Moved by the Spirit

Do you ever have those days where you just feel like God is sitting right next to you? Like you could reach out and touch Him and feel His arms around you? This morning was one of those times for me.

I must admit, I haven’t been opening my bible faithfully every day. It’s not purposeful, but somehow when I’ve waken up a little too late, or I have a bunch to do in the morning, that’s the thing that gets neglected in my schedule. When everyday life and humanity’s vision of its structure invades my mind, God’s view and what’s really important constantly get shoved aside.

Click on the link above to join in on "A Cup of Truth".

I was reading through the Proverb for the day, and I saw this verse. I’ve read Proverbs more times than I can count, but this particular verse has never struck me the way it did this morning.

Proverbs 22:11 He who loves purity of heart and has grace on his lips, the king will be his friend.

I realized when I read this just how many times I’ve told myself that I couldn’t love circumstances that required reservation for the sake of purity of heart and mind. I’ve been writing it off as impossible to whole-heartedly love something that’s so difficult to uphold….but we’re supposed to embrace it and desire it with our whole beings. It’s not necessarily a new revelation, but it’s revived a sense of longing in my soul for exuberance in the path I'm called to walk.

My good friend and brother in Christ, Jacob, wrote a fantastic post on his blog last month which he titled “The Suppression of Emotion”. It ministered to me so much, and I just had to share it with you all. Please, head over to his blog—Warrior of the Light—and read it.

One last thing...my blogging buddy Kristin reached 32 followers a few days ago! You all know why that's special, so I hope you'll stop by her blog and show her some love. ^_^ She has a great business, Summer Suzette Couture, and she is currently donating all of the sales of this business to an organization called "One Prayer". So, make sure to check that out while you're there.

(P.S. Do you all like the new blog layout?)

Promises in the In Between

“Once upon a time...” so begin thousands of timeless fairy tales and children’s stories—stories of adventure, chivalry, love, beauty, terror, beasts, dragons…anything that could ever pass through the curious mind of a child. This phrase has been the chosen standard to begin the written adventures of a child’s culminated dreams for as long as penned imagination has been a popular part of children’s lives. Etymologically speaking, “Once upon a time” could truly mean anything—it uses the vaguest of word combinations to provide just enough information to take out any obligatorily realistic time frame. Utterly, the addition of this phrase simply takes away all natural boundaries of the preconceived mind. It has become such that whenever these words are heard or read, we know automatically that we have entered a world of freedom specially tailored for the mind of a child.

People often say “Life is not a fairy tale.” What is it about life that is so unlike a fairy tale? Is it the strife that we humans face on a daily basis? Is it the conflict that surrounds each and every man? These answers are determinedly acceptable, because they fit into the “bred-in-captivity” mind of man—but how can we think that? There are conflicts and trials in abundance in the stories of youth. We never read a story and expect there not to be any source of pain or evil. What identifies a fairy tale is a fantastical idea that rejects physical reality—instead of the boundaries of life, we are presented with the freedom of perspective.

When we are fed stories of fantasy and extremity, I think we can find them completely comparable to our mental view of life. Ignore the logic—what is the perspective of this story? From the very first phrase, “Once upon a time”, we can certainly say that no matter what road the words take us down or what twists and turns they endure, the story will end with a pleasant “…they lived happily ever after.” As a child of Christ, I have been given a life story, specially tailored for myself. A fairy tale?—maybe not at first glance, but I will have my happily ever after; my Jesus will make it so. The rest is up to me—how will I put into the words the life that Christ has given me? I must take note, there will always be pain and adversity—without it, what would my story be? Beauty can only be found if we see it in the quarrel of contrasts with the villain of the story. I have to choose to look into Beauty’s eyes as he fights for the survival of the good in my life—what joy can be found if I only look for it! In a story authored by Yahweh, the ending is absolute; I will live happily ever after—but what will I focus on while the climax of my story is yet to come?

This is a decision that every one has to make individually. As for me…I plan to spend my life smiling, with affection and admiration, at the One who has given me the promise of a happily ever after. Tears may cloud my eyes as pain invades, but my desire is that my lips will always curve into a picture of the timeless romance I have with my Savior!

Pros and Cons of Summer and Asia on my Mind

Yup….it’s definitely summer now. It’s sticky and hot and hot….and hot. I can’t wear my precious long sleeves, *sniffle* snow is out of the question, and red alert is blaring for sunburns, zits, and ice cream cravings. It’s majorly sadifying….however, there is a bright side to this madness. For instance; there are lots and lots of thunderstorms in the summer! I always love a nice horde of clouds and ground shaking rumble. Also, swimming….not that I get to do it that much, but when I do it’s awesomely awesome. Also….

…$1.50 iced coffees at Starbucks!!! I actually am still hooked on my grande unsweetened latte right now, but I’m sure I’ll probably switch to these bad boys when it gets too hot to bear it any longer. I have to admit…we go to Starbucks a lot. Every time we go, we get the kid’s hot chocolates for Silas and Jonas. Well, the other day we went to a different coffee shop, and we got them hot chocolates there. Jonas was like *guzzleguzzleguzzleguzzle* “Thanks Mom! That was tasty!” Silas, on the other hand, took about 3 drinks before he pursed his lips and said “Mom, the whipped cream is already melted, the chocolate is weak…and….well, it’s not Starbucks.” Heehee…I love a 7 year old who can tell the difference between Starbucks and everybody else. That’s mah bro!

Ok, I bought a killer amazing bonsai tree!!!!

