fasting as fast as the wind

this past week i did a media fast, and for those who don't know what i am talking about, it is a "vacation" from what distracts us from our relationship with the lord like music and the computer.
it went extremely well. the day before, Sunday, my uncle had preached the most wonderful and sad message. it was about Jesus' death, but it was taught in such a different way then i had ever heard before. it greatly effected me throughout the week and i couldn't help but keep reading that passage in john about it.
Jesus had never seemed so greatly personal before, i knew he was but this made him feel so much more close. he was afraid, i had never thought of Jesus being afraid before either, but he was willing to overcome his fear to die for us and drink the bitter cup for us. it was amazing what god had shown me during this fast. i realized how distracting the world is and the scary part is that we never really notice this.
i also went over to the Turek's house to stay with Mrs. Carol. it was so amazing how wonderfully content she was. she was extremely encouraging to me just by being herself, and seeing God's love in her life.

well here comes another week.

The quartericans and daniel

photoshop

the cup

Father if you are willing remove this cup from my breath
may my blood cover theirs by this holy death
i fear, i fear this dreaded sinful horror
light will endure through this darkened hour
in agony i have fallen Father simply see
i take this cup fully from them unconditionally
my blood as a ransom, my body sacrifice
a stinging traitors kiss my death will suffice
i glare into its contents as i take their final blow
i drink its final poison, it is finished, Father know

its VALENTINIUS day...rachael

yes this post is a day late but who cares because the valentines day fever could last forever. wow.
well i was almost upset that the guys didnt carry on the tradition of getting the girls roses, almost, because they did. :) it was very sweet of them.
i also got my mom this card and of course some candee. i also called my cousins! it was so cool to talk to them again, oh how i wish to be in ohio. i cant wait to visit again.
well i guess i will end this by saying..... ;-*

the nerd who talks about her blog....

yes, yesterday was quite fun. you see Rach, Jess, and i and a few other volunteers, went to my uncles house to help him move in.
so after school we all hopped in the, what has been dubbed, the "big green van" (because its big and green) and headed off to the storage place to get my uncles stuff. i will not tell you what happened on the car ride there, but i will say that there was a lot of imitations of Russians goin on and flying things out the window.
so when we got there we of course got all of the stuff out of storage and into the moving van, except....the broken chair thing. there just happened to be a dumpster around the corner and Rachael, Jess, Cheri, and i had the privilege of throwing the broken chair thing away. so we began our journey to the dumpster and somewhere along the line we lost Cheri, i think it was when i threw my gum on the ground (even though there was a dumpster right there) then we got the crazy idea to hide, i don't know why, but it was my idea :) soooo we got chased by an angry Russian and found our way back to the others, i kid you not this actually happened! sorry.
then we left for my uncles house, again i will not explain what took place in the car, and arrived in an almost normal state of mind. we unpacked everything into the house and then we left.
BUT WAIT the story isn't over. we all went to Arby's and drank SOBE and rang the loud bell and went home to finally do our homework. and of course a trip wouldn't have been a trip if one of us nerds didnt mention "i cant wait to put this on my blog" that was me by the way.
oh and if you want to see pictures of our escapade just go to Jess' blog

amazing miracles never cease

this past weekend while my dad and brother were driving home from the church they witnessed a terrible accident. my dad said a silver van had been hit so hard that it rolled four times and had crashed upside down on the guard rail! when he had told my mom this, she asked if he thought anyone had survived, my dad said probably not.
it was only untill the day after that we realized that it was my teacher, mr. Clancy, and his two children that had been in the accident. i will spare you the suspense and say that nothing serious happend to them, amazingly. we also found out that during that frame of time that mr clancy and his children were hanging upside down in their seats mr. Clancy thought his daughter was dead, being that the car had hit the side she was on. thankfully the two doctors and nurse that miraculously were at the accident that very moment, sent them all to a hospital.mr. clancy was having concussions, but iris and asher were fine.
can you imagine being that close to death, thinking that your daughter is dead?! god couldnt have been revealed in a more prominent way. if they hadnt been wearing their seatbelts they would have been killed. if they had taken their small car instead of their van they would have been killed. there were even three doctors there to help. how can you not say there is a God?

the matrix is.....

pictures of my adventure

justin

Brooke n me

bedheads

daniel

maggs

caleb @breakfast

days come to an end but the matrix lasts forever...

today is the last day of the Ohio adventure :(
it was sort of a girls day out today, we went to this coffee shop named sonics (first thing of course). then we went through a couple of old stores, including this humongous candle place that seemed to go on forever. we took maggs to her ballet class and after a tiring day came home to make some rock videos with the cuz's (featuring the matrix soundtrack :P) that went ...well.
i cannot wait to come back here to see all of the ohioers and be with my cuzins. now i have a little getaway of my own.
till spring and hopefully when its warmer.

covenant of grace church.

today had to be one of the coolest days of my life.
everyone was so nice and welcoming, and i finally got to meet the infamous Brooke :P who is so much fun. I'm so glad to have a friend here.
we (Daniel and i) also met another really cool person. his name is Justin, he's fifteen, and is hilarious. we had a lot of fun with him :)
we practically met everyone in that church, they were so nice.
i felt so welcomed and at home there, i cant wait till our spring break!

ohio

well it finally happened. at this very moment i am in my cousins HUGE house in Ohio. it felt so good to see my cousins again.
we drove six hours to get here and i slept half the time. it was obviously clear when the windows started to ice over and snow was appearing on the ground that we were in Ohio. i walked into the house and walked upstairs to sleep in Maggie's room. i got to see her chubby little face again.
today we stayed home and played guitar, bass, and drums (they had been practicing every day and they sound so cool) in their awesome basement which is perfect for the band to chill :) . after that got old Daniel and the boys played heroscape and x box 360. we finally met Mason, although we practically knew everything about him already.
i cant wait to go to church tomorrow to meet all of the new people. Maggie says i will really like this girl, Brooke, who does photography just like me and thankfully is my age.
so thats the update from where I'm standing.

beautiful.

He cried, a black tear fell to his perfect hand. A longing cry fell around his feet as his father’s presence overwhelmed the pain. To death he treads, to the death of sin he marched not for fame but for love. He looked into his father's eyes and saw the mocking lash, but was filled with peace. A calm blue haze pierced the darkness and made it tremble. He only looked upward; this was his final walk alone. Footsteps came nearer, they were coming, he knew this. One last look at his father and he pleaded for grace upon them. He felt his beloved seize him, they bound him and without a struggle or resistance he followed them. To death he treads, to the death of sin he marched. A sting of blood raged up his back, his brow dripped with sweat. But he loved them, this was for them. He heard their anger, he felt their lashes, he carried the weight of their sin upon a cross, yet he loved them still. Mocking tongues crowded his father's voice, his gaze was turned. He looked at his beloved, this was his task. In one weak voice he pleaded once more, "Father, father forgive them they know not what they do." a black sea filled his eyes; the pain went cold on his hands. His head hung low as the final tear fell to the trembling earth. The sky raged with fear and anger. A terrifying shriek flew from the sky. It is finished.

ohio

well this morning my dad broke the utterly horrid news that we might not go to Ohio....again.
~sigh~
well i am hoping that we do, after all he did say MAYBE.
we will go there sometime, i dont know when anymore, but sometime.
heres a picture of my cousin playing his most beloved air guitar...... i hope you have been practicing Caleb. :P

kohls

this picture is of me, jess, and ashley at kohls trying on some cool dresses.

jessie and maggs

i give you my heart..

unlost

all of us

the snow

thats the fun of parties...i guess

my weekend was packed. on saturday i went to Aaron and josh's birthday party (i got them i tunes gift cards.)
my first experience with guitar hero (caleb i think you will like this) was not too bad. i got pretty good by the end of the day. they also had a karaoke machine, courtesy of mr. brian young (thank you :P) an x box 360 with halo three of course (sadly i failed to beat eric, again) and a Wii. it was quite the party and i am sad that i dont have pictures on this computer to show you.
any way right after the party ended Na took us (rachael, cheri, caleb, and i) to CPL worship practice. it was my first time going and i was kinda freaked out because a certain someone, Rachael, told me that i was going to have to audition. Scary. but wait let me tell you about the car ride it went a little something like this.....
well it was more like rachael was driving than Na. " what are you doing thats a yellow line i hope you know...why do you keep fixing your hat!....." so she got me and cheri all freaked out especially when he started to do the car dance (which i get enough of with my dad, youd think i'd be used to it) many crazy stunts were performed that night and i couldnt help but think what the people behind us were thinking. nevertheless we made it to practice with only a few minor wounds and bruises and unfortunately we lost cheri along the way :P just kidding.
even my sunday was packed.....
first we went to church, then Mckenzie took a few people from our class to her house to "work on our history projects" which suprisingly we actually did.
you would think i got enough of playing halo three but Mckenzie had asked me to play and for some odd reason i couldnt refuse. ( yea right). they had just re done their basement and wouldnt you know it, they got a ping pong table, a dart board (with plenty of evidence of missed shots), and the most beautiful t.v. i have ever seen, it almost made me cry. :)
well this was my weekend and no there was absolutely no time to breathe, but thats the fun of parties, i guess.

