To be or not to be?

This weekend I asked a random question.."If you had to be the opposite gender what would you look forward to the most?" ...I was thinking about how sometimes it would be nice to pee standing up. The guys proceeded to say they would never want to be a girl and even the other girls there where saying how there is nothing good to being female. WHAT!?!?

Have we all been so diluted by the media and our culture that we acutely think there is something bad about being a female? I sat and though about this...girls have more cutting names thrown at them then guys, women are seen as weak and inferior, and that we are one big emotionally charged, sobbing, out of control person.

Wow, don't you get it? Satan does. Women are so powerful yet we allow guys to call us things such as sluts, whores, and worse. Why do you think our culture is geared towards putting women down, abusing them, using them, and then walking away?

We have the privilege of protecting new life with in us (being pregnant), raising childen, and supporting our husbands and showing them love, which in turns perpetuates them to greater success. True we may be emotional sometimes...but so what? What is wrong with that? I like being able to cry and sound ridiculous sometimes. I sit with my friends upset and by the end we are crying from laughing. Too much of my life I bought the lie that it is better to be a guy then a girl, and I am sick of it!

Embrace being a girl, and if you are a guy affirm the girls in your life. When we put women down we are putting God down. He made us ALL (men AND women) in HIS IMAGE. We are all a piece of Him.

My Bridal Shower

I am getting my own apartment. But unlike half of my graduating class I will be buying most of my necessities. I am not getting married, meaning I will not have 5 bridal showers in order to acquire the things I need. I am not really bitter about this but see this as an unfair advantage to those girls.

Just because they have a shiny rock on their left ring finger, a date picked, and a guy they are going to get hitched to. What about me...I have student loans to repay, grad school to start, and a new job to start in August.

So in rebellion I have thought about going and registering for gifts...but what kind of party could I call that? And would people actually come just for me and not for me and some guy they might not even know? I think in the world of Christian culture single girls leaving college are expected to be able to provide for them selves and the girls who are getting married are seen as being in need.

Not really sure why...but I think that is a little bit backwards. I am proud to be graduating single and very excited about my job and apartment. I only wish I had a way of getting the things I need on the meager budget I have...though I do hear they have nice looking rings at Wal-Mart.

Antiqued

They came creeping up the stairs,
silent and unheard.
The roommates slept, undisturbed.
A flash of white,
A "What the heck?"
Flour covered our home.
Now we vacuum all night long,
wishing we had been prepared.

horrible Poem...I know. But this represents last night, or shall I say early this morning. Three cheers to the guys who pulled this off, my roommate and I did not see it coming, having believed they would not rise to the challenge of returning a prank, we were both passed out (I did not hear anything, but woke up because I felt something falling on me), and creativity...they did it to us before we got a chance to do it to them!

Lessons learned....Flour sticks around on everything!
Boys leave behind evidence(cough, Matt)
My Roommate is slightly allergic to flour
We now have the "white lung" (for any Zoolander fans)

Way to go guys...good prank.

Goodbye

I've been thinking about good-byes lately. (I wonder why (note sarcasms))

This past year of my life has been amazing! I want to say that I think of all the staff's on campus... we have the best! I love every moment of hanging out with everyone, it never felt like work or an obligation. (ok so sometimes rounds did) I hope my future holds more people like those I had the privilege of working with this year.

I know I am getting all mushy and girly, but this needs to be said! I guess I wanted a chance to put my emotions out there and let the people I work with know I care. I see sooo much potential in each and everyone one of you. I am excited for God's plan for your lives. People will be blessed, lives will be touched, and people will be changed. You might wonder how I can predict this...it is what you have done for me.

The interview

Job interviews...a reality of life. Some will be good, maybe some bad. But in order to get a shot at the job you want you have to go through them. I had such an interview on Thursday. After the day was over I was exhausted, puzzled by this I took a two hour nap and woke up realizing I had spend 5 hours of that day selling myself. I know I don't fully understand what I'm jumping into, but I have had doubts filling my mind. Was the interview bad you ask? No, it went really good. But I think I am getting scared of the real world. It doesn't always have Salomon colored buildings, meals obtained through swiping, and people putting speakers to their windows and sharing their tunes. I will miss that!

Life seems big and scary, but I don't have a choice. God will take care of me. I have been blessed with the prayers of a lot of people for this whole job process, yet all I can think about is every possible way I could mess it up if I do get it. But I have not been trying to think about it...it is in God's hands. Where ever He leads...I will follow.

God has been preparing me for something, and no matter what it is He will help me through it, He will give me strength to complete it, and He will not worry about me messing it up.

Letter to the Editor

Dear Kara,
I just wanted to drop you a letter and clear some things up. I know we have known each other for a long time, but I have not always been completely honest with you all the time. I just wanted to apologize for some of the things I have said and done to you in the past. Ok, here goes.
I'm sorry for lying to you. I'm sorry for all the time I have told you that you were not good enough. I'm sorry for making you judge people and not trust them. I'm sorry for keeping you from taking risks. I'm sorry for making you believe lies about yourself, how you look, and how others see you. I'm sorry for making you think that what others think of you is so important. I'm sorry for forcing you to say hurtful things. I'm sorry for putting you down and never encouraging you. I'm sorry that I bring up the past all the time. I'm sorry that I hold you back from loving people sometimes. I'm sorry that I cause you to be selfish sometimes. I'm sorry that I don't forgive you when you mess up.
I really hope I have covered everything. I guess I would like a second chance. I mean...I really can't live with out you. I will try really hard to fix everything I just apologized for. I can't make any promises but I can only offer the hope of God helping me. Think about it and let me know.

~sincerely,
Your "flesh"

The social agenda

Everyone has an agenda...no, there is no way out of this one. I saw a girl walking around today in a short skirt. Her agenda might be to look cute...but that doesn't mean everyone will look at it like that. Or take a vocal person who has to verbalize a strength in the face of someone's perceived weakness...what is there agenda, to make themselves look good and put the other person down?

Everyday a little piece of me wants to impress the world, look good for those who have to interact with me, and be socially acceptable in making people laugh and feel comfortable. What I do with these thoughts and possible actions is huge. If my agenda is to please myself and others I have missed the point of why I am a Christian. My agenda has to be God's agenda. I have to learn to look at people through God's eyes and live everyday seeking his truth for my life.

I want to love those around me. I want to help people understand God better. I want people to become Christians...but why? For me, for my world, for my culture, or for the Creator?