out with the old...in with the new...2013

2012 ended up being an amazing year...My favorite parts were getting my job at Raleys, my best friends coming home from Africa, getting first place at the first competition i have ever taken my cheerleaders too (with of course a huge thanks to my assistant coaches), the world not ending was pretty great, going on our first of many family camping trips with dads side of the family, first saragoza side family reunion, met JJ Heller and Moriah Peters, and so many more things. I have made new friends and lost some. I have been overjoyed and super sad. This has pretty much been a year of everything.  My job at Raleys has blessed me with meeting people that i can honestly say i love. they make every day at work enjoyable. we laugh, get mad, and make fun of eachother. they are like another family. cheer has seemingly consumed my life and i love it. ok aside from all of that this year was incredible and i have high hopes for this next year.

In with the new...

2013...making New Year resolutions is a tradition for everyone, and i would assume everyone else also breaks theirs. instead this year i am going to do three things. first, i am going to make a serious commitment to reading the Bible this year. ya...the whole thing. i said that i was going to last year but i didnt and this year i really am going to make an effort to. Second, focus on the people who matter. i spend so much time trying to impress the people that dont like me, or i waste time trying to impress people hoping that they will notice me. This year i am going to spend my time loving the people who have made an effort in my life and that are continually there for me. finally, i am going to make an effort to love every one. i am going to make a huge effort to stop gossipping and to really look for the good things in people instead of always going straight for the negative. i will continue to smile and make a bigger effort to show Jesus in everything that I do.

Now all of that mixed with the usual eat healthier and i am going to start running with Rae in the morning I am really looking forward to making this year one that i will be happy to look back on. I cant wait to see where this next year leads and I am so glad that i get to enjoy it with all of you.

I pray that God blesses all of you in this next year!!

Abby XO

If you haven't noticed I am terrible at this!!

There has been a lot of sadness in my church lately. We have had people taking their lives into their own hands, people that I loved, and it has really got me thinking about looking at the more positive things in life. People always say "what would you do if you woke up and tomorrow you only had the things that you thanked God for the day before"...well let me tell you I would have had nothing left today. I have really been trying to take this to heart and truly thanking God for everything I have in my life, even the annoying things:
Thank you for my car, even though sometimes it doesnt always want to start, it is something that allows me to get around
Thank you for my job and the people that i work with (all of them), granted there are a few that i am not always thankful for there are those few like (Dee, Jenny,Danielle, Carolyn, Serene, Kelsey, Jen, and more) that I would hate to have to make it through the workday without.
Thank you for my family. That is something that I always seem to leave out or think of last. The people that put up with the majority of my long stories, crappy jokes, and horrible attitude i tend to pay the least amount of attention to them. I always seem to have something better to do then spend time with my sisters or help around the house. My mom always says that I am their role model and it really hit me the other day when my sister said that if she could be anyone else she would want to be me...wow serious reality check. I need to invest so much more time in doing fun things with them and just showing them that I am interested in what they have to tell me, no matter how long it may take, and show them that I want to spend time with them.
This definitely isnt a sufficient list of all the things that i am thankful for but it is the things that have been on the fore front of my mind lately. So, if you went to bed tonight and only woke up with the things that you thanked God for the day before...what would you have left?

Final thought:
I am not thankful for the speech I have to give in 9 hours...

May God bless you wherever you are today
XO Abby

Every intention

So i had every intention of writing these last 6 days but just found every reason not too...there hasnt been much happening...just life. I have training for Raley's Friday and Saturday and i am really excited about it :))

