:: Happy New Year 2012:

This year by far was an amazing year for me! Just the oppertunities I had and the friends that I met. From chilling in a friends basement fit for 5 with 20 ppl or rockin it out at concert this summer, My year this year was not to shabby! Sure I had my ups and downs, doesn't everyone?! Lets see, in January I met my now boyfriend and many new friends, March we had Life Action at my church, I also got to attend a soul fire, April I finished my first year of College, May I got the oppertunity to attend the esthetics show in toronto, may was also a bad month cuz some friends left for summer and then got in a massive fight with my then best friend, june was SUMMER! July was daycamp, bayfest, weddings and jordan and I started dating, August more weddings, daycamp and hangouts with everyone! September was the begining of my last year of college! October-December was school and Jordan came home and Sabrina and I became best friends! I hope all you guys had a great year also and that 2012 brings much more excitment and joy to your lives! Same to all you too!

::Christmas 2011::

Hey to my my viewers out there! Happy Holidays! So I haven't done a blog like this in awhile where I just write about what I have been up too! So this past week as been my first week off from school for winter break. All together I get 3 weeks off of no studying, no homework, and no worrying about anything! I finished all exams with good marks in the end and a GPA of 3.733 :) So i am pretty happy! Last sunday on the 17th, which I guess was the last time I blogged, Jordan came home from TB for the holidays! I am so glad he his home, along with the rest of my friends! Also my friend Isaac came home from NZ! I was ubber shocked and so happy when that he did! On tuesday I spent the whole day with Jordan, for the first time since Sept.1! I helped him shop for Christmas gifts and then we went out to dinner with his family, got to meet his brother and his gf, then we played monopoly with them and then went to the movies. Overall it was a great day! On wednesday night, I had a girls night with my girl friends that are home, i missed each of them so much, so we went out to crabbies all dressed up and just hung out and caught up with each other! On friday, Jordan came over and we watched a movie and just chilled and then met up with two of our friends, Sabrina and Ty (who is also away with Jordan up in TB) and hung out, walked through the light display downtown and then went to coffee lodge where we sat and talked about what we should do every like 10 mins lol....did we ever do anything...NOPE! hahaa On Saturday night, which was Christmas Eve, I went to Christmas Eve Service and saw Jordan there with his family, Cuz his mom is from my church but they go to a different one. So that was nice, and when I got home, its a tradition in my house every Christmas eve to watch It's A Wonderful Life. That night I could not sleep at all! I don't know if it was the excitement of Christmas, the fact I was going to see Jordan again or the fact I was wide awake and had a million and one things going through my head, not to mention my cat kept bugging me almost every hour.....so about 6 hrs later and 3 hrs of sleep....its was CHRISTMAS morning! Now the normal kid, gets up really early and goes and opens up gifts and what nit, but when 9 am hit and my sister woke me up, that was the last thing i wanted to do, I just wanted to sleep! I was soo tired! But I got out of bed and started Christmas....around 12, Jordan came over and hung out for a bit and then we went over to my Grandparent's house before heading to his house. I had a great dinner with his family and we also played a few games during the evening. All and All it was alot of fun, and I love hanging out with him and his family! They are soo funny! And then I came home. It was about midnight then. And today/yesterday (when i started this it was dec.26 and now its the 27th) It was my birthday! I turned 19 :) And this year I took a different route, instead of going shopping like I always do every year (tradition) I spent the day at home and just chilled and relaxed! Invited Jordan over and my Aunt came down from where she lives and brought me a cake she made for me and we just hung out, played a game I got for Christmas and then we attempted to watch a movie on tv...(when I say attempt, its cuz well my sister kept annoying us, and then we had dinner and we had already missed the first half, cuz it was on tv) and then we ate dinner and had cake and then attempted to watch the pt 2 of the last Harry Potter, but then again got distracted.....this time being Jordan's fault...lets just say my bf likes to tickle me...and im very ticklish, and he had to leave 45 mins into the movie cuz where he lives is about 45 mins from where I live. Yes hes a trooper for driving that distance to see me :) But all honesty, it was the best birthday i have ever had! It was just alot of fun and very relaxing and chilled! Now its the 27th, and I dont have any plans for tomorrow...so I may slide into get my nails done and thats about it....go to the bank but besides that i wonder what the week has planned for me! I know I am going to go see a play with jordan and his family on the 30th and then celebrating new years with him and a few friends hopefully, but besides that i got nothing! Just going to enjoy the middle portion of my break! I hope that every one of you out there is also having a great holiday and Happy New Year!

