Words

I got an iPhone. It's glorious. I am obsessed with Words with Friends. (CobyLT...bring it.) I love words. I also enjoy scoring points. This is obviously the perfect game for me. I have quite a few challenges going on, and I have a feeling that someone is cheating. (TyMire25, if you're reading this...I hope you know that cheaters never win. However, you have beaten me 3 times now, I believe. So really, they DO win. But it's annoying. Your high scoring words are absurd. I'll keep playing, but know that I'm onto you and I'm aware of the Words with Friends Cheats app. Don't be that guy.)

I am very behind on blogging. I think the best thing to do is to start with spring break. It's been over a week since it ended and still, I dream about it. You'd think I was being dramatic, but I'm sincere. I loved spring break. Like, I big and tall loved spring break. I spent time with my babies, I spent time in the sunshine, and I spent time in Austin with music and wine. All of these are in my top 10 favorite things amongst Jesus and Mexican food. Thus my joy.

Some random thoughts and additional happenings for you as of late:

I hate when toilet paper dispensers regulate the number of plies you are allowed. You know? Like, when you pull too hard it breaks over and over again. Until, after a flustered experience on the toilet you stick your hand INTO the dispenser and manually turn the roll yourself, releasing a satisfying amount of paper. After you've probably cut your hand on the freaking spiky things that assist in the tearing of the paper, you're finally able to finish up this process. It's troublesome.
This being said, I've decided that the ply measurement for toilet paper is pointless. Plies are much too small. A wad of toilet paper is necessary on every occasion. I don't care who you are. People don't count plies, and even if they did, I can guarantee they need more than 3. Therefore, I propose that if you really feel as though you need to divide the roll into something, make it meaningful and make your plies bigger. Or just let us rip the crap without perforation where we see fit. I mean, really. We can handle it. I'm taking this to Charmin. End rant.

Question: How much money is too much money to spend on iTunes a month? Yikes.
If you want to do something nice for yourself buy She & Him's Volume II, Vampire Weekend's Contra, and then, go ahead and purchase the song "Lover" by Devendra Banhart. You'll immediately be filled with happiness and sunshine. All of these are a glimpse of my springtime soundtrack. Be a pal and send other suggestions if you have some! But know ahead of time that I think a lot of stuff is stupid and I might ignore you. Sorry, it's not you, it's me.

I'm in the market for a piano. I looked into a new one and it basically costs more than a new car. Flippin' yeah, I'm serious. Where the heck have I been to not have realized this? Anyway...pianos for sale?

Did you know that the McDonald's Egg McMuffin is delicious? I was recently reunited with them and I've eaten 2 in the last 36 hours. Take the nasty ham stuff out and it's incredible. Go enjoy one soon.

I am the ultimate roadtripper this spring. I haven't stayed in Houston in a while, and I don't see it in my near future. I'm ok with this. Holla, and I'll let you know when I'm in a city near you.

Ok guys, it's my move on WWF. Crumpet, tea, a book, and I'm out by 9:30 tonight. Swear.

i crave nourishment so strongly it resembles that of a wild canine

The first thing you need to do is figure out the title of this blog. It's the new cool thing on Twitter in which you translate pop lyrics into formal language. I stole this one from Dave Barnes. It is funny.

I want a sunburn.

I decided today that I want to begin writing a children's book. You will be informed when it's published. As of now, I'm deciding what the book will be about. And how the heck you write a book.

I'm about to partake in the 6th course of my dinner. It's a hot dog. I honestly don't think I've had one of these since the high school snack bar. If it were next week, I'd have an iPhone, and I'd take a picture of everything I'm eating and post it on Facebook. I don't know why, really. Most things are just funnier to me than they are to others.

I'm very excited that Jim and Pam are having their baby tonight. I feel like my friend is having a baby. And no, I'm not ashamed of this emotional attachment.

I can't wait for spring break. It better be sunny, or I'll cry. I have to read the Twilight books, or my kids win a pizza party. I'm beginning to think that I'd rather pay the $30.

Do you ever wonder what the relationship between Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest is like behind the scenes? They're so darn mean to each other. It makes me uncomfortable to watch sometimes. I'm on Simon's side. Seacrest is a fart knocker.

You know who I like lately? U2.

I just finished my hot dog. Could probably puke.

Welp, see ya later. :)

Tootsday

I want to ride in a bobsled. A lot. That's really all you need to know about my thoughts on the Olympics. Also, I wouldn't be opposed to making out with Shaun White if given the opportunity. And I think that I'd punch my son if he wanted to be a figure skater. I've never punched a person, but I feel like this would be an acceptable punch moment. It's harsh, but I at least need him to feel manly for a second. And then, I guess I'd let him do what he wants. I'm only kidding. No, but seriously.
Ok, those are my Olympic thoughts.

