Yo Shorty, it's Independence Day

I just need to be about an inch taller. Maybe two.

That way, my jeans wouldn't drag on the ground and get torn up when I wear flat shoes. I always buy jeans "to wear with heels", but of course I never wear heels. I'm a flip-flop girl. So my jeans get ruined.

I'll never forget the time the school nurse threatened to stretch me.

I went up the stairs near the library and waited for her to call my name outside of her office. When my turn came, she proceeded to weigh me (in kilograms) and measure me. I think I had grown about 1/4 of an inch since my last visit.

"We'll just have to put you on a table and pull your arms and legs so you get taller!" she said.

I was scared for my life.

I never thought that being short was a bad thing.

People always made fun of me.
I learnt to walk really fast to keep up with my friends.

Now, three of my four sisters are taller than me.
My 12 year old sister calls me "Shrimp."
My 14 year old sister calls me "her little sister."
I wear a size 0 or XS (sometimes I can fit into a size 1 or S). It's not hard to find that size at the store because most people are a M.

And all the guys are taller than me. :)

I like being short.
I can wear heels and still be shorter than most guys.

I almost always pass as being younger than I am. Everyone thinks Carolyn is older.
It's fun.

I just wish I could reach that top shelf...

On a different note, it's the 4th of July. As if you didn't know.

Carolyn and I plan on going to watch fireworks at the George Bush Presidential Library tonight. I think this year has sentimental value because it's the first year I've spent the 4th of July in the United States since 1997. Yes. It's been a whole decade.

I have good memories of the 4th of July. I can remember my dad opening the trunk of our station wagon (he had a bad wreck and totaled it when I was 6, so I must have been younger than that) and letting us sit in the back, dangling our feet off the edge. My dad had bought some firecrackers and fireworks, and he lit them in our front yard. I particularly remember the rocket he lit. I thought that was the best thing I had ever seen. I remember seeing it shoot into the air and explode. I also remember him setting black cat firecrackers on our backyard fence and then lighting them. I would stand on the back porch, covering my ears in fear and yet smiling in excitement.

But my favorite were the poppers and the sparklers. I'm not sure if they're actually called "poppers", but that's what we called them. The little things you throw on the ground and then they make a little "bang". We would pour them on the ground and dance around on them, listening to the melodious popping noises they made.

Once it got dark, we would light sparklers and write our names in the air. It was artistic and magical at the same time. I still remember the disappointment that would come once the sparkler ran out.

Sometimes, my parents would take us somewhere to watch fireworks. I remember two times in particular. One time, we went out into the country and watched them in a field. I think it had been a pretty dry summer because the grass caught on fire and the fire department had to come. The other time, we went to a hotel (Ramada, perhaps?) next to I-35 and watched a laser show followed by spectacular fireworks on the golf course. I never understood the point of the laser show. I think I got bored.

I miss getting a big blanket, laying down in the warm summer air, and watching beautiful explosions high above me. I'm sad that my whole family can't be together this year for Independence Day. I'm sad that my sisters and I have all outgrown our flag dresses. (Ok, I'm not really that sad. But everyone thought we were cute.)

Perhaps tonight will be exciting in its own special way.

Happy Freedom Day.

P.S. If I had kids, I would make them wear these today. I think they are way cute.

i love the miles between me and the city

Haha... I walked into my room and that's the first thing I heard... therefore, I put it as my title. Gorgeous song. I am kind of in love with Jon McLaughlin's music... especially his piano playing. Absolutely beautiful!!

So apparently my clothes have no personality. Carolyn told me that today when we were shopping at Old Navy. I do kind of wear the same things all the time -- I tend to buy multiple colors of the same shirt. And I buy solids, mostly. They go with more things. So, while I was at Old Navy, I bought a shirt with a big bird on it (it was on sale), a shirt with some random hearts all over it, and a not-so-normal shirt (still a solid color, though). Perhaps my wardrobe will perk up a little bit.

I also bought some curly hair gel stuff when we were shopping. I took a shower and put it in my hair, and it smells like a fish. No joke. I even got Carolyn to smell my hair, and she agreed. Seriously, why would the hair gel company decide to sell stuff that smells fishy? I really don't get it.

Today was the last day of my Summer Session I class, and I took a final. I actually could answer almost every single question. I didn't have to read every choice for the multiple choices thing. I knew before I even looked at the answers!! That is very rare for me. I used a new study tactic though, and I guess it worked really well for me. I am a very visual learner (and I think I might be kind of kinesthetic, too), so it helped me to type out a review sheet of all the important stuff, then highlight the extra important stuff. I could remember where something was on the page when a question came up. Craziness. I am going to be a teacher and I am only just now realizing how I learn.

I am eating a sandwich right now that makes me want to barf. I will remember this combination before I make a sandwich again. Nuh-uh.

I'm done.
Peace out.

He opens His hand and satisfies the desires of every living thing

Can you think of a time where you went somewhere or did something, and you came back really refreshed, like you were full of life again? Can you think of a time where you left a place or a group of people and your heart felt sad because it was over? That's really how I felt today, as we left Austin's farm in Leona. I can't put into words how much fun I had this weekend!

Carolyn and I drove for an hour and ended up in this beautiful little town, if that's even what you would call it. 7 other people came too (4 boys, 3 other girls) and we stayed in this little red house for the weekend.

We all got there on Friday night, and we hung out for a while before Erin and Ryan made dinner. Amazing! The guys even did the dishes afterwards, which I thought was wonderful. There's just something about a guy doing dishes that makes every girl's heart melt!
(This is everyone except for Carolyn)
After dinner, we went fishing. I had never been fishing, so it was quite an experience! I had a lot of fun catching grasshoppers.

Here's the fish that I caught! I was so excited!

Later that night, we went out and made a bonfire, then proceeded to roast marshmallows and make s'mores. Austin brought his guitar and played and sang (we sang too, sometimes), and we just enjoyed each other's company.

The next day, Austin gave us a "Gun 101" lesson. He explained things very simply, including gun safety and such. Then we headed to the field where we had had the bonfire the night before. The boys set up some cans as targets, and we practiced shooting. I was SO SCARED! I had this strange fear of guns (probably because I never was around them, growing up in England). After I shot the pistol, I got more relaxed and started to enjoy shooting.

Here, Austin is teaching me how to shoot. I stood really far away because I was so scared...
Here I am shooting the pistol!
Then we took a little walk to another target practice area. That's where I learnt how to shoot a shotgun! It was actually pretty fun, once I got past the freaked out stage.

We ended up taking a "boys with guns" picture and a "girls with guns" picture:


Austin ended up shooting a bunny, and then someone shot a caterpillar in half. It was pretty neat!

After shooting, we found a spot where we could swing on some vines that hung from trees. It was so fun! I thought this was the coolest picture that resulted from all the pics taken of the vine swinging:

That afternoon, we watched a movie and then most people left. Carolyn and I cooked dinner for Austin and Kyle, and we ended up talking for hours. And when I say hours, I mean over seven. I had so much fun talking to everyone! We talked about quirks, passions, ideal careers and dental hygiene. I probably could have talked for a few more hours, but I got really tired and had to go to bed. We left this morning after breakfast, and I got really sad. That's the bad thing about being an extrovert -- you have a lot of fun with some people, and the moment you have to leave them, it gets really depressing. I didn't say anything in the car for a little while, because I was so sad. It's kind of pathetic. And I only spent two days at the farm... When we went to Juarez, I was depressed for about a month afterwards because I missed everyone so much. But that's kind of going off track. I guess I just like people a lot!

Last night when we were talking about what we were passionate about, it really got me thinking. I know that I am passionate about serving other people... but what other deep desires has God placed in my heart? I felt a little weird answering that question because it made me want more passions. I am a very happy person who gets excited about a lot of things, but I wanted to know what really made me joyful and enthusiastic. What were those deep desires? I know that I desire to grow and learn about Christ. I want to fall more in love with Him every day. I want my life to be reflective of God and His glory. I strongly desire to do God's will and go where He calls me. I really really want to be obedient to Him (it's very difficult sometimes!). I guess that maybe this is something that God will develop in my life... I've definitely been thinking a lot about it, though.

