Beautiful

Beauty does not mean a sky lit with stars, beauty is knowing that the stars are still there even though they are covered in clouds

Beauty does not mean perfect skin and hair and body it's knowing that you are beautiful beneath the surface, even if you can't see it.

.k grace.

Changing Times

My Dad works at the airport now so he took me flying a few weeks ago, this is a picture from above the clouds =D

Like "WOW" lots of stuff going on lately. Right now I'm trying to figure a lot of stuff out.

It's a weird season of my life. For so long I could never figure out how to live not knowing what's gonna happen around the corner. It's a long process trying to learn to live "Ever in the Present Moment..."

The theme of this blog has never been so real to me as it is right now.

So many things are changing, I'm almost afraid to hope that it'll all turn out. Now more than ever is the time for us to stand on God's promises and remember that no matter what changes in this world, his promises won't.

I was reading my first edition of "Susie" magazine today, and I loved the verse that one article mentioned.

"Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens." -Psalm 68:19

I need to remember that no matter what happens, I can always give God my burdens. I never have to take things alone. Even though we don't always understand why things have to work the way they do, God is always there for us. He's waiting for us to give ourselves to him. He's waiting for us to let him wrap is arms around us and hold us close. He's saving every one of our tears in a bottle, that's how much he cares.
Psalm 56:8
"You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book?" NKJV

If you're up for a challenge, start living everyday like it was your last. Don't worry about what's going to happen tomorrow, don't keep focusing on the mistakes you made yesterday.

Live like you mean it. Live constantly meditating on what God says about your life. Do your best, do everything you do for God.

I love this song by Heather Clark, it makes me want to be in total love with Jesus, undived focus.

"Undived Focus" is such a crazy concept for me to grasp.

UNDIVIDED FOCUS by Heather Clark

"Holy Spirit, I surrender to You (x2)

Take my life I lay it down
All my gifts and all my crowns
I am Yours

Chorus:
I am in love, in undivided focus
I am in love with You (x2)

Take my hand and lead me through
Glorious fields to be with You
I am Yours"

~Kiana

Change cometh

In a split second, things can change lives forever. Nobody knows how many ways. Last night my brother Si lost part of his right trigger finger. It's tragic, even though some people would say "it's just a finger". It's more. It's a part of him that he has to learn to live without now. Deer hunting starts soon. He was all ready to go out and get a big buck. He was excited. And now his dreams are crushed till next year. He will have to miss a bunch of school. Losing part of a finger not only affects him, it effects everyone else, too. All the things that he could do before, he can't do them for a while, and then he has to learn to do things with other fingers. He will still have feeling in the end of his finger once it heals, but it will still be hard to adjust. I don't know why  I really wanted to post on here, but I thought it would make me feel a little better. It did. Just writing out calm plain facts helps.

.k grace.

Staying in Tune

Anytime I go to my Grandma's house, I get her old guitar out of the top shelf of the closet and do a little bit of general maintenance on it before I play. Sitting for so long, it always needs tuned up and often new strings. Anytime something sits in one place, it starts deteriorating.
Even after a week a guitar will usually need tuned. It's the same way with your relationship with God. When we ignore him for a day or a week we get out of tune. We fall away from that fresh, beautiful place. I've been working pretty hard lately on staying in tune and thought I would share some of the fruit...

We were having a relaxing evening at home with my Nana and Papa when the phone rang. Mrs. Nice Lady had called because the other nice little old lady down the road had gone missing! She asked us all to come down and help search for her. As this as had happened multiple times before, I really did not want to, but did it anyway. As I was riding my XR-100 down the road, I felt like God told me that I was going to find her. When I got there only a few people were there searching! I set off down a trail through the woods, calling (we'll call her Maggie May)'s name. After about an hour or so, it was getting dark and I was getting nervous for her. I dropped to my knees and starting praying in tongues. As I was praying I saw a vision of Maggie May in the tall grass holding a stick, her dogs all around her. I continued to search for awhile until I came to a meadow. A big, fluffy dog came to the edge of the meadow. I followed it through the tall grass where I found Maggie May! She was confused, but I was able to lead her by the hand back to the trail. I fired three signal shots with my Ruger 45. Colt, then left her on the trail with her dogs. I ran into Mr. Nice Guy and the neighbor kid who had radios. Walking back to Maggie May with Mr. Nice Guy, I filled him in on the details. Somebody drove a truck in to get Maggie May. She was pretty healthy, but tired.
I was glad that I heard God and went to bed that night feeling pretty satisfied.
~Kiana

Sometimes I feel like jumping off a high place and flying somewhere far away...

uh oh...

