Cottage and Randomness

Well, once again, my family had another great year at the cottage. And so I thought that I would share some of the best moments with you all. =) 

Wendy has got attitude! and, if you look closely, a feather. she will go far in life. lol. 

Collecting shells was a big deal! People who went for walks with me and wendy just kind of gave up in frustration and left us behind because wendy would stop to collect shells and i would stop to take pictures of her. renee was the only one who made it through a whole walk with us. 

I don't really even know what to say about this picture. It possibly speaks for itself. Oh to have such an expressive face! i hope that she never ever grows out of it. 

"Guys! I'm WET!!" lol. 

so if you could see the expressions on their faces, it would be quite clear to you that wendy was not happy at that point. she wanted to go back to the cottage, and well, i wasn't quite ready to stop taking pictures yet. 

This is renee on a rock. I think she looks pretty good up there, huh? =) 

I do not know why she is making that face, but this picture makes me laugh every time i see it. lol. 

and to think that i was trying to get her to smile for me. this is way better. =) 

this is me. on a rock. thinkin'. bout stuff and the general awesomeness of life right now. 

me and wendy! i have felt particularly fond of this kid ever since the other week, when we accidentally made her cry by talking about me moving away from home. i have never felt more loved. =) 

This was just after i got to the cottage on friday evening. and it was windy and cold, and my legs were peeling like crazy from the sunburn i had gotten on the civic holiday, and i was feeling excessively happy to be there. 

pretty clouds. 

pretty clouds and the reflection of those pretty clouds in the wet sand.

this is renee, looking all cute and bright-eyed. =)

the sunset. this picture should not be sideways, now that i'm looking at it. lol. oh well. too lazy to fix it. lol. 

wendy, on "kenton's" couch. she looks terrified... but i mean, look at the guy. he's nothin' to be afraid of. ;)

this is renee doing my hair. as a general rule, i don't like people playing with my hair. it hurts, and i get a weird feeling in my neck. like when i was a kid and at a friend's house and her mom would have to do my hair. it's such a weird feeling. i don't know how to describe it. but anyways... it felt okay when renee did my hair. it didn't even hurt, and it looked nice when she was done. 

Completely Random Quotes Which are Possibly Only Funny to Me from the Week

"You just made this lasagna yesterday, Mom. There is plenty of time for snacking on it. don't rush me. i don't like to be rushed." -kenton

"Mom, have you been watching Pirates of the Caribbean?"-Me

"He made me do it!" -Mom (said very defensively. lol.)

"I didn't make her do nothing."-Kenton 

"Hey! those can't be cowboys! Those are horses." -kenton (again. it's just that he's so funny! lol.)

"Oh! cute little boats!"-Dad. it's hard to explain this one. i'm not even gonna try. lol. 

"You have no idea how bored i was!" -wendy. again, i think you maybe had to be there. =) 

Okay, that is just a tiny little bit of our week. and i will most likely put some more pictures from this week on here, when i post a bunch of other pictures from this summer. like pictures from york. and a picture from this past weekend, when i was at a cottage with meg. cause we just took one picture. lol. i really did not take many pictures at all this summer. 

Anyways, I am feeling kind of tired, and like it's past my bedtime, because it is, but i can't go to bed, because my bed is buried underneath books and papers from the past five years of school. lol. 

the good news is... my new bookcase is set up and the old one has been removed, and this one actually has room for all my books! and my movies too! it's great! 

Speaking of books, I have officially read all three of the Hunger Games books. They are brilliantly written, and honestly held my attention even better than the movie did. The books definitely give you more of an emotional connection to the characters, and give details that are not in the movie. but I am definitely hoping for a second and third movie to be made. Although it seems to me that the third movie would be the kind of movie that just makes me kind of wince again and again, because there is so much death in it. and not pleasant deaths either. it seems like it would be a very bloody, sad movie. However, the third book... ends brilliantly. seriously. i could not imagine a better ending for it. 

Okay. 

it is definitely time for sleep. I think i'm gonna find a couch somewhere, since my bed is literally covered. 

Good night all! =) 

People I Miss (in no particular order... i miss them all equally. and greatly.)

oh, joy, trish, and meg... i miss you all. and i want you to come home! the good news is... two of you will be here very soon! the bad news is... i still have to wait about a month to see you, joy. Anyways, i am looking forward to seeing every single one of you again!!! 

