Redirecting

He loves me with an everlasting love. Nothing I can do or say will ever sway the power of his love for me. He thinks of me night and day. He showers me with little gifts just because it makes his heart glad to see my smile. He is jealous of the things that take me away from him.

I have rejected him. I've run from him. I've left his body full of scars.
And still he loves me.
When I leave him, those arms that ached on the cross ache to hold me close.
His hands, the hands that I wounded, long to touch me with healing and comfort.

His love for me is so strong he would kill for me.

He did kill for me.
His own Self. His own Son. He made a sacrifice of his own flesh and blood.
So that I would know his love.

And then he conquered Death!
His love is so powerful that it shattered the reign of Death so that I could be with him!
Not only for proof of his love and power, but to give me the ability to share in it.

How can I not love Him?

This is the greatest story of love ever written. This man, my Lord, who is Love Himself, wants nothing so much as for me to be caught up with him in this beautiful extravagance of love. To share in his life. To share in his power. To know and be known.

He is beautiful. And I love him.

Four Eyes!

Hallo there!
Sorry for being such a bad blogger.
The summer has just been too fun for me to blog it all. Sad, yes, because now I don't have records of all my adventures. However, just living life has been great.

What brings me here today is my excitement.
"About what?" you say.
About my new glasses!

I've had the same glasses for at least 4 years. I only wear them when I can't wear my contacts. They've gotten all crooked, and I still feel partially blind when I wear them. Sooooo, last week I finally went and had an exam and ordered some new ones!

I had fallen in love with a pair of cheap, nerdy frames at Wal-Mart when I was killing time a week or so before. I decided I must have them.

The lady at Wal-Mart chuckled. Then she laughed at me outright. Then she tried in vain to get me to change my mind. "Kids these days," she muttered as she shook her head. She laughed again when I handed her my prescription. I stood my ground.

Behold!

YAY! Cute nerd glasses! It's ok if you don't like them. You're not the only one. ;-) They're certainly not as classy and smart-looking as my old pair. But it's fun to be so in love with something that you don't even care if other people think you look like an idiot. haha!

I just picked them up this morning, and I'm wearing them right now (gotta break 'em in, you know). I think I know now why she laughed again and raised her eyebrows when she saw my prescription. You can't really tell in the picture, but I believe the technical term is "coke bottle glasses." Therefore, I have this odd sensation of everything in my peripheral vision being curved. Unless I'm looking at something head-on, it's curvy. WEIRD! Walking down the hallway, it looks like the walls are curving toward me! So yeah. I'm guessing that's why she was so amused. It's a good thing I'll still mostly be wearing my contacts. However, besides for things being curvy and skewed, I can see very clearly. With my old glasses, things beyond about 4 feet away were still blurry. I can look out the window right now and see the next house no problem. Which rocks, let me tell you.

So, really, that's all. I just wanted to share.
Happy Friday! Have a great weekend, y'all.
Caitlin

P.S. FALL IS COMING!

104.7 THE FISH Celebrate Freedom Contest - Janson Roberts

hey people! I know I kind of already did this, but I'm doing a really good job becoming a spammer. :) So, if you haven't seen this video, please check it out. Like I said, even if you don't care about helping my friend with the contest the song is REALLY a blessing.

Seven times Three

Equals twenty-one. I always liked the "sevens" times-table. It had a quirky feeling to it when the other numbers were just boring drudgery.

But that's not really what I meant to write about.

I'm 21 today!! I meant to write while it was still technically my birthday, but I didn't get online until 11:15, then I spent the next 45 minutes talking to friends and responding to birthday wishes. So here I am, half an hour into the day after my birthday.

My birthday started out less than satisfactory. I woke up in a grumpy mood. "Bleh," I thought, "I'm another year older... why can't birthdays be as exciting as they were when I was little? I'm too young to not be happy about a birthday. But nothing special is happening anyways... It's just another day. Stupid boring birthdays."

And then the coffee was yucky. And we were out of sugar and I had to use fake stuff.

And I just got grumpier and grumpier. Within like a ten minute time span. So I went back to bed! HA!

I spent some time snuggling with my pillows and talking to God. After I wallowed in pathetic self pity for a moment, He reminded me to not be so self focused and said that if I'd fix my attitude, it would be a good day. Even though nothing spectacular was happening. So I did. And He was right. (as usual.)

Birthdays are way more fun if you get to dress up. To my great pleasure, I had the opportunity when my lovely friend Katie decided to take me out for coffee. (which was superfantastic since my morning coffee was a disappointment) So, I put on my pretty skirt and my birthday things and we headed out.

Venti hazelnut iced coffee. (that can be a sentence by itself, right?) Katie and I decided to sit in the huge orange armchairs to sip our drinks. Carrying on a conversation became awkward. The chairs were comfy, but there was too much space between them and the speaker was pouring coffee-shop ambiance right on top of our heads. Not to mention the agent in sunglasses, keeping watch over his business partner (who was working a deal on the phone) and glaring at me every time I laughed.

After Starbucks, we went fabric shopping so I can make more cute skirts. Two for her, one for me. They're going to be awesome. Expect pictures in a week or so.

When I got home, my mom was making stir fry, which I LOVE.
And since I felt pretty, I had my little sis take a few pictures of me being twenty-one.
(This was also done for the purpose of photographically recognizing some of my awesome birthday gifts!)


The amazing yellow beads of sunshine are from Erin who thinks of me every time she sees something yellow. She also gave me some sweet bird earrings which are not pictured.

The super cute birdie earrings are from Kathryn, who knows my deep appreciation for Etsy and bird-related items therein.

The PERFECT belt is from Tiffany, who loves to shop. We went shopping together and she saw that I fell in love with this belt, so she went back and bought it for me the next day!!

(Sunglasses from Rae would have been in this picture too except I wore them yesterday and now I can't find them!)

