Life is Short.

Yesterday I went with my Grammie to go Christmas shopping. I wanted a Christmas Dress so off to the mall we went. At the mall, we couldnt find anything that was modest, the right length, or anything that was cute in any way. Nothing caught my eye that was reasonable. The few dresses that were adorable were either "too old" for me, meaning they were dresses a woman would wear, not a teenage girl, or they were over $130, which is way too expensive. We decided that my Grammie would make one for me. So off to the fabric store we went, after lunch and coffee of course. Upon our arrival to the fabric store, we found that even the majority of the patterns were not modest or just not what I wanted. Finally,we found two dresses that I instantly liked. One was a more proffesional dress, form fitting, tight, square neck, about elbow length sleeve, it was cute. Silk fabric, all black. The other one was a straight dress, still slightly form fitting, knee length, simple and cute. It had a bow "collar" the neck was a "circle" neck, not too low, not too high, cute dress. At first I really like the proffesional black one. but the other one was starting to grow on me. I decided that the second dress was my choice. Today we were able to pick out the fabric. It was a cute black tweed, no embroidery, with a silk red collar and bow. I am so very excited to wear it Christmas eve and/or day. After we were done yesterday, my Grammie dropped me off at the Edwards Theaters to go see The Christmas Carol with my friends. I had already seen it once, but the last one was in 3D. This time when I saw it, while it was still fun because I was with friends, was not as good as the 3D version. We were devasted when we found out that it was not playing in 3D after Thursday night, because of the show Avatar that has filled all of the 3D movie theaters, which is not cool. Its Christmas time, and the Christmas show should be the one in 3D. Sadly, they were not open to negotiating. After the movie last night, we all ran over to the chimpmonks on the way out and got our picture taken. As we are teenagers, we have the license to be crazy, and have fun doing it. After this we sat around and talked while the parents brainstormes and came up with the great idea to go get ice cream! Sadly, there are no ice cream shops in the Edwards "complex". But something else was there, something better. Moxie Java! --- Sadly no Starbucks! It was still delicious. It was crazy, us 7 sitting in the chairs there. Becca made me laugh on several occasions, twice while I had coffee in my mouth. Embarresingly, coffee spilled all over me and the floor as I burst out laughing. I was chocking and could not breath to try to stop myself. After I recovered the first time, Becca was quick to do it to me again! My pride was the only thing that was hurt. The conversation ranged from theaters, to Mock Trial, to the movie we had just seen, to past times, to the current times. I cannot remember all that was said, as this meeting lasted a couple hours. Sadly, the time came to an end, and I was taken home by wonderful Becca and her amazing Parents. After I got home, I watched part of Julie and Julia with my mom and Cody. Finally, late last night, I went to bed, exsauhsted. Yesterday was an amazing day. This morning I woke up to get ready to go to church. Church was fun, we listened and watched a sermon a man was giving. I also ran into Rachel, one of my friends, whom I had not seen in a long while. I found that her hair had been drastically cut, it was fantastically adorable, although I missed the long hair. To wrap things up, Cody is listening to Michael Jackson, something I hope will change in a matter of seconds, as he is talking to my Dad about it. Michael Jackson is a bad example and not someone to look up to. Ill end on this note- Life IS Short.

Alvor

There is a blog called "The Lateiner Gang Book Review". On it, there is a contest to win the book Alvor, by Laura Bingham! You guys should go and check it out, you would love the book! Here is the Link http://thelateinergangbookreviewspot.blogspot.com/2009/08/our-first-contest-signed-copy-of-alvor.html if you would like to go and read about it! Its very simple really!

Earlier I said the SPEECH of all time, I take that back, was my mind not thinking, probubly, here, my friends, is the SPEECH OF ALL TIME!

"Fellow-Countrymen, At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.

