Love,Heartaches, and Hope.... Part 1

Hey y'all! It's been a lonnnnng time since my last post! So much has happened in the last nine months and i want to tell y'all all about it. But today I have something very specific I want to talk about.... Love!!! <3 I think this might end up being like a three part post so you'll have to keep reading to get the whole scoop ;) But today I'm going to talk about one specific aspect of love and then in the following posts we'll explore some other aspects of love. Soooo here we go....

Love is a choice. We choose who we will love, and we choose to love all different types of people. Love is comes in many different forms also. But i think the moment you fall IN LOVE with someone is when you realize just how much that person means to you. You realize that if you ever lost the person you love, it would kill you. Love is a great deal of different things, but love comes straight from the heart pulsing in your chest. Love is REAL!

I am not an aficionado of love by any means, but everything I know about love comes from experience. I've had two great loves in my life so far. The first one I just fell in love without really even knowing it...it just happened. He was incredible! Funny, handsome, charming....just amazing! He made me so happy like everyday. He made me feel great! I never dated the kid and i guess there was a reason for that, but we had a natural physical attraction toward eachother. My biggest mistake though was that I mistook his physical attraction to me as love....it definitely was not love on his part! But I fell in love anyways. I cared about him. I knew that if I were to lose him it would break my heart. I built my whole future around him. I had my heart set on marrying him and having his kids. I didn't see a bright and beautiful future for myself, but with him in mind my whole future got a little bit brighter. If he would've asked me to go to the moon and bring a piece of it back for him, I would have...well I would have tried anyway. He was the love of my life!

So what happened you might ask? Well, it's like I said, he didn't love me. He started dating another girl. Basicly he told me I wasn't good enough to be his girlfriend. Major blow to anybody, but it was especially hurtful to me. All I ever did was try to make him happy and tried to be good enough for him. Needless to say I was completely heartbroken! And as anybody who has ever had a broken heart knows, it was AWFUL!! There is a reason it is called heartBREAK. Because just like any other part of your body that breaks, it hurts BADLY when it gets broken and it continues to hurt until it gets healed. For someone who may be reading this who has never had a broken heart, I'll try to explain what it's like as best as I can. It may not be the same for everyone, but I cry...ALOT. I cry out of pain, and sadness, and anger. The painful cry is probably the worst because you're in so much pain you kinda do a half scream/cry. I don't really have the words to describe it, but you'll know it if/when you feel it. In my personal opinion NO ONE deserves to go through the pain of a broken heart. Not one soul...ever! I wouldn't even wish a broken heart on my worst enemy. I wish I could protect everyone from the pain. But where there is love there is heartache.

Anyway after that particular heartbreak I swore never to let myself fall in love again. I decided i would rather be the heartbreaker than the one getting the heartbroken. So when I met the second heartbreak of my life, I didn't want to fall in love with him. I didn't want to let myself dream of marrying him or having a family with him. I didn't want to even allow myself to imagine what a future with him could be like, because that would mean I would have to let myself fall in love again and i did not want to risk another heartbreak if it didn't work out. However, one night I made a very self-conscious decision to love him. I decided "to heck with it all!" I couldn't resist. He was the best thing that ever happened to me. He was like sunshine in my life when all i had were cloudy skies. He made me happier than I have ever been. He was the sweetest man I'd ever met! So, I let myself fall in love. And then I dreamt up what a future with him would be like. I fell in love with him the way some people fall asleep, slowly at first, and then all at once. I don't really have the words to describe what that love was like, but in a word, it was amazing! I loved him so so very much! Still do!

So, what happened with that one? Oh, so much happened! But it came down to one thing, and in the end it seperated us. My heart broke in a different way, I wasn't ready for it to be over. It would've been easier if someone had cheated and we hated eachother, or idk something like that. But we both still loved eachother. We just couldn't be together anymore. So I would cry in different ways. There was pain, but mostly sadness. When I would hear a song on the radio that made me think of him, it made me sad. When I would lay in bed about to fall asleep, where he use to text me "sweet dreams", there would be silence. It was just sad. It's terrible and sad that someone who meant so much to me, can be just a stranger now. 

