Wednesday 11 May 2011

Different

There's that old quote Dare To Be Different. You've all heard it sometime, I'm pretty sure. But, uh...nobody goes by it.

GIRLS: Makeup. Perfume. Boys=Life. Cell phone. Hairspray. Soap operas. Ex-Barbie doll enforcer. Glitter. Horses. Short skirts. Tight clothing. Flowers. Pink. Diary. Gossip. High heels. Skinny jeans. Strapless dress. Headband. Purple. Chocolate. Justin Beiber.

BOYS: Trucks. Cars. Legos. TV. Video games. Girls=Key factor for life. Shovel. Wood. Rocks. Outdoors. Dirt. Hats. Meat. Beards. Hair that is way too long to be considered normal. Deep voices. Skateboards. Girl watching. Mtv. Computers.

So, as you read those, please tell me how many of those you ACTUALLY like.

Chances are, you like at least ten of those things in your catagory. Let's see, I like,
Skinny jeans and chocolate.

Okay. I am not the best example of a steryotyped girl. Let's use a different example.

Mary (who is not a real person) likes horses, flowers, pink, skinny jeans, Justin Beiber, boys, headbands, purple, diaries, and gossip.

But say Mary PRETENDS to like makeup, cell phones, and tight clothes because those are the trends in her school. And she actually likes gardening and writing in her spare time, but those DEFINITELY not cool. So she says she doesn't like them.

Well, obviously, you're all saying, Well, that's cliche and dumb, she should do what she wants.

But we're all guilty. We all give up things or pretend to like things to look good for others. I remember pretending that I didn't like Miley Cyrus when I was younger, maybe nine or so, to look good for some older kids. (When I was nine, I was actually a very big Miley Cyrus fan.)

This is actually a form of lying. So do what you want to do! Dare to be different. :)

Monday 9 May 2011

Moms

I hope everybody had a nice mother's day. I actually spent about fifteen minutes with MY mother because I was out with friends all day. Still, I did take time to wish my mom a happy mother's day, after I had showed up with friends.

On Saturday we went out hiking and out to sea food, as mom's special day. It was a lot of fun.

Today I was looking at this cheesy video me and my younger sister, Corrina, made for my mom's birthday. It's kinda funny, it's my mom (played by Corrina) and me (who played dad) in the front seat, and a baseball bat with a mitten on it (representing my five-year-old brother Casey) in the back with a soccer ball with an orange hoodie (that stood for ME.)

The video is about a car ride, Casey talking non-stop, my mp3 player music louder than the music (the most annoying we could think of) on the car radio. "Dad's" hand on the steering wheel is steering while throwing out the lame, dorky, and twenty-years-ago phrases that my dad actually does say. "Mom" is dealing with these situations and getting frustrated. It's very funny.

But my mom does more than ride in cars, check her e-mail, and nag at my little brothers. Sometimes we forget that SOMEBODY has to do the laundry, cook the meals, make sure our schoolwork gets done, drive us to rehearsal, dance class, and friend's houses, do the dishes, vacuum and sweep, and watch the boys.

Mothers day is a special time to celebrate moms. I "celebrated" by going to the mall with my friend Krista and her older sister Amber. I "celebrated" by getting my hair curled and hanging out with Krista and my cousin Felicia at a lady from church's house.

Just give your mom a hug sometime and say "thanks." Mother's day is not the only day we're allowed to be thankful to our mothers. And while my mother's day was spent hanging out at the mall, I still made mom a card and gave her a hug.

The second commandment: Honor your MOTHER and father...

Friday 6 May 2011

A new computer

I will admit, when our new, blue Dell desktop showed up next to the garage, I was a little more than excited. After all, how often does a new computer come in the mail?

I broke the Wii, as some of you may know, while playing a game of (my favorite video game) Beatles Rock Band one afternoon when my parents were out. My lovely father bought me a new one not two weeks ago and I am happy to announce that I've almost beat the game for a second time. I was pretty much exploding with happiness when we got that white box of fun.

And what about my first mp3 player I've ever gotten? Santick Sansa, I think, held a pathetic amount of space but had blue earphones. Man, that thing was like magic. I had my, what, twenty CDs on there, and gosh, things couldn't get any better then 658 bytes. (It can, now I have a seven-gig Sony WalkMan which is the next best thing to an eight gig Nano)

But of course, there are problems.

This new computer is great, but it doesn't have Google Chrome. The laptop's got Chrome, and I think it rocks. It's newer, faster, and ultimately, my friend Krista had it first.

Oh, the Wii is wondrous, but who here's heard about Kinect, the Xbox game where you're the controller? Dude, the commercial came out and the first thing I said was, "that looks SO cool!" It did NOT help that my cousin Hunter and buddy Zach both got it for Christmas.

My mp3, like I said, is awesome quality, great storage, holds pics, vids, all my downloads, and other important stuff, like, say, music. But, then again, the iPod Nano is better. It's brand name and apparently a lot better. It takes pictures and, hey, holds an extra gig of space. Also, a girl at my church named Morgan has one and has proclaimed to us how awesome it is.

