Bucket List

There are many things in life that I want to do and even more places that I want to go.   I have never taken the time to actual right it down in the form of a bucket list though.  This is for a few reasons: (1) it takes away any spontaneity from it, and (2) I will want to start checking things off right away. But I want a bucket list, it can always change and grow, so what the heck, here it goes. Now the question is what order should I go in?  Most important, least important, or random?  I guess random…

• See a sea turtle hatch. Like a whole beach full of baby sea turtle climbing out of their shells.
• Go to Alaska.
• Learn to surf.
• Own my own business. (There will probably be a blog on this before too long.)
• Go to Ireland! (This May!!)
• Run a 10k (maybe half marathon).
• Go to New Zealand!
• Go on a mission trip.
• See the Northern Lights
• Learn to play a stringed instrument (I am thinking maybe violin)

I am sure that there are more… but ten is a good start.

3.94 mi

So there is no real point this blog other than to share my accomplishment.  This past Saturday I had a great run!  Well we can go 24 hours back, Keagan and I went on a bike ride.  We went to our normal park, but we tried a trail that we hadn’t been on before.  It was fun, and very challenging but Keagan loved it.  And we came up with a new approach, which is wonderful.  Keag is a much better rider than me, rides a fancier bike, and loves the challenge.  I like riding, spending time outside, spending time with Keagan and the challenge, but not the intense challenge that Keag does.  For the first time on Saturday Keagan and I would start together then he would leave me, go ahead a bit, then ride back and do it again.  This way he could ride faster but we were still together at times, to enjoy each other’s company and to make sure the other one didn’t wreck.  It was a really fun ride, but like after any good ride, my hands and butt where super sore, and I was worn out.

Since Keagan was home the next day as well, he wanted to do what he always wants to do when he is home, Ride!  And I wanted to too, but didn’t have it in me.  So I said I know, I will run while you ride.  We didn’t think timing would really work, but it did perfectly.  I ended up running the trails while he road them.  I fit in 3 trails, while he did 5 trails.  It totaled 3.94 miles for me, so close to 4.  It was not a fast run, but I never lost determination.  It was a very hilly run, with a total gain of 453 ft.  After this run I knew that I could go farther, faster and harder.  This run gave me determination; I have the new goal of a 10k in 2015.  It will happen!

“Barking and Wagging Around”

“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.”  (Josh Billings)  I have had four dogs in my life, and in their own way each one of them was special and loveable.  I love all of them, but I can honestly say that they probably loved me more.

Coal was my first dog we got her when I was still a baby.  At that time we just recently moved into our new house, my parents had a three old (Keag) and a how-every-many month old (me).  And they knew they were done having children, so the next logic addition was a dog.  Hence, we got Coal.  Coal got her name because as a puppy she was pure black.  She grew up to be more gray than black.  I don’t know what kind of dog Coal-Coal (as I called her) was; she had long coarse hair and pointy ears (kinda cat like).  She may have been part Akita, they are known to be lighter in color than she was, but they are also known to “talkative” and she really was.  If you talked to Coal she would talk back, and whine and whimper the whole time.

Coal was the most protective and loveable dog ever.  She would tease Keagan, and guard me with everything.  When we would go sled ridding she would pull off Keagan’s boots and she would block me from getting them and taking them back to him. I would take naps on Coals back.  She was the biggest chicken ever when it came to thunderstorms, attached to a crazy story, which I personally don’t remember.  But story has it that our house was hit with lightening and it charger through the house and mildly hit Coal, from them on she lost bladder control and feared storms.  She really was a great dog, I remember her least, and she died when I was in sixth grade.

When I was around five we got Hunter.  Hunter was my all-time favorite dog, he was a black lab mixed with a golden retriever.  He was black with retriever length hair; his tongue was pink with black spots.  There is no way to describe this dog to give him justice other than awesome.  He would walk Keagan and I to the bus, and meet us at the end of the driveway for us to come home at the end of the school day.  We would take Hunter, squirrel hunting and it was my job to hold his leach but on many occasions the seventy pound dog was laying young me and we would sleep.   Hunter did not have a mean bone in his body, he hardly ever made a noise, he didn’t bark, he didn’t whimper or anything (which was opposite of Coal.)  Seriously best pet we ever owned.