Yes, heartbreak is horrible! Ah but love, love is wonderful! Just because one love didn't work out, doesn't mean that you need to write off love altogether. You'll miss out on so much if you do that! No, by all means LOVE! Love alot, and as much as you can. If one love doesn't work out, go though the mourning and healing process. Then, move on to another. Don't let it affect your happiness, just because one person didn't appreciate you, it doesn't, mean that no one will. Don't miss out on love and happiness because you're scared. Keep lookin up! Love is out there for you... as cheesy as that sounds ;)

So closing this one out, I just want to say a couple of things I've learned for my two heartbreaks. #1 One of the cruelest things a person can do is to awaken someone's love without the intention of truly loving them. #2 

Love isn't about how much you say I love you, but how much you prove that it's true.

Hope y'all enjoyed! :-) Remember, "It is a risk to love. What if it doesn't work out? Ah, but what if it does?" -Peter McWilliams 

Once Upon A Time...

     On this day eighteen years ago yours truly was brought into the world. When I was born I had some health problems. I honestly couldn't tell you off the top of my head what was wrong with me, but i do remember my parents telling me later in life that the Doctors didn't think I was going to live. My parents told me that tons of people were on their knees in prayer that the Lord might has some purpose for my life to save me. By God's grace alone I am a living and breathing example of His love for His children and His answering of prayers. God has a great purpose for my life! I may not know just what it is yet, but when my race is run and my crown is won I look forward to seeing just how He used me.
      Anyway, I thought it would be fun on this milestone birthday, to share some pictures with you from when I was younger. I'm still in denial that I'm not little like this anymore, and using the word adult to describe myself is SO NOT an option! But here I am throughout the years...

Once upon a time... Kathryn Thomas was born. (me and my oldest brother)

She liked to smile and laugh!



And most of all she loved to sleep... still does actually

She had a really cute topsie tail that her brother Seth later chopped off.



Kathryn was blessed with a great dad...

annnd a great mom! :) (me, mom, Seth, and Josh)

Me, mom, and dad!



I think I was pretty stinkin' cute! :)

It's moi again!



Me and my bestest friend in the whole world!



And would you belive it that crazy girl is still my best firend?!?! :)

   

And now here I am eighteen. All grown up?... I don't think so!

I am so thankful for both of my parents, who have taken the time to invest in my life to make me into the young lady I am today!
Here it goes now folks... I've entered adulthood, better watch out! ;)

