Oldie but goody

Christmas time is here and it always makes me think of my favorite Christmas Movie, "Merry Christmas Charlie Brown!" I have talked about it before in my blog but it is great. Not only does it have an awesome soundtrack, but also an awesome message. Anyway, that movie always makes me think of Christmas and just reminds me of all my Christmases. You know, childhood memories and all that excitement you felt, how certain you were that your heard Santa on your roof the previous night. I haven't watched it yet this year, I think I might save it for Christmas Eve, but I have started watching some of the others. So far I have caught Elf, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas. I have a few more in my collection that I will bust out if I can't catch them on TV. They often play them so early that I miss them! Sorry but I wasn't looking for Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer on Thanksgiving, it is a Christmas movie! Silliness. Anyway- what is your favorite Christmas movie?

Man oh man.

So I could go through a bunch of lame excuses for not posting since July, but that is exactly what they would be- lame. It's not like nothing has happened, quite a lot actually. Summer camps, work moving, new this new that, I turned 30, house flooded, Thanksgiving and now Christmas on the way, life has felt like a whirlwind. Not only that but I have found a bunch of sweet games and i was thinking, "I should post these on my blog" but then my next thought would always be, "I don't wanna" or "I'll do it later." Which bring us to today, 4 months since my last blog. Sorry. Especially to my 4 followers:) I smile because I know no one really cares but I said i would post so I should be posting so now I frown:(

So I do have a fun little addicting game for you (insert happy face here:) It makes me think of the late 80's when everything turned neon. Enjoy!

Click here to play Flyde

I am so excited!

I know, things have been crazy but I found a little bit 'o happiness the other day, a lil' ray of sunshine, if you will, poked through the cloud of insanity that has been May, moving and camp prep. This beacon of all things wonderful in none other then Sushi Cat: the honeymoon!!! It isn't Sushi Cat 2, it is more like Sushi Cat 1.5. If you haven't played the first Sushi Cat you should, as this continues the story- not that there is much of one beyond the silliness but you can get to it here click here to play the first Sushi Cat

I don't know why I love this little game but I do!!! And this one's little story is more ridiculous than the first. Oh, and the pwer up sushi is way better- I like the ball of yarn one and the super sushi tongue. Don't know what I am talking about- of course not that is why you must play!!!

Click here to play Sushi Cat: the Honeymoon

Moving More

I can't believe our church is finally moving. It feels like it has been on the horizon for so long now that een though it is actually here and even now I am kneeling at my computer, that I quickly set up in a temporary location when I heard our servers and internet it available again, looking at blank walls and just everything in pieces and located in a big uhaul outside. I am feeling a lot of things right now. First off, I am feeling very sweaty- yay (said with much sarcasm). I feel a little sad to leave these buildings behind that I have been working in for 10 years. I feel mostly excited about the new property and getting everything set up. Being over there the last several days has been exciting as things are changing literally overnight. I had brought my camera but we were so crazy I didn't even get a chance to take any pictures. I have some that the church staff took of the new property so that is what I have above. I am sure once I stop driving to this campus and show up for work on the weekend I will start feeling a bit more sentimental. As of right now, I don't know what will become of these buildings but it will be interesting to see. Well gotta run- another uhaul load is ready so I gotta go!

Moving Day

I can't believe it is time to move to our new campus! The last few weeks have been spent cleaning and packing. The junior high room looks so crazy right now! Last weekend was the last one we will spend in our old JH room here on the Melrose campus- a little sad. Actually, I am mostly excited because it will be so cool to finally move into our new facitlity. It has been so long in coming! I was cleaning out things in my office and I had an old pictoral directory of the church from 2000. If you wanted, your family could get a picture taken and it would be in the church "phone book". It was cool and kind of ended up being a little bit like a miny yearbook. Anyway, one of the yearbook type pages was about the relocation project- can you believe it! There was info on there about the tent meeting where the project was explained and those meetings were over on the new property a decade ago!!! When I saw that in there I was just shocked that 10 years later we are just now moving in. It feels like it has been so long in coming, and when i saw that info I realized that it has been a really long time! But it is finally here. I wonder what the next 10 years will bring? Only God knows:)

These pictures are from the last weekend service in the JH room. So see all the pictures check out our junior high page and click on the photo album link.

