One week.

I've been home for about a week now. :) It's kind of nice. I've been able to do LOTS of cleaning, and I sure feel accomplished! It feels good making mama happy by cleaning the house. :)

I've finally been able to dust all of my books too! So I was really happy about that! I hadn't had time in a long while...it takes like forever dusting the books! I usually take each book individually and wipe 'em down. And then I dust the shelf and then stack the books back up on the shelf nicely. :D I have books lined up like a normal bookshelf and then I have books in stacks on top of a shelf. :) I have too many to line them up normally. :)

Hmm, what's been on my heart? God's been really teaching me a lot in the week that I've been home. It feels weird not having anybody to talk to, so God's been showing me that a lot of times, I still live for people. I think God made me to be a naturally sociable person, but this week has been a reminder that though it's nice to have other people to talk to, I don't live off their acceptance. You know? That's what I've been learning. :D

I'm eating some mint chocolate chip ice cream. YUM YUM YUM!!!! What else was I going to say? Oh yeah, tonight's the Heart for Christ Christmas party. :) Those are fun. My first HFC Christmas party, we had a white elephant gift exchange. I started out with Almond Roca chocolates, but then a senior stole it from me so I ended up with some BBQ sauce from McDonald's. It was pretty weird. And then last Christmas Asia and I spent most of the night running away from someone. And Kayla spent the night avoiding a scary boy. :D That was lots of fun. :D Oh, I miss Kayla so much.

I started working on building the helicopter that I got for my birthday. I got up to step 4 the day I was given that present, and now I'm on step 6. :) I'm kind of stuck on a part because I can't get one of the little bolt type things to screw into a nut. :( It's at a funny angle, so I can't really reach it. :)

I've started reading Where the Red Fern Grows again today. That was the first book that ever made me cry. I remember. I got a free copy from school (they were getting rid of old editions and giving out the old copies to students for free) and I read when I was about 11. I remember I was sitting on the couch in my sister's old office. After I finished it, I lied on the couch for like 20 minutes and cried the whole time. It made me so sad...and yet happy. :) Like a bittersweet feeling. I love that book. It makes me want a coon hound. :D And to save my money and buy two coon hounds and go hunting with them and whatnot. It's a good story.

OED updated.

Ok, like seriously. The Professor and the Madman is genious. There are just some parts that are "too much information." Just thought I'd throw that out there, so you aren't surprised like I was when (more like IF) you ever decide to pick said book up to read it.

Anyway, we watched Avatar in 3D this morning, and it was super cool! Mom liked it...I didn't really understand it but the overall movie was interesting. :) I just liked the 3D thingies. :D

I spent the afternoon curling my cousin's hair. Today has been a really relaxing Saturday. :D

9.

OED updated.

Ok, like seriously. The Professor and the Madman is genious. There are just some parts that are "too much information." Just thought I'd throw that out there, so you aren't surprised like I was when (more like IF) you ever decide to pick said book up to read it.

Anyway, we watched Avatar in 3D this morning, and it was super cool! Mom liked it...I didn't really understand it but the overall movie was interesting. :) I just liked the 3D thingies. :D

I spent the afternoon curling my cousin's hair. Today has been a really relaxing Saturday. :D

9.

The Professor and the Madman.

I've been reading a book about the Oxford English Dictionary. It is seriously way cool. Did you know that the Oxford English Dictionary uses quotations from super old books to trace the development of a word over time. It also uses quotations to show the varying shades of meaning a word has...and this dictionary supposedly has all the words in the English language.

It is an incredible lexicographical feat! Ok, I know you must think me an English freak to think that's amazing, but really, think about it, where would our language be without dictionaries? Ok, ok, ok. I know that in the big scheme of things it really isn't a big deal, but here's one perspective. We often view science as a picture of how great and wise our God truly is. For me, words are another picture of Him. The complexity and ingenuity of language can only be fathomed by an incredibly intelligent God. I think it is so super cool that God enabled us to figure out our language like that. :)

Anyway, I'll see how the book ends. :) It's like one of my favorite's now. :D

Early Christmas Break. :)

I've been sick the past couple of days, so I missed my last three days of the first semester. I'm pretty ok with that. I'm going to see if I can take the 5 exams that I missed next week. :)

I'm standing in our living/dining room. We got a fresh Christmas tree today. We had a fake Christmas tree up, but I don't think that Mom or Dad really like it. The Christmas tree that our family has had since I was 5 was accidentally thrown away two years ago, so we got this new replacement one...and it looks too much like the trees in a department store. Our fresh tree this year is BEAUTIFUL. Mom decorated it with clear lights and bundles of ornaments that are green, red and silver. It's gorgeous.

