the one and only...

TAJ MAHAL

"And to think these days men get away with giving 

flowers and chocolates to their wives"

A monument of love built by an inconsolable emperor, Shah Jehan, in memory of his wife Mumtaz, the Taj Mahal is best experienced in moonlight. Arguably the world's most photographed monument, the Taj Mahal is one of India's twenty-six World Heritage Sites. Do visit with a loved one. 

Thus reads a poster in my room with a glorious photo of the Taj Mahal. It's cool how I got that poster ... I was working - helping a lady set something up for some weekend function thingy - and she read my name tag and gave me the poster. :P It was originally meant for her daughter if I remember correctly, but she said she just had to give it to me because of my name. Bless her heart. :)

It would be so awesome to visit the place that inspired my name... wowzer! Someday, I hope to! All I can do for now is stare at it longingly from South Dakota. Pretty cool though, eh? And I love the caption at the top... hehe! If only my future husband would build something like that in my honor... !!!! Just kidding - but - it would be quite fitting for a Countess, would it not? ;)

a glimpse into my Library

BOOKS I'M READING NOW:

• The Bible ... the very words of my Maker and THE best book ever written.
• Auralia's Colors by Jeffery Overstreet... it's a really neat Christian fiction story about a girl who has the ability from God to bring color to a gray world.
• The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas ... total classicness - knights, ladies, evil dudes ... oh yeah. 
• Heaven by Randy Alcorn... a book, all about Heaven. It's really interesting.... did I mention I've been trying to get through it for a year now? :P
• Calculus: Early Transcendentals by James Stewart ... whoot!! honestly, I really love reading this book. :D

BOOKS I WANT TO READ:

• The Power of Prayer in a Believer by Charles Spurgeon ... looks like a really interesting book - prayer is SO important in our lives and it will be interesting to find out what Spurgeon says about it.
• Generation Change by Zach Hunter ... this dude is one amazing Rebelutionary. He's like a young William Wilburforce - trying to abolish slavery in the world.
• The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis ... I have always wanted to read The Chronicles of Narnia ... here's to hoping my Mom lets me someday ;)
• Authentic Beauty by Leslie Ludy ... my coach recommended this to me awhile ago, and if it's written by Leslie Ludy, you know it HAS to be good.
• The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas ... aaah more classic epicness. 8-) Dumas is one super cool author with amazing stories - even if his books take years to finish. ;)

I got this whole ''reading now/want to read'' idea from another blog I came across ... but sadly, I cannot find the link to it. :( Kind of a cool idea though, eh? And now you have a glimpse into my literary world. *epic music plays*

......waiting......

I have been blogging a lot lately, I just realized. I wonder if that is a crime in the world of blogging or not? Perhaps it's because I have lots to share .... or I just need a break from this Calculus class I'm trying to finish up. Either way - I hope you all aren't too irritated with my excessive blogging habits lately. ;)

Tonight though - waiting is on my mind. Seems like I'm waiting for a lot of things right now. I'm waiting, for one, on some school stuff. Waiting to hear back from Thomas Edison State College and see if I got accepted, waiting for my scores on English Composition, waiting to hear on some things my coach is finding out - and waiting to be done with my degree altogether. I'm also waiting for my prince to come and sweep me off my feet and waiting for the day when I'll be ready for him to come (working on that). Too, I'm waiting and longing for the day when my Savior Yahshua returns in all His glory and we can live in Heaven with Him!! Aahhh ....

Of course, with waiting, comes patience. It's one of the fruits of the spirit I believe ... if my memory serves me correctly. "Be patient. It will come!" Yes, indeed - that's something I have told many a friend in an attempt to be encouraging. Now I find myself needing to take my own advice. It will come, it will happen .... I just have to wait. And wait happily, with a smile on my face, knowing that God has everything planned in His perfect timing. Oye it's hard ... but with His help, I can do anything. Right? *goes off to be reassured by His words and promises*

this. is. HUGE!

I have something so totally awesomely amazing to share with you -- so make sure you are sitting down!! As you read this, you'll probably be thinking .... "ANOTHER post on swimming? India, you are totally insane!" But! This is so incredibly HUGE that I just have to share it with you. AAHH!! So here goes.

