school has almost finished. i took a dual-credit class this semester... us history... and i am rather proud of myself. especially considering how worried i was about taking it. everything else in school is falling into place. oddly enough i am loving pre-cal. we got our progress reports today and i have 100. i know, im strange. just don't throw anything at me. i can handle the teasing. :)
i like how everything has settled down. it is much more relaxing not having sports or waking up at 5 o'clock. it is nice.
we had region band tryouts on saturday. i got 1st chair oboe advancing to area. all-state tryouts will be in about a month on january 10th. i'm very excited.
i wish that there were more than just a handful of oboes trying out because getting first chair, no matter how good i am, doesn't seem so incredible with less people. i kinda bothers me that people don't think that it's a big deal. or at least kinda big. they never really care about what chair i got, only how many people i beat. oh, well. hopefully, i'll make it to state this year. we will definantly see.
oh, and it snowed. yep. real snow. crazy texas weather. hot then snow then hot then freezing and maybe it'll snow again tonight. ahhhhh. it is so cold. i think i need so extra blankets or something to keep me warm... just gotta make it through winter. .
recently ive noticed more and more how awful people of this world can be. the things people say and joke about. the things they do. if they are censoring themselves around me and other girls, i can't imagine how they are by themselves. it's awful and terribly depressing at times, what we have to put up with.
i found this verse:
"Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world."
yes!!! the oboe is basically the best instrument :) i actually liked not having a whole lot of people at competitions, it was less intimidating and we were through really quickly ... however, i know how hard area is to accomplish and i am so very proud of you!
you are amazing!! you did.. very well :) im very proud of you! see you soon :D :D :D :D :D :D p.s. you are the most beautiful woman in the whole world!
Hey! Congratulations on making first chair at region! I did too. And it's area tryouts that are in a month. All state is in February. Hopefully both of us make it. That would be really cool!
Thanks! But yeah, there are tryouts in Orange Grove. They are the all-area tryouts. If we place high enough there, we will go on to all-state which is in San Antonio.
I know I can't wait to see you again either. I'm starting to get a little nervous, but my band director said that I have made a lot of progress this year and that I am sounding really good. I just hope its good enough to actually make it this year. That would be really cool if you make it too. Well I guess I'll see you on Saturday. Hey what hotel are you staying in on Friday
John 10 relays to us how Christ is the Good Shepherd.
...vs. 11 "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep."
consider the task of being a shepherd. would you face down a wolf for your sheep?
consider David and how he, only a boy, faced down a bear and a lion to retrieve one of his father's sheep. would it be easier to go tell you father that a lamb had been lost to a bear?
i am here to tell you that Christ will never go to his Father and tell him that one got away. He fought for us; is still fighting for us.
...Romans 5:8 "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
He loved us so much that He gave his life freely for those who openly oppose him. He died for the people that hate him. He died for the people that deny who he is. He died for everyone to have in heaven what he was denied on earth: a chance.
would you push someone (you don't know) out of the way of a moving vehicle to, in turn, put yourself in harms way?
how many people would?
how much quicker would you move if it had been your own child? or something very precious to you?
there was an analogy once presented to me and i will leave you with it...
a rancher is driving down the road where he passes a stretch of fence. down the way, he sees a goat with his head stuck in the fence.
obviously, he stops to help this man's goat. he loses a little time but what harm can be done.
imagine that the goat were a mountain lion.
no one in their right mind would come close to an angry (probably hungry) wild animal.
but think about it: Christ has let us, the mountain lion, out of the fence. without him, we would have most assuredly died. he cared not for himself, only for something insignificant that might bring harm to him.
that's what happened when he was still on this earth. but never forget that we are still doing it to him today... Hebrews 6:6
he loves us more than a mother loves her child.
he loves us more than life itself.
more than we can ever imagine.
last weekend, i broke a mirror. although he promised to take my 7 years of bad luck upon himself. he thinks he has some sort of super power to overcome bad luck. doubtful :)
yesterday was district cross-country...
good news: our team got 2nd place and is moving on to regionals...
bad news: after about the first 400 meters, i stepped in a hole, twisted my ankle, banged up my other knee, and still managed to finish the other 2800 meters. don't ask me how.
i always seem to bounce back from a fall: today im fine. it's a new day. a little bruised and still swolen but not too bad.
not to mention that this morning (while running in the dark) i stepped in another hole in the road (rather painful) and gave myself a minute to gather myself.
some people thought it was funny that i didn't even have a hurdle to fall over. apparently i had no excuse this time. but it's pretty funny to laugh about. i guess im just clumsy sometimes. :)
something fun:
even though we have a football game on halloween, we are going to do a show to THRILLER! we've been working on it for a few weeks now and i can't get that song out of my head.
it will be so much fun. this season's gone by really fast. i can't wait for the spring...
and winter camp is just around the corner! i'm so thrilled to be going...
hahaha oh baby i'm so sorry ... i think the only thing worse is to trip, almost bust it, and no one even laughs b/c they expect it ... they just look at you and shake their heads ... oh well, i'll be your clumsy friend and we can make friends with the ground together :)
i laughed out loud about this one... What did the ventriloquist say about his puppets? They're all a bunch of dummies!! I thought you would appreciate that... or at least get a little smile out of it ;)
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
i was thinking about this poem today. i was forced to memorize it back in 7th grade and it never meant anything to me. now it does.
i remember memorizing that in 8th grade. and after the first time i read it i (suprisingly) understood and this was the poem i chose to memorize.. and its probably my most favorite poem ever
Aww every year at our little senior letter jacket-presenting ceremony for band our director reads this poem.. he can never get through it without crying.
I'm sure that I told you that "back in the day" when I memorized it in 7th grade, I was the only girl in a class of all athletic boys! Needless to say, even though I'd memorized it, I couldn't remember a single word standing in front of all those boys! There was one guy that "mouthed" the poem to me so I could get through it.
i see now how God wanted me to learn how to forgive through a potentially bad situation. He knows exactly what i need. i was treated badly --mildly putting it-- by one of my "friends" and i handled the situation with patience and responsiblility.
i wouldn't have been able to do it without Him.
i thank God for that.
i felt successful in shining my light.
i felt more like His child than i have in a while.
to canaan's land im on my way
where the soul of man never dies;
my darkest night will turn to day,
where the soul of man never dies.
a rose is blooming there for me,
where the soul of man never dies;
and i will spend eternity,
where the soul of man never dies.
a love-light beams across the foam,
where the soul of man never dies;
it shines to light the shores of home,
where the soul of man never dies.
im on my way to that fair land,
where the soul of man never dies;
where there will be no parting hand,
and the soul of man never dies.
dear friends,
there'll be no sad farewells,
there'll be no tear-dimmed eyes,
where all is peace and joy and love,
and the soul of man never dies.
i'm a control freak too ... i panic when i'm not the one behind the steering wheel. the way the Lord has had to deal with my stubborness is to not only slam the door in my face but also break the hinges so it falls on me so that i KNOW there is NO possible way i can go through it. so if you ever need to speak to a girl who understands about the uncontrollable life of a control freak ... i can help :)
just remember that God asks for ALL of your problems ... not 99.9% ... b/c i promise you that .1% will kill you ... i also say this from experience ... i'm glad to know that there is someone else in this world that struggles with the same things i do