My Top 5 Reasons Why I Could Never Be A Nurse

Yesterday, my older brother had his wisdom teeth taken out. I happened to have the day off from work, so I devoted my time to caring for my brother. When he returned home from having his surgery I supplied him with a bell to ring me in case of emergency. Needless to say there were never any emergency’s, but the bell rang quite a bit. J He remarked to me later that he must have given a lot of angels there wings today because “every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings.” :D
Honestly, I didn’t really mind. I would fetch him ice packs, his medicine, and every hour I would help him change out his gauze. When it came to the gauze changing part, though, I wasn’t too much help. I would hold the trash bag out at arms length and close my eyes tight ( I have a tiny bit of a problem with blood). Then, I would fold up clean pieces of gauze to put back in. Overall not a tough job. Actually, I was glad that I was able to help take care of him… just call me nurse Nelly! J
However, this whole thing made me re-realize that I could NEVER be a nurse. I love taking care of people, but I could not do it as a permanent occupation. I takes a special kind of person to be a nurse.
Anyway here are my top five reasons, in no particular order, why I could never be a nurse.
#1: Hospitals- Yeah, hospitals scare me. I’ve only been in hospitals like three times. Well, four actually if you count when I was born. The second time was when my mom had her gull stones removed. I wasn’t really afraid of hospitals at that point. My fear of hospitals set in when I was rushed to the ER after having pulled a one-hundred and fifty pound icicle down on my head. I think it was partly because I was scared about what was going to happen to me. The other part was because there was a dude in the room next to me doing this coughing/vomiting thing, and every time he did it a whole bunch of machines would go off beeping…freaky and disgusting! My fourth and last time in the hospital, was when a friend of my was hit by a car. I was so scared! I wanted to be there for her ,so I went with my mom to see her. And really I’m glad I went, but after a while I started to get pretty freaked out, so I had to step out into the waiting room. I don’t know what it is about hospitals, whether it’s the overly sanitary smell or the fear that death lurks behind any door, but I go into full on freak-out mode whenever I’m in one. It’s the same way with nursing homes and doctor’s offices too. I’d say that they’re just not my thing, but that is a BIG understatement. If I go to a hospital it means I care a whole lot about somebody, or that I did something stupid again.
#2: Doctors- What to say about doctors? Well, I just don’t like them. It’s not like a personal thing. I know lots of doctors, and I don’t like them any less because they’re doctors. It’s the doctors general occupation that I don’t like. And also because I had a bad experience with a doctor when I had my icicle accident. This doctor went on his lunch break, which I totally get doctors need to eat, but then he comes back to check on me and his breath smells like Doritos! It was like, dude, you get paid a ton of money in your field, can’t you at least invest in some tic-tacs so that your poor, sick patients don’t have to be nauseated by the smell of your breath? Geez! So, while it may seem a little ridiculous to you that my only reason to not like doctors is because of that incident, it does not seem ridiculous at all to me. Thank goodness I didn’t have to spend the night in that place! Can you imagine what his breath might have smelt like in the morning? I shudder just thinking about it! Let’s just say I don’t think I’d work well with doctors. I’d go poor investing all my money in tic-tacs for them, because I have a heart for sick patients.
#3: Death- I guess not all nurses are faced with life and death situations, but I know I could never be a nurse that was. If someone were to die on my watch I would not be able to handle that. Or what if some family made the decision to take a family member off of life support, and I was the one who had to flip the switch off… I would feel awful! I just don’t handle death well.
#4: Blood- Yuck! Blood is just nasty. It’s red and it oozes. If I see a lot of blood I get nauseous really fast. Like I said with my brother and the gauze, I closed my eyes super-duper tight so I didn’t have to see any blood. Blood kind of freaks me out a little bit… well, a lot actually! I try to man it up a bit, but that doesn’t really work. I don’t think it would be a good idea for a nurse to be closing her eyes. It’d be like, “Oh sir, you were just shot. Well, here are the bandages to clean yourself up, but if I stand here looking at all that blood for another minute I might hurl on you.” Yeah, it just wouldn’t go over too well. Although, oddly enough, blood in movies doesn’t bother me at all. Hmmmm…
#5: Needles- Haha! Yeah, needles are a big NO! They come in two sizes, HUGE and MASSIVE! I remember when I had my wisdom teeth out and I had to have an IV. Just the sight of that needle made me want to pass out. Then after my doctor put it in my arm he’s all like, “You can still bend your arm if you want.” And he was all going to bend it for me. I was like, “Dude you just put like a twenty-inch needle in my arm, why would you think that I’d want to bend it?” Okay, so I didn’t actually say that, but I sure was thinking it. No, what I actually said was more along the lines of, “No thank-you, sir!” as I jerked my arm away from him before he could torture it anymore. I’m telling you doctors just don’t think!
Anyway, though, it grosses me out to even think of injecting a needle into another persons flesh. My patient wouldn’t have any room to freak out, because I’d be the one doing all the freaking out in that situation. Sewing needles don’t bother me too much, though. Only if they’re being used to give some one stitches, but I think they have a special name for those types of needles… Oh yeah, they call them Instruments of Torture!!!!

This is what I look like when I think about becoming a nurse!