Umm, excuse me? May, where did you go?

Wowee was May crazy! I still can't believe it is over and here we are already a week into June!! Time is a funny thing and my parents were right, it is going faster now then when I was a kid.

So I can't believe we have already said goodbye to our old 8th graders and hello to the new 7th! Always a bittersweet time, it is sad to say goodbye but AWESOME so say hello! So hello:)

Here is a picture of the 8th grade class, next week I think I will have a funny video up, although you may not think it is funny since it is an interesting rendition of of a super sweet 80's, maybe early 90's, tv show. Still it is pretty funny because the guy doing the song is impersonating someone else and he does a great job of it- this part you will know.

Also I have a game coming soon- I have several actually but don't want you to get so overwhelmed that your head a splode! (that is an old strongbad joke btw and in case you are, shall we say, older, then the junior high generation, btw means "by the way" although you probably got the strongbad reference)

So keep checking in, I will be better about updating at least once a week, rarely do I do more then that but I will do my best to get back on some sort of consistent basis.

Talk to you soon!

Difference

I love online games- I am sure you can tell since I post them fairly frequently. Sometimes i find them to be a fun adventure, others are interesting puzzles and some are kind of relaxing. I have a game for you today that falls into the latter 2 categories: it is a bit of a puzzle but also relaxing mostly due to the soundtrack and the pretty visuals.

It is a spot the difference game. This one in particular is 4 Differences. I have posted another one called 5 Differences , I started on the series with 6 Differences which I may have posted as well but I can't remember- I'll check, if not, I'll add it some other time. Anyway, 4 Differences is a really nice way to get into this type of game as it isn't as difficult as when you have to find 6 differences in every scene and the game itself isn't quite as long as in there aren't as many scenes to go through. I finished it in a very timely manner and I thought you might enjoy it as well.

I chose my picture because it reminded me of a scence that could be from the game but isn't. It is a picture of a bridge that spans the Niagra River. We were there for our honeymoon many years ago- this is called the Rainbow Bridge I believe and we are on the Canada side of the river. I love Canada- but that is another story:)

Here you go- enjoy and tell me what you think!
Click Here to Play!!!

Language

Before I get into the post I must say what a lame month for blogging! I apologize for my lack of bloggy-ness. You klnow how your parents always say, "don't want to grow up so fast, time just keeps going by faster adn faster. Before you know it you are old!" I never really paid attention to it, how could years, months, days, hours, minutes, seconds possible go any faster? They are a measured unit of time- they simply are what they are. Now that I am nearing 30, I have noticed that my perception of those units of time is what change. Albert Einstein has a great quote that relates, "When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity."

Anyway, what I am trying to say is that time does seem to go faster the older you get, even though it is only your perception of it. Maybe it slows down again at some point later on in life- I'll let you know if I get there. All I have left to say about this subject, for now, is that the week goes by and I don't even realize it it seems. I am still stuck somewhere back in November of 2009.



Which happens to bring me to my topic. In late October and ealry November last year, my husband and I had the amazing opportunity to visit his sister, our brother-in-law, and niece over in Germany. We had an absolutely fantastic time, it was such a blast. One of the things that was so cool and so very much appreciated was the fact that many Germans, especially those under 40, spoke English and spoke it fairly well. Here is the thing though, most weren't only bilingual, some spoke 3 or 4 languages. I realize that the borders of our country make it a little different as far as interaction with other languages on a daily basis, whereas over there, you could drive around for 2 weeks straight and hit some part of like 12 nations. For example in Belgium they spoke Flemish, French, German and English. It is a smaller nation surrounded by other nations. I think our lingual isolation could easily be overcome if we taught language better, and if it were more of priority. Did you ever notice how no one had to teach you English? That when you were a kid you just kind of picked it up. Sure you learned words and vocabulary but it was much easier then our High School method of teaching language. I think you should be exposed to more language early on, in preschool and kindergarten. My little niece- fluent in German, she went to a German preschool/daycare type thing and just picked it up. Something about our brains just pick up language easier when we are young, so I think we should teach language then. Not taking any language out of High School- then you could learn more complex language stucture instead of trying to memorize apple is ... dog is ... cat..., etc. We would already know all that basic vocabulary and could instead focus on higher level lingual learning (nice alliteration if I do say so myself:). Then by college how cool would it be to read all those books they make you study in their original language, ok so maybe not all because you probably wouldn't be that fluent in all languages, but even to read some would be such an experience. Not to knock translations but sometimes things just don't translate the same. For example- how cool would it be to read the Bible in some of the original language?! Way cool. We would understand the English word "love" could be one of 3 words in the original language (Greek is what I am talking about here), "philo" meaning brotherly-type love, "eros"- passionate type, desiring love, and "agape" - meaning sacrificial love. All describing rather different emotions and actions.



