What captures your heart?

Once again I've been made to write for my Honors English class. I particulary enjoyed this prompt and skipped around for a whole day and 1/2 just thinking about how I was going to respond:

"there are a few rules I know to be true about love and marraige: If you don't respect the other person, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don't know how to compromise, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can't talk openly about what goes on between you, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don't have a common set of values in life, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. Your values must be alike." (Morrie 149) -Tuesdays With Morrie

In an informal journal, respond to what Morrie says about love and marriage. Then, describe your ideal mate: their qualities, their treatment of you, their views on life, and whatever else is important. Give examples.

[Here's what came about of roughly 45 min. at a computer and a heart beating restlessly, frantically trying to capture my hearts desires in a short couple of pages. Enjoy!]

For eighteen years of my life I have watched my parent’s relationship soar and dwindle to the point of complete extinction, only to find renewed energy and faith, continuing on together. Lacking communication and respect in a relationship is a recipe for disaster. Marriage is supposedly set upon a foundation of truth and trust. How do we gain the trust of one another? By respecting your companion and being truthful with them through communication, you establish a healthy and strong foundation for marriage. What truth is the main ingredient in a strong foundation? Values.

A principle ingredient in a successful marriage is the ability to establish common values and the ability to discuss openly your thoughts, feelings and concerns. The most important way you can show someone how much you love them, is to listen when they speak. The most important way to voice your desire to listen to one another, is to create a comfort level in which truth can be freely spoken. We must learn to care about and respect the things that bring great joy to the one we love.

I must admit that as a young girl I never had the dream of marrying a man who was tall, dark and handsome with endless pockets of wealth and a perfect crest smile. I now know that God has created a special someone for me to spend the rest of my life with. The most important and desirable quality of this man will be his love for the Lord and his willingness to follow God’s plans for his life and our relationship. He will be a man of prayer who isn’t afraid of shedding a tear or two. He’ll be tough on the outside offering protection, but he will be made of layers filled with sweetness, love and humbleness to his core. His patience will be admired and respected.

His seemingly handsome appearance will be nothing spectacular , but it will be the only one to draw my heart’s deepest attention. His smile will consume his face leaving just enough room for his twinkling, deep eyes that are watching me. His gaze will be of understanding, relentless strength and trust. In his eyes I’ll be lost, his smile stirring up mountains of joy within my spirit. In his arms I will find safety, warmth, and comfort. The gentle strokes of his work worn hands, much bigger then mine, will dry all tears away. As his hands press lovingly against my cheeks, I’ll know everything is going to be alright and he is the man I’ve waited for my entire life.

His kiss will be more incredible then anything I’ve ever experienced, for as his powerful lips press against mine, this kiss will become another loving moment, a sign of his genuine affection for me. He will stir up every butterfly that clings to my stomach and make my head buzz in giddy school girl silliness. I will feel beautiful, enjoyed, respected and blessed.

My little quirks, inabilities and struggles will become his ways of appreciating me, challenging me and encouraging me. His laughter will take captive my heart and in response my laughter will join his. He will be my teacher and I his. He will not be intimidated by my strong abilities or his weaknesses, but instead will beam with pride at my success and stand by my side through my triumphs. I will be his support, his comfort, his reason to smile after a long hard day. My hands will be lost in his and everywhere we go people will know the love we share.

At times when I tell stories or reminisce of past memories, he will listen intently as I speak, curious about my stories, my joys, my sadness. He’ll desire to know me more and more and will learn new things each day. He will marvel at my desire to learn who he is and will appreciate me for just being Christy. He will remember the little things. One line stories I share will be victorious doors he’s conquered to my heart. Our discovery of one another will be a lifetime full of experiences, struggles and victory. Our love will be forever and our time together cherished. The Lord will be center of all we do, say and decide. When we wake up in the morning, side by side, cuddled sweetly together, we’ll silently rejoice, looking deeply into one another’s eyes, at how we were brought together to share a lifetime of experiences, a journey of love and an unforgettable mountain of blessings.

When this man is found...that "special place" in my heart will belong to him and only him.

** I'd love to hear of your "ideal mate" stories. Please feel free to share. My heart skips with joy when I hear stories about falling in love and journeying and searching and finding and how awesome God works through one's life shaping, molding and creating the perfect plan, uniquely and specially made just for them (you and me). Jesus loves you, yes he does ! :) Feel much loved today...incredible even ...for the Almighty creator of the universe has granted you breath and an awakening into this new day! Go live!

Gah.............