Well, after all that I probably seem like a pretty big wuss. Yeah, you may be right! The thing about me, though, is that I like to face my fears. So, I don’t like doctors… I’d go out and become one. Hospitals freak me out… I’d go work in one. No idea how I’d face the death issue, but whatever the way, I’d go and do it. Needles… I go buy a bunch of them… really tiny ones of course! J Blood…I go swim in a big vat - yeah, uh, no I wouldn’t! I guess my fear of blood I’m just going to have to live with.
Not that I’m trying to prove that I’m not some big wuss or anything like that, but here is a little tidbit about me that I’m sure ya’ll will find rather disturbing… I’m quite proud of it though! J Barf does not bother me one bit! Not the smell, not the sight of it, not hearing people talk about it. Actually, I think it’s quite fascinating! Just by looking at some one’s vomit you can tell exactly what they’ve had to eat, and all that good stuff. I’d be that creepy nurse who’s all like, “Oh, I see you had a Big Mac for lunch.” And then I’d give some little kid a fear of nurses for the rest of his/her life. Yet another reason why I shouldn’t become a nurse. So, just in case you were thinking it, I am not a wuss. I may be a tad disgusting, but at least I can handle barf, not many people can say that.
Anyway, in conclusion… hmmm how do I put this? Oh yeah, I should never become a nurse! J

If Today Was Your Last Day...

“It’s not length of life, but depth of life.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

　

What if you knew for certain that today was your last day to live? If you knew that after today there would be no more tomorrows, would that change how you would live out this day? Well, as it is, no one knows for sure when they’ll die.

Sometimes I wonder to myself what it’ll be like when I die, not for myself, but for others. As weird as this may sound, I sometimes wish that I’ll be able to go to my own funeral. I wonder how people will talk about me after I’m dead. Will they say good things? When a man see’s his end, he wants to know there was some purpose to his life. How will the world speak my name in the years to come?

I think we all hope that only good things will be said. I think we want people to acknowledge the things we strived for in life. For example, if your goal in life was to build a successful business empire, and you did succeed, you would want people to acknowledge your accomplishment. Or if you strove to be a billionaire, you would want people to acknowledge your wealth. We want to be acknowledged for things that were important to us if life, and that we dedicated our time and resources to.

I’m sure you can think of something that you strive for, and hope people will be able to recognize it in you, in life and in death. For me personally, I strive to touch peoples lives with my own. I pray that I can be as much of a blessing to them as they are to me. I pray that through my love to others, the love of God may shine through me and touch someone’s heart. If I reached the end of my life and was able to touch even just ONE person’s life, because I strove toward my goal, even when it seemed the most difficult thing I could ever do, I would feel reassured that my life meant something, and that my efforts weren’t for nothing.

People are very important to me. God created every single person on this earth, even the ones we don’t like so much, for a purpose. He obviously thinks they are important to His plans, or else they never would have been created. No person is more important than the other. A lot of times I’ll see a person, maybe covered with tattoos and piercings, or they just kind of look like they’re messed up, and I will think to myself, “There is no hope for that person.” But what a horrible thing for me to think for several reasons: #1 Who am I to judge? I could have easily been in the same shoes as that person. #2 That is not a thought that should ever enter a Christians mind, because we were ALL lost in sin at one point in our lives. #3 “They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” Matthew 9:12

Sometimes this goal that I strive toward is very difficult for me, because it is so much easier to judge and be cruel to those that I don’t think are worth my time, rather than to view them as lost souls that Jesus Christ died to save. He did not think that they were too lost to be saved, so why should I? I often find myself wondering whether or not my time is wasted on certain people, but I must then remind myself that Christ died for the WHOLE world. Now mind you, not everyone of them will choose to accept His great gift, BUT it is not for me to judge the ones who will or will not. It is my Christian duty to show EVERY person in my life the love of God, whether it be by praying for them or reaching out to them in some way. This is the goal that I strive toward being successful at in life. This is what I pray people will see in me now, and even after I am long gone, God’s love reflected through me.

