School is finally done!

First question that was asked for us was... Did you enjoy this semester? No I didn't enjoy this semester at all. There were a lot of things that happened that I had no control over that ultimately effected my grade. I think that this was one of my easier classes but by far a lot of work for me. What do I wish I would have done differently? Well... I would have to say that I wish that I could have more time to study. That would always be nice. I am actually thinking about taking a semester off which would be nice. Yes the blogs helped me out with my writing skills, I appriciate all that Mrs.Chrism gave us because it helped us get to know each other more and then allowed us to experience the world more. Throughout this semester I have learned more about the world than I normally would have. I will probably not keep blogging because I do not like writing about my life and how much it sucks.

Raiiiiiiiiiiiiin.

I am so sick of the rain and our whole town is pretty much under water so it makes it hard to travel any where in my little car. It seems like the weather here in Missouri changes so much that you might as well take your whole closet with you every where you go. This last week I have just been taking my rain jacket, coat and various other pieces of clothing with me every where I go because you cant ever decided what the weather is actually going to do. I have posted a picture of what a dry creek named Kelly Creek that runs through downtown Monett. This creek only has water in it when it rains really hard like this. Its kind of a scary situation, haha.

Easter

Easter is this Sunday, which is pretty exciting. I read an article that says that the Last Supper would have actually taken place on the Wednesday before the crucifixion, for many years Christian's have celebrated the Last Supper on Thursday like the article says. A man named Colin Humphreys who is a scientist at University of Cambridge, suggests that all of this confusion about when the Last Supper and crucifixion is all because of a calendar mix-up he suggests that there was a mix up in calendars which would make the date for Easter as we know it wrong. Humphrey gathers his information from a biblical, historical and astronomical stand point to try and find when Jesus' final mean actually was. This writer says that you cannot trust the Gospels of the Bible (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) on this subject because the first three say that the Last Supper was linked with the festivities of Passover. But John says the Last Supper was before the Passover even begun. The reason why the writer says for this mess up of dates was because there is a different calender. Humphrey says that Jesus went by an old-fashioned Jewish calendar rather than a lunar calendar which was actually being used by most of the population by the time of Jesus' death. This is where Humphrey comes to the conclusion that the Last Supper would actually be on Wednesday allowing a rather large number of things happened between the Last Supper and the crucifixion.
"Humphreys believes a date could therefore be ascribed to Easter in our modern solar calendar, and working on the basis that the crucifixion took place on April 3, Easter Day would be on April 5."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110418/wl_uk_afp/britainreligionchristianseaster

Chelsea Grin

Saturday night I went to a show where the band "For Today" was the headliner and it was LEGIT. For Today and In The Midst Of Lions are the only bands that I went for. There was one band there that REALLY scared me. Chelsea Grin was the band that scared me. I had never really heard of them before that night and when I heard some of their lyrics and saw how the crowd reacted to them it was awful. After Saturday night I went home and did some research on the name of this band and where they came up with he idea of it. I had no clue that it was actually something that is actually a subject of torture. I had never knew that the Joker from Batman had a Chelsea Grin, I had no clue what that was on the Joker's face, haha. But what a Chelsea Grin is made up to be is you slice your victims cheeks just about an inch and shave of some of their inner cheek. After doing this you make your victim scream and it rips their cheeks. After healing the 'grin' is supposed to leave scars so you have a permanent smile on your face (also known as Glasgow smile, Glasgow grin, Anna grin, Chelsea grin or Chelsea smile)

Creep huh?

Saving moneyyyy.

We all know that saving money is AWESOME. I wish I could save money all the time. The Hopkins family saved over 500 DOLLARS just by cutting down on some major things in their lives. When people think of cutting back they think of being without that certain object. Life for instance the Hopkins family cut back on their cell phone plan. They didn't drop their cell phones at all they are just saving a hundred dollars on it. They were paying a rediculious amount of money for a cell phone; I think it was 265 dollars for two phones but they decided that they could just go to a prepaid plan and average about 100 dollars a month for two phones. I recently have done this myself because I was paying 120 for one cell phone by itself, I went to a prepaid and I now use a 35 dollar phone plan. That is a lot of money that I am saving! I think this is AWESOME (:

 http://finance.yahoo.com/news/First-Person-How-We-Cut-Our-ac-1453955562.html?x=0

You Hold Me Now by Hillsong United

On that day when I see
All that You have for me
When I see You face to face
There surrounded by Your grace
All my fears swept away
In the light of Your embrace
Where Your love is all I need
And forever I am free

Where the streets are made of gold
In Your presence healed and whole
Let the songs of heaven
Rise to You alone

No weeping no hurt or pain
No suffering You hold me now
You hold me now
No darkness no sick or lame
No hiding You hold me now
You hold me now

In this life I will stand
Through my joy and my pain
Knowing there's a greater day
There's a hope that never fails
Where Your Name is lifted high
And forever praises rise
For the glory of Your Name
I'm believing for the day

Where the wars and violence cease
All creation lives in peace
Let the songs of heaven
Rise to You alone

For eternity
All my heart will give
All the glory to Your Name

     Our youth band is at the moment practicing this song and it makes me want to cry. Not because they are bad... just because it is a powerful song and it has so much more meaning than just the words on this page. The emotion behind this song is so amazing. 

      This has nothing to do with the song but one of my friends from a church camp that I go to passed away. I will tell you his story and maybe it will make more since but it very well couldn't. This kid was a warrior for Christ but we all have our struggles and our problems. He thought he could face the battle all by himself and try to win his friends over to the Lord without any help. He moved into a frat house and decided he was going to get all of his house mates saved. One night he fell into temptation and went to a party... that very night he got drunk and got into a car crash. He was found dead the next morning on the interstate. 

     When I think of this song it makes me think of him because... "Where the wars and violence cease All creation lives in peace Let the song of heaven Rise to You alone." This just shows no matter what is going on in your life if there is "wars and violence" it will come to an end and it all boils down to are you actually worship the Maker of Heaven and Earth? It just makes me wonder and want to be cautious of peoples motives and not wanting to do things alone. 

Cherry Blossoms

Today when I opened my Bing.com homepage there was a picture of a Cherry Blossom Tree on it. At my house we have three of those types of trees and I think they are just one of the most beautiful trees. I decided to do some research on the Cherry Blossom. I just love how delicate the flowers are and how its like a flower that would grow from a plant that isn't a tree. I think it is just an odd tree that holds a lot of meanings that people normally don't understand.

Chinese Cherry Blossom

The cherry blossom means power for the Chinese culture. Most of the time it represents feminine beauty and sexuality but most importantly represents feminine dominance. Also for the Chinese it holds a symbol of love.

This is why most women when choosing on what they want to get a tattoo of if they so desire too they generally decide to pick the cherry blossom.

Japanese Cherry Blossom



The cherry blossom for the Japanese it means a little differently. For the Japanese this represents the transience of life. This concept ties in very deeply with the fundamental teachings of Buddhism that state all life is suffering and transitory. The Japanese have long held strong to the Buddhist belief of the transitory nature of life and it is very noble to not get too attached to a particular outcome or not become emotional because it will all pass in time.

The fallen cherry blossom is not taken lightly in Japanese symbolism either. It often represents the beauty of snow and there are many connections made in Japanese literature or poetry to a fallen cherry blossom and snow. This also has been extended to the life of a warrior whose life was ended early in battle.