It Makes My Heart Smile When...

So I am a Military Brat and proud of it. My dad was apart of the Marine Corps for 20 years. I don't think I have ever told him. But I am proud, that my dad served for this country.

There was a video that went around on Facebook about children and family reunited with their loved ones who serve for this country. It was 10 minutes long. I started crying after minute 2. Emotional yes. But I mean if you haven't seen your daddy or husband in such a long time and then you see them, safe ok and in your arms you have no choice but to cry.

I was just grateful that my dad never had to go overseas without us, or leave us for a long time. At least from what I remembered.

Anytime I see people doing anything great for the children of these service men and women or even for their families. It touches my heart and I can't do anything but smile and cry.

I watched Hannah Montanna, yes I watch Hannah Montanna, but it was an episode about how she skipped out hanging out with her dad to go out on a date with a cute guy. While on their date this guy talked to his dad who was overseas. It got Miley thinking that she takes her dad for granted, then she decides to do a concert for the servicemen and servicewomen  and their families. It made me cry, yes it did. They also had some of the families say a message to their loved ones.

I hope and pray that you would continue to keep them in your prayers and thoughts. Especially their families and friends.

Semper Fi to my fellow military brats out there.

You May or May Not Know, But I Am 100% Sure I Know

You may or may not know, but I am 100% sure I know that.... God is awesome and always proves himself to his children, his loving beautiful children, that we are loved and we do have a purpose in life even when something proves itself to not actually be the road he wants you on.

Ok, you maybe thinking. "Laura, come on. Stop rambling, and get to what you are talking about!"

Well, many, if not most, know that I applied for the Invisible Children Roadie Position for the fall of 2010, which, yes, is this fall. So yes, that obviously means that I didn't get it. Me being the type of person that when I am apart of something I am really committed and won't stop until it or something else stops or takes my attention.

Well I can tell you that Invisible Children will forever and always be apart of my life until those children are back to their families and their homes and education are what they use to be, before this war. So, let's just say when I didn't get the position that I was extrememly sad for a while. I found out the bad news at a concert, and you know every other concert before then would be filled with great news like: the bill passed unanimously through congress, or President Obama passed to bill turning it into a law. Then this 'bad' news came and I was devistated. But then I went and enjoyed the company of my friends with K-love and Air1.

I am telling you, when God closes one door He WILL open another door, it may take a while to find it, but He does. I can tell you it took me a while, and you know I still may not have found that open door. But he has definitely brought people into my life recently telling me that 'blank' wouldn't happen if I weren't here. And you know I am just starting to take those things and really suck that in.

Not alot of people know, but I used to want to kill myself all the time or I would want to cut myself. With God's wonderful and glorious help I could get through it. And it's sad that it's just now that I am starting to see that I do make a difference, and I do have a purpose.

I know that my friend, Shane, has told me that if I was in San Diego with Invisible Children, then I wouldn't be helping with One12 Live and The ((Sound)) Movement. Has told me multiple times how much he appreciates my help.

My friend, Brian, is constantly I don't know how to say. It feels weird. Let's just say he is really awesome at building people up and just giving them a ton of adoration. And I use to hate getting compliments, but now it's just like, 'wow, am I that great that people would talk about me like that?'

Then my new friend, Blake from Jimmy Needham's band, was like Shane in saying that if I weren't here, then he wouldn't have had the help I gave him with the merch. (Let's just say, I truely love doing merch. I think I need to really be on the other side, constantly doing it to see if I still like it.)

I really want to thank everyone. Thank you, for making me feel important, I know that it's all God. I am honestly still trying to get use to the whole people giving me adoration, but you know it's helped me to understand my place in life, and that really really do have a purpose in life!

Today's Lesson: Siding

Today was another day of Summer of Hope. Something radio stations, K-love and Air1, are doing this summer to get listeners out to help their local communities and realize that you don't have to go overseas to help people in need. If you look closely you'll see that there are some on your very block.

Today's project was working with Kansas City's Habitat for Humanity.

This house had the siding on it, but when the health department came by to check things out. Of course something had to happen, where they didn't like the wood they used for the windows. So they had to take all the sidings off and replace that wood.

That's where we came in! We had to put all that siding back onto the house. You know, I didnt' think it would have taken very much work to get that siding up, and well you're right. All it takes is some measuring, hammer and nails, clippers, and the sidings. Oh! Don't forget about the sexy hard hats.

It doesn't take alot of brain to figure out how to put siding onto the house, it's when you run into little problems. Little problems like things needing to be a straight edge, overlapping too much, windows being off by a little, tiny little siding in small areas, nails not going in, clippers not cutting so easily as scissors to paper, and there were others.

I am definitely not complaining. It was alot of fun doing all of that work. Especially making new friends during the build. Crying together because of how great our God is, to give these people in our community a new home to live in. There was one point that our siding was alittle off, so I felt a little silly because they had to take it off and redo it.

But it was definitely alot of fun. One of the new friends we made that day, was getting a house from Habitat from Humanity. I know one-hundred percent that I am not alone when I say, that we are going back to help build her home.

