Happy Things

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post on appreciating the little things around you and my life has seemed so full of those things lately that I wanted to do a post compiling some of them. So, here is a list of  my happy things.

- coffee on the back porch
- finishing the first round of edits on a manuscript
- early morning runs
- ultimate frisbee in the rain
- finishing the Psalms in devotions

- spontaneous bakery trip
- walks in the Virginia July heat with my sister
- looking forward to a camping trip on the lake with the whole family

- getting to bed early
- fireflies
- talking on the porch swing with Grandma
- making sweet potato pie (more pie than sweet potato)

- my sister's hair dyed blue
- listening to the sermon at church
- audio books on long drives
- waking up on time
- being caught up on e-mail
- writing outside
- watering the garden
- cinnamon rolls for breakfast
- seeing siblings after a lot of travel
- happy dogs

- a new tank top for running in the heat
- reading books for pleasure
- training for a half marathon with Daddy
- purple and orange sunsets over fields
- pink and blue sunrises over mountains
- finding new blogs to read for encouragement
- being able to be impromptu

What are some of the things that give you a little joy?

-Kira

Summer

It's summer. That means cut-offs, bonfires, ice cream, and boredom. One fantastic thing about the summer is that most of us don't have a full week of school to keep us busy (sorry homeschoolers who are still trudging through Saxon - I feel your pain). That usually means a lot of free time and the question of what to do with it.

I've been asking that question lately. I have a particularly free summer ahead of me and I'm a little short on ideas. One thing that will make it into my daily schedule is a couple hours of writing. I've got more time to focus on improving my skills now that they are not needed for research papers. I'll also be spending a lot of time running and swimming. But other than that, I don't have a lot going on.

Actually, what to do with my summer has entered into my prayers almost every day recently - having nothing planned has kind of been getting to me.

The first thing I had to realize is that Summer 2017 isn't actually "my summer." I have the habit of calling it that, but it's not in any way accurate. Just like the rest of my time belongs to God, so does the summer. It's not my summer - it's God's summer.

That only changes the thought process though. I am still faced with more free time than I know what to do with. But the question has now changed to what does God want me to do with all that free time?

That's a little bit of a hard one to answer. Chances are, He's not going to write me a detailed e-mail with everything He wants me to accomplish in the next few months. So here's my current conclusion, based on a lot of thought and prayer: I just need to live.

Woah, crazy, right?

What I mean by that is that maybe I don't need to be obsessing over what I'm supposed to be doing or finding some big thing to fill up a lot of time. Yes, stuff like that happens (camps, jobs, writing, etc.), but I don't need to seek it out in order to feel fulfilled. Living day to day can be just as satisfying as doing huge things.

Living isn't just going from thing to thing to thing. It's also stuff like turning on the oven so your brother can make cookies. Or maybe it's reading a book to better understand some aspect of theology. Or it could be helping with dinner because you have the time to do that.

I can't stand going to bed and feeling as if I haven't done anything all day. It drives me crazy. I used to think that meant I needed to do some big thing or complete a checklist every day. But it actually means I need to be a good steward of the time that has been given to me. If that means finishing a huge project, great. If it means going for a walk, reading a book, and swimming with my siblings, also great. The noteworthy things don't define me and I don't need them to fulfill me. Being a good steward isn't just doing the intense and big stuff that gets noticed. God gives us big blessings and little blessings. We do big things and little things. There's a place for both.

I guess my main point today is that we don't always have to be in search of what we think are important things to do. It's okay to just take what comes day by day and do it with all your heart.

-Kira

Not A Real Post

Rather than writing a full post today, I'm going to direct you to TheRebelution.com. Why? Because today they published an article I wrote!

Here's the link, if you want to check it out:
How to Heal Broken Relationships

Write to Examine

If you know anything much about me at all, you probably know I want to be a writer. I've wanted to be a writer basically forever and I still hold that desire close to my heart. I wrote a novel for school because I want to be a writer. I stalk author's websites because I want to be a writer. I started this blog because I want to be a writer.

That last one is what I want to talk about today.

I don't remember my precise reasoning for starting this blog almost three years ago. It might have been for the writing. I might have been excited that other people could read what I wrote. Who knows? But I do know exactly what it's done for me.

It has helped me in my walk with Christ.

Over the past three years, my posts have been rather sporadic and random. Some were life updates, some were stories, and some were about spiritual things. Writing about the things that God taught me was really hard at first. I was worried about putting my faith on the internet (even with just a few people reading). I was especially worried that I would mess it all up and say everything wrong.

But, I must say, I am so glad that I did start writing about my faith. Now there are hardly any posts that don't have to do with what God's teaching me through His Word and the circumstances in my life and I am so happy about that.

My main purpose in writing this post is to urge you to do something similar to what I do.

Don't get scared on me, I don't necessarily mean starting your own blog and putting it out there for everyone to see (but if you want to do that, I do encourage it). What I mean is writing about how God is growing you. That could be on a blog or in a journal or on the back of a napkin at a particularly dull dinner party.