Oh no I got a facebook! Will my blog suffer because of it? I hope not!

.k grace.

Interesting Stuff

Hey!
So lately I've been looking into scholarships I can apply for, it can be kinda frustrating!
Last night I found this website www.scholarshipexperts.com
It's pretty cool =) Sometime if you're feeling ambitious, fill out all the info on their site and get pages of available scholarships based on your profile!
And best yet, it's free! Yipee! =)
~Kiana

A story teller's story

Sometimes I feel like posting but think I have nothing to post. So I post something I have drafted previously, maybe changing something here or there. And then I realize within usually 5 minutes that I have something to tell the world after all. I thought about removing the previous post but it is exactly what I need to be thinking about so I'll leave it and just post for the second time tonight.

Shortly after I posted about faith, my mom asked me to brush my five year old brother (JD)'s teeth. Not an unusual request, I do it almost every night anyway. So I set aside the laptop and went to brush his teeth. He started to act a little stubborn about it, but I ployed him with a reminder of mom's promise to read him stories after his teeth were brushed. That got him moving, but still, it wasn't enough. He wanted stories NOW. You see, in my family I am the storyteller. I always have been.

When I was little, younger than 5 probably, I began making up outrageous stories that no on would believe. It's a good thing though, because they were never true. I have just always been a storyteller. I used to share a room with my two younger sisters and to get them to sleep I would tell them stories. When my brother JD was a baby, he would get cranky in the car and so I would whisper in his ear, just making things up as I went. By whispering he would have to stop crying in order to hear what I was saying and then stay quiet because he wanted to hear. It didn't ALWAYS work, but most of the time. After I switched bedrooms, I no longer told them stories. As JD got older he was better in the car. I didn't have the occasions when I needed to utilize that gift. But more recently, in the past months or year, I have had to pick it up again.

I remember the first time in several years that I had to call on that gift. It was this year. I had to put my sisters to bed and my youngest sister Em asked for a story. I racked my brain for something, ANYTHING. I got nothing. I walked away wondering, "What happened?" I used to be able to come up with a story on a moment's notice. And now? I couldn't anymore. The next time she asked I told her my version of a long joke about turtles. But I still wasn't satisfied. I felt like I had lost a huge part of me. So the next time one of my younger brothers or sisters asked for a story I made one up. It was stupid and sounded stilted and I had to stop often to think of what to say next. But I worked at it and became more fluent as time went on. Now tonight when JD asked for a story I felt good. Because I have rediscovered a part of me I had lost.  I thought fast and told him a story about a snurtle and a porculinus who got all stuck together with superglue and  had to use toothpaste to unstick themselves. It felt  like a rebirthing moment. One of those moments when you have just come out of the forest and marvel at



the light breaking through,





the sun in your face,




and the wind in your hair.

 I just felt good about that and wanted to share that little piece of joy in my week.

.k grace.

note: all photos I post are my own unless otherwise noted, please do not use without permission.

Faith: Living what you believe you believe and making it count

I feel like such a faker sometimes, you know? I know what I say I believe, and I know what I show the world that I believe. But when it comes to believing what I believe I believe, it doesn't work out exactly how I thought it would.

I mean, don't you just decide to believe something and then believe it? Nope. Doesn't work that way. Believing is all about faith and faith is all about actions. No, I am not saying your good behavior's gonna get you into heaven. But how is the world supposed to know who God is, if the people who are supposed to be His followers aren't reflecting Him? Our actions are supposed to be the very REFLECTION of HIM. Not our wants or needs.

And if our faith is driven by actions....well by ourselves, it's a hopeless mess. What I mean by this is that without the "works" our faith is "dead", remember that verse? I can't remember the exact place to find it, but somewhere in John, I think, there is a verse that, simply put, says, "Faith without works is dead". Therefore if we don't put that faith into action it's worthless.