singing about blindness and talking with our eyes closed

will you sing at midnight...

would you sing in the midst of darkness, in the midst of death? would you sing in the deepest dungeon? would you sing after the loss of a son?
Sharon Betters, author of treasures of encouragement, shared at a ladies meeting this past Tuesday. before she began a few people shared their testimonies about encouragement. these women had been through some difficult trials in their life, some things that i could never get through. they shared about how the simple hug or a conversation on the phone meant so much. this was so encouraging to me to see these ladies' faith in their God, and women of this church's willingness to encourage.
Paul and Silas were in the deepest part of jail, no windows, not one beam of natural light, bound in shackles and severely beaten, Mrs Betters explained this in a way i had never thought of before, yet at midnight they sang. they sang with joy.
i couldnt get over the fact that they were singing. i wouldnt have even thought to sing, and even if i did i probably wouldnt.
it was an extremely good message, even though i do it no justice here.
so will you sing at midnight? will you sing in the darkness, in the midst of death.

gloves may be fingerless but why not?

light cant escape you, hiding is over.

turning back now you hear the runner

panting, screaming, remember this

a note worth taking a thought to miss

beauty unfounded the darkness been bounded

the hight now is hightening the lower is grounded

be it understood the feeling He brings

a feeling to shatter the proudest of kings

this life, this life forget what its told you

binding, it holds you for that it will own you

dont forget what was said

what He said, done in red

whats a partridge?

well on the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me an x box 360
on the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me some really cool gloves
on the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me a game called halo three
on the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me a bunch of great clothes
on the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me a best buy card!!
on the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me a visit from Ohio
on the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me a bag to put my stuff in
on the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me a hat, scarf, and jacket
on the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me a new relient k CD
on the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me a frame to hold my pictures
on the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me candy to....eat
on the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me a huge poster of guitar chords

biting my tongue is harder than i thought....

day two of secrets. tomorrow is the big day, i cant wait to find out who my secret angel is. today i got a little basket with candy, a verse and a candy cane. and i also got a present from jessica, thanx jess, it was a hand crafted amazing picture frame so intricate and ...yeah. so i'm trying to bite my tongue and wait for tomorrow.

its a secret (day one)

day one of secret angels. my gift was so cute i got this adorable little bear, holding a tube of lip-gloss. the best part i must say was the letter that came with it:

Sierra,
i was sent by an angel, of whom you do not know
i walked here from Ohio, how deep is the snow!
my paws are frostbitten and my little ears cold
but i must spread the news of the good, young, and old
i talked to Maggie, Izzy, and 'the boys'
they want you to know that they are so full of joy!
they are having so much fun there and cant wait until the day
when you come up to see them, be ready to play!
the thing i am holding (lip gloss) is their kisses they sent
i put them in this tube so i could give them as a present
the tube was overflowing so i had to leave some behind
but here is what i did collect enjoy this special kind.

isnt that great? i cant wait for tomorrow's gift.

photoshop of the week...

4 A.M.

well my dear cousins are in ohio right now. it was really really hard to let them go.
yesterday we spent the whole day with them, decorating the tree at my grandmothers house and playing plenty of wii :). the saddest part i must say was at the end of it all we said our last few words to them. i cried.
i couldnt make myself say anything though. i didnt know how to say what i felt and i didnt want my cousins to feel like this situation was a bad thing. i want them to see it as another adventure, and they do.
well, it isnt all that bad. i will be able to see them alot, like next saturday and sunday! i cant wait.

splatter

my dad got new brushes for photoshop, this is me having fun.

electricity

i dare you to move, i dare you. we breath in life and breath out death we breath in death and breath out life, we were meant to live, like today never happened. i dare you to move i dare you.

last night was amazing. it was my first concert and guess who i saw. relient k ( my favorite band) switchfoot (a name i don't get) and Ruth ( a new band I've never heard of). it was so amazing.

relient k is most definitely better on stage than on their Cd's, they completely expressed their words and made it so fun to sing with them.

were in the palm of a hand making a fist it would be best for one of us to speak up but we prefer to pretend it does not exist

~relient k

switchfoot was cooler than i thought they would be. i don't normally listen to them. yeah. well they were still good.

we were meant to live for so much more have we lost ourselves? we were meant to live for so much more have we lost ourselves? we were meant to live we were meant to live.