A lot of people will say that they aren't writers, and I get that. But I think there is real value to be found in writing about your walk with Christ on a regular basis, even if writing isn't your thing. And yes, I only mean writing - not talking or thinking or anything like that (though those are good too). Here's why:

When you write about something, you have to get your thoughts together on that subject. If you're working on a research paper about the federal government for example, you have to focus and organize your thinking around that one topic.

Writing about your faith is no different. When you make yourself put forth the effort to examine and record the details about one specific thing that God is doing in your life, it becomes clearer to you.

Writing also requires spending time thinking about the subject upon which you are writing. In this case, that means dwelling on how you grow and how you fail and on how God is working things in your mind and circumstances. Those are incredibly valuable things to think about.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Philippians 4:8

I'd say your sanctification falls into quite a few of those categories.

Another benefit to writing about God's work in you is that it opens your eyes to your growth, and God's faithfulness to you. When you force yourself to take 20 minutes to think about what you're learning and struggling through and write about it, you see God so clearly.

When you do it by topic, you also think about that topic and see where it comes up in your day to day life. For example, when I was learning about contentment (as if I'm done ;), I wrote a blog post about it. I started noticing when I wasn't content, which helped me to change. I remembered the verses God had shown me, and I was able to pray that He would help me be content in those situations.

One final way writing about my spiritual life has helped me so much is that I can look back and see where I used to be against where I am now. This doesn't only apply to writing proficiency, but also to spiritual growth. It's so incredible to go back to old posts or journal entries or read through the notes in my Journaling Bible and see everything God's done for me. It reminds me that He is faithful, because I so often forget. And it reminds me that He's not done with me yet, because I forget that too.

So those are the reasons I would strongly urge you to make a weekly practice of taking a step back and writing about whatever theme seems prevalent in your life. It clarifies it so that you can work on it and praise God for the little victories of sanctification. You can never go wrong with examining your walk with the Lord, and writing is a very profitable way to do so.

-Kira

Whatever Situation

I'm back! Sorry for the three or four weeks of no posts. A lot has happened (some of which actually pertains to this blog post :).

Anyway, I'm not writing to give excuses today. I'm writing to tell all you people about something I've learned over the last couple months (and am still learning).

Back in February, I was reading through Philippians for devotions and I hit Philippians 4:11. It goes something like this:

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

That verse has been haunting me ever since.

Of course, there's the initial conviction of "Wow, I'm not even in prison and I'm unhappy with stuff in my life!" But this particular thing turned into more than that.

Last month, our family went down to Florida for about a week as a vacation. After the first couple days, one of my sisters got sick. I followed the next day. It just felt like a really bad cold, so we kept going to Disney and Universal and just took cold medicine like it was going out of style. A couple days later, one of the boys started getting sick. Our last day there, five of us were down and we couldn't leave the house.

When we got home, we figured out that we had all caught strep throat and that was why our symptoms were so weird. Eventually, people started getting better, but I couldn't seem to quite kick it. That may or may not have been partially due to my insistence upon playing soccer a few days after we got back. Anyway, I was down for a while longer than everyone else and ended up with a small sinus infection just to make things more interesting. Strep sapped my energy and made me achy and tired - essentially to the point of not wanting to move very much.

(I promise there is a point to this long and rambling story.)

Once I finally got better, I started going for my morning runs again. I hadn't run for a couple months because of shin splints and it was incredibly exciting to finally be able to get back into it. Unfortunately, four days in, I injured my neck pretty badly. I was stretching to loosen up and something popped, leading to pain, blacking out, and the inability to move my head.

That meant a week and a half of laying in bed with no running, no soccer, no driving, and no school. For the first few days, I couldn't even hold up a book long enough to read.

Hours upon hours of Netflix in bed was not how I had imagined spending that time and I wasn't happy. At the end of the first week I ended up crying just because I didn't think I could take the pain and the helplessness and frustration any more.

Back to Philippians.

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

That was some situation I was in. Paul probably didn't want to be in prison any more than I wanted to be sick or stuck in bed. But he was able to say that he was content. I wasn't.

But that verse just kept coming back to me.

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

I had a plan for all that time I was out of commission and it did not involve being sidelined. God had a different plan though and guess what - His won.

This post is about contentment. I wasn't content with my circumstances and situation, but God's been working on me. I have by no means perfected this quality - far from it. But now I'm on the lookout for ways to be content in whatever situation I am.

-Kira

I Am Weak

I am weak and I don't like it.

There are many ways to use that word: weak. You can have a weakness for some kind of food or novel. You can be weak physically or mentally. You can be weak in your ability to change or fix something.

Today, I particularly mean that last one.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a personal narrative essay for school. My topic (after much agonizing) was sleep.

Maybe you know, maybe you don't know, but I have trouble sleeping. It hasn't always been a problem. As a kid, I thought sleep was a waste of time that could be better spent reading or playing or writing or talking. If I got tired, I knew it wasn't more than a few hours until bed and then I'd be fine the next day.

