2016 (Realistic) Resolutions for Dummies

My tips, tricks, and rules of thumb that anyone can easily follow for a better 2016:

- Read the Word every. single. day. Preferably when you wake up or before you go to bed. Do this in a calm, quiet, undisturbed and undistracted environment. 

- Eat desserts. 

- Breathe. In yoga you learn to breathe during exercise to lengthen muscles. In life you breathe to lengthen patience. 

- Smile. Again, often in yoga you smile through difficult poses to remind yourself that what you're doing might be tough, but it's worth it. A simple smile can be what you need to get through the end of a pose (which also usually is the hardest point of the pose when we think "I can't do this anymore!!"). This is a valuable lesson we can carry into our own lives. 

- To follow the yoga trend, do it. Often. It keeps you fit, it increases your flexibility and even your brain power, and could be the perfect way to wind down or even to wind up. It also helps aline your spine/pelvic floor and could be the perfect exercise for those who may not be able to conventionally exercise.

- Break rules. Wear white after Labor Day and before Easter.

-  Stay humble. You may be a 10 during the work week, but never forget your Walmart sweat pants/mud face mask/ 3-day-not-washed-hair weekend days either. 

- Life is hard enough. Buy a planner and use it. 

- Be organized. The older I get the more and more I realize how useful this skill is. The more organized I am, the better I sleep. 

- Speaking of sleep, spend money on good sheets and wash them every 2 weeks at least. Stay clean, sleep better. 

- Read books of all kinds. (If 50 Shades of Grey is on your "recently read" list, you're not doing it right and you're missing out on actual pieces of literature). 

- Pray. Frequently. 

-Wear what makes you happy, not what is trending. If they happen to coincide, awesome. 

- Keep coconut oil on hand at all times. Heals sores, softens skin, strengthens hair, and is a great healthy substitute for butter. Coconut oil and duct tape are musts in life. 

- Don't be a snob. Shop at Goodwill. 

- Drink lots of water. The benefits of water are literally unlimited. 

- When the going gets tough, the tough really do get going. 

- Do hard things. Often these are the only ones worth doing. 

- Dont hide behind a social media handle. Who you are is not who you are on a screen. Be authentic. Put down your phone in the presence of others. 

- Don't sleep in makeup, no matter how tired you are. Its icky, it ages you, and no one likes second day mascara. 

- People make mistakes. Your goal is godliness. Extend the characteristics of God towards people to the best of your abilities by exercising forgiveness, grace, and mercy. 

- Don't forget where you come from. Who raised you, where you are from, and who was there when you were at rock bottom. 

- Just because someone's lifestyle doesn't line up with what we believe from the Bible doesn't mean we have a pass to keep our distance from them. Never once did Jesus do this. It is our duty to be Jesus to these people and that requires interaction and often times friendship. 

- Journal. 

- Keep a working budget and write down all of your expenditures. 

- Just because something says "organic" beside it doesn't necessarily make it healthy. Make good choices. Eat less processed food. Put some green on your plate. Be awesome. 

- If you own a black dress, you can own the world. 

Happy New Year! May 2016 be the year you actually keep your resolutions (I know, who am I kidding?)

I Believe.

These days it's common for elementary school kids to throw on some pjs, climb into a big yellow school bus, and head off to school for a day of cookies, hot chocolate, and one of the newest but most treasured Christmas movies, The Polar Express. Unfortunately for me, my grade was the last grade that didn't get to indulge in this magical day at school until my 5th grade Christmas party, however no pjs were worn that day so it seemed like every other year for me. On party day as I walked into the bus room and sat down in my class's line, I saw the grade below me all clad in their pjs and slippers and was filled with jealousy. From that moment on I decided I would hold my grudge against The Polar Express and not the people in charge at my school, naturally. It wasn't until the last few years that I decided to let bygones be bygones and allow myself to watch the movie. Needless to say, it's my favorite Christmas movie now and holds such a special place in my heart. 

If you've never watched that precious movie, you're truly missing out. It wasn't until I watched it this year that I had an "aha" moment and my eyes were opened to the vastly deep plot. These children are on the cusp of not believing in Santa anymore, get picked up by the most magical train since Hogwarts (but NEVER to surpass The Hogwarts Express), and are taken to the North Pole to meet Santa-with a lot of stuff in between. Once they've met Santa, the main character is gifted with a bell from Santa's sleigh. This is no ordinary bell, however. The bell can only be heard as long as you believe in Santa. The main character ends the movie by narrating as an adult with the quote:

"At one time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I've grown old the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who truly believe."

I get chills every time I hear this quote and it's the subject of many future pinterest projects that I have pinned on my pinterest. However, last night I asked myself "does this movie possibly have an even deeper meaning?"

