throwing a lifeline...

tonight in my bible study while i was talking about the craziness that is my life our leader told the following analogy...

have you ever heard of the guy who was standing on the top of his roof because his house and surrounding area was flooding and he prayed and prayed for help. a boat came by and offered him help, but he said 'oh God will take care of me because i am praying' and he turned down the boat; then a bigger boat came by and he did the same thing; finally, a helicopter came and he again sent them away because he was so focused on praying.
the man eventually died and when he got to heaven he asked God why he hadn't rescued him, for he was praying, and God was the one who sent the two boats and helicopter.

the story was probably told way better than how i just told it but i had the realization tonight that what maybe in front of me is what i have been praying for...

as i referenced not too many blogs ago, the storm is here and i am driving through it... but for once, though i am horrified beyond anything, i realize that i am not driving through it, but am only in the passenger seat.

hope.

sitting here at my desk on a saturday night while 'eleanor rigby' is playing on my itunes i try to sit and digest my day. the subject matter of the song i am currently listening to kind of ties into what the sermon was about at church (well at least in my head it does :)). i would have bet that today's sermon going be on the resurrection of Christ, and though my pastor did touch on the subject a lot the underlying message what what do we have hope in?

do we have hope in something or someone? and he said something that almost had me in tears, that everything that i put hope in (earthly) will let me down someday and i know this is true, i am living through a let down of something i had great hope in in my life right now. but it just breaks my heart because we fill ourselves with hopes and dreams when really the only hope we should have is that God will take care of us.

does that mean that i shouldn't have hopes and dreams? i don't think so, but i know i do need to learn not to put all my eggs in one basket. (which is where eleanor rigby comes in) one of my biggest hopes is to one day find my future husband and especially when going through holidays and big decisions it would be nice to just have someone there to bounce stuff off of, you know? but i can't put all my hope in this guy when i do find him, that's not fair to him or me... not just that, but it goes with jobs, friends, family, etc. i cannot hope that these things/people will fulfill the role that only God can fill. does that make sense?

so i leave you with this question... what are you putting your ultimate hope in?

p.s. happy easter!

the soundtrack of my life

so i was flipping through my cds trying to find something good to just read to and came across "my soundtrack" it's a mix i created almost three years ago according to certain times in life. it is pretty much perfect. though much more music has entered my collection in the last three years i am not sure i would change more than a song or two. these songs remind me of just falling in love with music.

1. opening credits

“life and love and why” by switchfoot
2. waking up
“banana pancakes” by jack johnson
3. average day
”the safety of routine” by name taken
4. first date
“so impossible” by dashboard confessional
5. falling in love
”cadence” by anberlin
6. love scene
”first day of my life” by bright eyes
7. sex scene
”mid-november” by johnathan rice
8. heartbreak
“sunday drive” by the early november
9. breakup
”rocks tonic juice magic” by saves the day
10. lesson learning
”on your porch” by the format
11. life's okay
”holiday in spain” by the counting crows
12. flashback
”campfire kansas” by the get up kids
13. party scene
”sweetness” by jimmy eat world
14. regret scene
“standing on the edge of summer” by thursday
15. slow dance
“my reminder” by the beautiful mistake
16. happy dance
”tambourine” by the colour
17. long night alone
”a self portrait” by the lyndsay diaries
18. goodbye
”i remember you” by the ataris
19. closing credits
“all good things” by count the stars

its about time...

