New Years and a first kiss

Happy New Year's Eve! This is one of my favorite holidays, by FAR! Growing up I loved watching the fireworks, staying up late with family and friends, drinking sparkling juice, and talking about our hopes and wishes for the upcoming new year.

But probably the biggest reason I love New Years is because on this day 5 years ago, I received my very first kiss from my best friend and the love of my life! SuperDan surprised me during a fantastic fireworks display on a bridge in Minneapolis (which by the way, is my favorite city because it's where we fell in love!) He asked me a few months before if it would be alright if he kissed me sometime in the near future. We knew we were getting married and our excitement was growing by the day! Neither of us had kissed ANYONE before. Nada. Zip. Nilch. No experience whatsoever my friends.

It was the most romantic kiss in all history, according to MY book :) Probably because I didn't know what to expect. Probably because it was the dreamiest night of my life. Probably because all my hopes were finally coming true. Probably because I'd always dreamed of watching fireworks someday with the love of my life and having him kiss me. Am I hopeless romantic or what?!

Every New Years I make a resolution. I don't think it's dumb or cheesy at all. I think it's wonderful! We all need goals and something to work towards. If we don't have goals, we don't know where we are headed. Of course I don't necessarily meet those goals in the exact way I expected, but I got somewhere. I made progress. I tried. That's what's important.

To be honest, this year my New Year's goal is so fresh, new, and "in the works", that I don't feel like I can quite post it at this time. The more I pray and think about it, maybe I'll post it. But for now, I'm giving my hopes and dreams for this next year to FATHER and asking Him to lead the way! (No I'm not pregnant, for all you baby-crazy ladies out there reading this!)

Happy New Years EVERYONE! May 2011 bring you a deeper understanding of Father's love, more compassion for the poor and needy, more closeness with your friends and family, and more joy for life!

Video hair tutorial- casual school day look

It's time for a video hair tutorial. Doesn't that sound nice? You can just watch and learn! You don't have to stumble through my lengthy instructions on how to do your hair. Oh how boring that can be, I'm sure! Wait, don't answer that...

This would be a quick, easy hairstyle for a casual school day (one of my readers asked for something of the sort). You could change it up and straighten or curl your hair instead of scrunching with gel (which is what I did in the video) and then clip your hair to the side or pull it up like I did. 

I hope you enjoy it!

Anyone who tries this hairstyle, or any hairstyle I've mentioned in my blog, will be entered to win free personalized stationary from my website here! Just email me at javamammacasey at gmail.com and send a pic of your beautiful 'do by Monday, January 3rd! Consider it my New Year's gift :)

Kiss under the mistletoe

After arriving back from Dubai our lives swung back into full force! Immediately we had to unpack, clean the house, and prepare for the youth Christmas party at our apartment. We had a blast playing Christmas trivia, enjoyed a gift exchange (where you steal the presents), and ingested more than enough sugar.

After the boys left the party, the girls stayed for a sleepover!! We had a spa night with a foot massage machine (the kind that bubbles and stuff), nail polish, face masks, and cucumber eye pads. Sitora even got her feet massaged, she always fits right in with the girls :) Then we watched Little Women and I curled all the girls' hair. Can you guess how late I stayed up? You'll never guess. I surprised myself actually. I made it until 6:00am! EEEK! A miracle, right? I am no longer a teenager anymore. Shocking, I know. The latest I've stayed up in a loooong time was 3:00am, so 6:00am was definitely my all-time record (at least for my adult life thus far) ;)

I slept for 3 hours, then was awakened by my toddler Christmas Eve morning. Toddlers don't sleep in, if you didn't know. Even if they go to bed at 11:00pm. They still wake up at the same time in the morning. It's glorious.