(In case you were wondering, this is actually my tree, not a stock photo. I just photoshopped it to death. Ha.) I need name ideas. Anybody got any? It should probably sound Chinese. It’s a Japanese Juniper, but the Japanese are too techy for my taste (what am I saying!?). I think I prefer the Chinese culture most of the time because I’m so into modern stuff and such that I like, for a change, the idea of tai chi and kung fu and drinking tea aaaaall day while tending a garden full of strange plants, miniature trees, and ginger root. Plus, who doesn’t want a Mr. Miyagi??? I DO! Sooooo, maybe I like the romanticized idea of China….and Japan doesn’t really have any kind of romanticization (that’s officially a word) except for insanely advanced technology, and that’s not fantastical at all.

Oh, here's my b-e-a-utiful orchid I've been telling you about. *sighness* It's my favorite. :)


I painted my room white and black. It looks awesome. I loooove it. ^_^ I’ll get pics and show you all once I get everything finished. It might be a while because I still have to paint two pieces of furniture black. I need to find an awesome chandelier looking thing.

Is this thing amazing or what?! I’m going to have to wait a long time to get something like that though, because first I’m going to buy some flooring. That’s what I’m saving up for now. My flooring is….old….and worn half through….and floral….and brown….and the tack strips are all exposed. Yup, I need new flooring. I want to get bamboo, or at least something that looks like bamboo.

Wow…I’m really stupid. I just misspelled “unintelligent” 3 times before I gave up trying.

Favorite new (to me) CDs this week….Danyew’s self titled EP, and “P.S. I Love You” by John Powell. Check them out, because they’re amazazing with a capital “zaz”.

Peace out, stay sweet, and of course, live long and prosper!

P.S. I just finished redesigning my momma's blog, "Dancing Barefoot on Weathered Ground". So, make sure you head over and tell either my momma or me what you think! :)

I'm 16!!!!!!!

I've noticed that the first thing people say when you tell them that is "Oh, are you driving yet???"

I answer "Yeppers!".

The continue..."Do you have your license???"

My smile fades "No....I only have 18 (and a half!) hours."

Their eyes open reeeeally wide "Wow...you need 50, right? Well, you better get busy."

.....I resent that. lol. I AM working on it though! I promise you all I will have it by the end of the year. You can hold me to that!

Thursday was my birthday, and I had the most incredible week(end)! First of all, I had an amazing time hanging out with my family and some awesome friends of ours on Wednesday. That was my initial birthday celebration (my mom made a really good sugar and gluten free carrot cake. She’s the cat’s pajamas, my friends!) On Thursday, my whole family went to see “Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian”. It was really cute! We don’t normally get to go to movies all together, so it was a lot of fun!

Now, the biggie….on Friday, I had a party out in our gym with several of my amazazing friends. A couple of hours into the party, my dad, Jared, and a friend of ours played some original songs…..Ok, so I played too, but it was totally unlegit! :) Anyway, here’s one that we did, and I’ll be posting the rest over the next few days. So, keep coming back and checking!




Now, after watching that, are you convinced that I'm a granny with no grit!? lol! I look so kindly, it's saddening! I wanna be mean! haha. jk. It is funny though...I can totally rock out when I'm not playing. *headbang* KAPOW!!! XD

I felt so blessed to be able to spend so much time with all of the people that I love so much over the past week. My cousin, Bailey, and good friend, Kari, were able to stay at my house for the night and most of Saturday after my party. I loved being able to hang out with them! They both live really far away, so it was awesome to be able to chazillax with them. ;)

On Saturday evening, my family went to my grandparents house for a big family get-together to celebrate mine, my Aunt Lisa’s, and my (Great) Uncle Dan’s birthdays. It was a blast! I’ll tell you what…there’s something about being with my big rambunctious family that brings out my crazy side. Whenever I’m with my aunts, I feel like I’m their (and my mom’s) mischievous little sister. Is that a good thing? I’m still trying to figure that out. Haha.

In other news, it’s finally summer! Well, not technically…but my summer starts now. No, that doesn’t mean “no school!” for me, but school feels like a walk in the park compared to the oddball work I’ve been doing over the past couple of months!

At the beginning of the month, Momma, Pops, and I set up a booth at the Homeschool Convention in Wichita. My mom’s workshop was incredible!!!! She was so nervous, but let me tell you all: My momma is a natural born speaker! I’m not even a mom, and I was encouraged. lol. Head on over to her blog and listen to it. It’s about an hour long, but well worth the time it takes to listen.

I’ll most likely be posting sometime in the next couple of days about some of the things I’ve been enjoying over the past week. I promise that I’ll start posting more now that my busy spell is over! :)

"The Affinity of Soul and Song"

Click here to learn how to participate in Monthly Monday Poetry.
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This is not a new poem. I posted it several months ago, before I ever started Monthly Monday Poetry, but I had a really busy weekend, so I hope you'll enjoy the repost! :) I wanted to let you all know that Mr. Linky is currently down, so you'll have to link up in comments. Sorry for the inconvenience, and I hope you will still all participate and read each other's creative expressions!


A voice, a call,
Melancholy so sweet,
It haunts, it dances,
Tempting hearts to weep;
A life in a life
So sacred its touch
Power inbred
In explicit approach

Time held in space
In a beautiful face
A face filled with
Agony, love, or defeat;
Tears strewn on cheeks
A glimmer in eye
Hope, faith, passion,
Want, sympathy, pride.

Souls’ tendrils of sense
Weave through strings unseen.
Through sensation they glean
Sensitivity keen
Roots are entangled
A parasitic embrace;
The voice chokes
Under crushing strength
Souls take with thirst
What’s been theirs at length—
The song that at first
So gently rang,
Now much deeper
More solemn
The souls’ theme it sang.

At the mercy of minds’
Own tender state,
The notes resonate
They form jagged lines.
At last, perhaps
Though perilous the weight,
The voice that called sweetly
Has endured its due fate.
To live under rule of heart,
Soul, and spirit,
And grasp onto hope of
The life that clung to it.---Abigail Kraft 2009