Currently Listening Recollection: The Best of Nichole Nordeman By Nichole Nordeman see related

sunrise or sunset?

Hello reader, how's your St Patty's day been? Well (as you take time to answer to your computer screen and get some stares you don't care for..), for me it's been more like what i'll term pinch day. I'm awake for less than 15 minutes looking for something to eat in my kitchen, when I hear "AH-HA!" and suddenly feel that Way too familiar sensation of pain. That's for forgetting to wear green-my bad! So I actually had to dash to the living room, grab the first green thing i saw (a mini Wendy's Heartland ranch sauce container) and proclaim "I'm touching green! i'm touching green!!" That's my morning and joke of the day to ya.

In other news...well the past two weeks have been pretty awesome. And I just noticed that I've been to a concert every weekend for the past 3 weeks. Cool, huh? It's pretty rare for me (us) at least. I'm not sure why. Other than the fact that it takes forever ("an act of Congress" sounds right) for my entire family to agree to attend one simple event and then do it.   Hmm, right now I'll just write to sum things up and perhaps I'll post pictures next weekend.

Going to Tampa was fun.. it was weird cause that morning we left home and it was SO hot, the sky was really clear. But 4 hours later we were crossing the gulf of Mexico in the cold, wet, cloudy, foggy weather. Which was kinda nice for that day, nobody likes sweating due to heat...as far as I know. (Yeah nobody loves shivering in cold, wetness either but, eh..still beats heat!) We got there in the afternoon and saw some of the performers, while huddling under two umbrellas (later bought ponchos that cost more than they're worth though.) Oh and met up with one SPer then, yay. *wave to Emily*  During Toby Mac everybody was cold and hungry so we had to leave and unpack at our friends' place. Which..we hadn't seen them in a loong time, really energetic/sarcastic folks! Or maybe it was emphasized by my tiredness.

Sunday we attended our friend's Spanish church. It was the first time in a long time we went to one of those, since we've been going to an American one the past 5-6 years. It's amazing how different everything is. I mean, the 'youth group' was us three girls, the two guys who droves us..from the family we stayed with, and then 2 other kids. I guess I'm just used to a mega church?  The next unusual thing was one of the guys (my age) leading the study...with no adult help, so that was..interesting. A pro to that kind of small group "study" is that you're more free to openly discuss things (whatever spiritual topic)...at least for me. But the thing that stood out the most during that day's church service was later when we joined the adults in the sanctuary. They had everybody march around the [inside of the] building seven times, while praising. Then we stayed in that big circle.. while holding hands, and prayed...fervently. That prayer was so Spirit-filled and the atmosphere so reverent/holy/powerful that it took away the "this is unusual for a church service" thought that'd been going around in my head. Something else different was the fact that they do communion with wine. "but..i like the grape juice..." haha. Oh and since it's a small church of course we went through the "stand up if you're new" process of welcoming people, and now apparently all of them will be praying that us visitors get to move over there to Tampa. Friends there have been trying to convince us to do that, haha.  So.. overall that was an interesting-in-a-nice-way experience.  

A while later we finally headed to the festival grounds, and I met up with the other SPers there. Thooough..I was pretty idle with not working at the merch table with them, heh. The cool thing was that whole "surprise" to get me to meet with the Barlows after the show. Yay for B ('SPer') giving me the..heads-up on that! (Spilling the beans..) Everybody was all nice and excited to meet with the girls, and after a bit of security issues, Beka worked things out.  I'm glad I got to thank the girls for the encouragement they've given me the past year--as much as I didn't want to be center of attention (which all of a sudden I became, when they appeared and everyone went silent), and actually got a bit nervous due to that. But then the sharpies went flying and for the first time I saw how crazy (tiring, but even fun) it must be to do the whole "rock star" (not sure if that's the right term) thing day in day out.. If it weren't for it all centering around this "trust God. guard your hearts. don't conform (etc)" ministry, I don't know why or how they'd be doing what they do.