Danny and I then proceeded to prepare for the Christmas Eve service. Due to my bad cough, I would no longer be leading the vocals for the music, but rather would be only playing piano. In all actuality, this was a secret blessing in disguise. Do any of you play piano? Have any of you played Christmas carols on piano? Not just the easy ones, but the hard ones? You know, the kind where you change chords every single word of the song? My fingers are all over the place and I barely have time to look up and read the music. Anyways, I was elated that I was only playing piano. The service was quaint and simple and so lovely. The room was lit only by candlelight and the room was dark and mysterious. I loved it.

We were blessed with three packages from America this Christmas! We are so thankful for our family who loves us dearly and put in the time and money to send us gifts across the ocean. Sitora loved her presents! Even to this day she is still asking to "open more presents?" I keep telling her there are no more presents, but truth be told there ARE more presents because her birthday is coming up! In all honestly, I try to be careful with how many toys she has anyways, so it really is a blessing that others give us gifts. She really doesn't have that much compared to most. I try to go through her toys periodically and give away the ones she is ignoring to my local friends who are in need. I figure if we get something, we should give something away in return! Besides, our tiny apartment can't hold that much anyways. I like living simply. Just give me a kiss under the mistletoe and call me happy!

Thinking back on this Christmas season, I am so incredibly thankful we celebrated Advent as a family! For weeks before Christmas we were teaching Sitora all about scripture and Father's son. We colored pictures, did crafts, played with the manger scene, sang songs, and read books all about the true meaning of Christmas. We never once told her about getting presents until we gave them to her. She still talks about the manger scene and begs to play with it every day. I can't wait for next year when she will be able to understand the concepts in a deeper way. I am going to try a Jesse Tree next year after having a few friends recommend it.

I pray you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you have a Happy New Year! May you continue growing closer to Father and never growing complacent in your relationship with Him. He never leaves us, we are the wandering sheep and He is the faithful Shepherd always bringing us back home.

Goodbye sunshine

Dubai, Dubai, Oh how I love thee!

We're back home, safe and sound. Goodbye sunshine. But just in time to say hello to Christmas! Here are some breathtaking shots of my little princess just minutes before we left for the airport. Her childlike innocence inspires me. Does it you?

Dubai for Dummies

No, no... I'm not saying YOU are dummies :)

You know those books "this and that for dummies" they sell everywhere? Computers for dummies, Spanish for dummies, etc... Well in this case, we feel slightly less than dummies here in Dubai because it's our second time visiting. The first time was earlier this year and we had absolutely no clue what we were doing. We stayed in the nicest of the cheapest hotels we could, and in return for our frugality were kept up most nights from the blasting bass "BOOM  BOOM" from the nightclub in the basement. Ya, that wasn't the most kid-friendly choice.

We would hop in a taxi and just go wherever, not really sure what was the best destination. We tried to go to one of the most famous beaches in Dubai one day, only to arrive and find out it was women and children day ONLY so Danny wouldn't be able to go in with us. So we drove down the coast farther to a crummier beach so we could swim as a family.

Or how about the time we drove to the moon and back (so it seemed) to reach a so-called family friendly amazing park. We wanted to take Sitora swimming and were excited to find the park had a pool. I entered through the women changing side and Danny went through the men's. Only to find out when we came out the other end that the two ends do not meet. They were separate pools for women and men. *sigh* We had to swim separately for a few hours, because we still wanted to get our money's worth! In the end we tried to make the best of it. Danny did laps forever and got some alone time (and in the meantime realized how out of shape he was), and Sitora and I made some friends with Arab ladies and their children in the kiddie pool.

But this time, we came prepared.

We did our research. We planned. We asked. We were ready for this trip.

And let me tell you, it has been the vacation of a lifetime! And it couldn't have come at a more critical time for us. We were seriously in need of refreshment and family time.

I could go on and on about all the amazing things we have done here this trip. Most Westerners would be surprised to hear that it was merely the simple things we were looking forward to. Bookstores. Subway. Clean streets. Set taxi prices. Walmart-ish stores. Starbucks. Malls. Movie theaters.