Just like the scientific principle that if you are pushing something, but it never moves, you have done no work. The proof, the actions, are what drives the whole thing. But this doesn't mean you have to see it to believe it. Because to even make the faith work, to do the actions that make the faith valid, we must step out.

As Fireflight's song, "Unbreakable", says, "Faith is moving without seeing, can I trust what I can't see, to reach my destiny". I believe that's the cry of every teen trying to live for God. Can I step out and trust that He's gonna have me in His hands? Can I believe that He's really gonna catch if I fall? Will I see another tomorrow if I take this risk? Yes, you can. In a world that tells every Christian "you can't believe that, you can't do that, you're a failure, you just simply can't do that", I am telling you YES YOU CAN. Because of Him and through Him.

It's time to step out. Maybe it's not stepping outside the box, maybe it's stepping back into the place where you felt so unsure of, and believing that God is gonna bring you through. This is what I believe. This is what I try to put into action every day. But unless I truly do it, not just TRY, my believing that I believe won't do me any good.

So I keep going back to square one. And once I have passed square two, I know I don't have to go back to one.
Believing is not seeing, nor seeing believing. Believing is you making your decision to essentially do or die. To live what you believe or die trying. Like Cassie Bernall. Live like today is the day you will have a gun put to YOUR head. Live like today you will be asked if you believe in God. Show the world that they don't even need to ask. When you walk into the room something changes. When you walk away from spending time with someone and they say "wow, she really walks what she talks". When people clamor to be around you because they know you're the real deal. This is when you know that you are truly fulfilling your destiny. Your destiny to live for God every day, every moment.

.k grace.

Our Father's Love

This is a post I did on my old blog Modest is Hottest that I thought I would post here because i love it so much. I have a bunch more, too, from that blog that i will probably repost here. (Note that this was written when my pen name was Sal, my name is actually K Grace!)

This morning when I woke up, I was thinking about God. No surprise there, but I was having new thoughts about Him, new thoughts about His love. As i was doing some chores shortly after i got out of bed, I realized that some qualities I would only attribute to earthly fathers are inspired by God!

Now, my dad is not big on a lot of fruits and veggies, and neither am I. But my mom occasionally says, "Sal, you need to have a piece of broccoli". Many times I can get out of it by eating an extra helping of collard greens or spinach, but sometimes there are no collard greens or spinach available. So I sit at the table, staring at the dreaded broccoli. When I am being stubborn, my dad encourages me. He encourages all of my six siblings in similar ways, too. He says "Sally" in such a way that there are so many extra syllables that I have to smile. So he says "Sally", (with all the extra syllables), "You need to eat your broccoli". And then when I am finished eating it, he smiles and says "I knew you could do it". God is the same way! He whispers "Sally, my girl, come on! Eat that broccoli." And I do, and I get a great big hug and a "well done my girl". That was a lot like my daddy's encouragement. He knew I was being stubborn and that if I drank two glasses of water really fast after eating the broccoli I wouldn't hardly taste any of the gross stuff. What else does my Heavenly Father do?

Sal is about to walk away from the kitchen counter, when she feels a nudge on her shoulder. She turns. "Hey, um, nice looking counter, eh, Sal?" the guy says. Sal spits out a fake laugh, "sure" she says. Sally turns to walk away again. This time it is a tug on the back of her shirt. "Now, come on Sal, you KNOW I'm a nice guy, so just listen a minute or two, awright?" Sal leans against the kitchen sink. "I'm listening", she sighs. The guy begins his speech. "You know, I know, we all know, that if you go and sit at that computer one room over, your momma, she gonna walk right through this room and see that messy counter". Sal groans and rolls her eyes. "Hey, none of that now. Bad habit. Your mom isn't gonna like that. What would happen if your mom saw this right now? That's right, you would have to come back and do it all over again, and while you were away from the computer your brother is gonna go on facebook, and he won't wanna get off because he has to go to work tonight and he wants to catch his friends first, and give 'em a message or two". Then again, if you clean this counter right, then your momma will walk through this room and do a double take when she sees that spotless counter, and by the time you are ready for the computer, your brother will have already found out that none of his friends are online because they're already at work, and he will decide to go get some extra time practicing that new song on he guitar. Waddya say?" "Well, I guess you could be right, but..." Rebel breezes through the room "who you talking to squirt" he laughs and knocks her on the shoulder. Sal turns back to the man, but she is alone. She smiles, and starts scrubbing at some water stains.

