Success

George Washington Carver once said, "It is simply service that measures success." Sometimes, I look at my life and my plans for the future and I wonder what I'll think of it all at the end of my life. If everything went according to plan, would I look back and be happy with how I lived my life? Would I feel I had anything to show for my years on earth? Anything worthy of being remembered by future generations?

All of these questions are founded on the simple root question, "what is success?" I have already disregarded the idea that success is measured in the amount of material wealth one can amass. That definition seems too shallow and empty to be true. But is success really measured by service as Carver says? While this belief clearly worked well for Carver, is it an overarching principle of life?

This morning I was reading in Matthew chapter 20 and came across verse 26, "... whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant." While the context of this verse is that of greatness of position or authority, I think it can also be applied to personal greatness.
What makes an individual great according to the Bible? Who are the successful ones according to God's Word? Well, the aforementioned verse says that it is those who are servants. Hebrews 11 says that it's those who have faith. Overall, I think it's safe to say that Biblical success involves losing your life that you may find it, loving God and loving others, being a servant to all, and obeying God in trusting faith.

So can success really be boiled down to just service? I think maybe it can. After all, what is service except love embodied in action? With this definition of service, loving God and loving others is encompassed in serving God through trusting obedience and serving others as we wish to be served. The only part of what I mentioned as Biblical success not covered here is our salvation. But then again, that really isn't our success to claim; it's Christ's success over sin and death.

Now, if I were to accept this idea as true and live a life of service, would I then be able to look back and see anything worthy of being remembered by others? There is no guarantee that I will. In all likelihood, there is a strong probability that I will be completely forgotten by history and by my family's descendants. But at the same time, I know that my actions will not be forgotten by God. So perhaps I should not worry about being remembered by man, who is fragile and fleeting, but rather about how I will be remembered by God, who is eternal and steadfast. I think that will be more than enough, even for a history major like me.

KAVALENA!!!! :)

hi everyone!sorry i havent posted in a while, but i've been busy with all sorts of schoolwork.
and even now, i should probably be doing homework.
but this is a worthy enough cause for me to spend time blogging about.
recently, my sister (val) started a business. but it's far more exciting than just that. this business is called Kavalena (combo of my sister's and my names :)) and it's where my sister sells the beautiful scarves she makes. she then takes 50% of what she makes and gives it to a christian organization that takes care of children with cerebral palsy and autism in china. how cool is that?

her scarves are absolutely beautiful and very reasonably priced. so you should definitely check out her totally legit website.
http://www.kavalena.com/#!shop
http://www.facebook.com/Kavalena?ref=notif&notif_t=fbpage_fan_invite&sk=wall#!/Kavalena
i'm so proud of my sister and want to do anything i can to help her. would you help me to do that by checking out her facebook and liking her page? and if you want to buy a scarf, that'd be even better! :) (after all, winter and christmas are right around the corner ;))

Not-So-Naked Door

i've been at my new christian college for a month now. and in that time, my roommate and i had not put a single decoration on our door, thus making it naked.
lately, my roomie and i had been talking about fixing this.
vanessa decided to put together a cute board with our names on it and a cool poem. but while that's being made, i was given permission to temporarily "fix" our naked door problem.
and what do you do when something is naked? you censor it :)

so here is our lovely censored door. complete with a yellow label reading "the naked door"

ironically enough, it was censored because it was naked, yet because it's censored it is no longer naked ;)

How to Spin Yarn!

Although i'm pretty good at spinning yarns, that isnt the kind of yarn spinning this post is about.
In this, my second pioneer post, i'll be passing along the knowledge of how to turn fibers into yarn.
However, as i studied this new skill, i realized that i would never be able to describe it with words well enough for you to be able to spin yarn too.
so instead, i'm just going to post these videos which totally shows you how to do it.
if you want to learn more about it, look it up on youtube.

have fun making yarn/thread!
until next time, happy pioneer...time!

random thoughts

here are a few random thoughts i've had in the past few weeks:

sometimes i wish i were a livestock veternarian. then i would have a legitimate reason to walk into a goat barn and ask "who are we kidding?". unfortunately, the making of lame puns is not a sufficient reason to go through all the schooling to become a livestock vet.

i believe in love at first sight. but just because there is love at first sight does not mean there will be love at second sight, fourth sight, or forty-seventh sight. there is more to maintaining a loving relationship than mere vision.

my roommate is awesome. for many reasons. one of which being that she's talking to her mom right now and she totally just used the term "ventral medial hypothalamus" in casual conversation. (she's a nursing major, and her mom's a nurse, so they both understood what that is. but me, i'm a history education major. so i'm super impressed.)

