Number 4...and I'm done :)

12.25.2009

Well...that's that. Another Christmas over...already getting notices about how many days until NEXT Christmas (*cough*Stephanie*cough*). It was a good day...I don't want to dwell on what I got, so it should suffice to say that some needs of mine were met and it was a great blessing. I will remember the look on my little bro's face when he opened up his puppet's box...it was priceless. I'm pretty well exhausted, but you know how it is...back into the swing of things tomorrow. As far as I know I'm not working, which will be nice. Lord willing I will just work a couple of days next week and then head back to school.

I'm looking forward to the party at the Grimes' tomorrow night...it will be awesome in more ways than one. The fact that I was invited in the first place...yeah. It makes me happy...  :)

I really miss all my peoples from school :'( and I'm really looking forward to seeing all of you again in just a week and a half! My how break has flown...and yet...it seems like forever. Oh well...that's just how it goes I guess.

Love you all, and for the last time...Merry Christmas!

Round Three...

Spent quite a bit of time in the car...heading home now. We stayed out in New Castle from about 4 to 9ish with our relatives. Pretty much all we do is sit around and eat and (personally) talk to peoplle that I only talk to because they are family. Sure I love 'em, but what can I say...I'm a city boy stuck in the country, and my relatives pretty much define "country hicks." Anyway...I survived, and we are now driving home. I've decided that my new favorite soundtrack is from Titanic :) Some great dance music on there...it's definitely heart-throbber music...love it.

I'll try to post when I get home...if I don't pass out before I can ;)

Love y'all, Merry Christmas!

--------
By grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone.

And the second follows the first...

Do you ever think about how much your tastes change over the years? I mean...just a couple years ago I would have DIED if all I had gotten for Christmas was clothes, yet that was all that I was hoping for this year...though I guess it has a lot to do with what you really need, if you actually need something. Anyway, Christmas morning was a blast, I got clothes and a huge box of JUNK FOOD to take with me to college next week :D Downloaded the Titanic Soundtrack...gonna zone out to that while we drive a couple hours...almost...to our relatives for Christmas dinner and hanging out. I'll be taking my guitar and 'Book, of course We'll see how the night goes. How did you fare? Did you get things that you need, or did you just get more STUFF that you wanted? Think about it...and hit up that comment button!

Merry Christmas!

The first, at the least...

This is so me...I'm not asleep yet, why? No, it's not because I'm excited about the morning and opening presents and Christmas. Christmas is cool, but only cuz of Jesus. Everything else is because of Him. I only exist because of Him. No, I'm still awake just because I am...I talk to people...I twitter...I read...yeah idk I guess I feel like I don't have to do much tomorrow so I can exhaust myself tonight :)

This is just my "yeah so it's Christmas and I'm finally going to sleep" post.  Oh, if you follow me on Twitter then you probably saw my post earlier, asking what love smells and sounds like. I got an awesome response from a friend of mine:

Love is...a newborn child placed in its parent's arms, a new puppy for a child, the sun after days of rain and gray skies. Love is having someone hurt you or themselves in the worst way and still being a beacon of hope to them, it's going through trials and coming out stronger. Love is eternal, indescribable, new old, a feeling, an action, a gain, a loss and is different for every person and the love you have for different people is unique and unexplainable. You don't fall out of love. Once you have truly loved a person you never ever stop loving them. Love. Love is one of the greatest and most terrible things ever. And the most difficult thing to explain but the simplest to show.

 That's a pretty good description of (her words) worldly love, isn't it? What do you think love is?

Speaking of love...Love y'all, and Merry Christmas!

A Day of Rest

12.13.2009

"Six days shall you work..." and boy was God good to command us to rest on the seventh! I worked full time Monday through Friday and then got another full day of overtime yesterday. Good, hard work. My days have been full, the week has flown by, and Christmas break doesn't really seem like break. But God provided this job for me, I'm making good money for someone my age with no experience, and it's full time. Praise God for that! It's been rough working with these guys - I'm way out of my box with this job - but amazingly enough it's not as bad as my last job. The humor is crass and the language is bad, but not as bad as at my last job.

