BID #2 Travel the Mediterranean

There are so many places I would love to visit inmylife. This is only one of them. What a gorgeous area of the world rich with ancient culture. Culture dating back to the time of Christ. The Apostle Paul traveled around this area after the death of Christ preaching the gospel throughout the known western world. Stadiums, museums, churches, art...there is so much to see, and then, there are also the beaches! Wow! What wonderfully blue water with gorgeous white sands and loads of privacy. Sunshine all year round and delicious food too. What can't you enjoy?

9/11 Never Forget

When we went to California last week for the funeral of a friend (Paula Giles), we spent Monday in Malibu. Pepperdine University students had placed nearly 3,000 flags on their lawn at the corner of Malibu Canyon Drive and Pacific Coast Highway, overlooking the ocean in remembrance of the victims of 9/11. This display was left up from Sept 11-19. I wish everyone could have seen it! What a beautiful way to remember those heroes. Many people were stopping and photographing the memorial. I decided to share a few of my favorites. (I have more on Facebook, if you want to have a look.) Never forget! If you want to see the whole story click on this link.
http://www.pepperdine.edu/pr/releases/2010/september/9-11-flag-display-2010.htm

"what's a motto?"

Remember that line from the Lion King? Well, I was just thinking today about how sometimes inmylife it seems like I am running a loser's race or fighting a losing battle and I remembered the words of the Special Olympics motto.
I used to have a tee shirt when I was in 4th or 5th grade that had these words printed on it that my grandma had bought for me at one of my brother's Special Olympic competitions. I have a poster in my classroom from 2 years ago when we learned about the Olympics when they were in Greece. It has this motto and an olive wreath hanging next to it. Sometimes we just have to recognize that some battles we will lose but that doesn't mean we have to give up our courage or our ability to enjoy the experience. We might (no, we WILL) lose a few, or find ourselves down or behind, maybe so far that we can't even see the person ahead of us, but we never have to allow defeat. There is victory in merely finishing, even if we finish dead last!

BID #1 Dolphin Surfing

Something that I noticed my sister Erin doing on her blog was posting B.I.D ("Before I Die") items. She chose this acronym because she does not like the term
"Bucket List" and when I read that I realized that I, too, do not like it either. Don't ask me why. I am not sure. Well, here is item #1 on my BID list. Ride with the dolphins! I don't know how long it has been that I have wanted to do this but as long as I can remember. One time, a friend came back from Mexico with pictures of her family riding with dolphins in Cancun, I think. I actually started to cry looking at the pictures. I don't know what it is about this creature, but it has stolen my heart...and if I could do this in Mexico, that would be even better. Who needs a black Escalade when you could have this sweet ride?

An undeserved and priceless gift

Titus 3:3-7 Words of Paul to Titus

3- For we ourselves were also sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
4- But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
5- Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
6- Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
7- That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Karate Creeds

A few days ago, I found myself struggling to remember the words to the student creeds and that really ticked me off. For two and a half years, I recited them almost daily, and now I can't remember them hardly at all. :( I think I am getting early onset Alzheimer's or something. I got my black belt in April and then some things inmylife really started to go downhill and I think part of that was that the Lord was trying to tell me that I needed to reevaluate my priorities, of which karate was taking up a huge part of my life, and although I was learning important things, I needed to start to learn some other lessons, so I quit the karate in July. I hope to return to karate training someday and continue for the rest of my life, but right now there are other personal and spiritual things I need to do.
Anyways, as I started to realize that I was forgetting these creeds (after only 2 months) I was really upset because I want to remember them to help me inmylife. Luckily, I found them on someone's blog. Yeah! I am going to make them into posters and hang them in my extra room, which I need to start to use as my workout room. I also want to put up my karate pictures and Black Belt certificate. Let's see if and when all this happens. :)

1: I will develop myself in a postive manner and avoid anything that will reduce my mental growth or my physical health.

2: I will develop self discipline in order to bring out the best in myself and others.

3: I will use what I learn in class constructively and defensively to help myself and my fellow man and never to be abusive or offensive.