Mightily Blessed Woman

it is now the end of the most wonderful birthday i've ever had.
yes, graduating from teen-hood is pretty special, and yes, i did get some pretty great presents, but what has impressed me most on this day has been how truely blessed i am.

God has blessed me outrageously.
i am not only blessed, i am mightily blessed.
not only has God given me salvation through His Son, and given me a great comforter and counselor in the Holy Spirit, He has also given me the special blessing of a fantastic family and incredible friends.

this morning, i was reading in 2 Samuel about Amnon and how he loved Tamar (Absalom's sister). but amnon didn't have a great friend. instead, he had a friend who gave him horrible advice which led amnon to do horrible things which ultimately resulted in his death. it's really not a pleasant story, but it reminded me of how important having good friends can be. a good friend can bring joy and life, while a bad friend can bring sorrow and death.

i am so thankful for the amazing friends with which God has filled my life. i could never express in words just how much they have blessed me and have filled my life with joy. i only wish i could bless them as much as they have blessed me. in fact, it is because of my friends that this has been the best birthday ever.
i woke up to a birthday text and voicemail, and then for the rest of the day i kept getting birthday texts and cards and wall posts and messages and emails and ecards. i honestly had never realized just how many friends i have now. but i am thankful for every single one of them.

i feel like David in Psalm 23. for my Shepherd has been very good to me, and the cup of my life is overflowing with blessings.

thank you to all of you who are my friends. i love you, i appreciate you, and i am blessed to have you :)
i just wanted to let you know that i know that :)
may God bless you as much as He has blessed me. and hopefully, i'll get to be a part of how He does it :)

Best Present EVER!!

today is my birthday :)
as such, it's a day to finally open presents.
about a week ago, i got a mysterious birthday present from my fantastic friend aimee. (I LOVE YOU AIMEE!) this is a rare thing for me, because i'm usually the one who picks out my presents and therefore am not curious as to what they are. but with aimee's gift, it was a total conundrum. i very much wanted to open it right when i got it, but my mom insisted that i wait until my birthday.

so it wasnt until today that i opened the best birthday present i have ever recieved.
now i just want to take a moment to say that i'm in no way implying that i do not love or appreciate the other wonderful birthday presents i've received over the years. they were fantastic as well. but once i describe this present, you'll understand. but again, this in no way devalues the presents i've received in the past or will receive in the future.

when i opened the package just now, i had about 7 different almost nervous breakdowns with how amazed and excited i was. in fact, i think i discovered a brand new emotion, rarely encountered by man before. but as it defies words, i havent named it yet. i was jumping and dancing around with my eyes wide and my smile wider. i'm very glad that i did not wait to open it at my birthday dinner tonight. it totally wouldve embarrased my family about their gifts to me.
i could go on, but i think i should describe what it is now.

it's the most fantastic homemade apron ever! it has a bajillion multicolored multishaped pockets (12, actually)! and it's even reversable!!!! so it's like she gave me 2 incredibly fantastic aprons!!! 1 side has a ton of pockets, and the other is super cute and has secret pockets (because you cant see the pockets on the other side but can still use them!)!!
this apron encompasses so many of my favorite things. i love pockets, i love things that are tiny and will fit perfectly in these pockets, i love colors, i love secret pockets, i adore homemade gifts, i love notes (which were in every pocket :)), i love aprons, i love to cook, i love being prepared for random things, and i love doing pioneer stuff (which this apron is perfectly suited for).

i have decided that every pioneer post i do from here on will be researched and written while wearing this apron. it will also be perfect for when i make my hats :) (i'm always misplacing my scissors and crochet hook).

thank you so much aimee!!!!! i absolutely love it! :) it is the best present i have ever received (other than salvation... and the gift of the holy spirit... and my mom giving me life...).