How Great is His love for us? It is higher than the heavens, and deeper than the seas. But it is never too high to care about the details.

.k grace.

Impossibility

I was on amazon looking at the first chapter of "God Chasers" by Tommy Tenney. I ordered it into my library and haven't been able to pick it up,  but I wanted to know what to anticipate, whether i should look forward to it and try and pick it up soon, or send it back. Trust me, I will be trying to get a hold of that book as soon as I possibly can! Just the first chapter made my heart want to be a God Chaser, to follow after Him with all my heart, not to examine and analyze His trail, but to truly know Him. Somewhere along the line I came across another book, "Ever Increasing Faith", by who else, Smith Wigglesworth. The last lines of what appears to be the introduction hit me like a ton of bricks. Listen to this.

There is nothing impossible with God. All the impossibility is with us when we measure God by the limitations of our unbelief. -Smith Wigglesworth

Whew, that is a lot to take, but how true, how true.

.k grace.

I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

So here's the before picture

Mom got hers done too =)

After!!!!

Yipee!!!!!!!!! I did it!!!! I finally got my nose pierced and as usual it was sooo much easier than I expected! It didn't hurt at all! Like seriously!

The lady who did mine was super good and I am super glad I went to her.
So whaddya think?! I'm lovin' it more every minuet XD

~Kiana

Chasing God

Do you ever have times in your life when you feel like you're just dry? You pray and can't feel anything. You can't stay focused when you try to read the Bible. Frustrating, isn't it?
I've been feeling like that lately and I've kinda come to the conclusion that if you really want God in your life, if you really want to be close to him and feel like he's near you everyday, you have to chase him. Doing a devotional in the morning is not enough. God wants to draw closer to you, but you have to choose to draw near to him. Sometimes that means changing the way you live everyday life. It's not easy, it seems like God always tells you to do things that stretch you.
Any thoughts on the subject?

~Kiana

Btw, I'm getting my nose pierced tomorrow!!!!!!!! =D

Humanity

This song speaks to me today, not sure why. But it does. And just sayin, Tim Be Told is the best band ever.

.k grace.

My song for today

Hey! So I was listening to a Jeremy Camp CD a little while ago in my room and this song played and it has stuck with me and I can really relate to it. Especially with all these huge changes that are happening in my life right now. I dedicate this post to Saint (y'all remember Saint? I've talked about her several times recently). I know a lot of changes are happening in her life, too and so yeah, I just wanted to post this song for me, for Saint, and for all of you guys.

.k grace.

Destiny Call

Hi. Watch the video above and read the lyrics before you read any further.

The title of this blog is Ever In The Present Moment. It is both mine and Kiana's goal to live our lives every second making the most of it, never pushing to be in the future and growing up to fast, and never dwelling constantly on past successes - or regrets. But how do we live ever in the present moment? And how do we live forever with God when we live here on earth? I will tell you, if you haven't already figured it out from the lyrics of this song. You do it by loving what He loves, seeing what He sees, a hope burning like He is far inside us, with His light in our lives, our hearts renewed, and believing that "Here we are forever with you" never separated from His love. That is how we live forever with him in the present moment.

Why should we try to live ever in the present moment? What is the point? The reason? At one point this song declares "I want to live like every breath matters". Why? Why should we strive for a life that is meaningful and impacting and leave a lasting legacy? Because since God planned you, yes even before anyone else knew you would be born, He made a call rang out, your call. Your destiny call. You must listen to that call, but before you can listen and obey, you need to acknowledge that God has an amazing plan for you and your life. You need to acknowledge that you HAVE a destiny call. It is then that your destiny can be sprung into action for real. Don't wait for it to come find you, you need to listen for it. Listen for your Destiny Call.

.k grace.

life and school... what you make it

"About 90% of the times you're afraid to do something and do it anyway, it's not nearly as bad as you thought it would be." That's my latest motto or whatever. This is me jumping off a cliff. So for those of you who don't know that is like totally out of my character. I always used to be extremely quiet, not outgoing at all, insecure (not that quiet people are insecure, it just happened to be the case with me).
The present has overcome the past. I'm not afraid to be me anymore and I don't look back.

