avoiding confrontation

Happy 4th of July! From my family to yours!

Mom, Lilly, and Dad <3

When I really think about it, technology is quite overwhelming.

I am rarely on my computer at times, because I can check emails, Facebook, and Twitter on my iPod touch. And all the different social networks are overwhelming, too. I deleted my MySpace page because I wasn't on it, but highly regretted it because I realized that there were people on MySpace that did not have Facebook. And I absolutely HAD to keep in touch with them. So I opened another MySpace account, re-friended them, swore we would get a cup of coffee one of these days, and 5 months later, I am contemplating erasing MySpace, once more.

It's a continuous cycle.

Life is grand. Those past couple of posts were pretty depressing. Granted, those were my feelings at the time and it was a very dark place. I'm trying to become more optimistic and just be in a brighter place.

After all, I've got great family, great friends, and have had a plethora of experiences I never dreamed I would experience. I went on a ten-year anniversary trip with six amazing girls from high school. Renewed and rekindled friendships. I saw six countries in 10 days with my parents. The fact that we survived that feat alone is amazing. I've got one month to relax and wait until I go to graduate school this August. oh..I graduated! That's a huge accomplishment.

As always, I will try to be more attentive to LJ.

( Europe in a nutshell )

As of tomorrow at 4 p.m. I will be off to Europe. 5 countries in 12 days is crazy.

But, I am crazy excited. But worried that my parents will drive me crazy.

I already warned my dad no shenanigans!

We will see what happens.

I will be back June 29, 2009.

...feels like a constant disappointment. Only her extended family can make her feel sad.


I really miss my family in the Philippines. It's been a year.

It's absolutely amazing how one song can unite people from different walks of life.

absolutely beautiful.

things are crazy. this is the last month of my undergraduate life. i am graduating in about a MONTH! ack.

but things are still crazy. i finished a 20 page paper on asperger's syndrome. and i have 4 more to go. not as much as 20 pages, but between 10-15. that's too much.

so much so that i have decided not to use the shift key. i don't have enough time. ha

BUT i do have enough time to spend the morning with some loved ones. jackie and lilly came over with pizza and a movie. who doesn't love pizza and a movie?! [and free on my end]

while lilly got some elmo loving in her life, i watched the movie "yes man". i love jim carrey. so, it couldn't have been that bad.

it wasn't a bad movie, but it took me about 3 hours to see it. with tickle monster fights, parental fights, and fights over who got the last pizza, i finally saw a 1.5 hour movie in about 2.5 hours. lame.

but i liked the premise of the movie. just say YES...WITH a bit of caution.

and so, with that, regardless of how busy things have been, i will have dinner with my friends kim and kerrick this sunday. because it is kim's birthday. and i haven't seen my friend kerrick in almost a year because of his duties with the navy.

AND he supposedly has AWESOME pirate stories. and i LOVE me some pirate stories. ESPECIALLY if i can imagine that the pirates look like johnny depp. shhh...just let me dream.

love you!!!
<3 mare

p.s. i finally finally finally got my nikon d40!!! and it was worth every penny.

Alex, me, and Lilly at Easter

You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about James 5:11

Staying power. It's a rare commodity in a microwave society. Technological advancement has made travel, communication, and daily chores incredibly time efficient, if not instantaneous. The result is that we're not trained in perseverance. We're not accustomed to pains that can't be relieved and problems that can't be corrected. When they come, we send up prayers with almost the same expcation as when we press the buttons on our microwave. A few seconds, we think, and we should be done with it.

God doesn't usually work that way. He is thorough and precise, and He will not be rushed. When He tries us in the fire, as He did Job, nothing can get us out. The time cannot be shortened and our growth cannot come more quickly. We must learn perseverance.

James began his letter by telling about the results of perseverance--maturity and completeness (1:4). There is no way to become a mature Christian without trials. We may pray for Christlike character and hope that it will come by spiritual osmosis, but it will not. God's plan for all of His people is trial by fire. It is the only way to burn away the flesh and reveal the Spirit. It is the only way to grow. No one has ever become a true disciple without perseverance, and no one has ever persevered without pain.

What is your reaction to trials? Do you expect instantaneous answers to your prayers for deliverance? More often than not, you will be disappointed. Changed your perspective. Rather than looking for escape, look for the benefit of the trial. Let endurance have its perfect result. Ask God what He's accomplishing and then participate in it willingly. If you can learn perseverance, you will be a rarity in this world and well fit for the Kingdom of God.

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 3:3

Solomon's words would have had familiar connotations for a faithful Jew. In Deuteronomy 6, a landmark chapter in Old Testament theology, God told the Israelites first to love Him with all their heart, soul, and strength. Then He told them to take the words of the Law, divinely inscribed on tablets of stone, and inscribe them into the fabric of their soiuls. Let them be always on your hearts, He commanded. Work them into your children's hearts. Talk about them always. Tie them as symbols on your hands and foreheads. Never be away from them (see Deuteronomy 6:4-9).

The interesting connection between Deutoronomy and Proverbs is that the Law is defined as "love and faithfulness." It is also interesting that Deuteronomy is specific in where our love and faithfulness are first to be directed: toward God. The foremost element of a believer's life is not obedience, not service, and not doctrine. These are important -- indispensable, in fact. But they are not the priority. Love is. A passionate, vital, all-encompassing love that reaches to the depths of our being. When that is there, the rest is easy.