And you know, what's interesting about Barlows & encouragement...is how I'm so much more touched by the very idea/gesture of someone trying to encourage me through those girls-than the actual contact with the gals themselves. I.e.. getting a PM from Becca was uplifting, but knowing someone else went through the effort to get Becca to do that is all the more so amazing. Same (if not way more) with the greeting card..and now with the Tampa meet-up, very much so. 

All's to say.. thank you. thank you gals who do these things to encourage me, lift me up, inspire me.. with your friendship and your caring.. and doesn't even have to be concern the Barlows. It's so awesome how God's placed folks to show me Truth and love, faithfulness... thank you. 

Now I'm a bit out of time. so I'll leave a Vero re-cap for next weekend maybe..(with pictures, hopefully!)

Wish you a great week, fellow xanga buddy. (yay for those users left! haha)

P.S. Happy Birthday, Emily!! Enjoy your steak, and yet another year of life..whoo!

Blessings your way,

Abby

Currently Watching Open Season (Full Screen Special Edition) By Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, Jon Favreau, Gary Sinise, Debra Messing, Jane Krakowski, Billy Connolly, Matthew W. Taylor, Georgia Engel, Danny Mann, Gordon Tootoosis, Patrick Warburton, Cody Cameron, Nika Futterman, Michelle Murdocca, Jack McGee, Fergal Reilly, Kirk Baily, Jack Blessing, Ranjani Brow see related

my JOY

 Yesterday was my favorite day of this month. Two nice reasons: Good ol' mom's birthday, and David Crowder*Band concert. I thought both were gonna be nice, enjoyable and everything. But...my expectations were pretty much exceeded. Mom's attitude concerning birthdays (hers) is verry different than it was a year ago. It's almost amusing, but overall just..encouraging. She's now proud to say she just turned 46 (ohh yeah!).. believing every birthday she lives on is a victory gifted by God. And it's true. Just this week she held this family meeting and said that it's a miracle, a blessing.. that she's still alive and healthy (for the most part.) Explaining that, most people who're diagnosed with cancer don't live very long after that (mainly since it's discovered too many times when it's pretty developed. She had hers for over a year by the time she was diagnosed with it last May.) I.e. her dad died 3 months after he was diagnosed with cancer. Soo.. it's easy to understand how and/or why she now has this deep appreciation for every day of her life, and is driven by this new sense of purpose God's given her. That purpose would consist of teaching us girls more, guiding us, advising us. And she's been doing just that. In fact, here's a little example I haven't and prolly won't soon forget.

Well first it needs to be said that.. our family has never been one for talking about bf/gf kinda relationships. Those kinda subjects tend to be avoided or something. There's the fact that my big sis is set on never marrying..(gasp)But could be for a few other reasons.. squirmish siblings, too young to be thinking about wanting to anyways, slight language barrier (There's not even a word for "date" in Spanish as far as I know.) But that may be changing now, interestingly enough.

We were at church this wednesday, eating at the youth building's cafeteria after the service. And everyone was pretty much hyper/being silly. In fact mom was wanting to throw a crumpled napkin at the kids in the booth next to us because they'd thrown one in our booth earlier. So us kids were trying to keep her from doing that and talking about a bunch of random things. At one point I notice mom looking around the cafe for a while and then say (and I translate, not word for word though), "You know...there're alot of cute guys here. But that doesn't really matter...because/since you girls need to be waiting. And making friends [with them.] *twinkle of eyes*"  There's an immediate pause in all talking, and this look of utter shock and confusion that could've sounded like "what in the wooorled??" on my older sister's face and so after a couple seconds I start cracking up SO loudly at how incredibly random mom's statement was, my sister's expression, the sudden silence, AND mom's diving into that rarely-talked-about-subject. I basically don't remember the last time I laughed so hard. But riight after we all laughed and "just smile and nod"-ed, I realized how true and encouraging that was coming from her. 

She's begun being more open about things we haven't openly discussed before, even her own death. And it goes to show she's really taking advantage of her days remaining in this world. Which is actually..a lesson in itself. Because the past month or so I've realized that the one thing that may be the most taken for granted nowadays, is our very lives. I could blog forever more on that..how and maybe why we've come to. But that's for another time. Cause for now I'm dwelling on and enjoying what God's been doing in her (and our) lives. 