Anyway, dinner was fantastic and afterward we had a family meeting of sorts. Life has been crazy, so it was good to take a few minutes to get everybody in one place to encourage each other and regroup.

Then I got to spend some much needed time with my dear friend Katey. Life's been SO crazy that we haven't gotten to really talk in a long time, so there was a lot of catching up to do. That was nice.

Beside for all that there's been a steady stream of birthday wishes on Facebook, which has been a ton of fun. I also got a card in the mail from my sweet Mema. Then when I got online to write this four friends were chatting with me at once all of the sudden! So... YAY! What I expected to be a boring, non-special day turned out really great. Nothing spectacularly out of the ordinary happened, but it's amazing how much good sweet friends, good coffee, a pretty outfit, and your favorite food can do.

So now you know. Happy 21st birthday to me!

20 was full of craziness, and so much change I can hardly believe it.
I'm excited to see where 21's gonna take me!

Goodybe, July

Thought I'd better write again before July was out. It is the last day of this fine month, you know.
I don't think I can coordinate my thoughts this morning, so a random smorgasbord of bullets is the order of the day.

• I'm currently eating cheese toast with tomatoes on it, courtesy of my friend Rebecca. She brought me a lovely block of Muenster from Wisconsin last week.
• 
• July has been a month of craziness.
• I made a successfully cute skirt a couple weeks ago.
• I need to go fix a seam in aforementioned skirt when I get off the computer.
• Yesterday I went to Six Flags again with some of my awesome friends.
• I have been so busy doing things with my friends this month that I am exhausted.
• Also, I have a cold.
• Wednesday was bad. It was very depressing. Erin gave me a string of yellow beads and that helped.
• My world is spinning around me like mad, but God's got it under control so there's no point in me freaking out about it.
• People are disappointing.
• God is faithful.
• People are also amazing.
• Thursday night I stayed up and colored a unicorn with my crayons. I think people should use crayons way more often.
• Sometimes I wonder if it will ever end, but I don't really know what "it" is. I have a feeling it's not going to, though.
• There is a fly that keeps buzzing around my head and it's driving me INSANE.
• I've been too busy for the past week and a half to journal, which is really sad because I've been busy doing stuff that begs to be written about.
• I've written more in my journal this past month than any other month in my life because I'm determined to remember. Recently I realized that I can't remember huge chunks of my life and it makes me sad. No, I mean seriously sad. Like I've lost part of my life, as if I had amnesia or something.
• God is amazing. I know I sound redundant, but when life goes crazy and you're forced to just spend time sitting alone in God's presence so you don't go crazy with it, that's when His beauty becomes so real.
• Sleepovers, a birthday party, a prayer retreat, a visit with old friends, six flags, VBS, are just a few of the things that have occupied my time and energy this month. And, may I say, they were all fantastically fun.
• As I'm writing, I'm listening to this video: Aaand you should listen to it too because that's my friend Janson and he's entered the Opening Act competition for a chance to open at Celebrate Freedom concert this year. Go watch it. It counts as a vote for him. :) Even if you don't care about the contest, I recommend checking it out anyways because it's a fantastic song.
• I could use some ice cream right now.
• Yesterday at six flags I was wishing I had put sunscreen on the back of my neck, but it was too late... then we noticed someone had left some spray-on SPF 50 sitting on a bench... thank you, random person, for forgetting your sunscreen. My neck is grateful. =)
• Bekka and I convinced Rebecca to get a spur-of the moment haircut while she was in town since she hated her hair. She loves it now. You're welcome, Bex. lol
• On the way back from the retreat, I spent hours talking in a British accent. During which time span this picture was taken. Starbucks' shaken iced tea/lemonade is delicious. Hat shops are less boring when silly boys and silly accents are involved.
  
• Egyptian bellydancing belts... haha. And it's ok if that didn't make sense to you. It won't make sense to most of you, but I felt like it had to be there.
  
• I kept up the accent until it was scared right out of me when I had to run across 4 lanes of scary traffic. O.o It didn't come back after that.
• If there's a cup over the ketchup pump at Zaxby's that means you probably don't want to consume that particular ketchup. Experience is a fantastic teacher.
• Looking at that pic reminds me I really need to work on my gangsta face.
• I won a game of Scrabble last night. Both the other girls I played with claimed to be champs. in yo face!
• I feel kinda bad this post is so disorderly, but I seriously am unable to write about everything in an orderly fashion right now, so it was this or nothin'.
• I never eat ice and yesterday my fingertips got all wrinkly from eating all the ice chips out of my cup at Applebee's.
• Um... I think I'm done for now. Happy weekend, people. <3
  

I like the smell of fireworks...

Happy Friday!
I have decide on this lovely, much-too-warm Friday to share with you all just how very fun last Sunday was. (In case you forgot, Sunday was the 4th of July)

Actually, I'm afraid unless you were there you just won't be able to fully know the amazingness that it was, but I feel that it would be blogger deprivation if I didn't share what I could. So here goes.

Almost our whole Sunday school class (which is a lot of people) showed up, plus a couple stray youth group kids. (Something happened when I turned 20 and all of a sudden I'm calling everyone a kid, like I'm actually older than them or something. haha.) Our favorite class activity goes like this: Everyone brings their favorite games and some food to Floyd's, and then we spend hours playing and eating. And maybe pretending to faint on Floyd's nifty sofas... ehem.

I brought cookies and watermelon. Heh heh... Nobody even knew what I did to the watermelon.


There were footballs and Frisbees and bubbles. There was Wii. There was Apples to Apples. UpWords. Life. Uno. Other games I don't know and didn't play... Lots of stuff going on all at once.

Even some modeling.

(The other models, I think, would rather their picture not be posted publicly.)

Katie and Keith and I wanted to play Uno, so we rounded up some people...
Somebody took this great picture of Anna Leigh and Laura...