I miss my camera.
I want to take pictures.
Why do good picture taking opportunities come when you don't have a camera to take them with?
Moving on...
My painting in art class is in the front display @ school...
I was so excited when I walked by today to see MY artwork displayed where anyone could see it.
Prettiness, Prettiness, beautiful smiles!
My hair is growing, my fingernails finally not breaking.
I love to smile, I love to love, I love to just be.
May my eyes be my momentary camera for all of the "moments'' that come about...like awesome potholes & mid-wintery night skies.
Walks are fabulous!
*sigh...random...Je apologize.*

Read a good book...smile...laugh at great silliness...hug a dear friend!
Take a deep breath and know within your whole self, just how beautiful YOU are!

....YES....YOU!
(whoever may read this)

Senior Silliness

6th period with Ms. Levesque in my Honors English class has got to be one of my most favorite classes I've ever taken throughout the course of my 12+ year education in the American school system. (the + of course is in regards to my 2 years of pre-school...I started when I was 3...and loved it, so Mom sent me twice! Yes, block counting, snack time, coloring...the life of preschool.*sigh*)

Today we had a group reading time...we're discussing the importance of what is to be found in a relationship.(i.e: marriage, big commitments, that sort of thing.) So like all supposedly great things in English...there's a book or two or three or twelve involved in definiing, focusing and melding together the perfect explanation...and for of course offering the wonderfully uplifting debates that stem from a group of 20 highschool seniors all searching for their moral values, beliefs and walk in life. It's nothing short of amazing.

The book we 1/2 read (we shall finish monday) together as a class is called "What My Mother Doesn't Know" by Tonya Sonnes. (we each took turns reading a portion of the book...great fun great fun, I adore reading aloud.) I will say that the book doesn't exactly carry the most appropriate content of a good book -BUT- it is appropriate in the sense that it holds complete truth. It captures the struggle we all have once puberty strikes. We can all probably remember that day when we no longer wants the boys to play ball with us on the playground...you know, that day we traded in our tom-boy pants and attempted curling our hair and borrowing some of mom's makeup? For boys, you all remember that day the girls you once hated being around suddenly by some unexplainable phenomenon had fled from their "girl cooties" and were pretty okay to be around. In fact we all remember the day when none of this made sense to us and every inch of our insides was crying out to be noticed by none other then the very foreign opposite sex.

Raise your hand if you don't get a special fuzzy feeling in your tummy when that special someone walks by. Raise your hand if you've never longed with your whole self to be kissed by the person who's captured a piece of your heart. Now, if you're raising your hand...you've probably NOT experienced the wonders of glamourous puberty. When I say glamourous I am being extremely sarcastic. Zits, tiresome hours of finding your "look" and trying to be cool are way to exhausting. Siblings become irritating hurdles between a night out with friends at the movies and being forever embarrassed by playing that kiddie game your parents claimed to once be your favorite.

Basically this book had us all in stitches because though most of us still have lingering patches of puberty consuming the delicate pieces of our lives, we're becoming adults and to glance back to our state of minds just a few short years ago and realize how silly we once were is hilarious and completely eye opening. Laughing in the midst of friends and acquaintances is priceless. In this class all social cliques are left in the hallway, all agruments set aside and all opinions unleashed, laughter encouraged and intellectual conversations held. We've laughed together...and yes we've even cried together. Today was another example of common people finding common ground and enjoying each other's presence. English rocks...

50 cents ?

Have you ever stopped to realize the value of money in your life compared to the value of someone elses? How valuable is 50cents to you? Perhaps you're thinking it's 1/2 a tiolet paper roll or 1/5 a tank of gas, two little debbie cakes....50 cents could be just about anything right?

To me 50 cents is about 1/4 of the pile of change lingering in my zibby mobile. How important is 50cents? I'm not entirely sure, but I'm certain I got a glimpse of just how important it can be today. I can honestly say I've never felt a compusion to turn somewhere, go inside and be clueless as to where I was going...don't think I've ever sensed that sweet pounding of my heart, the heat on my cheeks, my mind questioning every aspect of why and being practically paralyzed until I reacted.

The greatest part of my lesson of the value of 50 cents today was that for once I wasn't the person who asked "WHY?"
God's breaking me more and more...I'm slowly but surely seeing His hand in each step of my day. LORD, You amaze me!

El cumpleaños de mi padre...Bon anniversaire mon pére!!

Now for anyone who thinks I've gone on foreign language overload...don't be worried I only wish to dedicate this post to the celebration worthy event of my father's 39th birthday! Yes that's right...not quite 40...but close enough! :)

HAP-HAP-HAPPY Birthday DADDY-o! I miss you bunches and hope you have a special birthday! I wish you were here so I could bake you a cake...but since I can't I shall send birthday wishes, prayers, hugs & kisses! May this day be wondrous and grand! I love you daddy! (Think about it this way...who else in our family has ever celebrated their birthday in Iraq...um definately thinking NO ONE...so that makes you, well proabably considerably cooler then the rest of us...so rest with a smile, rejoice for soon you'll be home! Once again Love you! God bless!)

