Nov. 30, 2008 The Time Has Come
Hello anyone who still stumbles upon this blog from time to time. A Dear Friend has informed me that the time has come for an update. So now I'm going to babble on in an attempt to bring this here blog up to speed. Here we go!
On Thanksgiving I went to a friend's house. It was my first Thanksgiving away from home, but it was nice. It was just my good friend, her mother, and myself, but it was quiet and lovely. This is not how I normally spend Thanksgiving, though. Normally we spend it with my mom's family, everyone chattering, women making sure everything is "just so" and children everywhere, but this year my mom had to work, my aunts and uncles had things to do, and everyone just did their own thing. It was sad, but it was still nice.
On to other things....
My family is planning to visit our cousins in Seattle soon. My older brother and I will be flying while my parents and younger brothers drive up. The last time I was on an ariplane I was about five years old and tried to stand up while it was landing. Hopefully I won't pull that little stunt this time! I am really excited about this trip. My family and I went to Seattle when I was eight, but I don't remember too much. Just that I liked it. I will finally have new things to take pictures of! Woot!
I will also be marking off another year of my life soon. And I have to say, this year felt good. I remember when I turned fourteen it felt so weird. The weirdest mixture of fear and excitement. I wanted to be older, to take a step closer to becoming the person God wants for me to be. I want to be that person, too! But at the same time I was scared of that person. Scared of the next step. I felt like I hadn't done anything with my life that year. I mean, how much can a thirteen year old do? Well, I found out some things this year. No matter what age you are, no matter if you're five feet and two inches (like me) or six feet and three inches, you make a difference. The important part is making sure you're making the right difference. I fell in love with faith this year. I learned that no matter what happens to me, or around me, the LORD is always in control. He's always there. I've turned my face from Him more times than I care to admit, but He has always been there for me. Calling me back. Holding out his arms. Bringing me back in so many different ways. I am truly thankful for this year. I've grown. I still need to grow so much, but I know it will be okay. My Savior will make sure it will. The other night I was feeling rebellious and stubborn, and whenever I feel that way I try to read my Bible. It's the only sensible thing I can think to do. As I opened it I saw a piece of paper with a verse on it.
2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
I needed that. I needed to remember that my way won't work. It never does. Nothing in this world can bring me through all the challenges in life, all the struggles I face. Only The LORD can. So I say; Bring on the new year! With my Best Friend, I can tackle anything. And this Thanksgiving, that is what I am most thankful for. A Savior that loves me and never leaves me.
God bless you and yours.
~Nikki |
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Nov. 8, 2008 ABC's describing me
My good friend Jocelyn did one of these a while back and made it look fun, so I'm gonna give it a go.
Words that describe me, or things I like, in alphabetical order.
Adequate
Books
Curious
Determined
Earnest
French
Games
Happy
Imaginative
Jazzy
Knowing
Ludicrous
Music
Nitwit
Outspoken
Photographer
Questioning
Rain
Silly
Trouble
Unavoidable
Vigilant
Weird
X marks the spot?
Young
Zany
So yeah, I cheated on x. :D
~Nikki
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Nov. 5, 2008 A Nice Fall Treat.
I thought it would be fun to share a recipe with you that my family really enjoys. It does not have a real name, it's something my grandmother made up, actually. We've just been calling it apple salad. And there aren't really any exact measurements. But I will give you the main idea for it and you can make it however you like.
Ingredients: (serves about 6)
4 to 5 apples
about 1/4 cup peanut butter
2 to 4 tablespoons sugar or honey
cream or milk
It's really quite simple. You just mix the peanut butter and sugar in a bowl, add the cream or milk until desired consistency, then cut the apples into small chunks and add them to the peanut butter mixture. We like to have it for an after lunch treat, but it makes a good snack, too. Very basic, but very yummy!
~Nikki
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Oct. 23, 2008 A quick hello and some amazing news
First of all I would like to say thank you to anyone who still stumbles by here from time to time. I really do appreciate all the nice comments. I'm not very good about writing regularly on here, but I do still post every now and then. So if you leave me a comment I will do my best to come by and say hello as soon as I can. You're all awesome friends!
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And on to something just a little exciting. Well, for me it is. First I will have to say that I always welcome new family members. On my Mother's side of the family there are seventeen cousins (counting my brothers and me) one of those awesome cousins joining us only just last year. I think it's a nice sized family. However, on my Father's side are six cousins counting my brothers and me. Well, that is all about to change. My Dear Aunt and Uncle have been wanting children for about thirteen years and weren't able to have any, until now. My Aunt emailed me today and informed me that they are expecting twins. Twins! The LORD is so amazing! I am so happy that I can't even find words to express what I'm feeling. I am so excited that I will be able to baby-sit them and watch them grow up. I would appreciate it if you all would pray for my Aunt and the babies though. She lost a baby once before and it was very hard on her. So I just pray that things will go well this time. Thank you for all your prayers.
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More very soon.
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~Nikki
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Sep. 22, 2008 The weather fell. Well, it's Fall anyway.