Matt brought his nifty camera. He left it unattended at some point... That was fun.
Props to Matt for sharing these pics with me so I could share them with you. :)

I took this pic of 3 of my favorite people!

The boys were hardcore and grilled us some foods.
Anna Leigh took a picture of my foods.
There also happens to be a picture of me eating said foods. Wow. Thanks.

You know what? I don't think this post is doing the day much justice at all.
There were just too many people having too much fun for me to properly express it.

Here's this picture of everybody.
The best game of Catch-phrase ever was sacrificed for this picture!


So, we ate lots of food, and played lots of games, and had lots of laughs. The day ended with fireworks, as it ought. Fireworks and "Jesus music" and Christian college horror stories and snarkiness... Perfect. :)

The End.

P.S. I just had to edit this post because I used to word "awesome" about 3 times.

Just Today

foreward: This is a seriousish post about a conversation I had with God about me being single. If that disinterests you, you may tune out now. =D I wasn't going to post this on my blog, so it started out earlier today as a little note on Facebook. But now it's officially a blog post too, just in case any of you would happen to like it.

So...

I was going to do this as a blog post, but then I decided that
it wasn't blog worthy. Or too personal maybe? Or that people wouldn't like it.
Or think I'm weird. Or something. I don't know. Something kept me from posting
it on my blog, but I just wanted to share it. Mostly with Erin because we've
been talking about this kind of stuff lately. (contentment, trusting God,
relationships, talking to God... you know...)

Well, I had a revelation
the other night. Or maybe it was an epiphany, whatever that is. Or just a
realization.

I was lying in bed, trying to muster up the courage to tell
God "if you want me to be single for the rest of my life, I'm okay with that." I
do a lot of my talking to God at night, in case you haven't noticed. Anyways, I
really couldn't even manage "I am content to be single til I'm 42, if that's
your will for me, God." Because, honestly? I want God's will and only God's will
for my life, but how can I promise that I'm going to be content being single
every day for the rest of my life right now?!

And then the neatest little
thing happened. God said "You don't have to be content to be single for the rest
of your life. Just today."

Just today?
I thought I had to sign it all
over and say "Lord, I am ready to be an old maid for you! Let's do
this!"

And He was like "nope. Just today. That's all I really
want."

That makes SO MUCH SENSE!

I can live with being single
today. We're supposed to take life one day at a time anyways, right?
He gives
grace when we need it, and right now I don't NEED the grace to be content to be
a crazy old bird lady for the rest of my life. All I need right now is the grace
to serve joyfully where I am TODAY.

And I dunno if this is necessarily
scriptural, but why should I force myself to say "I'm content to be single
forever" when God hasn't said that's His will anyways? I don't know WHAT His
will for the future is.

But I must act on what I DO know of God's will,
and I DO know that TODAY I am supposed to be single.
I can deal with that.
=)

And sufficient grace for each new Today will come as it gets
here.

And if it turns out that I AM supposed to be single forever, well I
guess that'll be ok too, because not only will God give grace, but Erin has
agreed to be a crazy bird lady with me.
<3

More Fun!

I've really been slacking on the whole blogger thing lately. You poor dears.

This morning I decided I just needed to post something, anything.

"Let's see..." I thought to myself, "what has been going on that I can post about?..."
"Well," I said to myself, "you have been going to Six Flags a lot lately."
"Oh, right!" I replied, "that should make a good update!"

So here I am.

It's true. I've been to Six Flags a few times already this year. It feels like I've been a lot, but I can really only think of 3 times so far. That number's gonna change fast, though. If you've been around a while, you may already know of my love for this park.

Not that you can actually see me, but I'm in the front there -on that crazy wooden instrument of exhilarating torture, the CYCLONE! ahem. Most people come off it with spinal problems and migraines. bahaha. Much props to my awesome friend for capturing such a cool shot.

On the left there is the awesome friend I was talking about, but this is a different trip. That's me in the middle, in case you didn't know. On the right is my devious-est friend. All together we had a blast that day. We brought two boys along so we would have somebody to pick on - how brilliant are we? Laughter all the day long.
(...so maybe we're not that mean... ... the boys are good sports, anyhow.)

And, just so everyone knows, the best thing in the world is to ride the Goliath in the very very front in the DARK. And be the very last people to leave the park. Super cool.
So, now you know.

hello, teeth!

So, Monday I got a call from Cathy at the Office.
She's my favorite Cathy.
Also my favorite person at the office.

And you know what she said?
"Hello dear, would you like to get your braces off tomorrow?"
And I said "ohmygoshareyouseriousCathyIloveyou!"
Or something like that.

Really, I wasn't *supposed* to get them off yet, even though my teeth were ready.
Cathy pulled some strings. She rocks like that.
And so, I went in on Tuesday morning to get my braces off!
But first - a picture with the awesomest orthodontist on the planet.

Dr. Wright is the bestest EVAR. Seriously. Not that I've met any other orthodontists, but if you've met Dr. Wright there's no point meeting any other orthodontists. ha. Nobody could top Dr. Wright. He's just that cool.

Out of the 2 years and 10 months of having braces, getting them off was the worst part. Well, actually that would be right after I got them off. Having your sensitive teeth blasted with icy water and freezing air is pretty uncomfortable.

However, it wasn't too terrible, and it's all over now! And now I have teeth.
... Well I had them before, but now you can see them. In all their toothy glory. It's a little odd, actually. But I'm getting used to it! I was worried I would hate how they look, and I don't, so I'm happy. :)

See how happy I look? Also, I'm wearing TWO bunny necklaces. That was a contributing factor.
And since I had the camera out, and my snake was sitting right there, I ended up with this picture, too.
He doesn't have a name yet.

I used to have braces. Now I don't. That's how the story goes.

Domesticities: baking cookies

My family loves me.

Probably because I keep making cookies.
It all started about 3 weeks ago when I really really wanted some chewy chocolate cookies.
I ended up with this recipe. It's perfect!!