I bought an ornament today. :D I'm going to start a collection. From this Christmas on, I'm going to buy one ornament that reminds me of something that happened this year, and when I grow up and have my own Christmas tree, I'm going to have memorable ornaments. :) I love that! We have ornaments that I made when I was a little girl, and it is just so precious to see them hanging on the tree. :D

For this year, I bought a hedgehog. :) But only some people will know why. :D It's really cute. :D It was orignially $10, but I thought that was too much to spend on an ornament, and besides, I didn't have that much money on me. But then I saw that the ornaments were 40% off, so it was only $6. Still a little pricey, but I still saved...and I was only buying one. :D

Anyway, that's all for now. :)

Just a challenge. :)

Love.

Once again, I've been thinking about this, but more in a worldly sense and how it contrasts with the Bible's definition of love.

While working on my research paper, I've come across places where biographers have stated that Shelley "falls in love," several times, even. The way the sentences are phrased and how it is used so loosely in the context of his life, I've grown to strongly dislike that phrase. To fall in love sounds like a wretched thing. If it's love I'm after, I don't want to accidentally stumble upon it one day and use it as an excuse for unwise behavior. If it's love I'm after, I really shouldn't be the one looking for it. If it's love I'm after, I want to know Jesus' love first and love people like He did, and then He can bring around more love.

Falling in love sounds like an accident, a feeling that comes and goes. The Bible doesn't talk about love like that. Love is not a feeling or an accident. Love is a decision and a choice. Falling in love actually sounds scary, but in 1 John 4 it says that perfect love casts out fear.

I think the way the world views love is depressing, and it doesn't even sound like the love I want at all. It's like the love the world has to offer whets your heart's appetite with a hunger that can never be satisfied, always longing, never full. I don't ever want to know that kind of gnawing emotion. I want to know full sure that God's love is enough, through and through. and I do know that. In 1 John 4:8, it gives me the reason why this world doesn't know how to love, "He that loveth knoweth God; for God is love.


In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.--1 John 4:9-10

The Bible never clearly defines exactly what love is word for word, but it definitely clearly illustrates what love is through Jesus' life. In a way, that in itself is loosely and indirectly a definition.

Love is not made of words, but rather, love is made of the actions behind the words.

My incredibly early Christmas entry.

Dearest Jesus,
Today we celebrate that day 2000 years ago that You stepped down from Heaven to be born as a lowly baby. So delicate, so needful. All of Your glory held in a gentle baby's body. No, You didn't just come to earth as a grown man. You were born and grew up just like us. You were put in Mary's womb supernaturally! Yet you still grew a heart, eyes, and fingernails the same way You had designed us to be formed. You put Your own feet on the same earth that You in all Your glory created.

That amazes me every single time I think about it. Why did You do that? Why did You leave Your place in perfection and holiness with the Father to stoop down to earth with such as I? Why? Why did You do that...to be born to die? What kind of God does that?

A God that loves, that's what. "For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."-John 3:16. Thank You, Jesus, for loving such a sinful world so much that You would even bother coming down to earth to be born to die..to SAVE us. Thank You, Jesus, for such a gift. Thank You, Jesus, for being born...because of You, there is no greater joy.

This Christmas, I give You the only gift I know to give. Jesus, You can have my heart, my life, and soul. Everything I have is Yours. May You be glorified in everything I do.

Love,
Me.

Today darkness fell in the dawn of Love's light. Today was the day Jesus was born so that we could be saved from hell and eternal death. Today we celebrate the birth of Jesus--love with skin on. He was born because He loves us. He not only said "I love you." He lived "I love you." Happy birthday, Jesus. You're the best. (and that's an understatement)

I don't have my laptop anymore. That's why I haven't been blogging. :( Sorry, guys. Hope you like this one though. :D