Just as many children stop believing in Santa at a certain age, unfortunately many people stop believing in God as well. I'm at a crucial part in life where a lot of people go to college and begin to have doubts. During this time of year especially, "the doubters", as the Polar Express would say, seem to come out of the wood works. A virgin birth, a northern star, and God made human all seem like fallacies in their minds. We see lawsuits to businesses for not being diverse enough. Christmas parties become holiday parties. Nativity scenes are labeled "offensive". Coming from a science major, yeah, it seems pretty out there to a human mind. In science you have to have facts, evidence, theories, and formulas before anything can be labeled as true. Jesus requires us to believe, trust, have faith in something that, in their minds, has little to no fact behind it. 

So what if we are the same as the kids in the Polar Express? What if we look at this Christmas as a journey? What is we allow ourselves to climb aboard the train of God and let it take us to the Father himself? 

There's one catch to this journey: we must be willing. The Polar Express doesn't force children to ride so that their eyes may be opened, they are asked if they want to ride. The main character at first says no, but when the train begins to leave he chases it down to eventually get on. I don't care how we arrive to this train, but we MUST get on. Unlike in The Polar Express, however, the train is always there for us. All we have to do is ask and Jesus says that if you ask you shall receive.

Asking God to open up our eyes to him doesn't just have to happen at Christmas, and it shouldn't just be for those who have their "yule tide doubts". We should all do this, and frequently at that. Every day we should wake up with one goal in mind: to grow closer to the Father's heart. That can come out in many ways and it looks different for everyone, but every day you should live to serve your God and come to know him more and more. 

Unfortunately, not all will believe. Just as in The Polar Express, some will not believe. Some, like Sarah, will allow events in their lives to shape how they see God or if they see him at all. But for those of us who ask God to take us on his own train ride, we will always believe no matter how old we grow or how seasoned our lives become. The bell will always ring for us. 

As the conductor of the magical Polar Express said "Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can't see." 

As for me, I believe. 

Relationship Goals

I live in a generation where all romance is dead. There's no anticipation during a first date because you two have already texted each other your complete bios. Goodnight texts are considered the highest level of love one can achieve in their relationship. "Netflix and chill" is the idea of a perfect date. And there's also this really annoying thing called #RelationshipGoals where we hashtag this next to anything we deem relationship worthy. Surprise, we're not really good at relationships.

I did a quick hashtag search on twitter and heres what "relationship goals" look like for our generation:

1) "___ and ___ are seen out in public together. #relationshipgoals"

2)"I wanna watch Elf and drink hot chocolate right now. #relationshipgoals" (not sure what that has to do with a relationship but okay)

3) a comment on a staged picture of a 3 week old couple on instagram that says "relationship goals" for no apparent reason.

4) "When he sends me a long text message telling me how much he likes me #relationshipgoals"

5) Some nonsense about how Chuck and Blaire are relationship goals. (Did you guys even watch Gossip Girl? Because I'm getting the feeling that you didn't.)

I don't know about you but literally none of those sound like "relationship goals" to me.

Relationship goals are loving a person when it's toughest.

Relationship goals are doing someone else's dishes or folding their laundry just because.

They're answering a phone call at 3 in the morning because your significant other is throwing up and they just want to talk to you.

Relationship goals are when he's really hungry but lets you eat as much off of his plate as you want.

Relationship goals are praying together, studying the word together, loving Jesus together.

They're foot rubs and hair brushings and random roses.

They're a goodnight phone call and a good morning text every single day.

They're offering your only jacket because she might be cold.

They're telling someone that you love everything about them in person 20 times a day so they don't forget.

They're trips to the grocery store for groceries that aren't even yours just to be with them.

They're carrying carloads of bags and not complaining once even though she's high maintenance

They're calling someone just because you know that they'll listen.

They're the times when you're driving down the road and you catch them looking at you for no reason.

Relationship goals are being called honestly beautiful when your hair is wet and you have no makeup on and your pajamas are 3 times too big.

For me, relationship goals aren't going to the gym together or being rich or watching a movie. Relationship goals are about living a normal life with an extraordinary person and putting their needs above your own every step of the way. So next time you go to comment "relationship goals!" on some instagram post of a new couple with a fake photo, rethink what you're actually saying. And don't you settle until your relationship goals look like absolute love.

**P.s. shoutout to my best friend and boyfriend for being the model of all of my relationship goals. Not a single person on this Earth could treat me like you do and I am so incredibly thankful that you choose to lovingly put up with my crazy self every day**

11 Habits You Have by the End of the Semester

Everybody sing it with me: It's the most horrible time of the year! That's correct, it's nearing the end of the semester which would seem like a blessing to anyone not in college, but to us seasoned scholars we know that the only thing worse than the end of a semester is actual death (Okay, I'm a LITTLE dramatic). Right now, I see a lot of posts from Odyssey going around about this very subject and I thought that a perfect way to procrastinate and put off all of my responsibilities would be to write one myself, so without further ado:

11 Habits You Have by the End of the Semester:

1) Your procrastination is at an all time high.