I'm home schooled. My mom does things a little bit differently than most other homeschooling moms. About a week before school starts she drags about 10 big boxes out of the closet and starts deciding what stuff we'll need for the year.

I always dread that fateful evening, but this year it's different. I was praying about school this year and I felt like God was reminding me that what the school year is like, I'm going to decide.

It's not always about how hard you're going to have to work on school or what classes you take, but what attitude you have about them. I want to learn this year. I want to do well. I don't know about you, but I want to LIKE school!

This is the present overcoming the past.

So lets continue to strive to live Ever in the Present Moment...

~Kiana

To the bestestest best friend in the whole wide world

Yesterday I was slightly crabby and annoyed (partly cuz I had just burnt my hand on a very hot pan) so I called my best friend, the other author of this blog, kIaNa!!!! (also known to me as Buttercup) After we talked and she cheered me up she sent me this.

Darlin, Darlin, you're so grand! 

You're sweeter than the best chocolate in all the land! 

Friends like you are sooo very high in demand,

So keep your head up, Darlin' cuz I wub you more than ocean sand =D

 

xoxo ~Buttercup

 

I felt so special and loved that I wanted to tell the whole wide world about the bestestest best friend in the whole wide world.

 

Kiana never minds if I call her and complain. She sympathizes when I need sympathy and tells me to snap out of it when I get too deep into my pity party. She loves it when I call her because I am excited. She squeals and giggles and and gets just as excited as I do when something goes well. I know I can trust her with any and every secret I want to tell her. She lets me rant and rave about frustrations just to get them off my chest and then when I am ready to move to a new subject she makes me laugh and forget about being mad. She also calls me and tells me everything that's going on in her life and asks for advice and tells me about the horrible things and the spectacularly great things that happen in her life. This makes me feel trusted and loved because I know I am the first friend she will call about stuff. And I give her my best advice, which is reserved for her, and sympathize with her problems and help her forget them, and I get excited every time something cool happens in her life, cuz I love it when she's happy....which seems to be most of the time. If things are going well for her I have hope that they can go well for me, too.

 

Even though we see each other about once a year, sometimes only for a day, she has never given up on me. I have never had a more faithful and true and loving friend ever. Which is why she is my best friend. We live almost 2,000 miles apart but she has never failed once to be there for me. I plan on being there forever for her, too, just so you know. We have known each other our whole lives. (Ok, ok, so I was six months old when she was born, it's still practically my whole life) Even though she moved away when we were three, we never lost touch. When our parents didn't keep in contact as much, we kept the relationship going between our families (and we were little kids!!!!!) Our families try to get together every year. (thank you Jesus! I couldn't live without my bff, it would be so hard to never ever see her) I look forward to seeing her all year, from the very second she gives me that sad look as one of us walks out the door to the car to leave, until we get to see each other again.

 

So, kIaNa, Buttercup, I just want you to know, you are my favoritest bestest most beautifulest gorgeousest prettiest specialest funnest coolest spectacularly fantastically awesomely extremely sweetest faithfulest lovingest caringest best friend and I wouldn't trade you for anybody else in the world, cuz you are perfect just the way you are.

 

I yub you, Buttercup!!! <3

 

.k grace.

 

 

Trip to WA Coast =D

So this weekend I got to go to my cousins wedding on the WA coast! Vacations are so much fun!! <3
It was sooo worth the 12 hour drive!
The pics aren't really in order, but I don't really feel like fixing them sooo....

Giant lollipops from Giggles the clown

As all the hotels were booked, we found an apartment to rent for the weekend on craigslist. Can you guess where we stayed? Giggles the clown's family fun park!

Blackberries growing wild alongside the road

Me dancing with my great uncle

The band at the wedding

Yummy XD

Fresh salmon from the coast <3

The best torte ever!

Like seriously.... WOW!

*Speechless*

Yes, I really have my feet in ocean water! lol

Haha my little bro found a snake in the rocks and had to show the bride =D

The bride with her parents

Hmm....

Yep, it's really a crab hehe

~Kiana

What I do for fun on friday nights.