♪ Happy Birthday to you...happy birthday to you...happy birthday dear daddy...happy birthday to you...AND many moreeeeee!!!!!

Baby blessings

I am excited at the prospect of one day....a few years down the road of course (after marriage, college, ect.) of becoming a Mom. Today during chorus Mrs. Clahoun came to play as our pianist/accompanist, she usually comes every tuesday and today she brought her dear little son Micah. He is about 1 1/2 yrs. old and has been visiting us since he was a few months old. I was put in charge of holding him a long time ago when he came for his 1st time to visit our group. That privilege came again today, although I got to play today and not just hold him. (He can move! It's a miracle!) As we sang I got to entertain the cutie-pie. He crawled around and I pretended to chase him while he giggled. Babies crawl SOOO fast, it's remarkable! This little boy stole the affections of my heart for an entire 45 minutes and I loved every moment of it!

*sigh* Someday...way down the road (don't worry dad) I will be blessed with the children God has planned for me and for now I can say(I can, wait...) but, " I can't wait!" It will certainly be an adventure!

For my readers: Do you think I'll make a good Mom someday?

"Jabez"

Okay, so I must admit, last night I was searching for a book to read and with my growing list of "already reads" I am getting motivated to read faster and faster. I've found a joy in consuming good books. Well as my fingers and eyes skimmed my book pile, I came to a small, tiny book titled "The PRAYER of JABEZ" by Bruce Wilkinson. I decided I might as well read this one. It seemed small enough and I could probably get through it in a day or two depending on how much reading time I was able to find.

Well folks, let me say I am 1/2 way through this book and it had already caused me to long for Jesus and His blessings like never before. Never has a book truly broken me and right now I feel feeble, weak and ready to pray for God's strength. I want God to bless me a lot. This idea is stressed through a simple 2 verse passage in the Bible, found in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10.

"9There was a man named Jabez who was more distinguished than any of his brothers. His mother named him Jabez because his birth had been so painful. 10He was the one who prayed to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and extend my lands! Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain!” And God granted him his request."

It truly amazes me that in the midst of a long, tiresome list of the Hebrew tribes with something around 500+ names that this little short passage would be there to remind us that God wishes to bless us, all we need to do is ask. He longs and desires for us to ask Him to empower us to expand His kingdom. I love how Bruce Wilkinson stresses the importance of how random these verses are " The long list of unfamiliar and difficult names-more than five hundred of them- are likely to make even the bravest Bible student turn back. Take chapter 4. (lists several names)---I'd forgive you if you suddenly considered putting this little book aside and reaching for your TV remote. But stay with me. Because forty-four names into the chapter, a story suddenly breaks through..."(1 Chron. 4:9-10).

"Oh that you would bless me indeed,
and enlarge my territory,
that Your hand would be with me,
and that You would keep me from evil."

This very short two verse passage, which I admittedly have never read, has encouraged me in an unexplainable way.
I need to step out and pursue God in a way unlike ever before. I need to ask Him to bless me a lot and allow Him to work through my life, not around it or for my convenience. I need to step out of my scardy-cat closet and let Jesus use me. I need to ! I will! I will! Iwill! I'm falling on my knees and asking You LORD to use me! Use me! Enlarge my territory. Jesus I need You, I can't do this on my own, it's too big and I am too small.Mmay Your hand be with me, keep me from evil.

I leave you with this passage on p.49 of the book:
" If seeking God's blessings is our ultimate act of worship, and asking to do more for Him is our utmost ambition, then asking for God's hand upon us is our strategic choice to sustain and continue the great things that God has begun in our lives. That's why you could call God's hand on you "the touch of greatness." You do not become great; you become dependent on the strong hand of God. You surrendered need turns into His unlimited opportunity. And He becomes great through you."

Skiing Adventures

Well...it's been quite some time since I've braved the slopes of snow covered trails. This morning I awoke to the most radiant sunshine beaming in my room in months. I jumped out of bed and exclaimed, later realizing I was talking to myself..."OOoohH! Isn't it beautiful!?!?!?" Then I laughed and decided that priority #1 after devotional time and breakfast would be to enjoy God's beautifully created day. Sherri suggested we go skiing @ the highschool, so seeing her desire to exercise I agreed to go. We could get in a little sisterly bonding and work out all in 1 simple event. I was definately game!

