The Document

It started out a normal day. One girl sat at the computer writing a research paper and two boys sat with eyes glued on the tv screen watching with excitement as little characters ran around on the screen. Harvest Moon and Zelda were swapped back and forth for a couple of hours. These, however got boring and they began searching for a new old school game to play. Desperately they searched until the perfect game was found but to their dismay they realized a minor detail. Neither had money. So, their eyes quickly turned to the only person in the room that had money, the girl who sat working intently on her research paper. The thought of giving them just one more way to waste time didn't seem judicious. For a while the girl held out but their bargaining begin to work as the deal became more enticing. The document below was composed in an effort to crumble the her steel resolve.

"In this sacred document, that shall only be broken on pain of death, I Beau Hawk ________________and I, Wesley Mayes_________________, hereby solemnly swear upon each other's head to uphold this contract. The contractual terms are as follows:
~Alex Mayes, upon fulfillment of this contract, is entitled to no greater or less than one henna tattoo, of reasonable size* by Beau Hawk.
~She is also entitled to no greater or less than three shoulder rubs and two foot rubs.
~She is also entitle to no greater or less than one breakfast in or near the vicinity or a bed or possibly futon if so desired, furnished by Beau Hawk and and* Wesley Mayes.
~2 new pairs of boxers shall also be given to gird the loins of Alex.
              *No larger than her actual body
              *I messed up ok? It happens. I'm human

I, Alex Mayes, accept these terms and conditions as payment for Chrono Trigger ____________

All of this for a ten dollar game.

Some Superb Songs

Here are some random awesome songs to listen to!

Andrew Peterson - Many Roads http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23OjHJCpPao

Wolfstone - Braes of Sutherland http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk_AD0xfkNI

Nickel Creek - Doubting Thomas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3c_8hYK0eo

Andrew Peterson - Silence of God http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn5-2nZR9AA

Billy Joel - Honesty http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R3GtAnO66o

Owl City - Rugs from Me to You http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKJp7r2mXEw

Josh Turner - Everything is Fine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIqnZJ6HkVQ

Chris Rice - Thirsty http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLe5YwDpmTk

Christy Nockels - By Our Love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifQpZgtGHlk

Dueling Guitars - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2K5IcpZEU4

Concerning Hobbits - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1cTuUwZILg

Matthew Perryman Jones - Where the Road Meets the Sun  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuKKMfZBWhk (we met this guy on a plane, he was so awesome) also listen to When It Falls Apart

:-D

What He sees every Day

The day begun with a normal report from the night nurse but with it brought dread for the next few hours. She was 18+6 weeks with a bulging bag of water. The baby was not going to make it. Her primary doctor had given her a 50/50 chance that we would be able to help her, but all of us knew that there was no hope. The bed was positioned in what is called trendelenburg, tilted slightly upside down, and she was screaming in pain. She was desperate to keep the baby alive. In situations like these I am at a loss for words. There are no words that can take away mental or physical pain. 

The doctor came in and gave her two options. To have her water broken which speed up her labor or let the baby come whenever it wanted. She couldn't take the pain any longer and since there was no hope for the baby, the parents opted for the first plan. 

After the doctors broke her water, the baby came quickly. His tiny heart could be seen beating through his thin skin. Even at only 18 weeks his intricate fingers and toes were perfect miniatures of his parents. It didn't take long before his heart could no longer take the strain and it slowed.  He slowly slipped away as his sobbing mother held her little boy that she would never know. I couldn't take it any longer, quickly left the room and ran crying into my co-workers arms. To see a life slip away in 15 minutes, with nothing that could be done to stop it, was the hardest thing to see. It wasn't even my child. I cannot even imagine if it was my own. To go through all the pain of labor just to have your baby die in your hands. Unimaginable pain. 

Driving home I thought back on the day. God sees this every day. Every second of every day. How does He handle it? If I can't stand it I am sure that it's ten million times worse for Him. He made that little boy, he made that bird and raccoon, that man and women. With his fingertips He created life just to watch it slip away as the result of sin. 

Romans 8:22-25: "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." 

I'm not waiting very patiently please come back soon. 

