Day # 1: Confidence is attractive. Pride? Not so much

We all know (or should know) who was in the NBA  Finals this year..

*Drum Roll*

The Miami Heat vs. The Dallas Mavericks.

While I am purely Texan.. I did not waste my precious time rooting for the mavs (I now realize what a mistake that was.) I was all for Miami this year.  I can't say I was head over heels for either team, but seeing as I had to pick one I might as well go with Miami.  My dad on the other hand was going for the mavs.  Much to his dismay, he would much rather have liked to cheer for his all time favorite team, the San Antonio Spurs.  But as they didn't make it, we could only hope for next year. 

We were watching the game and my dad began to mock the Heat.  He was openly expressing his feelings for them.   I probably did my own share of making fun, but I also asked him why he didn't like the Heat very much.  His answer was simple and straightforward.

"Because they have too much pride"  Specifically, he was referring to the teams infamous leaders.. Dwayne Wade and Lebron James.  At the beginning of the year the duo had promised a 2011 championship as they flaunted their swag and unmistakable skill.  "They're confident.. what's wrong with that?"  "That's not confidence" My dad replied in a tone of disgust. "That's pride".

I realized he had a point. 

I think confidence is an attractive thing. It releases an air that just draws people to you.  But it's when confidence morphs into pride that a problem begins to develop.

Philippians 1:6 says,
"Being confident in this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

So the challenge for the day is this: Be confident!  And live with conviction.  Be confident in what you believe.  Be confident in your walk with Christ.  And like the verse so accurately states, be confident that the Lord will finish his good work in you.  Don't be weighed down with your own pride, but rather, be adorned with confidence.

"Confidence imparts a wondrous inspiration to it's possessor.  It bears him on in security, either to meet no danger, or to find matter of glorious trial."

        ~John Milton~


{Conner Danielle}

Are You Ready For This?!

 There's this terrible, awful, miserable, wretched thing..

..It's called writers block. 

Yesterday I was slowly ambling around the house.  Cleaning perhaps, because that is what I succumb to in a state of boredom. Maybe day dreaming.. I have a season pass to La La Land.   Whatever I was busying myself with at that moment,  I was apparently completely lost in thought because without a moments notice I was hit full speed with an idea.  A couple of days ago I ran across a little book sitting on the table.  It instantly caught my attention.  "Today is the best day of my life!" screamed the cover in big multi colored letters.  Hmmmmm,  I thought, what do we have here? 

Basically, it's a little book.  (No duh!)  And every page has a certain challenge on it for that day.  Normally, It would be used by an individual as a self motivating tool, but remember what I said earlier about writers block?  This was my answer to that problem.   This is what you would call a 'lightbulb' moment.  I knew exactly what I was going to do.  For each day I would write about the designated challenge for that day.  Accompanied with stories, verses, etc.  The more I thought about it.. the more I liked it.  But then I thought.. (I do this a lot).  It would be boring if it was just me babbling on and on for the next 30 days.. I'll get someone to write with me!  And so I did.  I managed to lure Mr. Andrew Harris into my evil trap.  *Evil laugh*

So, my bloggy friends and any others who have found their way to this blog, for the next 30 days we will writing about the different topics.  It will be fun!  And who knows? It might just save me from some of this boredom.

"Failure" is just a word

I sometimes tell people, "Random is my middle name”, due to the plethora of random things that exit my mouth on a daily basis. But last week was different; random had been subconsciously substituted for stressed. But not just any kind of stressed the super duper kind. Last week I was set to take my very first CLEP test. Exciting? Yes. Overwhelming? Maybe. Fun? Absolutely not! Perhaps this lack of enjoyment came from the particular test I was taking. Analyzing and interpreting literature. I love reading! But analyzing?? Really? The whole week consisted of memorizing terms till I could say them in my sleep, analyzing poetry, prose and drama. Learning new words, taking those dreaded practice tests and learning meter and iambic pentameter. Now some of you may be wondering what those last words are . . . meter and iambic pentameter. Well, basically . . . uh . . . uh . . . um. . . I have no idea. Actually, out of all the material I studied that section was the only part I had a difficult time understanding. Thankfully, none of that was on the test. *phew* Now, I can honestly say I have a much deeper appreciation for literature.