One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."
- Abraham Lincoln (Saturday, March 4, 1865)

The Result of God’s Love

Friendship is when two or more people know and trust one another. Many, many people around the globe have had great friendships. Sometimes friendships turn out to be shallow or based on selfishness. Another type of friendship was a soldier’s friendship. This was often one of the best kinds of friendship because through the soldier’s struggles, they were brought together with a great bond. One of the many people who had great friendships, traitorous friendships, and soldiers’ friendships was Henry V of England.

“A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.” (Psalm 109:5, NIV).

According to God, Henry showed righteousness in his friendship because he was cautious in his relationships. Henry V had good friends and bad friends. Some of his good friends included Exeter, Bedford, Warwick, Talbot, and many more. These were the friends that taught him what friendship was. These were the friends that made Henry who he was, they influenced him for the better, and he knew that they were a good influence on him. Some Friends though such as Scroop, were not really friends, and while they might have been influencing him, that influence was torn away in one moment!

What shall I say to thee, Lord Scroop? Thou cruel,
Ingrateful, savage and inhuman creature!
Thou that didst bear the key of all my counsels,
That knew'st the very bottom of my soul,
That almost mightst have coin'd me into gold,
Wouldst thou have practised on me for thy use

( Shakespeare, 2003, 1).

Poor Henry, he has just figured out that one of his dearest friends, so dear to him that he knew all of Henry’s secrets, and had helped council the king in every way, is a traitor. He has betrayed him, not just too any country, but to the opposing enemy, France.

Treason is a huge mistake, one of the biggest mistakes in the world. It is not only treason against the country, but against the king, and against God. In King Henry’s time, the penalty was death, immediately, by hanging or torture.

To have a good friendship that is true, you need to have trust. The traitor doesn’t trust, but the King is, that is why it was a “Traitorous Friendship”. A traitor can be so dubious that he is not noticed by the betrayed until someone else tells on him or he is discovered.

The Traitor, Lord Scroop, had a lack of love and respect. He didn’t love Henry enough to want to keep his friendship, he didn’t care to remain loyal. He doesn’t have enough respect for his God, his country, his family, his king, or his friend.

Henry is talking right before the battle. It is the battle that everyone expected they would lose because they were weak, tired, hungry, wounded, and ready to go home.

“We would not die in that man's company that fears his fellowship to die with us”. (Shakespeare, 2003, 2).

Henry and his men don’t want to hang out with men who are not loyal to them. Henry‘s men are being loyal to the him, the king, and to every man fighting with them. They want nothing to do with men like Pistol, who came just to be a cutpurse and gain some glory, or like Bardolph, who came just to get treasures and to ransack the town, destroying their churches; they want men who are going to be loyal, stick to them, do some fighting, show some courage, stand up for their king, their country, their neighbors, friends, and family; men who are real men.

Loyalty is being firm in allegiance to authority, to a person, and/or to a cause. In life, people don’t want to be friends with those, who, at the first sign of wealth, riches, and/or something that will benefit them greatly, leave you, only to crawl back to you when they are beaten and dying; people want to be friends with those who will always stick by them. Jesus Christ is an example of being a loyal friend. He is always there for you. “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”(Joshua 1:5, NIV). He will never leave you, nor forsake you. That is a true example of loyalty and the truest and most perfect there is.

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; (Shakespeare, 2003, 3).

Not only is Henry calling every man his friend, but he who sheds hid blood with Henry that day will be his brother. This means that from that point on men like Exeter, Fluellen, Bedford, Gloucester, will be able to say ‘I fought with my King and my brother.’ This shows Henry’s love for his men and his brave and courageous outlook and personality. It shows that his friends have shown him how to be or how not to be a friend, because your friends make you who you are.

In life, there are many ways this can be translated; one of them is in war. In war those who are exposed to the rough parts of war, with friends, then those are the ones that will come out with the strongest relationships. In everyday life, those who are going through hard times, tragic losses, struggles, spiritually, mentally, or physically, are most likely doing so with their friends. Those friends will stick out and will have not only a base of friendship, but they will also have a strong unbreakable love.