So, as you can see, my friends seem to be ahead of me in most departments. And when you first about the newest thing, you think, Oh, man, I don't have one of those! Man, you're so lucky! New things are coming out all the time. And our friends don't help.

Last year I really wanted a cell phone. After, all, EVERYBODY had a cell phone. Krista, Shannon, Jessica, Zach, Ozzy, Megan, all of my friends had cell phones before I did! So I talked it over with my parents, and they said very straight-forward: no.

And so while my friends rubbed it in my face, I just sat there, utterly phoneless.

But then I realized the things that I wasn't really missing, like spam texts, losing my phone or charger,  having to pay for minutes, and having to turn it off most of the time in movie theaters, church, ect. Most of my friends actually DIDN'T like having phones more than liking their convenience.

Of course, I would LOVE a cell phone. But it's not at the top of my wish list. I also learned that my friend Jordan didn't have one, neither did my old friend Katie, or my cousin Felicia. So I was NOT the only person on the planet without one.

The same thing goes for everything else. I don't need a Kinect, or Chrome, or a Nano. We get too wrapped up in the things we DON'T have rather than the things we DO have. After all, I'm quite happy with my new, blue Dell, my black Sony WalkMan, and my brand-new, much-missed Wii.

If there's something you want really badly (cell phone, video games, your own laptop, a pet, a shirt) that your parents don't want you to have or that you can't afford, don't sweat it. When you're older, maybe you can get one, or save up your money. Be thankful for the little things, like sleeping over a friend's house, or your pet fish. This world might only care about what we DON'T have, but we should be thankful for what we DO.

Tuesday 26 April 2011

Bunnies

I hope everybody had a very nice Easter Sunday. We saw family, had some egg hunts, ate some candy, went to church, ect. Very nice day overall.

Easter is a good time to get caught up in...well, THINGS. It's kinda like Christmas, a holiday based on God and turned into a commercial cascade of stuff. The bunnies, chocolate, the spring-themed toys, new shoes and dresses and all the STUFF, it's all for that one day that's really got...nothing to do with Easter.

It's really easy to forget Easter's meaning, about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. Then, three days later, he rose again. This shows that Jesus conquered death. Death couldn't hold him. It's an amazing miracle that the whole world should see that's hidden by meaningless bunnies and baby chicks, artificial chocolate shaped like eggs, and hard-boiled eggs dyed colors that somehow represent...dying on a cross?

Don't get caught up in commercialism. Whether it's Easter, Christmas, or whatever season, remember who you're celebrating: the God or the stuff?

Friday 15 April 2011

Napkin Note

One day, Aidan came up to me and said, "look at my napkin!"

On it, he'd written, "JESUS LOVES YOU."

Wednesday 13 April 2011

Heaven

"Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die."-David Crowder

"Heaven is breaking open, we are not there yet."-Gungor

"All the earth begins to shake. Can you feel his spirit move you, calling all hearts to break."-Barlowgirl

Heaven is there. How sure are you that you'll be there?

Tuesday 5 April 2011

Been a while...

I guess it's been a while, huh? Hi again. I've been very busy lately, but that's not really an excuse. You can't be too busy to do a three-second post, eh?

Speaking of which, this is also the topic. Sometimes, we're busy. School, chores, homework, babysitting, reports, phone calls, friends, lots of things can take up time. Some of which we'd really rather push off.

But this isn't a good habit to get into. Like when you say you'll do your homework later...then you forget and have to do it on the bus ride to school. And in all that rush, you completely forgot to pray, which you usually do on the bus ride.

Sometimes God becomes last priority. I've done this many times, of course. We all procrastinate sometimes. Some more then others. We need to take time for God...even five minutes is better then none. Pray, read your Bible or devotionals, if not both, and set some time aside.

You're never too busy for God.

Friday 25 March 2011

Every day

Every day, something new happens.

Some days are great. Things go your way. Life is okay. You thank God for giving you such a nice day.

Some days are okay. Nothing really goes horribly wrong. Then again, it wasn't the best day ever. You thank God for giving you a good day.

But some days are lousy. One wrong thing after another, it seems. Everything crumbles. Nothing good happens. Trust me, we've all had days like this. I have. Everyone does.

So, why thank God for THAT? Why thank him if you failed your science quiz? Why thank him if your dog ran away? Why be thankful for days like that?

Because God MEANT those things to happen. God made those things happen. And God deserves to be praised in bad or good weather.

When Paul was in prison, was he saying, "oh, this totally stinks!" No. He was SINGING. He was praising God! In PRISON, he was thanking God.

And guess what? The shackles crumbled. He was released. And he was happy. He was thankful to God.

No matter what happens, you need to thank God. Every day.

Saturday 19 March 2011

Unexpressable

Today, I really wanted to post on here. I've got a million topics buzzing around in my head, forgiveness, honesty, more of my own experiences, but none of them seen quite right. Not today. I'm trying to muster up something, because I want every post to be centered around God and good things, not my own life and friends and stuff like that.

Maybe my message today is, even if you don't have anything to say, make the effort. Even if life is good, you should still pray. God will listen to any nonsense you can say, as long as it's for him.

