Throwing Myself Into His Arms

I'm going through that stage in life where everything is thrown into God's hands. I cannot be worrying about every little thing, because that would be really foolish. I've honestly not had much trouble giving it all to God. It's just that I've just now realized how much I really am trusting him to be faithful with what I'm doing.

God has blessed me with peace and trust from the start of this journey. It's cool how I don't have to wrestle with him in order to finally give it up to him. He has earned my trust, and won't lose it.

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."

-Philippians 4:4-8

Finances are not going to be a problem for this decision. My attitude will reflect perfect Faith in God's perfect Hope. This is going to be an exciting adventure that I get to take with my Father. Yay for scary times! God gets to flex his muscles.

God bless you with Faith, Hope, and Love. The greatest of these is Love.

-Alycia

Interesting People

Yesterday was a Friday. Our homeschooling group went to a nursing home to play some Christmas music for the elderly. There was an old man named Frank who was turning 101 in January. He would clap after every song and say, "Bravo! Bravo!" It was so cute! I remembered him from last year, and he hasn't aged at all. Thank you, Frank, for the simple encouraging words you cheered for us. Even when we messed up, you encouraged us to play again and keep spreading the joy. I think you touched our hearts more than we touched yours. :)

We were in the car on the way to the grocery store afterwards, when a school bus pulled up next to us. I waved at a bored looking girl. She gave me a dirty look and looked away. lol, cheer up, girl. I was just trying to be friendly, not mean. I would have totally waved back and try to start a conversation. Ah, but everyone reacts differently.

When we were at the grocery store, I found some cool dog toys and started squeaking them. All of a sudden, a guy walked past me and dropped his name tag. I picked it up and didn't know what to do. I shouted out, "Steve!" He turned around in surprise, "How'd you know my name?" lol. Very fun.

I was walking by the frozen food section and saw that all of the lights were off. I burst into a run to turn on all of the lights. How much fun! Am I too childish? Or just the perfect amount of childish? Never lose the simple joy of imagination and creativity. I think it pleases the Father.

Ah, I love to people watch. It may be strange, but honestly, with over 6.8 billion people in the world, how could you not wonder about the many stories each person has to offer. Wow. Each person exists for a reason. Frank taught me the lesson of one simple word of encouragement to a stranger can brighten up their life. Random school bus girl taught me to accept a random smile and not to judge others quickly. Steve taught me that funny stories don't always need a moral. :)

God bless you all during the Christmas season. Be nice to strangers and don't forget to smile back!

-Alycia

A funny story about a powerful thing

I don't know about you, but I've always have known that Worship is powerful. I know God has called me to earth to praise him. I'm a worshiper.

Psalm 22:3 says

"But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel."

So God is in our praises. He's there when we sing to him. Wow! Worship gives us the power to be encouraged. I just read this blog post to give myself a better understanding of the subject before I tell my little story.

I was in Lincoln to visit my family this past weekend. I went to my cousins' house with my brother and one of our friends. I watched them play Halo and decided that I wanted to play a round with them. I am really, really bad at gaming. The fact that this wasn't a PS3 didn't help either. I was losing. I didn't have a single kill.

In the middle of the game I started to sing 'Here I am to Worship'. Immediately my cousin's character jumped into view. I got a direct shot at him and made my only kill in the whole game! God helped me play a video game! How cool is that?

This isn't the only time God has helped me with video games. I usually watch my brother, Ben, play video games. Suddenly, the Spirit will tell me that there's an enemy behind him. Ben has learned to listen to me when I tell him things like this, because I'm usually right. God is so funny!

This story may seem silly, but it really happened. God cares about the tiny things in our life that we don't even expect him to intervene. He is so cool! Remember this story the next time you feel like you can't do anything right. Sing about God's glory and he will show up!

Love you! God bless!
-Alycia

Summer Books

I was downstairs looking for a few drawing books that we've been looking for for years. Well, when you're looking for something you're bound to be distracted by one other thing you find. I found a few boxes filled with old books. I began to grab all of the books that looked interesting to me.

I now have a summer reading list! (Summer break begins next week for me.)



I found all but one of The Little House On The Prairie books, LOTR series, Swiss Family Robinson, Sherlock Holmes, Pippi Longstocking, Emma, The Scarlet Letter, Oliver Twist, Pride and Prejudice, Ben Hur, and a few others that I have never heard of. I fear that I may not get to all of them this summer, but I'll try. I may "review" them, create some fan art, or something unexpected while reading these books. I hope you're as excited as I am.

Where do you think I should start?

Pretzels

Well hello there! It has been a while since I've posted. Today I have been obsessing over pretzels. Mom tried some Pretzel M&Ms, which is amazing. She thought the idea was absurd. She actually liked them. Next step is to get her to try chocolate covered pretzels!

I personally have never had these types of pretzels. They look so good, though. Check out the recipe here on Dizzy Swallows' blog.

I love chocolate covered pretzels! Find the recipe at Our Best Bites here.

And here are a few more pretzel recipes that I intend to make in the near future.

Pretzel Crusted Chocolate Caramel Brownie Cups

Holiday Pretzel Rings

Chicken with Pretzels and Couscous

Pretzel Toffee

I am so thankful for pretzels. Hopefully I can try out these recipes and you'll enjoy them.

God bless you!

-Alycia

Decor I like

Hello! I've been watching HGTV all day. Hmm, now I want to renovate my room!

I adore the collective style of messy things. Not exactly messy, but nice. :) Pinboards are a lot like what I mean.

The quilt and pillows are so inspiring!
I enjoy the heavy bench in this picture. So cute! :)

from An Inspired Life

The textures and patterns of this room is so calming. I really think that comforter is nice and warm. :)
from Apartment Therapy

I enjoy overly organized things. Strange contrast to the "messy" things, no?

from Shelter Pop

I really like the white wood floors! It's so cute & spacious. I want that in my art room. Haha. :)

I can't wait until I get a Pinterest account! I'm currently on the waiting list. Should be getting one soon, I hope. This way I won't be bothering you with posts like this too much longer.

God bless you!
-Leash

Christmas Week

Hello! I hope you all have had a great Christmas!

God sure blessed us with a great Christmas. It was actually a white Christmas! It was wonderful. I'll have to post the photos on facebook sometime soon. I'll be putting together a video of everything that happened this season, though.

This year I got a new coat and external hard drive. I can finally take more photos without worrying about losing room on the computer! Miranda gave me a new jewelry box full of jewelry! It's so cute! Ben got us girls Despicable Me, which was such a cute movie. :) Moriah got us two new PS2 controllers and got me a sign with my name on it. My parents got me some new ear buds so that I can listen to Chopin without disrupting someone watching TV. Yay! We also got Toy Story 3, Inception, A Christmas Carol, and brand new shoes! Wow! What a great Christmas!

My sister and brother-in-law should be getting here early tomorrow morning. I'm so excited to see them! I haven't seen them since Thanksgiving. We're going to spend the whole time celebrating.

God bless you all!

-Alycia