The craziness that is my life.

40th post! Awesome!

This post is long, so I'm organizing it into sections. You can read the ones you want and scroll past the ones you don't want to. Aw, who am I kidding. You know you want to read them all. ;)

SCHOOL RANT:

I really thought I'd do it this year.

It's true, folks; I'm slipping behind in school again! I can't let this continue. I am going to stop it now, before it gets worse. I'm behind six weeks in two subjects, four weeks in one subject, and one week in another. At least I don't have a social life this year. I can stop Facebook and blogs for a bit. I need to maintain my art one though. Bleck. This is intense. @_@
Saturday has turned into another typical weekday. So now I have 6 days of school a week. No distractions. I can do this. I will have a summer. Yes... I will beat myself into submission. Whatever it takes...

VACATION RANT:

We went to D.C. for two days! Woop woop!

We entered the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the Holocaust Museum, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and the First Baptist Church. We drove by the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument. We walked and saw the FDR statue, and the Eleanor Roosevelt statue (got a picture with her! :D) It was so fun!

So let me tell you about the places I actually went into...

The Lincoln Memorial: Woah. There were so many beautiful quotes around him. It was surreal to even be there. I have always had so much respect for him, and to see this gigantic statue built over a hundred years ago... Wow...

The Jefferson Memorial: Another fantastic place! I got a parchment scroll there of all of our presidents up to our current, Barack Obama. I want to memorize them all. The scroll is made of REAL parchment! I had to iron it and everything. There were more amazing quotes and I have so much respect for this man. Army helicopters flew overhead walking in, and it just made my heart stop. It was so breathtaking. The government is powerful, man. Scarily so.

The Holocaust Museum: O_O No words. None. We saw about how propaganda was the leading cause of the Holocaust. I can't believe how powerful it was even then! We need to keep careful eyes and ears when it comes to what the media is feeding into us. It all goes back to the Bible, friends. Always.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial: @_@ There were so many quotes around him as well! His statue was gigantic. It was him emerging from this stone. There was a quote on the stone, which said something like, "Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope." I thought that was pretty accurate. x)

The First Baptist Church: It was the most beautiful church I have ever been in. The ceiling was so high, the stain glass windows had something different on all of them, and I just wanted to fall down in worship. There was so much beauty in there. I swear, my heart stopped when I entered the sanctuary. It was definitely my favorite place. Presidents from ages past have gone there. That would be a sight. Men of such power humbling themselves before a God they know is bigger than they are? Intense.

The rest was so great! I really want to go back. Did I mention I got a Washington D.C. bag? :D It's perfect for carrying my music to harp!

Boring details of vacation:

We got a hotel. It was fantastic. The showers were better than ours! xD I jumped on the beds with Tiffany. Heel-air-ee-us. XD
I couldn't sleep- Tiffany was in the other side of the bed. We were chatting and kicking and flapping our limbs. XD We annoyed each other for over an hour before we fell asleep!
Good news: I didn't lose anything I packed! :D
Breakfast was FANTASTIC!! The hotel had a waffle iron and I used the batter they had to make a delicious waffle. c: It was HUGE, DELICIOUS, and SYRUPY. :D I was in heaven. I also had coffee, which is something I don't usually want, but I hardly got any sleep, so I didn't care.
We drove for so. Long. @_@ We drove through New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and some of D.C. It was incredibly exhausting. I never knew that driving was exhausting till then! I mean, you're sitting! But it was. It was 6 hours one way, 6 another. It was supposed to be only 4.5 hours, but Daddy got lost. e_e That was the longest trip we've ever taken as a family. It was the first time I've ever been out of the surrounding states, too!

HARP RANT:

Eegh. o.o I've been spending my free time practicing for my harp ensemble! I posted the information on Facebook- I hope some people come! There are three songs. I'm struggling with the last half of 2 of them. I really need to get this good. It's in 9 days! 9 DAYS!! Oh crap, it just hit me it's in 9 days. xD I have one more lesson with Kristi. I can't afford to get this wrong! I'm so nervous already! I cried about it yesterday. That was mostly hormones, though. >_> (Also why I looked odd in the pictures. XP) It really stresses me out. I don't know if I'm cut out for performing. I lifted it up to God though. I'll see what He does with it. :]

FAITH RANT:

God. 


Is.


Good.

All.


The.


Time.

Let me say that again; God is good, all the time. x) He never fails. EVER. Read any chapter past Isaiah 60, and you will see deliverance for the broken, lost, needy, and dying. You will see hope for the believers and condemnation for the non-believers. You will see hope of everyone coming to God. You see the hope in following Him, and how beneficial it is to not only us but others as well! There is joy in His name, fellahs. There is hope. Yeshua.... c: I think that's either Greek or Hebrew for Jesus. Seriously, read Isaiah 61! My soul was singing. I could feel it... :]

I have been relying on people for my faith to be fulfilled. No more. No more. Time to get joyful. For His Word is all we need! We don't need worship songs, a nice building, or any of that. He is all that matters. All. That. Matters. We must find God in our lives, here and now. I challenge you, dear reader, to join me in the quest for God. Simply God. No music, no other opinions, no other people, no fancy buildings, no happy circumstances... just God. Simply Him, His Word, and our submission. Amen? :)


LIFE RANT:

I've been relying on people for my happiness for so long. But people leave. They always leave at one time or another. It's super rare to see a friendship stay for years and years. Especially in high school. But right now, I've been leaning on family. Because family is forever. My family and I are most certainly NOT perfect, but you need to make it work. Because I'll say it again, family is forever. :) God put you with your family for a reason. So do what you can with what you've got. No matter how hard it is. And boy, is it hard!!
Audrey wrote me on Facebook- she said to come to church, because she has something for me!! :D Ahh, Audrey... x) She refused to give me a hint, but I'm psyched! We talked so much last week about artwork, family, old age, and adorable people in the church. Like the 91 year old, Fran. c: She's fantastic. She looks like a bunny rabbit, I swear. Her smile makes your heart dance. She is so filled with the Lord.
I don't want to lean to much on the people in the church, though. I'm going to miss Audrey so much if we leave. We're thinking of moving, so even the thought makes me want to distance myself completely from everyone. But God put Audrey in my life for a reason. She has proved herself to be very wise. She reminds me of my mom in some ways. I believe I can trust her. :) She's been very supportive of my art work. I'm grateful for that.
Speaking of artwork, I missed my art club meeting. :S I feel so irresponsible.
I've been so distracted in school. Bleck. I've been working on it. Little success, but it's better than nothing. @_@ I think?
I'm so excited for all of the good things to come. I long so desperately for focus and determination for school, or else those good things will not come.. Time to press into God later today. Believe it or not, He likes it. I need it! You need it, dear reader. Exit this stupidly long blog post, close your door, open your Bible, get on your knees, read about how awesome God is, and pray. Just pray. Pray till the tears fall down your face. Till the pain and mess streams out your eyes and nose. Till it all disappears and it's just you and Him, becoming one. That is when it all fits- all of life's screw-ups and your screw-ups in life make sense. That's when we live abundantly.