I want to be this funny when I'm older

91. My little sister talking to me on the phone
92. Abundance of food
93. Our prospective visit to Holland next year

I want to be this funny when I'm older

Time

There are 365 days in a year.
365 days to do with what we choose. But what will you choose to do?
Going to work is not hard, when your scheduled, all you have to do is show up on time. It's the rest of the day that's important.
Will you go shopping? Cook? Be responsible with the time you've been given? Or will you sit around and do nothing? Wait around wishing that this time was over so that you could be someplace else? Or sometimes it's a mix. You've been given the time for a reason. It's yours to use, but we're on this earth for God's glory. How does He ask us to use the time? One day has 24 hours. We spend about 8 sleeping and 8 working, that leaves a third of the time.
For me, this is a challenge. And right now, I'm challenging myself to do Something Useful whenever I have time.
I know that if I write a list of things that need doing, I'll be much more likely to do stuff. So, for one month, I'm challenging myself to write a list every night. A list of things that need doing. And then to do them the next day.
Now that I have a life again, this shouldn't be too hard.
Something sweet my sister stole from somebody's blog:
http://dustyreflections.wordpress.com/2011/06/17/1274/

"The church is a beautiful place. There are people who "look" more like Christians and those who look like they don't belong at all, but we all share something in common. We share a grateful heart of worship for a Savior who claimed us. The fact that we're all undeserving levels the grounds for judgement. We shouldn't nitpick at each other and fix each other up so we look matchy-matchy. We can come, dragging our dirty laundry and our messed-up attitudes and drop them all before the King and dance in his presence. He loves the mess. He finds joy in healing and reordering our messes. " ~Ruthiey Paulson

i really liked this. this is really how guys think.
http://www.allyspotts.com/how-to-reject-and-how-not-to-reject-a-man-guest-post-by-preston-yancey

64. My awesome new job!
65. The awesome dog which held so still for me this morning
66. My managers
67. New little niece Abigail
68. Babies
69. Jeremiah 29:11
70. Self-control
71. Early shifts
72. Fun with cooking
73. My loud but awesome family
74. Westlife
75. A warm hand
76. My cell
77. Joyfulness in depression
78. Tears and laughter
79. Hair with character
80. My Father
81. A body that works
82. Dancing
83. My friend Ruthiey's blog
84. A warm hug from a friend when it's cold out and I'm shivering
85. Word pictures
86. Music
87. Warm, bubbling, God-given laughter
88. A comfy bed
89. God's care of my family
90. A mostly quiet house

“Girls don’t want a boy they have to call themselves.” Read this someplace today, really agree. How would you like to be married or even going out with someone who had no desire to pursue you? A relationship like that would be bound to failure.

But then you get some other sayings that may be less serious... "Whistling girls and crowing hens; always come to some bad ends" sounds more like a warning not to be too tomboyish, not that I ever regarded it. I like the Fries one better. Can't spell in Fries, so it's "Girls who whistle get the guys with money"...

61. My sister and baby are ok
62. Sleeping in after evening shifts
63. Sister Rosemary

Still don't know how to make it pretty, but I like this one a bunch.
http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/motherhood-is-a-calling-and-where-your-children-rank#.Th8qHIGIFOE.facebook


54. My mother
55. An obvious choice amid this jumble
56. Texts in the middle of the afternoon
57. A smile on a random stranger's face
58. Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill
59. Jeremiah 29:11
60. My new uniform

Stolen from http://fashiongonethrifty.blogspot.com/2011/06/size-fashion-and-beauty.html. unfortunately, I don't know how to tab... but it's really good.

A while ago, I was reading a post from You Look Fab regarding clothing size trivia, and was surprised to learn that the average size a runway model wears is a 4, not a 0 or 2 as most of us suppose. Granted, these women are often 6 feel tall, so a 4 on them may look like a 0 on a woman of "normal" height! :)

Still, it started me thinking...how have our presuppositions about style influenced our perceptions of ourselves? Do we hold ourselves to an unnatural, impossible and unhealthy standard so that we may look like the fashion-world's "ideal", or is this ideal all in our heads? Because we think that a fashion model MUST wear a size 0, because she looks so tiny, do we force ourselves to be a size 0 too? (Or feel constantly sorry for ourselves when we're not?)

The beautiful young lady in the picture above is Whitney Thompson, the winner of season 10 of Tyra Banks' reality show "America's Next Top Model"...and the lovely Whitney is considered a "plus-sized model". I don't know about you, but when I see her picture, I think of how beautiful she is and how awesome it is that there are actually real women out there with a figure like I have! I don't think of how fat she is, how she should tone up, lose weight, get fit, so that she can be a "true" model. Unfortunately, though, that is the reaction of many in the fashion industry.

The fact of the matter is, women have curves. Some of us have more curves than others, but we've all got them. The fashion industry wants to make us feel that, unless we resemble an adolescent boy, we are not desirable. And if we don't look like an adolescent boy, we won't fit into their clothes! This last statement I can definitely attest to. ;) But who are we trying to please (or dress for)? The fashion-industry? Other women? Our husbands? Ourselves?

I think that it goes without saying that trying to please a Godless societal standard is hardly a calling worthy of Christian women, and yet we all fall prey to this thinking. We are sabotaged and bombarded on every side with images of what the "ideal" is, how the "perfect" woman should look. And if you don't look that way, don't even bother trying to be happy about how you look. But don't worry! There are surgeries and diets and exercise programs and pills that can help you achieve your goal. Or ruin your metabolism, but what's a little sacrifice for beauty, right?

The real question we should ask ourselves every day as we look in the mirror is, "How can I glorify God today? How can I serve those that He has put in my life? How can I reflect His love to those around me?" Being beautiful is part of this, since he didn't make us ugly. He made us to be gloriously beautiful to our husbands, to cause their pulse to quicken and their heart to beat faster when they see us (and part of that is having curves! It's a scientific fact that men's brains respond to curvy women). God made us to reflect the glory and beauty of the gift of His eternal life to those around us, and He didn't make us all the same. We're not all 5' 9" with blonde hair, blue eyes and 34-24-34 measurements. He didn't make us to be Barbie.

Now, part of reflecting God's image is to "shepherd" ourselves...we are called to be wise women of the Lord and act as such. "She girds herself with strength, and strengthens her arms." (Prov. 31:17) I don't think that this means we're supposed to be body-builders, but I think that we're definitely supposed to take care of our bodies. Reading the rest of Proverbs 31, it's fairly obvious that this fine lady worked hard at everything that she did, and part of that was "strengthening her arms". I'll bet, though, that she still had a bit of arm flab when she waved goodbye to friends. And I'm sure that it didn't stop her from waving. :)

We have to change the way that we think about beauty, and we cannot let the world define our terms. Beauty is faith in God; it is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. It is getting out of bed every morning with the sole purpose of serving God that day. It is reading to your children, cooking for your husband, sweeping your floor and wearing a pretty dress and a smile while you do it. It is not perfection; it is being perfected through God's grace.

45. Way too much food
46. A non-sleepy head while driving
47. Sunsets
48. A few hours of dry amid all the rain
49. Quiet
50. Strength
51. God's patience
52. A room by myself
53. New clothes