Michael Andrew. Heard of him? Probably not. But, he did something amazing this past weekend, he broke the National age group record in the 50 meter freestyle race. National. National!!! Michael is a good friend of mine (he's 10), he swims with my brothers, and he is also the son of my boss. (for those who know not, my boss and her husband own and run the swim club where my brothers swim ... and Michael is their son.) The previous record was set in 1986 (I think it was) and it was just broken this weekend! A record that has stood time for 24 years has been smashed to the ground. The old record? 24.76 seconds. Michael's time and new record? 24.60 16 hundredths of a second! In the swimming world, that is incredibly huge. Really!!

So - think Michael Phelps at the Olympics. Well, one day soon, there is going to be a different Michael in the pool. So in a few years, be sure to watch for him. ;) A friend of mine - he's a great kid and an awesome swimmer .... take a look!!! This is THE race. Whoot!

And just for fun - a picture of my brothers with Michael.

L-R Judah (9), Michael (10), Ezra (12)

[hint]India you worry too much[/hint]

My dear and loving Mother is hinting at something, I do believe. She printed this out on a piece of paper in big letters and set it on my desk. Here is what it said:

WORRY implies that we don't quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what's happening in our lives.

STRESS says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace toward others, or our tight grip of control.

GET OVER YOURSELF!

The point of your life is to point to HIM. Glorify Him. Praise Him. Thank Him. Life - it's not about us - it's all about HIM.

That's good advice, eh? Needless to say, I taped the paper to the wall in front of my desk - and maybe it will help me to stop being so worrysome and stressed? We shall see. I'm trying! With God's help I'm really trying! This does bring to mind the blog of Victoria, a dear, dear friend of mine. She wrote about something she read about worrying - here. It's very interesting! Give it a look and have a wonderful week. :)

Happy Birthday Horatio!

Today is ..... Horatio Alger's birthday!! He was born in 1832 on January 15th - and he became one amazing author. He grew up in Massachusetts and went to Harvard at age 16. His first book was published 29 years after he had passed away ... which is sad to me - he never got to see his works in a bookstore - and they are amazing works let me tell you.

If, perchance, you have never read a book by Horatio Alger, I invite you to read one! They are stories of young men, building themselves a life from nothing ... determined to make their circumstances better. And it's not for themselves either ... usually trying to make life better for a loved Mother, sister, or other family member. The stories he writes are wonderfully encouraging - telling the tale that - Yes! You can make things better if you really, truly try hard enough.

In our wonderful internet world .... you can read a multitude of Alger's books right here for free online. Yep, there are lots, but just pick one as they are ALL splendid (at least, the ones I have read have been) ;) And really, there's no catch - just download and go! I know, I know, reading an ebook is not nearly the same as reading the real thing ... but for us poor college students, you do what you have to, eh? Anyway, enjoy them!! And Happy Birthday Horatio ;)

http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/a#a168

splish! splash! ooh what a weekend

"RACE EZRA! RACE! SWIM HARD!"
"AW SNAP! My video camera got splashed on AGAIN!"
"JUDAH WON! HE WON! AAHH!!"
"Ezra forgot his swim shorts at home?! What?!"
"If I hear one more Skillet song...!!"
"seven one-HUNDREDTHS of a second away? OH MAN!"
"Suurrree... of course I'll video tape the meet for you Tina!"
"ΕΖRA WON HIS HEAT! Can you believe it?! WOW!"
"If I hear one more Owl City song...!!"
"COME ON!! RACE! SWIM! KICK HARD!"

Yes. That was my weekend. Two beautiful days spent at the local swim meet. My brothers Ezra and Judah competed, and they both did absolutely wonderfully!!! (big sisterly pride again? OH YES!) My boss, Tina (who runs the swim club where my brothers swim with her husband), requested that I video tape all the swimmers from the club! So yesterday and today I video taped, tomorrow and the rest of the week will consist of editing each video and posting them on Youtube. A looong job. When I get some posted of my brothers I'll have to share some here.

Oh, about the Owl City and Skillet thing above .... while I was video taping I was listening to music. (of course!) I "borrowed" my brother's iPod for the weekend because my iPod does not have a case with a clippie thingie (which his does). Unfortunately, his iPod has much less space than mine, and so he only has a few albums on there. How many times can you listen to Skillet without going totally insane?! Wait, I'm already insane. We're good!

So yes, the swim meet. My brothers did awesome, Judah won a few heats and bettered his previous times in every event except one I believe. Ezra bettered his time in every event, won a few heats, AND is 7/100 of a second away from making the State Qualifying Time!!! Which is a HUGE deal ... cause if you get that certain time in a certain race, you get to swim that in the State Meet. Which is totally cool. Ezra's close time was the 50 Yard Freestyle .... oo he was SO close! It was a great race though.

Yep. That was my weekend. Filled with music, swimming, video taping, lots of water, screaming, yelling, cheering, congratulations and LOADS AND LOADS of big sisterly pride. :)

update and a poem

First of all, thanks so much to everyone for your prayers for my aunt and everything .... wow! It means SO much. Second - my aunt's infection went away (HALLELUYAH!) and her heart surgery got postponed until Monday. So I believe things are starting to look up - God is so good. :)

Then, a poem. Today was.... interesting to say the least, so to make it all better, I wrote a poem. Well that, and ate chocolate, wasted time surfing the web looking at geeky stuff (like Google's new phone! and the new BETA version of Skype!), and listened(ing) to good music. I have this one on now. (it's a great song) Anyway, a title-less poem. :)

Indeed it is hard to be understood,

in this crazy world that we live.

People around just don't seem to care,

or mind the opinions we give.

Oh yes, the road is not easy,

this path we have chosen to take.

Yes people will laugh, and constantly mock

the choices we've chosen to make.

When will help come? To whom can we run?

Or isn't there anyone there.

Sometimes we wonder, but then we hear

a promise from God in our ear.

"I understand, I'm always here,

please don't mind what others say.

Just stand and be strong, and live by My Word,

and things will be better one day."

Prayer Request

I know, I know, it's almost against my religion to post twice in one day .... but I have a serious prayer request to share.

To give some back story - my aunt has had 4 major surgeries in the last few years - those being heart surgery, brain surgery and vocal chord surgery - and I believe it's heart surgery she has had twice. On a few of them, she had a 2% chance of living. God is amazing and merciful, and kept her alive through all of that though! Hallelujah!

That brings us to today. My Mom (it's her sister) got a phone call last night, and was informed that my aunt has staff infection (whatever that is), and it's ''deadly''. That, and she has to have open heart surgery AGAIN on Wednesday to replace the valve in her aorta. It's really scary ... how many times can you have open heart surgery and be okay?

On top of all this, she (my aunt) is not saved - believes it's 'luck' and her good works will get her to Heaven. :( Plus, she has two boys who this has been really hard on. One is my age and the other is a few years older.

So - I know this is one huge prayer request - but if you could pray for my aunt's surgery on Wednesday, for her salvation, for her boys .... and for my Mom, cause all this has been super hard on her. Especially knowing that her sister isn't saved.

Thank you all so much in advance - it means the world.

God bless.

awesome weekend randomness!

After my last post ... here is a not-quite-so-serious one on some fun stuff I did over the weekend. But wait! The weekend is not over! Maybe I should post this tomorrow .... or not. :D

Friday! I re-arranged my room and gave it a thorough cleaning. And I organized my bookshelf, vacuumed and dusted everything ... yeaah!! Looks good. :D Oh, and I had this random idea a few days ago to put Christmas lights on my bed! You know, after Christmas, when you can get all those awesome decorations for pennies? Well, I decided to ''invest'' in some Christmas lights, so I got a long string of them and wove them around my bed! It's soooo pretty. *does a happy dance*

Saturday! [morning] I woke up late and trooped downstairs to do Torah Study (and other things) with my family. We read about the Israelites, and how much they complained in the wilderness ... then read other things throughout Scripture that related to that. It was really great. I caught myself going ''oh, India, you complain about that too much - you complain about this too much" *cringes* So, yeah, good lessons to be learned and worked on.

