I'm A Disaster...in a good way.

"She loves her momma's lemonade
Hates the sounds that goodbyes make
She prays one day she'll find someone to need her
She swears that there's no difference between the lies and compliments
It's all the same if everybody leaves her..."

"Afraid to see that she's lost her direction
She never stays the same for long
Assuming that she'll get it wrong
Perfect only in her imperfection..."

"She's not a drama queen
She doesn't wanna feel this way
Only 17 and tired, yeah..."

"She's just the way she is
But no one's told her that's OK..."

"She would change everything for happy ever after
Caught in the in between of beautiful disaster
She just needs someone to take her home."


-Jon McLaughlin, Beautiful Disaster 

Okay, so I'm a disaster. So what? Luckily, God is a really good maid and clean me up quick. Well, it doesn't seem too quick to me, but I know he's working on me all the time. Good thing, because, like I said...I'm a disaster. And that's okay. I'm not afraid to admit it, which makes it easier to deal with.  

Over the years I've become stronger. I wouldn't be able to improve if I wasn't a wreck. I wouldn't need God if I wasn't a wreck, right? So, I think I'll stick to needing God and being a wreck in the progress of being awesome. If that made any sense. :]

And thanks to Ovais Shaikh (I couldn't find your blog! Sorry!) and Angie for following! Angie, I love your blog and I meant it! :D

With Much Love,

The Face of Lia

You shall now, finally, see the face of Lia.
Yeah, don't be shocked but so much. It's nothing special. Haha!

Anyway, since I've been low on photography to share (because I'm just too lazy to do much right now.) I resorted to using a picture of me. Don't scream. Don't panic. I can't help that I'm just that gorgeous. Juuussttt kidding.

Anyway, here we go...

1....2....3....

Holy Crap! It's Lia! Yeah, I got lucky with my hair in this picture. I must have just gotten out the shower while my hair was still particularly...manageable. Anyway, I actually like this picture of me.

And...yeah, I don't like this one.

These are pictures taken by Hannah on the day of Crystal Ball with my camera. I straightened my hair, which takes about two hours, SO YOU BETTER LIKE IT. Haha!

And this is the day after and I was...WHIPPING MA HAIR BACK'N FOOORRTH! I love that song. Not really. Well, I love to make fun of it. And dance to it. (I'm a little hyper if you couldn't tell.)

 But, as usual, I'm too lazy to search my computer for more of my photography of me. Wow, that sounded so vain.

Okay, so now you have seen Lia. Happy now? You better be. :P

With Much Love,

Yes, my dog is cute.

I finally put my new camera stand to use. (I don't know if I told you this, but it was one of my birthday gifts. Thanks Aaron and Emily!!!) I forced my little poochie, Gracie, to let me take pictures. She had to keep her head up the whole time, which made her a little grumpy, I think.

So, I figured that I'd share them with you even if I didn't like them much. They're too dark, but I think Gracie's cuteness makes up for everything I lack in my photography. :D

Gracie is a lovely little poochie. I've made a lonnnngg post about her before. (Click here to learn about how awesome Gracie is.) She's cute and you can't deny it. I don't like little dogs, but Gracie is a LARGE exception.

Ah, dogs. Can't live with 'em, can't live with out 'em.

With Much Love,

What Star Trek Has To Do With Marriage (Sort Of)

My mom and I stopped at the library today on the way home and snagged a couple books. As I was gathering my books the liberian asked if I had gotten one of their newest bookmarks. I hadn't and didn't exactly want to, but took one anyway, because I adore our liberians and could never say no to them. 

While looking at their selection, my mom noticed a Star Trek one. They, my mom, the liberians and this one other lady, who just happened to be there, started to talk about Star Trek. Long story short; the conversation turned on to marriage. By the end, I learned that almost all of those ladies had been divorced, including my mom. 

I know what your first thought is. Marriage just isn't sacred anymore. The world has ruined it. 

Well, let me start with this: All these ladies were 40 or above, so this is nothing new. And, sadly, it's not just marriage being forgotten. It has a lot to do with how most people view marriage. 

Quick, what is the first image that comes to mind when you read the word marriage? I'd guess a happy couple, curled up on the couch together, sharing popcorn, or something along those lines. We see enjoyable images that make us feel all bubbly inside. Am I right? 

I'm going to burst those bubbles and tell you that marriage isn't suppose to be like that. Before you take that the wrong way; what I'm trying to say is that marriage isn't going to be rainbows and butterflies. In fact, the beauty of marriage is the times were there are NOT rainbows and butterflies, but thunder and lightning. 