P.s Yesterday was one year of having this blog! I do believe my first blog was about my birthday last year and thanks to you guys, I now have over 1300+ viewers! Thank You guys soo much! Much love and God Bless! <3

::Don't you know your beautiful?::

So I am currnetly obsessed with this song! Can't stop listening to it!

Lyrics:

You're insecure
Don't know what for
You're turning heads when you walk through the door
Don't need make up
To cover up
Being the way that you are is enough

Everyone else in the room can see it
Everyone else but you

[Chorus]
Baby you light up my world like nobody else
The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed
But you when smile at the ground it aint hard to tell
You don't know
You don't know you're beautiful

If only you saw what I can see
You'll understand why I want you so desperately
Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe
You don't know
You don't know you're beautiful
Oh oh
But that's what makes you beautiful

So c-come on
You got it wrong
To prove I'm right I put it in a song
I don't why
You're being shy
And turn away when I look into your eyes

Everyone else in the room can see it
Everyone else but you

[Chorus]
Baby you light up my world like nobody else
The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed
But you when smile at the ground it aint hard to tell
You don't know
You don't know you're beautiful

If only you saw what I can see
You'll understand why I want you so desperately
Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe
You don't know
You don't know you're beautiful
Oh oh
But that's what makes you beautiful

[Bridge]
Nana Nana Nana Nana
Nana Nana Nana Nana
Nana Nana Nana Nana

Baby you light up my world like nobody else
The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed
But you when smile at the ground it aint hard to tell
You don't know
You don't know you're beautiful

[Chorus]
Baby you light up my world like nobody else
The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed
But you when smile at the ground it aint hard to tell
You don't know
You don't know you're beautiful

If only you saw what I can see
You'll understand why I want you so desperately
Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe
You don't know
You don't know you're beautiful
Oh oh
You don't know you're beautiful
Oh oh
But that's what makes you beautiful

::I Am A Christian::

When I say...."I am a Christian"
I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin"
I'm whispering "I was lost"
Now I'm found and forgiven.

When I say.... "I am a Christian"
I don't speak of this with pride
I'm confessing that I stumble
and need Christ to be my guide

When I say...."I am a Christian"
I'm not trying to be strong
I'm professing that I'm weak
And need His strength to carry on

When I say...."I am a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success
I'm admitting I have failed
And need God to clean up my mess

When I say...."I am a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect
My flaws are way to visible
But, God believes I'm worth it

When I say.... "I am a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon his name

When I say...."I am a Christian"
I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner
Who received God's good grace somehow

So when I say...."I am a Christian"
I'm not better then you
God sent his one and only Son
Because He loves you too!

::Pressure::

I'm not skinny enough
I'm not tan enough
My hair isn't nice like hers
My nose is too big
I'm not tall enough
My eyes are too small
My teeth are not white enough
I need to have this brand of clothing to fit in
I need to look like this, to get people to notice me
.....why don't i look like her?
.....why do people care?
.....what's the point?

These are many types of thing's you hear from the female population these days. Girls in their teen aged years and even younger are pressured to look a certain way. But why? Why do we all need and want to look the same? If we were supposed to all look the same, God would of made us that way, but he didn't. He made us all look different for a reason. In his eyes, your PERFECT! Why would you want to change that?

I was on facebook today and before I came on here I was thinking about writing a blog post about this topic...but wasn't really sure of how was going to say it or explain the point I was trying to get across. Then I was reading the notes section and one of my good friends wrote a full note on this topic and he explained it perfectly! Everything I wanted to say, but couldn't. So here it is...why does the media put so much pressure on younger girl's these days? And is it just girl's, or do guy's feel pressured too? Sure all guys want to have that "6-pack" but is that it, or is there more behind the industry of being PERFECT these days....