I guess I should go study now. I hope you all enjoyed the pictures!

-K

Down on the Farm

Howdy howdy howdy!

I am back. It's been a great week, and the weekend will be even greater! This weekend (yes, right before finals), my sister and I get to go hang out with some awesome people on one of our friends' farms. I guess it's not really his farm, but someone in his family owns it. That's besides the point. The point is, it's going to be fun! I can't really explain how excited I am! Also, Carolyn and I get to cook for everyone on Saturday night. I've been wanting to do something like this for a while, and now I finally get the opportunity! We are going to fish, shoot and build a fire, apparently. I bet you are all laughing right now.

Me? Fish? Shoot?

Yes, I'm scared. I am a sit-in-a-coffee-shop-and-talk kind of girl. I am good at doing indoor kinds of things. But this is my chance to finally be "Texan". I have missed out my whole life! I haven't got the slightest clue how to do anything outdoorsy, really. Fishing reminds me of my Papa, because he loved it so much. I didn't know him very well when he passed away (I was 14), so doing something that he loved will make me feel connected to him in a way. Ok, I know I sound creepy, but I can't explain it. Bottom line, I am excited about getting to enjoy God's creation. :)

Have you ever tried to eat a sandwich that had grated cheese on it instead of sliced cheese? Well, I'm doing that right now, and it's very difficult. All the cheese keeps falling out and it's pretty messy. We ran out of cheese slices, so I had to use the grated cheese. Never again.

I found out yesterday that my family are going to be coming into town today. They were in Birmingham visiting my Pop (dad's dad), and since Claire has to be at camp on Sunday (the camp is not too far from here), they thought they would stay in CS until then. It's kind of sad because Carolyn and I won't be in town this weekend... I wish we could have gotten a heads up about this, but whatever. I am sure I will be going home soon (I really need a haircut and I'm scheduled to have my teeth clean in July), so I'll get to spend time with them then.

Well y'all, I'm sorry none of this is entertaining. I was just updating for the sake of it.

Peace out!

If My Brain Exploded Right Now, This is What the Contents Would Look Like

I feel like I need to write, because my brain has been full of thoughts recently. I'm not really sure where to start, because there are a lot of thoughts. Sometimes I think that if someone really saw into my brain, they would be scared. It's crazy in there! I wrestle with so much in my mind. I try to make sense of things, which is probably bad half the time because God didn't make everything on this Earth to make sense to us humans. Here's what I've been thinking a lot about (hang in there, it's VERY long):

Being a Wise Woman
I go to a discipleship class every week with women in my church. We started off doing a book written by a woman at Living Hope, but we are not going to follow the book so strictly now because our leader felt like God had laid some specific topics on her heart that she needed to address in the group. The book was all about being a Wise Woman of the Lord. I have been thinking a lot about this because I have a very strong desire to be a wise woman.

The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down. Proverbs 14:1

This verse is the key verse for the book, which you can actually find here. I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be a wise woman. I am at a very exciting point in my life right now, I think. I'm single. A lot of people hear the word "single" and think "looking for a boyfriend", but it simply means that I am not married. How exciting! You don't get to be single for very long in your life, if you really think about it. Once you're married, that's it -- God can no longer use you to minister to others as a single woman. Being single is also exciting because it means that it is a time of your life that God can work on you. You don't get married and suddenly become a perfect wife, mother, woman, whatever. It gets more difficult. (Of course I am not speaking from experience, but I have talked to enough married women to know this is the truth!) A lot of women have told me that when you're married, all your bad habits come out. The real you is revealed, and if you're like me, it's not pretty. I wouldn't want anyone to have to see that, let alone live with that!

And on a different note, your relationship with God certainly doesn't become perfect. When you're married, you have this other person who takes a lot of time and energy. You have to focus a lot on keeping that relationship alive and healthy! And becoming a mom... sheesh! Thinking about that wears me out! You won't always have lots of wonderful time that you can use to spend with God. Which is the most important relationship of all. If you are used to putting God on the back burner now, when you get married and start having kids, putting God on the back burner will be what happens. It will be automatic. If God doesn't get first place now with your time, He won't get first place later. Simple as that.

So... I'm single. As I said. I also said that I want to become a wise woman. How does that happen? Well I have all this free time.

I don't have a boyfriend. I don't have someone to call me and talk for hours with every day. I don't have an obligation to spend a lot of time with someone.

I don't have a job (but I need one. That's another story.).

I am taking summer school - one class per session - and I'm done by 11:20 every day.

There's no better time to start!

God obviously wants to show me something right now. He wants to teach me to manage my time wisely, just like a wise woman would! And so that's where I'll start. By spending time with Him. I already read the Bible regularly, but do you want to know what I really struggle with? Prayer. For some people, that comes really naturally. But for me, it's very difficult. I already told you that my brain is crazy. Praying makes things even crazier. I'm afraid though, that it's mostly due to the fact that I've let Satan have a stronghold in my life with regards to my thoughts. I daydream to the extreme. I have no focus with my thoughts. And Satan loves to use that weakness of mine! It's similar to having a small rip in a piece of clothing. You get that rip in there, and with a couple little tugs here and there (that happen without you noticing), you end up with a huge hole and a completely ruined article of clothing. I don't want to be ruined! (Of course you can repair the hole by sewing it, which is kind of like what God does.)

I read something yesterday that made me think a lot.

You can tell how popular a church is by who come on Sunday morning.
You can tell how popular the pastor or evangelist is by who comes on Sunday night.
But you can tell how popular Jesus is by who comes to the prayer meeting.

If you love Jesus, you will cry out to him. And my cries seem to have a great starting point, but then my mind drifts off.

However, Jesus came to destroy Satan's cunning schemes:
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. (1 John 3:8b)

So no longer, Satan, will you have a hold on me! God is so much more powerful than that. He is bigger than my distractions. He is bigger than my daydreams. He is bigger than all my problems!

So I will grow closer to God this summer by spending time in the Word and by praying. Seems simple, but you wouldn't believe how easy it is to fill up your time every day! This is a slight tangent, but that is something else I have been thinking a lot about: wasting time. I waste huge amounts of time every day, especially on the internet. Yuck. How pointless! It kind of goes along with my life's theme - me. I am the star of the show. And so naturally, I have to continually check to see who has sent me an email. Who has sent me a message. Who has written on my wall. It's all about me! Another one of my goals this summer is to manage my time better. I want to stop wasting so much time!

Back to the wise woman thing. I am blessed with a lot of time right now, and I want God to use that to shape me into the woman He wants me to be. I want to be prepared for several things:

1. Marriage
This is not guaranteed, but the majority of women on this Earth get married. So just in case it's God's plan for me to fall into that majority group, I want to be prepared! I talked a little bit about this earlier, but I know that you don't just become this amazing person when you are married. I want to learn to be submissive to my husband. I know this might be hard to learn how to do right now, but I can learn to put others first for a start. As I said, I live in the World of Me, so putting others first doesn't come naturally. Philippians 2:3 says to do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Ouch. I need to work on that! People who are not used to considering others better than themselves have problems with authority. And who is in authority in a marriage? The man! (See 1 Corinthians 11:3.) Here I am, single, with no prospects in sight. Perfect time to practice this whole humility and selflessness thing! I can start with the way I treat my roommates, my sisters, my parents. There are lots of opporunitites!