Okay, quickly moving on.. Crowder and his buddies were ________ last night. I honestly can't think of a good enough or at least the right adjective to describe how amazingly awesome [oh wait, there's one] they were. It's weird cause I was so close to not going. I won't even get into why cause it's silly-but now thinking on it I'm sure satan had something to do with it. No doubt. But anyways.. me, alb (older sis) and dad had a blast. Saying this is just about what 'proves' that: I participated with the audience interaction bits and sang. And if you know me some, you'll know 1- I neeeeveeer ever sing. And 2- I'm pretty reserved so I don't wave arms around, or so much as sway much during a performed song. I have numerous favorite parts.. but one main one was singing Amazing Grace aloud with everyone, and having this deep, incredible feeling of overwhleming love/ grace/ peace/ thankfulness abide in me... the atmosphere during it all was either very humble/graceful or joyous.  I don't think I've experienced worship like that before. Aand sorry..I could go on...haha.  Much of that is to say: I'm a brand spankin' new DC*B fan.  My sis burned 3 of their cds for me, now to get familiar with all those songs.. 

Good news: cameras were allowed this time. (last time at the BG concert at my church, they weren't.) Bad news: my camera doesn't take nice pictures w/o flash, which I needed to use cause it was otherwise dark. Buut here's what I managed:

We sat next to the center camera, and the setlist was on it-conviniently enough. They played two songs more than that though. One of 'em an encore.

Crowder mastering the Toys R Us *cough*I meannn...ebay!*cough* keytar. my favorite instrument of theirs next to the spiffy banjo. and the violin. and...

The lighting onstage was real good-but my flash stole that. Not blurry though, yay!

Ohh..they had effects lighting on the cross, and at one point I saw this face with a beard on it and, no joke-my first thought was, "Jesus?!?" but. then I realzied it was David..*blush*..and they did a couple others of the whole band. slightly odd yet neat. ;)

Aaand here's a video, not showing the whole song cause I wanted to sing along too. (and no way are you ever hearing that on camera! ha!)   http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y171/abby_bgfan/?action=view&current=100_5540.flv

Pretty much can't wait till they come around again.

Plus all the more excited for my next concert attendance. Which will happen in exactly a week. Whoo!

Alrighty I'm off for the weekend.

Have a good week!

Blessings,

Abby

Currently Listening Worship, Vol. 1: I Stand for You By Tree63 see related

lovely day to ya

I've something on my mind that I want to write down... for two reasons. 1: So I don't forget the neat connection (and can read it later to be encouraged from it) and 2: sometimes God will make a connection with anyone who reads whatever I write. meaning, for you.

My mom started painting [the walls of] our study area & living room a few days ago. Dad joined/helped her with that, and they finished yesterday. After it all dried, there was all our stuff..-desks, computers, piano, tvs, etc-jumbled up. So mom decides she wants to change things up, re-arrange our whole study area. (It was really a large living room that was partially split to have an area where the desks & computers would be seperated from the living room/dining room.) And early on I tell her, "Noo...it's fine how it was." But I had to head to work, so I didn't say much more...and assumed everything would be back to normal afterwards when I got home 2+ hours later. Hm, I arrived home with a swollen eye, ha. (4 words: tired abby and broomstick. but forget my accidental injuries for now.) Cause no, she already had a couple things set up in different places. So that's when I went and offered to 'help' put things back. Meaning, "But moom...this is my desk, I like it where it was before.. Let me put it back..I'll help you.." till I gave up. Why? How? A) She's more stubborn than me. B) Well, c'mon, she's mom. Authority, submission, honoring to do.. :) And so I concluded I'd probably get used to the change anyways.

But later that night as I was in bed and she came in to take out a tv she'd temp. stored in our room.. conviction took over. So I think, "I need to compliment/congradulate her for the work she's doing there." After all, it's her house she's keeping. That led to wondering why in the world I wasn't open to the change! I mean... you probably are already thinking I'm super picky and some kinda anti-change nut. Well maybe, I'm not sure about that. So then after reasoning and questioning (cause by questioning these things is how you get to understand things/people, achem).. I concluded: I got way comfortable. Too comfortable, cause I ended up having a bad attitude about change concerning furniture! And then...BAM. Well, to understand the bam, you need to understand the other end of the "connection."