At the beginning of the summer a couple years ago (2015), that changed. I started going to bed and just not sleeping. Nothing was wrong. I just couldn't quite get to sleep. That's continued to be the case in varying degrees of intensity over the past almost two years.

It's made me weak.

Even now, as I type, I'm having trouble making myself put down these words. Because it's still hard for me; it's still a painful struggle - and one that I feel I'm losing.

When I don't sleep enough one night, I'm irritable and tired the next day. When I don't sleep enough for a week, that intensifies. The littlest thing can (and will) make me mad and a single math problem can become a whole afternoon's frustration. And I cry. I hate to cry, but there's nothing I can do to stop myself when I haven't slept and the tears begin. Absolutely nothing - I have no control.

And that's part of what makes me feel weak.

It's not just the crying and trouble thinking straight and copious amounts of daily caffeine though. I also feel weak because no matter what we've tried to do to fix this problem, it's still there. You name it, I've tried it. Homeopathics, eating and bedtime routines, medications, vitamins. I even got my own room in the hopes that it would help. But nothing does. Not for long, at least.

This is a continual frustration. It doesn't only affect me at night, when I'm staring into the blackness for yet another hour. It also hurts me during the day when I can't focus and think long enough to finish a reading assignment for school.

As a perfectionist, I like to have things in my control. I don't have this in my control. I've been trying to get rid of the perfectionism for a while now, but this one thing I want to have for myself.

I've prayed (rather angrily) that God would take away the sleeplessness, asking Him why He would do this to me. It doesn't seem fair. Such a simple thing permeates the rest of my life and makes easy things hard.

Lately, I've seen the suffering around me. My friends have their own struggles and so does my family. I'm not the only one who has to live with something over which they have no power. And I think we're kind of meant to be that way.

In a sermon on John 11 (if I remember correctly), our pastor said one thing that really stood out.

Trials are good, because when we are weak, the only place we can go is closer to God.

That brings to mind verses like Jeremiah 29:11 and Philippians 4:6-7. God knows what He's doing with my life, weakness included. Even Paul had a "thorn in his side" that God wouldn't take away. Suffering is part of sanctification.

I think realizing that helps. I still want the suffering and weakness gone - I want to be able to sleep at night. But somehow, this is good for me. He knows what He's doing even when I can't do anything.

-Kira

"Even the sparrow..."

There are a lot of things in this life that make me anxious or nervous. Like going to math class the first time. Or performing or speaking in front of people. Or, most recently, going to a job interview. I am a generally anxious person. I'm always thinking about what could go wrong and what will happen if said thing goes wrong and can it ever be fixed or will my life be ruined forever.

A couple years ago I found a verse that has since been my favorite.

The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. -Philippians 4:5b-7

I'm not supposed to be anxious about anything. Anything at all. That covers everything from going to the dentist to my little sister going to live with someone else. Anything.

Since I found that verse, I'm still anxious a lot. But I repeat it over and over in my head. I thought it would take away all worry if I said it enough times. That I would eventually just never be anxious about anything at all. That's not quite how it's worked so far.

Recently, I had my first ever job interview. As you can probably guess, I was nervous - which also means talking a lot. I said this verse to myself and it certainly didn't take away the nervousness. But it did do something else. I realized that even though I was still anxious about this interview, I wasn't anxious deep down. That probably doesn't make much sense, so let me explain.

It used to be that I was nervous and scared all the way to my core when something new was coming up. But now, when I remember that God has control, I'm only nervous on the surface. Because it is scary to do something new and unknown. It's uncomfortable to step outside your comfort zone. But I'm not nervous on a deeper level. Now, I don't have to dwell on that worry for the weeks leading up to the big day. I can think about other things because I know that whatever happens, God's still going to be sovereign and the world's still going to be spinning at the end of the day. And if it's not, I know where I'll be. :)

Be still and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!

The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

-Psalm 46:10-11

I can be still because God will be exalted no matter what.

In Matthew 10, Jesus talks about how we compare to sparrows in the sight of God. If He keeps track of and takes care of them, how much more will He take care of us? Some of us on the mime team (for an explanation, see the "About Me" page) have been given the assignment of creating a mime for part of our testimony. The song I chose is, coincidentally, Sparrows by Jason Gray. You should definitely listen to it, but it starts with the words:

You can't add a single day,

by worrying.

You'll worry your life away.

And the chorus adds:

Oh, even the sparrow

knows He holds tomorrow.

If even a tiny little bird can trust God to take care of him, then I have no reason to doubt that He can take care of me.

-Kira

Mask

Are we happy plastic people?

Under shiny plastic steeples?

With walls around our weakness?

And smiles that hide our pain...

I've worn a smile that hides my pain more than I care to admit. And the walls around my weakness? Yep, been there. The mask of plastic? Worn it.