So to wrap it all up, I wish we taught language earlier in this country. And I wish I knew more languages. My Spanish is super rusty, I was pretty good at it- not fluent by any means, but I defintely could get around with it, when I was in college. I had a teacher that would only speak Spanish to us- total immersion, especially by the end of the class. In the beginning he would answer in english sometimes if we had questions, but by the end, we didn't need him to because we could understand.



The picture is us with my sister-in-law and niece and her German friends- who were awesome and invited us into their home for dinner one night. They made zweiblecochen- not sure if I spelled it right, it's a German dish that is translated literally as "onion cake" and is kind of like a flat quiche- oh and absolutely delicious!







Here is more Germany:

Sorry I Stink

Ok, so I thought I was only a week behind or so but my last post was St. Patty's Day! Wow- that was forever ago. Sorry!

Here is something funny because I am so crummy!


Sad News

Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Buttersworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch.. The grave site was piled high with flours.

Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was considered a very smart cookie, but wasted much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions.......

Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children: John Dough, Jane Dough and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart.

The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.


PS- thanks Sierra for the laugh!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I was reading up a bit on St. Patrick- who is he? what did he do? Since yesterday was St. Patricks Day I was a bit curious. I didn't do a ton of research, basically I just looked it up on Wikipedia- which I do have to say, the article was well cited by a vast number of sources so it is probably fairly accurate. Anyway, this is a small portion from it that tells just the basics of who Patrick was and what he did.


"Patrick was born in Roman[ruled]Britain ... When he was about sixteen, he was captured and carried off as a slave to Ireland. Patrick worked as a herdsman, remaining a captive for six years. He writes that his faith grew in captivity, and that he prayed daily. After six years he heard a voice telling him that he would soon go home, and then that his ship was ready. Fleeing his master, he travelled to a port, two hundred miles away he says, where he found a ship and, after various adventures, returned home to his family, now in his early twenties.

Patrick recounts that he had a vision a few years after returning home:

I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: "The Voice of the Irish". As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea—and they cried out, as with one voice: "We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us. . .

. . .something can be seen of Patrick's mission. He writes that he "baptised thousands of people". He ordained priests to lead the new Christian communities. He converted wealthy women, some of whom became nuns in the face of family opposition. He also dealt with the sons of kings, converting them too."

Patrick brought the gospel to the Irish people- he was basically a missionary. I think that it is pretty cool that he is still honored today. We celebrate St. Patrick's day on March 17, the anniversary of his death which is believed to be March 17, 460 or 490 -ish AD. This man is revered in Ireland as a foreigner who came to "walk among" the Irish people and he talked to them about Jesus. He himself was a Catholic and so that was what he taught them and you can see the lasting impression he made as Irish and Catholic are often words that go together. Sometimes I think we push and try to hard to talk to people about God instead of being open to God working. Hey I am not saying that we shouldn't talk to others about God but maybe we need to change our viewpoint. I really like how St. Patrick said he walked among them, not that he converted them. It is not our job to convert people, everyone must make their own decision about God and His Son. I guess I want to ask what kind of impact are you having on those you are walking among? Do people see God in you? When you feel that small voice inside pushing you to bring up Jesus or to tell someone you are praying for them, to be kind to your enemies, to not gossip or retaliate when someone hurts you- do you listen? Walk with God and walk with people.

Anyway- I hope you had a great St. Patty's Day.