Yeah, you should probably be using all of your free time to study for your last tests or the upcoming finals you have, but suddenly everything around you seems more interesting. The floor MUST be vacuumed before you can even think about cracking a book. You've spent 30 minutes writing that 10 page paper, I think it's time to reward yourself with 2 hours of Netflix before bed, right? (This reason is also why this post was even written...oops!)

2) Thinking about end-of-term grades actually causes physical pain.

What do you MEAN I only have one test to redeem myself from the mistakes I made at the beginning of the semester? Ever heard of forgive and forget?

3) You're POSITIVE your professors assigned due dates while they were at lunch...together.

You have 2 tests, a paper, a quiz, 3 homework assignments, and a group project all due on the same day. Where. is. the. coffee. 

4) You're having to learn a semester's worth of material all over again.

At some point in academics, professors decided that the multiple tests given throughout the semester just weren't enough and we need a master test that covers all material we "learned" in the class. This means late nights in the library trying to learn everything you dumped out of your brain somewhere back in September. 

5) Your family thinks you're ignoring them.

We don't remember the last time we bathed ourselves. Calling home right now is low on our list. That is, until we have one of our famous nervous breakdowns, because then mommy is getting a call. 

6) What is sleep?

8 hours of sleep? Are you joking? Not only do you not have time for sleep right now, but your nights are filled with math equations or thesis statements. You can't even escape from responsibilities in your dreams. 

7) But when morning comes...

It's 7'oclock already? But you were just getting your best sleep all night!

8) You start breaking beginning of semester pacts. 

You PROMISED yourself you would make an asserted effort to look decent every day. This is a pact you laugh at as you pull on the same sweat pants you've worn for 3 days now. 

9) You remind yourself why you're here. 

Every 20 minutes. 

10) The only thing getting you through finals week is the thoughts of home.

11) And when you get home...

You try to show off your newly acquired smarts to your family without revealing that you thought about dropping out at least 20 times in the past 15 weeks. 

Now that you've procrastinated by spending  5 minutes reading this post, I think you deserve some Netflix. Where are your sweat pants?

I Stand with Ahmed

I’m sure by now through your Facebook or twitter scrolling you have come across the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed. Even those of you who are not politically motivated in the least have probably stumbled across the story of the 14-year old boy who built a clock and was told to put it away because it could be perceived as a bomb. You have surely heard that the boy was then arrested later on that day because the sound of his success rung in class when the clock worked and the alarm went off. Though I would be missing a perfect opportunity for a political blog post, I will refrain because to me there is no argument. I attended a public high school, I endured bomb threats, this didn’t even begin to fit the criteria of one- this was an act of racism. However, as an engineering student who has been in love with the sciences all her life, there is a more outrageous crime at hand- the stifling of a child’s passion.

            Upon enrollment in my current engineering program, my instructors tried to prep me for the rigor that I was going to endure in the next four years of my life. Many would start the race but few would finish. I had a class my first semester of my freshmen year specifically meant to mentally and emotionally prep the engineer for what they were about to invest their time in, making sure that we knew exactly what we were getting into. Through this course I learned that, whether you know it or not, successful engineers are created at birth. Those annoying children who always are asking “why?” or “how does that work?” usually are also the ones to figure it out themselves. The kid that takes apart the VCR and puts it together again. The one that likes to play with legos, likes to stay outside, likes to observe the natural world around them- that is a kid that has the love of science and logic bred into them. That is the kid that will push our world forward with their use of innovative engineering.

            When I heard this story I was sad because Ahmed was obviously this kid.  In college, inventions such as his are common. I am friends with clock builders, program writers, the kinds of people who make their calculators say their names on a Saturday night instead of attending a frat party. Last year, when the #BeAnEngineer hashtag (A hashtag I proudly sport in my twitter bio) exploded, I was sure that all people would be more aware that there are people like Ahmed out there-that they have existed since birth. However, this story proved me wrong. While a police officer was arresting Ahmed (again, a 14 year old boy) he asked him “why would you build a clock?”. I’m sure Ahmed didn’t even have a response because he and I are the same. Because it’s fun, because he found it interesting, because it’s second nature to him. It’s like playing with legos, working on a car, going to the gym. He even mentioned that he has numerous other inventions of his lying around at home. Making things is his hobby, his passion. Why wouldn’t he make a clock? I have an uncle who does these things all the time and I don’t think anyone in my family has ever asked him why he does it. He enjoys it, its how his brain works, he just does it. While I’m not like Ahmed in that I’ve never built a clock, my brain works just like his. I like fixing stuff. Whenever something doesn’t seem to work as it should, I find it really fun to play with it until it does work correctly. See what makes it work, compare it to other things, understand all of its functions instead of just using it. I like cooking things, building things, creating things. Understanding all of these things in their completeness. There is a high we get from getting things. Getting why a math problem is done the way it is, not just knowing how to do it. Getting why roads and bridges and neighborhoods are laid out the way they are. I can completely identify with Ahmed. I know why he wanted to build a clock.