It was Monday night, a whole 2 days before my test, and I was staring at the workload in front of me with exhausted reluctance and pure hatred. It wasn't that the test was going to be extremely difficult, I just had a mounting fear that I would walk in there and fail. And not just any kind of fail, the miserable kind. This was the wrong kind of attitude you have. Mom, with her never ending words of encouragement, walks back to my room and tells me that my own worst enemy for this test is the one and only Mr. Attitude! Hmmmm, I thought, I'll show him. And I think I can honestly tell you that I did indeed, show Mr. Attitude who's boss.

With never ceasing prayer and constant encouragement from my family and friends, I was able to adopt the right attitude and pass my CLEP. I walked out of the room slowly, thinking of how I was going to jokingly trick my mom into thinking I didn't pass. It was a failed attempt. I was so relieved, I couldn't help but smile.

I was so afraid of letting people down that I had completely forgotten who I still had on my side. Jesus Christ. What did I possibly have to fear? That day, he showed me that I had absolutely nothing to fear, I was just unnecessarily worrying and over thinking things, as I sometimes do.


So . . . failure? Eh, it's just a word.

Let the imagination run wild!

My 6 year old sister's imagination is about as big and as full as a rainforest. ( I couldn't think of anything else to put here and rainforest seemed to fit the part.)

She doesn't always realize her capacity for creativity.

For the past two weeks I have watched her strut around the house with an old scarf tied to her little, slightly red haired head.  But of course, it's not meant to simply be a dull and lifeless scarf, it's supposed to be hair.  And it doesn't end there (Literally..) Attached to this scarf lies several more multi-colored, differently shaped scarves.  I suppose it can be considered a helpful asset to her tiny figure.  I always know where she's at,  Just follow the "hair"..

I must confess, there have been times when I have tried to deliberately halt her moving forward by stepping on her 'hair.'  She has not been pleased with this.  "Ow.. OW! You're hurting my hair!" Of course it is not my intention to bring her dreams crashing down and so I reply, "Oh! My goodness..  I'm so sorry!".  She is young, therefore, she can get away with such cuteness.  However, as she get's older there will come a time when tying 4 scarves to your head will no longer be socially acceptable and the world will begin to judge her 'sanity'.  But until that rather depressing day comes, I will watch in humorous delight as she exercises her little mind and let's her never ending imagination take flight!

Being able to imagine is an important tool.  It opens up new doors and allows for blissful reverie.  I remember when my imagination was as unharnessed and free as hers is now.  I remember ever so clearly watching Pinnochio and then immediately trying to mimic Jiminy Cricket's boat (umbrella) sailing experience.  I went to my parents bathroom, filled the tub up with water and attempted to sit in my own umbrella.  Unfortunately, this excursion only left my little 5 year old self in sheer disenchantment.  Well, until about 5 minutes later when I would subconsciously stumble onto something else to attempt.  My imagination made the world seem like a brighter place than I could have ever dreamed at that age.  Along with creating some fantastic memories that I still occasionally smile about today. With that said, don't hinder that imagination of yours.. let it run free!! Well, maybe with a retractable leash. 

Imagination disposes of everything; it creates beauty, justice, and happiness, which are everything in this world. 

-Blaise Pascal

To move forward, we mustn't look back

Let me be honest here, I have a hard time letting the past go.  I hold on to it like my 12 year old sister so adamantly cherishes her iTouch.  Sure, I can forgive, but I struggle with the concept of letting go.  I don't enjoy talking about the past either.  I feel as if I discuss it with others they will see me as I was, broken and confused, not as I am now.  I'm not proud of who I was, but I'm excited of who I have become and where I'm going. 

 The other day some past bitterness leaked into a chat and before I knew it I was telling my story.  Normally when I convey this rather depressing story I leave lots of parts out.  I fear if I tell too much I will find myself in the same position I was before, alone.  There have only been a select few people that I have chosen to tell this to.  Frankly, I don't see the benefit of telling everyone I meet.  It's not relevant to today.  Today is today and yesterday is the past. But this time was different.  I felt safe.  I felt as if I could just talk, without the fear of being judged.  I told my story with confidence and complete honesty. 