Just like a brownie - crinkly top, chewy edges, soft middle... YUM.
Their only downfall is they're not nearly so yummy two days later... But why let them sit that long anyways?

About the same time as I discovered the chocolate cookies, my friend shared with me some food blog on which the author was talking about using roasted flour. Intriguing! Tuesday I printed off her "squeeze cookie" recipe and gave it a try.
I decided to shape my cookies with a tablespoon instead of squeezing them. Delicious! My mom declared them pretty much the best cookies ever and demanded I make more. They're like a cross between shortbread cookies and sugar cookies - and since these were so thick they were a little cake-like in the center. Buttery, crumbly goodness.

I told her I thought they would be better if they were a little smaller, but I was at a loss for how to shape them. She suggested the pretty fluted sugar spoon. Brilliance! I ended up with a pan full of pretty shell-shaped cookies! They are absolutely perfect with a cup of hot coffee.
And there you have it.
I think I need to go eat another one...

It's Enough

I couldn't fall asleep.
So I just lay there, wishing I were asleep and thinking.

Thinking doesn't seem the right word. Sometimes at night your mind takes on a mind of it's own.
Thoughts bombard me in a swirling torrent, drowning the peace, keeping out sleep.
I wish they wouldn't do that.

"Good thing relationships are the most important thing in life," I said,
"they're the only thing I'm not a failure at."

Of course, everyone says that's not true - that I'm not a failure.
I know it's not true.
Funny thing, though - Feeling can be a lot stronger than Knowing.

For so, so long I've battled with those stupid Feelings.
They have names.
Feeling Pointless. Feeling Inferior. Feeling Aimless. Feeling Stuck.

The torrent keeps telling me about Everyone else. Whoever They are.
Everyone else has a Plan.
Everyone else is climbing their ladder to their Future.
Everyone else has Goals. Real, tangible goals.
Everyone else is succeeding!
Going places. Achieving things. Being Somebodies.

What do I have?
About five baskets of laundry to fold.
About that many siblings waiting for me to cook breakfast.

What am I doing?
Staying at home. Going to church. Doing laundry.
(Wait, no. Actually, I don't do laundry. It's such a circular chore. Progress feels impossible. Put away a load, and it's time to wash another. The key to avoiding defeat is total avoidance of whatever's defeating you. That logic is not sound.)


"So why don't you go to school?" They ask.

"God hasn't told me to."
It's not a cop-out. I promise.
I don't think they believe me.
I think they think I'm a bum.

"Maybe I am."

Then I figured it out.
An Aspiration. That's what I need!

"Something to strive for," I said, "a concrete Goal to give me daily purpose. Then I will feel Fulfillment!"

...

How do I get one of those?

So I asked God. I may have beat around the bush about it.

"You said it was Your Will for me to be at home at this point in my life, right? That was You, I'm sure of it. I thought Your Will was supposed to be fulfilling. It's not! The only thing for me to do here is laundry! That's not fulfilling. It's boring."

He didn't say anything.

"Look, Jesus. Everyone else is MOVING. See? I'm SITTING. I need a Goal. Please? Just flash some inspiration into my mind. Throw me a random passion I need to pursue for your glory. Those other people are becoming writers, counselors, teachers, nurses, whatevers. I want to become too! What am I supposed to Become?"

He still didn't say anything.
He certainly didn't just toss me an Aspiration out of the blue.
But He was listening. I could tell He was listening.

Sometimes you just need someone to listen.
This wasn't one of those times.
Sometimes you just want the answer.
This was one of those times.
Sometimes it gets annoying when the listener just watches you struggle to figure it out on your own.

(That happens in Pastor's classes sometimes.)

Frustrated, I started to cry.
I felt stupid for crying. My pillow grew uncomfortably wet as I questioned God.

"Why do I feel an emptiness? Why haven't you given me a clear path? Why am I at home? I'm twenty. I'm supposed to be accomplishing things. Isn't there some grander thing for me? Isn't there some higher goal?"

Exasperated, arms raised in the darkness, I asked aloud, "Is this ALL?!"

It was like the ceiling wasn't there and my words had all gone straight out to Him.
There was a moment of nothing.

"is it enough?"

From wherever my cry had gone, these words came back to me. They weren't mine.
I didn't think them. But they were there.

"Is It Enough?" He asked me.

I knew it was Him, because He has that crazy habit of answering a question with a question.
And you know what I said back?

I said I didn't know.
Then I went to sleep.

IS it enough? Is IT enough? Is it ENOUGH?

Day after day I repeat His question.
Why would He ask that if I was right to begin with and the answer was "no, it's not enough" ?
He must be trying to get me to say yes.

*introspection* Nope. No "yes"es here. It still doesn't feel like enough.

Saturday morning. Time for devotions. I've never liked that word.
Pastor gave us homework on Wednesday:
Read John 17 every day this week.
So I read John 17 again. (I love that chapter. My favorite part is verse 24)

I checked the homework section on Wednesday's notes to see what else I was supposed to do.

"Do Something About God's Glory" it said.
No questions about what that means. It was printed in big letters on the other side of the page:
"Giving God Glory = DOING WHAT GOD GIVES ME TO DO"

It told me, "Focus on the question Am I doing what God gave me to do?"

"Well, God... what have you given me to do?" I asked bluntly.

I don't think God rolls his eyes at us.
I would have rolled my eyes at me, though.
But He just watched me sit there thinking for a minute.
I asked Him again.

"We've already been through this whole thing how You won't give me an Aspiration.
So what HAVE you given me?"

Then you know what He said?

Laundry.

I'm serious.
So. Serious.

Then He decided to be a little conversational.
He said
"You were right about My Will, insomuch as I want you to be at home as opposed to going to school or working full time. You got that part a long time ago, but it looks like you've been waiting for some Bigger And Better Will, though, and that's not happening. You need to remember that My Will is bigger and better than what you presently see. Accept it for what it is now, and we can move on to the next step when we get there."

