-Insert Catchy Title Here-

Ok, first blog of summer break, AND I made something!

Excuse my webcam.
So why did I drill a hole through an Oklahoma quarter? Let me tell you the story.
Back in August, I went to a 12-day apologetics conference in Wisconsin. Near the end of the trip, I realized I really needed to do laundry. I took the last 3 dollars I had to my name and made the 5 minute walk to the laundry building. I stuck my quarters in their slots, pushed the lever...and nothing happened. The machine ate my quarters. I tried another machine, and it ate half my quarters. There was no attendant to be found, so I abandoned my clothes. After about 15 more minutes of walking and no more quarters, I made my way to the staff office at our part of the camp. I asked them to turn my last dollar into quarters so I could just do some laundry. One of the staff members, Todd, told me to follow him out to his car. He dug around inside for a bit and pulled out about $1.75 in quarters. When I tried to give him my dollar, he wouldn't take it. He leaned against his car and said, "You know, the first Church was really generous with what they had. If they had something they didn't need, they gave it to someone who needed it. And I just think people should be more like that." I thanked him for the quarters and mulled over the idea. Since he had given me more than I needed, I stuck the extra quarter in my wallet, thinking I'd wait to give it to someone who needs it. From the end of August 'till now, anytime someone has needed spare change, I've given it to them if I could. And somehow, I've always had enough to where I've never had to give away that same quarter Todd gave me. It's always reminded me to be generous where I could. Which reminds me of two of my friends who, ironically, are both in Oklahoma at the time I write this.
Ryan and Clay probably don't look like friendly, loving guys to the typical person, but trust me. These two are pretty rad. I'm lucky enough to consider them brothers. Recently, I was hanging out with Ryan before he left to go visit Clay in OK. He kept offering me things that he didn't have a need for, and his generosity sticks with me every day. Clay is willing to open his home to Ryan and his traveling companion, Scott. Today, I was talking to Ryan about how much money I would need to have to camp with them at Cornerstone this year. Clay told me to give what I could, even if it was nothing, and I'd be taken care of. And the thing is, I know I would be. Those two would make sure I had a place to stay and food in my belly.
So that is why I have an Oklahoma quarter around my neck. Every day, I do and say selfish things, but hopefully seeing this more often will remind me of the generosity of the people around me. One can only hope, right?

-Laura

Well Then...

Hey everyone(All 4 of you C: )
Once again, I've decided to take another stab at this blogging deal. I found out I might get to blog for Cornerstone so I decided I better dust off my writing.
So where have I been? School. Church. New friends. IAC. Taking pictures. But all that in good time. I could write really long posts about all of those, and I'm sure I will in due time.
Tomorrow and Thursday are my finals for this semester. In light of that, I got home last night and wrote a list of summer goals. I'm giving you all permission to kick my butt into gear if I fail at these.
Summer 2011
-Write something, even one line, every day.
-Blog once a week.
-Read more books from Summit.
-Play violin at last one a week.
-Play piano at least every other day.
-Learn more about shooting with 35mm film.
-Build a TLR and a Battlefield.
-Organize great shows.
-Listen to two or more podcasts a week.
-Make something at least once a week.
-Shoot no less than one roll of film in my pinhole camera a month(May, June, July).
-Hand write one letter a week.
-Get prints made and start developing a portfolio.
-Start getting rid of excess stuff.
-Sight read/ear train (Music theory stuff) once a week.
-No less than 150 situps a week(Someone dared me to this, so thats why it's in here.)
-Celebrate my birthday, since I'll actually be home.
-Have a bonfire or two.
-Add to the collage on my bedroom wall.
-Meet more Arrows(I'll explain that later).
-Contact LPHS and OTHS about job shadowing(Guidance Counselor. Heck yeah, I changed my major again.)
-Save no less than 10% or every paycheck.
-Find an effective way to save digital photo files to hardcopy.
-Build Rodney's girlfriend.
-Street art(Huge rasterbated photos, knitted graffiti, etc.)
-Work on my pseudo-fiction piece at least once a week.
-Spend a day in Chicago.

Sounds pretty do-able, right? Only one way to find out!

"Faith in God, Then We’re Right."

On Sunday, one of my favorite people ever is leaving.


My best guy friend, John, is shipping out for basic Army training, and I'm super proud of him.
But with that, I also know I'm gonna miss the crap out of him.
If you guys could keep him in your prayers, that would be fantastic.
Thanks,
LR

Finally

Soooooo I got a mohawk. Yes, for real. I cut the sides of my hair real short.
Want some proof?






Spiked with shaving cream!


Yup! It's beautiful and I love it! I'm gonna get it cut shorter so I can actually spike it.
Love it?

If I Can't Play For Them, I'll Blog For Them!