It's getting chilly around here. Not cold, but chilly. Actually, I like Autumn. I like the colors and the fact that my whole family can be inside and together. Maybe I just love all seasons. Yes, that could be.
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And I think the dust storms might be gone for now. I say this because it has started raining and normally when that happens it means we're over the dust storms. But I'm still going to be on the look-out for them. I never trust Idaho weather.
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I have started taking pictures again. I love taking pictures and want to be a photographer someday, but had almost put the whole thing on the back burner for a bit because I don't own a good camera. But then a week or so ago my Uncle let me barrow his Canon. He is so awesome! So yeah, I've been busy with that :D
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I guess I don't have much more to say right now. I need to go make lunch. I'll try to post again soon. Happy Autumn everyone!
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~Nikki
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Sep. 2, 2008 BAM! Dust storm.
Well, I don't have much time to post, but I do want to share a little something with you all. It's called Idaho weather. The other day I was in our kitchen getting ready to make dinner when my older brother looked out the window and said "Aw man, that does not look good." I was puzzled and asked, "What doesn't look good?" he leaned sideways so he could get a better look and said, "That." as he pointed to the West. I walked into the family room and saw this outside the window...
Yeah, we get dust storms a lot around here. Everything will be just fine one minute and the next -BAM- dust storm. This picture hardly does the storm justice, but it's the best I could do. Hope everyone has had a good start to their school year! I'm glad to be back at the books.
~Nikki |
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Aug. 8, 2008 Take a deep breath of summer air.
Ah, as I take a deep breath of this fine summer air I inhale smoke, toxins from the sprayed fields by our house, and dust still lingering in the air from last nights wind storm. No, I'm not being negative, I'm being matter-of-fact. Idaho air is awful in the summertime.
My poor brother is sick with a cold and I half blame it on the air quality. Next week we will be going to the mountains to camp and I hear the air is nice and clear up out of our valley. I'm hoping that's so. Sometimes the air is even worse in McCall because of their fires. We'll have to see.
I guess that's quite enough of my rambling about my state's air quality concerns. This was actually meant to be a post to talk about summer being almost over. People keep saying "Can you believe summer is almost over?" and at first I want to say "No! Where did it go, anyway?" but then I think of all that has happened this summer. I took Driver's Ed, went camping, saw my mom's whole family at their annual gathering, spent time with my cousins, had family stay with us for a bit, and many other things. I guess what really brought this on was the fact that my cousin, and one of my best friends, turned 14 yesterday. I can hardly believe she's already 14! But then again, I can. She has grown up so much over the summer. She's tall now, very pretty (though she always has been), sweet, funny, smart, and she has also really grown in her faith this last year. I can tell that her belief's are stronger, her trust deeper, and her attitude is one of a happy and content Christian. She is still learning and growing, but she knows this. She's ready for it. I'm so proud of her. She is truly an inspiration to me.
It's funny, she's younger than me, but she has taught me, just by living her life, so much about being a Christian. I feel so blessed to have her as a friend. And the same is to be said about my online friends. Some of you have taught me so much, even though I've never met you. I read your posts and learn. I see how you handle things, how you view things, and I learn. Not from all the blogs I read, but from some. And I thank the Lord for those blogs and the people who write them. To get on with my post I'll just say this, my summer was not wasted. I learned, had fun, and even made some friends. Thank you to all of the bloggers who have taken the time to write encouraging, God-praising posts to teach their brothers and sisters in Christ. I really appreciate them.
I'm off to close up the windows before it gets hot. Summer's not over yet, ya know. ;)
Blessings,
~Nikki |
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Jul. 24, 2008 Life can seem so strange at times. Like my posts.
I need some prayers. I'll explain by telling a bit of a story...
When I was about ten years old my family moved from town to come live near my Grandpa and Uncle's farm. When we first moved I didn't have any friends. I didn't know anyone and spent most of my time playing with my brothers or by myself (which by the way, isn't a bad thing). After being there a little while and not having any friends, I kinda gave up on any ideas of making friends.
Then one day I was in the front yard playing with our dog when a girl who looked to be about my age rode past on her bike. I smiled at her and then went in the house. I think by this point in time I didn't want friends anymore. I was a little scared to be too close with people I didn't know. So anyway, later that day the same girl rode past again. She stopped her bike on the road and from there it went something like this:
Her-"Hey, do you live here?"
Me-"Yeah. We moved in a few months ago."
Her-"Oh. Do you go to the Notus school?"
Me-"No, I'm homeschooled."
Her-"So that's why I never see you around!"
Me-"Ha, yeah."
...Awkward silence.
Her-"What's you name?"
Me-"Nikki."
Her-"You don't look like a Nikki."
Me-"Oh. What's your name?"
Her-"Lindsey."
Me-"Do you live down the road?"
Her-"Yeah. With my grandparents and my dad."
From there on it was about the same. Me, totally shy and a little freaked out by this out-going, public school girl on her fancy bike telling me that my name doesn't fit me. And her trying to sum up the freak who appears to have no contact with the outside world. We ended up playing together for most of that summer. I don't really know why. I wasn't sure what I thought about her and I'm not sure she liked me that much, but we still hung out. Go figure.