We only had Hunter around seven years; he was a little fat puppy when we got him.  When Hunter was around seven he started to act different, distance, and wouldn’t play with us at all.  Shortly after he got sick and one day he took a walk and never came home.  We know that he died, but we never found him.  Being that we have friends and family throughout our area who hunt, we asked people to keep an eye out for him, and my dad looked for him endlessly but there was never any sight again of Hunter.  I do still miss this dog and I can’t imagine I will ever own a better dog.

Next is my little “rat dog”, his name is Nitro.  We have Nitro now; we got him from family friends of ours who breed hunting dogs.  He is German shorthaired pointer and lab mix.  They couldn’t sell Nitro with the rest of the litter because he was the runt so they offered him to us, one day when they brought him to a softball game.  So we went over to their house a few days later to play with him and see if he was the dog for us.  He was playful and fun and it was really cute that he followed us to the car when we were leaving, but I thought he was so ugly, he was practically hairless, being that he is shorthair, and he looked like a rat.  My mom just loved him so of course we went and brought him home.  We had a hard time naming him, nothing seemed to fit.  He was little, loose skinned, and almost bald, and full of energy.  He would literal climb pine trees to chance birds, he would also run laps so fast around the basement that he would practically be running on the walls.  He therefore became Nitro, which changed into “Nit-Train”, and now is nicknamed Train.  So he is really the dog of many names.  Nitro, Nit, Train and “Rat-Dog” and “Running Buddy.”

Nitro loves to run with me, he has such a heart for it, he gets so excited he leaps into the air and squirms.  But now Nit is around 11 years old and is pretty old.  He definitely cannot run anymore, so I just don’t let him know that I am going running.  If he sees my running shoes he gets very excited, so I have to put him the basement before I even get ready to run.  He was never a cuddly dog, in fact he use to push me away if I tried to lie near him, or he would just get up and move.  Now he loves the affection.  Nitro is getting pretty old, but he is a classy old man, the way he lays down and crosses his paws in front of him.

And most recently is my little girl Nala.  Supposedly Nala is a part golden retriever and part german shepard, but I think she is a little small for that.  Nala is our smallest dog we have had as a family, she is around 65 pounds.  I am not sure if she grew into her name or if I am named her perfectly.  I named Nala based on Lion King, due to it being one of my favorite movies, and Nala being blonde like Nala.  After choosing Nala’s name, my mom looked up the meaning and it means “loved one”.  Nala is the most affectionate, loving and needy dog there is.  She would have made a great service dog, she is so attentive.  When you take a walk with her she rubs her head against your hand, when playing in the snow she will sit on you to keep you warm, and when sitting she has to be at your feet.  And yes this does get somewhat annoying, but with Nala you always know that you are loved.

Dogs have always been a part of our family, and I couldn’t imagine not having one at home.

First Place

Kids want to be the line leader; athletes want to finish first, and yes I am mildly competitive.  In school I was a good student, but not valedictorian, I have ran multiple races, but I never finished first.  I can honestly say, that I do not think I ever finished in first place in anything in my life.   There are many self-help books teaching the reader how to be number one, in sports, in business and in life.  I have no desire to read one.  (Yes, I have flipped through the pages of one recently, which spurred this blog.)

Striving to be my best is a desire of mine, striving to be better than everyone around me, is not.  Also, while I do fail at this, I seek to always put God in first place, rather than myself or anyone else.  “In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success.”  (Proverbs 3:6)  When Christ was asked what is the greatest commandment, “He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” (Luke 10:27)

From this I gather three things:

1. Love God! Without end, in all you do, and as best you can, LOVE GOD!

God desires our love so much, and fully admits that He is a jealous God.  “Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”  (Exodus 34:14)  He love us so much He wants nothing less than our full love in return.

2. Love those around you.

I do not mean any kind of love in particular.  My understanding of this is more of value them and respect them.  They are a creation of God, and worthy of respect and value.  “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”  (Luke 6:31)  Therefore to always put yourself first, is to want others not in first place ever, and not successful, and not valuing and respecting their talents and gifts.

3. Love yourself! If you are to “Love your neighbor as yourself” you must love, respect and value yourself before you can understand how to love others.

We are created in the image of God and loved by Him, therefore we should love respect and love ourselves.  “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.” (Psalms 139:13-14)

To wrap this up, all I am saying is selfishness and always wanting to be first isn’t a place we are called to.  We are called to work to our best abilities but first and foremost, to love God above all else and to love others as much as we love ourselves.  Strive to build yourself and others to success.

