Graduating

Life has been crazzzyyyyy these past few months. First, I graduated in December. Yesterday, Austin graduated from high school and next Friday, Caleb will be graduating from 8th grade. I've discovered a new hobby in the midst of these graduations: I like making invitations/announcements! I've always been enthralled with photography and paper products, so I suppose that it shouldn't come as a surprise that I enjoy making invites. Here are the things that I've created for the graduates (The big blank spaces are where the party details were; however, I'd rather not have you randomly showing up any my house so I covered the info.):

(Photography by Scott Boss, Card Design by Bri)
(Photography & Card Design by Bri)

(Photography by Tricia & Scott Boss, Card Design by Bri)

It's been fun. Both making these cards and journeying through life with these boys. I've enjoyed watching our relationships strengthen as we all get older. I've enjoyed watching my brothers becoming who God has intended them to be. Turns out, they're pretty funny. I love them a ton and couldn't imagine life without them. I thank God every time I think of them and I'm so excited to see what God has in store for their lives. Congratulations to all classes of 2011!

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'" -Jeremiah 29:11

Funny The Way It Is

Any DMB fans out there? Well, there's a popular DMB song called "Funny the Way It Is." It kind of just talks about the irony of life and it makes you ponder some pretty intense concepts. For example, the song talks about how in one place a child might walk miles and miles just to get to school, while someplace else a child might be taking education for granted and dropping out. If you haven't heard it, listen to it when you get a chance.

Anyway, one of my best friends and co-workers, Mary-Anne and her husband welcomed sweet baby Malia into their family on Sunday night (congratulations you guys!!). I got to go and visit them at the hospital and as I was walking out of the hospital, I witnessed the reality of one of the lines from "Funny The Way It Is."

I had just gone into Mary-Anne's room and witnessed the most precious baby girl ever. She's a miracle and a beautiful blessing. The labor and delivery unit is on the same floor of the surgery unit and as I walked out of the labor and delivery unit, I saw the doctor in his scrubs talking to a group of family and/or friends of a patient. His face was grim and the people he was talking to began to sob. Some had fallen to the floor, while others grieved in one another's arms.

Immediately, my heart sunk. And in popped the lyrics from "Funny The Way It Is:"

Funny the way it is, if you think about it
One kid walks 10 miles to school, another's dropping out
Funny the way it is, not right or wrong
On a soldier's last breath his baby's being born

And that's kind of how life goes. One person's beautiful moment or day might be another person's horror story. All of this to say, don't take anything in life for granted. Life is so short and so unexpected. It's not our own and we need to make the most of what we have been given.

"There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God."

-Ecclesiastes 2:24

In The Light

I'm not sure if this post will make a ton of sense. It's currently 3 minutes until 1 am and I'm going off of very little sleep from the past 3 days. My roommates and I moved this weekend...and moving is a lot more work than I remember!

Here I am though, laying in bed...wide awake. Why? Well, if you know me well, then you know that I have a fear of the dark. I've been scared of the dark since I was about 4 years old. I think I watched a show with Frankenstein when was 4 and thus began the sleepless nights. I'm 21 and I can't say that a ton has changed. I hate it when I my roommates are all gone and I'm stuck at home alone. I just flat out, hate the dark.

In this new house, my room is not quite as close to all of the other bedrooms as I would like it to be, so I'm having a tough time sleeping. As I was laying here, I started to think about how I just wish it was light. All I want at this moment is to be living in the light. In the light, I feel safe and secure. And then my bumbling mind switched gears and put the "light" concept into perspective for me.

What if I treated the metaphoric "light," also known as God, the same way that I treat daylight or room lights? What if I craved to be in God as much as I crave being in literal light? I feel like my life would look a little bit different. I try my best to let my light shine for God, but if I went after God with as much gusto as I do toward lit places, then I'd be on fire for Him. Just some thoughts.

"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." -Matthew 5:16

Casting Cares

This morning I woke up and I felt sad. I'm not sure why. I think part of it was that I'm feeling really anxious about moving (yes, I'm moving again. I'll still be in Fresno, but now I'll have a POOL!!), part of it is that the month of May is just crrrrrazy always and the other part is that I felt as though one of the relationships that's been really present in my life for that past year and a half is disappearing. And I just woke up feeling alone and overwhelmed.

That's the thing though. I get in these mindsets where I think, I don't need that person - I'm fine on my own. And I try to be all "Miss Independent." Or I think, I don't need people to help me move. I don't need to quit packing my schedule. I get to a point where I think I'm invincible and the way I fill voids where people or activities once were is by packing tasks into my day so that I'm too busy to notice that they're gone or that something's missing.

