Procrastination is something I struggle with quite a bit. It bothers me because I want to get things done, but there is always something else to do. Sometimes I even catch myself doing something that harder or less fun then what I should be doing. While I have my mother to keep me on track with things like chores, I still have trouble finishing things I start for fun.

Recently, I have decided that I want to finally finish at least one of the stories that I have started. I made a plan. It included markers, poster board, and a 15-year-old laptop. I first made a colorful chart (Everything seems more fun when you get to use giant markers) and numbered each box. I call this chard my "Day by Day Writing Chart" because each day I fill a box with the number of words I wrote that day. I then set up my grampa's old laptop on my desk. I use this computer to type my story because there are no distractions on it. No games. No Internet. Nothing to do with it but type.

Now all I have to do is fight with that fun thing called writer's block...

And we are off

Well today the adventures begin! My youth group is going on our missions trip today. All day in two giant vans! We are headed to Wyoming and will be there for a week. Please pray for us! 

Goodbye Internet!

The Painting in the Parlor

Here I am, 
Watching from the wall,
Just part of the scenery,
I’m seen by all,
But rarely noticed,
I am just the painting in the parlor,
I see who comes and goes, 
In this house that is not my own,
I hear secrets, 
But never tell a soul that I know,

Day by day, 

I watch, 

And day by day, 

I fade.

Filling the Silence

She sits with perfect posture,

The ivory keys await  her touch,

The notes on the page in front of her,

Pleading to be heard,

Respectful silence engulfs the audience,

A single note sounds,

Startling the silence,

Like a solitary bird chirping in the morning

Notes pour from the piano,

Like raindrops,

Hesitantly,

Then,

Full of confidence,

Somewhere,

In the sea of  notes,

Hides a young girl,

But all that is noticed,

Is the music.

The Beauty of Poetry

It's that time of the school year again... The poetry unit. With this unit comes disappointment for some and excitement for others. For me it is a mixture of both. See, I love to read and write poems, but the hard part is to follow the guidelines when writing different types of poems. Personally, I enjoy writing the free verse because I can just write what is on my mind and it works!
Even though I love to write poetry, I love to read it more. The only thing is that I cannot read poetry in my head. I have to hear it out loud. It is the only way for me to hear the flow of the words. To me, poetry is like a form of music where the backround instruments are cut out and the words are slowed down so that you can really understand what the poem is trying to say.
I pulled out a poetry book for kids by Emily Dickenson that I hadn't read in years. I didn't remember most of the poems, but when I read them the words felt familiar. One of my favorite poems in this book is one that I have had memorized for a long while. The line I love from this poem is this:
"How dreary to be somebody"
This is very true for me. I don't mean to say that my life doesn't matter or that I feel like I have no friends. What I connect with in this line is that I don't want to be a "somebody", or a person that everyone knows and wants to talk to. I am perfectly content with being in the background and having a good number of great friends.
Isn't poetry great?! A single line can give you so much to think about.n

Sweet Dreams

Don't you just love dreaming? I love to wake up and remember all of the details to my insane dreams. For some reason I remember my dreams very vividly most of the time. I even love to have scary dreams.

My little brother was watching Cinderella (He loves to see Gus Gus and the other mice) and I heard the words from that song that is at the beginning of the movie: "A dream is a wish your heart makes while your fast asleep". This song kind of scares me because, if this is true, I have the weirdest wishes.

I don't think that I wish everyone acted crazy, well, at least not the kind of crazy in my dreams.

Learning from Little Kids

Yesterday I tried to put up a new post... Twice. So, I am going to try this again.

It's amazing what you can learn from a toddler. I have a two-year-old brother and he says so many interesting things. For example, last night we were coming home from church. My oldest brother was driving and my mom and dad were going to come home in a separate car. My little brother asked where his mommy was, knowing that she was coming home later. Like any other sibling, we tried to convince him that she wasn't going to come home. He just smiled and said she's coming home. He was so confident that his mommy would come home that night. Of course, we then asked the toddler why she had to come home. He didn't even hesitate he came up with a list like this one:

-she makes me food
-she plays with me
-she puts the movie in for me
-she puts me in bed
-she gets me dressed

He could name all of these things off the top of his head and he is only two! I don't know about you, but I don't think much about all the different things my parents do for me on a regular basis. I have started taking things for granted. I wish that I didn't, but I do. And to think, I started thinking through this because of a toddler.