Justified

Justification... Grace... Redemption... Righteousness...

Romans 3:23-26... in my life today

I have sinned...

I have sinned so badly that it seems that there is no where to go from here... I have hit the bottom - the pit - my personal hell on earth...

I have sinned and am deprived of the glory of God...

I will always fall short of God's glory. I am not glorious... I am human... Nothing I do or say will ever allow me to live up to what God wants from me... and because of my sin I lose the glory of God... My sin has taken the glory of God out of my life, out of my heart, out of my world. I feel the deprivation... I can't go lower... - and my sin brought me here...

I have sinned and am deprived of the glory of God... but I am JUSTIFIED...

JUSTIFIED: he marked me RIGHT... not just okay... not just "slipping past" but RIGHT...

He marked me right, JUSTIFIED me, FREELY by His GRACE...

GRACE: by His FAVOR... not just by his love - not just that I am good enough to be with him... but actual FAVOR... by His FAVOR that is undeserved... so so undeserved

I have sinned and am deprived of the glory of God... but I am JUSTIFIED freely by His GRACE through the REDEMPTION in Christ Jesus

REDEMPTION: not just through the forgiveness that Jesus' act give me... but through the knowledge that I am forgiven and PROTECTED from hell... forgiven and saved

I have sinned and am deprived of the glory of God... but I am JUSTIFIED freely by His GRACE through the REDEMPTION in Christ Jesus...

Why did He do this... why did He justify me?... why did He redeem me?... why is He gracious to me?

... to prove His righteousness in the present time...

He marked me as right, as good, as perfect... to show me his nature here and TODAY... to show me who He is

... to prove His righteousness in the present time, that He might be righteous and justify the one who has FAITH in Jesus...

so that I can be RIGHT... not just good enough... not just average... I can be PERFECT because of my FAITH...

... the one who has FAITH in Jesus...

FAITH: belief in God... period... the acceptance of God's facts - no in between... either faith or no faith... belief or no belief

I have sinned and am deprived of the glory of God... but I am JUSTIFIED freely by His GRACE through the REDEMPTION in Christ Jesus...... to prove His righteousness in the present time, that He might be righteous and justify the one who has FAITH in Jesus...

MY FAITH WILL SAVE ME!

I am standing in a courtroom... I declare myself guilty... dirty... stained... broken

The judge looks at me... declares me NOT GUILTY... clean... pure... whole... forgiven... saved... protected

August 25th

August 25th, 2011.....

.....should have been the first day back to school for me and all of my babies

.....should have been the day I got to see their smiling faces

.....should have been the day when I would put into action all of the planning that I had been doing for the two days prior to that

August 25th, 2011.....

......was the day that I once again left my Granite Falls friends and students behind

......was the day that I drove back to Charlotte with tears streaming down my face

......was the day that I realized just how much I was made to be a teacher

I cannot wait for August 25, 2012.....

The much awaited... bounce house birthday:)

My birthdays usually consist of flowers, a new outfit, and a wonderful dinner with my husband. I love our birthday tradition and have to say that I felt totally lucky that he was back in NC on March 8th this year so we could do it again!

However, this year was very, very different for me because it was my 30th birthday!!!!! So after a month of total mid-life crisis in February and after my sweet husband spoiled me once again on my actual birthday.... I decided to top this year off with a real birthday party - complete with a bounce house, giant cupcake, tutu, and martini bar...

The day started with early preparations of pre-mixing martinis and baking cupcakes.

Then... the bounce house arrived!!! I purposefully planned for the bounce house to arrive a couple of hours prior to my guests because I wanted some time all to myself. For those of you who don't know, I am obsessed with bounce houses. I love them and really feel that they should not be considered exclusively for children. So anyway, I spent about 2 hours prior to the arrival of guests just playing around, sitting, napping, and simply enjoying my personal bounce house!










The rest of the day went as a typical birthday party would... visiting, laughing, eating, drinking... so much fun was had that I forgot to take that many pictures.

At the end of the night, I have to say I realized WHY 30 year olds do not have bounce houses for their birthday parties. WOW -- my back, legs, and even arms??? hurt from the bouncing - my back being the worst of all! We also realized at the end of the night, that we had eaten so many of the other cupcakes, that the giant cupcake had not been touched:)

So today, after church, Becky and I sang Happy Birthday -- and we dug in. Notice I am looking a lot less festive the following day -- this is mainly due to the back issues...

