Psalm 51

Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
      ~Psalm 51:6-12 (NIV)


I've been living off the psalms a lot lately and that particular passage has become one of my favorites.  The heart of the psalmist is just amazing.  He knows that he has done wrong and only God can make him pure again.  

The thing I like about it is the whole thing of God restoring joy.    I've been unhappy a lot lately and this past year has probably been the hardest in a long time,  but recently I've realized how time and time again God has showed me his faithfulness and he never ceases to restore his joy in my life.  It's such a wonderful gift :D

Anyway,  I've got to wrap up this post because it's almost dinner time (we're have Burrito/Enchilada things - They're called Enchuritos :P) and I have studying to do.  One of my brothers is in Utah right now so it's been quiet around here ( except when my older brothers have a bunch of friends over then it gets insane).  

Gotta go! -Kale

Bible Quiz

   For those of you who don't know I'm in Bible Quiz.  We memorize books of the Bible and compete at answering questions from them.  This year's material is Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians,
Colossians, and Philemon. I've really enjoyed it.  Those books are so 
deep and I wish I could tell you all the things I've learned from them.  They're also very repetative and confusing :P 

    I'm so jazzed right now.  I quoted my last chapter for the memorization award tonight.    It's a good feeling to finish something you've been working on all year.  My mom pointed out that it's funny because my last chapter 
happened to be Galatians four and so the last words I said quoting were 
"Free woman."  *Grins* I think It was appropriate.  Anyway,  all the signatures in the back of my book are just so beautiful.  
   
   I've been studying like crazy to get ready for regionals and I've only got about two weeks left.  It's going to be an interesting trip,  that much I can say for sure.   

So,  That's what I've been doing lately.  That and school.  Oh!!! I got to draw shapes in Geometery today! It was awesome.  

KALE CHARIS

Strivin' tagged me so here's my list of things about me for each letter of my user name.  

K-I still have the Kaleidescope I got when I was eight and I can 
still stare into it for a very long time.  
A- My Anscestors are mostly from Austria, France and Germany.
L- I'm Loved by God.
E- I get Excited a lot. On im I have a smiley that's "mine." It's a blue guy jumping up and down.  I call it my "Yay" smiley.  

(And since Kale is short...)

C- My family has a blue Calico named Gracie and she has the softest fur in the world.  
H- I've never celebrated Halloween.  We always make doughnuts instead.
A- Right now I'm doing Anylitical Geometry. I like except for the graphing part.
R - Romans is my favorite book of the Bible. 
I - I feel like I is a very self absorded letter.  
S - My Sanity is safe in the sanity box.  

I didn't do it exactly how I was supposed to,  but oh well. Anyone want to guess what Kale Charis means?  I'll give you some brownie points if you get them right.   I'm still looking for the place where you can exchange brownie points for brownies though.  

Picture

We had snow a few weeks ago and I took this picture.


I'm sorry it has been so long. I've had some hard things happen lately, but anyway I'll try and make a real post soon.

Heh, you all should see how hard it is raining. We have a miniature river flowing down our driveway.

My Bucket List

I'm really tired right now. I just got home from a celebration of the things God has done in my church this year. It's amazing how he does the impossible every time. I'll stop now, because otherwise I would be tempted to ramble about it all.

We had a speaker on Friday night who was encouraging us to write out a "Bucket List" (There's a movie by the same name that has this in it) of things we want to do before we, well, "Kick the Bucket." Things that include God and things that we just want to do. So anyway, I thought I would share some of mine with y'all.

(Note that I'm not putting them in order of importance :P)
1. Be part of at least 100 people coming to Christ.
2. Live in a foreign country for at least a year.
3. Write some kind of book.
4. Visit every continent (with the possible exception of Antarctica).
5. Change the world.
6. Hang glide.
7. Drive through the Chunnel.
8. Graduate from college.

What's on your bucket list?

Red Scarf Girl-Ji li Jiang

I just finished reading this book and I was really shocked. It was about a girl during the cultural revolution in China ( I believe it was circa 66). It was interesting because I had never really learned much about the cultural revolution and I was shocked.

Throughout the whole book awful things were happening to Ji li and her family, but she never realized that they were wrong. The people had been so brainwashed by the communists that they thought it was fair for them to suffer even when they hadn't done anything wrong. The devil really had a hay day. I thought it was interesting how she eventually was forced to choose between the communists (which she had been taught all her life were good) and her family and how hard that choice was.

Reading this book made me even more grateful for the privilege of living in a country where there are those checks and balances so one person can't ruin life for everyone else. It really opened my eyes to what those people had to go through and caused me to realize how much I should be praying for the people of China.

ArT

I went with my mom to the art museum today. My dad had cheerfully volunteered to stay home and install a new faucet on the sink :) I had never actually been to an "Art Museum" before, or at least not that I remember. Heh, I guess I didn't really believe the things people say about modern art. Some of the artwork I did when I was 5 was better than that stuff.

I did really enjoy the Roman exhibit. It was fascinating to see what the people from my history book and even the bible had really looked like. By the end I was done looking at statues And busts. I can only take so many lifeless eyes glaring at me. I do wonder what it was like for them to have someone make a statue of them. I bet they never imagined it would be in an art museum thousands of years later with so many people shuffling past it. Seriously...an art museum would be the perfect setting for some kind of horror story. It all made me think of Night at the Museum. I would not want to be there when some of that stuff came alive. I can imagine the sheer terror that would ensue.

I was really there to look at the Renaissance art and was disappointed that they only had about 10 or 15 paintings from that time period, but they were interesting nonetheless. It was cool how the paintings varied by what country they were from.