From Where I'm Standing

"Only Hope"
Switchfoot

There's a song that's inside of my soul
It's the one that I've tried to write over and over again
I'm awake in the infinite cold
But You sing to me over and over again

So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands
and pray to be only Yours
I pray to be only Yours
I know now you're my only hope

Sing to me the song of the stars
Of Your galaxy dancing and laughing
and laughing again
When it feels like my dreams are so far
Sing to me of the plans that You have for me over again

And I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands and pray
To be only yours
I pray to be only yours
I know now you're my only hope

I give You my apathy
I'm giving You all of me
I want Your symphony
Singing in all that I am
At the top of my lungs I'm giving it back

Okay so Cassie had her thing about sleepovers. So I decided to talk about them, I will give you the summary of my last sleepover with my bestie:

Drive thru the rain for an hour, get mad at brother for pulling my hair.
Get home, we're both kinda ticked cuz it's so dang cold.
Persuade Brother to go make fire!
Go downstairs and rock it out on the guitar until our musical happiness is ended.
Go UPstairs cuz the fire's blazing and we are freaking cold.
Decide that we should pretend it's christmas.
We went downstairs into the basement and found all the Christmas stuff, we put up some light things and put a bow on my head and ribbons around my neak. Then we paraded up the stairs (We go up and down a lot) and sang Christmas Carols while drinking Hot Chocolate and eating candy canes. I found out that O Holy Nightmare, oops, O Holy Night is her favorite chrismtas carol and she found out I have about 8 million favorites. Then, we played clue for hours with my siblings and laughed and laughed. THen we went to bed and talked until 4am. (We had lots to talk about, such as KITTIES!!!!!!) Then we fell asleep finally, woke up 4 hours later and went to Church. I bought her a MUFFIN!!!! YUM!!! And then for lunch we had turky sandwiches made with tru and real turkey cuz I would rather die than eat the plastic stuff. It was great fun. So this is a sleepover in my world, tell me about yours....
~Nalani

Blessings have been around since the beginning of time. God blessed Adam with Eve, they were blessed with the tree of life. There is something inconceivablely magical about the art of giving. Have you ever noticed how when you give, you receive more? I have never known a grinch who everyone loved and bought tremendous gifts for. However on one of my friend's birthday she is absolutely SHOWERED with affection. And I can see why, everyone loves to be around her, she's fun, enduring, kind, why wouldn't you want to give back some of what she has given you? How is that? It's so amazingly simple that it becomes tragically complicated to most people. I looked it up, and the Bible, (as always) seems to be right:

Proverbs 3:9-10:
Whoever brings blessing will be enriched,
and one who waters will himself be watered.

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
—Matthew 6:3-4
Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
—Luke 21:1-4
For some reason this strange idea of giving is so unknown to most people that they push it aside. We don't understand the joy in giving. That it is better to give than to receive. So we go write our 10 page wish list and don't bother asking everyone else what they want for Christmas. And forget about the greatest gift of all.
~Nalani

“Life is like music; it must be composed by ear, feeling, and instinct, not by rule.”
Samuel Butler

“Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.”
Kahlil Gibran

“Music is the purest form of art... therefore true poets, they who are seers, seek to express the universe in terms of music... The singer has everything within him. The notes come out from his very life. They are not materials gathered from outside.”
Rabindranath Tagore


“You are the music while the music lasts.”
T.S. Eliot

“Think of the magic of that foot, comparatively small, upon which your whole weight rests. It's a miracle, and the dance...is a celebration of that miracle.”
Martha Washington

"Those who danced were quite insane to those who could't hear the music"

I love pie....which means I love thanksgiving. The effect of thankfullness is truly amazing so go tell 10 people how thankful you are for them....