If you truly love someone, like your brother or sister for example, you'll be with them even when you're angry with each other or struggling through a rough patch in life. I believe God designed marriage to be full of test and trials because that's the only way to prove you truly love someone. If marriage was happy things 99% of the time, when you hit that 1% that is bad, would you last? No, because you wouldn't be use to it. 

That being said, let's get back to how you see marriage. If you're a kid who grew up with married parents, you might know what true marriage is like, or you might be fooled. What I see a lot of parents doing is trying to sugar coat what goes on behind the scenes, when the kids aren't around, or what's going on inside their head. Kids, especially by books and T.V shows, are fed this idea that marriage is nothing but sugar, spice and everything nice. 

Being a kid of a divorced couple, I've had the chance to view marriage differently. I've been forced to sit down and think about that love and marriage really are. I could have satisfied myself with sappy soaps rich with cheesy romance, but instead I looked at the past in order to help shape my future. I noticed that there is no such thing as a 'perfect' marriage. If there were, the secret would be out by now. And, if there were a perfect marriage, it wouldn't be because they shared ice cream together while snuggled on the couch. No, it would be because they climbed each mountain, tackled each giant, and scaled every wall together. It would be because they leaned on each other when they felt weary and loved each other, even if they were angry at one another.  And most of all, it would be because they loved that person all the more when they struggled and fought. 

I'm not saying marriage doesn't have any happy and cheery moments, because it does. It's full of it. But it's also full of the bad, hard-times that test you, but make you stronger. When you think about it,that's how our relationship with God works. If it wasn't for the hard times, we'd never get closer to God. And God set up marriage like the relationship between him and us. We're all in the most beautiful marriage possible with Christ and doesn't he promise us that there will be hard times? But the real beauty is in those times, right? It proves to us that our God will not abandon us, no matter what. 

And that's what a real marriage is. It's not the rainbow and butterflies that we dream about. Honestly, I find it more romantic when it's tears and heartache, but that person, your lover, is still there. Everyone can make it through good times, but only the strongest can make it through the tough times. 

Remember, when you get married, that you said "for better or for worse", which means you'll be together no matter what. Don't let your imagination fool you on what marriage is. It's the union of two people, who can't be separated, not even by the hands of the devil. 

My boring lecture is now over. Enjoy! :]

With Much Love, 

Thirteen Five Year Olds For Five Hours

Saturday I helped out at a friends Aunt's VBS. My friend, Hannah, and I were in charge of the five to six year old group, which was suppose to be the smallest. Suppose.

We ended up with the largest group of them all. Thirteen of them. Yes, you read that right. Thirteen hyper little boys and girls. It's like they multiplied every second. As more and more came, Hannah and I began to exchange looks.

Wait, I thought we only had about...four?


Well, it turned out that there was a mistake. The people who put it together weren't thinking about the kids ages changing, so they figured the groups would basically be the same as the year before. It's a mistake that I would have made.

Anyway, so the amount of kids they thought were going to be in the four year old group ended being in our five year old group. Lucky for us, Hannah and I have some awesome skills (or God really loves me) and we did a pretty good job. All the adults told us we did an amazing job.

But, by the end of the day, I decided I didn't like being a VBS group leader. Well, I did like being able to boss people around. That's fun. But other than that, no, I don't like it.

I was glad to help though. Everyone there was really nice and was fed, which is the way to my heart. (If you give me tasty food I will love you forever.)

Yesterday, I spent the whole day with the Street family. They're beyond amazing. I went to my old church, which I miss too much for words to express. It's full of some of the best people in the whole wide world, including the Street family.

Before school starts I have to read Beowulf. Well, actually my mom is reading it with me to make sure I understand what's going on, but so far I've been doing just fine. It's really not that hard. Famous last words. Hahaa!

I'm slowly becoming nervous about school. I really don't want to stress this year, but I'm worried I will. Kind of...ironic, right? Prayers would be welcomed x400. Last year, my 2nd semester was cruel because I was learning how to handle school, work and dance, which wasn't going to well. Each day was another steep mountain to climb, but I got through it.  I prevailed and this year I will do the same.

Right? Gulp.

I have a few notable upcoming events I might have told you about.

1. I have dance tryouts August 9th, or around there. Prayer would be awesome, again! I hope my back and dancing gets a little better before then. I really need to practice more, but I don't want to strain my back at the same time. Life. So complicated. ;]

2. School starts back August 16th. I kind of don't want it to. I kind of do. Once again, life is complicated.

3. My Students for Life group and another Students for Life group will be hosting a Pro-Life retreat. It should be fun and full of tasty, tasty food. I don't know why I'm excited about it...