I interrupted.
"But if I'm doing your will, why do I feel like I'm failing? Why do my days feel pointless? Why does it feel like a standstill?"

"Because," He replied, "You ARE standing still. You're where I told you to be, but you're not doing what I told you to do. Unless you're doing what I tell you to do, when and where I tell you to do it, you're not really doing My Will, are you?"

"Oh. That makes a lot of sense." I said.
I didn't say that aloud, but if words in your mind can sound crestfallen, mine did.

Like a gently reprimanding father teaching his child to recognize his own mistakes, he questioned me again. I felt like I was six years old again.

"And what is it that you have been given to do?"
"... housework...."
"Specifically."
"... I like cooking..."
"Stop dallying and just say it. You know what I'm talking about. I already told you to begin with."
"Laundry."

Then you know what He said?
He said "That's right. Whatever I have given you to do, do it. This is my will."

I have never before felt so enlightened, foolish, and disappointed all at once.
What a menial task.

"I figured out the problem. For real this time. Well actually -" I interrupted myself, "God showed me.
His will for me is to do the laundry."

Sweet words to my mother's ears.

When I say laundry, I mean it literally as well as broadly- encompassing all the little no-fun things that must be done to maintain order in a home brimful of people. I'm not exactly thrilled that this is God's will for me right now. But these are the things that need to be done Here, and I'm certain that Here is where He wants me.

I'm also certain that it's a step. You know those steps Everyone Else is climbing?
This is my step.
It just looks different from theirs. And one day I'll be on the next step. God's Will for Right Now won't be the same forever - The Present calls for menial labor. Maybe the Future will be a little shinier. Maybe.

This is where it becomes important for me to find my identity and worth in Christ and His Glory.

Let's face it - you're probably not going to be really impressed with me if we're all hanging out and you ask everyone what God has us doing right now.

Someone will probably say God has them on their way to Pensacola Christian College or something peachy like that.
Someone else will probably say God has them working a crazy stressful full time job.
Someone else might even be taking a little break from work or school to really "focus on God" and "find His will", which is dandy.

And then you know what I will say?
God has me at home doing my family's laundry and making killer chocolate cookies.

Maybe it's just me, but that sounds a lot less impressive. (except about the cookies. you should try one)
As a matter of fact, to some people it sounds downright lazy.

But nobody can say, "You're crazy. That is not God's will."
Because God already told me, "This is my will for you, love. It is enough."

The Music of Heaven

Last week I read Beth Moore's Get out of that Pit.
I haven't been in a pit, but it was a good read. There was a chapter near the end entitled "Singing a New Song" that was really exciting to me. It presented the idea that we were all born for song. Our lives are a song. We are surrounded by song. We need song.

And since I don't want to write for permission to copy what she said, I'm just going to tell you what I got from the chapter in my own words.

Job 38:4-7
“ Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements?
Surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
To what were its foundations fastened?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
When the morning stars sang together,
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?"

Music is eternal. Outer space is filled with the songs of stars we can't comprehend. Heaven rings with the songs of angels. God invented music and set about filling the universe with it.

Psalm 32:7
"You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance."

God wants us to be free, and he surrounds us, in the midst of our battle, with songs of deliverance!
Beth Moore said to think of all the dramatic movies you've seen. She specifically mentions The Return of the King and Remember the Titans. The Lion King being my favorite movie, that's what comes to mind for me. (Ok, Hanz Zimmer is amazing, so I'm not ashamed. lol)

Movies are filled with amazingly haunting scores, triumphant scores, joyful, aching, glorious melodies. If earthly music, played on earthly instruments to accompany a drama written by fallen people has such moving power, just imagine the accompaniment with which God surrounds us! Surely it is composed of melodies we could never imagine, with sounds and structure we could never comprehend!

So... I don't know a good way to wrap this up, but that was an amazing thought to me and I thought it was worth sharing. Not only does He fill our hearts with unutterable songs to Him, and the heavens with songs beyond our comprehension, He surrounds us in the midst of our struggles with "ringing cries" and "shouts of deliverance". (Strong's Concordance)

Wow.

Hoot!

Here's a mathematical equation for you.

Marshmallow Peep Bunnies
- Ears
= Hooty Owls!

see?!

I was thrilled to find that out.
I will never eat peep bunnies the same way again.

Showing Off

Last weekend I made a sweater vest thingy!

I kind of don't know what to call it.


I also don't know what to do with it.
Keep it? List it?

I have more of that yarn, and I don't know what to do with it, either.
Make another sweater? A different sweater?

So many decisions.

I think my photographer/little sister did a fantastic job on these pictures.

But not that last one, cuz I took it. =)

So, what do you think?

Crayons are Underrated

Why do we stop coloring when we grow up?
What happened to all the coloring books and markers and crayons?
Did it stop being fun?
Or do we just have better, more grown-up things to do with our time?

Last night I went over to Katey's house for a cup of tea. And you know what I did?
I brought my 96 pack of Crayolas (why yes, I do have a built in sharpener!),
and two sketch pads.
Then I declared "we must color while we sip our tea."
And so we did.

I drew a disproportionate Alice in Wonderland teacup. Then I decided that it needed to have a spout. Then I decided that it was a teacup-like gravy boat. ... I have no clue.

Next came the shroom. AKA toadstool. And I have no idea what's up with all the pink and purple, because I don't even like pink and purple. They just came to me.

Determined to get away from pink and purple, I decided green was a good choice. Which, naturally, led me to draw a mermaid tail.

... I think Katey drew a normal woodland scene or something. Her drawing made sense. haha!

When's the last time you used a crayon? It was probably way too long. Go find some and color a picture! You don't have to stay in the lines. ;-)

Good Morning...

Good morning, friends.

It's been a while again, hasn't it?
It's spring now, and I am happy.