" I have noticed through everyday life that there is so much pressure on girls to look a certain way through clothes, how their body looks and makeup. Girls are taught from early childhood that their worth is proportional to their attractiveness. We feel compelled to pursue abstract notions of beauty, half realizing that such a pursuit is futile. Companies use many different tactics to add pressure to girls. They use commercials, billboard advertisements, magazines..to create this image on how all girls should look. This image is saying that all girls should look skinny, have a big chest, a nice butt, and wear a lot of makeup. Basically, the ideal girl should look like a supermodel if they want to be accepted by society today. If girls choose not to blend in with societies' demands, they are looked upon as worthless, unattractive, and even unfit beings to be around. And it's not just girls either, but guys get the same pressure in different ways. Guys are supposed to have big muscles everywhere, have the '6-pack', and have as much sex as they want. We all want to fit in with every trend and every person. No matter what they do, some people just can't fit in, sadly. Those people who aren't accepted feel like they're worthless, that no one cares about them and they have no one to turn to help them. This is where suicide starts happening. That person gets to the point where "Life is too hard"; "No one understands me"; "No one wants to understand me"; and even get to the point of thinking,"What is the point of my life?"Society's mindset of how people should look, should change. True beauty comes from the inside of who we truly are and made to be by God, Himself, not the outside appearance. Imagine all the lives we could save and can save if only we take the time to say 'You're beautiful just the way you are", or "I love you", or "You matter to me."After writing this out, i thought of the song 'More Beautiful You' by Jonny Diaz. "There could never be a more beautiful you. Don't buy the lies, disguises, and hoops they make you jump through. You were made to fill a purpose that only you could do. So there could NEVER be a more beautiful you!"
It's not too late to change. It's not too late to save a life. It's time too stand up and say enough of this.
I am because I'm sick of seeing all the broken, hurting, and lost lives in this world. It pains me to see people taking their own lives because people don't take the time to be there for that person.
No more conforming to this world. It's time to be the difference, to be history makers...to be LOVE."

I love how he explains that it doesn't matter what you look like, no one on TV or in the movies, just wakes up every morning and looks that good. It takes hours in hair and make up, they don't dress themselves and well we have all heard of this little tool called air brushing. Not too mention thousands and thousands of dollars and countless hours under the knife, why would you sacrifice doing that too your body. Or even go to the extremes and end up in a treatment center for an eating disorder? Love you for who you are, your friends love you for you and not the way you look but for your personality, honestly if you don't have a beautiful personality and just hate everything in life, that's what make the "outer" you not attractive. You have to start loving the way you look, before anyone else can. So the next time you look at yourself in the mirror, tell your self all the positive points about yourself and what you love about yourself, cuz you are PERFECT in your own very way! I love you and God does too, don't change for anyone!

::Checklist::

Are you trying to make it on your own?

This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,

~1 John 5:3

The Bible has a lot of rules and guidelines. It contains instructions for being the perfect Christian. The only problem is that we aren't perfect people. We can try all we want to follow every little detail in the Bible, but at the end of each day, we will still fall short. We can have the desire to please God, but we are merely sinful humans. We can't achieve perfection here on earth, but the good news is that God knew that. He doesn't expect us to be perfect. That's why He sent His Son, Jesus Christ. He sent Jesus to live a life on earth, showing us how we should live to honor God, and then to die on the cross, because He knew we couldn't do it. I'm not saying that we shouldn't try to follow the Bible, what I am saying is that we can't earn our way to heaven. We can't earn God's love by doing what He says, because we already have it.

Our 'job' as Christians isn't to check off a list of things that we did or didn't do each day. It is simply to love Christ with all that we are. Once we put our faith in Christ, and declare Him as Lord over our lives, we are forgiven for being sinful humans. However, if we truly love Him, we will do our best to honor Him. Not to complete some check list, but because we love Him and want to do what He says. If we truly love Christ, we won't be looking at the impossible task before us and groaning because of all the things the Bible says to do or not to do. We will look ahead with joy at the chance for serving Christ. We won't be burdened by His commands, but be filled with peace knowing that while our task is impossible our God is full of grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

Reflection:

Are you putting marks on your 'good Christian' checklist, or are you living a life full of love for Christ?

Application Step:

When you are tempted to start checking off your 'good Christian' checklist, take a step back and remember that you are covered by grace, remember that it is impossible to earn forgiveness. Then, take a moment to thank God for sending Jesus to pay for your sinfulness, and move forward with a heart set on pleasing Christ, not on completing a 'to do' list.

Prayer:

Father God, your love amazes me. Thank you for sending your Son to die for my sinfulness. Thank you for forgiving me even though I will never live up to the standard that you set. Please help me to move forward not out of obligation, but out of love for you. Help me to want to live a life pleasing to you, but also help me to remember that that is an impossible task and that I need your grace, love and forgiveness every moment of every day. In the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.

Worldwide

Wait a minute before you tell me anything
how was your day cause
I been missing you by my side
did I awake you out of your dream
Im sorry but I couldn't sleep
you calm me down
there's something bout the sound of your voice
i-i-i-im never never (never as far away as it may seem)
soon we'll be together
we'll pick up right where we left off

Hello, tuck you in every night on the phone
Boy, I'll be thinking about you
.......Worldwide........