7 "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man who is close to me!"
declares the LORD Almighty.
"Strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered,
and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
8 In the whole land," declares the LORD,
"two-thirds will be struck down and perish;
yet one-third will be left in it.
9 This third I will bring into the fire;
I will refine them like silver
and test them like gold.
They will call on my name
and I will answer them;
I will say, 'They are my people,'
and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.' "

Zechariah 13:7-9

Oh sweet anticipation(:

So today at my house it was cloudy, drizzly, cool, and sort of windy. Perfect weather in my book! But i cannot wait until winter! I love everything about winter time! The scarves, hats, coats, hot chocolate, and winter boots! It's my favorite time of year! So when i opened the door to let my dogs into the backyard i got SOOO excited!! :D And in my anticipation i went upstairs to my room and put on my boots, scarf, and coat. HaHaHa.

Then i sat on my roof. Cause my window opens to the roof above the garage. And as i sat there- super excited about winter getting closer and closer- God was showing me how He's excited for winter too. Cause if it makes me happy, then He is happy. God has put those things in our lives that make us happy or joyful cause he wants us to feel that way. Another thing that makes me happy is sunflowers. I don't know why, but i love sunflowers! So whenever i see one it makes me feel good. And God loves it when we're happy and joyful. He wants us to feel that way about life. So it was just really cool to realize how much He cares for us, and the way we're feeling. If we're sad, He wants to hold us in His arms. If we're lonely, He wants to hold our hand. And if we're joyful and happy He wants to celebrate with us, enjoy life with us. He cares about the little things, even the little stupid stuff that could make you happy, but could mean nothing to someone else. :)

these past few weeks...

So this past few weeks have been weird, really weird...
My mom has been sick. I've been sick. We had to take my mom to the hospital once, and almost another time. She's been having the worst stomach pain to where she can't even stand up straight or breathe deep without almost crying from the pain. So when we took her to the hospital the first time they told us that they ran some tests couldn't figure out what was wrong and sent her home with some pain medication and an antibiotic for a bladder infection. So after that they scheduled her for some more tests tomorrow and Thursday. But last night we all-of-the-sudden found out that she's allergic to the pain medication. So we almost had to take her to the hospital again, but luckily the pharmacist said that she'd be fine with some benadryl and sleep. So right now she's still in a buttload of pain, and we're just waiting for the tests tomorrow and Thursday.

But lately one thing that God has been teaching me is that I need to take advantage of the time i have, with the people i have around me. John Penry talked to me last Wednesday about becoming a small group leader this semester cause Cameron didn't have a girl leader, and they don't have enough inters. And for those of you who don't know:: That's been my goal in Paradigm to become a small group leader ever since i became a student leader. So when he told me that I was a high possibility for being Cameron's co-leader I was ecstatic!! It made me so excited. But was this God's timing for me? Was i ready for this? Could i possibly handle it? I didn't really have an answer to those questions. So me and Penry were going to both pray about it from Wednesday to Sunday then he would make a decision. So since i wanted it SO bad it was really hard to me to figure out wether God wanted me to take this opportunity, or if my desire for it was getting in the way of my really hearing form God- to figure out my feeling were getting in the way of God's voice. So long story short I didn't get the small group. But it was because they wanted Cameron to build more relationships with people before he got a smallgroup. So i'm in Nathan and Trish's group! And i'm really excited! God is showing me how really amazing all the people in my life truly are! So i am going to really soak up everything that Nate 'n' Trish have for me :) I'm also going to be more of an encouragement to everyone. So every week i'm going to write a note to two people telling them how awesome they are. Cause who doesn't love encouragement?? lol.