So yesterday on Klove there was a guy, maybe a pastor or something, i dont really know who he was, but he said "We are great missionaries in Japan, but not in the US". He was making the point that we search for those that we dont know that need to be saved, but what about those around us. There are people all around us, that we interact with everyday that dont know the love of Christ. Our neighbors, our friends, our colleagues, even some of the people in our family. But we fear to reach out to them, because being rejected by them would hurt more then being rejected by the people that we barely know. So, we grow complacent with the fact that the people around us dont know that there is hope. There is hope that at the end of the dark tunnels that everyone has to go through there is going to be a light. You can give these people the reason that they need to keep going and not to give up. Today while i was sitting in Starbucks "doing homework" there were two ladies next to me that were talking about their church and their love for Christ. So, as i sat her eaves dropping i couldnt help but smile and think 'what do people think that dont't believe in God'? Its like, when i think about it, all of my happiness and love, and life lessons have come from God and His grace, and i just cant even imagine what it would be like to not have that faith. I don't know just a little food for thought. I was definitely convicted to start making sure that the love of Christ is showing through all my actions especially for those that dont know that love.

Well, little fact that some people may not know...i absolutely love writing poetry. I think that its a great way to get out emotions and for me its the best way to put out how i am feeling at any given time. So here is a poem that i wrote in the eighth grade after my Mamu passed away. He was the most amazing grandpa and I  miss him more and more everyday.

Ode to Edmond

There he lays,

Sprinkled across the beach.

He's seen the light,

Touched God's hand,

Sat in the throne.

He knew it was time,

ready to leave,

get rid of this pain and live in harmony.

He had a great life

Lots of love, kindness, and honor

He was a marine

Well, actually, a veteran

A dad, grandpa, husband, brother, son, and friend.

But to me, he was Mamu

Beloved by all, hated by none

He had memories of everything,

The war, his life, and he could never stop talking about us, his grandkids.

He spoiled us with candy, sweets, and gifts

Showering us with surprises everytime we came to visit

Never ceasing to amaze us.

He always forgot my name

Calling me Tina, my mom, or Tasia, my aunt

I'd never get upset

Just chip in and say

"No mamu...It's Seba"

Well may God bless you today

Til tomorrow (maybe :))

XOAbby

SOOOO EXCITED!!

Well two days ago i was called to come into an interview with Raley's yesterday. I was super nervous and excited and i went in there and...came out with a job!! I have honestly not been that excited in a long time. God has been, and continues to be, so good. He continues to provide even when i have felt like giving up. Today i spent the whole day babysitting the Curry children and all in all it was a really fun day!! So, i am still sick and can't wait to get better...and i am still wayyy excited about this job at Raley's!!!

Wow so this is super short and boring...anyways

May God bless you today

Til tomorrow
XOAbby

Day 9: Back on track :)

Lets see...honestly i am not the biggest fan of my english teacher, i am almost 100% positive that she is out to get me. Tonight child development, which is typically a class that i really enjoy, was horrible. There are three people that sit in the front of the class and act like the whole class is like a session with their therapist. So, next week, we have to rush and finish the rest of ch 7 and take notes on all of ch 8 then take our test. I am super annoyed. Other than those two things i realized 2 things today: I really hate having to walk in the rain, and i LOVE Drawsome!!! Its wayyy to addicting.

Honestly today had nothing super awesome happening.

Some food for thought: The God that made the whole entire universe, like, the whole thing, loves you and cares for you more than you can ever imagine. Don't forget that!!

May God bless you today

Til tomorrow
XOAbby

Day 8: Kinda...but not really

So these last three days i have not gotten home before midnight. Friday night was amazing!! Got to hang out with Kayla and saw This Means War. It was so freakin funny and we had a VERY long much needed talk. Honestly, thank God for great friends. Saturday was super busy with a catering that...as always...was really fun..and a little hectic. But, of these three days yesterday was most definitely the best. I went to the Rock and Worship Roadshow with Katy, Emily, Hayley, Brandon, Clayton, and Daniel. It was such an amazing time listening to all these Christian bands and looking around seeing thousands of people with the same heart for the Lord that you do. Even though this was a concert all of the artists did a really great job of making sure that we all stayed focused on why we were all there. They wanted none of the glory but continued to point it straight back to God. After the concert Emily and I went and met Moriah Peters who was one of the new up and coming acts in the beginning of the concert and was honestly amazing. We made a vow to record a song with her...which i dont really know will actually happen but, we can hope :)