Just for fun (since friday nights are supposed to be all about part-ays and fun and the weekend) occasionally I will indulge myself with a floor washing session. I sit on the kitchen floor, under the table, scrubbing at minuscule spots with a rag, trying to discern whether the spots are part of the "pattern" in the linoleum or not........

The last thing I leave you with is this:

Remember to never forget.

.k grace.

Stars, Amusement Parks, Suicidal Frogs, and God's Best

My title today reminds of my best friends mom's blog. Outdoor.mom's stories are always hilarious and so are her titles. When we were little she had "superkids" stories she would tell us that we couldn't get enough of. Anyway....

This weekend my family had a fire in our driveway (on purpose, don't freak out here!) to roast hot dogs on for supper. I was sitting there mind my own business when all of the sudden my mom goes, "Si, quick get a stick, there's a frog! (Si's my li'l bro by a year and a half) He grabs a stick and tries to guide this teeny little frog away from the rocks around the fire. He would almost get it out and it would dart right back in, over and over. Finally it broke away from him completely and flung itself into the flames. It was awful. Maybe it panicked and didn't know how to get out. But why would it leap for the fire when it was being prodded towards free, open, cool, clean air and freedom? Why do we do that? We start to wander too close to danger and bondage and God starts prodding us back towards freedom and safety. But we are so fascinated by the fire, captivated by the leaping flames. We think we won't get burned, it won't leave scars if we just touch it, just to see what it's like. But no, you can never play with fire without getting burned - or killed.

I was at the biggest amusement park in my state with two of my sisters, a group of teens, and most importantly one of my bestest friends, Saint over at Life as a PK Teen and Our Guts. We have known each other for almost six years and are very close. This group went because my older sister is the leader of my friend's youth group and their church is categorized as Assemblies of God, I guess, and it was Assemblies of God Youth Day at the amusement park, so I got to go with their youth group. (does all that make sense? lol!)

The day had some stressful moments, with drama thrown in for punctuation. But my friend Saint (that's her blog name so I'll just go with that name) was there and because of her I could handle everything the day threw my way. Every once in a while we would find a way to sit and chill together and talk or sit in silence. The highlight of my entire day was not a crazy roller coaster ride or dropping face down from 150 feet in the air. It was laying on the sidewalk with Saint, staring up at the only star visible in the sky. God's Best star, put there just to make me smile and feel peaceful that night. As the group was heading towards a ride that day I was slightly hyper (just cuz bad things happen when I am very tired and not hyper), I was like, "I want to be somebody, who shall I be?" Just before we decided to lay on the sidewalk I knew who I wanted to be. I was walking along in my red plaid flannel shirt, my cutoff denim shorts, and hot pink sandals and feeling good, confident good. I looked up at the sky and just said, "I know what I want to be Saint. I want to be God's Best." And that has stuck with both Saint and I since then. We laid there looking at that star, God's very best star and knew that whatever life had for us, there was someone we could rely on, somebody willing to do anything for us. As we sat in the car a little while later staring up at that star again, we knew even more how great and strong and all consuming His love is for us. So great that He died. Jesus was willing to pay whatever it took, and it took His life. You are worth as much as someone is willing to pay for you. So don't sell your self for less. Because you are worth dying for. YOU are God's Best.

.k grace.

One cool chick! XD

Last week I helped out at our church VBS program. At the parents night program I met this AMAZING chick named Steffany! Her mom told her about me a long time ago and she always gives me tons of cute clothes ! <3
Anyway, talking to her the other day I was like sooo totally inspired! She started her own contracting business for flight attendants. Here's her website www.flyskyangels.com
She's one of those people who just stands out. I mean, talk about creative, resourceful, ambitious, etc.
It takes a pretty special person to start something like that and stick with it.
Have you met any inspiring people lately?

Casting Crowns - Praise You In The Storm (Live)

Lovin' Life! (uhh, maybe?)

A really disgusting army worm nest... kinda cool though, huh?! lol

Daisies I took pics of today where we were cutting firewood

Focaccia bread I made the other day =D (Super yummy with my homemade marinara sauce!)

Empty pizza tray from last week when Mine and K Grace's families when to Young Guns pizza together XD

"Lovin' Life"? haha what a joke. Well, today I'm officially guilty of not living in the present moment... but you know what?!