Sitora is taking a nap, Danny is out running errands, while I sit here at my computer wishing this week could last much longer. But I guess we all feel that way about vacation, right? I mean, who wouldn't want to soak up the sun forever on the beach, laughing and making sand castles with their children while the warm waves crash ashore? Bliss I tell you. Pure bliss.

Here are pictures of our trip. They don't even do it justice. It's all been just so magical and delightful. I love my family. We desperately needed this time away.

Oh ya, well I walked on the moon!

Welcome to another edition of, "Life Lessons 101 with Casey". I'm glad you came back for round two.That is, of course, assuming you already came for round one. Or maybe you just happened to stumble across this post not knowing what you got yourself into. Whatever the case may be, I hope you continue reading, my friend :)

1. Don't always be the smartypants

Everyone of us is gifted in some way. We all are good at something or another. And we are all talented in different areas. If every person on the globe was good at the same things, what a boring world this would surely be!

But on the flipside, we have to be careful that we aren't always acting like we "know-it-all" in our conversations with others. Even if you really do know it all, which would be totally awesome (wish I knew it all!), it still would be rude to drone on and on about it.

A conversation is called a conversation, not a one-way station (I just made that up, pretty nifty I'd say!) Meaning, a conversation takes at least two people to carry it on, not just one. When one person is constantly talking about what they know about this and that, not only is it rude, but it bores others. It can also be annoying. When you always tell other people how to do stuff, it can really be a "turn-off" in your friendship. Nobody wants to be told what to do all the time. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people doing this in group settings, and I just cringe knowing that everyone is more than annoyed at the smartypants.

A conversation doesn't mean you just talk about what you are good at or what you know. A conversation involves questions, discussion, and fellowship. It's certainly alright to talk about things you are good at, of course, but be careful that isn't the only thing you talk about.

2. You don't always have to have the best story

Danny and I watched this hilarious comedian one time. He talked about how in every group setting, someone always wants to "one-up" the next best story. You know, like, "Oh yaa? Well wait till I tell you about what happened to me!" The comedian explained how he wondered what it was like for the first man to walk on the moon after he came back from outer space and lived life. Imagine he was at a dinner party standing with a group of well-mannered adults. One man tells a story about how he did such and such amazing thing last week, while another lady tells about how she saw such and such extraordinary thing another time, etc... etc... The comedian exclaimed, "No matter what anyone else had to say that was uniquely interesting, this man could always calmly state, "Oh ya? Well... I walked on the MOON!"

Danny and I had ourselves a good laugh after hearing this. It's so true though. There always seems to be someone who has to share another story to top the previous one. (To this day, if we are in a group and this happens, we will quietly whisper to each other and chuckle, "Oh ya, well I walked on the moon!")

Even if I have many stories up my sleeve, sometimes I think it's polite to laugh, smile, and listen to the amazing stories other people have to share instead of immediately following up with something I've seen or done. Instead of waiting until their punch line so you can begin your next story to piggy back off that, why not ask more questions giving the speaker a chance to elaborate on their story? People appreciate it when you look them in the eye and truly care about what they are saying. It's one thing to act like you are listening, and it's another to really listen. I always say the sign of a good listener is when they can engage the person talking to them with further questions and comments about what they are already talking about.

Take these two scenarios for example:

Sally: "Hey Fred! I haven't seen you in a few weeks. How are you?"
Fred: "Oh, I'm doing pretty bad actually. I haven't been feeling well."
Sally: "Really? Me too! I had this horrible cough all week. Couldn't sleep at night. My sister is sick too...."

vs.

Sally: "Hey Fred! I haven't seen you in a few weeks. How are you?"
Fred: "Oh, I'm doing pretty bad actually. I haven't been feeling well."
Sally: "Really? That's too bad. Are you taking any medicine? Have you been stuck at home all week? I could bring a meal for you if you'd like."


Do you notice the difference in Sally between the two different converstations? They are slightly similar, but if you look closely one exemplifies a more mature listening skill. A good listener can turn any conversation into a opportunity to learn more about others. A good listener is quick on their toes to draw more out of the person just by asking simple questions.