This year my older sister graduates homeschool-high school. So she'll probably start attending college this fall/winter. We'll need more cash for that, and.. thoughts about us girls going back to public school haven't been uncommon. There's also the thing about public school having the ability to teach more responsibility, be more of a mental challenge, edify social skills even. But I've been verrrry hesitant about even giving that thought a chance. So many things came to mind when I first started thinking about it. My speech "issue" for example. It's basically like..stage fright in front of a class of 20 kids. So presentations and such or a major weakness. And so for the past month or so I've been piling on the things I could benefit from going to public, the things I would hate, and bunches of questions circling around, "Is this what God wants me to do??" I made up my mind that the deciding factor would obviously be what He wills. But then of course the fears/insecurities/doubts were still there. And, even though I'd received some encouragement from Him about this, I began to wonder if maybe I had it all wrong. Maybe it's not an option really, public schools can be so filled with junk.. why would He want me to go there?

"God, this is my life.. I like how things are, how they have been. Why the change? ...let me help You" Sound familiar, at least a bit? Yeah, bam. It totally hit me hard last night and I'm still "wow'ed" on how a little incident at home can be used like that by Him. You get comfortable with routine, with comfort zones, with familiar faces, with "your" life. It's not even yours! It's not even mine.. I am not my own. 1 Corinth. 7:23 tells us, "You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men." God's in charge, and He knows what's best. I'm going to write that down everywhere this week, ha. Why submit to whatever He wills? Well, he's God. For every reason and more that I finally let mom make the changes she wanted, as she saw fit, I should apply concerning obediance to Him.

I'm still not sure if I'm supposed to go to public high school later this year. I do have a profound peace in knowing that if I do, it'll be because He wills it. And a sort of confidence in thinking of that possibility. Alot of that confidence comes from when He encouraged me about obeying Him concerning that thing which I find somewhat.. scary.

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9.

That's the connection. It might not seem huge, but that school deal has been on my mind alot... and for that "connection" to have been made shows me how much guidance I'll be receiving throughout the year. Much needed guidance I might add.

And ya know, if you've any knowledge about public high school in general.. that could come in handy. I know there are negative things and positive things. So I'm hoping to gather a handful of both. (The negative to, in a sense, be "prepared" for.)

Enough thoughts shared for one blog, I'm out. Buut one last thing:

Happy Valentine's Day to you!! Chocolates here we come...

Love,

Abby

Currently Listening Singing Back to You By The Swift see related

once upon a time, i've envied good photographers ;)

I've reallly been slacking on the blogging lately. And I'm too tired to bring out my intospective self out, so it's picture-story time!! Brace yourself..

Hamsters. What is to be said about them?  They are cute. They are fluffy. They are basically stuffed animals that have little beating hearts inside of them. And, this one in particular is an evil genius. She's escaped several times, though only once officially..because we were always there watching her escape. it's incredibly entertaining. no joke. but that one time..my goodness! thankfully my detective skills were drawn out (uh..), being as i discovered some of her..remains..and it led to our oven. in the end: there are now 3 large holes in our kitchen walls, but they are covered up so nobody will ever know...except till now.. (we left a hammie treat out and later heard her eating it.)

I first began realizing how wonderfully amazing and breathtaking sunsets truly are a little over a year ago when a hurricane hit our county and left us without power for 4 days. it took that hurricane to have us stop, drop the tvs, computers, video games, jobs, schoolwork, etc...and look at what surrounded us. nature, family, friends. neighbors came together, sharing food and cooking it over fire that us kids gathered wood for (from the uprooted trees post-hurricane.) we spent those power-less nights outside, sitting on the huge tree trunks..staring at sunsets we'd never noticed before and stars we couldn't notice before.

Stinks that the screen from the balcony is showing, but I love the firey colors that took over the sky this night..late last year.