Ephesians 5:22-33

I was recently asked, as single, young, Christian female what I thought of someday being submissive to my future husband, so I thought I would take a moment to think this through and explain my thoughts.  This is a much wordier, deeper and more personal blog than I usually write, but oh well.  Still not edited as usual, just my thoughts from my head out onto here.

“Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.  Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but hold and blameless.  In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.  He who loves his wife loves himself.  After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church- for we are members of his body.  “For this a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”  This is a profound mystery-but I am talking about Christ and the church.  However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”  Ephesians 5:22-33

In our culture, this is an odd concept of submission, and yes I totally think that this is a large part of the verse. At the same time, I think other huge parts of the verse are too quickly overlooked.  But we can start with the submission part.  Being submissive, at least to me, definitely gives the image of a dog, learning tricks and being obedient to their master.  But when you use the image of a person of faith submitting to the Lord, rather than a dog submitting to a human, that changes things.  We chose to submit to the Lord because we love Him, only because He first loved us.  “We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 He chose us, He loves us, and He pulls us to Him, and holds us near.  So to “submit yourselves to your own husbands” in this way, is due to unfailing love, not fear, not societal pressures, or any other reason.

“For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior”, to some this may sound like an issue of authority or power, but it is not, which is made clear in other verses.  First of all, men and women are both equally God’s creation, not equal in all things, but equally God’s creation, being created in His image.  As Moses recorded, “And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27)  Second, as previously stated men and women are not equal in all things.  In the church, and in the family structure, man and women have different talent, abilities, gifts and callings. Paul speaks, “in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as the woman originates from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman; and all things originate from God.” (1 Corinthians 11:11-12)  As far as my personal thoughts on this, would I be okay with an authoritarian husband, who seeks to rule? Absolutely not, but as I am seeking to point out, I do not feel that this is message within these verses.  Would I be okay with a spiritual leader as a future husband (and God willing) future father to my children?  Absolutely, yes, as a Christ like leader, being a servant leader.

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-28).  So yes, I am willing to be submissive to a man who would love, as Christ loves the church, and respects me as a daughter of the King of Kings.

So far, only three sentences were covered.  The next six sentences are the ones that in my opinion are many times over looked, and it is what the image of the Godly husband; the type of man that could properly value a submissive wife.

The first statement, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” is image of how Christ loves the church.  Christ was born with the main purpose of dying for the church to remove the sin.   This is huge!  Christ lived a perfect life, completely blameless and sinless, yet died a criminal to remove the blame of the church.  That is a ton of responsibility for a husband.  So men if you are willing to ask a women to be submissive, are you truly willing to love your wife so much that you are eager to present your wife “without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blames”  as Jesus did and does for the Church?

Moving on, loving your wife as your own body, is to say treating your wife’s being and body as a temple (as you should also do with your own body, Biblically speaking).  “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;”   (1 Corinthians 6:19). We are stewards to what God has given us, and are called to take care of it.   

Also if you think of the Biblical beginning to a marriage, (“That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24)) they become one flesh, united in being.  Therefore it makes perfect sense that “he who loves his wife, loves himself”.

Okay, so my thoughts are running dry.  I fully admit that this is my perspective as a young, unmarried Christian and that perspective may change if I do get married.  Also I am perfectly fine with other people’s perspectives on this topic and would even be interested in hearing yours.    This is such a different blog than I usually write, I am hesitating posting it.

Why Christmas Music is Great

I really enjoy the Christmas season, it is not my favorite time of the year (which is summer), but it is pretty great!  Things are decorated all pretty, people are generally fairly happy, the food is yummy, we anticipate Jesus’s birth and the music is, well quite frankly, repetitive.  So don’t get me wrong I do enjoy Christmas music, it is fun and happy and symbolic, but after a few weeks I can only listen to ‘Frosty the Snowman’ or ‘Santa Baby’ one more time before I fear losing my mind.

Yesterday I realized the best thing about Christmas music, it units people.   This past weekend I did way too much shopping.  Saturday was Christmas shopping for my family, and Sunday was grocery shopping and a little bit of Christmas shopping with my mom.  Near the end I was tired of crowded stores, spending money, and honestly Christmas music.  It seemed like all I could find on the radio, cheesy Christmas music, all that was in the stores, cheesy Christmas music.    The last store we were in was Giant Eagle and to no one’s surprise… more Christmas music.  And it was then when I noticed something, an elder woman singing along, then the next isle over a young boy dancing, and the end of that isle a businessman mouthing the words.  When I started noticing it the more that I saw people enjoying the music in one way or another.