Casting Crowns' Stained Glass Masquerade does quite a good job of capturing just what it is to hide your true self behind a mask.

And I don't mean that stuff about who you really are in a Disney way. I mean it in a Christian way. Even though I had the head knowledge that I could exchange man's judgement for God's, I didn't believe it until this past summer.

"Yeah, okay, I'm being who God wants me to be. I don't worry about what other people think about me because I don't have to."

Right. That's what I told people. "It's all under control."

But that's part of the mask. It's not all under control. At any given point in time, something's not going to be perfect, but why does anyone else need to know that? I just kept it inside. As I smiled and said I was doing splendidly, my inside voice whisper-screamed, "No! I'm not okay! I can't do this any more!"

That's one I thought over and over again. "I can't do this any more!" Meaning school, friends, church, family. It's exhausting to be acting constantly. But guess who I told? No one. Because what if they judged me? What if they had it all together and I would just look bad if I told them I didn't?

It turns out, no one has it all together. And it also turns out that a lot of other people don't want to share their problems either. That's what I learned this summer. Written like that, it looks pretty depressing. But when you add the third thing I learned, it sounds a little more comforting.

Everything is better when you share your life with other people.

They can pray for you, they can hold you accountable, they can comfort you. The people around you are struggling too. And they want to help.

I refused to realize that completely until this summer. When I had to, I would give some small struggle that wasn't really the whole picture. I thought that would fool people. It didn't. When I finally opened up this summer, or, rather, took off the mask, I found out that you can't actually hide yourself from the people who love you and that it's not worth it to try.

I don't have some huge climax to this story, but I will tell you that it's made my life so much better to let other people see that I'm only human. I feel free - I'm not locked behind an image that I wanted the world to see. Now I can actually care what God thinks. And people still love me.

But if the invitation's open

to every heart that has been broken,

maybe then we close the curtain

on our stained glass masquerade.

-Kira

Reasons and Excuses

If I were so inclined, I could produce a plethora of reasons (insert: "excuses") as to why I haven't written anything in the past few (ahem, five) months.

Fortunately for you, I am not so inclined.

I will, however, state one reason (do not insert "excuse" here): I haven't had anything to write about.

I'm completely serious. The author wannabe hasn't had a single thing to write about in nearly five months now. Not counting, of course, a few e-mails and texts and things of that nature. Though I will admit I am abominably slow at replying to such things. Oh, and homework. Who could forget a lovely thing like that?

But I haven't had anything to say on here, on this blog. As you likely know, I usually write things like fiction, anecdotes from my real life, and ways that God's been working on me.

Ah, ways that God's been working on me. Such a lovely thing to ponder... Wait a minute. If I haven't had anything to say on any of those topics for almost half a year, does that mean He's just stopped? I'm no longer growing? I've finally reached that point of perfection so long sought after?

I'm not going to insult your intelligence by trying to convince you of that. No one's perfect, believe it or not, and I'm pretty sure it's a safe bet to say you believe that.

So why the drought of words? If I haven't become the epitome of all that is beautiful and pure in the world, why have I had nothing to say on the subject of anything lately? Has God given up on me? Is that it? He threw up His hands in disgust and left to work on some holier project?

Um, no.

I can tell you with 100% certainty that God hasn't given up on me. If Jesus went all the way to the point of death on the cross for me while I was still as dead as a person can get in my sin, why would He stop molding me to His image now? The thing is, He wouldn't.

So that brings me back to my original question. What happened to all the thoughts that I normally transform so eagerly into sentences to push out into the wide wide world to be read by people who aren't me and my imaginary friends?

I'll tell you what happened. It wasn't that I didn't have anything to say. Nope. Just ask my sister, I've been talking probably more than ever since the July of my last post. And we've already determined that God hasn't stopped working on me. Quite the contrary actually - He's been growing me in ways that make me beyond grateful and that I didn't see coming.

So are you ready for the answer then? The reason behind the lack of typed verbiage? There are two of them actually and here they are:

1. I didn't think any of it was good enough to say.

2. I didn't think I could do justice to what I did want to say.

Can we just take one second to laugh really hard at reason number 1? Seriously, go ahead. I have.

I'll explain that moment of laughter. If I claim to be a Bible believing, born again Christian (and I do), shouldn't I be growing in my faith every single day and not taking five month breaks? Yes, I should and yes, I have been. So if, like I've said, God has been working in me this whole time, isn't that part of my testimony or witness or whatever word you want to use? Yes, of course it is. My testimony doesn't end with salvation. That's more like the beginning. Finally, if that growth is part of my testimony, how can it possibly not be good enough to say? Am I really criticizing God on how He's been using me and growing me and telling Him it's not good enough to post on the internet? Let's take another laughing break, only this one should be in disbelief and with lots of head shaking.