~switchfoot

RRRRuth was awesome too, and for their first appearance here they weren't that bad. uh i don't know any of the words to their songs so...sorry Ruth.

the day of complete and utter awesomeness

wow to day was so much fun.
it was a half day and as you all know Jessica, Caleb, and i all stay after school. so that meant that we had to stay for an extra four hours. well we did what came naturally to us in these kind of situations. acted random. it was awesome, even if Caleb thought we were crazy (which i cant blame him, we are).
the best part of the whole day was when Mr. Wilson, our principal had asked Caleb to go with him to fill up a van with gas. well it took them longer than we thought and me and Jessica began to have our suspicions.
" i know exactly what happened, Mr. Wilson is actually a child stealer and kidnapped Caleb!"
so we made a whole video on how we had heard scary noises and how Mr. Wilson had stolen Caleb and how we were scared out of our minds. you have to see that video.
so that was our day of complete and utter awesomeness.....completely and utterly.

the rake

i walked into their house Friday. it was empty and i couldn't help but to cry. our childhood was in that house. our adventures. i walked into Maggie's room and only little painted fairies smiled at me on the pink walls.
it was a sad day.
our outreach day was successful though, and i think we got everything out of my aunt and uncles house. we moved boxes and raked for a good majority of the day. but our hard work didn't go unnoticed. my uncle had ran out to the store and gotten every kind of candy you can think of. ever heard of caramel Reese's peanut butter cups? me neither, but that day i had one. all day Jessica and i spent as much time as we could with my cousins. we ate together in our secret hiding spot, we took as many pictures as we could, and what would a day with the cousins be like without hysterical laughing. it was great.
everyone loved that day.

sweet and sour

tomorrow is the cds outreach day. a.k.a. rake leaves until your arms fall off. i cant complain though, last year was fun and the people we raked for were nice. but this year there is a twist.
as you know my aunt and uncle and their family are moving to Ohio ~sob~. well Mr. Wilson decided to help them move their stuff into the moving cars. i know it would be such a blessing to my aunt and uncle if we could get this done for them.
any who, i am excited about tomorrow not only because it is a casual day (which we hardly ever get) but that there is another opportunity to spread the gospel through leaf raking.

its me again lord

have you ever felt like you were going through a dry time with the lord? its a terrible feeling. i feel so far from God and i am not as excited in Him as i used to be. i need help, plain and simple help.
i decided to try to read my devotions ( i had broke my habit of doing this) and i didn't succeed. i found myself making excuses as to why i didn't need to do them or i had something more important to do. every time i went to do my devotions i would convince myself that i would do them some other time. it just kept getting pushed off.
i went to my mom about this and even my pastor but i still didn't feel any different. i would cry during certain songs in worship, but afterwards i would go out the church doors and not even think twice about what we sang. i remember going through a very rough time in my life (last year actually) and i realized during that time that i needed someone stronger than myself to help me through my trial. i got saved through that whole situation and after that i felt to in love with the lord, so ready to do anything he asked of me. a few years went by and my "need" for the lord had seemed unnecessary to me. it felt like i grew farther and farther from him.
i need help lord, plain and simple help.

i guess its safe to say your never coming back and i understand why you wouldn't want to i guess its up to me to find a way to get to you and i cant see you getting used to living in the midst of your perfection and I'm so lost how can you trust somewhere the sun is always shining and theres just one last thing that i have say as we reflect on the mess of all of this I've made it was cowardice that made me push you away i was so afraid cause you were so much better than me

Relient k

friends

is there a reason? does there have to be? its love you see. don't be blinded when light screams. passion is together. here you see us in the light, surrounded by darkness we fight. but don't forget what the war is for, what we fight for. its love the song the reason to scream, the reason to tell someone what we have seen what we have heard what we know. this passion that pours out is a fire that pours out. you feel the warmth rage over you. mercy falls over you. the world is a wall, don't fall. don't forget what He showed you, what you had. alive..we live..as one..one under grace.

after school?....

My dad works at our church office until five every day. our school is right next to the church office so guess where my brother and i go to sit for an extra two hours after school every day, yup his office. Boring boring boring boring (Jessica can attest to this) Its not as bad as it seems though. There are other people (Jess and Caleb and of course the annoying Matthew) who crusade with me through the boring two hours after a six to eight hour day of school (in short we are exhausted). any who we do the most random things that no normal teenager would dare to do in fear of a ruined reputation. such as:
1 climb trees to the very top and scream " i am not UN-normal "
2 run around a building playing a combination of hide and seek, break the rules, and run away tag (oh excuse me what the boys have forced us to call "man hunt")
3 try to figure out how to play amazing grace with a piano and drums.
4 and say something extremely random at least once.
well as you can see we have had quite some time to make up this list...which i guess is pretty pathetic considering its been a year already and we haven't been able to think of anything else. at least we're active....very active.