This picture was clearly taken back when we were young and silly. Wow... those were the good old days, huh, joy? =) 

and this is definitely the best angle to take a picture from. all pictures should be taken from this angle. lol. 

oh trisha!! we have had so many fun times!! so many memories that we just don't like to share with others because they are just a little bit.... sketchy. see, there was another picture that i wanted to put on here, but i decided against it. but i think you will know the one i mean. it involves words and plaid and was taken the weekend that we were in reading. lol. also... we need to take more pictures of the two of us together. cause i don't have nearly enough. i want more!! =) 

i am so excited about hanging out with you again! like when we go to york! it's gonna be great! i cannot wait. 

so just in case you ever wondered... this is how we stay beautiful. i do hope it's okay that i'm sharing our beauty secrets with the rest of the world, meg. =) i miss doing stuff like this with you. and laughing with you. 

those pink feather boas sure do make birthdays special! i cannot imagine celebrating a birthday without them. 

i love you all and can't wait to see you again!!! 

And So It Begins....

Well, I have officially taken the first black and white pictures for my black and white scrapbook! And I had a ton of fun doing it. =) Kaylin was a completely lovely model for me. She smiled when I asked her to, and looked pensive when I asked her to, and closed her eyes when I asked her to. We found her dress while we were at clothes packing the other week (I KNEW there was a good reason to go clothes packing!=)), and i stuffed her into a pair of heels, scratchy, lacy gloves, and my "grad headband" (which i did not actually graduate in, much to the disappointment of all. okay... so i was the only one disappointed. lol.), and dragged her all over Floradale park, taking hundreds of pictures. And the only reason I stopped was because my camera battery ran out. Nearly killed me. Because I was still full of ideas for pictures that I wanted to take. So I'm thinking that I will bring her back for a Part Two sometime! 

I learned several things from this experience... the main thing being that I know nothing about photography! Why did i not take that photography course at school??? I could have done it instead of biology or something. Except that biology was cool, cause i got to dissect a pig. I am not even kidding about that. it was actually a pretty awesome experience. did you know that pigs have eyebrows?? cause they do. ANYWAYS... i have gotten distracted. so i learned that i have much to learn about taking good pictures. 

I also learned that Kaylin can still look beautiful, even when she has only gotten about 10 minutes of sleep the night before, due to watching all three Lord of the Rings movies, and most of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe all in a row. Pretty impressive. =) And she has an awesomely expressive face. I wish my face was that expressive! 

I learned that taking pictures that have some kind of theme is more fun than just wandering around taking pictures. Yes, it takes some thinking and planning and creativity, but you have a whole lot more direction while you are taking the pictures then. I am so excited about doing more of these photo shoots!!!! =) For Kaylin, we went with kind of a formal theme, since we already had a dress which totally fit her and suited her personality! And we used a book for some pictures, because she loves loves loves reading, and has an incredible imagination! 

I also learned that I want a better camera, and will probably buy one soon. =) It's just that... well, my bank account so recently started filling up, and I'm just not quite ready to take that much money out of it yet. See, the original plan was to buy a new camera last week, so that I could use it for these pictures. But then I decided that I would rather let my bank account get a bit fuller before I spend that much money. So I decided to wait awhile to buy a camera. But then I was taking these pictures and desperately wishing for a new camera, so now I am thinking I will buy one pretty soon. Which means it will prolly be at least several weeks before I buy it, because I am slow about things like this. lol. and i need to do some research first. =) 

Okay. I have been rambling for awhile now, so I will be quiet and you can look at the pictures of Kaylin and be in awe of how pretty she is. =) 

Class of 2012

Okay, so here is an excessive amount of pictures of my class and grad night. =) 

Photo credits go to Sarah Jantzi, who is still the world's awesomest photographer!

I think we pull off the white shirt look rather well. lol. 

The ever-popular chicken pose, invented and perfected by greg. =) 

You guys looked so beautiful in your dresses! =)

What??? 12 years of school for nothing????