Bart Millard who is the lead singer for MercyMe gave an incredible message during the concert. He reminded us that we have a God whose love is everlasting. Nothing that we can do, no matter how bad or horrible we feel it is, will cause God to stop loving us. Thats amazing, huh? I don't know about you but i have done some things that i felt could not be forgiven and made me unworthy of God. Like there was nothing that i could do to make myself feel whole again, or even just a little better. And thats totally true. There is absolutely nothing that i can do, only God can make me whole again. And it wasn't until I fully gave whatever i had done to God that i felt restored and healed. I guess the best thing to remember is that there is a God that loves you so so much and there is nothing that you can ever do to stop that love. So, for all that are fighting it and feel that their problem is to big for God, there is NOTHING that is to big for our God, let him take away the hurt and pain and guilt and shame. He can make you new again. You are loved adored and cherished. You are a child of the Most High. Take comfort in that today :)

May God bless you today

Til tomorrow,
XO Abby

Day 7

Today i went on a job hunt...kinda. I interviewed at Marie Calender's and i think that it went pretty well. This whole job hunting thing is kind of a Debby Downer...the whole not getting a job/not having a job doesn't make me want to look for a job, but i still want a job...It's like this huge vicious circle.

Well anyways, really the only other thing that i did today was go to the youth staff meeting. I really love being a part of staff and seeing the kids that come back every week to youth. Even though some of them think that they are far too cool for school they are still there and they are listening to the teaching. That gives me hope that someday it will all sink in and they will see what they really should be living for. I see everyone living for the now. What feels good, what looks good, and not looking into the future. We are so obsessed with things of this earth that we fail to look into eternity. To see that there is something greater than ourselves out there and worth living for. God says that he came so that we may have life and have it to the fullest. So, I say that we all need to work on living a life that is FULL of Christ and showing his love to all of those around us...even those that we sometimes don't feel deserve it because they are usually the ones that need it the most.

May God bless you wherever you are today

Til tomorrow,
XO Abby

Day 6: Clearly I am not very good at this yet

Soo...even though i have missed a lot of days i am still bound and determined to write a blog everyday (kinda) for a year.

Well this last week and a half has honestly been like one horrible thing after another. Last Monday I was laid off due to Pizza Plus closing FOREVER, and i also got a ticket for talking on my phone while driving. As i attempted to act all sweet and innocent to the cop i still got the ticket and i was so shaky that i could barely sign the ticket. The week followed suit with what felt like one horrible day after another. I feel like i am continuously being let down by the people that i am trusting. I feel like i am losing some of the people that are close to me and it really sucks. I wish that things were as easy as they were in high school. And the thing that has sucked the most is when the people that you look up to, the ones that you thought you could always depend on, let you down. It seems almost inevitable with the fact that we are all human and all fall short, but of course we still put these people up on a pedestal hoping that they won't fail us.And of course when they do it seems to hurt more than we could have imagined.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are younot to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

I read this quote earlier this week and i just thought it was something that we all needed to be reminded of. Its pretty convicting, huh? What a great reminder that we are meant to shine, we are meant to stick out of the crowd and be excited about it. We should be excited to let our light shine for God and let everyone around us see that we aren't just like every other person in this world. That there is something inside of us that makes us different. I think we all need a print out of this to read everyday before we go off to work, or school, or wherever else we go to remind us not to be afraid.

So this is my comeback...and i will definitely keep up with it this time...well at least try a little harder.

Til tomorrow

God bless,
Abby

Day 5: You can't trust everything that you see on Pinterest

Didn't go to any of my classes today because i wasnt feeling amazing, but I had a great day at home with my younger sister Katy. We were looking at Pinterest and found clementine candles that we thought would be fun to make. Well, we first tried this with an orange, and not really knowing what we were dong...we failed. Then, after watching an instructional video on how to make it we continued on to attempt 2...and 3...and 4...and finally 5!!! Well the video tells you to cut the circumference of the clementine just deep enough to get through the skin. Then, you peel back the skin anhave two half circles, one still has to have the middle thing attached to it to use as the wick. You fill the half with the 1/4 of the way with olive oil (which, if you didn't already know, is flammable) and let the wick soak it up, the light it and its supposed to be this super cute little candle. Well in the video the guy is holding the clementine in his hand the whole time he is lighting it and so i assumed that the bottom wouldn't get very hot. I was wrong...We burned my mom's counter...which dd not make her happy and since then we have heard joke after endless joke about it.