If you're ever needing a pick-me-up, listen to Yahoo Radio's Big Hits of the 90's station. The first song that came on was "Jump, Jump" by the young backward pants wearing sensations, Kriss Kross. I would have gotten up and "jump, jump"ed for joy had there not been maintenance men replacing the florescent lights in my classroom. I wondered as my station played if they were jamming and enjoying my tunes as well. I think the 90s are something everyone can agree on. If you disagree, you're dumb. :)
You know what else I like? Old country music. Even Dwight Yoakum. You heard me.

I got sick again. Now it's sinus pressure that I fear will pop my eyeballs out of my head. You like that visual? It's stoops. That means "stupid". I got this from my cute little Alaskan friend. I miss her.
Although sick, I spent an amazing weekend with some amazing senior girls and adults from church at an amazing event called Breaking Free. God did amazing things :) Ask me about it.

Below you will find some verses that fight off the cold and icky. I put their theme in bold, because that's what a good language arts teacher would do. I have been considering these verses lately, and will hopefully post something on that soon. In the meantime, I hope they make you warm and fuzzy. I gotta jet. Idol's on :)

"And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness."--Genesis 1:2-4

"You are my lamp, O LORD;
the LORD turns my darkness into light."--2 Samuel 22:29

"Arise, shine, for your light has come..."--Isaiah 60:1

"The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory."--Isaiah 60:19

"He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him."--Daniel 2:22

"Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light."--Micah 7:8

"It will be a unique day, without daytime or nighttime—a day known to the LORD. When evening comes, there will be light."--Zechariah 14:7

"In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."--Matthew 5:16

"The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world."--John 1:9

"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light".--Ephesians 5:8

"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all."--1 John 1:5

"There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever."--Revelation 22:5

Pizzle Twizzle

I'm watching the Super Bowl alone. I think that what you do on Super Bowl Sunday is a great indication of how popular you are. I'm not pouting, because I did get papers graded and some to-do's marked off the list. I'm only saying that I may or may not be a nerd. I haven't been too terribly impressed with commercials. The GoDaddy.com commercial and the Bud Light house commercial made me sad for the world. What some people think is cool is so not cool. And as you can tell by my social life, I'm obviously a pretty good judge of cool.

Ok, as promised, I'm gonna see if I can wrap my head around what Proverbs 4:23 has made me consider. I don't really know where to begin or where this will end. So, here comes word vomit.

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

I read this verse multiple times recently. Then I kinda just stared at it. It has always seemed so simple, and it's something I tell all girls that deal with boys being turds to them. "Guard your heart, friend. Guard your heart." I've even reminded myself to do the same on multiple occasions. I know it as Truth, but I don't know if I truly ever knew what that looked like. Not only that, but I don't think I ever considered why this was in the Bible. Why did God say to guard my heart? From what? From who? The wellspring of life? What the deuce is a wellspring? I've always just taken this to mean something along the lines of keeping my heart to myself. Not necessarily as a cold, bitter loner, but more along the lines of being careful. It's always given me a sense of caution in that I shouldn't give my heart to anyone or anything that doesn't glorify God or that brings me pain in any way. Well ok, that makes sense. Thanks, I'll do my best, God.
But...He took it to another level when I stared at it like a weirdo. Particularly, the "Above all else..." part. I started to think..."Holy crap. Above all else? I'm supposed to guard my heart above all else?" I don't know about you guys...but "above all else" seems pretty up there. I mean, if Jesus is the Highest and number 1 on my list of priorities, "above all else" only has one other place to land. Right under the way I love Christ, I am supposed to be guarding my heart? My heart is really that important to Him? When I asked these questions, I was first of all humbled. Man, I am adored...and in a big way. I am adored by the God and Creator of everything. I'm kinda awesome. Eh, maybe that isn't humble. But we're allowed to boast in Christ. So boom.
Anyway, when I realized this, a lot of other aspects of this verse made sense. It also changed my life a little when I suddenly thought:
My heart is important to God, and I am supposed to guard it because He DWELLS there!
Crazy, right? God says to guard our heart above all else because the "above all else" is chilling in there. With Jesus, the heart IS the wellspring of life. (The definition of wellspring, by the way, is "an original and bountiful source of something." I looked it up. :) ) Because He is in my heart, I have life. I have a life on earth and a life to come. I have to guard my heart from anything that would compromise this.
So what does it look like? I'm still not sure I know. I only know that the Spirit guides me with peace. When there isn't peace there, there probably isn't much Jesus there either. I can only use my best judgment and discern what I feel God is telling me to do. I feel like there are some questions I need to start asking myself when approached with any situation in order to make sure I'm keeping my heart protected. These include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. Is this what God wants for me? Because He is so concerned with my heart, I know that the Lord has a plan for my life and wants me to experience all the joy that is possible. Even in the junk, He wants me to rejoice. So, if this isn't what I want it to be, or I'm not being treated the way I want to be treated, wouldn't letting go be glorifying Him more? It's easy to get consumed in the worry, pain, anxiety, and uncertainty of a situation. If I'm trusting Him with it, I'm showing the ultimate faith, and I'm protecting my heart from these icky little things.
2. Is this worth the pain that could come with it? Sometimes, I think we keep pressing on through something in faith that it will just dissolve and work itself out. Sure, it will when God is involved, but why stay in the midst of it? And sometimes, I DO think that's what God wants. He wants us to go through this and cling to Him. But, if God provides an alternative, we should probably take it and not stay trapped. To guard my heart, I have to choose my battles.
3. Am I still putting God first? Sometimes, we don't have the dirty stuff. Sometimes, life is peachy keen and relationships are the bomb. Even in the awesome, am I singing praise? Protecting our heart also means keeping ourselves from neglecting God when we don't have something bugging us. We can enjoy our blessings...but not above all else.

So...ok. At the end of the mumbo jumbo, I guess my point is this:

God says that we are to guard our hearts ABOVE ALL ELSE. That's a big freakin' deal. Care about yourself. Know that you are important, and your heart is valuable. You are cherished. Know that God wants the best for you, and if something is constantly making you feel like crap, it probably isn't. It is your responsibility to guard your heart. It may look different for every person, but it's vital nonetheless. Don't give your heart away too easily. To be safe, just go ahead and give Him control of it. If I give to God all of what is His anyway, I'd say my heart is in good hands.

umm..The End? haha :)

Part-izzle One-izzle

A few things first:

1. I miss you, sunshine. Please come back.
2. I have perfectly fine hygiene, but I dread the days when a shower is unavoidable.
3. It is absolutely impossible for me to stay awake after 10:30pm. I'm embarrassed.
4. God has been working on my heart so much lately. I don't know if I can express fully what's been going through my head, but I'm going to do my best. Check it. (hahaha..."check it". It's ok, you can say it. "You're a dork, Coby.")

First of all, I've been thinking a lot about circumstances and situations. Mostly just some struggles I've been through as a Christian and what God has done with them. I feel like I have to start this off with some background info. This all came to pass when I set out on a Map Quest to Magnolia, TX to see J.J. Heller at Chic-Fil-A. (This sounds like a joke, but it's totally legit.) My roommate, Melissa, and I drove an hour and 45 minutes until we came to terms with the fact that we were lost and that my directions were extremely false. Thus we saw the "Woodlands Parkway" sign, and realized we were in The Woodlands somehow. So running 30-45 minutes late by now anyhow, we decided to void the concert idea altogether and eat at The Cheesecake Factory instead. It was delicious. I kept making the joke last night that Melissa and I should have known that something like this would happen, because this is just another day in the life of me. I'm mostly a mess with a terrible sense of direction, but I have developed a sense of humor about it. However, all of this led me to thoughts about the unexpected. In thinking about it today, I believe with all of my heart that where I ended up last night was exactly where I was supposed to be. And from here, I got to thinking about some of the heartache and stresses I've had in the last 7'ish years. Some of the things I've been through and the very unexpected turns my life has taken. (Tell me a year ago that I'd be teaching 6th grade language arts in Houston now and I'd say "you crazy". Yes, "you crazy", not "you're crazy" as one might expect from an English teacher. I like to keep it real.) And suddenly I thought: Would I be where I am now with the Lord if everything were always perfect? If I never had the disappointments or the mile-long to-do lists, would I have pursued Him and prayed to Him like I did? In those moments when I was in pain, anxious, afraid, uncertain, heartbroken, and insecure, and I was sure my life was just a big mess, I look back in my journal and I'm crying out to the Lord. I'm examining my heart and I'm reaching for Him. I'm reading His Word and He was the only peace I found. He not only gave me strength and carried me through, but I praise Him now because I'm on the other side. And I'm on the other side with a strengthened faith and a relationship with Christ. I know now that God wanted me closest to Him...whatever it took. He WANTED me to need Him. And gosh, I did. The crap it took for me to get there sucked, but I see now that is was worth it. And so, I believe and I know that when things in life seem tough or that they aren't working out...my goodness...they're working out indeed. I pray to live a life of faith in this. To know that where we are is exactly where we're supposed to be. Perhaps we needed to be going through that specific situation at that specific moment for God to grow us in maturity, truth, wisdom, or humility. Perhaps the unexpected is better for us. Whatever it may be, I DO know that our God mostly just wants us where He is...whatever it takes. :)
That is the condensed version of Part I of what's on my heart. I'll write Part II when it isn't so close to 10:30. Clue: It has everything to do with Proverbs 4:23.

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

I can't get rid of the dang italics now. Goodnight :)

Kellogg's Special K

Ok, I write to you as I do what I do: eat cereal out of a box. I call my Mac the "Dirty Mac" (said to the tune of "Dirty Pop"), because usually I eat some cereal (or whatever I'm snacking on at the moment...and trust me, there is always a snack), then I type what I'm working on or click on stuff. Therefore, my Mac is dirty and sometimes even sticky. This is gross to you, and I understand that. However, it's my Mac and not yours, so I can do what I want. :) I will publicly apologize to my roommate, though, for "my chair" and the tiny pieces of cereal that are always on it. That IS gross, and I will do better.

I don't have much to tell you guys. The coolest/most disgusting/interesting thing that has happened to me lately is a stomach virus I received from my [sorta] sweet little niece on Saturday. I haven't been sick like that since I was 5. Seriously. Before I tell you all about it, is it too ridiculously sad that this is all I have to blog about? Rhetorical. Don't answer that.
Anyway...
Out of auntie love, I did my best to rush Brooklyn to the toilet and clean up puke after each of her vomit episodes on Saturday. In doing so, I drove home Sunday afternoon with a nausea that I can't explain. I tried to tough it out (because I'm tough, duh), but when I arrived at Starbucks to meet some friends, I realized that I either needed to get home, or risk making a nasty spectacle of myself in public. So I did (come home). And then I did (puke). More than once (4 times). My lovely roommate and her obedient boyfriend were SO great in helping me to feel better with saltines, 7-Up (yours), and strawberry Jello. I'm not sure I would have survived without them. Sooo in all of that, I decided to find a sub for Monday and miss school unexpectedly for the first time this year. I slept a LOT, and had a headache from dehydration the entire Monday. It was poopy. Then I came back to school Tuesday still hazy and super unprepared. Those kids can sense crap like that, I swear. It was a wasted day, but I made it, and tomorrow is Friday. It turns out that the previously mentioned virus is super contagious, and my entire family ended up with it. I hope you didn't get it from reading about it. The End.
Great story, I know. I also just made myself sound disgusting. I promise I'm a lady...mostly.

Speaking of ladies. Girls...do something nice for yourself and enjoy Song of Songs 2:10-13. Oh. My. Gosh.

My lover spoke and said to me,
"Arise, my darling,
my beautiful one, and come with me.

See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.

Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.

The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me."

So, after an entire blog about my eating habits and puking, I mean, I just don't get why I'm still single. Seriously. But after THAT...who the heck needs a boyfriend? I've got Jesus.

Later, guys :)

The Taco Bell Drive-Thru Diet

I love Taco Bell. I don't eat fast food, but when I do, it's Taco Bell. Particularly the Fresca Chicken Burrito Supreme. Talk about yum. This has nothing to do with anything else I'm going to write about. My belly and I just simply wanted to share this love with you.

So, the other night I was driving home from work and listening to the radio. It was one of those freaking sweet moments when every song is my favorite song. Like seriously. I was fist pumping and smiling and could have jumped out of my seat. I was crunk. First, it was "Your Hands" by JJ Heller. Then, it was "City on Our Knees" by Toby Mac. THEN, it was "How He Loves Us" by David Crowder. And THEN...a song came on by Aaron Shust called "My Savior, My God". Have you heard this song? Well, the whole thing rocks my socks, but there is one particular lyric that has been stuck in my head since Monday. "That He who lives to be my King, once died to be my Savior". I keep saying it over and over. What an amazing, humbling, noble, incredible, indescribable, invaluable, ultimate, beautiful thing. I mean, seriously. It would be enough that this God gives me life, guides my every moment, takes care of my needs, plans my future, and loves me more than anything in this world and beyond. But He gave His life for me! This King. An almighty and powerful King and Ruler of the universe died in my place. He left His place on high and saved me. He did this before I knew Him. He stays with me now even though He knows me. I'm so lucky. We're all really lucky. Thank you, Jesus. :)