Seriously!

I have the cutest dog in the world! He likes to sit in the window of my parental's house (where he hangs out during the day) and when he hears me pull in he waits for me there. I sing to him "How much is that doggy in the window?!" and then we greet at the door! He makes me laugh every day and warms my heart to no end! I love having him! God knew I would need a friend during the heart aches of life and granted me with this little dog who i love so much! He makes me laugh!

Heard this quote last night

It's hard to watch people you love and fight for make mistakes and not be able to help them! But as Corrie Ten Boom so properly said "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." May I never forget to have an attitude like this! I just need to remain faithful to my God and He knows the rest!

Thinking while driving

I'm way more in to this blogging thing then I ever thought I would be. I guess there have been so many concepts and thoughts running through my head for the last few years that it is nice to have a place to write them all down.
Anyways...have you ever heard the song "Jesus Bring the Rain" By Mercy Me? Well, they sure do know what they are talking about! The lyrics go like that:

I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You
Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what's a little rain
So I pray

Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty

In everything that I have been through in the last few years this is the song that I think sums it up the best. There have been times when people ask me "How can you still be faithful?" and I didn't have a response but in the end the words to this song sum up my heart. How do people walk away from God when He truly is the only shelter from the storm?  Do they genuinely feel that running further into the storm will help them feel better then standing under the protection of God. Jesus never said we wouldn't go through pain. I mean in James 1 He says "Consider it PURE JOY my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds" Pure joy James? REALLY?! But it is so true. It hurts and it stretches and it is the worst feeling ever while going through it but when we find the shelter from our Lord and stand under it allowing Him to be our strength then we come out on the other side of the storm dry. It doesn't mean we won't have mud stuck to our shoes but we endured it for a reason that is far more worth it then clean shoes. I mean did I ever think running into the storm farther would feel better? Why yes I did because the human mind is always going to ask the question "if you are God then why are you allowing you child to go through this?" This is such an emotional question and honestly it doesn't even make sense. I mean can we please look at what Jesus did for us on the cross? HE DIED THE WORST DEATH EVER...all for our sake. If we just trust and obey his call to be faithful then we learn far more then we ever thought our brains could hold about His loving kindness and mercy and we know that we are not in it alone. It is amazing how true it is the next few verses are "because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. ⁶But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does." The testing of our faith produces perseverance and perseverance makes us mature. This could not be more true. There are so many things that I can look back and think "if i only knew then what i know now then life would have been so much simpler" but God gives us our life in steps for a reason. Each stepping stone is leading the next and the next and the next but if we skip one along the way then we end up falling five steps behind while trying to figure out how to get to this one step that doesn't make since. anyways...i probably am not making any sense but i was thinking about this while driving home tonight and thought i would try and capture my thoughts which i have so often failed at doing and then can't remember what i was thinking 5 minutes later. Hopefully someone will read this and make sense of it all. if not then hopefully i can read it in five years and make sense of it to myself. haha. I just hope that in the end i can say Jesus bring the rain, bring me ANYTHING that brings you glory! and I know there will be days when this life brings me pain but IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES TO PRAISE YOU JESUS BRING THE RAIN!!!!!!!!

Kids say the darndest things!

I was just reflecting on what an amazing job I have! I get paid a very decent amount of money to act like a preschooler! It is pretty much the best thing ever! Coloring, painting, singing, dancing, reading hop on pop a million times a day and just plain HAVING FUN!! I love my class this year! They say some pretty funny stuff! The other day a student (who is the son of a friend so this makes the story even better!) comes up to me and says "my mom calls my dad a babe!" totally out of left field! I think I shed a few tears from laughing so hard over that one! Another student while reading hop on pop proclaims "HE'S ABOUT TO HURT HIS BUTT!" when asked what the character was doing. I was looking for a response more along the lines of "He is going to sit on the cactus." haha...oh boy do they keep me on my toes. Autism is like the coolest disorder ever (did i mention they all have this disorder?)! I wonder what they are thinking half the time. They are so literal. One little boy was walking through a swinging door and i told him to "watch the door" so he did...he watched it smack right in to him. haha. I have to rephrase things quite often because i forget how literal they take everything. Anyways...that is my randomness for the day...
Off to the best job ever! We are having a halloween party today! YAHOO!

Food for thought

I got to spend my afternoon with a lovely friend, Kellie Bailey, Today. As we were talking a few things came up that intrigued me. During the conversation I was trying to say something and something totally different and unlike anything i would ever say came out of my mouth. It shocked and embarrassed me while making me think that as hard as we try to not let the influences around us effect our behavior and verbiage they totally do! Like times when you say donot (almost like donut) because you can't make up your mind if you want to say do not instead of don't, except this was far different. Anyways...
Also I was telling her about some of the past situations i have been through and we were talking about how two shall become one flesh. So when two become one and then separate does one become 1/2? I believe so. Thank you Lord for being the half that is missing!
Interesting things to think about. Now it's off to be I go.

Camping

Hercules and I went camping with the church family this last weekend. This was a pass fail test for Hercules to see if i could really call him MY dog or just a sorry excuse of a dog that I feed every day. ;) The first night he whined pretty much all night and decided he didn't want to be in the tent anymore so found a way out. Because it was like -83 degrees every night (ok..maybe that is a slight exaggeration) I was wrapped up in all my blankets and then shoved into a mummy bag. So when Herc decided to leave I heard him unzipping the tent and had a slight moment of panic when i couldn't get out of my mummy bag in a speedy fashion. So i rolled off my air mattress and on to the ground and wormed myself over to him just in time to grab his tail as he was exiting the door of the tent. If you didn't know this before take a note...gloved hands make it really hard to grip anything so he was able to get away. After squirming my way out of the sleeping bag and chasing him around in my slippers on the dirt, feeling like i wanted to hurt him just a little, he learned not to leave without permission anymore. Other then that we had a VERY fun time and he passed with almost flying colors. He is a very relaxed puppy and we have tons of fun together so this is another fun thing to add to our activity list! I love my baby boy! Above is visual proof that he IS in fact the cutest dog you will ever see!! This was a picture from last Halloween which seemed fitting since Halloween is on Sunday.
Ps...Jonathon and I went around asking people all weekend if they had ever turned in their tootsie pop wrapper with an indian shooting a star on it for a free one. No one had ever had success it seemed so Jonathon looked it up online when we got home and discovered that WE HAVE BEEN LIED TO our entire childhood and it was never true but rather a fable that has been circulating basically since tootise pops were created. It was a very tragic realization but I think we will survive!                       

Some people say I should Write

This is nothing exciting or out of the ordinary..just ramblings of a girl who's mind never stops moving and feet never stay in one place. People say that my life is never dull and I choose to think it's because i live life for what it's worth and laugh often at myself. God made people like me so He would always have someone to be entertained by! When life gives me lemons make lemonade because one can either choose to laugh or cry about everything that happens to them in a day. I'm human..sometimes i choose to cry but mostly i say "thanks for making me laugh today" and keep on truckin'. God is the one and only in my life and I would never have it any other way. I work with kids so there is always a good story or two and when you add me in the mix life never has a dull moment. I do dumb things but it's ok because i keep myself entertained.
Yesterday's adventure:
I got home from camping at about 3pm on Sunday afternoon and chose to park my car on the street while unpacking things. Normally i would park in the covered parking area but it is all the way on the other side of the complex so during the day i park on the street. After loading all my things in to the apartment Hercules (the other love of my life, my dog) and I went inside. I gave him a bath then took a shower and unpacked everything promptly forgetting that my car was on the street. I crawled in bed at about 7pm and fell asleep for the night. At 3:30am I woke up for work (a career at starbucks has it's ups and downs) and walked out to my car at about 4am. It looked like it had been raining all night and was kind of misty while i was walking to the carport. When i got there I looked around and had to stop and think because my car was not there. The first thought that came to mind was not "SOMEONE STOLE MY CAR" but rather "What did I do with my car?" It took me a second to realize that the night before I had left it on the street. After the light bulb went on a walked back to the street and saw my car. It was pitch black outside (as usual at 4am) when i got into my car. When I sat down my butt was instantly soaked. I thought that maybe i had brushes up against the car which was wet while getting in and then realized that while driving home the day before the car smelled like dirt from camping so I cracked all FOUR windows (which I NEVER do). So not only was my car soaked but so was my butt! It made for a good frustration and then an even better laugh.

This is the first of many........