When a good lister does their job, the other person walks away feeling special, important, cared about, encouraged. Don't you want the people in your life to walk away feeling this way about you? It's not about being liked, and it's not even about pleasing people. It's about taking Philippians 2:3 to heart which says, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."

Well, I hope these life lessons come in handy for you right in time for the holiday festivities! Maybe you will be off to work parties, family reunions, and get-togethers with good friends. Whatever the occasion, why not take the time to purposefully pursue the people in your lives with questions and encouragement? Instead of breaking the silence with thoughts on what you know or how you feel, why not ask them about their lives and stories? And like I said in my previous Life Lessons post, most people will generally ask you about yourself in return after you've kindly listened to them first.

Well this concludes the second edition of Life Lessons 101 with Casey. Join us again next time, folks! Until then, pull up a chair, grab a cup of whatever you like, and get to know the ones you love!

Baby-love

Babies. I love them. I want to kiss them and squeeze them and hold them forever. My little baby isn't much of a "baby" anymore, so I get quite sentimental when it comes to little ones. Sigh.

This photoshoot was A.MA.ZING, for lots of reasons. One, there was perfect sunlight- hello 1/400 shutter speed, I love you! (most of my photoshoots have ended up being on cloudy days, leaving me with little light to work with). Two, there was an adorable, bubble-blowing, blue-eyed, chubby cheeks little boy to photograph. Three, mom and dad are awesome people with some serious talent. I hope to get to know this family better this upcoming year!

Would you like to soak in some baby-love? Just feast your eyes on these shots and you will fall in love with this little munchkin!

New life. So precious. So incredibly profound.

I love dedicating my baby photoshoots to "new life". May all expectant mothers choose "life" for their unborn children. Every child is a wanted child! I myself was a "surprise" baby, but my parents chose life for me despite their circumstances. I am forever grateful to them for this. Mom and Dad, I LOVE YOU!

After all, your mother chose life. Aren't you grateful?

Quick, easy, cheap Christmas decoration idea

Living on the other side of the world doesn't generally give one the option of hopping on over to Target or Walmart for some last minute anything.

And this holiday season, I've been especially sentimental. I guess you could even say obsessed... slightly... well... a lot really.

Anyways, my point is that I've been racking my brain for fun decoration ideas that don't require "mucho dinero" coming out of my pocket, if ya know what I mean.

So I came up with this SUPER easy decoration idea! All you need is:

*Empty flower vase
*Round Christmas tree ornaments
*Pine cones
*Any other decorations you may have laying around the house (I used adorable wicker balls that normally go around my candles on a square glass base)

How many empty, unused flower vases do YOU have sitting around your house, shoved away in cupboards waiting for their next dozen roses to display? Well it's time to get 'em out and use 'em for something different! (That is, until Valentine's Day rolls around... my fav.or.ite holiday EVER! Oh I'm such a hopeless romantic.)

I filled my vase in layers. First I put in the wicker balls, then added the pine cones and ornaments on top. It's ridiculously adorable, I must say! If you have little ones and many vases to spare, you could give your child a vase of their own to fill as they please. You could take them on a walk down the road to pick up pine cones, or even pine branches (which could stick out of the vase like flowers would) then let them pick which ornaments to put in the vase.

Easy as pie! Well, maybe not pie... pie isn't that easy to make.... oh well.

:)

Top 10 reasons why you should read my blog

1. It'll give you a chuckle or two, or three... (I mean, who doesn't laugh at toddler poop stories? Come on!)

2. You'll get some fashion tips!

3. You may experience a social skills boost (thanks to my brand new series entitled, "Life Lessons 101 with Casey").

4. You'll see unique perspective photographs from my life (maybe even a little inspiration for your own as well?)

5. Unfortunately, or fortunately, whichever way you look at it, you'll get a deeper glimpse into my personal life (Gasp!)