So we get to the highschool and encounter this ginormous hill we have to go down to get to the trail. I stand at the top for a minute pondering how brave I truly am...and decide perhaps my body...which is out of "ski mode" would appreciate me starting out a little simpler...so with much reluctance I trodded down the hill in my skiboots and put on my skis at the bottom...which was flat and NOT coated in ice. I decided it was a good decision.

Sherri and I set off down the trails and about 30min. into our skiing we get our 1st hill...I'm pumped! Hills have always been my favorite thing to go down on skiis and yet I've never downhilled-strange, I know- but someday I shall try. Anyways back to the hill...so sherri is a bit ahead of me...her skiis are waxless and mine require wax, but had none, so that was fun...anyways I get going around this hill and am feeling pretty good about my skiing skills when I come around a sharp turn and find sherri face planted in a pile of snow...one ski pole up in the air...the other a good 5 or so feet away...so coming to an ever so graceful stop...I do what every loving, caring, big sister would do...I laughed like crazy and retrieved sherri's other pole for her. I asked her how she fell in the midst of my laughter, knowing full well that there was no traction on the sheet of ice upon which we were skiing. I laughed some more...and we continued on. So, we ski for about another 20 or so minutes and near the end of the trail...coming once again to another gargantuen hill. hahaha...i'm ready...swaying side to side, gliding down the hill...I'm loving the feeling of being a pro. Sherri is once again ahead of me and I watch her,laughing, as she is struggling to find balance between her body, the skis and the ground. She seems to catch on and all of a sudden falls sideways...I can hardly contain my laugher and zoom by her as my skiis catch ice. I'm now wondering if I too will fall...but I got the best of the ice and my skis...I didn't fall...I once again floated to a graceful stop.(surprisingly enough!)

And that is my skiing adventure...I hope no one assumes my skiing skills are superb...I do alright...but today I was lucky...I ususally don't fall...but today could've been the day...luckily it was sherri's day to eat snow! Have a fun filled day and if you're inside reading this and it's not past sundown...get outside and do something. God gave us a beautiful day! Enjoy it!

Mon pére avec moi

Here's my Daddy and me back in September. Dad got 2weeks of leave from his duties in Iraq and fortunate enough was able to spend massive amounts of time with the family. God blessed my sister Sherri and I with harvest break. (This is a 3+ week vacation for those of us who don't work on a harvester or pick potatoes. It's a chance for all the local farmers to hire highschool workers to well...harvest their fields. I'm not implying I'm lazy or anything, but I tried picking potatoes during harvest of my freshman year and it just wasn't my thing. Sure, waking up at 5:00am was a blast and bending over all day removing potatoes from the ground into that never ending barrel to retrieve your reward of $1.00 was wonderful--but all in all I found I could be much more productive doing other things...like NOT picking potatoes. )

So yes, it was wonderful that this 3+ week vacation or "harvest break" fell during the span of time my Daddy was home to visit. I just felt like kicking off my blog with this photo because I miss my dad and this is one of the last photos we took together before he left.

We got word yesterday, via an e-mail to Mom that Dad should be returning home around the first week of April-they're currently shooting for April 2nd, 2006. WOOHOO! Just in time for softball season, something Dad missed last year. I suppose this is the end of my picture explanation. I leave you with this Casting Crowns song *Life of Praise*. Enjoy!

"I will love you, Lord always
Not just for the things you done for me
I will praise you all my days
Not just for the change you've made in me.
But I'll praise you for you are Holy Lord
And I lift my hands but you are worthy of so much more
For You are awesome God of the Nations
Lion of Judah, Rock of the Ages
Alpha, Omega. Worthy of all praise
More than these hands I raise
I'll live a life of praise
I'll live a life of praise
I will serve You, Lord always
For You are my strength when I am weak
And I will never be afraid
For You are my rock and You protect me
But I'll praise You, for You are Holy Lord
And I'll lift my hand but You are worthy of so much more
For You are awesome God of the Nations
Lion of Judah, Rock of the Ages
Alpha, Omega. Worthy of all praise
More than these hands I raise
For You are awesome God of the Nations
Lion of Judah, Rock of the Ages
Alpha, Omega. Worthy of all praise
More than the hands I raise
You're worthy of all praise
More than these hands I raise
For You are awesome God of the Nations
Lion of Judah, Rock of the Ages
Alpha, Omega. Worthy of all praise
More than these hands I raise
You're worthy of my praise!"

Have to start somewhere...

Well, it's official. I've decided to end my days as a livejournaler and become a blogger. This decision came after much debating and when I decided I'd like to have more freedom with my posts and be able to publish pictures, ect, blogger was just the next step.

For the sake of not losing the past 2 years worth of journaling I've done on livejournal, here's the link to my old journal:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/lilzibby

I look forward to being part of the 'blog crew' now.
Be blessed today in all you do, the LORD is good!