I am in desperate need of inspiration. I want to write but I have nothing to work with. I am empty. I see all of these amazing authors, poets, and I feel like I can never reach that level of good writing because I have no inspiration. My list of books I want to read is growing each day. I am eager to read them all, even though I know they will be more difficult to read. But as I read the summaries of these books and I see how original and just... good these plots are, I realize I could never come up with something so wonderful... not unless I have a huge chunk of really substantial inspiration. And that is what I lack. It's a gloomy place in these writing doldrums.

Waiting for a silver lining. Waiting for inspiration. Oh, and I hate Halloween... it's an annoying holiday.

With peace and love,
Sarah

With love, from Tumblr

These are my favorites.

With love and peace,
Sarah

It was great

Friends of Refugees was loads of fun. I helped several kids with mostly math (but it wasn't too bad). This one girl talked to me about her family and why she wore her head covering (she said "because of my religion" then changed the subject before I could ask more). It was fun, though, all of it. The room was hot and busy and crowded. There was 11 of us tutoring and sometimes three or four children were crowded around one person, working on the same thing. Mrs. Carla Hersey, one of the ladies in charge of Friends of Refugees, said that on a day like that, with that many children, they usually had 2 or 3 people helping tutor. We need to go there more.

Pray for the Hersey family and for Friends of Refugees.

With love and peace,
Sarah

Friends of Refugees

Tomorrow I am going back to help tutor refugee children at Friends of Refugees. I went once last year. It's nerve-racking and amazing at the same time. It's nerve-racking because you have to help these kids with their homework and half of the time you don't know what you're doing! And you feel bad if you don't help them. You feel like you're hurting their education.
But it's amazing because you get to know these children from all over the world and they just love you like you're life's bread. Sometimes you even get the chance to talk to them about Jesus. A lot of the time these kids aren't raised in Christian homes. Last time I spent all afternoon with a little Muslim girl.
I feel so blessed to have this opportunity. I am sure we will go again before the school year is over. Maybe even two more times. I hope so. It really is an amazing experience. Let's pray God makes it meaningful for all of us.

With love and peace,
Sarah

Things to be happy about...

rain
movies
not a lot of homework
good friends
sweet memories
dogs
telephone booths
pumpkins
sunshine
ancient sculptures
comfortable shoes
fuzzy blankets
languages
Ga-ga ball
sugar
colors
fireplaces
honest people
jokes
that feeling of being excited to read a book
decisions
hairdressers
grandparents
toe socks
toe socks with Chacos

With peace and love,
Sarah

Sad day...

My computer got a virus... somehow. So in order to salvage my computer, my dad had to reset everything. Everything. We made a backup through Microsoft who said it was copying all of my documents. However, once we got my computer restarted we realized... it didn't. And my story - my 40 something page long story - that I have been working on since spring... was lost.

The funny thing is, this is the second time this has happened to me. I once wrote a story when I was younger that I was very proud of. It was a similar length about a cat named Samantha and her friend Rabbit. It was lost, too.

Both times were equally disappointing. And it is pretty dang disappointing.

Sarah

Good news!!

Watch the video!

Yay!!

With love and peace,
Sarah

Things I don't understand

why we're learning chemistry in biology
why it's warm in October
why my room is always hot, no matter what
why i'm sleepy all the time
why it's too early to sing Christmas songs
why my mother doesn't like to watch the a movie more than once
why my fingers are fat
why i can't crochet to save my life
why i'm suddenly nervous about going to Netherworld on Saturday
why Maria doesn't have a Twitter (unless I'm mistaken)
why my father is obsessed with shooting squirrels
why everyone at my school thinks my dad is so cool
math

Kids

“As Peter and I watched the dances, different people would come by and introduce themselves. I had never seen such an odd assortment of people. Boys and girls anywhere from twelve to twenty filled space. There were quiet, reserved persons; there were silly, loud children; there were couples. But no matter how different they may have seemed, they were united. They were a community, a family, bound by the same shackles. Their life was most unusual, and though I could tell many of them tried to cover their wounds, here, in the midst of the festivities, I saw them for what they were: kids. Kids who have ended up unexpectedly in debt to a man of power, a man who controls their circumstances. And suddenly, it didn’t seem so strange anymore.”

We, You

This world,

Once a flawless garden, an immaculate dwelling,

A place made perfect by You.

This world,

Now a desolate wasteland, a sinful Earth,

A place destructed and shamed by us.

We,

We were made fearfully and wonderfully,

We had a great purpose, we walked with You.

We,

We have polluted, prostituted and poisoned ourselves.

We do not keep our promises, we are unfaithful.

You,

You love us anyway. You scream for us to see.

You forgive endlessly, Your mercy is ever-flowing.

You,

You died for us. You bore Your own wrath.

You redeem us, You make us new.

You,

You take the debris, you take the soiled world,

You bless it, You make it new.

You,

You guide us. You are ever patient.

You give us hope, You give us peace.

We,

We have purpose again.

We live and breathe and move,

in You. 

With peace and love,

Sarah

Why complicate things?

I'm tired of getting so caught up in these stupid technicalities of being a teenager. I give up. I'm going to stop overthinking things and just live life. If you look stupid, you look stupid. We all look stupid probably more often than we'd like to know.


So let's all just rid ourselves of a little unnecessary stress and take off the masks. Be uniquely you. For today you are you, that is truer than true and there is no one alive who is you-er than you! Sorry... had to throw in some Dr. Seuss there...


With peace and love,
Sarah

1 Peter 1:8-9

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

-- Andrew Gowen

Things to be Happy About

cold weather
the smell of freshly brewed coffee
jumping in a pile of raked leaves
herb gardens
napping in a hammock
using a fake British accent
grandfather clocks
magnificent sunrises on the way to school
blue skies
windy days
cinnamon scented candles
dogs falling asleep in your lap
hot baths
finding money in your pockets
long hugs
a steamy cup of Chai tea
laughing so hard you can't breath
music
making up constellations in the stars
the way your voice sounds when you suck helium out a balloon
still warm chocolate chip cookies