Right now I'm sitting in the living room, having my morning coffee a little late (it's Saturday!). My little brother is sitting beside me making weird noises and concentrating like a kung fu master on our game of Jenga. Now he's trying to replicate Yzma's evil laugh from The Emperor's New Groove. I can't seem to figure out why I don't play with him more often. :)

In about two hours I'm leaving to go to a wedding. I haven't been to a wedding in such a long time! I'm looking forward to it.

(There went the tower. I win!)

Life continues to bombard me with cruddy stuff I would rather not deal with. But you know what? God is totally using it to teach me about Himself, and myself, and working everything out to bring ultimate glory to Him. So, that's that... It's not fun, but He gives grace which is sufficient and sweet.

The coming week is going to be really busy. Our church's Easter production is Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. The forward part of the week will be spent in dress rehearsals. Which means my voice needs to come all the way back! It's been rather out of commission since sometime Tuesday.

Now, I'm going to play one more round with Benjamin and have another blueberry muffin.

What are you doing with your Saturday?

Find some daffodils to enjoy, and I'll talk to y'all later.
-Caitlin

Undeserving

I've always thought of myself as a blogger. Probably due to the fact that I've kept a fairly faithful running update of my life since the days of homeschool jumpers and LiveJournal. However, I'm feeling rather undeserving of my self-imposed title.

I really enjoy blogging. It's probably the self focus that is so attractive to me.

"Here is me! Aren't I lovely? This is what I did! Isn't that nifty?"

Then again, it's not all selfishness. Writing is fun! Expressing myself with words is sort of a creative experience. Lately, though, (and who knows how long lately has been) I find myself neglecting my blog. Not because I don't want to write, but more because I don't know what to write about.

"I got up, cooked something, and crocheted a hat" gets old, you know? Doesn't garner many comments either, and we might as well admit it- what's the point of posting if it's something nobody's going to comment on. (Okay, so there are exceptions, but you get me, right?)

That's another thing. People "getting me". I don't think they do sometimes. I want to be more pithy. Write about real stuff, serious thoughts, not just what I did this week. But sometimes I do write something a little more introspective, and once it's out there I feel like nobody "gets it".
Of course, that's not completely true. A lot of my friends understand me perfectly, but sometimes I find myself starting to throw out disclaimers left and right to ensure nobody misconstrues what I'm saying.

Now that I've stopped and re-read what I've written so far, I don't really know where I was going with this. I just thought I needed to update, so I started typing.

And in case you did just happen to be wondering what I cooked recenty, I shall tell you. Absolutely fantastic ricenoodle stir-fry, and some amazing banana bread.

The End. :)

Seven Things

Hello, world!

Jessica at Simply Riveting has given me a Kreative Blogger Award!
That means now I have to write 7 things about myself.

• I love to dress nicely, but I've pushed aside my well-dressed habit in favor of wearing the same two sweatshirts all winter long. (at home, that is.) Big cozy sweatshirt = love.
• I never "do my nails" because it always turns out to be a pointless endeavor.
• I hate sewing buttons. I will make a pair of Mary Jane slippers and avoid sewing the buttons on until the last minute before I'm supposed to ship them.
• I love to cook. Cooking is the medium in which, when I have an idea, I can execute it the way I envision it in my head and it usually turns out right.
• When I was young, I was in love with Golden Retrievers and promised myself I would own one someday. Not so adamant on that any more.
• I hope to go back to teaching this fall. We'll see how it goes.
• Naming animals gives me great joy.

Now I'm supposed to tag 7 more people.
I choose... Jess, Alyssa, Sabrina, Emily, Erin, Mandy, and Lisa. They all have fantastic blogs, and it makes me happy inside when I see their updates on my Google Reader. lol

There you go! I'll try to post again soon. I've missed blogging. :)
Happy MARCH!!

Caitlin

The Unattainables

There's this one person you wish you could get to know. Inevitably blessed with a gorgeous smile and constantly surrounded by people. There they are, in all their glory, just running over with fun personality (that made me think of that line from Shrek - "you're just REEKIN' with feminine beauty!" unrelated, yes). You know, the kind that enables them to be friends with anyone and everyone.

Everyone but you.

Okay, so maybe that's not quite true, but that's beside the point.

You just know if you could hang out with them and really get to know them you'd be great pals. You'd have lots of laughs and inside jokes, and you'd get along really well. But it will never happen for you. Why? Because they already have a horde of best pals, and they're super nice to everyone else on the planet, too. How could they possibly have room for another friend?

"High school buddy moved away - now accepting applications for new friend."

It's not like they ignore you, heaven forbid dislike you. Sometimes they even stop and speak to little ol' you! They flash you that lovely, sincere smile of good will, ask how you're doing, make some astoundingly clever remark, and then they're off again. Off to be friends with the world.

Maybe I'm pathetic. I can think of ten people right now that I've observed in this light.

Some of them, looking back, were probably best left relegated to acquaintance status.

Some of them I was pretty close with, and this opposite thing happened where I watched our friendship slip into oblivion as they grew closer to other awesomer people.

Some of them I currently count among my friends, but still feel like I don't know them well enough.

Some of them I'm sure I never even spoke to. Maybe I said hi once. Maybe.

Probably not.

What do you call that, anyway? Is there a nice, short way to say "aspiring to be close to a person you admire who is so awesome they already have so many friends there's no room for you"?

Maybe I'm just a selfish kid. Maybe my wish to be good friends with these people is some inner self-seeking ....thing. I never considered that before. Hm. But I don't think that's it.

Honestly, I just think they're cool people and wish I could get to know them better. humph.

Maybe I'm the only one that feels that way about some people.

Nah. Can't be.

Are there any Unattainables in your life?

I wonder how they would feel to know they're in that category.
I wonder if maybe some of them do know?

Happy Presidents' Day!