6. By reading blog posts about my SuperDan husband, hopefully you'll catch the "love bug" yourself and either A. Fall more in love with your lovebird or B. Trust and believe that Father has an incredibly romantic Love Story waiting for you to unfold and C. See that marriage was meant to be a team effort full of love, forgiveness, and excitement (not nagging, disappointment, and quitting).

7. Hopefully you'll learn more about Father and His never-ending, undying, passionately jealous love for YOU!  And maybe you'll grow in loving Him deeper in return.

8. You'll get nifty craft and holiday ideas as I go along the seasons with expectation and creativity.

9. You'll look forward to a place online where you can rest, put your feet up, grab a cup o' Joe or tea or whatever floats your boat, and soak in the beauty of life, even if it's the 2 minutes you have before work (honestly, I do try to make my blog look warm and inviting for this very reason).

10. And maybe, just maybe, by reading my hopes, dreams, wishes, and ponderings, you too will be inspired to do whatever it is that makes you come alive.

Goodbye? No thank you.

Saying goodbye is never easy.

Especially when it's people you deeply love and care about.

Actually, saying goodbye stinks, it's horrible, and is terribly depressing, to be frankly honest.

We have yet another goodbye to experience this week, as a family very dear to us will be packing their bags and heading home for good. There are no words I can use to express how incredible this family is. Their son is in our youth group and it has been a privilege watching him grow spiritually this past year! I personally was close to him because he always played bongos or drums with me for youth worship times.

I sit here as I type and think, "Why do I get so darn attached to people?" I have this habit of loving people so much it hurts. Every person I am close to, and especially every youth group student, takes hold of my heart and I am captivated by their personalities, their hurts, their disappointments, their joys, and it's almost like I feel it with them. We walk through so much with the people we love and care about. It's like a part of me is forever gone as I have invested so much into the ones I love. And you know, I don't regret giving my love away. I don't regret that whenever someone I was close to walks away, because they take a little piece of me with them forever.

If I had to chose between staying safe and comfortable in my own little bubble hardly sharing my life with others and saving myself pain, or giving myself wholeheartedly to others and then having to say goodbye, I choose the latter.

And yet I am reminded that this is not our home! Earth, this life, is just a temporary shadow of what's to come. Eternity is calling me, drawing me, beckoning me to something deeper and much bigger than myself. Every goodbye will become a hello, every tear will become a smile, every hurt will heal, and every eye will finally see The Creator of the Universe face to face. Oh how I long for that day!

Until that Great Feast, the Wedding Banquet, the Day of our Lord's return, I will longingly await for my eternal home, and the perfection it will finally bring.

This Christmas season, I am reminded that Father's Son is no longer a baby in manger, He's not a broken man on a cross, He didn't stay in the grave, and He's not staying in heaven forever- someday He's coming back FOR YOU AND ME!

4:00am editing

"Hello kids, welcome! Come sit on Santa's lap..... smile for the camera!"

Yep, that was me, Santa's little helper.

I volunteered to take photos of children sitting on Santa's lap at the international school here. All the proceeds would go to charity, and I am a sucker for good causes, so I gladly accepted the offer.

I had never taken pictures of children on Santa's lap before.

I am not particularly confident in my indoor shooting skills, especially of moving children. It's one thing to photograph a still object in low light indoors, but add wiggly munchkins and well, the technical difficulties arise. I ended up using a flash, even though I didn't want to. When the little girls would sit still and nice, I could snap a beautiful picture with natural light, high ISO, and absolutely no flash. Brilliant I say. But the little boys would squirm and blink and chew their gum and wave their hands, and with no flash and low light that would be a disaster. So I broke down and used my flash for the majority of the pictures. They didn't turn out so bad, but I prefer natural lighting whenever possible.