Most likely the elder women, the young boy, the businessman and the countless other people have very little in common in their daily lives.  But this season, in that store, listening to that song they all had something in common.  They were enjoying Christmas music and that is great!  There is a good chance that Christmas is celebrated and even has a different meaning to many of the people in that store, but so many of them were appreciating the simple pleasure of Christmas music.  So today if you are listening to Christmas music turn it up a little so the person next to you can enjoy it too!

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Psalms 98:4

The Difference a Good Mug Can Make

So I do enjoy a cup of coffee, or tea, more often coffee.  I typically drink at least a half cup of coffee every morning.  I do not consider myself a coffee lover or addicted or anything but I really do enjoy a warm cup of coffee.   In fact, over half of the enjoyment of a cup of coffee for me is the cup itself.  Coffee to me is hardly (noticed:  I didn’t say not, just said hardly) worth it for me if I have to drink it out of Styrofoam or worse is a travel mug.  I do not mind a paper cup from a coffee shop, as that is somewhat fun.  I thoroughly enjoy a nice mug of a warm drink though.   Something about holding the warm, smooth mug on a cold day and smelling the coffee, or tea (or hot chocolate, or hot cider) is just very enjoyable for me.  Also the vapors of warm steam, especially from tea, rising to your face is very relaxing.

On these cool days approaching, grab yourself a warm drink, in your favorite mug.  And take a minute to enjoy it.

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and  the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:8-9

The Happiness in Every Ache and Bruises

So first of all Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope everyone had a great time with family and friends and hopefully sometime off of work or school.  My Thanksgiving break lead to many bumps and bruises and yes some aches and pains, opps and oh well.  I must say that they are very worthwhile.  The first burse is on the back of my calf.  This one is due to friendship, lifelong friends and new friends to be made.  The other like six bruises or scuffs, and many aches symbols time well spent with one of my favorite people ever, my brother, Keagan.

Yes, I do know that this sounds like I am abused, but it is quite the opposite, I am loved.    I got to spend time with friends and family this weekend, having fun and to me that makes it all worth it.  So you may be curious of the occurrences of the aches I am experiencing today.  Well on Thursday I played in a “Turkey Bowl” with some friends, that am really blessed to have, and some people I have never met.  The burse is fairly minor, just got kicked in the leg, by mistake, no big deal.  But there were some pretty funny happenings during the game.  First, you must understand that I truly know nothing about football, it is not because I am too dumb to understand, I just don’t care.  But I play in the “Turkey Bowl” because it is fun.  So I was on the team with ball, which is offense, and this really big guy, who I nicknamed “Big Red” (yes he was very big and wearing red) was running with the ball and told me to block my a friend of mine (also a fairly large guy), so in a moment of panic, I turned to my friend as yelled “I DON’T KNOW HOW” and everyone just laughed.  It was really a fun morning with friends.   This fun, but soring morning was followed by a delicious dinner with my parents, grandparents, and my brother and his gf.

The real soreness and multiple bruises came from yesterday while mountain bike riding with Keagan, one of our favorite things to do together.  Golly Gee I have a great brother.  He is a much better rider than me, but we still have fun together, doing it.  Yesterday we were having a great ride, I was feeling super confident (a lack of confidence is usually my biggest downfall), we were a few miles in and we were going down a fairly steep hill, then there was a drop off with a down ramp made of logs.  I stopped shy of the ramp and said “Keagan, I am going to fall on my face!”  He said I would be fine, feeling confident I went for it.  Within five feet my bike and I were vertically resting on the front tire, and then I flipped over the handle bars, followed by my bike bouncing off of my back.  Yes, it hurt and yes I cried for a minute.  Keagan felt really bad, and ran to make sure I was okay.  It wasn’t his fault; I told him that if I didn’t think I could do it then I wouldn’t have tried.  I am glad I tried; you don’t get better by taking the easy way out.   So we sat there for a few minutes, then Keagan talked me into riding a few more miles, which I am glad because “you have to get back in the saddle.”  I absolutely love spending time with my brother, being outdoors, and seeking adventure.  Even if it does lead to some bumps and bruises.  I can’t wait to do it again.  The weather forecast looks good for this coming weekend, as of now.