Waiting to Hatch

I apparently take after my brother...




His arms a little crazier though. If this doesn't make sense, see his blog. It's really good. He's an insightful fella.

posted by Shari @ 1:20 PM 0 comments

Two Parter

First of all, I'm going to do a quick little thing on chillipepper. It was wonderfully awesome! God did some amazing things and just reminded me of how cool he really is. I want to go back so badly, it's so awesome knowing that it really is all about God there. I love being in pure places like that. All the performers/speakers did an awesome job! But now I cannot wait until Seesalt!!! It's going to be a great summer! I love being apart of the ministry of Concoxions. It is such a huge blessing to be allowed to be apart of something were God does such amazing things. Ok, I could go on about that for a really long time but I won't.

I think my parents had chicken stew for dinner. That's what it smells like. (Sorry taylor, I got distracted.)

Alrighty, I'm going to pull a Christopher Cox and talk about how songs remind me of things. I don't normally like to copy people, but he's a really cool guy and we tend to think a lot alike anyway. I've been meaning to do this for a really long time, but I've been busy with homework and such. I should probably be doing my homework right now, but I really feel like I need to do this right now. (sorry mom and dad) Ok, here goes:

First of all, just because I've heard it a lot lately, "Different" by Acceptance. This makes me think of a)Concoxions and b) my life right now. It reminds me of Concoxions because it's in a fabulous video that Taylor made for Seesalt and it was on repeat for like 3 hours at Chillipepper. And it talks about change. Change is something that I've been facing a lot lately, and I normally hate change. In fact, I have for the past 5 months, but I'm finally learning to not only accept it but love it. Who are we if we don't grow and change? Things are gonna change, and it can be for the better if I just allow God to use it that way.

I love my d-group. They are awesome and they are what I think about whenever I heard "Dirty Little Secret." Haha, that probably sounds really wrong to anyone who isn't in our group. I promise it's not as bad as it sounds. It's an inside joke and I don't know if I can really explain it just because we are really odd group of people. So, yea, I'll just leave it at that. haha

Bethany Dillon's sef-titled album. Summertime. I think it's because I got it in the summer and listened to it a lot then, but there's some really good music on that that's just enlightening. It makes me smile and get that warm sunny feeling.

If I Left the Zoo by Jars Of Clay makes me think of the time when my brothers still lived at home. When that cd came out, Christopher was driving both Taylor and I to school and every morning we'd listen to that cd, haha, and I only knew like the first two songs because I was the first drop off. (My brothers actually listen to cd's like straight through in order instead of by favorite song like I do-and they don't like to go back, they listen straight through)

"Company Car"!!!!! This is the song that Christopher and I would sing/scream at the top of our lungs in his car with the sunroof open. Haha, I really don't know why it was that song but for some reason we always got into it. We're silly. But it is a good song.

"You Consume Me" by dctalk (oh, yea, oldschool) always reminds me that I am the youngest in the family with the least amount of education. When I was little I thought it was "You Can Sue Me." My family had a nice laugh when I asked why dctalk wanted to be sued.

Ok, there's a lot more but it has to end because I need to do my homework and I'm having way too much fun remembering stuff now. Haha, wow, the past 16 years have been good to me. God's blessings are awesome. Love y'all! Goodnight!

posted by Shari @ 5:19 PM 0 comments

January 18

Today is a special day for me. It is my half birthday. It's not a huge deal to be 16 1/2, but it's still a special day. You see, in elementary school, a lot of parents would come eat lunch with their kids on their birhtday. Well, my birthday is in the summer. So, my parents would always come on my half birthday. It's been a long time since that, but I always think about it and how happy it made me when I was little. So, I guess my half birthday is just a reminder of how much my parents love me. I love you Momma and Daddy. Thanks, y'all are the best.

posted by Shari @ 1:34 PM 1 comments

New Favorite Song!