After that summer my family moved again. This time only up the road a little ways. Lindsey moved, too. She moved closer to her school. Still not far from me, but not close enough to ride her bike over anymore. I know my mom was never thrilled with me being around Lindsey, but I think she prayed that I might be a bit of a good influence on her. As the time passed I saw less and less of her. Most of this was my own doing. I was afraid of what being her friend might get me into. When I did hear from her she always went on about being a cheerleader and her boyfriend and how she was going to some party or something. I was thinking about how messed up it was that someone so young could even be thinking about such things.
So to avoid the problem I just hid. I didn't give her our new phone number when we got a new one. I didn't go over to her house anymore, and we just grew apart. And I was thankful for this. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to help her. But I didn't feel like I could. I'm not yet that strong spiritually myself, how could I ever help her?? I did continue to pray for her every night. And I would often wonder what she was up to, thinking that it couldn't be good. How could it? She didn't have anyone looking after her! Her dad worked all the time and she doesn't even know her mom. So I prayed, I thought, and I moved on.
Until yesterday. Yesterday a 1975 Candy-Apple Red Firebird rolled into our driveway. Out of the Firebird came a bleached blond Lindsey (she used to have brown hair) in her short shorts and skimpy tank-top. She gave me a big hug and asked how I have been. I blinked and stuttered and probably answered in really stupid ways. Thankfully my dad was there and played the part of a polite and sensible human being. After a while though he went into the shop to 'let you girls talk'. In my mind I was going "But I don't want to!" But outside I tried to be nice and fairly talkative. At one point she looked at me and said,
"You've lost weight!"
"Yeah, I started running this year."
After that she came over and felt my scrawny arms and grinned. I then said,
"Yes, I'm still weak. You were always stronger than me."
She just giggled and went on about how she has to be in shape because she's on the cheer-leading team and so on. She asked me if I wanted to go to the Fair with her and her boyfriend. I told her I would ask, because in the past when I would say no right away she would get mad at me. She said she would stop by today and see if I could. She never came. I'm not sure what's going on. Why did God bring her back into my life? What am I supposed to do? I don't know any of this! To close this little whatever-ya-call-it post I will just ask for prayers. I really need to look to the Lord right now for guidance. I have no plans of spending time with her, but I need to know how to deal with the situations I know I'm going to be put in. So please pray. And any advise would be very much appreciated.
Thank you.
~Nikki
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Jun. 22, 2008 Wowza, update time!
I really don't like telling people I'm busy. I feel dumb when I do it. Like I don't have time for them or anything other than what I'm "busy" with. And it's not true. Well, sometimes I may not have the time to blog or email and IM people and stuff, but that doesn't make it unimportant. I really, really like blogging and talking to friends, so being busy is hard for me. I guess I'll move on with my apology and stop rambling now.
So for anyone who still wanders by here, I am still going to write on this blog and I do not mean to ignore anybody. I have been pretty busy so far this summer (see? doesn't that sound lame?) but I still want to keep in touch with other bloggers. I will try to help my case by giving you a bit of an insight as to what I've been doing.
Driver's Ed. is probably the biggest thing that's causing me to have time-management problems. I wanted to get signed up this year so I could have my license by the time I'm sixteen and be able to babysit for my family members with small children. So mom got me signed up. I was due to start the day after we got back from camping, and yes, I was nervous. The first night of that was weird. Not bad, but weird. I have to go to a public school for classes...and that took some getting used to. Now it's not a big deal, I go, I keep to myself (while being polite to the other kids) and then I leave. End of classroom experience. I'll be done with that soon, which will be nice. I don't really favor getting up at 5:00am for drive classes.
Also just some family stuff. Helping with chores, weddings, friends. All that good stuff. And this summer I'm trying to get in the habit of running everyday. Today I got my little brother to go with me, that was nice. :) Anyway, I do plan on writing more. I'm sure it will be easier when Driver's Ed. is over. I'm trying really hard to learn everything I can in this class.
It would also be wonderful if people would pray for me right now. I had high hopes of getting closer to the Lord this year, but that hasn't been the case. I find myself having time to do everything else, but when it comes to God I say "oh, I need to study my driver's manual. I'll study my Bible later." and I know that is not the right thing. I really can't have it this way, and I'm working on it, but all prayers are greatly appreciated. Thank you.
~Nikki |
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May. 7, 2008 What? It's high-time I write again? Oh...ok.
If I still have any readers after my absence I apologize for not writing and/or not returning comments. I was gone last week and have been busy this week. That's not saying I think it's a good excuse or anything, I'm just telling what I've been up to. I'm going to do my best to come up with a good post soon, but no promises! But really, I need to get some stuff under control around here first. Stuff like out-of-control weeds and camping trips that need planning and school that needs finishing for the summer. Whew. Lots of stuff.
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So please stay with me! I'll try my best to comment soon. Hope everyone is doing well. More later!
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~Nikki
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Thanks to...
Jocelyn
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