I was rushed in as the second of three photographers in a row taking turns to help out. I immediately jumped in, threw my Santa hat on, and started snapping away. I felt a bit frustrated with the backdrop. No matter how I took the picture, you could still see the "blah-zay" background behind the props. I didn't like it. But there was nothing I could do with drones of children passing through. Finally I had about a 2.3 minute window to rearrange the props. I was immensely pleased with the outcome when all of a sudden the next photographer showed up for her turn. I had perfected her backdrop, knowing my shots would be horrible in comparison.

"How did anyone not see this backdrop problem before I came?" I wondered to myself. "Awe well," I thought, "I can just edit the photos at home. Piece of cake."

No. No piece of cake. Piece of yucky, moldy old cake, that's what it was!

I had to delicately cut out (with a computer editing program) pictures of presents from another photo, then carefully paste them into the photos to cover up the backdrop problem. It was tedious, it was exhausting, and it was pretty much the most awesome thing I've ever done- that's what!

I started editing at about 10:30pm and finished at 4:00am. I. am. not. even. joking.

Just to prove the point, I'd like to show you a "before" and "after" shot just to give you an idea of how hard I worked. (And please remember this was completely a volunteer job. I am a perfectionist and it kills me sometimes!)

Before (Here's ONE good natural light shot. The kid did a "peace" sign instead of waving his hand, so it turned out good.)

After

Why in the world would I edit 50 photos for 6 hours for free? I am seriously nuts. But the money the families paid for the photos went straight to charity, and I know that whoever received that money needed it more desperately than me.

Thank goodness it's Friday!

This past week...

Sitora may or may not have ripped the stuffing out of my good decorative pillow, creating a snowy white carpet upon the wooden floor (I knew she was too quiet for those 5 minutes I was in the other room...)

Sitora may or may not have put her Christmas stocking on the potty because it had to go "pee pee".

Sitora may or may not be able to sing on key pretty much all the time.

My husband may or may not have said that he needed a haircut because he looked like a "dunder-mufflin".

This mamma may or may not have read half of the book "Dare to Discipline" in one sitting while knocked dead from a nasty cold, during which Sitora watched Praise Baby movies.

There may or may not be white-out covering up the pen drawings on the wall thanks to "you know who".

I may or may not have danced to Christmas music around the living room while holding my baby girl in my arms like a newborn.

I may or may not have looked up tickets to America for January...

Tea time and a pony

Sitora hates eating. We practically have to convince her that food is actually good.

I was getting to the end of my rope wondering how on earth to get this girl to just eat.

Two words.


Tea Party!
 

A few months ago I started having tea parties with Sitora. All we did was drink tea and "talk", and we only did it a few times a month.

More recently I decided to have a tea party with Sitora every single day. I let her use my good "tea cups" and keep a close eye on her. She hasn't dropped or broken one yet! She is extremely thrilled about it every time and her eyes sparkle with excitement. She asks me every single morning now, "Mommy, tea party please?"

She starting bringing her pony with us and would try to "feed" her pony some tea from a spoon. Over time, pony became a permanent fixture for the event. I started lighting our good candles every time as well, as Sitora adores candles and affectionately calls them, "FIRE!" (Hmmmm she may or may not have inherited this pyromaniac trait from her Father...)

I place a bib on her with a little pouch at the bottom to catch any "spills", and push the table up as close as possible to her body. She prefers to stand up, so the pouch idea works really well. I then start cooking breakfast while she starts sipping her tea from a spoon. I bring the cheese and grater, salt and pepper, and little tea biscuits and set them on the table. She becomes so enthralled with the whole event that she gladly eats her breakfast, pain free!

Like I said in my earlier post about our Tea Parties, I love giving Sitora my undivided attention and asking her about her day and how she feels. Sometimes she doesn't say much and doesn't understand. Other days she's very involved in the conversation. Of course I have to give her questions to answer like, "Did you have fun this morning playing with your blocks? Did you snuggle with Daddy this morning?" I always make it a point every Tea Party to look in her eyes and say, "Guess what? I love you!" And not suprisingly, she has started sporatically telling her Daddy and I that she loves us throughout the day for no apparent reason. It melts my heart. 