While I have had a great life, there have been a few times when life had not been good.  There was a time in my life when I felt lost, lonely and hurt.  My family has always been supportive, but I was not always very good at talking with them.  I developed a knack for keeping all my feelings inside.  As far as other people were concerned, I was okay, but inside I was miserable.  I realize that it's hard to anticipate the future when you still have a death grip on the past.  I've let most of it go and I have forgiven those who hurt me, but I find myself occasionally reminded of these past experiences.  And all at once they all come flooding back.  But then I look at myself today.  The differences are numerous.  I've learned to step out of my comfort zone and walk forward.  But not without an occasional backwards glance.  I look at myself and see someone who has been saved, redeemed and renewed.  And now, there is only one thing left to do.. stop looking back.  I'm sure most of you have seen a horse, clad with blinders on his face.  The horse has no choice but to look forward and keep walking, regardless of what is behind him.  I need to make the choice to move forward at a quick pace, and to never even think of looking back.  The past is the past for a reason.  God has blessed me with my own testimony that I can use to further his kingdom.  I have come to the realization that these experiences were only to make me stronger in my faith, and they did.  I hope that I can let go of the past and happily walk forward in anticipation of what is yet to come.  I am happy with where I'm at, but the credit can go to no one but my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Jesus Christ took hold of me.  Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
      -Philippians 3:13-14


Thanks for listening :)

Who's first? God or football?

Kids really do say the darndest things.  While sometimes it's just plain funny, other times it conveys a sort of thought provoking meaning without the realization of it.

For example,

In our family it is our goal and our duty to feed a love and a fear of God, above all else.  As humans, our selfish desires can sometimes become a barrier between us and this goal. But we must keep forward, fighting back these desires with the word of God.  Remember that he comes first and foremost in all things. Jordan is sometimes my biggest reminder of this.  There have been a few times where I have approached my sister with an "I love you" and in turn, she replies with, "I love God more".  At these specific moments I always find myself laughing at her sheer innocence and again replying to her with, "good, I'm glad, but I still love you." I didn't really think much about it until yesterday when the underlying meaning of this statement popped out at me.  Why was I randomly thinking of this? I'm not entirely sure; thoughts buzz through my head at high speeds everyday.  But this is what came to mind.. Do we really always put God first? 

I often have to remind myself of my priorities, mainly because life has it's own special way of..well.. getting in the way.  God is always first, my duty to him as a servant and a fisher of men.  Next comes my undying duty to my family, always loving, serving and defending them.  Then comes my friends.  Next, my education and so on.  While all these things rate high on my list of importance, nothing should come higher than God.  Keeping God first all the time is certainly not an easy task; it requires perseverance, faith and trust.  The world will barge in and try to convince you of it's necessity or it's importance.  What will you do?  Give in and give it the highest spot?  Or push it aside?  Because Christ died for us, it is our duty to in turn, give our lives to him.  And we don't do this by disregarding him for other things that only seem more important at the time. We do this with the realization that He is the Lord our God, above him there is no other.   While we can't be perfect, we must try.  We are called to be like Jesus. 

Remind yourself daily, and even numerous times throughout the day that God comes first. 

Jesus, the Cross, Resurrection and... bunnies with eggs?

Before we begin I have but one very important question for you all:  why is it an easter bunny? Who came up with this idea and did they not realize that bunnies don't lay eggs?  I would like to see someone dress up as an Easter Duck or maybe an Easter Chicken next year. 

With that said..

Every Easter at our church we have a group come in called Teen Challenge.  Basically it's a program for troubled teens and young adults.  About six or seven of their students come in to sing and give their testimonies in front of the whole church. 

Now what is Easter?  Good Friday, as most of you probably know, is the day our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified for us; so that we may live.  Three days later, (otherwise known as Easter) he rose again.  With this act of selfless love came a choice for each and every one of us, which will we choose? Heaven or hell? I look at it this way: Jesus died for me, so I'm going to live for him.

Every single one of those young people that stood on that stage Sunday morning were a new creation in the eyes of God.  As Jesus was being beaten and spit on and laughed at; and as he was hanging on that cross; he held the sins of the world on his shoulders.  So that we may be washed clean and made a new creation.  So that now, I can go to Heaven with Christ and live there eternally with him.  These people came from all different backgrounds, but they all ended up there, with a new hope.  They came from struggling addictions and depression, to now, a new creation in the eyes of God.

Sometimes I feel so ungrateful.  My sinful nature really gets to me and I forget that sacrifice that was made.  He died that way so that I don't have to.  And I complain?  He has made a covenant with us.  Because Jesus Christ died for us, we have been called to live for him.  To go out and stare this world in the face.  Shining the light of Christ to a hurting world.  Because why?  Because we are new, and because one day we will be able to see our God face to face. 

While today is a day of fun, it's also a day of remembrance.  It's a day of forgiveness and a day of true agape love.  YOU are a new creation!  Now go out and live it!