This is what they looked like :)

Today i was also reminded that God has put some incredible people in my life that I never really take advantage of. I had a great talk tonight with three people that mean a lot to me and i was just reminded that God has an amazing plan for each and every one of us. That our friends are the ones that should be lifting us up, not the ones that join the rest of the world in tearing us down. They are supposed to be our shoulder to cry on, the ones that we share our really stupid moments with, and the ones that we have the best inside jokes with. It has been really hard for me this last year with all my friends going away for college and me staying here. We all still talk, but we definitely don't get to hang out as much. I feel like this year I have really had to learn to be content with the things that I have here, like my family ( both blood and church) and the friends that I have come to make at school. This year is a chance for change and a chance for new norms!!

May God bless you!!

Til tomorrow
XO Abby

Day 4

So today was nothing special...it was actually pretty boring. English was ridiculous and I am 90% positive that my teacher hates me because i wrote my first essay about how i came to know Christ and every paper since then my grades have been getting lower. Child Development made my night though. Even though it is a three hour class i really love the teacher and we are talking about babies :) I have come to realize that the fact that anyone gets pregnant is really a miracle.And the way that a baby is created and becomes a baby...its just amazing :)

I had an amazing talk with Wendy Marshall today about the values of society. We were talking about the shows that are on now, the most popular ones and even some of the ones that we watched. It is really sad that now media is trying to force teens to believe that it is ok to have sex outside of marriage and not only that but to have it with multiple people and that it isn't something to be ashamed of, but rather something to take pride in. Not only is this stuff that teens don't need to be filling their heads with but now even kids in grade school are watching these. At such a young age they are being filled with these lies of what you are "supposed" to do and how high school is going to be. I'm not going to lie, i do not always make the best decisions on what tv shows or what movies i should be watching. I wish that they had shows out there that promoted purity, honest, and integrity but, sadly, these are very rare and very hard to find.

I realized today that it seems like the people that you love the most are the people that can also hurt you the most. It seems like it is so easy to forgive a complete stranger, but it seems so hard to forgive the ones that you love. I guess thats because you expected more out of them...

May God bless you today <3

Til tomorrow
XO Abby

Day 3: "There could never be a more beautiful you"

So today I had the psychology test that i dreaded (and actually studied for) and i felt pretty good about it. I guess thats why people encourage you to study :) The test definitely seemed less stressful that way. After my 3 hour do-nothing-but-wait-for-my-next-class session at starbucks, i finished up with a super boring dose of Sociology. Headed home and tonight i was blessed with going to youth group. Going there and seeing these junior high students worshiping the Lord and being able to be who they really are was great. There was no sound for worship tonight so all we had was an acoustic guitar and an acoustic bass and you could actually hear everyone singing. That is definitely my favorite, being able to hear every voice, whether good or bad, making a joyful noise to the Lord.

My day was made today with a little package from Kenya!! I got a note from Kate Kjeldgaard and it just brightened up my whole day. I have been missing them a lot lately and it was great to get a keepsake from them. 8 months (ish) and they will be home :). I am so excited to read about and see pictures of all the things that they are doing over in Africa and every time we skype Kate she is always so excited to tell us all about Africa and i know there is no place where she would rather be.