And then I start to get anxious and overwhelmed because I'm overdoing things. And I eventually get to a breaking point (much like I was at this morning) where I realize that this is right where God wants me. Because in my moments of extreme weakness, that's when I realize that I need God's strength. I've tried everything on my own and I can't do it anymore; and that's when my Type-A personality is willing to put it in God's hands.

As I realized my brokenness and my need for God's strength and His plan, I prayed to him the entire time that I got ready for work. The more I talked to God, the more my anxieties were quieted. It's a continual lesson for me to realize that I can't make my life's schedule - I can't try to fill it with the people that I want to, when I want to...I have to trust in God's perfect planning skills. After all, he created my Type A-ness, so surely he understands where I'm coming from. :)

If you're feeling overwhelmed or anxious, just let it go. Cast your cares on God. They might not all get fixed right away like you want them to, but at least do yourself a favor and give your worries to Him. He'll take care of it from there.

"Be still and know that I'm God!" -Psalm 46:10
"Give all your worries and care to God because He cares for you." -1 Peter 5:7

An Unfair Trade: Death for Life

Today is Easter. Most people know that there is a deeper meaning to Easter than bunny rabbits and Easter egg hunts, but not everyone lives their lives to reflect that.

Simply put, God sent his one and only Son to die on the cross many years ago, to save the world from their sins. Three days after the perfect, innocent son of God died on the cross, He was raised from the dead so that those who believed in Him could have eternal life. (John 3:16)

So what does this mean? It's not too difficult of a concept to understand, but often times it is a concept that many people have difficulty believing. Christians who believe in the death and resurrection might believe that they are saved from Hell, but they might have a difficult time believing that their sins, ALL of their sins - past, present and current - have been washed away through the death of Jesus Christ. So...

• If you have ever gossiped, lied or cheated...that has been forgiven.
• If you have ever struggled with addictions such as alcohol, drugs, pornography, etc...those addictions have been forgiven.
• Do you have a rough past that you feel as though you can never escape that old self? That past is gone. If you have accepted Christ as your Saviour, then you are a NEW life.
  
• Was your childhood filled with difficult times - were your parents abusive? Were your parents just flat out absent? Scars from that type of upbringing can be healed through Jesus if you believe in Him. You are not bound to the mistakes of your parents, you are a NEW creation through Jesus Christ's death.
• Anything that you think is impossible...has been made possible through Jesus Christ.

But you might be thinking that even though you know these things to be true, you just don't understand how someone could love you so much and how someone could forgive you for such terrible things in your past. I understand that. And if we're being honest, it's true. We are so undeserving of such a great love and life that Christ has given to us. It really is an unfair trade: death for life, but that's the beauty and greatness of our God.

This is the meaning of Easter. No matter what we've gone through or where we've been, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ - the old has gone and the new has come for anyone who believes in this great promise. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" -2 Corinthians 5:17

Believe it. Live it. Happy Easter!

Questioning God

Do you ever question God? I do. All the time. My favorite questions to ask are, "What would have happened if I had stayed in LA?" or "What was the purpose of placing him/her in my life?"

Maybe if I had stayed at Biola I wouldn't have done this or that and I wouldn't have met him or her. But if I hadn't experienced those fun football games and been able to live with those girls, then I would have missed out on some really fun memories. But if I wasn't here, then maybe I wouldn't have made that poor decision. Or maybe that person wouldn't have been able to hurt me. Why, God? I feel like I can go so many different directions with this post because I think that pain and discomfort has a lot to do with our walks as Christians, so the Bible has a lot to say about difficult situations and about questioning God and his plan, his grace, his sovereignty, his goodness, his mercy...you name it.

One day I can be in the mindset of, "Yes! God totally has a plan for me. I can rest in that plan and I have no worries. I don't need to try and work that out because I know that God will take care of it." And then the very next day I can be completely questioning everything that I thought the day before and turn around and try to take matters into my own hands. In which case, I usually start with the usual round of questions for God.

Here's what I know though, I know that God brought me back to the Central Valley 2 and a half years ago for a reason. And I know that he placed me in different houses and placed different people in my life at various times for such a time as this. And even though I fall into the trap of human nature and trying to figure things out on my own, I know that God does have a plan in every single thing that happens in my life. And I'm going to tell you right now that I'm not perfect...and I literally do trust one day and doubt the next. It's the result of sin in human nature. Thankfully, God is always good and no matter how many times we may turn away or question him, he will never let us go.

Moo.

I had the opportunity to represent the Calf Ranch today at Farmersville High School's Career Day. We brought out a trailer with two baby calves who were just a day old and one bull who was 4 months old. We discussed how to apply for jobs, as well as available jobs in agriculture today with the students. I think we had at least 3 people step in cow poop today though...oops! All in all, it was a fun morning getting to hang out with a bunch of high school students and a few cows.