Living Where I Am

Life is hard. My parents have told me that it doesn't get much easier. But hard is good.
Life is hectic. It hasn't slowed down much. But it is always fun.
Life is full of disappointment. But there is always something to be happy about.

I'm learning to live where I am. This semester has had great days and terrible days, success and failure. And I'm ok with that. Sometimes you have to learn to let things go and move on.

I've had my share of success. I've gotten some "A" grades, played in the school worship band, lost some weight, and worked two jobs. (So far, I'm still vertical and breathing.) However, I've also messed up on a few things, gotten a few grades I didn't like, didn't score as high as I wanted on my SAT, lost control of my organization and my sanity for a few days.

But God is good. And with Him, it's gonna be ok.

It took me a long time to get this point, but I'm ok with making mistakes now. I still strive for perfection, but I've recognized that I'm not always going to be the best person out there. It's impossible. If I was the best, Jesus would not have had to die for me. I've come to accept life being hard as a reality. If life was easy, we wouldn't need Jesus.

I'm learning to live where I am. I'm happy with what I'm doing, and it doesn't matter what others think about me. God has me where He wants me. And I love it.

Following God means making hard decisions. It means choosing to serve Him above people. And that is HARD. I've always been a people-pleaser. I hate it when I can't help everyone or please everyone. I've had to say "no. I can't do that." to people this semester. If I said yes to everything, I probably would be dead by now. And I hate saying no. I can't stand it. But you have to, because that's part of being an adult.

But God is good. And with Him, everything is accomplished.

I'm learning to live where I am. I've stopped pushing others away from me. I have always had a hard time making friends. I've kinda pushed people that were my age away from me for the past few years. I felt like I didn't fit in. But I've stopped. And I've had more fun this year than I've had in years. I've gone out to eat with people, gone to small group with my girlfriends, and made new friends in college.

God is good. And I am happy because I'm living where I am. Not constantly pushing forward, but slowing down and enjoying where I am. And it has been fantastic.

Have Courage,
Hannah Newbold

Water Is Falling

I have officially hiked 12 miles. Y'all should be proud! And I didn't hurt myself. Although my youth pastor Josh was very concerned about the possibility of me getting injured. He had a good reason to be worried.  Last summer, I ended up in the hospital in Chicago, on a mission trip, after getting a spider bite. It wasn't good. And then I had an allergic reaction to the meds they gave me. Let's just say that I am extremely careful now with what I do.

It was beautiful. It had a gorgeous waterfall and the water was cold. The hike back was shorter than the hike there. I had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the water.

Have Courage and Be Kind!

xxx
Hannah Newbold

See The Beauty (A Cinderella story)

I have just finished my sophomore year of high school. And it's been smashing. I've loved every second of  school and music. I kinda do a lot of school, more than most 16 year olds. My dream is to be a marine biologist. I want to study whales and live in New Zealand. Okay, maybe Australia. In reality though, I'll probably teach biology to high school students and get married. Not that that's bad, at all.

To get back off the bunny trail and slowly trekking back onto the mountain, my favorite subject this year was Biology. In a few weeks, I'm going to take the Biology CLEP test and get out of taking the first biology class at college. :) It's so exciting, mitosis and all.

Anyway, I love kids and today I got to babysit two little kiddos. Charlie Parker, 8, and Henry, 6, are possibly the cutest kids I've ever met. They bicker and tease each other. They say the funniest random things and crack jokes that aren't even funny.

Today, we were watching the Incredibles and this is the conversation during the previews:

Me: I love watching Cinderella
CP: I can't stand Cinderella. It's so romantic and all.
H: You have to see the beauty in handsome romance.

The SIX year old is telling the eight year old about romance. I've officially seen it all. Not even kidding.

Oh. And I also got a haircut today. I would post a picture, but I don't have any good ones yet. :) I will soon though.

Tomorrow I'm going on a hike with the youth group. It'll be fun and then we are going to the lake!!! I'll post pictures of wake boarding. 

Have courage and be kind.

xxx - Hannah
 

I'm so sorry!

Hey everyone!
I'm so sorry that I haven't been able to post in a long time. Honestly, I just forgot about my blog. I'm going to get back into the swing of posting. I'm going to post tomorrow! Miss you guys! Comment if you have anything you'd like me to talk about?

Hannah Newbold