But that's what I've been thinking. "Wow, I love all this growth and learning new stuff, but I don't think anyone else would want to read about it. So I'll just go read some other blog written by some interesting person." Really? First off, who cares if anyone wants to read it? My popularity (or lack thereof) in this life has absolutely nothing to do with who I am. Nothing. At all. Second, if God loves me as His daughter and is taking the care to grow me in a way that is special to me, He deserves praise and glory for that. Right? I mean really, am I right? Yes! So how dare I think that I don't have anything good enough to say! If God's working in me and through me, I should never run out of things to say, regardless of who reads them.

On to reason/excuse number 2.

I didn't think I could do justice to what I did want to say. So, yes. there were a few things that I thought I'd like to write about and post, but I didn't think I could say them well enough. I mean, I'm a teenager, still working on my writing, growing my fancy-schmancy vocabulary and learning how to make things interesting and fit together. How could I possibly say what God wants me to say in the way He wants me to say it? It simply can't be done.

I am really hoping right now that you read that last paragraph in the most sarcastic voice your brain could supply. If you didn't, please go back and try again. I'll wait.

Am I ever going to be perfect? Nope. So am I ever going to be able to perfectly show what God's doing in my life? Nope again. Well, if I can't do it perfectly, then why bother?

Turns out, I'm supposed to bother because God told me to bother. If I don't praise the Lord, the stones will. And who wants to lose in praising God to a bunch of rocks? Um, not me.

No, I can't write everything perfectly, no matter how hard I try. And I probably can't do it justice. But the point is that I try. I give my absolute best for God and quit acting like I have to be any good by my own strength before He can use me. Guess what. He can use me now. He could use this imperfect post I'm typing viciously away at however He feels like it. And who am I to stop using the words He's given me because I don't think they're good enough? No one, that's who.

So there you have it. That's why I haven't been writing. Because I'm a sinner who doesn't want to praise God for what He does for me.

Well, that's going to change. In fact, it already has. Look at this, I'm writing about what God showed me recently right this very second! I love my God and I want other people to love Him too. I want to be used by Him to show other people how great and amazing He is. I'm not going to do it perfectly, but I still want to do it. What could possibly be better than to have a testimony and a witness used by God in someone else's life? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

So maybe now you could go back to where I said not to insert "excuse" and go ahead and put it in there. Because there is no reason good enough to not give glory to God.

-Kira

My Summer Mantra

In my mind, nothing compares to the blissful peace (or, at the very least, comforting familiarity) of spending uninterrupted days at home. Enough work to occupy the morning and most of the afternoon, completed at an old desk featuring a map of Tolkien's Middle Earth. A stack of more library books than will likely be read before the due date, despite my loathing to admit the fact, on the wall of bookshelves. Two dogs overwhelmed with joy whenever I deem it within my means to give them a simple pat on the head.

As Maria from The Sound of Music put it, "These are a few of my favorite things!"

Wouldn't it be nice if that was all life consisted of? Old friends, familiar running routes, black coffee in "You Are My Sunshine" mugs. The comfortable, the worn, the familiarly frayed things that surround us at home.

Of course, anyone older than two can tell you that this fantasy is not how the world works. We can't always stay home and enjoy the archives of Doctor Who while eating vanilla ice cream covered in too many of the colorful sprinkles that delight young children. Sometimes, instead, we have to get up early in order to consume a hotel breakfast with hotel coffee before everyone else in said hotel wakes up and descends upon the breakfast room.

That said, I have been traveling for the last few weeks without much of a rest at home in between, heading from place to place to place. To place.

Don't misunderstand me - I love to travel! I love seeing new places, gaining new experiences and spicing up life with variety. However, as I have before mentioned, I do tend to have introvert inclinations and I love being at home.

Just over a week through, a thought kept trickling through my mind. Aren't vacations supposed to be restful? Any time something didn't happen just the way it should or I was getting tired and edgy yet again, that's what I would start thinking. Aren't vacations supposed to be restful?

That, of course, got me absolutely nowhere. How could it? Asking a useless question to yourself and not someone else in an overly sarcastic mental voice is not ever going to change anything one bit. Or so I have discovered.

I had halfheartedly been doing devotions every day of the first vacation (and a few days into the second), mostly wishing for home in between trying to glean something from distracted reading when God did one of those things where He completely and totally changes my perspective on something. I don't remember what I was reading. I don't remember what I was thinking. I do remember that I was sitting on a hotel bed in a blessedly empty room with my Bible app open on my kindle fire. But I wasn't dutifully and mindlessly reading. I was praying.

It wasn't one of those "please bless so-and-so and thank you for enough food and clothes" types of prayers (though there's nothing wrong with those). It was one of those "Just help me make it through this vacation! I can't take it any more! My brothers are driving me insane and I'm sick and I have a hundred things I would rather be doing at home right now!" prayers. One of those where you let everything spill out (sometimes including a few tears, as long as there's no one else in the room) and admit you can't do it by yourself.

Then a different thought came to me - one to replace the ever bitter Aren't vacations supposed to be restful? I know that the new thought wasn't from me though. I was still in my "get me out of here!" mindset. The new thought was this:

God is the same everywhere.