So (on a totally different note) my song lyrics for today are: "There could never be a more beautiful you. Defy the lies, disguises, and hoops they make you jump through. You were made to serve a purpose, that only you can do. So, there could never be a more beautiful you." I feel like every girl needs to be reminded of this on a daily basis. Today, it was freezing and pouring rain and as I was walking to class in my sweatshirt, jeans, and boots (which had like half my jean tucked in them) i pass girls in tank tops and booty shorts. They are hanging out in groups of guys that are of course giving them the attention that they are desiring an all I could think was "Girl, you must be freezing". Why do we do that to ourselves? It seems like nowadays girls will do just about anything to get a guy to look her way, to give her a smile, or maybe if you are the lucky one to make out with her. When did this become the new norm? Why do we choose to lower ourselves to this? We can all do so much better if you just hold yourself to a better standard. We see the girls with their boyfriends that look so happy, and we long for that. I have most definitely been guilty of that. But, as i look around today girls are no longer having any respect for themselves, an honestly who are you really trying to attract looking like that. Is the man that only looks at you for those reasons really the man that you think you are going to be with for the rest of your life. I know we all want that "Happily Ever After" fairy tale ending, an some day in our own ways we will have that. So, stay strong, be who you are, and do not lower yourself to who the world tries to get you to believe you are "supposed" to be. You are "fearfully and wonderfully made"(Psalm 139:14).

"Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Romans 12:2

May God bless you today, and remember there could NEVER be a more beautiful YOU!!

XOXO Abby

Day 2

So today has again been AMAZING!!! The Young Africans led the service at church this morning and what an incredible blessing it was. Their hearts are so filled with worship for the Lord that even when i didn't understand the words that they were saying i still felt my heart being pulled to worship along with them. Once again my favorite song that they did was How He Loves by David Crowder. That song is a great reminder of the unfailing love that God has for us. After the 2 services were over and they had lunch they left to continue on their tour. It is amazing to me what kind of impact they had on the people of our congregation. I could see some people's eyes open up when they realized how grateful these kids were. There were tears and smiles as we heard them say their dreams and their promises to Africa. I hope that one day i will be able to be a chaperon on one of their tours and be apart of this great cause.

After they had left i went onto CR worship practice which was again...interesting, and then went to a play interest meeting. My love for singing is what is making me the most excited for this play of "Esther-ordinary Faith". I can't wait til this all comes together. And finaly, one of my favorite parts of the week, the Curry children came over. They make me laugh so much and I just love spending Sunday evenings with them. Tonight Ryan told us that he wanted to have a naked dance party haha. He is 4 so this was especially funny and sadly for Ryan, i do not see this actually happening :).

Well i have finally finished studying for my psychology test that is tomorrow and feel pretty well prepared. Second day and i already almost missed the cut off :) May God bless you wherever you find yourself at when you are reading this!!

Til tomorrow,
XO Abby

Day 1

Well, today i had the amazing privilege to hear the African Children's Choir. What an amazing blessing it was to see these people that most would expect to have no hope praising the Lord for what He has done for them. They have very little and yet have so much love and such grateful hearts. We got a chance to hear each of their dreams for their lives, ranging from a TV host, to a doctor, to a lawyer, to a psychologist, and even an architect. They will stop at nothing to make their dreams come true. These kids are now known as the Young Africans because they were in the children's choir when they were younger. They now are graduated from high school and are awaiting to see if they have been accepted into the universities back home. For them, an education is everything. I look at them and see how amazing their love is and look around where we are today and realize how selfish we have become. One of the girls shared that the room that she shares with her brother is 60 sq ft and how she is grateful for that, and i think about how many times i complain about sharing my room with my sister. Seeing all these people, singing songs like How He Loves by David Crowder was just another reminder that we are so spoiled and so blessed beyond measure here and everyday we take advantage of it. While we sit with our cell phones, or IPods in hand complaining about how bored we are, or that we never get anything that we want, I hope that we can all be reminded of how much we already have and take advatage of. I hope that we can become amazed with the little things again. Like how an ant can carry things multiple times their own weight, or the miracle of a child, or how I am even able to hit these buttons and have words come up on the screen. These are things that we bypass everyday as things that are just "supposed to be". This week let's take time to fall in love again with the little things.
XO AGott