And (this is not really a creed, but a good quote)

"I come to you with only karate-empty hands, I have no weapons, but should I be forced to defend myself, my principles, or my honor- should it be a matter of life or death, of right or wrong, then here are my weapons, karate- my empty hands." Ed Parker (kara-te translated means "empty hands")

Life's BIG and and not so big adversities

I don't know if this post is really going to have a main idea or whatever, but I just thought I would get on and get some things out of my head. I don't even know if anyone reads my blog anymore since I have become less than active about writing. Things have been getting better in some ways but then again I start to think maybe not. I still feel really lonely a lot living by myself on the opposite side of town as my family. But I have started to realize a lot of things about myself that I never would have realized had it not been for the many firey experiences of the last six months.
In the past month, there have been two long time family friends that have passed away from back home. One unexpected and one after a brave battle with cancer. Both were young still, at least in my book. I know that we do not know when our life here will end and this has made me more aware of my mortality. This morning on the radio, I heard a country song that I think I have heard before, but never really listened to. I don't particularly like the song, but the words hit me suddenly considering the friends I have lost in the past few years, especially Ginger.


If I die young bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song


Lord make me a rainbow, I’ll shine down on my mother
She'll know I’m safe with you when she stands under my colors, oh and
Life ain't always what you think it ought to be, no
ain't even grey, but she buries her baby

The sharp knife of a short life, well
I’ve had just enough time

If I die young bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song

The sharp knife of a short life, well
I’ve had just enough time

And I’ll be wearing white when I come into your kingdom
I’m as green as the ring on my little cold finger
I’ve never known the lovin' of a man
But it sure felt nice when he was holding my hand
There’s a boy here in town says he’ll love me forever
Who would have thought forever could be severed by

The sharp knife of a short life, well
I’ve had just enough time

So put on your best boys and I’ll wear my pearls
What I never did is done

A penny for my thoughts, oh no I’ll sell them for a dollar
They're worth so much more after I’m a gone
And maybe then you’ll hear the words I been singin’
Funny when you're dead how people start listenin’

If I die young bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song


The ballad of a dove
Go with peace and love
Gather up your tears, keep ‘em in your pocket
Save them for a time when your really gonna need 'em oh

The sharp knife of a short life, well
I’ve had just enough time

So put on your best boys and I’ll wear my pearls

Switching subjects...I was really sick yesterday. I mean REALLY sick. Maybe I am overreacting because I am not used to being sick because I can not remember the last time I had the flu. I think it was probably 5 or 6 years ago when I got sick with the flu on Thanksgiving Day. That's right, of all the days of the year to get the flu and not be able to eat, I got it on Thanksgiving Day. But even then I was not as sick as yesterday, I don't think. My BIL and nephew have had the flu last week and earlier this week and I hadn't seen Jude for a while so I spent some time with him on Wed. night and he ended up being sick. So Thursday night I went to bed quite early, not really feeling ill, just tired and a slight headache. At 11:00 I woke up feeling like I needed to puke and, sure enough, I did. I spent the rest of the night up about every 1.5- 2 hours throwing up. By 7:00 I had been sick 5 times which, like I said, I can not remember ever being that sick. I called in for a sub, which was the 3rd day this week because of the funeral in California on Tuesday, and literally dragged myself to the school after puking for the 5th time to write some sort of sub plan for the day. Luckily, Fridays are easy. I slept for most of the day, but felt nauseous all day long and had nothing at my house to ease the aches, pains, or nausea of the flu and couldn't get a hold of anyone to bring anything to me. I really thought I might end up in the ER dehydrated (and who knows what else?) if I didn't stop throwing up. At about 3:00 I decided to take a hot bath to relax a little and that lasted til 4:30 and then another nap. I was hoping my mom could bring me some Zofran (anti nausea?) that my sister had from when Jude was sick, but with Erin being sick herself, she was not answering the phone and I ended up falling asleep again. At about 7:00 I woke up again and told mom not to worry about it and I dragged myself into the car and up to the Albertson's that is a mile away. I hadn't thrown up in 12 hours so I thought I would be ok. I needed to find something that I might be able to eat and something to help with the nausea. When I got there I realized I didn't have my debit card or my DL so I had to write a check and hope that they didn't ask for my DL which happens a lot at Albertson's. Halfway through my shopping I started to feel really sick again and thought I was going to lose it. I was praying the whole time that I wouldn't and that they wouldn't ask me for my DL because I needed this food and medicine and had no idea where they were (they ended up being in my desk at school). I felt like Ramona in the book "Ramona Quimby, Age 8," which I just finished reading to my class last week. "Please God, don't let me throw up in this taxi cab. Please God, don't let me throw up in this taxi cab." Well, needless to say, I made it home and thanks to some Sprite, Emetrol, Tylenol PM, bananas, and a few saltines I made it through the night without throwing up again and without going to the ER. I went to bed and prayed that I would make it through the night without having to throw up, but kept my pot there just in case. :) Well, thankfully, I slept great and woke up this morning having survived. I feel much better today, but I sure hope I don't have to suffer through that again for many, many years...or ever- I hope.