Just five simple words. God is the same everywhere. An indescribable mixture of peace and joy rose up from inside me at this new thought.

God is the same at home and at camp and on vacation and at work and in the Eiffel Tower and on the moon and everywhere else. Even when my morning routine includes spreading goopy sunscreen all over already half burnt, half tanned skin and when lunch is from a cooler in the back of the car and when respite is sought in a few feet of shade within earshot of someone else's little sister attempting karaoke. That became my new mantra (if you can call it that) for the rest of the vacation, helping to push aside Aren't vacations supposed to be restful?

The next week, I was away from home again. And guess what? Those five words were still true. I know, go figure. God is the same everywhere.

I pray that those five words stay with you and encourage you, whether you're in a hotel in Europe or a cabin in North Carolina or on the couch in your living room with an old book.

Believe it or not, after getting home a couple days ago, we're leaving again Saturday morning for yet another trip. I think my "mantra" from that second week will turn into my "mantra" for the summer as I continue to be away from home doing all sorts of different things and visiting all sorts of different places.

And as I climb into the car from the crisp Virginia early morning air on Saturday, I will remember.

God is the same everywhere.

-Kira

Walk for Life 2016 Update

I know I haven't posted in a long time, so here's an update on my last post about the Walk for Life. Also, I hope to have an article (or some other type of post) up within a week. We shall see if that happens.

I forgot to bring a camera this year, so there are no pictures, but I can still tell you how the Walk went.

The Pregnancy Resource Center reached and surpassed their goal of $35,000! I believe the total number was over $36,000.

Our youth group team came in first place with a total of $5,432 with one of our members as first place walker with $1,875. I raised $350.

The event was really fantastic - though a bit cold - and now the PRC has the money to continue serving over the coming months.

Thank you for your donations and prayers! Overall, it was a really fun and worthwhile morning and I look forward to next year!

-Kira

Walk for Life 2016

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,

for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

Matthew 19:14

Children are precious to God. He shows this time and time again throughout the Bible. We are told to have faith like a child, to protect the fatherless, to take care not to lead children astray.

The unspeakably horrible practice of abortion must be absolutely heart-breaking to our King who values children and human life so highly. He knew us before we were born, while we were still in our mother's wombs. He knew every little thing about us and loved us completely.

As His workers, it is our job to spread God's kingdom throughout this earth through both evangelism and good works. The Pregnancy Resource Center (PRC) of Radford, Virginia does this by striving to protect the little children of the world on a daily basis.

The PRC provides many resources and services for women with unplanned pregnancies and shows them that choosing not to abort the unborn children within them is both right and possible.

They not only provide counseling and such services as ultrasounds for free, they also work to care for their clients' physical needs in the form of supplies such as diapers and wipes. Babies can be both expensive and overwhelming and having someone there to help and guide both spiritually and physically is a real blessing to many new mothers.

Throughout the year, the PRC must continually raise funds to sustain their ministry and two major fundraisers provide most of the resources for the year. One is the Baby Bottle Campaign, where churches hand out empty baby bottles to their members to be filled with loose change and returned a few weeks later.

The second is the Walk for Life, where "walkers" ask for sponsors for a few months before meeting to walk two miles together. The Walk for Life this year is April 30 at Bisset Park in Radford. My siblings and I are participating as part of a team with our Youth Group.

The PRC's overall goal for this event is to raise $35,000. At the time of this post, they are only 9% of the way there. My personal goal is $1000 of which I have raised $50.

Please consider whether you can support the PRC this year either by sponsoring a walker, becoming a walker, or (especially) praying!

If you would like more information on the Pregnancy Resource Center and their work, you can find that here:

http://www.prcsupport.com/

If you would like to sponsor me, you can do so by clicking the following link and then the yellow button on the right that says GIVE on this page:

https://secure.ministrysync.com/ministrysync/event/website/?m=2682331#0

From there you can sponsor anyone on my team or any other walkers for the event by searching for them.

If you would like to register as a walker yourself, you can do so here:

https://secure.ministrysync.com/ministrysync/event/website/home/?e=7989

Just click REGISTER and follow the instructions.

Whatever you do, please pray for the Pregnancy Resource Center and for this event. Thank you in advance for your prayers and support!

-Kira

Smelling the Roses

So, I know it's technically not the "Christmas Season" anymore but we can celebrate Jesus' birth all year, right? I had intended to post this last week (before Christmas) but it didn't happen. So I'm posting it today with the idea that it can apply to the rest of the year too. :)

The weather in Virginia has been going absolutely crazy these past couple months. One day, you'll need two pairs of socks and a huge fuzzy coat and the next, it's 60 degrees. Literally.

Despite the abnormality of the climate here, I've been taking a lot of walks lately. Now, we don't live out in the country or on the beach or anything like that. We live in a regular old neighborhood with regular old houses. There aren't huge open fields lining every street or forests surrounding single houses, isolating them from the rest of the world. Basically, it's not a city but it's not the country either. Sort of a happy medium.