Time Change

Maybe I am just getting old but the time change has thrown me so out of wack! I am totally dragging- I mean I don't get it, it is one hour, shouldn't be that big of a deal but man am I sleepy! You junior highers must be hit super hard, although I know a lot of schools changed their hours so you don't have to get up quite as early. I think that is awesome and in no way begrudge the fact that I had to get to Roosevelt at 7:08 because class started at 7:12. Insane!!!! So I am glad that the times are later now for you because that truly was ridiculous. I don't think anyone was awake until like 3rd period. We would get out at like 2 something but I would have much rather slept in. Anyway, I am sure it was still a little rough getting up this morning. Right now I am seriously tired and it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense, I got the same amount of sleep last night, I guess it just "felt" earlier when I got up this morning. I even took a nap yesterday! That is why I interjected the comment about being old. Maybe you have a harder time adjusting to these things when you get old. I know at Starving 2 Serve my knees started hurting, no reason, or at least I didn't do anything. I think maybe it was the cold or the fact that I was standing basically the whole night. But here's the thing- that was the same for everyone- difference: I am old:)

Sushi Cat

I stumbled across this fun little gem last week. WARNING: it is very awesome and very addicting. I mean who wouldn't want to help a little blue cat be with the little pink cat he is in love with? And of course the only way to do this is to help him become as big as a sumo wrestler by eating sushi. Sushi Frenzy!!!

Let me know what you think:)

Click here to play Sushi Cat!

What do you do when people are hurting?

Yesterday we talked about a subject at TNL that allowed a lot of people to share some ways that they are hurting. I feel a couple of things about this. I am so sad that such young people have such hardship in their lives, really heavy burdens that too often they seem to be shouldering alone. Second is amazement of the resiliency of junior highers to continue on in spite of a really tough reality and hope that they will rise above their current situation- and I know that they can. In the midst of experiencing anothers heartache, I often feel at a loss for words, for how to comfort without seeming cliche. I find the answer in Romans 12:15 "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." Sometimes all you can do is cry with someone, the only comfort you can offer is "I am here." While this seems like you are doing nothing the truth is you have validated their pain, confirmed for them that they are not crazy or wrong to feel the way they do. Empty condolences offer no real help and while just sharing in their hurt doesn't help in the standard definition of the word would lead you to believe, I think it can help just knowing that you aren't alone. My heart is heavy for these people I talked with yesterday and for those I know have such brokenness but I didn't talk to. I look at the sea of faces and I see so much in them, so much potential, so much joy, so much innocence, and so much pain. I wish I could make it better for them but I know I can't. I know the only one who can help is God, He can work in a heart and a life that may not get better in this lifetime but He promises to make a new life for those who follow Him. He is the only one who can keep you from ever being alone. He is the ultimate Counselor, the Prince of Peace. He is faithful, even when we are not. Those who follow are pulled into His promise, adopted into His family, and has a place in eternity with Him. I have no other comfort then that, knowing this life is not the end but the beginning to our lives with Him for those who know Him. Oh how I wish they all would know Him! I know He wishes that too.

Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln

You may or may not be aware of the fact that "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" is back at Disneyland. What is it you ask? Well- the idea first came out and was realized in the 60's for a special thing they were doing in Illinois. Disney had always been a huge admirer of Lincoln and he also happened to be the head of the Disney Studio and therefore one of the leaders in something called Audio-Animatronics. That is how the Tiki Room works, the Pirates, anything that moves "realistically" and talks. So Disney made a talking Abraham Lincoln for this fair thing in Illinois. Then he brought it to Disneyland to the Opera House on Main Street. It was gone for about 5 years now where it was replaced by a sweet show with Steve Martin and Donald Duck titled "The First 50 Magical Years" or something like that that debued during their 5 year long 50th birthday celebration. Well in January they brought Mr. Lincoln back.