Enough about the job...God has been good, I'm being uplifted and encouraged at church today, and I'm going to hang out with some awesome friends this afternoon. I'm looking forward to dancing with my sister Tuesday night, Navy beat Army for the eighth consecutive time yesterday, I got some sweet music. I'm happy.

God bless you all!

--------
"In the darkness and the light/In the wrong and in the right/I will praise your name..." - Andrew Di Iulio

Just another update...

12.09.2009

The past few days have gone by in a blur...it made me stop and think -
for a moment - about how fast life will fly when I'm actually working
full time all the time, rather than just for a month. Only two more
days until the weekend, and the first 3 have gone by in a flash. It
seems like just yesterday was Sunday.

Anyway...life is full and fast but good. It was a blessing to get this
job, I needed a job that paid more than minimum wage and that would
give me full time hours, and that's what I got. So that's good. I'm
still praying about exactly what major I will switch to, but my
parent's and I are both sure that I will be switching. Right now my
parents think that I should major in both Journalism and English (go
back to school for another year) and I agree with them. The only thing
that we are still praying and deciding about is which major I should
get first...quite a quandary, right? I feel I should do Journalism and
then English, they feel I should do English first. However it works
out, I'm excited to be going back to school in January.

Another thing that I am praying about is going to the IHOP One Thing
Conference. I'd love to go, but God is gonna have to provide the funds/
transport etc for me to go. If He wants me there, He will do it. I'd
just appreciate prayer from y'all about that...thanks.

My dance partner Stephanie is going to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota on
Sunday, and we are not sure how long she will be there. Lord willing
less than a week. She could use a lot of prayer. Her attacks haven't
been as sever as when we were dancing, but it does seem that whenever
she swing dances with me she has an attack...I've had to really take
it easy when I'm swinging and spinning her around. On that note, I
love to dance but when I'm worried about her it does make it hard to
have fun ;) So prayer for an extra measure of grace for me would be
awesome. She's like my sister, and it's hard when someone you love is
in a lot of pain, ya know?

My love to all of you, I'm praying for you all!

Disappearing from Facebook...and why.

12.07.2009

This post is in response to so many of my friends asking me why I deleted my Facebook account. To be clear, I don't think that Facebook is bad, evil, or entirely boring or a complete waste of time. Why did I then delete my account?

• I prayed about it and it was what God wanted me to do.
• While it was great to be able to connect to so many people, I feel that I was not able to invest quality time in people's lives - it's the difference between a group music lesson and a private lesson, or a group dance class and a private session.
• After weighing the costs and benefits, the costs weighed more. It took up too much of my time for me to be able to justify it anymore. Yes, I could have spent less time, but from my point of view, now I'm not spending any time on Facebook!
• The friends and family that I want to stay connected with or that want to stay in touch with me can still do so - by email, by IM, or by phone. I txt and have data on my phone, so I'm on my Yahoo! (thecityboy319) pretty much 24/7. I'm also on Twitter - and I'd love it if you followed me! I also have a new blog, just for pictures.
  
• Now that I'm at college, I've realized that God has a plan not just for my life as a whole, but for each and every minute of every day. After prayer, and after having others pray with and for me, I decided to delete my Facebook account. I'm not disappearing. I'm gonna stay right here, blogging. I'm on Twitter. And you know what I've realized? Sometimes a good old-fashioned phone call is better than a hundred wall posts ;).

Those are my main reasons why, if you have a particular bone to pick, question to ask, or just wanna rant because I'm not on anymore - click away at that comment button. I'll answer you unless I think you're being a jerk about it...lol j/k. I'll answer unless you're just ranting and raving at me :).

Love y'all.

An answer to prayer.

12.06.2009

Today, this morning to be precise, God answered one of my greatest prayers. Natalie was baptized this morning. I've needed assurance ever since March that the whole relationship and breakup was worth it in God's greater plan - I've wanted proof that indeed "all things work together for the good of those who love him and are the called according to his purpose." I have striven to live according to His purpose for me for the past 9 months, and her testimony this morning proved to me that yes, all things do indeed work for good, when God's will is followed and obeyed. Yeah, I feel like I've had to go through hell. But I know for fact that she is saved, and is striving to live her life for her Savior. And that is sweeter than living my life with her could ever have been, outside of the Lord's will for me, and for her. God is good.