Chick-fil-A's manager came to our church this past week, and he's a pretty cool/amusing guy. Kinda surprised me that his dad (who started that 'restaurant') and him have tried to incorporate their Christian faith into what they do and run. So basically I think they won over alot of the folks there and now even I want to go and start eating there. (He was a guest speaker sharing his testimony) Plus..they totally gave out these cute cows that.. just about everybody went crazy over. I wonder what I should name mine..

Iiif you've talked to me in the past day or so, you prolly kinda know the story I'm about to share. But here's what Really happened...(okaay, the same thing but just with more detail)  Well, a couple days ago us girls (including mom) went over to this nearby park that's 'hidden' in the neighborhood next to us. We "discovered" it by accident some 6+ months ago and have been either walking or biking to it since. Lately it's been more for our physical education class every Tuesday & Thursday than for fun. (at least officially speaking, cause I do consider it fun)

So Thursday afternoon, we get there and I start doing my laps..which, one whole lap goes around the entire park (including a big field) and is about a mile in length (more or less.) Since my bike is adult size and just..a little bit too big, I tend to ride with just one hand in order to have my back somewhat straight. At lap 2 my older sister, Albany, joined me and started doing laps as well.. and around then is when I started lifting both hands to see how long I could last without losing balance. She started noticing and started saying things like, "you're crazy" and "aahh..you're scaring me!"..which totally just encouraged me to keep on doing that, haha! And I'm proud to say that at one point I lasted 8 whole seconds hands-off biking..ohh yeeah. beat that, huh? no..don't..then i wouldn't hold the record anymore.. (what record?? i don't know..and if there is one i'm sure i'm beat, ha)

At lap 6 I lunged over my biked head-first into the concrete. It happened soo fast, it took me a few minutes to get over the "shock." And then I was super amused by it, esp. when mom came running over and, after making sure I was alright, started telling me I shouldn't have been biking that way.. which's when older sis stated it was worth it (on my behalf) in the end-after I fumbled trying to say the fun of it was worth the risk. Soo..what happened? Well my reflexes weren't quick enough, so I didn't straighten my bike when it lost balance (after I'd been riding without hands.) Which caused the front wheel to position itself exactly as it's pictured here. As it lurched to the left, I suspect now that I tried to brake because then is when I did my flip-forward move.. where my left hand hit first and took alot of the fall, then right shoulder hit the ground, and lastly my chin played with friction. Thank God I don't have any serious injures with the speed I'd been going at...I know if it weren't for my hand being the most impacted, my shoulder would be in crazy pain at this moment. Now I'm just left with a fleshed up palm, bruised shoulder, and scraped chin. Well..my whole upper arm/shoulder/left neck area has been sore ever since..probably cause of the stress on the muscles, and the only drug I took didn't help any...so I would appreciate prayer for that to go away and the other cuts to heal nicely, heh. Oh-thank God it was my left hand too! I'd be in big trouble if it were my right. (Need it for school things, writing)

This is Jimmy. If you couldn't tell, he's the lovely bandage that covered my injured palm. Isn't he a cute little guy? (Okaay so..I was trying to distract myself from the terrible sting of Hydrogen Peroxide. Which, btw, when that injury was cleaned out in order to disinfect..I did NOT think any kind of human way of having fun was worth that stinkin pain. noo.) I'm hesitant to even explain why I named him Jimmy cause I'm hungry and I've written alot about my physical self already, haha. Let's just say he's my little brother's cousin.  *snicker*

The beloved "hidden" park...that's just the exercise part. Behind me is the big field and around that and this area is the 'sidewalk.' I like the clouds here. Also, the little figure on top of the monkey bars is my younger sis. She was reading, though I think it's rather uncomfortable because the bars sink into your bones! Standing and laying on the picnic table to journal/dive into a nice mystery novel, now that's so much nicer..

Alright, I'll stop at that. Maybe I entertained you for a few moments, maybe I scared you, maybe UFOs really do exist, either and whichever or whatever way..I'm glad I got something finally on here.

I hope you've a great week ahead of you and enjoy the Superbowl tomorrow, if.. indeed you are a football person.

Blessings and love,

Abby

P.S. About those UFOs...

(people stuck poles on them to keep them grounded. Oh yeah..)