Do you consider your heart to be a tablet? What is written on it? Do you realize that some things can be erased by the power of God and others inscribed by that same power? It requires your full cooperation, but the junk that we've inscribed there--through all of the media and entertainment we absorb, the relationships we've had, the information we consume--can be rewritten. It can be replaced with love and faithfulness. In fact, it must be replaced with love and faithfulness if we are to learn the mind of our God at all. This is who He is, and He insists that we become like Him. Love and faithfulness define Him. Do they define you? Let them saturate your heart.

In our individualistic culture, we tend to think that our behavior is our own domain. "It's m life," "'It's my body," "It's nobody's business but my own," are all common declarations of independence that most of us have heard--or even said--often. We se ourselves as isolated actors on a crowded stage. EVeryone does their on thing.

That was the philosophy in the period of the judges too. "Everyone did as he saw fit" (Judges 21:25). They used their own standards of morality not only because they had no king, but also because they disregarded God. In our era of tolerance, we ar immersed in a philosophy of "to each his own." Anyone claiming an absolute standard of behavior is sure to hear the mantra of the age: "As long as it's not hurting anyone else it doesn't matter what a person does." God had a direct response: It matters.

Why does it matter? Because those who are upright in heart and behavior show a respect for God and His ways. Those who are not--who are devious in their lans and destructive in their ways--show that they couldn't care less that God exists. His standards are irrelevant to them. Ideas, behaviors, and lifestyles are not just personal decisions affecting only ourselves; they are personal statements about the God who created us. What we thing and what we do says a lot about the One we serve.

Have you made that connection between your lifestyle and your opinion of God? The two are intimately linked. Those who fear God with respect and awe still reflect it in their lives. Those who don't believe God exists--or don't care that He does--will also reflect that in their lives.

In an independent age, that's a foregn though. We who believe the Word can no longer say, "My life is my business." Our lives are statements of who He is. Consider your thoughs, your words, and your actions well. Understand the statment you are making.

This has been a fantastic!!! Christmas.

I didn't get many presents, but my loved ones are happy, which is enough of a present for me.

My family went through a really rough time because my Uncle Eddie passed away recently. But I believe that we are brought closer together because of this event.

I hope you and your loved ones had a fantastic Christmas. It really is all about family.

The family you are born into and the family you choose.

God bless. ♥

( from my family to yours )

I love love love this time of the year.

I love the weather. I love the atmosphere. I can't wait for Christmas.

My trip to Boston with Tam is coming up very soon. We're so thankful that we are able to enjoy the trip with no muss or fuss.

Finals hit me early this year. I only have a paper to do that is due on Tuesday and I am off to the Northeast!

Tam and I have never taken a trip before, so it will be a true test of our friendship. We get along really well, so I think we'll be great.

I am taking a day off today!! It's been a really long time. Just to relax. I get to see my friend Chloe who I hadn't seen since her wedding. I'm going to pick her up in half an hour. I'm also going to go to Wowowee on Sunday. My cousin is going to be a dancer and I bought tickets to support her. So Jackie and I are gonna do the "giling giling". It'll be fun.

Hope your holidays are great so far. I will be checking LJ entries soon. I'm months behind <3

( Read more... )

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best ever

After 2 years, all it took was one night. And it feels surreal.

I have never been more proud to be an American. I have never been more proud to have been a part of this democratic process. I have never been more proud.




"We are and always will be the United States of America!" -the 44th President of the United States

Te quiero con todo mi alma
Te quiero mas que toda la tierra, que toda el mar
Que toda las estrellas, y toda los cielo.
-La misma luna

( ... )

That's the type of stuff you live for.

Even in bed my ideas yearn toward you, my Immortal Beloved,
here and there, joyfully
then again, sadly,
awaiting from Fate, whether it will listen to us.
I can only live, either altogether with you or not at all.
Yes, I have determined to wander about for so long far away,
until I can fly into your arms
and call myself quite at home with you,
can send my soul enveloped by yours
into the realm of spirits -- yes,
I regret it must be.

You will get over it all the more
as you know my faithfulness to you;
never another one can own my heart, never--ever!
O Gott, why must one go away from what one loves so,
and yet, my life in W, as it is now is a miserable life.
Your love made me the Happiest and Unhappiest at the same time.
At my actual age I should need some continuity,
sameness of life--can that exist under our circumstances?

Angel, I just hear that the post goes out every day --
and must close therefore, so that you get the L. at once.
Be calm--love me--to-day--yesterday.

What longing in tears for you --
You--my Life--my All--farewell.
Oh, go on loving me -- never doubt the faithfullest heart.

of your beloved L----------.

Eternally Yours.
Eternally Mine.
Eternally Ours.


A love letter from Ludwig van Beethoven.

☆ Go to Google Flickr
☆ Search up your answer
☆ Pick one image from the first page
☆ Post

( here weee goo )

I was going through some videos to put up on Flickr, and there was a video of me singing "Beautiful Girls". Yuck.

I can't stand hearing my voice on a video or an audio device. I always have that, "Ew..that's what I sound like?" thought.

I have a test to study for, but somehow I'm still online messing around.

By the way, I usually don't watch America's Best Dance Crew on a regular basis. But this year, my friend is in it! The SoReal Cru.

I don't even know how it works, but if there's voting involved, PLEASE vote for them!! My friend, Andrew, is absolutely amazing!

This is their MySpage page:

http://www.myspace.com/sorealcru

Anyways...on to studying!

Oh and the premiere is June 19th. On MTV. I think 10/9 Central.