Hey guys! Man, I sure do suck at updating this thing. So many amazing things have happened that I can't wait to tell you about!
One of the COOLEST things was being picked as an official Cornerstone Festival blogger! That's right! I got to be a part of a team whose sole purpose was to write about an experience that words simply cannot express. Impossible task? Yes, but we sure were up for it! Here are the links to the posts I wrote!
http://www.cornerstonefestival.com/blog/?p=491
http://www.cornerstonefestival.com/blog/?p=499
http://www.cornerstonefestival.com/blog/?p=520
http://www.cornerstonefestival.com/blog/?p=732

Enjoy these! I hope to be back writing soon!
Love you all,
LauraREBEL

I Know, This Is Lame

Guys, seriously. I feel like an idiot for not writing. Not that I get a ton of feedback, but for my 4 readers, I need to keep putting stuff out there.
I found these old blogs I wrote about a year ago about my thoughts on love. I figured Id share them since I was real keen on them at the time I wrote them.

...I Began To Wonder If Love Will Ever Hold Me...
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Thursday, April 16, 2009 at 10:51pm
Being post-breakup is teaching me a lot. God is taking me by the shoulders and in between hugs is shaking some sense into me, and I love it. In trying to avoid rebounding and the like, I've found a guy that is my best guy friend and like a brother to me. He challenges me to get in my Bible and fall in love with Jesus over and over just like Ty said I should.
Whoops, I'm getting off subject. Anyway.
We've been considering a relationship because we see healthy potentials there, but God has been putting up a roadblock. A big yellow sign that says "Hey, you two, Wait." In this season of waiting, I've gotten to do a lot of self evaluation, and I've found so many unhealthy flaws that carry over to my relationships, and I'm trying to work on those.
Also, I got myself a copy of The Thing That Poets Write About by Bradley Hathaway. I was at my grandma's house, just me and Isaiah, listening to this cd. This guy writes all these sad love songs that you can find your own pain in. I looked around at the wedding pictures and 50th anniversary pictures and I was listening to these sad songs about real love and thinking about the family that lived in this house...and I realized that I have no personal concept of love. Don't get me wrong, I've seen it in good marriages, and I've and some really good boyfriends, but I honestly don't think I've experienced real romantic love.
And as I was sitting there, mulling over this idea, listening to these sad songs, and I can't really explain how I felt. But now, I want to know what it is.
I was reading in Song of Solomon where it says, "Don't awaken love until it so desires" and I'm trying to take that to heart and see how it applies to me.
Let's back up to where I said "falling in love with Jesus over and over just like Ty said." About three weeks ago, I was sitting in CCC's youth group. and Chad asked who trusted God. I looked around the room and saw everyone with their hands up. But it didnt matter that they did, I could not raise my hand and be honest with myself. After that night, I just started digging into God's word and talking about God with Travis. In those three-ish weeks, its been amazing. i cant describe the turn-around. God is so good, and every day is beautiful. I want to write a million songs about it, because its love. Beautiful, true, passionate, raw, redeeming love. And He teaches me what love really is. I wish I could share this all with you.
I don't know if I'm making a point or even making any sense, but I thought I would try to explain my thought process.

Then a little while later, I wrote this one. This was when I had just started a relationship with Travis(The Foremans are his family, FYI)

I'm really enjoying all this thinking about how I don't get love. So I decided I'm going to write about it again. Thats why this is called "You Wont Want To Read This."
I've been trying to so some serious thinking about love. Not the cute gooey stuff that teen couples have(Don't get me wrong, I love that kind), but the real lasting kind. The kind it takes to make it "to death do us part."
I've been able to see great marriages around me all my life, and I've seen how deeply and truly they can be hurt, and I've seen what it takes to fix them. And I've realized that, contrary to what I previously believed, the "love" I've experienced in past relationship was nowhere near the real stuff. Shockingly, I'm ok with that. Actually, I'm pretty excited about it.
When we walked into the prom, two of the Foreman's family friends came running up to us and the young lady stuck out her left hand and showed off her engagement ring. I added her on Facebook and got to look at the engagement pictures of her and her fiance. They are entering into that real kind of love, and even though I hardly know them, I'm excited for them and its great to see.
It happened again. I was sitting in Travis's living room thinking about the conversation we had had with them earlier that day about relationships and how they looked at each other, or when Mr Foreman kissed his wife(I wasn't watching, sicko, it happened to catch my eye). I was thinking about the challenges they've had in raising four great kids and everything that had taken place in this house. I could see if between them, and I felt really blessed to just be in the presence of that. It makes me really excited for if/when I get to know that.
I'm not saying I'll learn this real love with Travis, or anyone within the next five, ten, or twenty years, but it was great to think about the mystery it is.
I can hardly wait.

I still think of Mr. and Mrs. Foreman quite a lot, even though their son and I are no longer together.They're really an amazing couple, and even though theyre not in my life very much anymore, I still love them so much,

So, I encourage you to go get a copy of The Thing That Poets Write About, The Thing That Singers Sing About and just sit down and listen to it all the way through(I just loaned my copy to my current romance interest. Im so excited for his thoughts!). Let it let you think. And if you hate it, well, then you dont have to trust my taste in music ever again.

Look up, look up, look up into the sky, love.
You see that moon shining so high up above us?
It rolls around on account of a bunch of scientific stuff,
I like to think He does it just because He loves us.

Just A Thought

(Ill be posting soon! I promise! Maybe Ill talk about...stick and poke?)

"...Everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt." - Sylvia Plath