Friends.. can't live with 'em and you can't live without 'em

Well I've had an eventful last few days.. to say the least.  Wednesday I worked at the church all day.  Doing what, you ask?  Millions and millions of water balloons.  Okay not really, it was only about four hundred and something, which is not nearly as bad.  I was there all day making water balloons with my best friend.. and her brother.  Of course we couldn't start this adventure until we had eaten, so to Taco Cabana we go! I was thrilled. An excellent way to start the day.. mexican food!  Well, not really.  

As we were nearing completion of our third bucket we got a little distracted and our 2 year old sides really came out in full blast.  We started fighting.   Now, as hard as this may be to believe, I did not start this fight.  She threw a water balloon at me and I had no choice but to return the cold favor.  So I filled one up and threw it back. Next think I knew we were wrestling with the hose, soaking wet.  We were in the church parking lot  so basically, we were like "Live Idiot T.V" to anyone lucky enough to drive by.  I'm sure, in between these people's snorts of laughter they were probably inquiring why a 2 teenage girls were having a water fight.  My response to these party poopers would be, "Ya know, you only live once.  And you are never to old too have water fights. Don't hate."  And then life would proceed as before.  This was really quite fun and so it's hard to believe that anything bad could possibly come out of it.  Have you ever tried walking around the rest of the day with wet jeans?  If you have, then you can only imagine how uncomfortable this was for me.  Especially when we went to go get ice cream and the world stared at us as if we were freaks or something, oh please. You're just jealous 'cause you don't look like me right now.  Actually this is probably not true. In fact, it was I who was jealous of them.. and their dry pants.  However, I did get to truly experience what it's like to be a gangster.  How did you experience this? You ask.  Well after I got my jeans wet they became like 5 sizes bigger and began to sag.  All I will say to this is, thank goodness I was wearing a belt 'cause I sure didn't want my "pants on the ground".   In the end, I didn't care that I looked like a wet hobo, I was extremely happy.  I'm very blessed to have such an amazing best friend, who will still have water fights with me.  Someone I can count on and talk to whenever.  The moral of this story is: Keep your friends close and the water hose closer.  

On a more serious note, don't take advantage of those people God puts in your life.  I can assure you they are there for a reason.  They should be a blessing to you.   My friends are definitely a blessing to me.  And also, don't go through life as a boring person.  Sometimes crazy is good. ;)

This One's For The Girls.

Sometimes, it's hard to be a girl.  Honestly, it's hard to be anyone in a world like this.  The world can be so stressful in the way it presents itself.  Does the world enjoy making itself so appealing to us girls? Only to make us feel even more insecure?  I've sometimes found myself giving in to the desires of the world, I can be easily tempted by it's "beckoning calls".  I know I shouldn't but sometimes, it's quite hard too.  The world gives us an example of something it thinks we should resemble and then tirelessly struggles to convince us of it.   It throws us magazines and billions of MTV t.v shows that promise "perfection", Yeah right! The reality is that this standard of perfection isn't even.. real.  What we are expected to look like are a bunch of girls that either starve themselves or practically look like barbies after hours of digital editing.  Is this real?  Is this realistic?  Is this truth?  The sad thing is.. I sometimes strive for something unrealistic without always realizing it.  As Hannah Montana so annoyingly said: "Nobody's Perfect." However truth deprived Miley Cyrus may be, this saying has a lot of sense to it.  Nobody is perfect. We all have our share of insecurities no matter what we look like.  If we are seemingly "perfect" or have many noticeable flaws, we are all made in the image of God.  Isn't that real?  Isn't it beautiful?  No one is ugly in God's sight.  How can we be?  We were made in his image!  Not the worlds image. Contrary to what people may tell you, you are fearfully and wonderfully made {Psalm 139}.  And this is something I'm still trying to learn myself.  I understand fully what God says of me but it's difficult to think on such things when the world constantly tells me otherwise.  In the end, it's nothing more than a fruitless pursuit. It will only drain us emotionally, spiritually and also physically.  Read Psalm 139 and be blessed by these words of unchanging truth.  Have an awesome day!

The gorgeous capital building of Texas.

We praise Him when we win, and we praise Him when we lose.

Small side note before we begin: This is my second year of Speech and Debate.  Now, moving on.