Back to walking. I got an mp3 player for Christmas last year and I love listening to audio books or music while I walk and run. You know, just something to occupy my mind. I was listening to a particular song while I was out walking a couple days before Christmas and it really struck me. Unfortunately, I can't remember what song it was or even the exact lyrics. (One more reason I wanted to post this earlier - when I could remember everything I wanted to say :)

The song was about how we get all wrapped up in our busy crazy lives and don't stop to just take things in. I thought it was particularly appropriate for Christmas because of all the extra parties, shopping, and insanity that comes along with the season.

When the song came on, I was at the top of a hill. It was a regular street with regular houses. But between all the regularity, there was something spectacular. Behind the row of mundane houses was a cow pasture. In that moment, it was the most beautiful cow pasture in the world. The hills were dark with grass and tall weeds. The deep, stormy sky was dipping down to meet the rough ground. Clouds looked textured and swirled and even the simple fence around the field had an aspect of peace and rest to it.

As the singer described slowing down and appreciating what God has given us, I almost had to stop for a minute just to take it all in. I hadn't been appreciating everything. I was all caught up in worrying about school and how much I had to get done and even about Christmas.

But God didn't give us Christmas just so that we would have another thing to fuss over and twist into stressful "celebrations." If He had wanted us to get all worked up over yet another thing, He could have given us an extra mid-term or maybe a new flu shot. But He didn't. Instead, He gave us His Son.

This might sound cliche, but Jesus really was the best Christmas present ever. Too often we just pass over the story of His birth as another tradition to get through before we can open presents. The story has been told and retold so many times that we're numb to it. Unlike X-boxes, there's not a new version every year to focus our attention.

What if we stopped getting caught up in all of the little things that add up around December 25 each year? What if instead we just paused for a moment and let God fill us with His peace, love, rest? I'm not saying that the yearly Christmas party and gift exchange are bad things - I certainly don't plan on giving back the journal I got! Those can be good things. But maybe if we take the time to be filled with the peace of God not just once, but on a regular basis, this time of year would mean more.

Why stop there though? God didn't just give us Jesus for the 25 days that we get to open an advent calendar. Jesus is always there, ready for us to turn our attention to Him.

I've spent a lot of my Christmas break so far worrying about and doing school. That's not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself but I was trying to do it of my own strength and power. Guess what - it doesn't work. No matter how many hours I spent organizing and chipping away at my long list, the crossed off tasks didn't give me any joy. If anything, I couldn't wait for Christmas break to be over so that I could get even more work done.

But then God used a devotional book over and over for weeks to show me that He is there for me. I can rest in Him. He knows exactly how much I have to get done today and how He wants me to do it. Maybe the list won't get finished. Maybe it will. But it doesn't really matter. I've learned something better than why Charles Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities. I've learned to just take a break. Look at the beauty surrounding me and thank God for it. Let Him fill me with peace and joy and rest.  Accept those gifts and don't push them away. Stop and smell the roses.

-Kira

Banana Pudding

Marie and I made banana pudding today! I used to help Granny make it when we went to visit and I loved both making it and eating it. The simple combination of vanilla pudding, whipped topping, 'nilla wafers, and bananas has always made me excited and given rise to fond memories of mixing pudding in Granny's kitchen.

So I was really excited today when I got the chance to make this special dessert with my little sister! She loved the "cookies" ('nilla wafers) and tried to lick the spoon before we were done mixing. I loved to see her having fun with it, even though she ditched me before it was done. I guess the attention span of a three-year-old isn't quite banana pudding length. :-)

Caught Red-tongued :-P

-Kira

Not Today, But Don't Stop Asking!

"I really want to hang out with people and keep relationships strong, but I also really need some time to recharge after even a few hours of socializing. What should I do?"

This is the dreaded dilemma that every introvert faces on at least a somewhat regular basis. We don't want to hurt people by turning down invitations, but we also can not keep functioning without time to ourselves to recharge.

What to do, what to do?

We could accept every possible invitation to be social that we ever get. But then, we would get burned out quickly and everything from schoolwork to relationships would suffer. So that option's out.

We could deny every invitation that we don't feel like accepting and just keep to ourselves. But this brings to light a whole new aspect of the problem. What if we deny too many social gatherings and people think we don't want to hang out with them so they stop inviting us? This is a secret fear that can creep its way into any human being's mind, introvert or extrovert. Because humans are social animals. Some more than others, but it is still true of those of us content to spend long hours alone in our room with a good book.

We don't want to stop being invited places, but we also don't want to accept all the invitations. So what should we do?!

Well, I have an amazingly simple answer to that complicated question, and it is: I have no idea. None whatsoever.

So since I can't come up with any good solution to this problem, I have decided to beg, on the behalf of all the introverts who feel the same way, that you don't stop asking! We love spending time with people and we are not trying to avoid you. So don't be offended when we turn you down. We just need some recharge time before going out into the world again.

