Time

So lately the catch phrase I've been hearing is "wow they grow up so fast" or "time went by so fast". So I got to thinking...... I see time in so many different aspects it's really hard for me not to say "yeah I know what you mean" or "Man, I just don't see it"....... let me explain.

Lately I've been spending a lot of time with my parents (mom in particular), which doesn't bother me because I don't see them much when I am away at school. My mother and I have been through good times and bad (as have any mother and daughter), but as time goes on those experiences become a relationship. As I look back, I don't ever remember my mother (or my father for that matter) not being there when I needed her/him.

As I said in one of my previous posts, I went to my cousins graduation a few weeks ago. This particular instance did make me realize that time is precious, but didn't really jump out at me and say "HEY PAY ATTENTION!!!!". During the ceremony I searched through my mind and my memories and drifted over the good times and passed over the bad.

One of the better memories I can remember is holding my cousin barely three hours after she was born. She'll be 7 years old in February! Here was a child, born into a world full of sin and hate, and we as her family is obligated to show her the right path toward Jesus Christ, but it takes us 15+years to look around to what's important to realize that time is really the key.

Sometimes I think we as a human race have to compete with each other; if we don't keep up with the latest fashions, diets, workouts, etc, then we are somehow out of the loop and that is SO TRUE. If we would just slow down, look around, take one day at a time, slow down, and breath in the air we were given, I am sure we would learn more and see more. After all no one is guaranteed tomorrow. So, take a picture; if tomorrow comes, you'll remember what yesterday looked like.

Blast from the past

Yesterday I attended my cousins high school graduation. I hadn't realized that it had already been two years since I graduated and three years since my family and I moved to South Carolina. I didn't expect so many memories to come flooding back all at once but they did; from my senior years and from previous years too.
It didn't bother me to move here, I was kinda excited at first. In fact the volleyball team I was on that year went undefeated and were regional champions. Then things started getting a little harder; my friends from Ohio stopped calling me and we drifted apart. I didn't think there was much of a point to make any friends at a high school I was only attending for one year when I was just going to graduate and move away. Then graduation came around, I was one person amoung 650 people I didn't know, I just wanted to get my diploma and get out (not unlike most other seniors). Certain feelings can arise when people go through a coming of age, especially when thing don't go the way things are planned. For me, watching my cousin graduate wasn't too hard, the hard part was seeing someone at her graduation that should have been at my graduation but wouldn't. The little girl inside me starting screaming and crying at the same time. I was so angry because I expected something so small from someone that meant so much to me, but unfortunately everyone's expectations are not met at one time or another.
However, high school in Ohio wasn't too bad. I only had 45 minute classes, but that eas barely any time to learn anything. At the time I did have friends (old friends), great friends that I made memories, mistakes, and learned lessons with. When I moved here, graduated and started college I met a lot more people (new friends) that get to test the foundation my old friends help establish and get to move forward and make a future with.
What's that song???......oh yeah.......
Make new friends, but keep the old
One is silver, and the other's gold.

Struggles

I thought coming home for the summer would be just like every other day, not easy, but not so difficult that I wouldn't know what to expect the next day ......boy was I wrong. It's not my family....I love my family very much.
When I got home for the summer I looked desperately for a job (I even looked before I returned home, just to make sure I had one when I got home), unfortunately with our economy the way it is right now it will cost companies more money to train summer help than they would like, so they decide not to hire summer help, only part time and full time. So needless to say it's been a very rough road for me.
After I exhausted every possibility, I decided to go a different route, something I did about 4 years ago......babysitting. I asked my mom to talk to a friend of hers at church to see if she knew of anyone who needed a nanny for the summer, and not seconds after my mom got that sentence out did someone walk up to my mom and say "I do!" so that's my job for the summer, watching two boys from 8-5 monday through friday. Funny how things work out :) Lets talk about the past year.......
The past two semesters were very rough on me, it was my first year working and going to school, which made time management very difficult for me (but I must say I did very well considering), and I was trying to balance a relationship, I felt like I didn't have very many friends at school, and I felt very disconnected from God because I couldn't find the right church to go to while I was away from home. So I prayed...........everything worked out (one way or another) in the end.
Unfortunately, I had to continue working (haha). I had bills to pay just like every other college student, including a new car payment (yuck). But fortunately, I found time at work to study when I was on a break or when it was really, really slow. My relationship with Derek got better (not perfect, no relationship is perfect), we still have our moments, but I just remember that communication is key and so is honesy and love, and without those a relationship will never work.
I was in Algebra class one day (my least favorite) and the girl behind me (we talked regularly) asked me what I thought about sororities. It caught me off gaurd at first and I told her what I had heard about what most girls in sororities do (drink, party, etc, the typical stereotype) and she told me that that wasn't the case at all. I asked her a few more questions, and she told me what sorority she belonged to and invited me to a Bid party. I thought about it and decided to go; I thought it might be fun. I went and to my surprise saw a very diverse group of young women and all of them have become some of my closest friends. That was when I decided I should make Delta Zeta the sorority for me. And their principles are based from the bible (but that's all I am allowed to say......)
Now, if you haven't figured out by now that God works in mysterious ways, then I don't know how else to tell you. However I will say this much, if you're not listening then you can't hear him.