I have heard a lot of people say to focus on "becoming the person your ideal husband would want to marry." Well, yes. I think that it is important to examine yourself before you date. And that's very much what I want to do. But it shouldn't be your only motive. Changing and desiring a close relationship with God should come from wanting to glorify your Creator! We're not just here to get married, y'all (it sure seems to be trendy right now at A&M, though)! We're here for our Savior. I think there's a reason it's called History (Get it? His story?? Haha.). It's all about Him! So let's let that be our motive in becoming wise women. Or men, if you are a guy. :)

2. Motherhood
It hit me the other day that I might one day be a mom. I was looking around at all the young mothers at my church, and I pretty much freaked out. Until I remembered that I'm not pregnant, I was thinking, "I'm not ready for this!!!!!!" I don't think anyone really is ready for parenthood. But we can prepare a little better before we are even married! Children are told to honor your father and mother (Deuteronomy 5:16) and obey [their] parents in the Lord, for this is right (Ephesians 6:1). A parent has a huge responsibility to raise their child so they fear God.
Proverbs 22:6 says to train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
Ephesians 6:4 tells fathers not to exasperate their children, but to bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Um, wow. I can already tell this is going to be hard. I'm pretty sure God doesn't want mothers to exasperate their children either!
Parents also pass their sins down to their children. Children will act like their parents do. If their parents cuss, they will cuss. If their parents have a selfish attitude, their children will think this world is all about them, too. I don't want to pass my sinful habits down to my children. I want them to see me putting Christ first. Before my husband. Before them. I want them to see that honoring God is the most important thing they can do with their lives! So by starting now, I want to get off on the right track, for my children's sake. All of this, of course, is if it's God's will for me to have little kiddos!

3. Ministry
I want you all to know that I don't think this is something that will come in the far future. No, I don't automatically get a ministry when I get married. I have one now! God has something planned right now for me. God wants me to use my life to minister to others right now. He can use me in my brokenness. He can use me in my strength. He can use me all the time! And that is the reason I want God to help me become a wise woman now. I will grow and change and be strengthened and broken for His glory, for ministry. It's His plan. All I'm doing is offering myself as a living sacrifice. He wants my life! Of course, when I get married He may change the way that He wants to use me. That is very probable. In fact, I really hope to go into ministry with my husband. Not sure what that will look like, though. I have talked to some people about this, but most people don't know that that is what I truly want to do with my life: ministry. Notice that "I" and "want" are in italics. Those are my plans. It could be God's plan for me to have a normal career. He may want me to be a teacher for the rest of my life. If so, great! If not, great! It's God's plan either way, and it's what's best. And I want to be prepared for whatever I'm supposed to do. Whether it's sharing my life and spending hours and hours of time with college students (my ideal job) or teaching math to a bunch of pubescent children, I am excited. God is good!

Look at that -- the three M's! Haha, that was just a coincidence.

I am very excited with what God will do with me this summer. The surface is only just beginning to get scratched. I can't wait to be changed by Him, molded by Him, shaped by Him. I desire to be a wise woman of the Lord. Thankfully, God says that if we desire wisdom, we should ask Him, and He'll give it to us! (See James 1:5.)


Convictions

Carolyn just walked into my room a little while ago and started sharing a bunch of stuff with me. She told me that she had been convicted of a bunch of stuff this summer. I asked her to list it, and she looked at me and said, "Seriously? Are you sure? There's a lot..." She proceeded to list all the things she had been convicted of so far, and it was weird because

they were

the exact

things

I had been

convicted of.

The same list.

She was nervous about sharing her list with me because she thought she had a lot of struggles. It just goes to show that honestly and fellowship go hand-in-hand, and it's something that God desires in the Church! We were meant to share our struggles with one another. A lot of the time we keep things inside, thinking that no one else has those same difficulties.

Not true.

Because I had the same ones.

And Carolyn's list was long:

Words
I have been thinking a lot about the tongue recently. It's compared to a ship's rudder in the Bible (James 3:4,5). Matthew 12:34 says that out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Um, what?! Seriously? Because I say some pretty mean stuff. I am critical and condemning. That makes me feel sick -- that's a reflection of what my heart looks like! I am harsh and quick to answer so many times. God is convicting me in terms of what I say to others. Tiffany and I were struck by 1 Peter 3:8&9 in The Message the other week:
Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that's your job, to bless. You'll be a blessing and also get a blessing.

Sharp-tongued sarcasm? I am pretty good at that. And yet the Bible says that it's my job to bless others. I am supposed to build up with my words, not tear down! (See Ephesians 4:29.)

Motives
This is a biggie for me. I have awful motives most of the time. Sometimes I will post things on my blog because I want people to read it. How sad is that? Pride is a huge problem of mine. I will put things on my Facebook profile so others will read it and think, "Wow, she read that book? I admire that!" and so on. Pathetic. Yet we all seem to do it. Reading my Bible in public places is becoming difficult, because I have gotten attention because of it. And of course that feels good. Yes, I am a Christian! Look how holy I am! Now I know why Jesus told people to pray in the secret and give money in secret (read Matthew 6)! I think motives go hand-in-hand with pride and selfishness. God will search our hearts and reveal our motives:

All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord. (Proverbs 16:2)

Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God. (1 Corinthians 4:5)

My movies really suck most of the time. I pray that God would search my heart and reveal motives that are not pure!

Time/Laziness
Ohhh dear. I am awful at managing time.

Completely awful.

I will spend hours doing pointless things (email, facebook, doing who knows what) instead of managing my time wisely. I know I touched on this a little bit in my last section. I went to the college service at Grace today with Carolyn, and the whole sermon was called "working hard or hardly working?" (Read Proverbs 6.) Ouch. That hits home. I need to prioritize what I do! God should be #1. It shows when He's not. And He's not most of the time. I end up with a list of stuff I haven't done and about 8 hours of wasted time at the end of every day. That sucks.

Prayer
Basically, my prayer life needs to explode. I definitely have some communication issues with God!

Money
This is really embarassing. Although I am hard worker if I have a job, the money I get from that hard work seems to go down the drain. I buy pointless and expensive things. What the heck is going to happen when I get married? I want my husband to be able to trust me with our money. I want to spend it wisely. I want to save. So basically, a lot of things need to change. Sometimes I feel like I have no self control when I go shopping (maybe the way to solve this is not go shopping? Haha). It's really bad sometimes. I'm not in debt, and I hope I never have to be. Thankfully, that scares me to death. The thought of credit cards make my throat close up. I have used them before, but I pay them off the moment I can. I know it might be unavoidable, but I don't want to use them if I can help it.

Bible Memorization
Psalm 119:11 says, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
We honor God when we memorize His Word! Jewish boys used to memorize the entire Old Testament by the time they were 14 or something like that. Can you believe that? We memorize the Bible to keep ourselves from sinning. Sounds good, right? When I was little, I went to something called AWANAs. It stood for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed, which comes from 2 Timothy 2:15. We memorized Scripture ever week. Actually, a lot of the Bible verses I know I memorized in AWANAs. We are to meditate on the Law day and night (Psalm 1)! I have gotten really bad at that.

I am great at using biblegateway.com. I can remember the jist of most verses. I can kind of recite a lot verses. But I can't for the life of me remember the address! If you gave me my Bible (since I have things highlighted and I know where on the page they are), I would be able to find some verses. Apart from that, it's awful. And I know that God wants me to learn what the Bible says. It's good! It's useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). Who doesn't want that?!

Prostitution
Before you all freak out, I don't mean this in the literal sense. Have you ever heard the song "Wedding Dress" by Derek Webb? If you haven't, you can listen to it here. Even if you have heard it, this video is pretty cool once it gets going.

I have been thinking a lot about how I prostitute myself to the world. I trust the world and not my God. I constantly run from Him. A line in that song says I am a whore I do confess; I put You on just like a wedding dress. It would be pretty ridiculous if we saw a whore get married. What would we be thinking? It'll never last. She'll go back to her old ways. Are you serious? A whore? Commitment? That's like me. I am in this relationship with the Creator of the Universe and yet I still turn from Him. I am crazy. I think there's a good reason that Israel was compared to a prostitute in the book of Hosea (go read it, it's one of my favorites in the Bible!). We choose other lovers instead of the One who can love perfectly and unconditionally! Yet He still considers us our husband instead of our master (Hosea 2:16). Our God is good.



Guess what? I think that's all. I think I have completed my thoughts for tonight. If you made it this far, then congratulations. You just read a novel. Check it off your summer reading list.

But seriously, I can't believe this post was this long.

I am exhausted now. My brain is still thinking, but a lot of those cooped up thoughts are out! Yay!

