Per GR's request, I am going to conduct a Top Ten Tuesday. Seeing as it is Halloween, let's stick with that topic...

You must pick the costume that you most likely would, at your current age, pick to dress up as and go trick-or-treating in if a big group of your friends decided to go.

Top Ten Halloween Costumes
1. The color white
2. A giant bowl of popcorn
3. Beast from "Beauty and the Beast"
4. Big Bird
5. A rainbow
6. An elephant
7. Lloyd
8. a blue M&M
9. Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon
10. A Christmas tree

Pick one... just one, now. I know the choies are good, so try to narrow it down. :) I had the help of some of my friends in coming up with the choices. Vote away, and have a great day!

Love you all. T

I rolled over in bed this morning and glanced out the window, only to let an overwhleming sense of bright sunny blue envelope me and tempt me to get up. If I was a crowd of people watching fireworks, I would have "Ooed" and "Ahhed" about the amazing contrast of the vivid orange and yellow leaves against the Fall day sky. My joy was not yet over...


After a bowl of Golden Grahams, I took my camera outside to finish a photo lighting assignment, but I couldn't resist. I grabbed my Canon and begtan snapping away, capturing close-ups of the Fall flowers prospering in my mom's garden. The aroma of pumpkin was evident in the air, and the crisp day cooled me and allowed for a very refreshing feeling as I made my rounds in the backyard.

I felt in my element as I shot photographs of flowers. There is something about zooming in so deeply on a tiny little colorful flower and bringing vibrance and life to its presence that would have never been captured with a scanning, un-assuming eye. I thrive off of bringing something spectacular out of ordinary objects. It is my passion, not only with flowers but with any picture. I often look out the window of my car and see scenery and objects in terms of pictures rather in terms of what is really there.

Photography brings for me an outlet, and it's an important one, because it lets me capture memories and visuals. The other day, someone said to me, "I noticed you take A LOT of pictures. I think that's great-- but, what are you going to do with all these pictures when you're older?"


I love questions like these! I told her that first and foremost, it is essential for me to take pictures in order to liven memories. Often, if I don't take a picture of the event, I don't remember it very well. Pictures allow me to "re-live" the exciting times again and again, and this reinforcement in my mind helps my memory. Also, I don't just print my pictures and then let them sit and collect dust in shoe boxes. I hang them up, share them, give them away, print them in bigger sizes to be framed, archive them in albums, use them in movies, and sometime in the hopeful near future, sell them.


I am not going to school to be a photographer. I feel like it comes as more of a hobby to me, and it is there to enhance and add to what I AM learning about- media, design, and communication.

I thank God for His beautiful creation, from everything to the tiniest flower to the most vivacious and friendly person. It is all picture-worthy, and the beauty of it is owed to Him!

I love you all, T

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

A good perspective to keep...

Day by day, we are being RENEWED on the inside. When we die, what will we take with us? What will count? Where do we spend most of our time... nurturing the materials that will burn and rot away, and that will not accompany us to Heaven, or practicing and bearing fruit that will produce for us treasure in Heaven?

Love you all, T

My blog is stale.

I have let it sit in the cupboard too long, and now it is dull, flavorless, and ignored.

It has been awhile since I last posted because my time is precious these days, and unforunately, or perhaps fortunately, blogging has fallen to the bottom of the to-do list.

Today started off cloudy and cold, and has now developed into a blue sky beauty. My spirits are high because my afternoon class has been cancelled, which frees up a whole afternoon for me to enjoy. I just finished peanutbutter and honey with banana slices on toast, all while talking to room mates and friends and listening to jazz.

Since it just so happens to be a Tuesday, I am going to throw in a Top Ten for everyone...

On Monday night, we had game night at the Willow House (new name for the previous T House + Steph and Abby). We started off with a couple of board games and ended up bringing the whole group together at the end for a game of "I Have Never." Most of you know that this game is played by starting someone off in the center who says, "I have never..." and then fills in the blank with something they have never done. Everyone who is seated who HAS done this must get up and find a new seat, all while the person in middle frantically tries to find a free space to sit down. One person will always end up in the middle, and then has to make a new "I have never" statement. This is one of those games that is fun to play, sometimes even aggressive, but really has no end goal or final winner other than someone brave enough to say, "I have never been so sick of this game" and ends it.

Anyway, my theme for Top Ten will be 10 "I have never..." statements by myself, and you can all pick one that you HAVE done and tell a story about it. Essentially, we are playing the blog version of the game. Except that you don't have to worry about finding a seat.

I have never...

1. Been to Hawaii

2. Received a speeding ticket

3. Enjoyed mushrooms, olives, or seafood

4. Had younger siblings

5. Gone sky diving or rocky mountain climbing

6. Had permanantly straight hair

7. Missed a trip to DQ in the summer

8. Lived without a pet cat

9. Seen Forrest Gump all the way through

10. Been to Heaven, but someday I will go there...

Love you all. T

"What is a miracle?"