This last Monday, I needed a day off and so I went to Disneyland. I had an incredible time!!! The Cast memebers were so great, I got free parking, free buttons, and felt super well taken care of. I went on rides, drew Pluto and all around had a blast. I learned 2 things- (well more then that but the rest for a later time) 1. that the Jewel of Orleans- my favorite jewelry store (it's right in New Orleans square across from the guy that paints umbrellas), is closing- I am soooooo bummed!!! But more importantly 2. That Mr. Lincoln was back and better then ever. The show was so good! It reminded me of all the reasons I am proud to be an American, and taught me more about a great leader from our history who was a man of deep character, who faced very difficult circumstances, and who followed God.

I hope you get a chance to see it in person but if not I got this off of youtube. It is fairly long but oh so good. It is in 2 parts- make sure you start with the one on top:)

Punxsutawny Phil

Do you even know what that is? That is the name of the ground hog that tells us if we will have 6 more weeks of winter of if we are in for an early spring. The whole deal around Groundhog Day, if he sees his own shadow- you know what I am talking about, yes?

Punxautawny is the name of the town where all this groundhog stuff takes place and where Phil lives. But why is this a national holiday? Why do we have Groundhogs day in the first place? While I was determined to find out. After some extensive research I found that Phil's first prediction was in 1887 and that he is wrong more then half the time. Still I was no closer as to learning how we even care what a groundhog thinks about the weather. I continued searching and I came across this:

"The story of Groundhog Day begins with Candlemas, an early Christian holiday where candles were blessed and distributed. Celebrators of holiday eventually declared clear skies on Candlemas meant a longer winter. The Roman legions, during the conquest of the northern country, brought this tradition to the Germans, who concluded that if the sun made an appearance on Candlemas Day, a hedgehog would cast a shadow, thus predicting six more weeks of bad weather or "Second Winter." German immigrants brought the tradition to Pennsylvania, but how did Punxsutawney Phil emerge?

In 1887, a spirited group of groundhog hunters from Punxsutawney dubbed themselves "The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club." One member was an editor of Punxsutawney's newspaper. Using his ink, he proclaimed Punxsutawney Phil, the local groundhog, to be the one and only weather prognosticating groundhog. He issued this proclamation on Candlemas, and yes, Groundhog Day. Phil's fame spread, and newspapers from around the globe began to report his Gobbler's Knob prediction. Today you will find 20,000+ in attendance an millions watching on television or via the web."

Strange but true. If you actually read the whole article probably you are wondering what "prognosticating" means so I'll throw the answer to that in for free: "to make a forecast; prophesy."

Happy Groundhog's Day!

Cute and a little strange

So I saw this video- it s pretty sweet, I think it is a commercial for Evian water or something, but the reason it is cool is because it has these babies roller skating. Not just wheeling around but doing all these tricks and stuff. You can kinda tell there is some serious morphing of baby faces on abult men bodies- look for the hairy legs in one of the scenes, never-the-less the overall effect is neato. Click the link below and let me know what you think:)
Evian Roller Babies

Introspective

Looking back over my last few blogs I have noticed they are about things to think about. I guess I have been doing a lot of thinking lately, just reflecting on things in my life. I am still processing and don't really have much to share except that which I have been and am about to post on here. Because of my introspective state I gues you could say I am hearing things a little differently, external things are impacting me internally. So I got hit by something today that I wanted to share with you.

I subscribe to a daily email article from this guy named John Fischer, it is called "The Fischtank." Anyway, his article today really made me think, in fact I am still thinking about it. Let me let you read it first then I will tell you some thoughts.

Character development
by John Fischer

I know I've used this before but I can't help it. Never have I witnessed a part, a character or a situation as a dramatic production that is closer to my deep-seated fears and misassumptions than what I find in the character played by Peter Facinelli in the movie The Big Kahuna starring Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito.

I keep coming back to it because I have quotes from it in my speaking notes and when I go on the road and prepare for a new talk I run across them again and sometimes I find something new that didn't hit me as strongly as it did before. Probably because I wasn't ready for it. Truth is always like that.

Peter Facinelli, who plays Bob in this movie, is a perfect example of a kid who grew up Christian, went to a Christian college, took on all the trappings of what a Christian is supposed to be and do, and truly means it, but when thrust into the real world with two seeking individuals who to him would simply be non-Christians, the holes in his character, the missing links of humanity, the inability to connect with what should be naturally human become glaringly obvious. So much so that towards the end of the movie, Phil (the Danny DeVito character) makes an observation, "Your problem, Bob, is that you haven't lived long enough to regret anything."