Thursday 10 March 2011

I believe in miracles

Even if you aren't a Christian, chances are you've heard of miracles. The parting of the red sea, water into wine, walking across water...you've heard something like that somewhere. Those happened a long time ago, they're in the Bible.

But what it shows US is what Jesus can do. He rose from the dead. He healed sick people. He turned a couple loaves of bread and some fish into a feast.

Jesus isn't the only person who can perform miracles. What about Paul, and the other disciples?

Typically, miracles, to us, means those amazing things that happened in the Bible. But do they have to be IN THE BIBLE to be miracles?

My family adopted two little boys, my brothers Aidan and Casey. I would consider them coming to live with us a miracle. But look around, we're not in the Bible. We're in 2011.

My mom once was sick with an insane illness that nobody knew what it was, now she's fine. I think that qualifies. Still not in Bible times...

Even the little things. Once I threw up. I'm healed. My mom twisted her ankle once. She's healed. We've driven in snow storms before. God gave us travelling mercies. I've told people about Jesus. God gave me strength.

Just because we're not living with Jesus or Paul doesn't mean miracles don't exist. A drug addict coming to Jesus...that's a miracle. A dying man living on...that's a miracle. Foster kids finding homes...miracles, miracles, miracles.

Miracles are all around us. Some people have different words for it. Some people say, "They were lucky." Other people say, "The medicine worked." Well, maybe the medicine worked. But that medicine wouldn't even exist if God hadn't given scientists the minds to make it.

Maybe a miracle happened to you. Maybe something amazing that God gave you or showed you. They happen now, and they happened then.

MIRACLES ARE REAL.

Wednesday 9 March 2011

Operation: School

Before we get into this post, I'll just tell you something. As an almost teenage girl, I have my special likes and dislikes. I like basketball, dislike barbeque sauce. I like video games, dislike math. I LOVE God, dislike anything that there's a charity preventing.

And what I REALLY love is a challenge.

That's how our MSG leader (Middle School Group) gets us to do things. Puts it in the form of a challenge. And, since none of us are turning THAT down, we accept.

Okay, now I can get into the post.

I'm homeschooled. For those of you who don't know what that is, exactly, that means that I don't attend public or private school. My mother teaches us our schoolwork. It's been this way since the first grade. (Now I am in...sixth? I can never keep track!) My sister and younger brothers like it that way. I liked it that way...until...

Around late November or so, I was feeling really depressed. January especially. I was just sad and lonely. I felt alone. We live in a small town, miles away from my friends. My mom and dad tried as hard as they could to help me see my friends more, but, really...I'm growing up. I don't want to be isolated. They understood that.

They considered a bunch of options, Christian schools, private schools, all this stuff. None of it was working. God shut the door on every school they looked at. I thought that I was stuck. I was failing in math (my least favorite subject) and feeling down ALL THE TIME.

But God sent the Holy Spirit to my mother (heh, while she was at Olive Garden) and she called a meeting.

Long story short, God has decided that I, Cassidy, should go to a public middle school.

I'm really excited about this. After all, I get to see my friends often, I get to tell people about Jesus, I get to change the world like I've always wanted. I've always asked God for an adventure. This is what he's given me and boy, I am siked!

But I'm also nervous. I mean, I've had five years of absense from public school. I'm gonna have to ask my other friends, but I think that I'm gonna just have to pray more. God will give me the streghnth I need.

I plan to change the world for God. I want to turn the school around. I'm going in there as a sheep among wolves. I want to come out a missionary to middle school. That tall, funny girl with cool sneakers and a God.

Tuesday 8 March 2011

Hello there

Hi everyone out there. My name's Cassidy. I'm not new to blogging, this is one out of several blogs. I have one for poetry named It's Got Everything to do With Me, I have a book review blogged named Another Stupid Story by Cassidy, I have a group blog named The Fairy Poodle assosiation, and I have my first blog, The Saga of Another American Tweenager.

But this blog's kinda different from the others.

As everyone who read the title may know, I'm a Christian. I've been a Christian my whole life, practically. I go to church and youth group, read my devotionals and pray. I'm currently homeschooled, but that's a topic for another post.

My church has a youth group. The leader of the youth group is Pastor Mike, who is my only other follower right now. I started going because, well, because my other friends were going. I was going because I was bored and had nothing to do.

But I think that it helped me catch myself. I wasn't really all that strong with my faith. Church was a goof-off time for a little while, somewhere to hang out with friends. And I wasn't really committing myself fully to God, and making church a special place.

Now that I've realized what it is, youth and church and stuff, I think that it hit me like a sucker punch. I need to do more for God because he does so much for us. So I'm going to ACT now. I want to change the world for him. (More on that later) So, if you're reading this, I'm not going to drive you insane by being that maniac Christian who's going to FORCE you to go to him.

I'm not going to shove you in the house if you knock. I'll open the door, but I can't make you come in. So, come in. Stay awhile. I can take you to God, but I'm not going to force you to talk to him.

This is the life of a writing obsessed, totally imperfect, ex-goof-off queen who is now
God's Writer Girl.