I hope Sitora and I continue our little tradition for as long as she desires. The older she gets I hope to change them to "coffee dates" and we'll go to her venue of choice.

I am deeply convicted that parents should be the main source of discipleship in their children's lives. You can see a drastic difference in depth of confidence and faith between children who are purposefully discipled by their parents and those who aren't. Of course Father is faithful and loving and can provide other ways for children to be touched and mentored by others in their lives. But my friends, this is the way it is meant to be. May all of us parents stand up and take our responsibility seriously. It is not someone else's job to mentor our children. Yes, throughout our years others will come alongside us to help with our kids. We are "the body" and every part works together to glorify Father. But we must view ourselves as the main source of mentorship with our children.

“There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human society, are created, strengthened and maintained.”

  Winston Churchill

What are you waiting for? Go write!

Do you journal?

You should.

I don't know about you,  but this girl has way too many thoughts racing around inside her head all day. I mean, isn't it a basic truth that girls have more words they need to share daily then guys? I heard that statistic somewhere. It sounds ligit anyways :)

When we go through seasons of hardship, or change, or whatever, there are so many thoughts in our minds that we may not even realize lay dormant and uncared for.

As moms, we sacrifice a lot. I mean, a lot (can I get a wit-ness out there???) Gone are the days of sleeping in, reading books cozily by the window without a carefree thought in the world, going out on coffee dates with whomever whenever, random unplanned trips to the mall or grocery store. If you are a young mom like me, you spend most your days talking with little ones. By the end of the day you are dying for some adult conversation! I'm just being honest here everyone. I love my daughter endlessly, and actually the older she gets, the more I talk to her openly and descriptively. But my point is, we as women have a lot of things we need to talk about. Sometimes we aren't even looking for advice or a pat on the back, we just want to say it! It feels so good to get it off your chest.

Sometimes are minds are so jumbled from the day and we are so busy that we continue burying thoughts deeper and deeper inside our hearts. I think for the sake of the greater good (or so we think) we push aside our feelings just so we can get by and survive the day.

In my humble opinion, that's why journaling is so important. When I hop into bed, snuggle under the covers, and pull out my bible and notebook, suddenly thoughts and prayers begin pouring out of my heart that I never even knew were there. It's like I am processing the day with Father, in written form.

I don't feel like my thoughts are complete unless I've written them down. I could go on a million coffee dates with all my loves (um, that sounds amazing!) and talk all about my life, and I still wouldn't feel satisfied until it I wrote it. Maybe it's my learning style, who knows.

Anyhow, what I'm trying to say here is than penning my thoughts is like setting a dove free. I feel so much lighter after writing my heart cries down on paper. It may start out like a diary entry, but it always ends up a prayer. I feel like my journal entries are a lot like the Psalms. I may start scribbling my deepest fears and hurts, but slowly I start remembering my blessings, my victories, and then I end up praising and thanking Father for His unfailing goodness. And for as long as I can remember, I've always signed my journal entries, "I love you Father! *Casey*".

I've been journaling since I was five. Nonstop. My first diary had Ariel the Mermaid on the front and came with a precious lock (so my brother couldn't read it of course!) I have diaries and journals from my entire life packed away in storage in my in-law's attic. I look back at what I wrote (and drew!) as a fragile naive five year old, and I am amazed. As I've gone through my journals in times past and re-read entries, I relive over and over the amazing adventures Father has brought me on. He is writing my story even as we speak, and I am merely recording it.

So go ahead, buy the cutest, most eye-catching journal you can find at Barnes and Nobles or wherever. What journal looks like "you"? What journal design describes your personality? Don't let the price detour you. If you absolutely LOVE it, you will WANT to journal in it, I can almost guarantee you that.

Besides, maybe someday you'll be famous and your journal will sell for millions! (Hey, anything could happen...)

So what are you waiting for? Go write :)