this war's not over.

Mmm....this movie seriously just makes me so happy. I finally watched it again with my brother (who, might I add, should be commended for his ability to restrain criticism during the whole thing) and completely fell in love with it all over again.

Knights of the round table - literally.

L: Today in school, we were learning about circumference.

Me: Is that so?

L: Yeah, and I was so confused because I thought circumference was a person.

Me: >pretends to understand< Haha, really?

L: Yeah cause you know, "Sir Cumference."

Best. Student. Ever.

Best use of time ever? I think yes.

Stay this little.

Do you ever just sit and watch the world go by?

I do that a lot. In the car going somewhere...on a plane...walking through campus...gazing out over the valley. I watch kids walk home from school, I watch my classmates, I watch the lovebirds in the corner of the room.

And the other day I was sitting in the glorious sunshine, looking over the valley.

We live close to the airport, which means 1) we get a lot of noise in the summer time and 2) we get to watch planes land and takeoff pretty much whenever we jolly well please. (this was great fun as a child)

I followed the progress of one particular airplane as it took off.

As someone who flies on a semi-frequent-ish-basis (enough to remind me how much I love it, little enough to keep me wanting to keep doing it) I love that feeling as the airplane finally begins to pick up speed.

Each step in the process of going to the airport seems to take you one step closer, from waking up at 5 in the morning to actually leaving the house with half of your world toted behind you, to that heart-thumping moment when you leave the security of those dropping you off behind as you walk away from the car.

You're thinking this is really it. Whatever it is that you've been waiting for for ages has finally come.

It like, triples when you board the plane, and then comes to a screeching halt when you start to taxi.

Forever.

And you wonder, will it ever takeoff? I could be sleeping right now.

I chew my gum nervously, worrying that the flavour will run out before we takeoff and I need it in the first place.

But it comes, you know it always will.

That moment when the airplane lurches a little and you know it's finally time.

It picks up speed, it goes faster, and faster, and faster, and just when you think you might run out of runway space, it gently lumps into the air. I say "lump" because it's like going over a speedbump with a pillow on it.

Your heart does this weird ker-thump thing, your ears go all funny, and your stomach does what it does in an elevator, except about 2.4 times more.

And if you're heading to a National speech & debate tournament, it does it about 11.9 times more.

So as I sat there, watching this airplane take off into the sky, I wondered what the people on the plane were thinking.

Were they all businessmen who were just flying because they had to, lost in the busyness of their iwhatevers and computers and papers, or who sleep right through the thrill of taking off?

Or could there be a young person on there, her heart beating with the excitement of a new place she was going, her stomach turning with the idea of what would be expected of her when she got there?

What did my world look like to them up there? I could see them, but they couldn't see me.

I was living that experience in my head as the
plane made it's way slowly towards the edge of the valley and then began to turn towards the east.

Thank you for flying Delta Airlines, we are now [insert number I never do comprehend] miles above Seattle, heading east towards Boston. Our flight attendants will be coming around shortly with refreshments. Meals are available for purchase upon request.

I watched the plane pass through a cloud.

I know what it's like to go through a cloud on a plane. The world is a tiny maze of dollhouses and then all of a sudden, there's a little fog covering it all.

I wonder if there's a child on that plane, nose pressed to the window, staring excitedly at everything that's going by.

I wonder if maybe someone is not traveling somewhere new, but somewhere old. Maybe he's going home after a long, fulfilling trip. I hope he enjoyed my favorite city.

The plane turns to the east, and eventually disappears behind the trees.

East.

There are a lot of places you can go when you turn east. That's a lot of states you could fly to.

I never want to lose my love for flying in a plane. To feel that magic, thrill, and anticipation.

There are some parts of life I have to grow up in...but when I fly, I'll always be a child.

Mhm, that's right Seattle.

Guess what?

Tenth Avenue North is coming to Seattle again!

March 3rd, everyone, guess where I'll be?

...Because I know you wanted to know that bit of information. ;)

Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Willing is not enough; we must do.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Um. Story of my life?

This photo very accurately (and very sadly) describes my life right now.

I should fix this. Really.

Freedom.

This is the most freeing message I have heard in a very, very long time.

My thoughts exactly, Grace.

I want my soul wide awake.

I want to sail

Into the sunrise

Right to the edge of the new

Way beyond me, out ‘cross the sea

Into a beautiful truth

A journey awaits

Incredible stories

I’ll live to tell you the tales

I want to know.

I want to go.

I want to sail.

Right through waves of my fear

Out where the waters run clear

I want to sail.



Tell me, what spell must I break?

I want my soul wide awake.

of green beans and pioneers.

This year I've been teaching piano, working in awana, and babysitting on a regular basis, which means I've gotten a lot of awesome kid quotes. Here are some of my favorites from this week...

Me: If you have three notes altogether, it's a 3rd. What do you think it is when you have 2 notes together?

K: Um...a twoth?

......

Me: Who knows what a hymnal is?

B: It's a book they sang out of in like, the pioneer days.

......

Ruby: I'm a baby goose. You're the momma goose.

Me: Ruby, can you stand up?

Ruby: No say baby goose.

Me: Stand up, baby goose!

>obligingly stands up<

......

Me: Hey guys, if you eat your green beans, it will make me really, really happy.

>Ruby immediately eats like 5 beans<

Ruby: Did I make you happy?

Normal is wonderful.

People ask me what my favorite season is, and usually I tell them summer.

This is partially false because a Seattlite's definition of summer is similar to that of late spring in Washington DC.

Everyone I meet seems to favour the season in which they were born, and I've always felt slightly odd for not liking fall...seeing as that is when my birthday falls.