To which Bob replies, "You're saying I have to go out and do something bad so I'll have something to regret?" (Exactly what I would have said, by the way.)

Phil: "I'm saying you've already done plenty of things to regret you just don't know what they are."

Ouch! That's the part that always nails me. But then he goes on to say: "It's when you discover them (the things you regret), when you see the folly in something you've done, and you wish that you had it to do over, but you know you can't, because it's too late. So you pick that thing up, and carry it with you to remind you that life goes on, the world will spin without you... Then you will gain character, because honesty will reach out from inside and tattoo itself across your face."

This adds new meaning to "pick up your cross and follow me…" Instead of dragging around some imaginary bloody beam of wood, what if Jesus meant for us to face into the failures, disappointments and mistakes of our lives and own them instead of excusing them or skating over them, and let them become a part of who we are and are becoming? Pick them up and carry them around as reminders of why there had to be a cross in the first place. So many Christians are like Bob: they're trying so hard to be good Christians that they wouldn't recognize their own cross if they tripped over it. Their cross is all the things they should be regretting but don't know anything about. Believe me, I can speak with certainty about this because I'm an expert at it.

Picking up your cross then would mean moving on in spite of your mistakes, failures and regrets. It would mean growing through regret and forgiveness, and finding hope on the other side of the cross.


I guess it has just got me thinking. There are plenty of things I regret in life however none of them are recent. And I don't believe we are to carry all our mistakes around with us all the time- Jesus paid for those mistakes, His yoke is easy and His burden is light. I am no longer chained to those sins, I am set free. But maybe that is what Jesus means by "pick up your cross and follow me." Too often I am overly impressed with myself- I need to rememebr why there had to be a cross- me, my mistakes and imperfections are enough to keep me away from the ultimate lover of my soul, so to make me perfect God sent His son to the cross. That's all I can articulate just now- still processing through the rest.

Let me know your thoughts

Owl City

I don't know if ya'll have heard of this band, they do the Firefly song, but I really dig them. The have a Death Cab for Cutie type feel, fairly mellow, a little whimsical sound. Anyway, what is super cool is that Owl city is mainstream but they are Christians. I am not knocking Christian music but it is so awesome when Christians are able to be "in" where there are non-Christians, you know so they can be a light without being annoying. Plus we are called to infiltrate not isolate ourselves from the fallen world. I saw this cool article about the lead guy from Owl City and I thought I'd share:)

I hope you can read it- I think if you click on it it will be bigger. If not you could always save it or copy it somewhere and then magnify.

Cool article

I subscribe to the Worth the Wait newsletter. They are a company that makes purity rings and when you buy one from them they will send you an email like once a month with a different little article about purity, or a question of the month- different things like that. Anyway, this was this months article and I thought it was pretty cool and I wanted to share it with you. Let me know your thoughts or if you have any questions.

Purity Equal Happiness
"One of the biggest cultural problems of our society is that it makes no attempt to draw the line between how we act before we get married and how much success we eventually enjoy in marriage. The thing very few tell you is this: The way you conduct yourself before you get married will have a huge impact on your long-term happiness in marriage. Don't expect to have little discipline, ignore the future impact of your choices, and pray for a miracle after you say "I Do", and expect long-term happiness. It won't happen. The way you conduct yourself before you get married, the discipline you acquire, and your ability to look to the future instead of living for the moment will help to insure the kind of love story you desire and the happiness that will make life good. Abstinence/Purity is more than just not having sex before marriage. It is delaying sex until your marriage for the greater good, knowing that if you can wait, it's going to make you adult life less-complicated. Studies say that one in three married people in the United States is happily married. I really believe you are the generation to restore marriage and family to what God designed it to be, but this will only happen as we realize that purity equals happiness."

Now it doesn't mean the future will be perfect, you and your future husband are bot imperfect sinners but wouldn't you want to do all you could to set yourself up for success? If you knew a way to step around future heartache and pain wouldn't you want to go that way? You can't stop all pain or avoid all pain in your life but waiting until you get married is something you can control, that you can decide to do.