Saturday! [evening] Noah had a basketball game, which was awesome to watch! He played pretty good - and was 100% on his free throws during the game! Whoot Go Noah!!! :D (big sisterly pride? you know it!)

Sunday! [morning] So I get up at a decently late hour again - around 9 - (well, I DID stay up until 2:30 and woke up at 4 for some random reason in my defense) and promptly tried to fix the mess I made of my brother's computer the night before. I decided to get things cleaned up a bit on it, since there's a chance that maybe I'll be giving it to a friend of mine. It was a good idea - until - I moved everything over to a flash drive, shift+deleted it .... only to discover that for the stupidest of reasons it hadn't copied over to the flash drive!!! AAAHHH!!! Thankfully, I found a little freeware recovery program that saved the day. I got all of his documents (and yeah, he had novels he had written on there) back except for a cheat-sheet and two pages of one of his books. Whew! God is good. :)

Sunday! [later morning] Yesterday, which I neglected to mention above, I made a skirt! That was fun. So I am wearing it today, and I walk downstairs through the living room (where my family was watching tv) and Noah goes ''India! Your skirt just turned the lights on in this room!'' hahaha ... yeah ... okay ... !! The fabric is off-white, with long, wide strips of yellow, pink, red and orange flowers. And yes, the flowers are BRIGHT! I would post a picture, but then you'd have to go find sunglasses to read the post. Needless to say, this will be an only-wear-at-home skirt. :D

Sunday! [afternoon] PLANS ARE: (since this, well, obviously hasn't happened yet) study for my English Composition test tomorrow, do laundry, go get some stuff I need from our storage unit ... and maybe, maybe I should make cookies or something. That would be fun (and my family would love me forever for it).

So - a small glimpse into my crazy weekend. tootles!!

wasting my life.... ?? for real?

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, family and readers. I have a problem. Well, not so much a problem, but a question that I'd love to get your opinion on. First though, I do need to do the obligatory .....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! *dances* *parties* *sings* *drinks apple cider* *turns up the music* etc. etc. Except ..... I don't really get why the big deal about the new year - but oh well. I go with the crowd on this one. ;) (yes some of you are allowed to be shocked)

Now to my problem. Issue. Question. Whatever. The actual part of the blog post that has to do with the title - haha. Lately, I have been getting asked a lot ''So, India, what are you going to do after you get your degree?'' .....well, to be honest, I'd love to get married and raise a family. And it's not just me, my family is behind me on this, and I believe it's God's will for my life as well. When I tell people that, the most common response I get is a laugh and ''India! You can't waste your life like that! You have such talent! Don't waste it India, don't waste it.'' (or something to that effect) I hear that, and I just laugh and shrug .... but something inside of me tears apart. Is it really a waste? Would I be ''wasting'' my life by getting married and raising a family? Is that a waste of the talents that God gave me? And not saying that I'm super talented, because I'm most certainly not - but God has indeed given everyone certain talents. It just makes me wonder if they are right -- should I be wishing for something 'higher'?

I have friends who have huge amazing dreams and plans .... and that is SO totally awesome!! The next generation will change the world - I just know it!! All I want to do is get married and raise a family .... nothing stupendous. Nothing to save the world. Nothing to change the world. Nothing like that .... so should I be aiming for something ''higher'' so to speak?

(sighs) I don't know. It's something I need to wrestle with and pray about for sure. At least, I know where God wants me now, and that's good. But the future? Oi it's so uncertain! Anyway, if anyone has thoughts or opinions on the ^^above .... do share! I'm curious as to what ya think. ;)

....and I'm off to write practice essays for a CLEP test on Monday. Have a great weekend everyone! Shalom!

WAIT! HOLD! (adds this in) a good friend of mine has started a story blog! He's a fellow CP! student and a Christian fantasy writer (and a very good one in my small opinion) - so get in on reading his newest story project here!

http://spires-of-savarica.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!