Prom Night

Prom is today, and for MOST teenage girls this is the day that they all look forward to...note I said MOST teenage girls, meaning to exclude ME.

The only thing I really like about it is getting to dress up, I used to be the drum major in high school so that I got to pick out my own sparkly, jazzed out outfit and wear and look nice every Friday night. So I LOVE dressing up and looking nice. What I don't like is all of the planning and stress.

My past experiences with prom has been great, and not so great. My first year I went, I went with a guy that goes to a different school as me. I was nervous as a sophomore but this guy is most certainly one of the best guys I have EVER met. & that is not an exageration. He made prom seem fun! My second year though, not so great...

I won't go into very many details but I will say that "mean girls" very much intended on ruining my whole night..and I let them, so that was terrible.

THIS YEAR I am blessed to be going with a special guy I call one of my best friends, I am going to be able to eat RIBS (which are my favorite) and go play LASER TAG afterwards which is very exciting. I got my dress for around $70 which is a great deal, and hopefully this year will be DRAMA FREE since I have made it my mission to avoid all "mean girls."

Hopefully tonight will be filled with a lot of good food, dancing, and games of victory of laser tag. :)

With Love,
JD

AND HERE IS THE AFTERMATH(:

me and my lovely mother

dad, me, and mom

and last but not least......

me and my wonderful date! Isn't he handsome? :)

The Ruins

In the past few days I've gotten the privilege to watch a movie that was incredibly enlightening to me. So, let me start off with the semi brief over-view of my past 3 years with relationships...

I've been uncontrollably, insanely, madly in love with this guy since I was 13 (I am 17 now) and let's just say that the statement "crazy in love" wasn't anything less than the absolute truth. He was my first love, he was older and a very successful athlete so I looked up to him, and so he had my heart at, well, "hello."  But we dated for a few months before he left for college but only saw each other at school.  I was head over heels even though we weren't together anymore and continued to feel that way all through  high school.
Well, the story goes that we ended up dating again, after three years of complete heartbreak, torture, and longing, and stayed together for about 4 months until we broke up and haven't talked since. & at first, I was okay with the break up, well okay as any girl can be when they break up with the one person they've always believed they'd spend their life with..but now I begin questioning myself. Did I make a mistake? What if he really was the one? I miss him, right? Well, right while I have been contemplating all of these crazy ideas I watched a movie with my mother that seemed to just answer all of my questions. Here is the quote:

"A friend took me to the most amazing place the other day. It's called the Augusteum. Octavian Augustus built it to house his remains. When the barbarians came they trashed it a long with everything else. The great Augustus, Rome's first true great emperor. How could he have imagined that Rome, the whole world as far as he was concerned, would be in ruins. It's one of the quietest, loneliest places in Rome. The city has grown up around it over the centuries. It feels like a precious wound, a heartbreak you won't let go of because it hurts too good. We all want things to stay the same. Settle for living in misery because we're afraid of change, of things crumbling to ruins. Then I looked at around to this place, at the chaos it has endured - the way it has been adapted, burned, pillaged and found a way to build itself back up again. And I was reassured, maybe my life hasn't been so chaotic, it's just the world that is, and the real trap is getting attached to any of it. Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation."
-Eat Pray ♥

Needless to say, maybe I have always been afraid to let go because I have always been afraid that there isn't anything better out there for me. Another quote from this movie says this:

"We should not be together because we are afraid of being ruined by being apart, we should not live together unhappily because we are afraid of being even more unhappy apart"

Once I heard these words, this is what I realized...I realized that this is EXACTLY what I had been thinking. I have been so afraid that I would be even more unhappy without this dude then with him. Of course over these past few months I have been pretty much over him...I don't cry at night over him anymore, don't linger too much on the past and my thoughts of him..BUT there was still this little, itty bitty piece that was just barely still hanging on. & now, I can be happy in the fact that I am letting go. Letting go for happiness, for peace, for better things.

Love,
JD

The Typical Saturday...for the NOT-SO-TYPICAL Teen

For most teenagers, the Saturday consists of sleeping in until noon, watching tv until around 5, getting ready, and then heading off to chill with friends at the mall or movies or somewhere fun. Well, I'm not the typical teenager..

I honestly don't think its normal to have the kind of busy schedule that I do. I can't remember the last time I slept in, the last time I got to go out with a group of friends, or just hangout around the house. I am always involved in some kind of event, practice, or trip that I need to be on. BUT with saying all of that today has been one of the most relaxing days I have had in a long time! This is the first Saturday, and will be the only Saturday until AFTER graduation, that I have "off." Because, as crazy as it sounds I have from now until June 4th completely BOOKED with band events, sports activities, and trips (not to mention the dreadful Wisdom Teeth surgery in May).

I would have to say the best part of my day was getting to spend some quality time with my parents, which ALWAYS happens yet NEVER happens. We are all practically glued to each others sides because they are so involved in my school and sports life, but it's always best when we can all just hangout here at the house, eat some ice cream, watch a movie or two, and just chill. Also not having my brother around is a plus! Ha! (just kidding, okay sort of) So these are the days I most certainly look forward too...and I hope no one takes for granted the "lazy days" that we all so rarely get to enjoy.

With Love,
JD

The American Faith

So here in these past few weeks I have been reading this book called “Radical” by David Platt. Most Christian Lifeway Store fans will know all about this book, and its based around “The American Dream” and how it has changed from the faith in God to faith in yourself.
I am a huge reader, I love finding books that I can enjoy and really get into…and I am also a Christian that LOVES God (and I say that because sadly there are a lot of people who are Christian but miss the whole I love Jesus thing) so when I can find a good book about how I can grow in my faith that’s something I am all about.

My thoughts on this book is this, I would encourage all Christians and believers to read this book, because it can be very eye-opening to a lot of us. I know for a fact it has been pretty eye-opening for me, and not in a sense that I haven’t been living for God necessarily, but that I haven’t maybe taken my own faith as seriously as I know that I should, considering that God IS the only reason I am alive and in this world I think it’s only fair I shair what he has done for you and me to everyone that I know.

With Love,
JD