Despite the soreness... I did find myself today goggling how much it would be to actually purchase a bounce house to keep....... because I am still obsessed with them!

Thank you to all my friends who shared the day with me:) It was wonderful!

Compromise...

I have really been doing well with happy posts... so if you are only out for happy - don't read this one.

Yesterday was 6 months... 6 months since I said goodbye to my mom for the last time, 6 months since I watched a flat line appear on the heart monitor, 6 months since I had my last parking ticket punched at John Hopkins... wow - 6 months. In some ways my brain says... "see, you made it pretty far... you are doing really good... the worst should be over by now" and in other ways my brain still goes blank and I want to curl up in a ball and cry.

But what I just realized tonight, is the compromises that my brain has made over that 6 months... the things I was willing to give up wanting and the things that I still ask for - even though I know I will never get it.

5 months ago... I remember thinking that I just needed to touch her again. I wanted to hug her, I wanted to hold her hand. I would rub her engagement ring that hangs on my neck and think about how she touched this same ring...

3 months ago... I remember thinking that it was okay if I couldn't touch her, but I just needed to talk to her again. I wanted to hear her voice in action. She didn't have to be talking about anything specific - just talking in general. I would rub her engagement ring that hangs on my neck and think about the movement of her hands when she would talk to me...

Today... I am thinking that it is okay if I can't touch her and if I can't talk to her, but I just need to see her again. I want to see her actions, watch her move. She doesn't even have to know that I am there... I could be invisible or something - I don't need to interact with her - just let me watch. I touch the engagement ring that hangs on my neck and think about the veins in her hangs that I would always notice as she worked...

When I give up the possibility of seeing her... what will I still want?

Thursdays...

Three weeks ago, a coworker, friend, and parent of one of my students and I came up with a great idea. I was going to start taking her son home from school with me on Thursday and to Hickory that evening for Special Olympics swim practice. It really took a LOT of cohersion to get Hunter (my student) to go along with this plan... but finally, the idea that John was gone and I was completely lonely every evening got the best of him and he just could not allow me to be lonely any longer:)

The first week was pretty rough - a lot of crying and reminders that his mom and dad really would be there to pick him up from swim practice and I was really not going to keep him forever... but Dina and Dudley won him over and pretty soon he was very happy with his decision to keep me company for one evening each week!

Despite the fact that my hair and face are totally greasy right now from being touched, hugged, rubbed, and kissed - I had such a fun night out :)

Let's just say that Thursdays have totally become my favorite night of the week! I LOVE that boy!

Edgy

I officially love the word edgy. I try to use it at least once an hour now... and it is totally what I am using to describe my new style.

I have decided that by going edgy with the hair... I had to go edgy with everything. I mean you can't have black hair - and wear pastels... I just don't think that will work for my. So, I have to say - this is a lovely excuse for doing some much needed shopping:) More black, more purple, more heels, more simplicity is the look I am now sporting. Becky is also happy about the change - because some after the great purge of my closet, some new clothing will be headed her way:)

Weekend of Change

This week was both Becky and Kaylinn hair change up week, however, after a short bout of hair envy I decided I was going to join the fun. And therefore, this week...

Kaylinn went from...
to...
Becky went from...
to...
And I went from...
to...

Good times people :)

Conversation with John

So -- John got to finally write me today. He was allowed to use government web sites... and so he was emailing me text messages and I was texting him emails back... I love technology. The messages were not long... or deep for that matter. Just a lot of jabber about missing each other and loving each other... but we soon figured out that we could send pictures. And here is the how the conversation went from there on...

John: Send me a picture of you right now.

Brandy:

John: Now send one of the dogs right now.

Brandy:

Brandy: Becky is hurt that you didn't ask for one of her... haha

John: I thought about it, but thought it might sound weird. Send me a group pic of the two of you and all the dogs. I am going to send you a picture too.

Brandy:

Brandy: The blur is Kaylynn... I didn't get your picture. Could you send it again?

John:

John: Do you have any more pictures that you could send?

Brandy: Do you have any of your face? Cause I miss it:)