Nothing is really typical around here

I’d like to take you through a typical *cough* day of me being a homeschooler.

7:45 – I wake up.  As in, I open my eyes hoping that this state of being awake is just a bad dream.  But, alas, as I lay there for a minute or two my brain begins to function.  I begin to remember the mountain of schoolwork that I must complete and all the things I must do before my trip this weekend!  Curse you brain for using your organizational powers on me at this exact moment.  Now I feel obliged to do something productive.  Lately, I’ve been noticing my mood when I wake up and the impact it has on my day.  Like this morning I woke up in an optimistic “I’m going to start fresh and have a good day,” mood.  Whattadifference.

8:15 ish – I walk downstairs, eat cereal, CHEERIOS are the way to go imho, and start school.  Mi madre is really into classical music these days; something about appreciating real talent.  Whatever that means.  Haha.

10:02 - Some people in my family are sick so somehow the baby, 2 yrs, is getting away with watching Thomas the Tank Engine.  Why, when I was a kid, I never got to watch TV in the middle of the day.   

10:15 OK so sometimes I write little love notes to my future husband.  Because I’m a romantic and yesterday was Valentine’s Day.  Hey I’m single and I can do what I want.  Don’t judge me!   

11:30 Lunch break! One of the most beautiful things about being homeschooled is how creative you get to be in the kitchen.  Like today I had a scrumptious salad for lunch with some cookies.  I also *had* to do some things like discuss prom forms for my 3 dates with my mom, brother, and 2 friends.  And I’m pretty sure I talked to my sister somewhere in there.

3:30 School day is technically over.  I did some Macbeth, Woman in White, government, religion and bio.  Now it’s time to babysit!

6:30  Whew.  Why am I so tuckered out after only 3 hours of babysitting? I babysit weekly for a 4 yr old and twins for a family who lives right down the street from my house. C, one of the twins, is soo adorable.  There was this one moment when I was holding him and he just randomly gave me the sweetest kiss on the cheek.  What a ham!  Also, it’s kinda fun and challenging to hold the twins in my arms at the same time.  Don’t worry, I’m careful!

7:30 Doing dishes for 10 people when the dishwasher runs out of room for all the soup bowls is loads of funnn.

8:30  I look in my inbox to find a recruitment questionnaire needs to be filled out for some press conference.  Yipee.  My recruiting coach called and I called him back but I got his voice mail.  Wonderful.  Atleast I get to listen to Taylor Swift’s new song “Safe and Sound” while I write this questionnaire out.  I’m also looking into buying Audrey Assad’s album “Heart”.  From the demos on itunes, all her songs sound really beautiful.  I love authentic Christian artists! 

10:36 Forget that government test.  I need me some Downtown Abbey!  Buying season 1 was a mistake….I’m so obsessed with the time period, characters, COSTUMES, and setting.  I highly highly recommend it!  

10:40 GAH there is so much to do before I leave on Friday morning! 

Today is...

Today is the day that I sign the National Letter of Intent, which binds me to play soccer at Belmont Abbey in the fall.  

Talk about a major decision! 

After much praying, talking, and deliberating it has come down to this:

This is the college I believe God has put a special place for in my heart.

This is where I can see myself being totally fulfilled academically, spiritually, and athletically.  

I'm a little nervous because I'm human and we worry about big decisions, but, at the same time, I know worrying ultimately isn't doing me any good.  It'll just add more pressure and who needs that? Besides, I'm pretty confident next year will be great no matter the challenges or rewards! 

Also, I'd like to give a shout-out to College Girl for selecting me as the winner in her 10,000 post drawing! Thanks for the gift card College Girl! 

Happy Wednesday all! 

March For Life 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYnl7dTjhcg

I shouldn't be blogging.  I should be doing school, but this just made me a little upset.  Very upset.  Let's start with a little quote by these pro-choicers.

"Our life, our right."

Oh boy, let's go to the very beginning.  Sexual Reproduction 101, when the sperm (male gamete with incomplete set of DNA) meets the ovum (female gamete with incomplete set of DNA) a new nucleus is formed with a NEW set of DNA.  Let's look at the 4 criteria for life.
1) All life forms contain DNA.
2)  All life forms must be able to extract and convert energy from surroundings to sustain them.
3) All life forms must sense changes in their surroundings and respond to those changes.
4) All life forms reproduce.

An embryo, in fact, meets all these criteria.

That group of cells that is forming in a woman's body that magically pops out and becomes a baby right as a woman goes through labor and gives birth is ACTUALLY a living human being from the very beginning.


How is that so? From when his/her DNA from the father and mother merge, a new nucleus is formed. Yes, this person has his/her own unique set of DNA.  This person uses energy from the mother to sustain his/her life.  This person senses and responds to changes in his/her surroundings.  Ever see an ultra sound? I have! If moving and having a heart beat isn't sensing surroundings and adapting to the womb than what is? And if you really study the process an embryo undergoes during the stages of pregnancy you can obviously see that his/her cells are reproducing asexually and that the embryo is DEVELOPING.

Thus, we can only conclude that this blob of cells is actually a baby.  A person.  With their own unique set of DNA.