4. Regular dance starts back. YAY! It's not like I haven't been dancing all summer, but I get to add on some more classes and hopefully have moved to a new class. I really, really, REALLLLLLLLLY, want to improve my dancing this year. I haven't progressed much since I started and I not only want to but need to if I want to actually move on up. Haha, prayer. It's nice. You should pray for me. :]

Yeah, that's all I think of right now, but I have a pretty busy schedule. Birthdays, work, dance, church, SFL, school...it's not easy, but it's a challenge.

Okay, I'll stop talking and wish you an awesome day!

With Much Love,

The Last Day

The last day is always the day you want to pack in as much fun, but you are constantly nagged by the fact that it is all going to come to an end. A nasty, unwanted end.

This mission week has been so much fun. I have spent a week with some of the best people on the face of this planet. My youth group is possibly the best out there. I'm just saying.

Anyway, today is the last day, as I have mentioned. I wasn't able to capture much with my camera because...urm, I forgot my memory card. But I'm bringing it today to snap a few, last-minute pictures for memories.

I'm afraid I'll tear up today, that's how bad I don't want this to end. It's crazy, no? I usually don't get too upset about things like this. I guess I just haven't been able to hang out with a lot of my friends as much as I'd like to this summer and now summer is almost over.

In risk of sounding cheesy, please, please, pleasssssseeeeeeeee, hang out with your friends as much as possible. I hate being away from them from long periods of times. It's like having every hair on your body plucked, one every second. xD

I got to see Cassidy, Bri, Stephanie, Sarah and Erica all week. This weekend I get to see Hannah. Last weekend I was with Julianna and Alden. I'm on a friend high right now. I freakin' love them so much. I'm glad I have every one of them.

I hope to grow even closer to all of them so that I'll always have someone to nag, talk to when I'm bored, nag, share awesome memories with, nag some more, and force to model for me. Hopefully they'll get use to me shoving my camera and their face and screaming, "Hold still! I haven't gotten the picture yet!" followed by, "HEY! WHY DID YOU MOVE?"

I'm an angry photographer.

This week I also realized something that made me feel a little better about my singing, because I know I can't sing. I know and don't care too much. (Notice the 'too'.) Anyway, as we were doing praise and worship last night and I finally started to sing, I kind of realized that God gave us our voices for a reason. Our singing might not sound good to any human, but God gave it to us and, since he wants to hear it, must think it sounds good, you know? So, the whole night, while I missed notes and stumbled over the words of songs, I kept on remembering that God gave me the voice I have and it might no sound good to anyone else but him. I think I'm just fine with that. :]
Thank God for friends and life, because they're both pretty good. Pretty dang good.

:D

With Much Love,

A unsolved mystery that has baffled all men, 

brought up by God and woven by his hands. 

It's ways unknown, it's reason unheard, 

a powerful force that makes the world turn.

It's in the tick of a clock, stashed away in a corner, 

the sun as it rises and the sun as it falls,

the stars as they appear, twinkling and bright, 

it's etched into our brains, or heart and life. 

Most men beg for more of it, and some try to ignore it. 

It baffles all scholars who stop to think, 

confuses all philosophers who dare to wonder, 

and makes every common man rethink their world.

It's the trickiest thing, something only God knows of,

it steals us away, controlling our life, 

this thing, it's time, this thing called time,

it has become the most beautiful crime. 

LIA 

Yeah. Not the best poem, but it will do. I'm still stuck on the amazing abilities of time. If there is one thing I can't wait to hear god explain, it's time. A strangely beautiful thing.  

I don't understand it and I don't think we ever can. I seriously CAN'T imagine a world with out time. I have a crazy imagination and yet, there is no way a world with out time can even seem possible to me. Time puts me in awe of God. God can control time. He made it, after all. We can only marvel at it and continue to try and unlock it's mysteries. You realize that God has control over all time and we don't even understand time yet? 

That is kind of...amazing, freaky, cool, exciting, and comforting. 

I mean, if God can control time, obviously he can take care of us, right? 

And you know something else that amazes me? The human brain. Talk about beautiful art work.I don't even know too much about the brain, but what I do know makes me realize how truly amazing God is. I love the mountains. They are so beautiful. God really made some amazing things out there and mountains are one of them. But his most beautiful, breath-taking, and awe-inspiring creation was the brain. 

To think that a four pound pile of goop (okay, okay, not exactly scientifically accurate...) is creating everything I am writing right now is...I don't even know how to describe it. Just like time, we haven't unlocked everything we can know about the brain. We've made advances in our knowledge of brains, but there is still so much to learn.

Okay, I'll stop my mini rant on brains and time now. I just wanted to point out how strange/awesome they both are.

With Much Love,