            However I think the saddest part of this story is on the teacher’s part. I became an engineer because a teacher in high school looked me in the eyes and told me that he believed in me. I could do this. It would be tough, but I would be one of the ones that finished the race. I can’t count the number of days that we didn’t have class, just talked about college. Those are the hours that built me. Two years later and I still reflect on those conversations as I study late at night instead of hanging out with friends. Here, however, we have an example of a teacher stifling Ahmed’s dreams. Instead of a “how cool!” he got a “put that away!”. I mean, isn’t anyone else amazed that a FOURTEEN year old made a clock? Doesn’t that just blow you away? Ahmed made something and found a teacher he thought he could identify with and that teacher proved him wrong that day. I can’t imagine what disappointment he felt. His creative mind was put second to racist paranoia and I truly feel for him from the bottom of my heart. Before I wanted to become an engineer, I was dead-set on becoming a teacher. To this day I plan on getting my masters in Engineering simply so I can teach if I ever decide that’s what I want to do. Next semester I will be teaching a Calculus class. Lighting the same fire in others that was lit in me is very high on my priority list and God gave me a teacher’s heart. I can’t imagine a student choosing me to share their accomplishments and passions with and me just completely shutting them down. No person who can look a boy in the eyes and tell them that their creation must be hidden should be a teacher. Period.

            Ahmed, if you for some reason ever stumble across this blog post one day, I hope you know I believe in you. I too am part of a minority in the engineering field and I too wake up every day having to prove myself to others who feel like they are more worthy of this education. I work in the office of the Dean of Electrical Engineering and just the other day he was expressing that he wants his students to tinker with things, go home and build things. He said that that is what makes a great engineer. You fit the bill. I hope you go to MIT, get a great education, and keep on pushing limits because that is how all great things have came to be. #BeAnEngineer.

Apartment Life is Sweet Life

In 2 days I begin my second year of college which means that I am back in my not so quiet little college town trying to enjoy my last 2 days of summer before the rush of school begins. Last year, my roomie and I were tossed back and forth between dorms and, though we had a relatively good year, we decided that dorm life was NOT for us. So after searching for apartments in-between classes last semester we finally found "the one". This summer between my summer classes and working my old high school part-time job I drove down here to move in boxes, painted furniture after a late shift, and searched in goodwill aisles for hidden treasures, and now here we are! So, without further ado, welcome to my apartment tour! (Keep in mind that some more wall art will be added, but it's mostly done)

Our door with the most adorable little wreath!

 The panorama view of our living room

The chair- a goodwill find of my roomies. They recovered it and I think it looks so cute. The tables were another project of hers and the lamps were found in my attic. 

Our couch and coffee table. The couch is from Ashley's Home Furniture Store and I'm so thankful to my grandparents for purchasing this for me. It will follow me through college and beyond. The pillows were more DIY projects from my roomie. The table is an old window from Aquinas College that my dad and I revamped into a table. This will definitely follow me beyond college and I think its ADORABLE. 

Some wall art that I made. The letters were Lilly Pulitzer inspired and I made them last year for our dorm but luckily they fit right in. 

Our key/mail holder 

The view from our couch

                                       
The panorama of my kitchen (I tried, panoramas aren't really my thing)

Our kitchen table and chairs- a $20 Craigslist find by my room mate. Still looking for some wall art above it. 

The little wall art that we DO have in the kitchen thus far.

 The overview of my stove because I think its pretty cute. My nana made the dishcloth hanging on the handle for my first home years ago and I kept it just for this.

My little coffee station. 

Our menu board and some canisters. 

The cutest little spice rack 

Look! We're adults with real groceries!

 Our little utility room. Thank you so much to my Papa for the washer which was free and also for the replacing the dryer with a brand new one. Definitely made my life a lot less stressful!

Our little patio which is definitely still a work in progress

Our guest bathroom/Roomie's morning bathroom for when we both need to get ready. It was a hard angle to take pictures!

Heading upstairs to our bedrooms

The overview of my bedroom which I LOVE

My desk which was my brothers in college. The pictures above are black and white pictures of my hometown.

My bed, which also was my brothers and almost every other member of my family's. The canvases and bedding are from my dorm last year. I just couldn't give them up, I loved them so much!

My nightstand which is made out of a table found in my attic. Notice the coasters that I made out of Lowes tiles and my old Lilly Pulitzer agenda. 

My adorable Goodwill dresser! Im IN LOVE with this. Could definitely make this into an entertainment center or buffet in the future. 

High lighting my Goodwill tray spread. Super cute. 

The entryway to my bathroom

The panorama of my bathroom which is one of my favorite rooms for sure. 

My tray spread that I also got from Goodwill. SO cute. 

Some bathroom canvases I painted. 

Just highlighting my extremely girly and frilly shower curtain matching with these towels. Again, I LOVE how this room turned out. 

So thats it! Again, it's a work in progress. Thank you to ALL my grandparents for their purchases in helping me furnish the place. Also very big thank you to my uncle for hauling all of the furniture down here and putting it in my apartment for me. And a thank you to my parents for their purchases and also for buying my start-up grocery items. I am very blessed! 

I'm Done with Being Politically Correct.

A few weeks ago in my American Government class we had to sign up for a topic to debate on, work with a group to get a debate together, and then battle it out in class with our opposers. I glanced at the list looking for a topic close to the top so that I could more or less "get it over with", so I wrote my name down beside "against abortion", knowing I didn't support abortion and not knowing much more than that.

When I began to research, I remember actually feeling physically sick.

If we want to look at it in a political angle, we always hear people saying that abortion needs to be legalized for the rape victims. When I began to research, I expected to see a large portion of the women who got abortions report that they received one because they were a victim of rape. That, however, is not what I found.

I discovered that less than 1% of women who receive an abortion in the US report that they got one because they were a victim of rape.

But this is what all the political gurus first go to when they try to defend abortion, I thought as I scratched my head. So why do women get an abortion? What I discovered shook me to my core. Most report receiving an abortion for 3 top reasons: They got pregnant at an inconvenient time in their life and just didn't want a baby right then, their significant other left them when they found out they were pregnant, or they had money issues. Thats right, most women are getting their abortions simply because "its not the right time". Are you kidding me?

I then began to get information as to how an abortion is done and exactly what is going on with the fetus at certain weeks and I will spare you all of those details, but I can assure you that my eyes welled as I read these things on my computer screen as I was completing my work study hours. There was and is no doubt in my mind that abortion is absolute murder.

.....
Last week as I was walking to my 9am, I saw large posters with the words "Warning: Photos of Mass Genocide Ahead". I thought someone must be doing a Holocaust awareness thing or something and went on to my class, thinking nothing else about it. I then heard a buzz of people absolutely livid. Apparently some pro-life activists had set up a large booth to both raise awareness about abortion and protest it. Pictures of aborted babies were posted everywhere. People were mad. 

I heard one major complaint: "I shouldn't have to see dead babies as I'm walking to class!" or  "I'm pro-life and everything but those pictures were just gross". And of course the really great, solid argument of "Pro-life people are dumb and shouldn't be allowed to have an opinion". That's my favorite. I even read a poster of someone protesting which read "Trust women: Pro-choice is pro-life"....what? Isn't that kind of like Hitler saying "Trust me on this one guys, the Jews gotta go, I know what I'm doing". Is that the best they could come up with, seriously?

......
So, as I stated in my very long blog post from 3 this morning, I thought about doing a blogpost for all of the major issues David Platt addressed in Secret Church last night. In all honesty I'm not sure if that will actually happen, but I do have to speak about abortion. I am tired of this staying in the darkness because no one wants to talk about it, and I feel compelled.

The main argument for abortion is that within the first trimester the baby is not actually a person, but just a clump of cells. If we want to talk science, I can talk science. For my debate specifically I read the definition of life first. Webster defines life as "the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity to grow, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death". Interesting, because for all but that whole reproduction part (at this stage), that clump of cells has life. If you want to argue for the reproduction part then full term babies or toddlers are free game too. From the moment that a person is conceived, it continuously is growing. Ask any woman who has had a baby before and see if they believe that a baby is a person within that first trimester.

But putting human's limited outlook on science aside, let's look at scripture. The all famous Psalm 139 tells us a lot, including that God knitted us in our mothers womb, that he saw us and knew the number of days we had, that we were wonderfully made even then. There are a number of verses that tell us God is the giver and taker of life. There is no doubt that biblically there is a person in there because God is the one who blesses us with children. He put that child there, he made that child possible, he is knitting that baby. We then can look at verses such as Job 10:8-13 and see that God made EVERYONE wonderful, even the disabled, and we as humans have no right to tell a disabled child that they were a mistake and they don't even deserve life. David Platt told us that about 90% of women who are told their baby will have a disability choose to abort. We as Americans see no worth in the life of a disabled person and there is something seriously wrong with that.

Gregory Koukl talked about a little girl named Rachel. "If a doctor came into the hospital room and, instead of caring for Rachel, took the life of this little girl.... it would be a homocide. However, if this same little girl- the very same Rachel- was inches away resting inside her mother's womb, she could be legally killed by abortion".

