Are You Ready for School?

Summer's over, the bell has rung, and school's officially in session.

When the word "school" comes to mind, some of us don't necessarily get excited. Let's be honest, as much as we try to like it, it can be a real pain! Between getting up early in the morning and information overload, the new school year can be a lot to handle. 

For me personally, school can really push down my self confidence. You too? Or is it just me? The couple first weeks can be great, but it gets terrifying as the year progresses. Especially when those finals come up. Geez louis!  

So what exactly can we do to avoid losing confidence this school year? I want to share 3 things I'll be reminding myself of and maybe you can too.

1. Start off the year P.O.S.I.T.I.V.E!
(What?!) Yes, positive. When you wake up in the morning all through your first week of school, be positive. Because, who knows what the year will bring you! 

(My brother's favorite verse!)

Phillipians 4:13
"I can do all things through Christ who strengethens me"

2. Don't stress out.
Stress is something that gets to us all, and it gets triggered more once school starts. A few years back, I had some major stress levels when school hit, but I kept forgetting to tell myself to breathe! If you let your mind depend on God, I promise you that He will guide you through everything that can tear you back (:  

Phillipians 4:7
"And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

3. Keep your head forward
If you put forth your best effort & have confidence, it makes a huge difference in your year. And when you know that you've accomplished those things, it gains a trait in you that helps you handle stressful things. One helpful thing that I use as a guide at school is a tiny pocketbook of the New Testatment. Now, I admit, I'm not a huge Bible reader, however in my version, there a small section in the front that gives topics like Anxious, Stress, Doubting, and other topics. In those topics, it narrows down verses that fit perfectly for those situations including the page number. It never fails when you can carry the word of God when you need it; they fit right in your backpack! School can be full of obstacles, but with your head foward and a strong heart, you can make this year one of your best!

Psalms 27:14 
"Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengethen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord"




~Madi <3


What do you do to prep yourself before school? Share with us by commenting below!

Memories

On Julianna's blog {http://juliannamorlet.blogspot.com/}, she is currently doing a writing series where everyday she posts a new prompt. I thought it would be fun to write some of my responses here!! And you should too =)

Her first prompt: Describe your earliest memory.

~The waves crash down on the shore and the wind is chilly but freeing; birds wander to and fro on the sand. My parents are holding hands in front of me, my dad carrying Daniel. I am trailing slowly behind them, searching the damp sand for half-buried treasures and hopping from sun beam to sun beam as they pierce through the stormy sky. I am maybe 4 years old and we are at Cannon Beach, Oregon.

This was me, care free and innocent before I knew where California was, before I understood the value of money or where Daddy went everyday. I follow my parents away from the ocean and into the sleepy beach town. My favortie time of day: Bruce's Candy Kitchen. This family owned and operated candy store has always, always been my all time favorite store. The sweet smells of hand spun taffy, carmel apples, and chocolate covered anything is a favorite from my childhood. The salt water taffy was the only thing I ever got; I would eat pieces of everyone else's prizes but the taffy was all mine. The day goes on and I only remember glimpses and blurs from there but I remember being carried to the car by my older brother and falling asleep with a beach towel draped over me on the car ride home. 

This beach is more to me than sun, sand, and surf.

Cannon Beach has been and always will be (to me anyways) a special place for my family. That trip is the first in a series of memories of family Thanksgivings and reunions at Cannon Beach. It was our first Oregon trip after we moved to California when I was 7, it was where my family met to grieve after my Poppa died when I was 12, it is a perpetual stop every time we road trip through Oregon to Washington. I learned to love the grey, overcast sky and the salty wind that never ceased to turn my nose red. Cannon Beach was an important spot in my heart because it is something that my family has always done together, no matter where everyone was or what was happening in their life, this beach is where we came with one another. To eat Mo's clam chowder and walk through the musuem that held all kinds of sea animal bones, or gaze at the crazy expensive jewlery made from sea stones. Cannon Beach is my earliest memory.

{My sister, Victoria/ My Cousin Aleigha/ Me}

What is your earliest memory?! Does your family have a place similar to my Cannon Beach?

Tell me in the comment section below <3
Love you girlies!

Samantha (Intern) and Her Prom Adventures

PROM! P is for Prom.

I went to Prom and had so much fun! I had a really awesome night, mostly thanks to my amazing man. I didn't know what to expect cause I'm not a very big dance person and neither is he but we rocked it. We were the best looking couple there ;) Well that's what i think anyways!

Here's how the day went:

11 a.m.-I showered, wanted to be all nice and squeaky clean

1: 30 p.m.- Makeup done by the amazing Crystal-Lee

3:30 p.m.- We had no idea what to do with my hair so we googled!