As my blog title says, "God has spoken, and the rest is commentary."
Well I hope that I provided some truth from God, with a lot of my own commentary.

My life is abundant and full of joy. Ask me about my God sometime. I would love to share the wealth with you. :)

-Katherine

Pop! Goes my Heart

Last night I hung out with a really fun (and crazy) group of people. Carolyn and I got invited to a BBQ by our friend Austin, and hey, we like random things, so we went. It was a blast! The guys who live with Austin are insane. We sat around, talking about random stuff, jamming out, listening to Boston, playing Guitar Hero and then eventually we decided to watch The Phantom of the Opera. I couldn't believe it when all these guys started suggesting that movie! I was a little impressed, to say the least. I thought most guys hated girly movies (especially girly movies that are musicals). But they all loved the songs and we had a wonderful time analyzing it. What a fun group of people.

Sometimes I wish that my life was a musical. If people just burst into song all the sudden in real life, things would be so much more fun! I am tempted to start dancing sometimes, as I listen to my iPod when I'm walking across campus. It's too bad stuff like that isn't normal.

I've been listening to some funny music today. I think this song/video is hilarious:



It's from the movie Music and Lyrics, which is not an amazing movie, but the music is pretty good. Hugh Grant makes me laugh, a lot.

Carolyn and I went antiqueing (sp?) today. We didn't find anything.

Well, I should probably go do something productive.

Peace out.

Fimkimmyshell

That's what my dad and his siblings used to call ice cream when they were little. It had to do with a commercial that was playing on tv back then (the commercial actually said "...thin creamy shell..." talking about the ice cream it was advertising). Anyways, I just got through eating some Key Lime Pie flavored Blue Bell ice cream. Pretty good. Not as good as anything containing chocolate, though.

Today I had a history test that pretty much sucked. I wish I was good at history. I studied for hours, but I still freaked out during the test and forgot a lot of stuff. I made a ton of stupid mistakes, I think. At least it's over.

I'm sorry I have neglected all my adoring fans (ha) for the past couple days! History took up all my time. I joke that Sam Houston took up all my time, because I had to read a book about him. I think I had some dreams about him, too. Scary stuff.

Ok, I feel like putting some pictures on here.

This is where I have class every day. Isn't it beautiful? I know you can't really see the building, but I think having the trees there really make it gorgeous. I found out the other day that it was built in 1932.

Tiffany wanted to leave to leave our study party at Coffee Station to go play volleyball, so this is me giving her an evil look as she packs her stuff up. Except that I don't look angry, I just look weird.

This is Carolyn working on a top-secret project. Haha! She's really just doing a little arts and crafts.

Well, I had a lot more to say, but I need to run some errands. Maybe I'll post something later.

-Khrieante

Keesh!

There is a Quiche Lorraine cooking in the oven. Sounds hard, but it's freakin easy to make. Carolyn is showing me her nose hairs right now. We just spent about a billion and two hours at Coffee Station. In the other room, John Mayer is singing about someone's body (apparently it's a wonderland). It is a very good day.

So yeah, Carolyn and I went to Coffee Station to study, but ended up studying 1 and 2 Thessalonians for a good 3 hours, I bet. Tiffany was with us, and it was absolutely phenomenal. There is nothing that gives me joy like studying God's Word with other Brothers and Sisters in Christ. Ahhhhh I get excited just thinking about it!!! I didn't read anything about Sam Houston, and now I am feeling guilty. Just to inform you on how awful my brain is, for about 2 seconds (as I was typing "Sam Houston"), I thought that Sam Houston not only played a great part in Texas' history, but was responsible for the chain of the most popular superstores in the USA. Good grief. Then I remembered that that was Sam Walton. They do have kind of similar names, though.

Carolyn has just grabbed my scissors and is cutting Milky's fur off. I am seeing chunks of it fall into her lap as I speak. He is looking more and more like a hobo hamster. She just felt sorry for him because it's so hot in my room right now. Carolyn kind of loves animals a lot.

Back to the 1 and 2 Thessalonians thing. I really loved this verse, so I am going to share it with y'all.

"And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming." - 2 Thessalonians 2:8

WOW!!! Seriously? Just by breathing, God's power is so amazing that it will overthrow the antichrist, and simply His splendor will destroy him. WOW. I am amazed by that! We were talking about this verse, and Carolyn said something about, "I don't want God to just breathe, but I want Him to get out a sword and stab it in him!!!!" But then we thought about 2 Timothy 3:16 - "All Scripture is God-breathed..."
Then we thought about Hebrews 4:12 - "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any two-edged sword..."

Another WOW. I love how you can connect different parts of the Bible like that! God-breathed. God's Word. Sharper than any two-edged sword. That probably isn't right or something, but it made sense to us. Just His breath is sharper than any sword. He doesn't need to grab a sword and stab the antichrist. Simply his breath and splendor is enough to pretty much slaughter him. My God is awesome. :)

Almost every time I go to Coffee Station I end up just reading my Bible. Maybe I should just live there! It's really cool. I have amazing conversations with really awesome people there. If you ever see me sitting in Coffee Station, please stop and say hi to me (even if I have no idea who you are). I love meeting new people! I will most likely be with my sister. We look like this:

...and now I've just invited creepy stalkers to visit us!!! :-/

Anyways, our quiche is done. Sometime I spell it "keesh" in my head. The keesh is done. Gotta go eat that!

-K

There was a Good Quote but I Forgot It

I told you that I would write about marrying someone with piercings (and/or tattoos). I was kind of serious, actually. I made the mistake of telling my mom and Nana that I could marry someone with a piercing or two at dinner the other day. You never know. I kind of like that look, to be honest. I don't want to marry a "bad boy". You know me, that would never happen. I just don't have a problem with piercings (depends on the place, though) on some guys, as long as their hearts are in the right place. I'm trying to think about how to word this without sounding cheesy, weird or dorky. I know some Christian guys with piercings and/or tattoos and they are really great guys. Plus, man looks at the outside and God looks at the heart.

Which is really true, I found out. My mom just kind of laughed at me and my Nana got this really scary look on her face. I think I may be going to hell now. (Haha.) I love my Nana, but we are very different when it comes to a lot of things. She is very conservative and very much a southern Baptist. She likes the clean cut guys. I do too, kind of. I also like the kind of guys who don't shave for a while and don't do their hair sometimes. And maybe have piercings. Okay that just sounds weird, now. I'm just not opposed to it.

I received a very long lecture about how awful it was to have piercings and tattoos if you're a guy. Apparently heathens do that sort of thing.

I just laughed a lot in my head.

I'm done with that topic, now.

My mom and sisters are leaving tomorrow morning. I sure did have fun with them while they were here! We watched Charlotte's Web tonight, and I decided it is one of my new favorite movies. I decided that I live in the past, or something. I love childrens' books and movies. Tiffany and I went to Barnes and Noble the other day and spent about an hour looking at books we read as children.
Make Way for the Ducklings
Goodnight Moon
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Goodnight Mr. Tom
The BFG
Some other ones I can't remember now.

I loved being a child. I loved to read. Even now, I love picture books almost more than "grown up" books. When I find out that I am pregnant with my first child, I will go to the bookstore and buy the classics. My children will have an extensive library. I can't wait to read to them every night - I want them to grow up the same way I did. Lots and lots of picture books. :)

I want to go to a church that has no politial affiliation. That's not to say that Community Church does - actually, it really doesn't. No one talks about politics or bashes Hilary or Bush. Of all the churches I've ever been to, this one talks the least about politics. I was reading Blue Like Jazz and it made me think about how I don't want to go to a Republican/Democratic church. I don't think politics and religion should go together. Jesus' agenda never included politics while he was on Earth. He never gathered with others to argue whether or not we should ban gay marriage or whether abortion was wrong or not. He came to love, to forgive, to feed, to restore, to heal, to care for. He cared about people, not policies. I have never been a huge fan of politics. I think that is mainly due to the fact that I didn't spend long enough in any particular country to understand the political systems. We don't need to assume that Jesus would have been a Republican if He were here. I don't think he cares about that very much. He just cared about people. I want to be that kind of person, too. I don't want to bash homosexuals. I want to love them and welcome them into the church. I want them to know that Jesus loves them but He doesn't approve of their lifestyle. Protesting and yelling and shouting hateful words never helped anything. That is such terrible ungrace. I'm pretty sure Jesus would never do that. He would give people hugs. He would heal them. And then He would tell them to go and sin no more.

