He has put a song in my heart

Lately I have been going through personal things that have caused me to be a little down. As a young adult I suppose that things I think are a big deal are really a lot smaller than I consider them to be right now...years down the road they will seem like just little speed bumps. Well, to get to the point, music speaks to everyone, it's only a matter of which music each person prefers. I recently started listening to a song "You Are God" by the Katinas...and it lifts my spirits each time I listen to it. I couldn't figure out why. I normally listen to music that either tells about how you'll come through the valleys a better person, or that God will work it all out, or that God notices when we cry. "You Are God" is a song that tells about the characteristics of God...I realized just today that maybe that's it! When we focus on God in our need and all that He is rather than what we are and our problems, and insecurities, that's when we are most happy. It's not about us, it's about how God can work through us!
If being a Christian wasn't about what He can do through us it wouldn't be called Christianity! To some it may seem silly for me to be so happy to have rediscovered this, but for me it totally clicked :). I knew all that, but it had been so long since I'd really thought about it. It's because of who God is that we can trust him with our futures...and I am smiling!

Maybe people want what I have.

Time to get back on track again! Whenever something is bothering me I always have a hard time keeping focused (going beyond the focusing problem I already have) and really, I need to overcome that. Right now I'm thinking about Christmas. Can I have anything in my shop (etsy) that will sell soon enough that it may sell for Christmas? I'm not sure about the whole advertising thing, but I do know a few things:
1. People like cute and unique things
2. People like to know that something will make them feel good and be useful before they spend money on it
3. People want to be in style.

I can make cute and unique (even though that's in abundance on etsy,) the things I make can be useful and make people feel good, and I can make things that are stylish. Actually having taken trend forecasting classes I know a little about what should be screaming for attention this and next seasons!! Sooo what am I waiting for? I should possibly start to shamelessly ask my facebook friends if they'd like to buy a bag for Christmas for anyone that they know, especially that's in college, or if they're in college themselves they can even have a custom bag made in their favorite colors!! Let me get to it, once I get an idea I can run off of the excitement it gives me for at least a day :)

south carolina

Our trip to South Carolina was phenomenal! We left around two o'clock in the afternoon on Saturday and reached there at dinner time. Pastor Butler and his family took us to eat at Cracker Barrel after which we went to the hotel. The hotel was a Holiday Inn Express...Becky and I picked our bed (closest to the window and air conditioner) and everyone settled in to watch tv. While Jackie was in the shower we turned off all the lights, turned off the tv, and opened and closed the door so she'd think we had left-and hid. Her lil voice saying "Is anyone there? This isn't funnny!" was just too hilarious. Almost as funny as when Sarah jumped out and scared her.
Sunday morning we got to sleep in because we were within walking distance of the church and the service wasn't until eleven o'clock. We sang sooo many songs lol. We enjoyed it. The sermon was about what a church is supposed to be like, out of the book of Acts. After Sunday service they filled up our tank and took us to eat at O' Charley's. I have to say that my food was the best, and the strawberry lemonade was off the HOOK! I must've gotten four refills lol.
Pastor Butler gave us a generous love offering, and we headed for home. The ride home was uneventful and we reached home around 8 pm on Sunday.
Now I just need to get back to sewing. I'm a little short on time :) pretty soon we'll be heading for MS. A week and a day! I can't wait to see my sister. I love Thanksgiving!

Elisabeth

I'm the oldest! Just listen!

I would like to know what the point of being the oldest is if I don't get a say...
When I started college is when it really became relevant; my younger sister and I both enrolled in the same school...her to become a certified MA and me to get an Associates Degree in Fashion Design. She went and took her driving test before me, and was therefore always driving. She decided pretty much everything from where to eat, to what time she would get me to school. When she finished school except for a couple classes and our classes weren't at the same time I never got to school on time. My teachers started to see me getting to school late and moved me down on the teachers pet list :). My fellow students always thought she was older when we met, and told me to stop getting bossed around lol...I rarely told her or even acknowledged it with more than an embarrassed smile. I figured she was the dominate personality, and from what I saw it was so much more trouble to fight it than to just go along, half of the time she doesn't even realize she's doing it!