To me, it is illogical to presume that getting rid of (killing) a person with a unique set of DNA is NOT murder.  Abortion is wrong because it is murdering an innocent life.
And I understand that it's scary and you feel alone when you are faced with an unwanted pregnancy.  But there IS help! So many resources like project Gabriel are available to women who want to put their child up for adoption or need funds.  Women do regret abortion.  And we have help for that too, such as project Rachel.

Being pro-choice means you have the ability to make good and bad choices.  Being pro-life means that you stand up AGINST the bad choices and fight for the good.  It means you are FOR life; that you honor and respect that all man are created equal.  From the moment of being created we all have a right to live in an equal manner as any other human being until we naturally die. No life, no matter how small or undeveloped, is a bad choice.  Life is a very good choice!  After all, the only people who claim that life is a bad choice are people who have chosen to live!

As Fr. Pilan says, "Death cannot drive out death; only life can drive out death."  Only the voice of the living is going to stand up for the voice of the dead, or those who cannot speak.  Just because they haven't fully formed and been born does not mean their right to live is not equal to ours!

So the answer to "Our life, our right." Is simply: it's not your life at stake here! It's not YOUR right to take away a life! To murder!

"Pro-life that's a lie you don't care if women die"

Hold on!  Being pro-life doesn't equal not caring if woman die.  We do care; hence why our name is FOR life.  Pro=for.  We are for life! We are for all men being created equal! We are for standing up for the innocent so that they are not murdered! We are for helping women so that their souls and bodies don't die!

This video is created by the Washington Times and I thought it was pretty well done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLEbw-cLuGA

hello world

How ya been?
Good to see you my old familiar friend!

Yes, that's a Lady Antebellum song.

This is going to be quick, but I just wanted to update ya'll on what I've been up to the past few weeks.

The week after Christmas was spent with my mom's side of the family.  We had a wonderful time surprising my Great Grandma for her 95th birthday.  It was a mini reunion and I loved being able to see cousins, aunts, uncles, and nana.  One thing these reunions always show me is how different, unique, and awesome my family is.  We had a great time and a great party with lots of love, laughter and cameras!

Last week, I went skiing for the second time in my life and got to conquer a black diamond.  My brother, L, went for the first time.  It was pretty cool to see him go from never having skied before to mastering a black diamond.  That trip was spent with great friends and good memories!

This week, unfortunately, has been more depressing as I have to get back to reality and catch up on some school work.  That and being sick hasn't made this week the best.  *sigh* I miss Christmas already! Don't we all?

TTFN
ta ta for now!

Robyn

Surprise and Decorating

Just wanted to pop in here and say that today my family is decorating for Christmas.  Which is kinda cool except, currently, there is a saw (yes, an actual saw) in my house as we are trying to set up our Christmas tree...fun times.  And I still need to finish Christmas shopping.

In other news, I've officially selected my College for fall 2012.

*Drum Roll*

Belmont Abbey!!!

:D

I'm so excited about this guys! I got into soccer there and I'm pretty psyched.  It's a division 2 Catholic School.

Thanks to all who have been so supportive of me following this dream, especially my parents.  My coaches for travel were also extremely supportive! I couldn't have done this without them.   As soon as I texted one, they started calling me, congratulating me, telling me "I told you," and than sending out an embarrassing email to my whole team.   Today at practice, they made this big announcement.  It was embarrassing to say the least, but I still love them to death and they love "the Hammer".  At before mentioned practice, my coach comes up to me and says, "Give me some," I'm like, "What?" and he's like "Don't you know what that means?" Than he opens his arms and I'm like, "Oh you wanna hug"...haha.  Like I said, they are totally supportive.

So I'm feeling very very happy and totally at peace with this choice.

Merry Christmas!

Robyn

Feel that?

If there is one thing I've learned in my short life it's this: Time is very very precious.  It's not something to be taken for granted.  The relationships you build and the lives you impact with your time portray your character more than words ever can.

"Time is so old and love so brief / Love is pure gold and time a thief" Speak Low ~  Norah Jones and Tony Bennet


Making the most of our time is a struggle each and every day.  It is a good and honorable struggle.  For me, time seems to drag along some days and now, especially during the Christmas season, it seems to fly by.  I just want to take this time to relish in the joy of the season and the fact that God has a plan for each and every one of us to use HIS time in HIS way.

It is a fact - God cares.  He is Love.


Here's to learning how to give our time to God. 


Feel that? It's called peace and it stems from God's Love.  

An Explanation

I don't think I've told ya'll why I like the picture in the header of my blog so much.  I've already said that I am an amateur photographer and this is one of my pictures.  But there is a more specific reason why I chose it for my blog.

First of all, I think it's different.  You see a unique view of the flower that is normally not shown.  In my opinion, the back of the flower is the least attractive part of it. So why did I choose that to be the header, the focus, of my blog? Am I nuts? Why didn't I pick something like these?

Well, The reason why I picked this specific picture is because, in this adventure called life, I feel like sometimes (a lot of times) we are missing the focal point of the bigger picture.   We are forgetting to lift our eyes up to the Lord like the flowers.  We forget to see Him in all the beauty that surrounds us.

In other words, I just think my picture is purty.

Anyway, that's the story behind the picture!
Have a Blessed Advent Season everybody!

XOXO, Robyn