I now return to my earlier question: if today was your last day, would you live it differently? And if so, how? If today were my last day, I probably wouldn’t have wasted away my morning in bed sleeping. I probably wouldn’t have been so concerned with checking my face book for updates and messages. I probably would have set aside all fears of persecution and boldly proclaimed Jesus Christ to the lost. I probably would have taken the time to make sure that my loved ones knew how much they truly meant to me. I probably would take the time to make sure I made amends with someone that I held a bitter grudge against. I would make sure that I forgave those who had done me wrong. And I probably would strive even harder toward my goal.

It’s not to late you know? Why don’t we live the rest of this day as if it were our last? And not just today, but everyday for the rest of the short time that we have here on earth. Let’s live each day as if it were the most important day of our life, because what we do in life echoes in eternity! Life is too short to even waste away even just one day of it! Live today as if it were your last!

Bottled Up Tears

“Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall me comforted.”

-Matthew 5:4

I don’t know about y’all, but I am a major weeper. A good book, a great film, a birthday card, I weep!

Y’all can probably look back in to your past, and remember how you use to cry when your parents would rebuke you, or even when you weren’t getting your own way. You felt hurt, almost like they didn’t love you anymore,(even though now we realize just how untrue that was). You would cry from the deepest parts of your heart, completely broken hearted.

Now that we’ve grown up a bit, we still cry, but now we cry for slightly different reasons. Well, actually sometimes I still throw myself a big pity party when things aren’t going my way, or when I‘m hurt and upset. But maybe that’s just me. =)

With this blog, though, I really want to look at weeping from a biblical prospective. Not so much crying for ourselves, but crying for others. I would like to share with you something that the Lord has recently shown me from His Precious Word, and how it effected and encouraged me.

Over the past year, I have been praying for three young people who have turned their backs on God and have chosen instead to live in sin. It truly breaks my heart to see not only this, but also how their sin is effecting those around them. And most of all it kills me to think of not just the short term consequences of their sin, but also the long term.

In the short term aspect, Mother’s Day is coming up soon. These kids should be with their mothers that Sunday. But because they are living in sin, and their parents refuse to condone their sinful lifestyles(which is right), these kids, unless the Lord changes their hearts before then, will NOT be with their moms this Mother’s Day. That to me is so sad! If their hearts aren’t changed soon and if they don’t turn their lives around 180%, they are going to miss out on a whole lot more, like siblings birthdays and weddings and such. And when I think about this, it makes me sad to think that they may one day repent and turn back, but they’ll already have missed out on a lot that they should have been there for in the first place. Imagine the regret that they’ll have.

When I get to thinking of the long term effects it could have on them, I shudder. Their eternal souls are at stake! I wouldn’t wish the perishing of an eternal soul on even my worst enemy. It pains me to think that if they don’t repent they could be damned to an eternity in Hell if they are not already the children of God. And if they are children of God, the Lord is only going to allow them to continue to live on in sin for so long before He takes them home to be with Him. The death of anyone of these kids would be unbearable for me, and I’m sure for their families and friends also.

So, all of the above are the reasons that I go before the Lord in prayer, beseeching Him to convict them and call them to repentance. I pray that He will change their hearts, and call them back to Himself. For the Lord is willing that NONE should perish.

Often times when I am praying for these young people, I am crying out to God and weeping for them. I’m not saying this to bring any merit to myself, because that is definitely NOT my intention. I say this because it ties into my topic of prayer and tears.

When, I pray for these people something inside of me breaks and I can’t help but cry out to God to save them. I truly crushes me to see how sin is slowly destroying their lives.

But I praise God for the MANY assurances He has for His people in the Bible!!! The Lord has granted me hope from the promises of His Word! What an awesome God! These past couple of days He has raised me up from the state of mourning that I was in. He gave me a new hope and trust in His great power. And His assurances are what I want to share with you today.

Psalm 56:8-9 says, “Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book? When I cry unto thee, then shall my enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.”

Aren’t those verses just beautiful?!?! First off, what a loving God we serve! Not only does He record our tears in His book, but He also bottles them up! How great is that? Our tears mean that much to Him, it’s so incredible!