I can't keep thinking about the mistakes I made earlier today because then I wouldn't be living in the present moment right now! Make sense?! Soooo... If you're feeling like I am today then lets change our focus right now! Are you with me?! Lets start choosing to love life even though we don't feel like it!

Randomness seems to cheer me up a little so here's a few pics AND I have been like totally crazy about this song lately!

~Kiana

My Brain Hurts...

Do you like cheese?! I'm sitting here right now next to my BFF! She's making me an adorable yellow fashion accessory out of an old t-shirt! Isn't she amazing!!??

She's actually at my house visiting for like 5 days. We've been suntanning together, we hiked up a mountain trail today (we even saw a moose!), and went to a huge lake the other day for a family picnic! Tomorrow we have a big day of kayaking planned=D

I am having sooo much fun!!!! ~Kiana

Totally Unexpected Suprises

Sometimes you try and try to make something good happen for yourself, but it gets to the point when it seems like no matter how hard you try, things will never change. You don't know how you can live with it any longer...
But then out of nowhere something totally amazing happens that you never dreamed could ever be! You still have dreams and you still try to reach for the sky, but even though it's hopeless right now, what God made happen for you is enough to bear your situation for a little longer and remind you of what he can do. =) Kiana

Unhappy or simply dissatisfied?

There is something wrong with the picture I see, this culture and it's so called freedom. Haven't you read the stories in the Bible of the people who met for church in secret, and if they were discovered, they died? They knew they needed freedom to worship God. They strove for it, pushed until they got it. And now that we think we have it, we're tired of it. Why is it that what we don't have we want, and what we do have we don't want. Once we get what we think we want, we don't want it anymore. We think happiness lies in that newest cd, or in the latest style of jeans or that amazing red convertible. We think that the elusive feeling we call happiness lies around the next bend. That just around the corner we will discover the very thing needed to complete our lives. What we don't know is that the corner we see is part of a circle that will only lead us right back to where we started - unhappy and wanting what we don't have.

.k grace.

The Reckless Kind of Faith

"A reckless faith understands that the best use for an expensive bottle of perfume may be to wash someones feet. A reckless faith builds an ark before there's even a cloud in the sky. A reckless faith charges into the sea before thinking that God may part the water. A reckless faith leaves 99 sheep to go after one lost one. It does not need man's approval - or man's money. It honors God in the classroom, even when no one else there reveres Him. A reckless faith doesn't make moral compromises at the office, even when they're  expected, A reckless faith believes in "till death do us part." "
-page 123 "Reckless Faith" by Beth Guckenberger

You see, reckless faith never says "what if". Reckless faith doesn't require countless hours of agonizing over other alternatives. Reckless faith does what needs to be done - now. No waiting till a more convenient time, say when the 99 have been safely put away and the wolf has already eaten the lost one. Reckless faith doesn't go just halfway or go a "reasonable" distance. Reckless faith is all out, holding nothing back, going as far as necessary and even further. It doesn't rely on what everyone around is thinking or what the press response will be, or if a lot of people are going to support you morally, spiritually, or financially. Reckless faith is a right here, right now, all out, giving everything, no hesitating, do what's right no matter what kind of a thing. Reckless faith says that you don't need to use logic and reasoning to figure out how things are going to happen. It takes action and things fall into place. Try it sometime.

.k grace.

Yay! My first post!!

Yayness!!!! I finally am able to post now that we're rid of some "technical problems" =)

So first I'll fill you in on been goin' on. Been riding "my" bike (it's actually my moms old one, not mine lol) a lot lately, volunteered at a fire dept garage sale, finished school for the year, ran 10 miles (woohoo!), and just been living everyday life!

Looking forward to summer! I've been thinking and praying a lot lately about trying to do a youth missions trip! Check out this website! www.globalexpeditions.com

More later! ~Kiana

I feel special today...

The title is slightly sarcastic but only slightly. Two monumentous (monumental + momentous = monumentous, remember, Kiana?!) things happened today. You know that song "Everything Glorious" by David Crowder Band? Well, today, for the very first time I "got it".

You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
Yeah, You make everything glorious
And I am Yours
What does that make me?