A quote for you all: "There is no charge for awesomeness. Or attractiveness." I thought it was very fitting for you all. =) 

Full skirts.... make you want to spin in circles. =) 

Friends that I did not graduate with, but love very much anyways. =) 

The past two years with you guys have been completely awesome, and I can't really imagine life without seeing you all on a regular basis! Thank you so much for all the fun times, and jokes, and support and encouragement, and memories, and things you taught me!! I am so thankful for each of you, and I hope that we will see eachother around! =)

Everything

So you know how sometimes a certain verse just becomes so familiar to you that it becomes almost meaningless? Well, several weeks ago, a thought kind of began developing, but then I forgot about it until something in church this morning got my thought process going again and this afternoon I pursued the thought a bit farther, and decided that it was good enough to be shared. =)
The verse that goes with this thought is Isaiah 9:6. (Merry Christmas, everybody! lol.)
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
This verse is such an amazing description of God. It shows that God truly does provide for us in every single area. He is all we need, because He is absolutely everything.
So several weeks ago, when every single aspect of my life just seemed exceptionally chaotic and unmanageable, the phrase "Prince of Peace" came to my mind. And all of a sudden, I looked at everything that I was freaking out about (I freak out a lot, in case you hadn't picked up on that yet), and felt guilty, because I say that I serve the Prince of Peace, and yet my life and heart were far from peaceful. In fact, I felt very... restless. And some types of restlessness are good (think Audrey Assad's song "Restless"), but what I was demonstrating in my life was definitely something negative. I was trying to be self-sufficient, and not one single aspect of my life showed that I believe that God has His hand over me and that I can rest underneath the protection of that hand. But God (Jesus) is the Prince of Peace. It's like He is a king (which He is) and there is a land called Peace, and that is where I am supposed to take up permanent residence. (And I shall have an awesome little cottage with one of those cool thatched roofs and a cool stone fence and a very green lawn... hey, this sounds like Ireland! =)). I realize that that is a lame analogy... but I'm pretty sure that means that as one of His followers, I should be doing way more trusting and a lot less freaking out.
Next we are going to talk about how He (Jesus/God- it's really hard to know exactly who I should be referring to... especially since they are technically the same...) is the Wonderful Counselor. What do counselors do? They listen. They listen and they address problems and they want the best for their patients. Their goal is to fix problems. However, before they can do that, the patient has to choose to come to them. (Unless, of course, the patient is declared clinically insane or something, and forced to attend counselling sessions. But I may have watched a few too many episodes of Private Practice.) The patient has to come to them and admit that they have a problem and that they cannot fix it on their own. It means that the patient must be completely honest, and trust that the counselor will not judge them or mock them or give up on them. Sometimes the patient has trouble admitting admitting the problem, whether it is because of shame or denial or the pain that they know will come from addressing the issue that they have buried deep inside them. God is the Wonderful Counselor. Sometimes He has to dig deep down into people's hearts to uncover the things that they have hidden for so long. And sometimes it hurts and is humiliating. But God is not the type to give up on or turn away from the "patients" who come to Him wanting to be healed. He listens and then renews. The price of all this? Complete and total surrender to Him. Costly, in our eyes... but completely worth it. No issue is too big for Him to deal with.
Because He is the Mighty God. All-powerful and all-knowing. In the Old Testament, He was the God who called His people to fight for Him and gave them the strength to conquer armies that seemed much bigger and stronger than theirs. In the New Testament, He called His people to passionately spread the Truth, and to defend what they knew to be true, even when it meant being looked down and physically hurt. Today, He expects the same thing from us. He is the God who separated the water in the Red Sea and opened the eyes of a blind man. He is the God who calmed stormy seas and the God who endured incredible pain on the cross. We are to fight for the truth and against things that oppose the truth. We can trust Him to protect us, because, well, He is the strongest.
Now, the whole "Mighty God" thing is a little bit intimidating, right?? I mean, that gives a mental image of God sitting there on his throne with fury in His eyes and a lightning bolt in His hand. Which is what makes the next thing so great! God is also the Everlasting Father! This tells us that God has a very gentle side. I mean, up until this point, God has been portrayed as a very powerful, wise being. But when you think about it, neither the "Wonderful Counselor" or the "Mighty God" or "Prince of Peace" image makes it seem as though God is someone we can approach and build a personal relationship with. Yes, you discuss problems with a counselor, but you do not usually develop a personal relationship with them. (Except that sometimes, that happens. Yeah... too much Private Practice). "Mighty God" doesn't sound very approachable. "Prince of Peace" doesn't either. But Everlasting Father???? This shows that God loves His children. That He wants them to come to Him when life just gets too hard to handle on their own. I mean, I go to my dad with all kinds of problems. Like "Dad, can you come kill this big bug?" and "Dad, I need some batteries" and "Dad, I am locked in my bedroom and cannot get out" and "Dad, I have no idea how to get to Gladys Cressman's house". So yeah... a dad is an awesome mixture of someone who should be completely gentle and approachable and yet strong and authoritative enough to gain the respect of his children. That is what God is to us. He listens to us, corrects us when we need some straightening out, and protects us when we just need to rest and renew our strength. (oooh...Psalm 28:7- "The Lord is my strength and my shield." Isn't that awesome??? God is our strength... He gives us the strength to fight when we need to, but He is also our shield. He protects us when we just can't go on any more. I love love love this thought. Because using strength (fighting) and hiding behind a shield (resting, protecting, defending) seem like complete opposites. And yet God recognizes that there is a time for each.) Also, did you all take note of the word "everlasting"?? It means that God will go on forever. =) He will never die. He will never abandon His family. He will never shirk His duties as a Father. He is permanent and stable.
So this is my conclusion....I believe in a God who is omniscient and omnipotent and caring enough to deal with the problems and messes that I get myself into and strong enough to carry me and help me fight and gentle enough for me to run to for protection and guidance when I'm exhausted and powerful enough to evidently cover every area of my life with His peace, if I allow Him to do so.
I believe in a God who has thoughtfully and intentionally made sure that every single one of my needs can be met only by Him.
And once I recognize that, I realize that there is no need for me to keep frantically racing around. I can rest in the security of knowing that He is near and that He is everything. 