I was so touched by these verses. Just knowing that my prayers and tears mean so much to God, assures me that He isn’t going to let them go to waste. My spirits were so lifted by reading these verses! They reminded me that the Lord does hear our prayers. And one day, God will choose to answer our prayers according to His perfect will. And the timing in which he chooses to act will be at the point and time when it brings the most honor and glory to Himself. Praise the Lord!

I also want to encourage you, that if you are praying for lost souls. That if you are falling on your knees before the throne of God, weeping and begging for the lost. God IS hearing you! He is catching your every tear, bottling them up and recording them in His book. He has a use for our tears and for our prayers. Again I say, Praise the Lord!

In conclusion I want to share with you a story about a little girl that I just heard recently. And also the words to a song that I grew up singing.

A young girl, about six years old, and her mother were reading the bible together and praying before it was time for her to go to bed. They had actually just finished reading the verses from Psalm that I shared with y’all above. The little girl asked her mother, “Why does God keep our tears?” And the Mother replied, “Because when we cry and ask the Lord for something, He wants to use our tears, not just let them go to waste.” The little girl nodded, and then they began to pray. The mother prayed first. She prayed for her older daughter, who had run away from home and was living in sin. She prayed that the Lord would convict her and turn her heart back to Him. When it came time for the little girl to pray, she simply said, “Dear Jesus, take these ones too.” The mother looked up to see what her daughter was talking about. The little girl had lifted her hands, wet from the tears that were streaming down her face, to the heavens. She wanted God to use those tears too.

I pray that we would all be like that little girl, and ask the Lord to use our tears and our prayers to accomplish His will!

Psalm 55:17 says, “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and He shall hear my voice.” How amazing!

The next words I’m going to share with you are from the song “For Those Tears I Died.” Some of you may have heard it before, but either way I hope it is a blessing.



-For Those Tears I Died-

You said you’d come and share all my sorrows, You said You’d be there for all my tomorrows; I came so close to sending you away, But just like You promised You came there to stay-- I just had to pray.

Your goodness so great I can’t understand, And dear Lord, I know that all this was planned; I know You’re here now, and always will be, Your love loosed my chains and in you I am free-- But Jesus, why me?

Jesus, I give you my heart and my soul, I know that without God I’d never be whole; Savior, You opened all the right doors, And I thank You, and praise You from earth’s humble shores-- Take me, I’m Yours.

CHORUS: And Jesus said, “Come to the water, stand by my side; I know you are thirsty, you won’t be denied. I felt every tear-drop when in darkness you cried, And I strove to remind you that for those tears I died.”
                                      
                                       I also managed to find the song on YouTube... Enjoy!

Pickup Lines- Do They Work?

“We’re all a little weird, and life’s a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them in mutual weirdness and call it love.”

                                                                                                                      - Dr. Seuss

Random little fact about me, I get great entertainment out of cheesy humor and pickup lines. Seriously, if you ever are in need of a good laugh, or in some cases a good eye roll, Google “Cheesy Pickup Lines.” It’s hilarious! I think mostly I think it’s so funny, because there are people out there in the world who actually use these pickup lines.

Picture this. A guy comes up to you and says, “I think I must have just died and gone to heaven, because baby you’re an angel.” Like, how do you respond to that? I would love to be a fly on the wall when a guy says that to a girl. Do guys actually think that’ll work?

My question and topic for this blog is as stated above, “Pickup Lines- Do they Work?” Well, do they? I’d have to say that the chances of them working are dependent on these two things: the person you’re using the line on, and the line that you choose to use. Let me give you some example’s of situations when pickup lines could work and when they could not.

So, let’s take your average guy and your average girl. Our average guy goes up to our average girl and says, “If you were a booger I’d pick you first.” Now lets just assume that our average girl has some common sense. If she’s does, she’ll slap the guy and walk away. Well, that’s what I’d do anyway. =) So, that’s and example of a bad pickup line that doesn’t work.