I got a little off track with that one. But that is what I have been thinking a lot about recently.

I really enjoy deep conversations. Small talk is fine, and sometimes you have to start off there because that's polite. It's what you do when you first meet someone. But sometimes I just want to get right to it. I want to ask people what their greatest struggle is. I want to know the lowest point of their life. I want to know what gives them much joy. I want to know the real person deep inside. I want to discuss things that are not shallow. Sometimes this happens with strangers, and I like it a lot. I just don't know a lot of stuff about intellectual things, and I don't know how to make myself sound smart in those circumstances. But I will listen. I'm still learning, and I don't have an opinion on everything. That's okay though, because everyone learns. I think a lot of opinions are just people repeating stuff they've heard before. That's all an opinion is, isn't it? People hearing someone say something, and then they think, Hey, I agree with that. I want to think that, too. So they say that's what they think, and it becomes their opinion. I mean, that's what I do. I repeat stuff I've heard and say that it is what I think. It all seems so shallow, now that I've put it that way. But I do like to have deep conversations a lot. Mostly about the Bible. I have realized that I am learning a lot about the Bible. I am still a baby when it comes to some things about the Bible. God is still teaching me, and I'm still growing. I love it.

Since it's getting late, I am going to wrap up now.
Life is beautiful.
God is great.
I am satisfied.
- Katherine

Actually, it was a Thursday.

Yesterday, one of my dreams came true.

I woke up early (6 am) to go to Coffee Station with Tiffany. That was pretty fun. But by the time I went to class and got home, I was pretty tired, so I took a nap. I set my alarm and when I woke up when it went off, I was still tired. So I tried to fall back asleep.

As I was drifting back off to sleep, I heard Anna yelling in the living room.

"What!? What are you doing here?!!??!?"

I thought she might be on the phone with one of her high school friends who had come into town or something.

A few seconds later, she knocked lightly on my bedroom door, then proceeded to tell me that there was someone with a package at the door for me. I jumped out of bed, slightly confused, and ran into the living room.

"You're joking. Someone is here that we know."
"No! Seriously. I'm talking to my mom on the phone. There is someone outside who wants you to sign for a package."

Finally I decided to open the door and see for myself. I expected someone to jump out at me, like Brad (who used to live in the apartment across from us). He rarely visits, so when he does, it's a big deal.

I tried to open the door but I could only get it open a little crack. Something was tied to the door, keeping it shut.

Half delirious, I looked down to see Tawny's dog leash tied around the handle and dangling to the ground.

My family had flewn in from England without telling me! I was absolutely shocked. Of course, my brain wasn't working enough for me to figure out that my family didn't actually live in England anymore. I heard giggling, and then Claire, Christina and my mom appeared from around the corner.

I started screaming.

I have never been surprised by someone like that. I've always wanted to, but it's never happened. My mom and two of my sisters drove all the way to College Station without telling me! I was so excited! It's my Nana's birthday today (the big 7-7) and my mom decided to surprise her. She decided to surprise Carolyn and I, too. :)

I have been having a blast with my little sisters. I took them to Coffee Station and we hung out on the couches upstairs. It's been so much fun! Tonight, we are going to see Ocean's Thirteen. I heard it was really good, so I'm pretty excited about that.

I need to help Carolyn with her homework now. I will write about marrying someone with piercings later. (haha)

-Katie

Do You Love It?

The sickness is gone. (Insert Hallelujah chorus here.) Thank goodness! I can breathe and I have enough energy to run around and keep busy like normal. I am very surprised because I didn't get a sinus infection. Normally my snot goes green and (sorry is this too much information?) I cough up a bunch of phlegm. Not this time! I think it was just a regular cold, something I haven't had in years. All that is left now is a raspy, sexy voice. Heck yes. (Haha!)

Sometimes I talk to myself in my head. Do you ever do that? I make up stories and I write things in my head. It always goes really well. In my head, I am a wonderful writer. I publish stories that would be best sellers if they ever reached the shelves of stores. But that's the problem - they never make it onto paper. These stories normally get written when I am walking to or from class, or while riding the bus. They are funny. I am a funny person, in my head. By the time I get home, though, I forget them. America will forever be deprived of my literary works.

I have a confession: I have been watching the worst TV show ever. My sister and my roommate and I have been renting a TV series from Hastings that is probably turning my brain to slush and replacing my vocabulary with phrases such as "That's hot." "Goodnight sexy." "Do you love it?" and "Hey gorgeous."

That's right.

We've been watching The Simple Life.

I actually really really disliked Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, and I still don't like them a whole lot. But The Simple Life makes me like them a little bit more than I used to because they are so stupid and funny! I just can't imagine how someone can have absolutely no common sense. I enjoy watching them make fools of themselves while trying to do normal tasks: vacuum, change a diaper, put icing on a cake... etc. Anna, Carolyn and I enjoy saying "Goodnight sexy" to each other before we go to bed. Wow.

On a more serious note (and this is like an oxymoron), I have been reading Blue Like Jazz again. I bought the book two years ago and read it, and I loved it. Then I let someone borrow it, and I haven't seen it since. So on Sunday, I went to Half Price Books to see if they had it. They did! I bought it again, and I've been reading it. I love it.

Carolyn and I have started a mini-Bible study together. We are going through 1 and 2 Thessalonians. I am learning a lot! We started today and read the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians. I want people to know that I am a Christian just by looking at my actions, just like the Christians in Thessalonica. How amazing!

Sometimes I wake up and I don't know where I am. I have to think for a few seconds what year it is, and whether or not I am in college. I forget that my family has moved back to Texas, and that I am about to start my third year of college, and that I no longer live in England. It is the weirdest thing. I can't begin to explain the thoughts that race through my head in the morning. Life is very strange, sometimes.

I have to thank my friend Tiffany for introducing me to the greatest place on Earth: Coffee Station. Well, she didn't really introduce me to the coffee shop - I mean, I knew about it before, and I had been there a few times. Normally I go to Sweet Eugene's, because that's what people talk about most. Honestly, though, I'm not a huge fan of Sweet's Coffee. No offense to them. It all tastes the same to me. And it's normally crowded with people who have nothing to do but take up a whole couch and listen to their iPod and study. I can't ever find anywhere to sit there. Tiffany told me that she goes to Coffee Station all the time, and that she's friends with the people who work there. So last week, Carolyn and I went there in the afternoon. I loved it. It was quiet and had a really relaxing and cozy atmosphere. We sat on a very comfortable couch and drank vanilla chai lattes and I tutored Carolyn in math. It was delightful.

But the best was yet to come.

I got sick, so I didn't go there for a few days. Then Sunday came, and I got a call from Tiffany after church. She said I should come to Coffee Station. So I grabbed Carolyn, and we went to coffee heaven.

The first thing you should know about Coffee Station is that the people who work there are AMAZING. And I mean that. I have met four... yes... I think four, people who work there. Every time I go at least one or two (sometimes three) of them are there. They are so friendly! That is why I have been there for the past two days. And I stay for hours. I have met Vlad, Chad, Danny and Andrea. Go meet them. You will be impressed.

The second thing you should know is that the people who study there are amazing. They have fun. They talk to you. They will take their earphones out of their ears to talk to you. They will host hug demonstration seminars with you (no joke haha). They will sit on the floor, in the middle of the store, after it closes and talk to you. They will play hand clapping games with you. They will sit at the same table with you. I love them.