• I didn't realize it was Presidents' Day until the mail never came.
• Pairs skating last night was cool
  
• I miss all the chocolate and valentines from working at preschool.
• I made a new hat this week but haven't photographed it yet.
• Alicia, Katey, and I made a Valentine's garland for their house.
  
• Construction paper, glue, glitter and markers make me HAPPY!
• Katey and I made cupcakes, too.
• God is good, even when life is cruddy.
• "Your Hands" by JJ Heller- new favorite song. See above.
• Laura and I went out with some girlfriends tonight for Valentine's Day.
• Sushi is good!
• Coffee is better!
• Choir's going into overdrive for Easter. YAY!
• I need another cup of mint tea.
• This week is chock full of stuff. Fun stuff.
  
• I'm happy.

Have a good week!

Show and Tell

Last week was a very creative week for me. I shall tell you about it. =)

I had a little home decorating project to do that turned out really well.
Turns out, doing things make my life seem a little more meaningful. Who'da thunk!

Last week our corner shelves were put in their homes in the dining room, looking rather bare. Guess whose job it was to spiffy them up? Mine! Yay!

I went on a scavenger hunt around the house, found some interesting stuff, and put it all on the dining room table. We were lacking some focal centerpieces, so I dragged out the percolator and espresso machine.

Then I was at a loss as to how I should arrange it all.

Somehow, it ended up looking really nice. The percolator and espresso maker constantly being before my eyes don't help with the frequent coffee cravings, but they sure are pretty.

Most of the week's creativity was spent in the kitchen. I cooked a lot of stuff. I decided that we needed to have some new, different stuff for dinner, so I went to the library, picked out two cookbooks that had "normal" sorts of food in them, and went from there. (Turns out, most cookbooks are full of recipes that require fancy things we don't keep around here.)

Besides for 3 recipes I (sort of) made from the book, I also decided I wanted to replicate the chile rellenos I had at the Mexican restaurant. Success! No recipe, but it tasted exactly how I wanted it to. Probably not authentic, but whatever. It was delicious.

Also, I kept thinking about all the homemade poptarts I'd seen online. I was itching to try it, and it did so warily. My expectations were very low. I expected nothing more than edible-ness, and that only because the ingredients were edible. I certainly did not expect triumphant success. That's what I got, though!

Even though I used different flour than what the recipe called for, I had perfect, flaky pie crust. (Which you can't tell from the pictures.) You would not believe how excited I was. I ran around jumping and squeaking "IT'S FLAKY! LOOK! It's REAL pie crust!!!" (which you also can't tell from the pictures.)

Anyways, it was a good week. I cooked two Asian-y meals yesterday, complete with oyster sauce I bought at the market. Yum!

While I'm showing off, here's a picture of our mantle that I mentioned somewhat recently.

You kind of can't see all the awesome grasses and stuff on the left, but they're there.
So, that's all for now. Now I need to get off the computer and find some creative things to do today. I think I'll crochet something. I haven't done much of that in a while.

Have a lovely week, people!

Caitlin

Adventure to the Bahamas -The Day Before

Two weeks ago today, I got in a car with three people, headed toward Florida to get on a ship for the BAHAMAS!! Those three people? My super-awesome friend Anna Leigh, her mom, Mrs. Jeannie, and the fun-loving Mrs. Theresa. None of us had been on a cruise before, so yay for new experiences!

I spent the night with the Acords the night before, and they don't usually have coffee. It was getting on around 9 AM and I was like, "Um... This is selfish, but I'm an addict and I need some coffee.... heh!" Mr. Rocky jumped up to make me some, but he didn't have to, because Mrs. Jeanie was on the phone with Mrs. Theresa, who was at McDonalds. Problem solved. The dear Mrs. Theresa brought me some coffee, and I knew everything was gonna be alright.

Mr. Rocky packed our luggage in the trunk, Anna Leigh and I settled down in the back seat with munchies, blankets, and dvds, and so we set out. Mrs. Jeannie took the wheel under the guidance of Anna's GPS, and Mrs. Theresa rode shotgun. And we drove. And drove. For hours.


For lunch, it was decided that we would all write down our top four choices for lunch (on a ripped up napkin) and whichever place had the most votes is where we would go. Subway won! The subway we found had a Dairy Queen beside it, and all of a sudden I really wanted some fries. So I decided to get a DQ chicken wrap, which I ended up regretting because it was tiny and weird. However, the fries were fantastic and that's what mattered. Then we drove even more, finally making it to our hotel about 9 hours after we started.


Anna Leigh and I plopped down on the sleep number beds as soon as we arrived. We played with the settings and laughed for probably half an hour, til Mrs. Jeanie called out outside to look at the awesome pool. By the way, the most popular sleep number is 35. The perfect balance between soft and supportive. The pool was pretty sweet. It had a waterfall rushing over these big landscaping boulders, and a nifty koi pond. It would have been nice to go for a swim, but we got there too late, and had to leave too early in the morning.

All the way to the hotel we kept thinking of things we needed. Fake nails, chocolate, deodorant, wrinkle release spray, blo pops... you know, important stuff like that. A Wal-Mart run was definitely going to be a necessity. We also decided we needed to find a Cracker Barrel for dinner since all of us but Anna needed a real meal. It seemed perhaps if we just drove around we would find what we wanted. We drove one way. Nothing. We drove another way. Nothing. That plan wasn't working so well, so we stopped at a pharmacy and asked some lady where we could find a Cracker Barrel. She gave us really good directions, told us there was, mercifully, a Wal-Mart right beside it, and suggested we visit the Atlantis hotel on Paradise Island once we got to the Bahamas.

So, we headed out following the girl's directions without a hitch, and found the Cracker Barrel. I have never been so excited about roast beef, mashed potatoes, and macaroni in my life. My heart flooded with joy at the thought of it. And rightly so. Anna asked if it fulfilled my expectations, and I told her it quite exceeded them. It was the best ten dollars I've spent in a while, topped off with a biscuit and blackberry jam.