David Platt did address the subject of rape babies. Guess what? They deserve life too. Duetronomy 24:16 says "Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers,". He told us that a woman would not be allowed to in turn murder her rapist for emotional relief, so why do we let her murder the innocent product of a bad deed? I know that it would be so incredibly hard to have that baby, I do. Do not think that I am downplaying that for one second, because that would cause me to wake up every day and pray for grace for that child, but it has to be done. Extend the same mercy to that innocent child as God extends to you every single day.

Another huge argument that advocates abortion is that making it illegal forces women to get it done with other means, including horrifying stories involving coat hangers. That sounds like a moral issue, not an abortion issue. The problem there is not that we should make it safer for them to murder a child, the problem is that we have got to change a culture. David Platt compared this to someone robbing a bank. Just because it is dangerous for someone to rob a bank does that mean we have an obligation to make it safer for them? Of course not! No one would for a second support that idea. Yet we do it in this society every day. It is time for women to take responsibility for their actions.

The main beef I have is not with the culture, honestly. It's the fact that our churches are sitting back in silence on this issue in fear of "offending someone". Churches geared towards my generation especially live in fear that if they speak out against one hot topic issue then the whole congregation will call them the go-to names (like closed-minded, hypocrites, hateful, you know the names) so they simply do not talk about it while their congregation sits there in sin. I find it interesting that the church has no problem speaking out against "normal" sins, for lack of a better term. A preacher will more than gladly talk about a man's sin of lusting or a woman's obligation to be modest while avoiding an issue that most of the congregation either participates in or thinks is okay. It's time to change our church culture, people. We can not afford to remain silent on issues such as these any longer. An abortion occurs every second of every minute of every hour of every day. We kill more people than the holocaust killed every year. Do you understand how many souls that is? Who are we to say if God's work is good enough to live or not?

If you have had an abortion, know that there is mercy and grace for you. You are fully forgiven. If you have supported abortion in the past, I strongly urge you to get on the biblical side of it. And if you are reading this, I urge you to speak out. This has to be addressed in our churches and in our government.

Here's My Heart, Lord, Speak What is True

   Put your hand on your chest. You feel that constant thudding?  Social media often prompts you to do this so that you can feel your "purpose" beating inside of you, which is a little too abstract for me, but really, how cool is that? You're not even thinking about it and your heart is pumping about 2000 gallons of blood a day. 2000 gallons. When I start to think about what incredible things the organs are doing like that I begin to get really nervous because I know how intricate they are and how much heavy duty stuff they're doing. Luckily, however, I need not worry about such things because the maker of my heart is also the keeper of it. Unlike my car engine, when my heart stops working the manufacture of it collects the model and tweaks it until it runs forever. Cool, right?

   Today I went to a Tuesday night sermon/worship deal that I go to pretty regularly and we were worshipping to "Here's my heart" by Passion. The worship leader made some comment about how he heard no one knows what makes our heart start beating in the medical field and that's cool because we as Christians know what makes our hearts start beating. Well, he's partially correct. The medical field actually does know what makes our heart start beating, however they only know it in medical terms as "electricity". We know that this "electricity" very well may exist (yet I keep putting it in quotation marks for some reason...) but that it doesn't just happen on it's own. The maker of the stars and of life and of babies jump starts your heart and breathes life into your lungs and counts the hairs on your head before you're even depending on yourself to stay alive. I try to imagine what that must be like. The same God that created the Swiss Alps and Saturn and a sunflower wove my skin together, touched my heart (literally), blew up my lungs, and kissed the 643rd hair on my head. Let it sink in because that is CRAZY. You have literally been touched by God himself.

  I find it interesting that I know this but I don't think of it every day.  The only time I focus on my breathing is during my daily yoga (deep, cleansing breaths fellow yogis), but how precious is that breath? The only time I think about my heart beating is when I have one of those migraines where your heart is beating into your head, but how huge is each beat? I cry out to God again and again in school, asking for help and for success and for sanity, and again and again he grants just that to me, but every single semester I just do the same thing over again. When will I learn? When will I take what we might consider the most basic of bodily functions as precious as they are? When will I trust the one who made that heart or that breath in all areas of my life, always, without any doubts?

   I think I find it most interesting that we're the only creatures who live like this. One of the lines in my prayer journal from July 13th states:
     "As I sit in bed by my bedroom window, I hear thousands of crickets singing your praise in their own language. As soon as night falls they sing your praise until dawn and I think I could learn a lot from such a creature. You are higher, God."
The sun rises every day, warming the earth and reminding us of the great romance that is in Christ Jesus. The wind blows and unravels that same love story. The crickets chirp all night by my window, crying out to God. When will I learn that I should do the same? My heart is beating. My lungs are filling. God hasn't let me down yet, even when I thought he did. When will I wake up in the morning and sing praises until I fall back asleep?