This is often the same kind of love that we have with God. Often times, people do not turn to God until they are hurting, and hurting big time. They think they don’t need God, until they are humbled and find out that they do. They call on God, and when He answers they bond with him, because He helps us through. Once you’re really a Christian, there is no separation between you and God. It is like this with a soldier and his fellow country-men. Henry was tied to each one though hard times and struggles, each one of the 29 men was a loss. He cared about each one with his whole being.

A true friend is the most valuable of all gifts that God has given us. In life, we are sent as Christians to tell others of Christ. To tell others of Christ, there has to be love and friendship. God is Love. If there was no love, the God that we know would be very different. Because of God’s love, we are able to show friendship towards one another.

In my life, my goal is to love others as He does and most importantly to glorify Him. How am I to glorify God if I do not have love? The Bible says the word or a form of the word “love” 826 times. That must mean he really wants us to love each other, the result of that love being friendship.

Friendship is a commitment between two or more people to know and trust one another. Most people in history have, including me, experienced friendship. Henry V was one of the many people who had friendship. He had good friendships, bad friendships, and traitorous friendships. All of his friendships taught him something about friendship, whether it was how to be a friend, or how not to be a friend.

His good friends taught him to be loyal, to trust, to love one another, to fight hard, no matter the struggle: physical, mental, and spiritual struggles. They taught him how to never back down, even at the face of death, even when all of his friends were stealing (and were hung as a result), even when he was pursuing a lovely lady and had no way of elegantly telling her that he loved her.

His bad friendships, his “traitorous friendships”, taught him how not to be a friend. They taught him not to deceive, or to fall to being desperate. Even though these relationships hurt him emotionally, they built him up as a person because he endured. Without those “friendships,” he would not have learned to be the man he was.

True, sacrificial, and unconditional friendship, is based in love. To have this kind of “agape” love, you must have God. If you have God, God has given you His Love, and because you have His Love, you can show friendship to others. The result of His love is friendship.

Citations:

1. Shakespeare, William. Henry V. Act II. Scene II. Lines 95-100.

2. Shakespeare, William. Henry V. Act IV. Scene III. Lines 41-42.

3. Shakespeare, William. Henry V. Act IV. Scene III. Lines 63-65.

Who am I?

Who am I, oh God, who am I?

Who am I, Oh God, that You came to die?

Why me, oh Lord, why me?

How can I be worthy to even your knee?

What is my heart? That thing that twists and turns?

How can You know it, If I do not even know its burns?

Who am I, a girl so that may be.

What is my heart saying, oh am I really me?

Who is this girl, is she holding disgrace?

shame? unkindness?sin? Unworthy of of Your Face!

How can I be worthy of Your wonderful Love?

How can you stand to put me over even a dove?

What right have I to defy who You are?

What right have I to question that bar?

The bar that connects the two of us, oh God.

How can I deserve even the discipline of Your mighty rod?

Oh  how I love You! You are my God!

But tell me, oh Lord, Who Am I?

Who am I, Oh God, please, please!

Save me of confusion, of taunts, and tease!

Who am I? How can I know my soul?

Who can know it, oh only for a great toll!

You paid it Lord! You bought me! You came and bought me, oh my

soul, tell me, OH GOD, WHO AM I?

Friends

Hey Everyone, I just wanted to say a few things. Friends are precious, like gold, except more valuable, you can buy really  friends, its impossible, the only way to get a really friend, is to love. Love is powerful, be your self, be kind, be nice, i love me friends, oh i do! They give you encouragement when your going through hard times. With that and much more, as it is late, i leave you with this, Do you really have a friend? a real one?

Boys

Boys are so utterly exasperating, most of them are stubborn, and they think they know everything. They wont listen to anyone, unless they want to and if they don't, they completely ignore them. They don't get along with girls and even most boys. ugh! ok, i take the part where I implied the word “all” back, not all boys are like that, but i sure don't understand even the ones that aren't like that! sigh, oh well I am going on my  rant, as usual, well see y’all!!