But fall in Seattle, you see, is typically nothing but freezing cold temperatures with endless rain and cloudy skies.

You can't crunch through leaves because they're soggy, the air is not as crisp because of the overcast cloudy-ness, and it's just generally not as pleasant. Being one who dislikes the cumbersome nature of umbrellas, I typically get rather wet during this season, as well as end up with my glasses all spotted with water. >.<

But this year, I am discovering how much I really do love the fall. You see, we've been having a decent fall. A normal fall. The sun has been out, the leaves are crunchy, the air is crisp.

I don't have to wear a 20-pound coat and line my feet with socks. I can dance through the leaves with my sweater. I can take deep, full breaths of beautiful fall air.

I can run through the park with my dog, and sit in the sunshine to soak it all in.

I love fall.

If we could analyze the influences that build up a godly character to maturity, we might well find that the agencies which we call natural vastly outweigh the supernatural. The book of Proverbs reassures us that this, if it is true, is no reflection on the efficacy of God's grace, for the hard facts of life, which knock some of the nonsense out of us, are God's facts and His appointed school of character; they are not alternatives to his grace, but means of it; for everything is of grace, from the power to know to the power to obey. -Derek Kidner

On that note of procrastinating - how often do I procrastinate or make excuses by saying I'm busy with something else? (read that post. It's good.)

Oh, what could I be missing because tell my little brother that I'm "too busy?"

My brother is a genius.

Tomorrow I'll stop procrastinating.

When I was little, I used to try to have "perfect" days. I would try to be good for the entire day.

It never worked. =P

So, at the end of the day, I always said to myself, "I'll try again tomorrow. I'll really do it this time."

And as I got older, I somehow kept that mentality. The idea that one day, it would suddenly happen - BOOM - I'd have life figured out.

Lately I've been frustrated with the fact that...I'm no different than I was 10 years ago. I still say "tomorrow I'll be different. Tomorrow I'll actually not check my email and I'll actually practice piano instead."

::snort::

I have a feeling I'd be a much better pianist if I'd ever actually put that idea into practice. (haaa see that clever use of a pun there? I actually didn't intend that.)

But really - I would say to myself as I went to bed "ugh! I failed again. But I won't fail tomorrow."

Isn't "tomorrow I'll stop procrastinating" an oxymoron?

As your stereotypical homeschooler saturated by the message of the Rebelution, I've had the idea that if I didn't do great things as a teenager, I've somehow wasted my entire life. I frowned upon my 18th birthday and felt as if my opportunities had all been taken away now that the number associated with my years of living is one higher than it was a month ago.

But the reality is - I will never have more time than I do right now.

I'm only going to be 18 once. Just for 365 days. Why ruin it by wishing it was something else?



Maybe tomorrow I'll start over
Maybe tomorrow I will finally change my ways
Said the same things yesterday
Don't know why I'm so afraid
To let you in
To let you win
To let you have all of me

Can't spend my whole life wastin'
Everything I know I've been given
'Cause you've made for so much more than
Sittin' on the side lines
I don't wanna look back and wonder
If good enough could've been better
Everyday's a day to start over
So, why am I waiting for tomorrow?

I don't want to look back and wonder if my "good enough" could have been better. I want to live life to the fullest, and not waste my time worrying about wasting my life. I'm going to get out there, do something, and live! And I'm going to do it today.

It's revolutionary, and it will change the world.

Lately, I've been looking at this overwhelming problem of the world I live in.

Going through a typical week, with all the people I encounter and all the experiences I have, I keep seeing the brokenness of the world.

The homeless man on the street. That girl sitting all by herself at lunch. Those 10 year olds in awana who don't understand who God is. Those news stories about murders. Discussing politics. Working to keep up with my school work. Trying to learn more about the world.

My head spins thinking of how many problems there are in the world, how many people need help - and I want to do something about it.

I want to change the world, and I want to make a difference for the kingdom of God. I want to be radical, crazy, different, a world-changer.

But the other day, I heard this (ridiculously simple) statement:

You don't have to solve the world's problems.

Huh?

Oh right, I'm not God.

But I was also reminded of this story:

One day, a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.

Approaching the boy, he asked, "What are you doing?"

The youth replied, "Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them back, they'll die."

"Son," the man said, "don't you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can't make a difference!"

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf.

Then, smiling at the man, he said, "I made a difference for that one."

A lot of times I'm overwhelmed with all the things there are to do. How do I know what I'm supposed to do, and how am I supposed to make a difference?

Unlike some of my friends, who have been called off to places like Argentina, Peru, Russia, and China -- or even to direct Awana, minister to youth, serve in church -- I'm not really sure what I'm called to do, or how exactly I can make a difference.

But there are places I can make a difference right here.

I can watch that lego movie with my little brother.

I can help my brother with his speech.

I can not brush them off when they have questions.

I can do the dishes for my mom so she can take a nap.

I can not be on the computer so I can be available for something else.

I can give my dad a hug when he comes home.

I can send an email to a friend just because.

I can make a difference, and I don't need to change the whole world. Great things start small, and if I can make a difference in one person's life, God can turn that into something bigger in His timing and strength.

Early's on time.

My favorite part of halloween is when the local Christian radio station plays Christmas music all day. I used to be a Christmas-music-is-only-for-December purist, but I have since changed from my old ways and now listen to it in November.

And just today, my favorite band (tenth avenue north, of course) released A NEW CHRISTMAS SONG! (que massive excitement)

Yes, it's dumb, it's not the best Christmas song ever, but it's tenth avenue north, and it's Christmas.





Even though I'm really excited for Christmas, I am absolutely loving the fall weather - no rain, crisp, cold mornings, fog, hot tea, and crunchy leaves.

:)