(Okay, I just realized that this entire post makes it sound as though I believe that God only exists to serve me. I would like everyone to know that I am fully aware that it is the other way around. =)) 

Things I am Incredibly Thankful For

• Writers Craft tests that are not too hard, and most importantly- OVER. 
• I am also thankful for GED tests of the same variety. 
• Friends that I can get completely caught up in conversation with. So caught up, in fact, that neither of us notices when the light turns green. You know who you are. Also, you have pretty blue eyes and a great laugh. =) 
• Math that is almost done. 
• High school that is almost done. lol. 
• A pay cheque from Marian's sitting on my dresser. 
• Three jobs this summer. 
• My family. 
• My laptop. 
• The knowledge that I have gained in the past year, the lessons I have learned, and the areas that I have improved in. For example.... last night, as I was furiously putting together a co-op portfolio, I was sorting through stacks and stacks of old papers from school, desperately searching for something worthy to be put in a portfolio. And I found my one year adventure novel. And I sat there on my bedroom floor, in the middle of a floor covered in papers, reading the words that I wrote over a year ago. I reached a certain point in the story and I literally cringed. Because I knew what was coming. Yes, I did. This one ridiculous conversation that I wrote... I read it and I was like "Jasmine, what in the world were you thinking?? Huh??". A word of advice.... conversations about bananas? Do not belong in adventure novels. Seriously. I can no longer criticize Adam Young for the lyrics to "Fireflies". I am like the Owl City of novelists. 
• The not-so-gentle reminder that I need God. 
• Having trouble feeling grateful for this... but I know that I needed it. 
• Life. Lives that have been lived well.
• The knowledge that I will soon have time for the things that I have been waiting to do. Liking cleaning my room. lol. It's pretty bad. And sewing new clothes. And writing. Oh, and sleeping. And a blog post about the wonderful month of May. =) I really have been waiting to do that. I am excited. =) Also, I am looking forward to doing blog posts that are a bit more structured (ahem- no bullets), less random, and have actually been thought through before I started writing them. 
• Old prayer journals full of prayers that God has heard and answered and written-out verses from the Bible that still hold incredible meaning for me. I was going through my old journals the other day, because a certain yearbook staff asked for my favourite verse. =) And I found so many of my old favourite Bible verses that I had forgotten about! They are so amazing, and they are not even from Jeremiah. lol. Anyways, Psalm 139 is the passage I went with... I just had to condense it. lol. But it truly is perfect for this time of my life. 
• Random Phrases from Psalm 139: "Oh Lord, You have searched me and You know me. You hem me in- behind and before; You have laid Your hand upon me. Where can I go from Your spirit? If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be."