Blessed Beyond Belief.

18 and a half years ago I was born into a military family. My dad is in the navy so my family and I have never gone to sleep at night worrying for his safety because he was off shore somewhere in the ocean 90% of the time during deployments, and this current war is a land battle, not a sea battle. I'd never really thought that kids like me ever felt that fear for their fathers' lives because I never had to; until I moved to Guam that is. There I went to school with kids whose family members served in Iraq, Djibouti, and Afghanistan. Kids who's minds wandered during school and dreams turned to nightmares as they slept. Still then I didn't really realize how blessed I was that I had never had to experience this. 

Nearly a year ago my cousin returned from a six month tour in Afghanistan; he was 19 when he deployed. He and I aren't exactly close, but knowing that someone I knew was smack dab in the middle of a war, fighting that war daily, rattled me. I became one of those kids whose mind wandered and dreamed nightmares. Never will I ever be able to have ANY concept of what he went through, and never will I understand why, but I will eternally grateful for two things: 1. That he made it home alive with no serious injuries and 2. EVERYTHING that he and his buds went through, the courage they had, to defend this amazing country.

Memorial day never meant much to me; I'd never known anyone who was killed in combat, and I still don't, but my cousin does, he was there when it happened. Because of that I will never be able to look at Memorial Day the same ever again, his tour had the effect of making war that much more tangible for me, that much more real. I'm not at all a fan of what war does to these young men and women that have so much going for them in life, how it robs them of the lives they have, but I will always be thankful beyond words because I know that I will never, ever, in a million years have the courage to do what they do for this country. They are amazing.

As my mom and I watched the National Memorial Day concert I realized just how gosh darn blessed I am the my father has spent his entire military career in the safety of peaceful international waters. Blessed that my cousin came home. Blessed that none of my friends have had to experience loss. And above being blessed I am thankful, the military is my whole world and strive to give back to them as much as I possible can (though I'll never actually join the military) in an attempt to repay a small amount of the huge debt I've acquired over the past 18 and a half years, a debt that I will never be able to fully repay.

xoxo,

Abby

P.S. Don't let today be the only memorial day. Military personnel and their families sacrifice so much every single day, and that should never ever be forgotten.

A Challenge.

"'A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so must you love one another. By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another.'"

-John 13:34-35

In my opinion this is by far one of the most challenging verses in the entire Bible. Considering I've already talked about the topic of love before I'm sure that's kind of an obvious statement. Jesus's words here in John run through my head every second of every day as I get stuck in situations with people I don't exactly love and am faced with the choice of being a light of conforming to society. The people around me know that I am a Christian, or at least I hope they do, and I am very aware that the way I conduct myself has the ability to draw many of them in or turn many of them away from the faith that I find so amazing.

Being faced with this challenge it not always easy. Sarcasm is one of my favorite defense mechanisms and I use it ALL the time, way too often probably. I came to the realization lately that the sarcasm I use all the time IS NOT love, even though it is spoken mostly in jest tears people down. And tearing people down is not love and is the exact opposite of the commandment Jesus gave us. MY biggest challenge is to follow this commandment all the time. Love is such a hard thing to give, especially to people who I don't feel deserve it, people I don't want to love, but no matter, I don't really have a choice. Not living out this commandment is a sin, and it's a sin that I no longer want to commit. 

Who's ready to take on this challenge with me?

xoxo,

Abby

Carbon Copies.

Today while I was sitting in church this morning I couldn't help but think of how excited I am for college. I basically always have college on my mind these days, but for some reason today it seemed to be really on my mind. Words cannot describe how excited I am to experience SO many new and awesome things with my amazing roommate Rene. It seems that everyday we think of something else to add to our College Bucket List (aka all the things we want to experience before graduation). The re-pore that she and I have so far is more than I could have ever dreamed. In a lot of ways we are almost carbon copies of each other (though not entirely cause that would probably make the living together thing a little complicated...) which is pretty sweet if you ask me.

Our bucket list so far includes hanging out with cows, having random dance parties, hammocking around campus, and the rather ballsy move of getting our ears pierced. Up until today I was probably most excited for hanging out with cows in her backyard. Today as I was sitting in church thought that changed a little bit. While my pastor was sharing about Jesus's Great Commission to His disciples, and to all believers, in Matthew 28: 16 - 20

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

-Matthew 28:19

I heard that this morning and realized that what I'm really most excited about to room with Rene is the faith in and love for Jesus that we both share, and the amazing task that we were given by Christ as His believers. Realizing that Rene and I are being placed in the dark world of Virginia Tech to be a light to all the students around us and show them all the love and encouragement of Christ was an amazing realization. Knowing that we are not only there for fun, but also there on a mission is a challenging thought as well as an exciting one.

xoxo,

Abby

Double Negative.

For a couple weeks now I've battled a cold, lived in a town of eternal rain, and pretty much just lacked the ability to pull any inspiration out of the dreary surroundings. It's times like these - when I spend the days cooped up in my room cuddling with my cat - that I end up feeling the most invisible. The unfortunate part? Invisibility doesn't just occur on rainy days (though on these kind of days the scene from the Princess Diaries of Mia laying in her dead Mustang in the pouring ran repeating "I am invisible" always runs through my head). I hate hate hate feeling like that, and I'm sure that you do too!

I think that's why I love birthdays so much. Your birthday is the one day of the year where the ENTIRE world revolves around you; 24 hours devoted to worshiping how awesome YOU are. My friends' birthdays are my absolute favorite holidays because I love having the chance to go all out and make sure that they know it's aaaaall about them. Your birthday is the one day of the year that it should be illegal to feel invisible, and I'm more than happy to make sure you don't.

My obsession with birthdays started freshman year in Guam. Whenever it was someone's birthday my group of friends would share a hand decorated cake personalized for the birthday boy or girl and rice krispie treats in the lunch room. I can honestly tell you that there is no greater memory of a birthday than sitting around a big yellow table with ten of your closest friends eating a cake with your fingers because no one was smart enough to remember forks. It's the little things in life.

It all comes back to Luke 6:31 really, "Do to others as you would have them do to you." Hey, that's the Golden Rule! We all grew up learning it so not live it?! We all expect others to glorify us and do what they can to make us feel special basically every day, but how can we expect that if we never pay enough attention to others to make them feel special too? Humility is a trait that I feel gets lost these days, especially among the "me-me-me" generation that I'm a member of. Take some time to shift the focus from you to someone that needs to feel the spotlight of being special for once. Not only will it make them feel awesome, but I can totally guarantee that you will feel pretty darn good about it too. Make someone feel un-invisible today.

xoxo,

Abby

P.S. A batch of tasty homemade cupcakes are an easy, yummy, and really awesome way to make someone's day! (:

Yes, I made these! And so can you! (: