What a day to appreciate.

there is beauty in reading books of old. and sometimes i wish i could hop right into them. i imagine myself living in olden times. and what it would be like for everyone to know the same dances at parties. and the feeling of wearing a dress everyday. w curly hair.

i want to be in the woods. with the wolves. only the nice ones.

im not capitalizing any of the letters that should be capitalized in this post. i just dont feel like it.

rats. thats whats on my mind. carolina on my mind. carolina rats on my mind.

The Lord is always teaching me how to love better. Sometimes there are more opportunities than I wish. I have such a desire to love well so maybe that's why he's giving me all the opportunities. Maybe I should change that word to chances. Or openings. Sometimes when I get frustrated at people I have to think of them as a gift. An opening to make myself better. But do I really have this attitude when the test comes?

He who does not love abides in death.

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

Love MORE.

Ive wondered. Is it true that nobody wants to hear your dreams unless you're in them? Is that the same for blog posts? Likely. Plus its my blog anyways. So Im telling you. I guess it lies in your hands since you're the one reading. I had a dream last night that I was fighting a lot of people. I had never seen them before. Im not going to tell you the dream in its entirety bc I know you wouldn't care. I'll get straight to the point. Every time one of the fighters threw their sword at me it turned to nerf and I caught it and threw it back. Of course, when I threw it, it turned back to sword. And I'll leave you with that. No wait, Im immortal. And I'll leave you with that. After I say a few more things...

I might be able to explain why I had this dream. Im started a Trilogy called The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Its about the future. In the book people fight in an arena. My dream didn't take place in an arena.

My teacher just sang in class. It blessed my soul. Hes got the guts.

First blog of the new year. Pressure. I was debating about making this post serious or lighthearted. Im going w both.

Ive been thinking a lot about myself since the end of December. Ive been thinking about who I want to become this year. I heard a sermon from Andy Stanley a while back and everyday these words come to my mind. "It is a mistake to decide what you want to do before determining who you want to be bc at the end of the day who you want to be will ultimately determine what you will do." Sometimes I get these out of order. His challenge brought lots of time and thought. Challenge: make a small list of character traits that you would want people to talk about at your funeral. Im probably taking this more seriously than I should but I have come up with 2 since the beginning of this month. After much thought on those 2 I have noticed a difference in the way I treat people. Try it.

One of my most favorite things is writing and receiving letters. or receiving and writing letters.

Ive been watching a lot of the Australian Open. I want to be like Federer. and wear bandanas all the time. I play a lot w my Vietnamese friend at school. He makes me feel like Im in the Australian Open. He could be if he wanted to.

Ive been working on a new kids book involving el guapo, my fish, and his tricks. It might win a lot of prizes. It might not.

I really dont like new semesters. Overwhelming. Especially for a person my size.

Music inspires me. A new song: Take Me Home by Phil Collins. Listen to it. Feel it. Its tangible.