4:30 p.m.- Andrew and his momma arrived for pictures but I wasn't ready yet!!!! So they waited, and waited.

4:45 p.m- Dress was zipped, make up was flawless, hair was perfectly hairsprayed and curled.

4:50 p.m.- I opened the door, and this was what i saw!

Handsome... is he not?!

5 p.m.-Then came all the pictures. We took pictures for about an hour! Scroll down to see some of them =)

6 p.m.- We headed to Olive Garden to meet up with 3 other couples for dinner... it was so tasty!

8 p.m.- To Wilson Creek Winery where we danced the night away

It was such a sweet night full of friends, love, and good clean fun. Did any of you go to prom this year? 

Spring Break is the Best Kind of Break

Spring break is by far, the best break from school. 
It's not as long as Christmas break, but it comes exactly at the time of year when you're banging your head against the classroom wall and looking for any and every reason to skip school. It's as if the teachers knew that and all gathered and said, "Hey, let's skip school!" Am I right??


So what does a teenage girl do when she has two weeks of nothing scheduled? Go to the mall? Friends' houses? Movies? Hunger Games?! (That's a whole other post, that Madi will probably write.)


I know how it is to have free time and be so excited about all the things I could do. But one day, when I was in high school, a friend encouraged me to thinking outside the box. She asked me the same question I just asked you: What does a teenage girl do when she has two weeks of nothing scheduled? I told her my amazing plans and she smiled.


Then she asked if I wanted to go with her to the local nursing home. She was going to paint all the ladies nails and brush their hair and sing them songs. I was astonished. Really? I didn't even know you could do that. 


Long story short, I went and it was one of the most amazing days of my life! To see their faces light up and their smiles so big and bright pink (because we gave them lipstick!) was more than memorable in my eyes. And to think, all it took was one day of my Spring Break. 


So this is my challenge for us these next two weeks:
What can you do this Spring Break, that will make someone else smile? 

Photo Credit

Oh Clothes!

i love looking through pictures like this and pretending like i have a virtual closet... clothes, clothes, clothes!

{i love this look so much! the hair and the glasses and the HAT!!}

{very NY i think}

{absolute favorite!! so adorable, i want it all... including the coffee ;)}

be brave with your wardrobe girlies, branch out and try new things!!

<3 always,

Who are you?

One word to describe yourself... post it on our FB wall! Ready? GO ---->

                {photo credit}

love always,

Do You Like Surprises?

Interesting fact about me: I love surprises!! Giving or recieving... surprises rock =)

I don't know what it is about them:
The Anticipation or maybe
The Happiness or maybe
The Unexpectedness or maybe
The Spontaneity of them!

Who knows... but surprises have been some of the best times in my life.


What about you? 
Have you ever recieved a surprise that blew your mind?
Have you ever given a surprise that was totally thoughtful and made the other person incredibly joyful?


Tell us, tell us!


-Sam

5 Lessons God Showed Me This Week

Hello bee-a-u-ti-ful girls =) 


so this week has been crazy. i was helping out at a Vacation Bible School (VBS) in the town i used to live in- Simi Valley.

Not only was this week so amazing because i got to spend it with people i grew up with and with crazy second graders that i love very much but also becasue God used this week to show that He kinda knew what He was doing when He uprooted me from my very comfortable home of 8 years and placed me in a completely strange town right before i started my freshmen year of high school (seriuosly- i had been to temecula ONCE before we moved here)... i was unhappy to say the least. and i was angry- oh so very angry [which is saying something because i'm not a very angry person usually]


5 Things God showed me this week:
1. He knew what He was doing when He placed me in Temecula because He knew that i would find the most amazing, encouraging, supportive, involved, fun, crazy, lovable youthgroup ever and that they would help me mature in my faith


2. He knew that i would build excellent friendships that have gotten me through some sticky situations and help keep me accountable in my walk... i never had that before


3. i needed the kick in the butt that the move provided to get out of my comfort zone and become my own person, the unique individual that Christ created me to be! and may i add that i love love being me =)


4.  i had become complacent in my walk and was doing things "on my own" and the move pushed me to a cliff that i couln't walk away from on my own. it caused me to realize that, to a degree, i wasn't allowing myself to get closer to God. and while yes, i was incredibly frustrated at Him after i moved, that struggle stretched me and taught me a lot about Christ and my identity IN HIM


5. He showed me how awesome my relationships are here and how my past friendships have helped shape them to be Christ centered and lasting


Needless to say, the move turned out to be a good thing and from where i am now in life, i wouldn't change anything about my circumstances then or how they effect now!

p.s if anything i wrote up there really affected you or you have questions about circumstances and what not or you just need to talk, email us becoming@ranchocommunity.org or come find me at uprising some time!

