Good Morning, Midnight!

Have you ever been in a confused place?  Where the best you know how, you’re doing what you think God wants you to do but you can’t get any clarity on the situation?  That’s midnight.

The Praise Party was on fire!  I’m so glad that my co-worker and her boyfriend enjoyed it.  Old folks can like this church too (jk on the old folks stuff).

I still have up my front page, year description thing (I have no idea what to call it).  And this message goes right along with how I was feeling last year (gee, that’s weird to say).

• I will not let this year be like last year.

We say that every year, some in a positive way, (this year will be better), or in a negative way, (this year sucked).  But, seriously, I won’t let this year be like last year.  It is going to be better!  The year I stop wanting my life to improve is the year I need to re-evaluate my life.

• This year I will prosper, I will grow, I will have more faith; and if that means I will face more adversity, bring it on, because I can’t prosper and grow if I’m not moving.

I don’t know if I did.  For a lot of us, we don’t see that we’ve grown until years down the road when we look back and see how far we’ve come.  But it sneaks up on us.

I went through adversity.  Most of it I didn’t post about, probably because it was the same ol’, same ol’ that I had been in the past years.  Most of it was probably little stuff that fell off of my back in a few days, that I didn’t feel needed mentioning.  And then there were other adversities that I shared (like the skink that bit my finger in April, or the live recording for the new album in September, or the fact that I had a lot of posts that stated that a lot of nothing happened).  And, yes, there were some adversities that I never mentioned because, maybe, I’m still dealing with them.

One of the things my pastor talked about in his message was remembrance.  That reminds me of when I went to my great grandparents’ graves.  I wasn’t around when they were, so I can’t remember them.  But I can remember what they did (according to my research on Ancestry, and what my dad can remember through his research).  They chose to come over here, to get away from whatever fighting was going on in Scotland.  And now, I’m here.  I’m here because they risked their lives.

The other post that reminds me of remembering is The Legend Of The Symphony.

I start off with remembering the pain:

• I spent a lot of time collecting every Zelda game. Then someone had to break in and steal all of it.
  • I lost a passion that day.  I lost a love.  I couldn’t look at anything Zelda related.  I based a lot of my life around it.  Ocarina of Time is what made me start writing.  Link’s Awakening is what made me believe I was supposed to be a writer.

Then, I turned my focus to a new spark:

• A little bit of that joy came back into my life the day I got Twilight Princess.  It had been years since I played a Zelda game, but that was a good thing.  That made this moment all the more special.
  • I got a spark back.  My love for the series came peeking out from behind the hurt and loss I built up around my feelings.  I was happy once more.
    • I bought Ocarina of Time to play on the Wii.  Talk about nostalgia.  I was a kid again.  My love poked its head out a little more, and the wall cracked.

Then, the fire:

• I fell in love again.  The loss was restored. […]now I can look around and not remember how much I miss all of it.  Now the memories come first.
  • I sat there and cried as I remembered how much I loved the series.  I remembered the love I had when I first discovered Hyrule.  I remembered and felt like I did as a kid.

The difference between midnight and morning is the way you choose to see it.

Remember, midnight is still considered morning.  Even though it’s pitch black, it’s still morning.  It all depends on what you want to call it: midnight, or morning.

Good morning, Midnight!  And happy New Year!

 

Another Year Has Come And Gone

I’m not reflecting yet.  It’s not time for that.  I haven’t got it in me.

I sewed another dress.  It may look finished, but it’s not.  I still have some touching up to do on it.  I really like the pattern.

I went to a concert earlier in the month.  Not a lot of people showed up.  I think it was because of the place, or maybe the time of year.  I know it wasn’t people of the group (MercyMe) because everyone loves them.

I got a tinsel tree this year!  I love the colors.

Mom and I went to church on the 24th for our Christmas service.  You know, it’s been one year since we’ve been going to this church!  It’s kind of crazy.

We went to WinterFest at Liberty University.  It was alright.  Red and Andy Mineo were my favorite.  Until the speaker came up (I don’t know who it was, which is horrible because Mom and I really enjoyed him!).  He made an “alter call” for the youth, and I’m telling you, they swarmed the stage!  It was amazing!  Thankfully, we got to talk to someone who organized this part of the evening, and we got a chance to help out behind the scenes.  We went to the back rooms with the youth, and my goodness, the atmosphere was thick with healing.  The youth in this country really need some guidance.  I don’t know why I have such a heart for them, but I do.  Please pray for them.

Mom and I are headed out to our New Years service at church, and a co-worker of mine and her boyfriend are coming with us!  I’m so excited.

Well, talk to you next year!

Hay Bales And A Bag

Every year, the owners of a field near my work put up hay bales and enter their creations in a contest.  One year, they did a cow; then, they did a Christmas tree.  This year, they did The Wizard of Oz.

And, I sewed a thing!  Took me a few dozen tries, but it holds stuff, and nothing falls out, so I call it a success.

We’ve Been Busy!

Wow has this been a busy month!