I never understood that part. I was listening to random music on my computer while doing some chores and all the sudden I heard those words and I understood. That's where the sarcastic part of the title comes in. I am sure everybody but me already "got" that song a long time ago. But even though you probably know this already, here's what it means.
If God makes everything glorious, and I belong to Him, that means He is making me glorious! Yayness!

Thing 2 today was actually the very first thing that happened today. I had been out of bed for just moments and I was brushing my teeth, hoping that I would be able to go back to my room and chill for a few more minutes before facing the day. Then I heard knocking. Oh great, I thought. Now I have to hurry and get out and I don't want to hurry. "Hurry, K, hurry!" It was my mom. Usually she doesn't sound quite that excited about getting in the bathroom. So I hurried. When I opened the door, no one rushed in, pushed me out and slammed the door. Nope, a letter was shoved into my hands. You have to remember that I had only been up for a little while. People were telling me to open it, open it! Ok, ok. I did, and a check fell into my lap. Huh? "Pay One Hundred Dollars and 00 cents to the Order of K Grace". Then it occurred to me in the form of my mother's voice that I should read the letter. Right, the letter. Which told me that I had won third place in a national essay contest! I wrote the essay what seems like forever ago and I thought the contest was over and I had lost. NOPE! Yayness as Kiana would say, lol.  Now I just want to tell everybody! Not to brag but....I guess it's just the thought that I can write well enough to win 3rd place in a NATIONAL writing contest. And it's not sponsored by a little known corporation or something like that. This is a huge thing! Writing is my passion, and to know that I have the ability to succeed at what I love makes me believe I can reach for the stars and not come up empty. Thank you Jesus!

.k grace.

The Case for Christ

I read this book and it amazed me. I had never before thought about the logic of the historical truths and accuracy of the Bible and Christ's life. It really just gives me another reason, more proof that Jesus is everything He says He is. Everyone should read this book. I read the student edition first because it was in the teen section of non-fiction books at cbd.com. I am planning on reading the full edition soon. If you have friends who doubt what the Bible says about Jesus, tell them to read this book.

The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel.

.k grace.

Change in the air

It's spring, going on summer and things are happening. You can almost smell the change tickling your nose. It means cleaning up the yard and the house and the car. On Wednesday before dropping me off at work my brother stopped to get gas. I was preoccupied with something, and when I looked up, a little red head kid was grinning at me. Or at least I think it was a grin... Anyway, the dad was cleaning out the van with all the doors open, leaning over the seats with a vacuum. It made me start thinking about how it's time to clean up after a long, cold, dull winter. Time to make changes.

A big one for me is time management. I need to put the big rocks in the jar first before I pour in the sand or they're never going to fit. My priorities are a mess. I have good intentions, I plan on doing what needs to be done first but it doesn't turn out that way in the end. A

nother thing is my bedroom. There are a lot of things that I love to do but today I realized that I have so much stuff to use to do what I love to do, I no longer have the room to do what I love! That doesn't sound right. For example, writing. Writing is my biggest passion but my room is so cluttered I don't have space to relax and get in a writing groove. In fact I rarely write anything any more. If I do it's just a hurried scribble of an idea. Another one is reading. Again, no space to relax and enjoy it. The biggest one is sewing. I can't even get to my sewing machine because of all my fabric. I hate wasting fabric and I don't like throwing it away. And I end up using the scraps eventually for small projects. But that's just the thing. Eventually. If I can get my weekend jobs done today, then I can focus on purging fabric. If there are scraps I refuse to throw away, then I have all of tomorrow to use it.

I am slowly throwing out or giving away things that I have been hanging onto. They do me no good - or anybody else - if they are sitting on a shelf making a hobby of collecting dust and wallowing in memories of the past. Some of my favorite books when I was little I have given to my younger sisters. Joy and Em love to read like I used to and they get to enjoy my old books. Now they are enriching more lives, and that's what they were meant to do. Stuff was not meant for collecting. It was meant for changing lives.

I won't ramble about this endlessly. I just hope I have made my point. Change won't come if you wait for it to happen. It's not a downhill ride, either. You have to push until something shifts and when you achieve what you were aiming for,  the view on that hilltop is amazing. You see the ruts you were in, you see the clutter that surrounded you, and then you don't let it happen to you again. When things change for the good, you never want to go back.

.k grace.