I heard from someone while I was at Habitat for Humanity that it takes about a month to make this house, and that these houses last longer than most of the other houses on the street. Personally I think that it totally funny and extremely ironic.

Why, you ask? Well the volunteers that are helping especially today, don't care that we are doing this for money. Melinda put it perfectly when she said, "My reward comes from God." God. God is what makes these houses different. All of God's love is put into each and every nook and cranny in these homes, from the shingles on the roof, to the wood floors in the house.

When I heard that these houses last longer than most of the others. It reminded me of two stories in the Bible.

One being the wise man and the foolish man building their homes. And if you know the story, you know the wise man built his house on the stone and it stood firm. The foolish man built his house on the sand and his house was swallowed by the storm. It almost goes to say again, but when Jesus is our cornerstone and what our life is based on, it will stand. Stand through the storms, the cold, the heat, and the peaceful times.

The other story is in Acts, when Peter and the other apostles (Acts 5) got in trouble for speaking the word of God in the city. The counsel told them to never speak of the name of Jesus again, but you know they did speak of Jesus. But when the counsel heard this they wanted to bring them back and punish them. One of the highly respected teachers stood up and mentioned alot of 'prophets' or 'religious leaders' that had followers, but as soon as they died, their followers scattered. Then he said,''So I advise you to stay away from these men. Leave them alone. If what they are planning is something of their own doing, it will fail. But if God is behind it, you cannot stop it anyway, unless you want to fight against God."(Acts 5:38-39a CEV) So basically if it is made by man with all of his foolish desires then it will fail. But if it comes from God, it will not fail and stand solid like the wise man and his house.

So if you haven't done Habitat for Humanity, DO IT! You don't need any experience, cause I didn't, and it turned out great other than a few bumps and bruises along the way. Take friends and just have fun.

Stop Judging Me!

Last night I just finished reading the book of Romans, and of the thingsI learned from reading Romans is...

Who are we to judge or criticize people?

I know that most, if not all, of us that it is not our duty to judge the people we come in contact with. Even though I know it's wrong, sometimes I judge without even thinking sometimes. One time I went to volunteer at some food pantry sometime this summer, honestly. I had to catch myself sometimes and say Laura who are you to judge these people. Think about it, honestly, they are probably happier than you are at times. They are content with the stuff they have. You just bought that mp3 player and you already want another, or that digital camera, it's nice yet you want another. Of course, I step back and see these people the way God does, and well, they are just like me. Beautiful children of a loving heavenly father.

I even believe that sometimes catch myself, who I am go tell the word of God to. Then as I was reading Romans and it was reminding me that God thinks of everyone the same. He has no favorites.

I don't really know what to tell you, when you catch judging or criticizing people, ask our God to forgive you. For God is the only one who will judge, and he will do it fairly because, well he doesn't have favorites.

Someone Brought Me A Helping Of Enjoy Life Pie

Just this last Thursday, I  went to Lawerence with a couple of friends to go to the Granada and go see Underoath. We had been gone inside to buy tickets for the concert before the box office closed. We were just chatting up a storm with the other people waiting to purchase a ticket. It was just fun, we had really sparked up a conversation with one of the girls.

Then we thought, hey why not, let's invite her to hang out. So we did, and she gladly came. Sadly, I look at my life and I would think, if I just met someone for no longer than five minutes, I don't know if I would just grab my stuff and hang with them, even if I didn't have friends around.

But it was just to great to walk, hang out, be ourselves. Be myself without being judged. Weird, I feel like I am going to get judged so much more from my church, and that's another blog for another day. But it was sad to hear that her lease just came up and she was working only on the weekends at a local restaurant, and was pretty much couch hopping. Even though I was, you know, sad. She didn't seem sad at all. It just mainly seemed like she was taking life one day at a time and enjoying every minute of it.

Now that is a real example of one of my favorite quotes, "a stranger's a friend, I haven't met.'

She truely lived that way. After dinner, we went to wait by the door of the concert and well, let's just say she knew alot of people just walking down the street. She just had a likable personality.

And you know I thought on the way home from the concert, if we, my friends who are chrisitans, had any influence on her, by our lives. And yet the more and more I think about it. She taught me a lesson.

She taught me to really, I mean REALLY enjoy life to fullest. Taking it one step at a time, minute by minute, but really loving every minute of it. Even if it is tough and you have to couch surf. Even if it means living paycheck by paycheck, or not even know what tomorrow might bring. Enjoy the now and what's in front of you. That's all that matters.

I mean I have heard it multiple times, what if that smile or that hello changes that person's life. Even if it is ever so slightly. But just a simple acknowledgement would show that there are people that care, or even someone's life. I have heard that someone killed themself, but said if someone smiled or waved or acknowledged them, they would have not done it.

So I challenge you. Enjoy life. Enjoy what's infront of you. For it says in the Bible, 'do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about it self..'

So Enjoy life. Make a new friend. Talk to someone. Really listen to what they have to say.