So please don't stop asking us to hang out with you!

(Quite) Sincerely,
Kira

Eye Drops and Chocolate Cake

Have you ever felt really guilty about something and then been easily manipulated into things later? Like giving a two-year-old eye drops and then chocolate cake?

Marie came home from the doctor in an okay mood for a two-year-old on a Monday morning. She was sleepy, but other than that feeling alright. That is, until she was laid down on a towel on a bed. She knew something was wrong, so she started crying. It was the only reasonable thing to do under the circumstances.

"Shh shh shh. It's okay sweetie." Sara was cooing at her. That just made her scream even louder.

"Hey, calm down. I'm going to tell you what we're going to do sweetie." Now Mommy was talking. Marie quieted. "Okay sweetie. I'm going to put these drops in the corner of your eye...." Marie didn't like where this was going. She started to cry again. Mommy's voice rose to be heard. "Then I'm going to open your eye so that the drop can go in. Okay?"

This was not okay. Not in the least. Marie squeezed her eyes shut tight so that no one could get any sort of drops in them.

Sara grabbed her hands and held them down and Kira kept her from rolling over while Mommy did just what she had outlined. Marie screamed and screamed.

It was soon over, but the sympathy was still evident on Mommy's face. Marie decided to take advantage of it. "That, me?" She pointed to the piece of chocolate cake sitting on the counter. It was a long shot, but Mommy felt bad for putting drops in her eyes.

"You want cake?" Mommy was somewhat surprised.

Within a minute though, Marie was seated at the table, fork in hand, ready to consume her very own moist slice of cake. It was soon polished off.

"Me, more?"

* * *

The moral of the story is get eye drops so Mommy will give you chocolate cake.

-Kira

God's Got It

I've been thinking a lot lately. Especially about the next four or five years as I'm about to start my first year of high school and prepare for college. I've been trying to come up with all sorts of different things I can do to prepare and make lots of goals to meet and go above and beyond what my mind tells me is "average."

I want to start a business, get scholarships, and make good grades. And I've been trying to do all this by myself. I've read books, blog posts, and asked people questions. But I haven't asked God to take the wheel. Sure, I've prayed. But it's been more along the lines of asking God to make things go the way I want rather than following His plan and reaping great rewards.

About two and a half years ago, we found out that a baby that we had been taking care of since she was born would be going to live somewhere else. It was heart-breaking. I didn't understand what God could possibly be thinking. We loved her so much and took such good care of her. Why would He take her from us?

A month or so later we got a phone call. It was the grandparents of the baby girl asking if we wanted to come see her. Now we see her all the time. As I write, she's napping about five feet from me. I didn't see God's providence in letting her be taken at the time. I still don't see all the reasons, but that lesson in faith is one I'll never forget. God's been reminding me of it as I push past Him and try to make my own plans. I can't ignore it any more.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." - Jeremiah 29:11

God has proven Himself faithful to me personally before and He will do it again. I just need to have faith and believe that He will take care of my high school years. God's got complete control of my life and He knows what He's doing and can see all of the long-term consequences when I can't.

-Kira

P.S. For anyone interested, I would recommend the book The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther. I read it for school last semester and it really opened my eyes to God's providence in everything that ever happens.

Smoothie Challenge

So my lovely little brothers wanted to supply me with something to post on here for you, so they took the smoothie challenge. There were eight ingredients for the smoothie - four good, and four less so. They were numbered and the boys had to choose a number at random then they were told what it was and it was added to their lovely creation.

1. mustard
2. chutney (5 years old)
3. peanut butter
4. basil
5. ice cream
6. horseradish
7. whipped topping
8. syrup

They ended up choosing mustard, chutney, peanut butter, ice cream, and syrup, but when we opened the chutney, it had gone bad (go figure). So they re-chose and got horseradish. Then they added ice and milk and I managed to get the reactions on camera.

awaiting their fate

looks appetizing, huh Eric?

the first surprisingly willing volunteer

this one actually liked it, believe it or not

he liked it too which is really surprising - and disappointing
because his disgusted face is the best of the four

the first sip.....were his big brothers lying about it being good?

he actually drank the whole thing

Which was your favorite? I think mine was the face-palm.

-Kira

Catch Up

So today I am finally doing a post summarizing a few of the many things that have happened lately.

The Ball
Daddy took Sara and I to the Heritage Ball at our church about a week and a half ago. There are live musicians and colonial line dances. We stayed out until midnight and were dead tired the next day.

The Walk for Life
The Walk for Life was a huge success!!! Over all, $32,050 was raised for the Pregnancy Resource Center - 107% of their goal!

Camping in Washington DC
We just got back from camping in DC about an hour ago. We got to go to the Air and Space Museum, the American History Museum, and the National Zoo. Marie LOVED the zoo! I mean, how cool is it to actually be able to see those elephants that are on Wild Kratts?

So that's that!

-Kira