5 Things i Love Friday

1. Sophia's journal. http://www.sophiasjournal.com/

she is the cutest English girl, and her blog is so fun to read. She does a post called "10 things i love thursday" and this post is inspired by her!

2. Painting pottery with friends :) Yesterday, my sweet friends, Molly and Emily, took me to paint pottery. it was so fun

3. FALL! I love cold weather so much, and even though it's not that cold here, it's getting there. And it's SO beautiful outside!

4. Grey's Anatomy. I started watching it late, so i'm behind a season but I don't think i would be able to watch it on tv because I would be falling off the edge of my seat during commercials. that would just be horrible. I love the 2nd and 3rd seasons. Those are my very favorite.

5. I love my family :) I am excited about spending time with them in Pensacola, and I know that God is going to amazing things in our hearts through this season.

i hope you all have a beautiful, fun weekend! it's halloween- which is my least favorite holiday. But i'm going to a little costume get together, and I have NO idea what i'm going to be!
me.

Wow, my emotions are just all over the place these days. Ugh. i don't want to move.

Wellll Friday i stayed home with my mom and siblings and watched Beauty and the Beast on DVD. remastered in HD. it just came out of the vault-- i'm a HUGE Disney fan. Disney World is my favorite place ever. (not that i've been many places) Which is funny that i watched it because saturday night i went to the musical Beauty and the Beast at Prep. it was AMAZING. So well casted, so well performed. I cried in it. It was embarrassing. Oh, and one of my friends was scooting out of the aisle and the button on the back of her pants got stuck in the girl's hair who was sitting in front of her. Talk about funny. That definitely provided a big laugh.

I felt absolutely horrible last night. I had a headache ALL day and then went to the play and forgot my glasses so I was like straining my eyes to see, and then my stomach started hurting because i ate some cookie dough. So i didn't sleep very well last night. It was quite terrible.

Hopefully tonight will be a much better night of rest. I hope you all had a splendid weekend, and i hope your week is full of blessing and joy! Pray for me if you think about it. :)
me.

whirlwind wednesday

that's all i know to say about today is that it's been a whirlwind. Wow. one minute I am seriously crying my eyes out, and the next i'm fine. It's been such a strange and exhausting day. i can't even believe I'm up at this hour. it's 11:51 to be exact. I DO see why moving is best for my family, but at the same time, my flesh is telling me that it's not fair and i should be able to stay. i'm declaring victory over my flesh in Jesus' name. A friend reminded me today that no matter where i am on this earth, i am not home. Amen. wow.

so, even though i cannot see in this darkness, I am trusting the Light.

I have all these ideas... tonight, i got the BEST idea for a canvas. but i won't tell you yet! i'll post a picture on here when i'm done. i'm super excited.

I'm starting a new journal soon.. i need a place where i can go and just throw up my feelings. and then i'm going to keep one with prayer requests in them. sounds so wonderful to me. i want a pretty one from barnes and noble (www.barnesandnoble.com) with the leather covers and the cool string that closes it.

Old pictures really make me laugh. A friend found this picture from 4 years ago of a ton of girls on the way to Breakthru (an amazing retreat!) and it is SO funny to see all of us. Some had braces, some had awful haircuts, some of us didn't quite know how to put on make up. it was just so funny to look at. I love that... definitely brightened my day.

I'm getting a new computer this week! i have a netbook right now, and i absolutely LOATHE it. it doesn't even have a cd drive. i should've researched it more before asking for one... you live and you learn! i'm getting a dell, which i'm excited about. it's actually just like my netbook but bigger, which means more memory and a cd drive. praise the Lord!

I'm currently OBSESSED with Drew and Ellie Holcomb. They are just the cutest couple and they are amazingly, talented musicians. look them up on itunes under drew holcomb and the neighbors or their myspace is www.myspace.com/drewholcomb . and they have a facebook- go to your searchbar and search DrewandEllie Holcomb. Their music is awesome, and they are SO in love. it is amazing. they inspire me.

I love reading fun blogs. everyone should read www.abeautifulmess.typepad.com 's blog. her name is Elsie and she is adorable. she writes about a ton of different, interesting things. she always has fun little easy crafts to do. she owns the cutest little store in Springfield, MO. She entertains me.

Well, i hope that everyone's Wednesday was good. you're HALFWAY done with the week. two days til friday. My beautiful friend W is in the musical Beauty and the Beast and she is Mrs. Potts so i'm going to see her saturday night!! SO excited. she is amazing.
hope you all have fun filled weekends! mwah.
jo.