Even the Sun Reflects the Son!

This one is a bit of a strange post but it ends with a good point, so don't give up on me please =)

Have any of you lovely ladies ever thought about planets and where their light comes from? Well, i for one have... as dorky as that sounds {confession: i am a dork and i am not ashamed to admit it =)} i was looking at the stars one night, well actually many nights because i adore the nighttime and the moon and stars but ANYWAYS, and i know thats stars produce their own light but that the moon (which is a planet) reflects the light of the sun (a star). 


so it got my brain wondering if that means other planets can't produce their own light either.


TO THE GOOGLE! i figured out that planets cannot, in fact, make this thing called light themselves.


Alright, here's where i'm going: just like a planet can never ever create its own light as much as it tries, we, as imperfect human beings, will never ever be able to work hard enough to earn God's grace... strange how my mind works sometimes right?(i would know, i live in it)


but the fantstic part of this is that He has GIVEN it to us and we just need to stop trying because we are going to FAIL no matter how much effort we put into it. Hebrews says that after Christ made the ultimate sacrifice, He sat down at the right hand of God (meaning no more sacrifices were necessary) and invited us to sit with Him in PEACE... i love that word. 


no more striving and coming up with disappointment... 
no more feelings of unworthiness or like we will never be enough. 


He took it all for us so that we could live bright lives with HIS light shining through us because He knew that ultimately, we would not be enough without Him.


He is our star so we could shine in the sky


Until next time my dears,


Sam =)

One of THOSE Days

Have you ever had one those days that is just so sad completely pathetic that all you can do is laugh? Yepp well thats where i am right now. School... its not over for me yet and i'm really struggling not to give up on this final stretch...


But its pretty cool because through this crazy school year God has shown me and grown me so so very much. From making the decision to leave Great Oak and finding peace in change (which i'm not such a big fan of) to realizing that Christ wants me to reach for Him when it seems like there is no where to go and I am just at the end of my rope, and He will always be there. 


He never leaves. 


Time and time again, I remember that he has gone BEFORE me, and He goes WITH me and will come AFTER me in all situations. I am His child and He holds me in the palm of His hand. That completely boggles my mind that the God of this universe... not this state or this country or this continent and not just this world but THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE cares enough about little insignificant me to plan out a future and circumstance that will grow me. Not put my in the midst of harm. 


And while some situations may be extremely to my disliking, God is stretching me.


When do you feel stretched?


-Sam =)

Hello World! I'm Sam.

//Hello Becoming Girls! I am so glad to introduce to you the new Becoming Girls writer for our 2012 conference. She is high schooler like most of you and LOVES to write about girly things. I will still be popping in every now and then but am so excited to be handing this off to her. Please meet my sweet friend, Sam. Love, ~Julianna//

Hey everybody! So i'm a new writer on the becoming girls blog so i just wanted to take a few, okay maybe a little more than, minutes and introduce myself to all of you. 


Well to start of my name is Sam excuse me, Samantha... but i go by Sam most of the time. i am a junior at River Springs Charter School but previously i have been part of the Great Oak Wolfpack =) i love my family and spending time with them; they are completely crazy and extremely weird but they make me well me! so you wanna know about them? okay i'll tell you! you have my parents, who have given practically everything to raise us (all 5 of us... yes i said 5) to be independent, free thinkers with Christ at the center our lives. i love them with all that i am <3 then comes my oldest brother [Caleb], who is 22. 


Next up we have the dynamic duo (haha) Victoria and Brittany. They are both 19, crazy beautiful (which means crazy and beautiful) and women that i believe i will always look up to (and for the record, no they are not twins).



I come next at the age of 16, but i will tell you more about me later.

Captured.

Have you ever thought of the word "Capture"? I use it alot, mostly flippantly or to dress up an otherwise dull sentence or observation. According to Mr. Webster it means:


To take captive, as by force or craft; seize; the act of catching, taking, or winning, as by force or skill.
 
I love the word seize. It sounds so warrior-esque. So forthright and full of power, yet completely free.


So many days I live in and out not capturing or being captured by anything. Then there are other days that I am captured or capture the wrong things. Fear. Guilt. Anger. Sin. Boys ;). My body. How I look. How I don't look.


What are you captured by? And are they the right things? Are they good things? Are they things that will cause you to stop...watch...listen...hear...smell...see?


Capture something tomorrow.
Be captured by something.


And I will too.


-JM

Just Wanted to Say...

:)

Love, JM