i always always always write a blog about my favorite music picks for the year shortly after the new year and well... it's mid-march and i am a little late and i am going to change it up from previous years. (2006 & 2005)

this year it's the 2007 mixtape, one song from each of my favorite albums that will literally fit on a 2-sided 60 minute cassette tape. last year i really felt like i was inundated by music (i got everything that we distributed for the entire year) so i am not sure i had enough time to really digest all the music i received and even purchased. so forgive me if my list may not be as hip and trendy as yours, but it's mine so leave me alone :)



side a
as cities burn "clouds" (5:21) from come now sleep
the graduate "anhedonia" (3:33) from anhedonia
circa survive "the difference between medicine and poison is the dose" (4:17) from on letting go
thrice "open water" (3:46) from the alchemy index vol 1 & 2: fire and water
surrogate "death penalty" (3:36) from love is for the rich
anberlin "alexithymia" (3:23) from cities
photo atlas "handshake heart attack"(3:31) from no, not me never (2006) or the photo atlas (2007)
against me! "stop" (2:33) from new wave

side b

jimmy eat world "chase this light" (3:27) from chase this light
sherwood "song in my head" (3:50) from a different light

markéta irglová & glen hansard "when your mind's made up" (3:41) from the once soundtrack

robbie seay band "rise" (4:24) from give yourself away
rocket summer "do you feel" (2:41) from do you feel

mainstay "where your heart belongs" (the version that i have) (3:28) from become who you are

ruth "mr. turner" (4:09) from secondhand dreaming

yellowcard "shadows and regrets" (3:59) from paper walls

had i had more time, i would have added a song from these, here are my honorable mentions: lost ocean lost ocean, emery i'm only a man, the spill canvas no really, i'm fine, mobile tomorrow starts today, phil wickham cannons, raining and ok the devil on your shoulder

as i mentioned earlier, there are some albums i wished i had listened to more, maybe this year... saves the day under the boards, bright eyes cassadaga, minus the bear planet of ice, arcade fire neon bible

there you have it, 2007. not sure if it was my favorite year for music, but i am definitely looking forward to 2008 :)

10 items or less

i just finished watching 10 items or less which was great (i recommend it).
throughout the movie they asked eachother to name lists of 10 items or less with different subjects such as things that you hate, or would want to keep, etc.

so here's a list - 10 items or less: keepers
1) sunshine
2) my ipod
3) a bible
4) people (friends, family, etc)
5) the ocean
6) my vans sneakers
7) little miss sunshine
8) a journal
9) sangria
10) mexican food


how about you? 10 items or less - keepers

driving into a storm

right now i feel like i am driving on a stretch of highway and in front of me there are storm clouds, lots of rain, lightening, limited visibility and who knows what else. i know i will make it through the storm but i can't say that it will be easy, quick or i will end up on a road that i intended to end up on.

i am about to enter several weeks in my life that are going to be difficult and i honestly have no idea where i will be in 8 weeks but all i know is that it is going to suck to go through.

without going into all the crazy details, i guess this is my request for prayer because it is going to be a tough trip through a storm.

celebrating mistakes :)

so my blog is called celebrate mistakes and well today, let's celebrate one :)

(a picture will come when i find my cord for my camera :))

a couple weeks ago, i wanted to iron the collar of a shirt because it was super wrinkly and i wanted to wear it the next day... SO like a true genius i figured i could do it without the aid of an ironing board. (kids don't do this at home) i did it ALL the time in college, when i had NO time and nothing to wear that wrinkle free spray could save i would grab the iron and iron it on my bed, no big deal, right? WRONG. so i am sitting on my bed. ironing away and next thing you know the iron decided to lean the other way while i had it sitting up and then lean up against my arm! my arm & hot iron = very bad. not only was it my arm, but it was the inside of my arm, so everytime i stretched my arm or would fold it, it was SUPER painful... (yeah, yeah, i know, it was my fault)

so here i am 16 days later. it has, for the most part, healed... however, there will forever be a scar there. which may be a good thing, i think if we don't have the scars of our past mistakes or injuries we will not be reminded as much of why it happened and perhaps never learn from our mistakes.

so this mistake i am going to celebrate, why you ask? because...

1) i will only iron with an ironing board from now on because next time it could take out my entire foot or who knows what?

2) it reminds me not to be in such a rush because well, i was in a rush and i got a burnt arm and stayed up way later than i would have had i set up an ironing board and...

3) i can choose to be angry or i can choose to celebrate :)