Now let’s take your average guy and girl again, this time using a different pickup line. Our guy goes up to our girl and says, “If beauty were time, you’d be eternity.” This one could work, but now you have to factor in the type of girl you’re saying it to. For instance, if you were to say this to me I might buy into it. BUT you have to remember that I like cheesy stuff, and not all girls are like that. Our guy might end up getting his faced slapped again… poor guy! =/

Girls are all different. So, cheesy pickup lines might work sometimes, but not necessarily. And maybe, because of this, guys don’t actually think that these lines will work, maybe they are just trying their luck to see where it gets them. Who knows?

A few weeks ago one of my friends actually said to me that she thought guys who used pickup lines were unoriginal and egotistical. She thought that they obviously thought very highly of themselves if they thought their pickup lines would work. I actually disagree though. I think they must be pretty humble. Think about it. A guy really takes his pride into his hands when he chooses to use a pickup line. He faces not only getting slapped, but also utter rejection. I mean, what if he goes through making a fool out of himself in front of a girl, and she just rolls her eyes and tells him to take a hike? OUCH! That’s utter rejection! It takes some kind of a guy to face rejection boldly, and I don’t think it’s an egotistical one.

We’ve now discussed whether or not pickup lines work on girls, so lets switch up gears a little bit and ask the question, “Do pickup lines work on guys?” Let me be one-hundred percent honest with you. I have ALWAYS wanted to try using one on a guy to see what will happen. =) Can you imagine that? Me going up to a guy and saying something along the lines of, “I just scraped my knee falling for you.” Yeah, I actually do see myself doing that! =) However, I don’t think that pickup lines work the same on guys, because guys aren’t quite as sappy as girls. BUT I could be wrong. I guess we’ll never know until I give it a try and tell all y’all about it. =) The worst I can foresee happening is me getting laughed off of the face of the earth, which would be legitimately embarrassing!

Alrighty, winding down to a conclusion. Do pick up lines work? As we’ve discussed, sometimes they do, but other times they don’t. The only way to find out though, is to try one out for yourself. However, as a warning, I advise you to use extreme caution and do so at your own risk. =) Oh, and you should definitely let me know how it works out for you… I could use a good laugh. =)

And what kind of blogger would I be if I didn’t equip my readers with good material to try out? So, here goes. Cheesy pickup lines : “Smoking is hazardous to your health… and baby you’re killing me.” “If I received a nickel for every time I saw someone as beautiful as you, I’d have five cents.” (if you ask me, you don’t have any “cents” if you use this line. ;)

“Do you have a map? I’m getting lost in your eyes.” “Is there an airport nearby or is that just my heart taking off?” “I was wondering if you had an extra heart mine seems to be stolen.” And here is my very personal favorite: “Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?” =)

Alrighty, go and conquer the masses with your cheesy pickup lines. Best of luck to y’all. =)

Homeschoolers, Didn't you know?

I dedicate this blog to all my homeschooler friends who are either currently being homeschooled, or have been homeschooled in the past.


For those of you who don’t know this already I have something quite traumatic to admit to you. For my entire life I have been… *dramatic intake of breath*… homeschooled! Isn’t that just horrible?!?! (and for those of you who don’t know me, I’m being sarcastic… there will be a lot of that going on in this blog).

Attention fellow homeschoolers: didn’t you know that we are apparently the most socially awkward people on the planet? Yeah, it was news to me too! I mean we can’t possibly have friends or be involved in extracurricular activities, because we’re homeschooled. We can’t possibly have life, right? WRONG! Wrong, wrong, wrong on so many different levels!

Last night my driving instructor hit me with this question: “So, Kathryn, if you’re homeschooled how do you meet people?” If I have ever felt the need for physical violence it was at that moment. I seriously wanted to punch the guy! How rude do people get these days?!?! My response should’ve been something like: “Well sir, I don’t really have any friends. I’m not even socializing with the other kids in this class, and having a blast with them. No, I just try to keep my head down and not engage with other people. I act all moody and brooding so that people won’t try to approach me.” I could have even said something along the lines of this: “Being homeschooled doesn’t mean I live under a rock.”