The third thing you should know is that the drinks are awesome. This kind of connects to the fact that the workers are awesome. Yesterday I ordered a vanilla chai latte, and Danny handed me the drink. He told me it would be the best chai latte I had ever had. He was right. He spent a lot of energy on the making of that drink. It was perfect. And he put whipped cream on top. No one ever puts whipped cream on top. I am a huge fan of Coffee Station now. And today, Carolyn and I had sweat dripping down our backs, so we told the workers that we wanted something cold. Something fruity. Something fun, and sweet. And we told them that we wanted it to be a surprise (at this point, we knew we were getting Italian Cream Sodas). Oh, boy, did they have fun with that! We got our drinks and then we had to guess what flavor they were!!! Carolyn's was Raspberry Blackberry and mine was Raspberry Lemon. Amazing.

That, my friends, is one of the reasons that I don't ever want to leave college. I went to Jupiter House in Denton and the workers were cold and impersonal, not to mention impatient (when there was no one in line behind me!). College Station is where it's at. More specifically, Coffee Station is where it's at.

This is another place that I am a fan of: Hastings. We have rented 8 movies there so far this summer. It's a fun place! And they have vanilla chai lattes for under $2. They don't beat Coffee Station's, though. I tried to find a picture of Coffee Station, but I couldn't. Maybe I will take some.

I'm sure you are sick of reading about coffee, so I will end this little post. Peace out.

-Katie

Berry Lime Sublime

*Sneeze* (And that was a for real sneeze, not one that I just made up for this post.)

You can see from the beginning of my post that I am sick... and very very bored I might add. I could tell on Wednesday night that I was getting sick, and sure enough, yesterday I woke up feeling pretty crappy. What made it worse was that I had a test today, and I felt lousy the whole way through. I couldn't remember things I had studied, and I got everything mixed up in my mind. Hmmm. Oh well, it's over.

I took a two hour nap this afternoon, which is so unlike me. I don't really ever take naps. But my head was pounding and I laid down on the couch and was out. I really haven't been doing anything today.

Anything.

I got home after my test, and I've been laying around ever since. I'm very bored. I wish I didn't feel sick, because there is a lot of stuff I would really like to be doing right now.

I'm a runaround kind of person. I don't like to be still for too long. I like to get out there and do it. When I'm tired, however, I need my recharge time at home. I guess I need my recharge time, because there is no way that I am going out right now.

I will stay in for the rest of the evening with... well probably myself. *Sneeze* Anna has a hang out thing and Carolyn's friend Lindsey is here for the weekend. I bet they will go out and do something, too. If you feel like hanging out with a person who is constantly blowing their nose and sneezing, give me a call.

Ok, enough about being sick. I wanted this to be a real update.

There have been many days where I have been so moved to write, but I couldn't (studying). And now, I have absolutely nothing, and I don't have any passion stirring up in me. It's mainly just mucus.

So what's been going on with me?

I went to a women's discipleship class for church on Tuesday. I can't express how excited I am about this! Meeting and talking to "older" women is something I am very interested in. I want to hear about their lives and their struggles, the ups and downs, what they've learned along the way... I can't wait to get to know these women better. It makes me excited just thinking about it!

Two of my British friends will (hopefully) be coming to visit me in August. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!? After all this time... they will get to see where I live! I can't believe it, and it feels so unreal. I'm not sure what we'll be doing (advice, please?), but hopefully some great American pastimes. Like shopping. (Ok, that is kind of a joke, but I'm sure I'll take them to the Galleria or something.)

I just found out that my sister made 100 on her first math test. I've been tutoring her for the past two weeks, since she's not a "math person" and I am a math & science education major. It's been a tough struggle, but she did it! Actually, she was allowed to retake her exam. She studied for 5 hours every day, and always was on top of her homework. She worked HARD. And yet when she first took the exam, she got a 59 and couldn't understand why. She had studied so hard, and her mistakes were stupid ones. So she went and talked to her prof, and he said that he believed she was a hard worker and good student, so she could retake the exam. She got 100. This makes me think about what kind of teacher I want to be. I firmly believe in giving everyone second chances. I have experienced awful teachers this past semester and I know how frustrating it can be when you don't get credit for things you should get credit for.

Paris is back in jail. Heck yes. That's all I'm saying about that.

Anna is getting a smoothie for me right now from Jamba Juice. She's so sweet like that. :)

Well my friends, I will have to update again when my brain isn't so fuzzy.

Life and Luncheon

My days are normally pretty strange.

I wake up, feeling rather tired and almost sick, and take a shower. My shower normally wakes me up, and without it, who knows what I'd be like! After my shower, I do my hair and makeup, get dressed, eat breakfast and head out the door for class. 9:05 am. Every morning.

I catch the bus and make my way to the Animal Industries building. It's the first time I've ever had a class in there. Supposedly the building's haunted, but I just think it's too cold.

Class is from 10:00-11:35, but I normally get out by 11:20.

After that, I'm done.

It feels weird a) to have the same schedule every day and b) to be done by lunchtime.

I'm not really sure what to do with my time. I need a job, but since I have to share a car with Carolyn, it's very difficult to do that unless I get a job on campus. And I haven't the slightest idea how to do that.

Pray for me, because I really need a job. I need to earn money and I need to fill my time up with something.

I just remembered that I have to read Velvet Elvis by June 12 (I think). I'm very excited about my ComGroup Girls' Book Club! Very excited.

College Station just doesn't feel right, though. I bet this is how it'll feel once I'm done with college. In a year and a half, I won't have this bustling metropolis to come home to after 3 months of being in a different country, or whatever. I guess that if I am a teacher, this will somewhat happen, but it won't be like this. Life won't stop in quite the same way. I don't want to leave college. Honestly, I'm scared of the "real world".

I guess I should go to bed. Tomorrow, I'm going to luncheon with my sister, my Nana, my Nana's cousin and her cousin's daughter. I love luncheon. (What does that word even mean, though? I don't even know.)

Goodnight, all.

21

So... It's my birthday. :)

To You

Hi.

So, I'm sitting here in my so-called "room" at home, listening to John Mayer and typing to you. I wonder who you is, exactly. You! Show yourself! Ok, just kidding. But I am curious.

I just finished reading a delightful book entitled Searching for God Knows What, by Donald Miller. He is one of the most amazing writers I've read stuff by, in my opinion. (Boy, that sounded eloquent.) This book says everything that I've been thinking this past year. All my feelings about the church are explained in this book, even though this book is not really about the church. It's a book about a general thought process, and general discoveries about Jesus and our purpose on Earth. I love the way that Donald Miller thinks. I want to marry someone like him - I don't mean that to sound weird, but I want my future husband to have that kind of mindset. I know that Miller isn't perfect, since we are all human, but I feel like his thoughts are right. I think if I were to ever meet him, I would like him a lot. He is not judgemental, he thinks things through and tests them with Scripture, he is honest without being rude and critical, he is open about his faults and imperfections. Quite simply, I love his work. I highly recommend this book!

I will be 21 on Sunday. That's hard to believe.

It's really cold in this room right now.

Last night, Carolyn and I fell asleep having a conversation about Christianity in modern America. It was Donald Miller's book that really inspired the conversation - I had so many thoughts running through my mind about the things he mentions in there. I told Carolyn that I wish that I could have been raised in a country that had never heard of Christ. I wish that I could have grown up without seeing pictures of the tame Jesus that we see in books and on TV - the one with birds on his shoulders and a glazed over, not-with-it look on his face. I wish that I wouldn't have heard rule after rule after rule and step after step after step of things you must do to be a "good Christian". I wish that someone could hand me a Bible and that I would be able to read it without all of that stuff going on in my head the whole time. I want to be able to picture Jesus without the white toga and the red (or perhaps blue, depending on the day) sash across his chest, blue eyes, milky white skin and a pretty non-scraggly haircut. I just Googled "Jesus" and looked at the images that came up. This is what I'm talking about. After looking through some of the pages of images, this is one that I saw more than once:

Something tells me that this isn't what He looked like. I'm getting off-point a little bit. As I was saying, I wish that I could read the Bible and let that be the only source that told me what Jesus was like. Of course, I wouldn't trade my life for anything -- I'm just saying that sometimes I get annoyed with who the world says that Jesus is. Carolyn and I talked about what the Last Supper might really look like, and then compared it to a communion today. I bet that Jesus' disciples would be freaked out if they walked into a typical American church during communion. First of all, they would notice the rows of chairs, all facing a pulpit. They would probably wonder what a pulpit is, and why it was on a stage, and why all the chairs were facing one direction. They would probably wonder why we had shiny platters with tiny crackers filling them, and why we were passing them around, and everyone was taking just one, and holding it in their lap quietly. Then they would notice the tiny cups of grape juice that we were passing around, heads bowed, all neatly organized and solomn. I bet the music would be strange to them, too. So... almost sad sounding. Why do we do things this way? How did communion morph into this sad, grave habit? I bet that the Last Supper was nothing like this. Everyone was lounging around in a rented room - probably not very nice looking. It could have been light outside, still, who knows? They were eating and filling themselves with wonderful food. I bet someone was telling jokes, and I bet that they were really enjoying each others' company. I bet that when Jesus started talking, everyone looked at him and thought "Here He goes again, saying stuff we don't understand..." since that tended to happen a lot. They all could have been tipsy, too. I bet there was a lot of wine. They were told to remember. They weren't sure what they were going to remember, at that point, but I bet that after Jesus died and rose again, remembering wasn't such a grave and solomn affair!

All of these things are just thoughts -- who knows what really happened, or what it was really like. I just know that being in America, and anywhere else for that matter, we have changed things to suit us and our culture. It's so sad. We have placed Jesus in a box, with a ton of labels placed on Him. And I really don't know how to say everything I am thinking... I do much better when I'm talking rather than writing (ask pretty much anyone). All I know is that I want to change the way that I live as a Christian in the United States. I'm tired of rules placed there by people who assume that Jesus identifies with their political affiliation, way of thinking, or even, rules placed there by myself. I want to follow Christ and Christ alone. I want to love others and build His church.

Man, I wish I was better with words. Just read Donald Miller's book, because it explains all that I am thinking.

Carolyn cut all her hair off today. I am so glad, because it needed to go (the split ends were getting awful). I am also slightly jealous, because I have always wanted to be able to wear short haircuts. However, having insanely curly hair prevents me from doing so. People always say that they are jealous of it, but I know that after even 24 hours of having my hair, they would want their straight hair back.

You can't see it very well in this picture, but I promise it's very cute!

Carolyn and I also spent hours driving around Corinth, Lake Dallas and Hickory Creek (I swear I've never been there in my life). We drove by the house we were born in, the first church we ever remember going to, and our favorite play place as a child. Anyone remember these??

My old house: it looked 100 times better when I lived there (I think it's a college house now). My mom saw this picture and almost cried.


Lake Cities Bible Church - now a daycare. I wanted to take a better picture, but I think I would have creeped out the workers, who were all outside with the kids. I miss it being blue.

The entrace to the Fort. Almost exactly how I remember it!

The Fort - looking out towards the cul-de-sac. Many happy memories were made here...

Looking towards the bridge... this path used to be train tracks from the early 1900s.

I'm sure you are all very tired by this point (if you made it to this point!). I am getting tired, so I will make my way to bed. I hope you all enjoyed the pictures... whoever you is. ;)

Goodnight.

It Might Not Even Be Worth Reading...

For being at home, I have been surprisingly busy. Normally I end up not having enough to do, but not this time. I've been relaxing, some, but I think that since I have a car I can drive now, it's easier to stay busy.

Tomorrow, my friend Leigh Ann is coming to visit. Leigh Ann is my SiC (Sister in Christ) for FLiC (Freshmen Leaders in Christ). She will also be Carolyn's roommate next year, and is going to be living right around the corner from me! I'm so excited. Having her visit will be the excitement that I've been needing!

I went to church twice today, and heard the exact same sermon twice. It was actually really cool because I learnt more the second time than I did the first time. Maybe I should listen to all sermons twice, if possible.

I don't think I've been resting enough. I think I was supposed to lay around all day for the 48 hours following my surgery, but I didn't. I did the day I got my teeth out, but the next day, I was back doing busy stuff again, and I haven't stopped since! I just need sleep, I think.

Last night, Carolyn, Christina and I went to see "Meet the Robinsons" at the movie theater. We saw it in 3-D!!! It was AWESOME!!! Seriously, that is my new favorite movie. I loved it, and so did Carolyn and Chrissie. I probably enjoy kids' movies more than adult ones.

I think my blog needs some pictures to spice it up. I looked on my computer and found some pictures that I haven't put on facebook. Here they are:

This is James, my roommate Catherine's cousin - he tried to eat my phone once, and actually fit the whole thing in his mouth.

This is Ashely at U-Paint-It. We painted tiles one morning, and it was so much fun! We both put Bible verses on them. :)

This is where I'll be living next year! It needs some yardwork since no one is living there right now. I will be living in the part on the left!

Almost all of my paragraphs are the same length. I wonder what that means. Probably that I should go to bed and quit rambling. I need to clean up around here before Leigh Ann comes tomorrow. Plus I'm really tired. Goodnight everyone.

I'm Not as Wise as I Was This Morning...

At 10 this morning, I had my wisdom teeth taken out. I'd never had any kind of surgery before (not even cavities or braces) so I didn't really know what to expect. Turns out, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! The whole proceedure took about an hour and a half. I got to lay down in the dentists' chair (I love dentists) and they put that weird thing on me to give me oxygen. The doctor came in and then turned the laughing gas on, and I waited for "something" to happen. Like, to start laughing or something. I felt pretty normal for the first few moments, and then something overcame my body, like nothing I've ever felt before. It was the weirdest thing! I felt heavy and weird all over. I had my conscious mind, and I could think about normal things, but there was this other part of my mind that felt really weird, and I started seeing shapes growing and coming at me. I couldn't stop the strange thoughts! After a few minutes, the dental assistant asked me if I was feeling ok, and I managed to mumble "I feel really weird" so they turned the nitrous oxide down a bit. I still felt strange, and I thought for a few minutes that I might die, which made me want to get up and run out of the room. I probably would have, except that I don't think I would have been able to due to the way the laughing gas made me feel.

They gave me some really strong anbesol-type stuff, and then some shots in my gums. That didn't bother me at all. I really am not that scared of needles, to be honest. The injections made me feel VERY numb. Thank goodness. After they poked around a little bit, I started to feel nauseous, so I told the doctor. He turned the laughing gas off and put the oxygen back on, and then sat my chair up for about 10 minutes. I tried talking to the assistant but I couldn't really control what my tongue was doing, so it sounded really weird. Finally, the doctor came back in and leaned my chair back again. He asked if I wanted the laughing gas, and I told him that I would let him know if I needed it, but to leave it off for now. I was completely conscious at this point - feeling pretty normal except for the numb mouth. The doctor pushed and pulled on my teeth and in about 5 or so minutes, they were out! I was so surprised that it only took that long. I have no idea what they did to my teeth to get them out, and frankly, I don't want to know. All I felt was a bunch of pressure. No pain whatsoever! I got to keep my wisdom teeth, and they told me how to care for the gaping holes that are now present in my mouth.

The weirdest thing was not being able to feel anything from my upper lip down to the bottom of my chin. I could put my hand on my bottom lip and chin and feel nothing (I should have gone to get a lip ring... hahaha). My bottom lip was the worst. Straight after surgery, I thought it was my tongue (because I couldn't feel that, either), and I kept wondering why my tongue was hanging out of my mouth. So I tried to suck my lip in so that I would look more normal. I would touch my lip with my finger, but still not be able to tell what it was. Without feeling in my lip, it was hard to tell! Eventually, I asked the dental assistant what I was touching: "Ith thith my lip ohh my tongth?" She laughed and told me "It's your lip." And I just laughed "Hahth Hahth Hahth!"

When I got in the car, apparently I was pretty funny, because my mom kept telling me that I was acting like I was high. I don't know why though, because I didn't use any of the laughing gas for the actual surgery. Hmm. They gave me a prescription for some strong painkillers, and I took a 1/2 a pill once the numbness began to wear off. The prescription actually said to take 1 or 2 pills at a time, and I'm really glad I took 1/2 because it made me sick. I switched to ibuprofen and I feel great. I just feel a little achey in the jaw, which is amazing because the last time I took ibuprofen was about 5 or so hours ago!