Last night, we had girl's bible study at our house, and I led a group of girls in a study centered around "God is Speaking... Are we Listening?" The central theme was that often, we misinterpret God's "silence" as Him being completely absent, or not caring. Too often, we disregard what the Lord is really trying to say to us because it is not what we want to hear or when we want to hear it. Yet what we forget is that God's most powerful messages come through a still, small voice. Sure. God could write it in fireworks up in the black night sky. He could reach down and quake the earth as easy as we can break a cracker. He could spell out His will for our lives with daisies in an open field. But more often than not, He chooses the silent whisper of the wind, the soft encouragement of a friend, or the gentle hug of a parent to speak to us. Are we hearing it?

I started off with a question that was brought out at one point in our group. "What is a miracle," one girl wanted to know. What defines it? Why did God choose to speak through miraculous wonders so often in the Old Testament, and what constitutes it?

A MIRACLE, according to my Bible's concordance, is a "divine act, unexplainable by the laws of nature."

Science tries to explain away everything that exists. Searching deep within the heart of science allows us to give meaning and logic to WHY things work the way they do, whereas before, we lived perfectly fine without knowing and had faith in the God who created it. I am in a Genetics course, and as I journey back through the makeup of the smallest unit that makes up everything that is living- the cell- I am amazed again and again at how intricate our human bodies really are. I came to the conclusion that God is very creative! For these amazing units to work together to form a living, breathing soul, a miracle must take place. We hear, "every baby is a miracle." That means that you are a living, breathing miracle and testament of God's love... He created you in your mother's womb, and knows your every detail. Not only that, but he CARES about what you think. He may have different plans for you than you do, but He wants to know your thoughts. That is why we pray.

We pray to God- why? Sure, we have requests. But the focus is on His kingdom, and not our own.

This morning, I was reading in 1 Corinthians and a verse stuck out to me that I had previously highlighted: "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power."

We all talk A LOT. Even as Christians, there is a lot of edifying TALK that goes on. We go to church on Sunday and hear ministers talk to us. We fellowship with others. We go to girl's and guy's bible studies and Wednesday church and singings and church activities, and we talk and are uplifted at all of these events which are SO very important. Yet, how easy it is to let this TALK constitue the larger portion of our life and forgetting to let the POWER of the Holy Spirit work through us on a daily basis. Many of us do both, and our balance is amazing, but I know for me... sometimes finding that happy medium is difficult. Sometimes, attending all of the uplifting events and talking about what could be takes place of just going out and doing it. My prayer for all of us is that we can learn to make use of the power that is available to us through Christ Jesus to further His kingdom, and that all of the talk that we do that is so encouraging can serve as a springboard to do it!

I love you all, and thanks for reading. T

Announcement: Anyone interested in seeing pictures from the Labor Day weekend in Michigan (if you, perhaps, went on that trip and want to relive the excellent glory), please head over to Kristi's blog, as she has some great pictures posted.

Answers from my previous Tuesday's Top Ten:
1. T
2. B
3. C
4. B
5. C
6. C (note- when I calculated the %, I took into account all 6 of us. No trick intended)
7. A
8. B
9. A
10. A

Today's Inspiration:
Romans 12
1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

3For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Could we get through the day succesfully without God's grace? Probably not. Yet let's remember who He gives it to- the humble. Step forth with a renewed mind today and let the Spirit lead you within the AMAZING will that He has planned for your life.

Love you all, T

Guess what... it's that time of Tuesday again... time for a Top Ten!!

Today's Top Ten is better titled "Top Ten Who's of Random Trivia." Test yourself on the top ten trivia and see how well you do... post your answers. Winner gets a surprise.

True or False
1. Central Illinois is "the center of the universe" (socially).

2. Who wants to help me make m&m pancakes?
a. Tricia b. Steph c. no one- everyone thinks they sound gross

3. Who is my life-long Euchre partner?
a. Kristi b. Gab c. Cody

4. Which one of my friends wanted me to do a "Top Ten Reasons Friends with Condos in Morton Rock?"
a. Tony b. Luke c. Cody

5. Which one of my friends wanted me to do a "Top Ten" on Euchre?
a. Cody b. Kristi c. Kenton

6. What percentage of my room mates is going to be a teacher?
a. 33% b. 50% c. 66%

7. Who's arm is pictured holding the ipod in this picture?
a. Gab's b. Tricia's c. Laura's



8. Who is driving?
a. Gab b. Tammy c. me

9. Who ate the peanutbutter cup?
a. Gab b. Tammy c. me

10. Who's Yankee cap did I wear today?
a. Abby's b. Tricia's c. Steph's

Love you all. Happy guessing. Sorry it's not very exciting-- any new top ten tuesday ideas would be welcome. I'm sure there are things I have never thought of... T