With our stomachs much happier, it was time to head to the next-door Wal-Mart. We sallied forth, made our purchases, and headed back to the car. Mrs. Theresa realized that this trip (which had been pretty dramatic for a simple trip to dinner and Wal-Mart) was definitely worth documenting, and forbade us enter the car. Henceforth she found an optimal space in the parking lot whereat the Wal-Mart sign could be see above our heads. The camera found a place on top the car, auto-timer was set, and the picture was taken! Time to move forward!


Who knew forward would be so confusing? Richard the GPS voice told us how to get back to the hotel from our current location, but we passed the exit he told us to take. We got off at the next one, so he told us to get back on the interstate by turning left in a couple hundred yards. We approached the place to turn and were stunned to find not a clearly marked ramp, but what looked like a vast emptiness instead. "I'm not turning into that cow pasture!" Mrs. Jeanie said, so we did a U turn. It didn't make sense for it to be a cow pasture, and surely Richard was right, so we headed toward the left turn again. "Take it slow, Jeanie. Nobody's behind you, just go slow. It DOES look like a pasture!" said Mrs. Theresa from the passenger's seat. And so she did. Of course, it was not a cow pasture. It was not well lit, but it turned out to be a normal on-ramp, and we made our way back to the hotel drama free, with Anna Leigh and I contentedly eating gummies and chocolate.

Once we got back to the hotel it was time to make preparations. Getting ready for anything can be a fiasco when there are women involved. Increase the number of them, and the insanity increases exponentially. Anna Leigh and I had to lay out all of our potential outfits and corresponding jewelry, and invite a panel of judges to help us. Oh, the indecisiveness of us! We made quite a mess of the contents of our suitcases, deliberating which pants would be best for which day, and showing off our formal dresses. Mrs. Theresa's enthusiasm for everyone's dresses was very gratifying, and we were quite satisfied with our selections. Finally, casual and dinner dress were chosen for the next day, we re-packed our bulging suitcases, and went to bed.

Happy February!

Hello, people.

In my blog absence, I have been to the Bahamas, and been sick.
And who knows what I did with all the time in between, because that was only two weekends.


Of course, I intend to write about my 3-night cruise with Anna Leigh, but sometimes my good intentions don't turn out so well. I have the trip to Florida chronicled in splendid Caitlinesque detail, and the adventurous dance party night fairly well covered, too. Other than that, the rest of the trip is still waiting patiently to be written about, and if I don't do it soon I shall forget.

The problem is once I start writing, I write in exact detail, and end up with a Very Long Story. And then it's so long, I'm not sure anyone will want to read it anyway. So, with the prospect of the documentation becoming a Very Long Story No One Wants To Read, I put it off.

Now you know! But I will try to get around to it, and give you lots of pictures to break up the monotony. And you all seem to enjoy my writing, even when I think it's boring, so I shall give it the benefit of the doubt.

At any rate, moving on to other things: Today is Groundhog Day. Which, honestly, holds no significance for me. I usually forget that it's groundhog day and don't find out the results of the foreshadowing (or not) til days later.

So, happy groundhog day! May winter leave soon. It was quite a shock being in the Bahamas for 3 lovely, warm days, and coming back to the cooold weather. Not that I'm complaining - I'm glad I live in GA where it almost never gets below 30.

P.S. If you would like to buy something from my shop, now would be a good time... Sorry. :)

P.P.S. Oh! By the way, I made a really cool beanie for this kid I know, and I failed to take pics and write a pattern. So, tomorrow, he's wearing it to church and I WILL take pics and write a pattern. And I shall show it to you because it's awesome.

That's all.

Caitlin

Ten Days of Listings

What started as a plan to post an item a day for 7 days turned into 10 new items in my shop!
I skipped Sundays.
Here's how it went down:

Thursday, January 7th


Friday, January 8th



Saturday, January 9th


Monday, January 11th


Tuesday, January 12th


Wednesday, January 13th


Thursday, January 14th


Friday, January 15th
January 15th

Saturday, January 16th


Monday, January 18th

Thanks to good lighting on the 14th, I was able to take pictures of all the scarves I already had, subsequently allowing me to continue listing things without having to make anything new. ;-)

YAY!

Grass and Sticks

Yes, this post is about grass and sticks. Sort of. Since we took our Christmas decorations down, the walls and mantle have seemed really bare and sad. Mama put me in charge of making the mantle pretty again. She gave me a couple other things to do, too. The other things didn't get done til the last minute in the evening because I spent the WHOLE afternoon on this one project.

Benjamin and I went out in the woods and foraged for pretty things. Sweetgum balls, pretty sticks and grasses, curly vine things... It was a lot of fun. I filled a glass lamp base with the sweetgum balls, and made a pretty natural arrangement with grasses and star shaped seedpods in a mason jar. I would post a picture, but our living room is so dark I can't get a good shot of the mantle. Maybe I'll try again eventually.


After the lamp and the mason jar, I got a little overzealous and built this really tall arrangement in a gooorgeous glass jug. (That jug was on the porch when we moved in! It just needed some washing.) After meticulously arranging the whole thing, I went to put it on the mantle and discovered it was way too tall. Unless I wanted to smoosh it. Which I didn't. So now it has a lovely home on the piano.

Those berries were actually just sitting on the piano beside the pictures before I put them in the arrangement. I found them lying on the ground at the park last week!

Then I had the problem of a big open space on the mantle where I had been going to put that jug. The kids told me that we already owned a similar but smaller one somewhere. I went rummaging downstairs again and found it! As of yet it has nothing in it, I tied a satin ribbon around it and set it on top of some books. Books make everything nicer!

So... there's my bit of show and tell for the day. :) More coming soon, as I'll have to show you all the wonderful things I posted in my shop this week!

Happy Saturday!

Caiti