However, I’m too sweet and well-mannered =) to talk back to my elders that way. And I didn’t actually come up with those responses until it was to late. Oh, well! Needless to say I was really irritated, so I decided to write this blog to vent a little bit. Or a lot =)

Let me set a few things straight for the benefit of people who are NOT homeschooled. Number One: NEVER, and yes, I mean NEVER assume that because a person is homeschooled they don’t have any friends or even a life. I have one hundred and ninety-three friends on face book. And that isn’t even all of my friends! Imagine that, a hundred and ninety-three people that at one point or another in my life I’ve actually had to meet and talk to. WOW! Isn’t that just unbelievable?!?!

And you think homeschoolers don’t have lives? Get a clue! How do you THINK we meet people? WE HAVE LIVES! I do school, I have a job, and I hang out with friends just like any other “normal” highschooler.

Number two: There are people out there who think that homeschoolers are not smart. Well, those people are also the dummies who think that homeschoolers are socially awkward. I ask you, do you think THOSE people are smart? Research shows that the average homeschooler is smarter than the average public schooler. Can we deny what years of research prove? Homeschoolers are just as smart, and some are even smarter, than everyone else.

Number three: We also have people who think that homeschoolers are nerds. They think we do school all day, every day, and all through the summer. And that when we have a spare moment in the day we do MORE school, so as to be overachievers. This is just not true in all cases. Yes, we homeschoolers possess a little thing called self-discipline, but this should not be confused with overachievement. We set a goal and we stick to it. If we decide we want to graduate early, those with self-discipline will graduate early. And I say good for them! But this still does not make them or even all homeschoolers nerdy. And if you’re a homeschooler like me, honestly you just count down the days until summer break. =)

Number four: A lot of homeschoolers, but not all, come from fairly large families. And the stereotype that gets thrown around here a lot of times is that all of the siblings are exactly alike. From experience I can say that this definitely is not true! I come from a family of eight kids. None of us are exactly the same. In fact a lot of times we don’t even share the same opinions about things. I know this seems crazy to believe, but we are not clones! We are all unique. And as much as I love all of my siblings, I thank the good Lord above that I am not exactly like any one of my siblings. =)

Number Five: This is probably my final one, but it is defiantly one of the most important ones. The title “homeschooler” has turned into a label or a stereotype. I say this because just as not all siblings are the same, not all homeschoolers are the same either. There are shy homeschoolers out there, but there are also shy public schoolers out there too. And again NOT all homeschoolers are shy… I know I’m certainly not! =) I think sometimes I should be a little more shy perhaps, but shy just really doesn’t fit my personality. =)

There are also homeschoolers out there who do school are year round, but not all of them do. There are nerdy, self disciplined, and overachieving homeschoolers out there, but again there are public schoolers like this too… I know I can think of at least three off the top of my head. And not all homeschoolers are like this either.

So, to sum this all up let me say this for your benefit. The next time you meet a homeschooler, think long and hard before you say anything stupid. Because from experience I know that hearing the question, “Do you have any friends?” or “How do you meet people?”, can be very irritating and hurtful. And who knows, you might meet a homeschooler who is not quite as sweet and well mannered as me, who might choose to go ahead and sock you in the nose. But hey, do what you like, it’s only your nose at stake. And honestly how would you like it if somebody asked you one of those questions? I betcha you’d think it was rude. Newsflash: IT IS!!!

Respect homeschoolers! Don’t go labeling or stereotyping them! Might I just say: Being homeschooled is where it’s at! =)

Also, you have no idea how badly I want to print this off and give it to my driving instructor tonight, but I just don’t have the heart to be mean and disrespectful like that. So, I guess I’ll just keep this between ya’ll and me. =)


                                                                                          

                                               Here's a lil video that captures my sentiments exactly!