Lots and lots and lots and lots of change

Wow! My life is just changing right before my eyes and I literally have NO control over it. it's a really tough place to be, and i'm not really doing too well with it all. My dad works in FL and my mom, siblings, and myself do not live there... but lately, my mom is really thinking that we are supposed to be there with him. so we're packing up our stuff and moving on Nov. 1. Prayers would be greatly appreciated in this time. i'm not so okay

Pleasant Surprises

Well this morning i woke up, ate some breakfast in the den of this beautiful condominium that overlooks the bay. It was beautiful outside.

i was in a TERRIBLE mood this morning. I don't know what happened or why i was this way. I just cried at the drop of a hat and cried pretty much all morning. I'd stop, and then I'd start again. it was horrible!

(www.mycrazycrazylifeingilbert.blogspot.com)

But thennnn I got over it and we went out to the beach. It was amazing, and just what I needed. I stayed in my shorts and tshirt and sat in the chair, under the umbrella ALL day. I got NO sun, but i kept my feet in the sand and looked at the water. I read part of my book Forgotten God by Francis Chan. Its about the Holy Spirit and how we should be aware of Him all the time. I love it. It's teaching me so much. I highly recommend it.

We came back to the condo and just hung out for a little bit, and then we went down to the cute little pool deck/grill and just got some gumbo and some nachos for the whole table, and my whole family just sat and watched all the SEC football games that were playing on all the tvs and just laughed and talked. It was so relaxing, yet so fun. Some times I resent having a big family, and some times (like tonight) I love it.

My sister and I are about to watch Grey's Anatomy in our room. But first, I must journal-- which i definitely encourage EVERYONE to do! It's important to keep record of what is going on in your life so that you can see afterward how much you GREW and what all you LEARNED while walking through a trial or a struggle.

I hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend! Monday is Columbus day which means most people don't have school. I love homeschool. I can have holidays whenever I want. :)

Smile and be positive! Encourage yourself today. You are worth it.

love, me.

:)

So, i'm starting over with blogging. Completely! and it's an exciting thing to me. I'm weird like that.

Tomorrow I'm going to the beach! I cannot wait to be there and relax. Not to mention, the workout facility (is that the right word?) is ah-mazing at the place we're staying. I really cannot wait. Lots of fun, family time...

I'm really in the mood to paint right now. like right this second. but it takes soooo long to get the paints, brushes, canvases, etc out. and its midnight... it's a little late to start a project tonight. I picked up my guitar last night for the first time in SO long, and it was amazing... not my playing, of course. but it was a form of therapy for me. They should offer that. They have painting therapy, why not guitar therapy? I guess because for beginners, it's not so therapeutic. that could totally be why..

So my friend and i were having a conversation in the car about how life is about more than boys, and that songs should be written about more than just your love life. and then somehow we got to the subject of trashcans and how significant they really are. i mean, think about it! what would the world look like without trashcans?!! i'm so not a "go green" person- i'm just not. but i do really appreciate trashcans.

(http://www.steph.stephew.com/archives/2102 )

i thought that was really cute. i want to paint a trashcan!! how fun would that be? Very fun to me. i'm going to do that one day. writing it on my to do list.

you should all listen to Stephen Gordon's cd "I Have Seen Your Shining Spirit". it's really amazing. it's my soundtrack at the moment.

well i hope to update you all soon on what random thoughts are wandering through my brain soon. this was fun!

love, me.

Walk through it...

Today, oh today. Today has been wonderful. and so was yesterday.

Last night some girls and i went to Sneaky Beans to see Stephen Gordon play. He is a lyrical genius. GENIUS. And I mean that. i needed his music so much last night. i needed a place to sit in my emotions for just an hour. And his voice, lyrics, and guitar did that for me. I got to feel how I felt.

I know that is such a weird statement "i got to feel how i felt", but if you think about it, it's not so weird. how many times do we just push aside our emotions to seem okay? That was my problem last time. but now i'm giving myself this time to have feelings. if i have a "i miss him" moment, i let myself sit in that until it passes... "the best way out is always through"- Robert Frost. so so very true.

"Eyes Grow Tired"- Stephen Gordon is my song today. The chorus simply states,
"Strange how you just can't get moving.
Strange how you just can't settle down.
Strange how you spend your whole life searching for it, but you haven't found it yet.
You haven't found it yet."

My soul longs for You, Lord. I will turn my affection toward You. i refuse to lose sight of You

love,
jo.