So to God I say I'm sorry. I'm sorry I don't take as breath as preciously as I should. I'm sorry I doubt you again and again, even though I know that where I am is where you want me to be. You have gotten me through the very tip-top highs and the super down-hill lows. You have never once left my side. You have always provided for me, always been faithful, always been knitting me together as if I were still in your palm. And I can say right now in this moment, though I'm sure my human nature will cause me to doubt this in the future, You will always be by my side, always be providing, always be knitting. Even when it seems like you're not, I know that you are. Always.

"You are strong, you are sure,

You are life, you endure,

You are good, always true,

You are light breaking through,

You are more than enough,

You are here, you are love,

You are hope, you are grace,

You're all I have, You're everything,

Here's my heart Lord,

Here's my heart Lord,

Here's my heart Lord,

Speak what is true."

So You Think Cheerleading Isn't a Sport?

"Way back in high school" (like it was a long time ago), I was  a cheerleader and was constantly being annoyed by how many "cheerleading isn't a real sport" comments were made to me. After only a 6 minute routine was done at a competition and I left the floor panting, almost dry-heaving, that thought just flew all over me. I would think "If this isn't a sport than I don't ever want to play one because I don't think I would live through that". Well, in my Physics class we had a project where we had to explain the physics involved in one sport. I of course chose cheerleading. My paper is listed below. I encourage you to read it not just because it will rid any doubt that cheerleading is a sport  from your mind, but also because I just find it really interesting.  Grab a snack before you start reading folks, it's LONG.

When you think of cheerleading, your mind probably wanders to a mental image back from the 1950s, complete with extremely long skirts and oversized pom-poms with girls yelling some form of  “rah, rah, rah!” into a megaphone. Cheerleaders are always being depicted in movies as the character with the least amount of intelligence. In high school I was a cheerleader myself and constantly was trying to overcome the stereotypes people pegged on me, even while I was taking AP courses and had one of the highest GPAs in my high school. The truth is, cheerleading lately has been evolving into what a lot of people would consider an extreme sport that requires quite a bit of brainpower.

         In modern times, your dancing skills and peppiness alone will not earn you a spot on your high school cheerleading squad. Try outs for a team now last over a week, putting girls through intense pre-conditioning, dance routines, and tumbling passes. You must be able to flip upside down in synch with twenty other girls, jump up and hit your toes at the perfect timing in the middle of a routine, and soar higher than ever in a stunt group as your teammates thrust you into the air.  Most cheerleaders don’t realize that in almost everything that they are doing, they are subconsciously applying basic principles of physics to make sure everything goes off without a hitch. Here we will be looking at the physics in three main components of cheerleading: jumps, tumbling, and stunting.

         Jumps aren’t something most people would consider when thinking of the physics involved in cheerleading simply because it’s something that we do as children. It’s not complicated, but it does involve quite a bit of physics. Kendra Harvey, an author for a Livestrong article on this very subject, explains jumps by saying, “You are simply working with your own force against gravity to accelerate your body off the ground,” (2). Notice two words that Mrs. Harvey says: force and acceleration. Using our knowledge in physics, we can remember that Newton’s 2nd law actually relates force and acceleration with another variable, mass (10). A girl’s jump height is directly related to the amount of force that she puts into the jump. According to Newton’s second law, if a cheerleader wants to improve her jumps, she must improve her acceleration, her muscle mass, or both (2).

 Another way that we see cheerleaders improve on their jump height is the way that they swing their arms before they jump. Take a toe-touch for example. A girl starts with her arms raised in a V shape and her hands in fists. She then swings both of her arms in large circles down while simultaneously bending her knees as she prepares to jump. As she jumps, her arms come to rest in almost a T-shape as her fists reach to meet her toes, and that all happens in about 4 seconds. The reasoning behind swinging your arms before a big jump is to build up momentum so that you can increase the height of your jump and help your form (11). In all honesty, a cheerleader probably isn’t thinking of the reasoning behind why she swings her arms before a jump because it just feels natural to her. As a cheerleader myself, I never considered really why this was done until I began to do research for this paper. Despite whether she realizes why it is done, she is implementing several different principles of physics into every jump.

The second thing we are looking into is tumbling. Tumbling refers to all the “tricks” a cheerleader does on her own, starting from something as simple as a cartwheel and increasing in difficultly all the way to several back handsprings in a row complete with a back flip, also known in cheerleading as a back tuck series. The physics involved in tumbling is much more complicated than that of which is involved in a simple jump and a cheerleader must be completely aware of how those physics go into each move or she runs the risk of hurting herself in a serious way.  The surface that a girl is tumbling on is very important for several reasons, two of which are friction and what could be described as push-back. A Princeton cheerleader explains that “…a tumbler needs a floor that generates enough friction on her feet to keep her bouncing/moving through the pass,” (9).  A surface with too much friction plants your feet hard at the end of a pass and sends a painful and possibly damaging shock through your joints. A surface with too little friction doesn’t allow you to stop your tumble pass as easily and you could slip and fall at the end. Similarly, a surface that gives very little push-back on the tumbler, such as the earth, requires more force to successfully complete a tumble pass. A surface that gives more push-back, like a spring floor or a gym floor, requires less force to complete the pass (9). Cheerleaders must take all of this into account before they even think about actually tumbling.

