Late Birthday Present!

Happy Friday, everybody!

I actually woke up this morning to the doorbell. I knew it was the UPS man, so I shot out of bed not wanting him to leave with the package I was expecting (I already missed him the day before). Obviously I was still in my sleep clothes, so I grabbed the only thing I could cover myself with since I don't have a robe. That would be the towel I've been using for my hair. I didn't even take the time to check my face and hair. After signing for the package, I looked in the kitchen mirror and saw that my hair was disarrayed, and that I had raccoon eyes because I hadn't removed my eye makeup. It was pretty embarrassing.

I soon didn't care! My birthday present from my best friend had arrived! I wanted to share this particular moment with you because it is special, and I wanted to express my love for getting mail now. I've never received so much mail before! It's so exciting.

Anyway, I sat on my bed with the camera ready and opened my packaged.

First, it was in this adorable bag.

I opened it, and it was exactly what I wanted. Demi Lovato's CD Unbroken. A sweet card went along with it. If you can't read the envelope, it says "bestest friend".

The card says, "People don't hate us because we're beautiful...they hate us because we're effing awesome".

The note inside was so sweet, and I'd rather keep that treasure to myself. I don't know if my friend intended for me to share with everyone. If you end up reading it anyway from the picture, it doesn't really bother me. I'm just not going to type out the whole thing.

I immediately called my dear best friend, and it was so nice to hear her voice and to know what she was up to. We've been friends since 7th grade but really got close our sophomore year. She was the first person I could be 100% myself, who understood my sense of humor, a person who could always make me smile/laugh, and a friend that I have never grown tired of being with. My husband is my soul-mate, but she is my person (a Grey's Anatomy reference for those of you who don't know).

Thank you again, Amanda! It was such a great way to start my day.

Happy Sunday

Hello! I hope everyone has had a wonderful, restful Sunday. I must share that my Sunday was pretty much, dare I say, perfect. Dude and I went to bed quite early last night, so getting up this morning wasn't a chore at all. It was refreshing! We both had nice and hot showers and made it out to church right on schedule.

Today at church Pastor Tim Senn finished up Matthew 7 discussing the parable of the two houses. Everything leading up to this point was fresh, wise, new, and very helpful in examining myself to find out what moves my belief and what I have been building it up on. My own works or the glorious works of Jesus Christ? This last part had two points.

1. The Parable

In short terms, you have two believers. Both do the same great works such as praise the Lord, attend work, and even possibly perform miracles in God's name. There is a difference though. One's belief is genuine in all that he does not just in front of others. The other in truth lives his life in lawlessness, and when he looks at his own sins doesn't take it upon himself to try and change them.

The wise man digs in the sand to find a solid foundation. He digs within himself to see what must be changed then starts to build upon his belief. The foolish man looks at the sand and says, "This looks sturdy enough", and builds right away.

Then when the storm comes the winds are great and powerful. The house built on rock is safe from its wrath, but the house on the sand cannot withstand thus it falls. And great was its fall (Matthew 7:27).

2. The preacher

Jesus was warning his followers about self deception throughout Matthew 7. In the end, His preaching astonished His listeners. Why? It had the King's authority all throughout it. In this, Jesus says, "I am the the way to salvation", and that He will be our judge.

Pastor Senn didn't get to finish this point today and will return to it next Sunday. I wish I had thought to share all the way through Matthew 7, but I'm sure that anyone who was interested could read through and get the message with some studying and open heart.

After church,  I relented and let Dude get pizza for lunch. He's been asking for it all week, so why deny it from him any longer? We ended up getting a medium pepperoni pizza from Domino's fairly cheap. I will admit it was quite good.

Then I took an hour nap while Brian went to ride his bike along the river walk in Burns Park. The weather today was so beautiful. It was in the high fifties/low sixties. I really should have enjoyed the outdoors, but a nap sounded so much better.

The rest of the days activities consisted of making pork congee, which is just rice and water cooked until it's like a porridge, doing some Pilates challenges, and just basic chilling. Now, it's completely dark out. Usually, Dude and I like to go somewhere either to look at something just for the sake of it or to just drive around with some music blasting. The things that brought us together like God, music, and just interests in really weird things are really humorous when I step back and look at them. Relationships can be so weird and quirky. But lovely.

Have a blessed night!

Metamorphosis Poem

Metamorphosis

Written by Reggie 

I decided for a change. 

         

                   A caterpillar eats and grows, so that it may transform

                   Into a butterfly, its wings so beautifully adorn.

                   It’s such a sight that its creator must be proud

                   Of His imagination so extravagantly profound.

          I too desire for His most worthy of attention.

                    In order to obtain, I must take my daily bread of the living gospel

                   I too must grow in spirit and become like an apostle.

                   I strive to praise Him, who is most high,

                   And to truly be the brightest apple in his eye.

          For this is my word from here on out,

                   That I never forget my Glory, Glory, and God Almighty.

                   Never again will I take this world’s evil lightly.

                   In order to please my Lord and through Him be glorious,

                  This is my metamorphosis.

The end except it's really the beginning of something great. This poem is one of the very few things I've written that means something to me. It's pretty special. I feel like it represents all the things I didn't know how to do before like bowing down to make God greater. I've reached recognition that as a human being it is my sole purpose is to worship God. There is no way I could feel content without praise and worship for my creator. It's in my design. How could I ignore that any longer? 

I encourage you to dig deep down inside and find something that is special to you about your relationship with God then write something down about it. It doesn't have to rhyme or even be poetic. It just has to be genuine. Something that will make you smile when you happen upon it in the future. 

Seriously, try it! And have a blessed night ; ) 

Prologue

Hello! As the title suggests, this posts is all about the beginning to a series of, hopefully, some great things to come. I'll be quite honest that this may be quite boring with its introduction, reasoning as to why I decided to blog, and what I'll be blogging about. Please, just bear with me. 

For starters, my name is Reggie. And yes, I am a girl. I think I'll leave it at that, and let everything else be revealed in later posts. I like to pretend that I'm a wonder to be beheld and sought after, haha. 

Now, why have I started this blog? There's actually two good reasons! 

1. I have always loved writing. In junior high, I was in a really bad place due to my home life being a little chaotic, and writing was my escape. Looking back on it, none of it was happy or positive, but it was raw and real. Writing had become my means of understanding my emotions and actually having a way to express them in a comfortable manner. I'm older now, and God took away the chaos. Writing had slipped away...until just recently. Miraculously, I had written two poems just last week! The fire has sparked once more. 

2. Another secret about myself to reveal...I do live very far from my friends and family. I miss them very much especially being able to talk about my day on a regular basis (I just love to talk in general). I actually follow several people on YouTube who vlog (video blogging), and I thought it would be a great idea to start writing a blog so everyone knows what I'm up to whether it be my joys, my frustrations, my projects, my lack there of, everything! 

Finally, the best part. What will I try writing about specifically? I don't want to be too strict on this because I truly just want to write what's on my heart at the moment, but I do want to share my "creations". Being all alone has sparked not only writing but cooking, crocheting, scrap booking projects, and DIY decor around the apartment. I'll try to make it spicy and fun. 

Well, this actually took all the writing capacity I had for the night. I hope you're as excited about this as I am. God bless you and have a great night!