Ok, folks, this is big. I have a new favorite song! Up until a few hours ago, I'd have to say that "Fix You" by Coldplay was my favorite. "Fix You" is a brilliantly wonderful song, but it's time for it to give up its reign to.... "We're So Far Away" by Mae. Let me tell you why. (Ha, it's not like you really have a choice) What first attracted me to it was the beautiful piano in this song. Not only is it beautiful, but it's also very interesting. The beginning catches your ear with a simple and dramatic opening pecked out on the piano. Also, the whole the time, the background music moves well with the song. It's not just a bunch of isolated chords, but it's not a continuous running stream of 16th notes either. Simply beautiful. Secondly, Dave Gaminez has a great voice. He has the rock voice, but where many rock musicians go wrong is in songs like these. When their voice isn't covered by screaching guitars and booming drums and they have to sing a slower song, the nasaly characteristics of their voice comes out. Gaminez does a good job of not getting too nasaly and keeping some good depth in tone in his voice without sounding like too much of a softie. Ok, now moving out of the musical part. The words. I'll admit that I had to get Taylor to interpret the meaning initially because I was distracted by the music. It's kind of hard to understand, but I think it's about God's amazing plan. All the great things that happen in our lives, we have know idea about where or when they will happen. We have no idea. Isn't that amazing? Faith, it's just an incredible thing. We're a society driven on knowledge, and probably half of all middle school classrooms have a poster in the room that says "Knowledge is Power" yet still in my belief the most powerful thing that a person can posess is faith. Why? Because by posessing faith, it's like giving up all your other posessions. The song also talks about wondering if Jesus knew exactly how big this plan was that he was apart of. It's just something interesting to think about. Well, I'm getting tired of typing, so I hope it was inspirtational or something, I dunno.

Oh yea, I would like to thank Taylor and Christopher for my musical inspirations. In other words, I listen to their music and decide I like it and jump on their bandwagon. :) Goodnight!

posted by Shari @ 6:25 PM 0 comments

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! It's a time for resolutions, new beginnings (aren't all beginnings new?), and turning over new leaves. Now, I'm not going to get too sentimental about New Year's and all just because as I get older, it seems that I just don't care. Hah, that was blunt. I did have a really fun time with my family and friends yesterday, so I guess the fun has become more important than the event itself. Anyway, instead of talking about the holiday where we all forgive ourselves and repent of our overeating, time wasting, non-productive, and all around bad habits, I want to talk about something that means more to me than a really bright ball descending down a pole.
I kind of think it's sad that it takes a holiday and huge ordeal to make us examine ourselves, physically, mentally, emotionally, and especially spiritually. I wish that I examined myself every morning so that i could spend everyday being the best person I could be, but sadly I don't and I don't know that I ever will (I have a problem with habit forming/committment-you might read about it in a later blog). But needless to say, New Years does make people stop and look at their lifestyles and that's fine with me. Ok, getting to the point finally...God. (No, that wasn't in vain, I meant God as in the guy upstairs.) Where is He in your life? Is He in your life? I know He's in mine, and I wish i could say that He's always been the center of it, but I can't. When it comes down to it (I don't really know exactly what "it" is but try and follow me) He is what matters. Sure school and health are important, but does anyone really want that type of thing to consume their lives?
So what's my New Years Resolution? Today Dr. Driggers, the Executive Something of the South Carolina Baptist Convention spoke in church. He gave two suggestions for New Years Resolutions, and I liked them so I'll share...

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33

I like 'em. As humans, we can try to be as nice, as smart, as physically fit, or as anything else as we want to be and that's all well and good. But in the eyes of the Creator, that's not what matters. How much did we love Him? How much did we serve Him? How much did we try to reach others for Him? How much did we just live completely and fully giving everything for Him? Some people may say I'm making too big of a deal out of living for God, but I don't think so. Why not go all out? If you say you've give your heart to Him, why not give it and not hold back?
Well, it's now time for my family to celebrate Christmas #6 out of 6. I hope everyone has a fantastic day, and good luck with your New Years Resolutions.

posted by Shari @ 9:27 AM 0 comments