My prayer (even though I can't sing)

Let Me Sing by Andrew Peterson

I wanna open up my eyes 

And see a more beautiful world 

Let the hand of God Almighty 

Sweep his colors through my life 

I wanna hold tight to the laughter 

And ride it like a child 

On the winds that billow joyful 

Through the sky 

I wanna open up my heart 

But you know, sometimes it's hard to find 

Because I've buried it beneath the selfishness 

That I've hidden behind 

I wanna stand my ground unshaken 

But I wanna tremble when I kneel 

And let my song remain unbroken 

Through the tears 

Chorus

So let me sing for the love 

Let me love for the lost 

Let me lose all I have 

For what I found on the cross 

Let me trust you with my life 

Let me live to give you praise 

Lord, let me praise you 

For the grace by which I'm saved 

Lord, let me sing 

I wanna open up Your word 

And let the thirsty enter in 

So they can drink deep of the water 

You have given to them 

I want to run the race with vigor 

I want to fight the fight with strength 

And let my song rise from a whisper 

To a scream 

I wanna open up my arms 

And embrace that old rugged cross 

I wanna take pride in the reason 

And be humbled by the cause 

And when this lisping, stamm'ring tongue 

Lies silent in the grave 

Then in a nobler, sweeter song, 

I'll sing your praise 

I'll sing your praise 

Chorus

Ears

Today, as I was walking out of the hospital (btw I HATE working on sabbath), there was a "super cool" person who had earphones in. These earphones were turned up so loud that you could hear the song that was playing as he walked by. Of course he swaggered and gave me a nod as we passed to confirm the "coolness." It didn't work for me. All I could think was, "You obviously don't want to hear when you turn 65." Ears are amazing things. Sign language is pretty cool but not that "cool." I like my ears and how well they hear.

As I write this my kitten is sitting on the floor looking at me with big huge ears (haha you thought I was going to say eyes). Cats run from big noises (no, they aren't scared the noise just hurts their ears) and most of them hear longer, in cat years, than we do. Just saying...

Little House on the Praire

So, it may be somewhat juvenile but I still read the Little House on the Praire books. I never liked the tv show because it wasn't like the books. Simple fact, the book is always better than the movie.

In reading them though I take myself back to a more simple lifestyle. No tv's, computers, cars and whatever else this modern world has created. I can imagine myself there and for a few brief hours I am taken back to a world that, to us Americans, is simply gone. Horse and buggy transportation. The wilderness and random adventures for entertainment. Maybe a couple of square dances and line dances thrown in on a saturday night. Working in the gardens to grow your own food and finding joy in sitting after a long, hard days work beside a fire listening to fiddle music. Sigh...

If I were to choose a life for myself that would be it. Finding simplicity. I would gladly throw our TV out of the carriage without a second thought.  With a little more reluctance I would toss after it my cell phone. Then would come the computer, which I would be the most reluctant to give up honestly.

Simplicity, you will be found even in this society.

Hola again blog world!

Lately I've lost the will to blog. Mainly because I don't know how to put all of my thoughts into words on a page. You may ask my mom about my thoughts on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness aka 42. It would be a very accurate picture of who I am, though some comes out in my blogs. Just this morning though I was reading in My Utmost for His Highest (yes, I love this book) at my dads trying to find something encouraging in the midst of the sadness and I found something that really lifted my soul. The hard times are not all in vain. God has given a vision and through the hard times He is perfecting me for the exact vision that He wants me to fulfill.

Vision and Reality

"And the parched ground shall become a pool." Isaiah xxxv.7.

 We always have visions, before a thing is made real. When we realize that although the vision is real, it is not real in us, then is the time that satan comes in with his temptations, and we are apt to say it is no use to go on. Instead of the visions becoming real, there has come the valley of humiliation.

"Life is not as idle ore,

But iron dug for central gloom,

and batter'd by the shocks of doom

To shape and use."

God gives us the vision, then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of the vision, and it is in the valley that so many of us faint and give way. Every vision will be made real if we will have patience. Think of the enormous leisure of God! He is never in a hurry. We are always in such a frantic hurry. In the light of the glory of the vision we go forth to do things, but the vision is not real in us yet; and God has to take us into the valley, and pus us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the place where He can trust us with the veritable reality. Ever since we had the vision God has been at work, getting us into the shape of the ideal, and over and over again we escape from His hand and try to batter ourselves into our own shape.

The vision is not a castle in the air, but a vision of what God wants you to be. Let Him put you on His wheel and whirl you as He likes, and as sure as God is God and you are you, you will turn out exactly in accordance with the vision. Don't lose heart in the process. If you have ever had the vision of God, you may try as you like to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never let you.

~Oswald Chambers