervently, more faithfully, and to make Him even more of a joy on my tongue that flows forth in my speech with others.
This coming year, I believe, will test my faith even further, as I am to graduate in Dec '10 and find a job teaching English at a high school in my hometown [at least those are my plans as of yet]. This year I plan to hopefully attend a function for my sister. Hmmmmm...... what could that be? This year I am starting out with a hope, a love and joy in my soul that means more to me than life itself. Happy New Year to all! I'm looking forward to sharing this new year with you all!