Now, let’s consider when a girl is actually doing her tumbling. One of the simplest but more intriguing moves is called a back handspring. A cheerleader can either do what is a called a standing back handspring where she tumbles from standing in one spot, or a running back handspring where she uses momentum built up in a run to help her carry through with the pass. The former is mostly used when a girl has multiple tricks she is doing, such as several back handsprings followed by a back tuck, and she needs a lot more momentum to keep her tumble pass powerful so that she can overcome the force of gravity through several moves (2). With a back handspring, the two main components of physics that a cheerleader is working with are gravity and Newton’s 3^rd law, which states that “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction,” (10). Earlier we talked about the momentum needed so that a girl can have lots of force in her tumbling. Three girls involved in a project similar to mine explain why that force is needed in saying that “the force carries the tumbler backwards and gravity pushes her back towards the Earth.” (5). With every flip she does, a cheerleader is constantly trying to overcome the force of gravity or at least use it to her advantage. Newton’s 3^rd Law implies that with every force she is enacting on the ground (i.e. her hands pushing off the ground with force), the ground is enacting an equal but opposite force right back on her (5). This allows for those nice high back handsprings that woo crowds at half time.

The last aspect of cheer that we will be looking at is quite possibly the most complicated- stunting. Stunting can be described as the cool tricks a cheerleader does in the air with the help of other cheerleaders, and it can appear in many forms. A group of cheerleaders (called bases) hold the girl at the top of the build (called a flyer) while she is constantly balancing her weight and cheering at the same time. The bases then usually throw the flyer in the air while she does a trick as she dismounts and the bases catch her. This can be done with as few as one base or as many as four or five bases. The flyer constantly has to balance her center of gravity and that varies “based on how many people are holding her and what kind of stunt she is performing.” (1). If a stunt group is performing a simple “prep”, the flyer stands with her feet shoulder width apart and the bases hold her feet at chest level. Here, her center of gravity is almost the same as it would be on level ground. If a stunt group is attempting a more complicated one-legged stunt, say a liberty, a flyer must stand on one leg with the other legged bent while the bases work together to hold her one foot up over their heads in what is called an extension. Here, her center of gravity is much different and she must work to counterbalance the change by popping the hip that is attached to her bent leg up, which a result of Newton’s 3^rd Law (10).

The dismount requires many principles of physics as well. To dismount from a prep, the bases bend their legs slightly and rapidly extend their arms up with as much force as they can muster. This bend acts much like the arm swing in jumps acted and helps the stunt gain momentum and the bases increase their force so that it can reach maximum height. In cheerleading, we tell the flyer that she must “ride it out”, meaning she should stay in the same position as she was when the bases held her until she reaches a maximum height where her velocity is equal to zero. If she doesn’t do this, her stunt doesn’t go as high because she interrupted her velocity before it was able to reach zero (1). For a more complicated stunt that could involve a flip or a spin, the flyer must reach that maximum height so that she has enough time coming down to perform the stunt. If she fails to do this, she could land face down in the bases arms or move slightly to one direction where the bases cant catch her at all. In a simpler dismount, called a cradle, a flyer rides it out until her velocity is equal to zero and then hits a slight pike, or slightly pushes her tailbone back. This pushes her center of gravity back so that she can transition safely from being vertical to horizontal and her bases can catch her. From here, the bases must “catch high” meaning that they start to catch the flyer at about chest level as opposed to near their stomachs. The Princeton cheerleader explains why this is done by saying “By catching high, the bases and back spot can start their opposed force of catching sooner,” which is another way cheerleaders are utilizing Newton’s 3^rd Law (9). I just chose a few aspects of physics of basic stunting to include in this paper, however there are much more that go beyond the realms of this assignment.

As you can now see, cheerleading requires much more mathematics and science than most people realize, even arguably more than any other sport. Those who argue cheerleading is not a sport have probably not considered all the thought that goes into every jump, tumble pass, or stunt and therefore do not understand the complexity that the sport has evolved into.  Beyond that, cheerleading has helped many actually grasp certain concepts of physics. As I was researching articles, I saw many comments from students saying that explaining cheerleading as I have helped them to understand Newton’s Laws better. There is no doubt that cheerleading involves a complex balance of physics and pep to pull off a routine flawlessly.