At the beginning of this competition season I really only had one goal, and that was to make it to Regionals in something.  With this is mind, I began preparation.  Over the summer I had read "Do Hard Things" and from this book came my inspiration for my next Persuasive speech.  I wrote the very first draft this summer in a speech and debate camp, and presented it there.  After getting a lot of good compliments and feedback on this speech I decided it was a keeper.  I competed with it in the first STOA tournament of the year in New Braunfels. I ended up placing 8th with it and this is when I knew that this.. was the speech for me. 

At the beginning of the new year we had the first NCFCA tournament.  Most commonly referred to as the Houston January Warm- Up.  Here I actually qualified for Regionals, and I was totally amazed and completely grateful.  To be honest, I thought my qualifying for Regionals would be much harder than this, so you can imagine my surprise.  Over the course of the next few tournaments I found that I continued being successful with my speech.  This is when I realized that this speech had been for a reason, the Lord had given me this initial idea for a reason.  I haven't gotten 1st place with it, 2nd place or even third place but that's not what I'm concerned with. The Lord helped me to achieve my goal, and that's all I asked for.  I know that there are people who need to hear it, and to be the person who gets to present it to them is incredible.  I feel so very blessed.

But I wasn't just gonna give up.  Yes, I had reached my goal but now I was going to try to make it in other things. More specifically,  original oratory.  I had an okay topic,  and I wanted to advance in this speech too.  Well before we continue let me just point out something to you, this will aid in understanding of the story as we continue.  I like to procrastinate.  Well I guess I shouldn't say like, because I don't like too, but I do have a terrible habit of doing so.  I would compete with my speech, and I would get a lot of great feedback and every time I would get soooo close to making it, but not quite.  I knew I needed to make some changes but I kept putting it off because, frankly, I just have a lot of stuff to do.  Now this is where it gets really stupid, I finally decided to work on it 3 days before the last qualifier of the year.  I realized that this tournament was my last chance with this speech and so I got to work.  This is the sad part.. I attempted to memorize it on the way there.  Now, let me just say that It was basically down.  Parts that I didn't know, well, I just acted like I did know them and no one suspected a thing.  But the last round,  I wanted to break so badly that I became really nervous, in turn making me totally blank out.  Fortunately I was able to get back on track and finish out strong.  But I knew that I wasn't gonna break now, there were a lot of OO's and although mine was not a bad speech there were probably other people who also had good speeches and also had them memorized!! I was upset over not breaking, but I can't say I was surprised.

Afterward, I really couldn't do anything but praise God.  This had been an amazing year and he had given me the strength and the perseverance to achieve my goal.  Not only did I qualify for Regionals, but I also qualified for STOA Nationals.  And that is amazing!  I can give no one credit but the Lord, He is awesome! And now I can't wait for regionals!

My weird life as a Speech and Debater. (Note: This post has no moral value whatsoever)

Let's just say every time I go to a tournament it feels like I'm practically moving out of my house.  My mom comes out with things I don't think she needs, and I'm right behind her with stuff I know I don't need.  I'm in my suit most of the time so I'm not sure why I insist on packing a ton of extra clothing.  The funny thing about speech and debate is that everyone else thinks we're so nerdy.  But we think we're super cool.  Which I think I will have to agree with, for the most part.  We are awesome.  What can we say?  For about 3 days we're stuck inside a building surrounded by debate boxes and suit jackets, and we lose all contact with civilization.  In fact, after the third day, when we walk outside to leave, we fall to the ground screaming, "Ahh! The Light! It burns!".

Actually, this isn't entirely true.  We do see the outside world once in a while.  The notion that all homeschoolers are anti social needs to be destroyed.  While I will agree that some are I think it's very much incorrect to assume that we all are. Our being schooled at home means NOTHING. I felt like a true nerd when I got excited about.. wait for it.. suit shopping!  It was before our recent Austin tournament.  I desperately needed a new suit and mom finally gave in to my constant reminders of this fact.  So off we went to go suit shopping.  And I was excited!  I still don't understand this but maybe I never will.  I live off of Starbucks and after about two days my feet feel like they are about to fall off.  I can't wait for the day they decide to have it in a church with accessible escalators.  On a serious note, running around in heels all day long is NOT on the top of my "I love" list.  At the beginning of the day I feel really businesslike and professional, towards the end of the day my attitude on this issue is more like: Forget businesslike.. get me some socks.  I'll go barefoot if I have to! Well, it's 8 in the morning and I'm running out of things to talk about.  So I guess this is it. :)