Currently Listening Don't Wait By Adie see related

the unfinished blog

 Tomorrow's the last day of my Christmas/New Years break. It's an interesting thing though. Normally I'd be like, "maan.. i don't want to go back to doing school work"  But the thing is, it's [mentally] productive! So like when we're on break.. we'll do fun stuff and sure get to watch/use more media things (computers, tv, video games) but.. as entertaining as those things can be.. after a while it's like, "okaay.. what else is there to do? what can i do to be a little more productive?" (well, there's the exception of helping out the mods at SP, since I suppose that can be considered a bit productive..) But in a sense, I'm ready to hit the books again. Hard and partly literally even (usually when i refer to "the books" I generally mean school work or studying) cause I've 5 book reports to get done and I've read & worked on a total of 0. I'd started reading for that but.. the book I chose wasn't that great. Ermm, I'm not about to continue rambling about school work so anyhow.. [this is where you can stop snoring so much ] Btw, I now realize that I like pretending to know what a reader of this blog is doing as they read this.. so bear with my sarcastic assumptions, you.

Ooh.. this is my first blog of 2007. Wohoo! To be honest though, it doesn't really feel like a new year. Yes we counted down the seconds till '07 and celebrated with friends till 4 in the morning, but.. no go. I'm thinking that it won't settle in till I write "Jan. 2006" several times [on.. you guessed it, school work], erase & correct those, and therefore finally adjust to that single digit change. Hooowever, another possibility to which I don't perceive a change like I have in previous years is..cause of no new years resolution. What's up with not doing that? Hmm, I'm not sure.. it simply didn't come to mind as we waved '06 goodbye. Maybe because we've gone through so much change already. This year has been a really interesting one.

Actually, the past week I've found myself 'chewing' over events that have taken place this past year. Not an uncommon thing to do really as a new year comes your way. Whoops, or-has come. (There's that "doesn't feel like a new year" deal) But I keep telling myself I have to write out those thoughts either through blog or a journal entry. Journal entry especially though, because in reading through my journal the other day.. I found a huge gap between March and August of 2006. Not one thing written down. I suppose that's because I already wrote/vented about the major things in letters and blogs. But you know what, I need to start picking up on that big time! There's a good resolution for ya. Buut here I am... blogging.. so I should continue that.. and you can continue doing what you're doing..

I'm not exactly in a thinking mood, which is usually what I am when I blog. So this could be interesting. Or boring. Or nothing in particular.  I am in a picture sharing mood though. How's that sound?  I remember I did a little slideshow last year for 2005. The major moments of that year. Maybe I could do that here. And.. perhaps I can work on an actual slideshow to show the fam. later on. That'd be nifty.  So.. I'm gonna look through my pics and maybe that'll give me some more stuff to ramble about, and hopefully you to be entertained with.. haha.

Okay so for some reason I can't find any pictures from the first 5 months of '06. And now it's gotten late cause I got distracted by a ministry-ish need. As weird as that sounds and whatever you may think that to be..I don't know.. but.. it needed attention, so stop thinking i'm making up excuses! :p But I'm not giving up on this entry! It will get published.. I couldn't find those pictures anyways..phoo. The main thing back then was probably going to Disney in January. Acutally-it was on this weekend! Exactly a year ago, wow.

Aaagh it's too late and I've multi-tasked too much..oh well. Buut.. to keep my yet unpublished word, i Will still put this up! It's probably the shortest, lamest blog ever buut.. it's all you have from me for the next week so.. deeal. (or no deal?!)

However, since I uploaded a video from New Years Eve... I could post that. Videos are alot better than pictures anyways so, ha! Well, most the time.  It's not that interesting/cool.. we were fooling around with the sparkler's boxes and decided to um.. burn them up.  in a safe-ish way though!  

okay, it was 2:30 in the morning and I, for one, do not make sense much that early/late. in fact anything i say past 1 am shouldn't be taken seriously.  but here you go.. i'm recording and ramble some, as well as our Venezuelan friends and my two sisters.

It won't appear here right so linky: http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y171/abby_bgfan/Etc/?action=view&current=100_4455.flv