Ohio....

i don't understand, i guess i am not the one that needs to. i have spent my whole life with them, playing with them watching them do the weirdest things and the funniest things. i guess god knew i would feel this way about my cousins leaving, of course he did. Ohio isn't too far away, and i will be able to see them every summer. thats a wonderful thing. god hasn't just been taking away of course, i have received a much greater thing that completely out weighs the bad. i will never forget them, what is greater than that right now? i will always remember how close we were, how we always did everything together. the reason for their leaving? that is another blessing. my uncle and his family are being sent to bless a church in Ohio, my uncle will be the senior pastor.
we will stay just as close, Ohio isn't that far away.

cousin post

these next two posts are by my two cousins.

caleb
if we are in bed and you are with josh you eill never fall asleep in hours its either josh throwing stuffed animals at izzy or me but thn i convince him to listen to me but it is still cool to hav a twin brother, josh.
maggie
i like to play with my big cousins. and i like to play with brothers. i like to play doggies with my younger cousins.

gain

on Monday the CDS went to GAIN, which some of you may know as Carelift. It was really amazing seeing how just by sending a teddy bear or some boring school supplies can change a child's life. that's not even the half of it, GAIN is a christian organization so whenever they meet someone they take every chance they get to share the gospel with them. its a real eyeopener when you see children in foreign countries dying and suffering.
when we got there all we saw was a huge warehouse with what seemed like the word GAIN taped to the front of it, but when we got inside our perspective on the place was completely changed. there were so many people willing to help from making gospel bracelets to folding and packaging clothes there was not one frown in the place. but what really moved me was the slide show they showed us. on the first slide there was a group of little girls all hugging their teddy bears tightly and that was when i realized that they weren't any different, until they spoke a different language, they were all just like i was as a child. and as i saw those same girls in tears as they held their gospel bracelets i cried.
how wonderful god is that even in our most terrible times he loves us.

lighter still

there is this poem contest and i was going to enter it with this poem.

life is dying fading twirling vanishing with the sea
loving mercy overwhelming surpasses my humble plea
the worlds passions failing
to the cross i'm nailing these treacherous iniquities
passion searing overwhelming
hold me in the wind thats sailing
over terrors and trite ailings that seem to follow me
simple action loves reaction
takes its toll on hearts of stone
savior father hear my plea
i give mylife to you alone

Smileez

here aare some fun variations on smiley faces that i like to use in my typing. hav fun with em :)

girl with bow - &:)
afro - @:-)
frown - :(
wink - ;)
kiss - :-*
money - $-)
bird - :>
my lips are sealed - :#
tongue - :P
baseball cap - d:)
squidward - |:-(
suprised - <:0
baby - ~:)
confused - ?:|
dunce cap - <:P

pretty cool eh? yeah alot of spare time.

Eyes

Eyes, eyes that are tranquil and calm
Mary looked in these same eyes but saw much more
She saw entire worlds, galaxies every one with their own intricate design
She saw the brushstrokes of a sunset and the colorful pallet to paint a sea vast
She saw man in his sin and transgression
Then she saw a tree, a tree with nails pierced in it's bark
And to think the king of the universe who created all of these things would humble Himself to a small baby to save the world.

My Monkey Family

One little monkey that was me
Two more little monkeys that makes three
Three little monkeys is that enough
Four little monkeys, works gettin' tough
Five little monkeys, can I havve some rest?
Six little monkeys bugging a nest
Seven monkey childeren all around
Eight minutes left till the parents come around!

Indians

For those of you who are wondering, I have a very big family and have many cousins. My adventures with my cousins are always a thrill whether it's pretend surf board champion on the moon or green tigers I always have fun with them. I will have to say my favorite adventure would have to be attack of the indians. One day my cousin Caleb had the coolest idea for a fun time. As he picked up some pointed sticks he explained the idea for an indian army. At first I didn't think it was such a great idea but as Caleb reassured me that this would be fun I changed my mind. All of the boys took their shirts of(like indian warriors) while I prepared the "war paint". As soon as all of the little warriors were ready we made a campsite. We eventually got to the war part(of course). Cousin Caleb was right I had the time of my life that day and in the end walked away with a memory.

Love

Love, not just any love
The same love that hung on the cross
The same love that loved a sinner
The same face of love that looked at Mary
The Lover that loved the unloved
The King who loved the mocker
The love of a baby boy that made Herod afraid
The love that never fails
The love that was the beginning and will be the end
Love, not just any love
The love that lives in me, Jesus Christ