I got to keep all 4 of my teeth, which is funny. They are really ugly and I'm considering using a toothbrush and toothpaste to get them cleaner. But that's just creepy, so I won't.

If anyone wants to come eat ice cream with me, let me know. :)

Well, I should be getting to bed soon because apparently I need a lot of rest (even though I slept most of the day because that codeine made me drowsy). Peace out, wise ones!

-Katie

Yo Shorty, It's Yer Birfday (Well, Almost...)

Normally, at this time, I am in England, enjoying the 50 degree weather and the drizzly rain. I think that this is the first time since 1997 that I have spent a mid-May day in Texas. I'm trying to rack my brain to see if that is correct... as far as I can think, it is. This Texas weather is starting to get to me! The heat gives me headaches if I am in it too long. Is there a country where it's 75 degrees year round? I want to move there.

As I mentioned, this year will be the first year in a decade that I have spent my full summer in Texas. I haven't had a real 4th of July celebration since that year. This will be the first year in ten years that I haven't traveled to a different country. This is going to be a weird summer.

I went shopping today, and for the first time in literally years, I bought shorts. It's not that I don't like them, or that I have some modesty issue. Shorts look weird on me. I don't know why, but they look strange. Maybe it's because I'm so tiny. Every time I try on a pair of shorts, I look really weird... the back sticks out and they go all pointy. I think you'd have to see it to understand. Today, however, I found two pairs of shorts that actually looked okay on me! I will be wearing them until I gain 10 pounds and actually fit a normal pair of shorts. Speaking of not fitting, I swear that I am shrinking. I bought some dress pants today that were a 0P (that's a zero petite). I think that's as small as they go. Why am I so small?! I don't get it. Sometimes, even size 0 doesn't fit. Good grief. I used to be a 1. Hopefully, when I get pregnant, this will all change. (Wow, I must be the only girl on the earth wishing she was fatter.)

I have a headache from the heat, so I'm going to go relax and take a bath. Plus, I need to shave so I can wear my shorts tomorrow.

I Believe (And Other Thoughts)

I believe that it's okay to cry during cheesy movies.
I believe that it's okay if your parents are on facebook.
I believe that you grow up without realizing it.
I believe that inside jokes never get old.
I believe that it's okay to eat cereal for dinner (sometimes).
I believe that graffiti is art (well, some of it).
I believe that singing at the top of your lungs with the windows down is a summer must.
I believe that too many college-aged people are getting engaged.
I believe that God has a purpose for you right here, right now. Find out what it is!
I believe that Disneyworld isn't all it's cracked up to be.
I believe that chavs are entertaining.
I believe that it's essential to leave your home country at least once in your life (if you can afford it).
I believe that people have begun to forget how special handwritten letters are.
I believe that people are amazing. All of them.
I believe that people look best when they are natural.
I believe that you should never underestimate what God can do!

This is just a random list of stuff I've been thinking about. Some are kind of silly, and I just came up with them right now. What do you believe? (Sorry, I know that sounds cheesy.)

Today was Mother's Day. I feel like I don't appreciate my mom enough. She is a stay-at-home mom, and has devoted her life to raising us 5 girls. Dang, that would be a hard job...!! We gave her the CD I mentioned in my previous post, as well as two cards (one funny, one serious). My dad is in Asia and had flowers delivered to her, as well as a card. She's reading the card right now. :)

I must admit, I feel a little bit stuck now that I'm in Little Elm. I find myself thinking, "Now what?" as I wake up every morning. I wish I knew more people here. I know I keep saying that, but I'm the sort of person who gets lonely very easily. I guess that's the curse that comes from being an extrovert. We were at Denton Bible Church this morning (where my family has started going... again...) and I ran into a bunch of old friends. I barely remembered them, because we were friends when we were 10 and younger. I guess I half expected them to still be that age. I gotta tell you, it's weird seeing all these people suddenly 10 years older than they were when you last saw them. A lot of them want to hang out with me, but I feel so weird. Some of them continued their homeschooling all the way through high school, and I admit that I feel like I can't really relate to them very well. I loved homeschooling, but I am so glad that my parents eventually put me into private school! Something tells me that I would be a very awkward 21 year old if that had not happened.

I guess I'm not really 21 yet. Give it two more weeks (exactly!). I can't believe that I'll be celebrating yet another birthday. I feel like I just turned 20! I asked for a new laptop, since mine is almost shot, but we'll see. I would really like a MacBook, but I know that's out of the question. Something tells me that it would be a much better computer than this Dell.

I was wandering around the garage today, looking at all the boxes that have been hidden in a storage unit in Dallas for the past 9 years. I found my T-square and my old wooden drafting table board thing (not sure of the exact technical name) on top of some boxes. Something in my heart leaped a little bit, and then it started to ache. I thought back to the technical drawing class that I took when I was 10. Ten. That sounds so young - and yet we were taught how to draw things in perspective. I made a to-scale model of the bank on the Denton Square. I was so proud of that model! It took me such a long time. I had to draw it out using my t-square and pencils on special paper, and then I cut it out and taped the insides together. I wonder if that model still exists. I don't know why I have this love for architechture and drawing. I really do wonder if I am in the wrong major. Maybe someday I will go back to school and become an architect. That would just be funny.

My mom just got a blog. She's been asking me to help her set one up for months, and now she finally has one! If you want to read it, it's http://welliewalker.blogspot.com :)

Well, I should probably be going to bed soon. We may be going shopping tomorrow, and I'll need energy for that! :-P

-Katie

Life in Little Elm

Well, I'm home. If home is what you would call it... I'm not really sure anymore. I think home is probably College Station, now. Anyways, I'm in Little Elm. It's a happening place, let me tell you! I have spent the day (so far) sitting around, drinking white hot chocolate and watching The Office. Very productive. I am also ripping Justin Timberlake's new album to iTunes. Carolyn and I bought it yesterday to jam to on our way home. I normally don't buy a lot of mainstream pop stuff, but we were in the mood for silly car music. So we bought the edited version of FutureSex/LoveSounds. What a stupid name for an album.

I think my sisters and I are going shopping later to get stuff for my mom for Mother's Day. I want to buy her the new Michael Buble album. She really likes him.

Well, I'm pretty hungry now, so I'm going to eat lunch.

I'm going to write a longer, more interesting post later.

I'm Tired, So What?

I am so bad at coming up with clever blog titles. Hmm.

For some reason, I am really tired right now, which is stupid because I woke up at 9:30 this morning! Maybe sleeping in make me even more tired? Who knows.

I have a lot of mixed feelings right now. I feel like a lot of things are changing, and I am learning a lot and there's a lot going on in my life. I wish that I could just drive out into the country and be by myself for a little while. I want to sit and talk to God and be still. Maybe I will do that once I get back to Denton. Although I don't really know where I would go. I also wish that I had more friends in Denton. I would really like to hang out with people there... but I don't really know anyone. And the people that I used to know... well I guess I don't know them anymore, and I probably wouldn't fit in. Wow, I sound like I'm in middle school... hahaha! But seriously, it might be weird hanging out with former homeschoolers! That was so long ago.

It feels like God is leading me to some really interesting places in my life right now. I am really enjoying learning and growing and developing my spiritual gifts. I want to use them to glorify God and benefit the Body of Christ. That's why I have them, right?! I have this huge desire to follow Christ and do what God wants. It's such a freeing feeling, to know that God has a plan and I don't have to stress out about what that is!

I bet that I am not making a lot of sense right now. It's because I'm tired and I need sleep.

Goodnight, world. :)

I'm Done

The semester is over and I am so relieved. I can't believe it.

It's just going to be busy until Friday afternoon....

And if you live in Denton, you should seriously call me or something. Even if you don't know me or haven't seen me in years. I will be there until the end of May, and I'll be bored.

-Katie