The first Sunday at the new campus was a success.  We had a wonderful turn out!  There are still some kinks to work out, but we’ll do it.  We’ll get the ball rolling here in a while.

Mom bought me some chalkboard paint, so now I can write on my wall!  It works pretty well, actually.  It’s so much fun!

We went to an orchard to pick apples and feed animals, and as an added bonus, we took pictures of sunflowers.

We went tubing at a college in Lynchburg, and went to a hockey game with some people from church.

We went to a Scottish festival, and the (North Carolina?) Renaissance Festival (which, in my opinion, is better than the Georgia one).

We volunteered for a concert, I got a Halloween costume (that I’m most likely going to put up on my wall).

Oh boy!  What a busy month!  Happy Halloween!

Code Orange, Growing Church, And Omg, What Did I Do?

First thing’s first: Mom and I finally saw Pastor Steven at the home church last Saturday (third time’s the charm, right?)  It was a great message.  I loved the chill vibe he was giving off.  Saturday service is awesome.

This month, my church’s second campus opened!  Second campus here, where I live that is.  We had a little get together, everyone who moved from the first campus.  We talked about the vision and how volunteering was going to look (like, where we were going to set up, how things were going to run, all that jazz).

Then, it was time for Code Orange Revival.  The last one was back in 2012 (which, fun fact, was where the people who started the campus got the idea to actually start one).  Code Orange Revival is ten days of different speakers/pastors.  This year, we had Joyce Meyer, Christine Cane, John Gray, Levi Lusco, and a few others I can’t remember.  It was a very heavy, exhausting ten days.  Ten days of hearing back to back preaching, with hardly any time to process what you heard the night before.  But it was good.  At least you can go on YouTube and listen to them, after you’ve had a nice, week long nap.

A lady that Mom volunteers with asked if we wanted to go to the live recording of the church’s new worship album (which happened one of the ten days).  So, the four of us (including the lady’s son), drove down to North Carolina.  I have to be honest, though, it wasn’t what we expected.  We waited in line, outside, for eight or so hours, and towards the end of waiting, people kept cutting in front of us (since we got there early, we were at the front of the line).  “My friend was holding my spot,” they would say.  No, they weren’t, but if that makes you feel better, be my guest.

We got pretty good seats, a few rows up from where the pastor sits.  We could see the stage perfectly.  But, the downside was the atmosphere.  Instead of it feeling like a worship setting, it felt like a concert.  Instead of feeling like people were worshiping, it felt like people were there just to say they were there.  I felt like the band was just going through the motions, playing the same songs, the same way they played every Sunday, the same way (you have a CD with twelve songs, and yet you only play the same three every other week, rotating in which order you play them).

I wasn’t the only one who felt like that.  Mom and the other lady felt it too.  Her son loved it though, and that made me happy.  I don’tregret going.  I went once, I don’t have to do it again.

With the new campus opening, I figured this would be a great chance to do something I had been wanting to do forever: I got my hair cut.  I met a girl at church who works in a salon, so I just decided to take the plunge.  I also did something else new: I got it cut short.  I mean, it’s short.  To be honest, I didn’t like it, mostly because it was a big change. But, it’s growing on me (ba dum chh- get it?  Hair?  Growing?  On my head?).

So, that’s it for this month.  Gee, a lot went on!  At least I had something to talk about.

Trying Something New

So, because my life doesn’t really have anything going on in it right now, I have decided to change up my posting schedule.  I’m going to post once at the end of each month, so I have something to talk about, and the whole month in one place.  I most like will not stick to this, but I’m going to try anyway.

I wanted to wait until the new year, but then I changed my mind, because I’m indecisive and I change my mind on a whim.

So, I shall see you at the end of next month.

 

We Met Our Swimming Quota

We went swimming.  This will probably be the only time we go swimming, seeing as how we don’t have lake access, I have to work all the time, we hardly have a day off together, and sometimes we just too lazy to go to our neighbor’s house.

Sunset Over The Lake

Sometimes, Mom gets some of the best sunsets.

Sunset, July 8th, 2016

The Color War Of 2016: A Melting Crayon DIY

I did this back in February.  I’m surprised I never mentioned it.

So I saw this thing on Pinterest where you hold a hair dryer up to crayons to make them melt and you can splatter the wax all over the place, mainly on your hands, but sometimes, on paper.

Mom and I attempted it.  We used small, wood pieces.  This was my final creation.  I love it!  I’ve kept it on my dresser.

You should totally try it!  Mine didn’t come out the way the pictures show it, but it never does.  It came out my way.

Is That A Scale On My Arm?

I never told you I got bit!  This was back in April.  Yeah, I picked this guy up to save him, and he just chomped down on my thumb.  It didn’t hurt, really.  His tiny teeth reminded me of one of those black clips that you clip on papers (the ones with the two things that you flip down…you know what I mean).  But he did tighten his grip a couple of times (that’s a skink by the way).  Mom finally got him off by gently pulling.  He didn’t want to let go at first, but he finally gave up and Mom put him in a safe place.

The cats probably got him later.