i will love a man...

for his cardigan wearing ability.
swoon.

life list.

love the Lord unconditionally.

write your own story.

be strong.

Inspire.

feel.

show compassion.

be weak.

understand.

be into politics.

volunteer.

dance.

day dream.

create.

laugh out loud.

understand.

be.

"This idea of dying to self and "taking up your cross" is one of the hardest concepts in the Christian faith to understand. But it is hard not because it is complicated. It is hard because it is so difficult to accept. We try to complicate it precisely because we know intuitively what it means, and we do not like the idea. No one likes to die." (John Fischer, "On a Hill TOO Far Away, 126)

 la.

woke today with these words: "The joy of the Lord is my strength."
when we dare to believe he rejoices over us and our ashes turn into beauty.

little Joy - Next Time Around

my recent song obsession

a sister's beautiful mouth.

"i think we are all like pieces of glass.
i must be a thin clear shard, broken from a window.
kind of fragile, laying in a field of wheat and the sun beats on me.
you are sea glass.
one million different colors on a shoreline.
having been tossed to and fro through the ocean. seen so much. so brave. you are beautiful.
i am a piece of a window, and you are a piece from a bottle or a bud vase.
i like that. pieces of glass being sisters.
so different, but the same.
both glass. made of dust and lightening.
blown to life the same.
i think you are red sea glass my love."
-Bella

God's truth changes us.
but sometimes, it takes time.
my faith is so small sometimes.
i had this concept in my mind that when you know truth it would just be like you woke up and you would be different. but the fact is that is not the case. our minds create alleyways as we grow in our beliefs. we walk down those alleyways to make them worn and tattered. and when we change our path we must walk it over and over again for it to be more convincing than our last.
it doesn't always feel normal for us to walk off the old path onto a new one. but that is why it is faith. that's why it's so hard for us sometimes.
it's a constant dripping and a continual walk. we go back to what may feel uncomfortable and unreal to us.
sometimes, things happen that make you want to question the new path. did god really say that? or did i just make that up? it easy for us to look back at the old way and think we are just confused and creating a ripple in our path. are we just confused? is this way really God's plan for me? our minds are powerful- they question the Lord's plan and his truth until we resolve it.
eventually, we replace our unbelief with real faith.
it makes since to me that faith would be accompanied by unbelief.
we doubt. but learn to let him lead, even if we can't see.
faith is a choice - to trust God and believe without knowing what the outcome will be. it may not be the safe or the easy way. not doing what everyone else does, going against the current.
or going with hopelessness when God says

there is HOPE.

a new side of me.

i am 18 today.

scary.

she said she usually cried at least once a day not because she 
was sad, but because the world was so beautiful & life was so short. 




brian andreas

Hack.

come what may.

boots and tights and scarves.
shorter days.
crisp fall air. and white comforters wrapped around oneself in the morning.

farewell summer.
i may or may not be having trouble letting you go this year.
i will miss you. muchly.

love, mandy.

Mr.

 

 photo.

 i've been browsing wedding photography. good wedding photography.

it's addicting.

and makes you want to get married. 

what a predicament i find myself in.

p to the s- i want that dress.

without tenderness,
a man is uninteresting.

marlene dietrich

list 2.

the rules for the men.

1. stand up for a lady. [actually this doesn't just involve chairs.]
2.  hold doors open.
3. kill bugs. [really, the men should have to kill the bugs.]
4. fix things and build stuff. [if my dad can do it so should you.]

5. wear boots occasionally. "We're talking about slightly mud-crusted, I-could-have-just-come-in-from-the-field boots". [swoon]

6. grill stuff.[<--what men do best.]

7. pull out our chairs.

8. pay the tab. quote: "If you ask me out, you pay," Stephanie says. "If I ask you out, you should still pay.

9. look nice. [seriously, tuck in the shirt.]

10. never get in bar fights. quotes:"Patrick Swazye {rest his soul}might look cool in Road House, but in reality, bar fights are stupid and embarrassing. You don't look tough. You look like an idiot."

11. work out. [it's the manly thing to do.]
12. make sure you ask my father for my hand in marriage before asking me. [it's tradition and i believe in tradition.]
121/2. don't be a wimp.[see above]

any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves. albert einstein. 

Let's just pretend.

 

happy wednesday.

(i'm finally making those molasses cookies i've been meaning to.)

can you say productive or what?;]

"a man has to find a good woman, and when he finds her he has to win her love. then he has to earn her respect. then he has to cherish her trust. and then he has to, like, go on doing that for as long as they live. until they both die. that's what it's all about. that's the most important thing in the world. that's what a man is, yaar. a man is truly a man when he wins the love of a good woman, earns her respect, and keeps her trust. until you do that, you're not a man."

--Gregory David Roberts

Sufjan Stevens

list 1.

simple truths.

i am more afraid of moths than spiders.
i'm unhealthily addicted to scones.
i talk to myself in a british accent.
currently i have been obsessed with sufjan stevens.
i sing really loud in the car when i'm alone.
i think sean ferris is the hawtest guy around.
i judge books by their covers.
i think my eyes are my most beautiful feature.
i can be the worst at texting back.
i honestly despise bad grammer, but sometimes forget the rules myself.
i'm a bed hog.
i want to learn how to moonwalk.
i'm reading isaiah and i'm completely baffled.

When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your love, O LORD, supported me. When anxiety was was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul."
— Psalm 94:18-19

you don't love people at their best, sweetheart. you just love them because you can't help it. amy lane.