Sooo maybe I let it go too far. Today we are supposed to go to another state to sing at a church opening and we have to choose songs. She decided we would sing a very long choir song that really doesn't sound right acapella because it's fairly monotone, the timing is "different", and there are several key changes that we haven't even mastered with the piano let alone without. When I tell her I don't like it the first time (last night) she says I'm being lazy and not trying, and when I tell her again today she asks everyone elses opinions and says we should sing it anyway...then eventually when I keep at it she gets upset, says that I'm just not trying, and we won't sing it...

As one of my new years resolutions perhaps I will try to become more of a go-getter. Who should take me seriously if they know that I'll end up going along with something (and just complain) even if I completely disagree? I've come to where the only time I won't eventually go along with something is when it's morally wrong, and therefore I get sent on personal errands for my sisters and the rest of my family daily. No one is taking me seriously, because I don't demand to be. I don't want to be unhelpful, just maybe a little more focused...?

I am praying that we have safe travels to our destination, and have fun getting there. This is not the first, nor will it be the last time that our personalities will clash, but I don't want it to get in the way of us being a blessing.

Elisabeth

Yes, I finished SOMETHING!

Today I started on a project, it's a little clutch (purse) made of denim and lace, which I haven't taken a picture of. I didn't use a pattern, but it turned out really really well. I want to keep it. I can't say how good this makes me feel so most people (unless they're really into something creative) won't get it. I have a discipline problem, and along with that a big distraction problem. After I cut out the fabric for the clutch it took me at least another thirty minutes just to get started because I kept getting distracted. I can't seem to focus on one thing and am always hopping from one thing to the next even during conversations! It's starting to annoy me that I can't get my mind to stop going, usually when I go to bed, I don't go so much because my body is tired but because my mind is...but since I realize that'll sound stupid I don't say so :) ...surely this is something that can be fixed.
On other subjects...
I have a facebook page, but lately it hasn't been letting me post pictures...so I'll just have to put the pictures from the singles retreat I went to last month on here!

Ebony, me, Kayla, Carissa, and Courtney

Marie and me

The whole group of us.

extraordinary? Nah...

Is it okay to sometimes feel like all the wonderfully exciting things happen to other people? Check out the discriptive word "wonderfully" in the last sentence. I've had plenty of exciting things happen to me, especially things like, ummm, things that weren't good, but sometimes ya' just want one of those once in a lifetime chance things to happen. I want to be extraordinary at a lot of things. I'm good, and sometimes even great, but not especially extraordinary. Should I go out and make that happen? Maybe I should, and maybe I will...for as my quote of the day says: "You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind." Sooo lemme stop turning things over in my mind and start doing them. Starting now.
Bye!

clean room most exciting development? Not good :)

I have been so lazy about posting, it's highly doubtful anyone pays attention to my blog anyway, but I should really keep up just to work on my own personal discipline (it's definitely a muscle that I need to exercise more often.)
I cleaned my room in a major way two days ago, and the bleak cleanliness of it makes it seem so roomy...even with my two dressers, bookshelf, two chairs, sewing machine and bed all in here! I have a lot going on emotionally lately, and it's sometimes hard to concentrate on anything outside of just thinking. I'm glad that I have cleared some of the outside clutter so that I can work on the inner clutter a little.
A friend of mine, Hannah, is very sick. She has a severe case of mono. Sadly, while most cases are "mild" and last a little while then go away, her's has caused so many complications that she's in the hospital and not doing well at all. I'm hoping that everyone who hears (or reads) will keep her in their prayers.
As for my creative side...it's still there, just not thriving well. One would think that stress would scream for an outlet and anything creative would help, but I'm working on a church website for my dad right now and trying my best to keep some time for things like my Sunday school class and job hunting.