a different kind of love

Parking lots filled with pine trees, insane shoppers rushing to the malls to buy the "latest fad" as a present, wrapping paper, bows, Christmas cookie baking, stockings, fancy foods, parties, and Christmas carols playing throughout every radio station and public building. Does all of this sound familiar to you?

Christmas time may be one of the busiest and most stressful holiday's of the year. So many presents to buy, cookies to make, and parties to attend. Families begin to wish it would all just slow down, silently wondering how this year seems even more laborious than the years past.

But it's not only about all of the hustle and bustle. This special holiday also signifies the Beautiful Birth of our Lord-out of everything else- the most important reason to celebrate. And with His glorious birth, also brings us the rare occasion to spend quality time with our family and friends, to love others a little more, and to give more than to receive.

Every year since my siblings and I have been very young, we have always bought gifts for each other and our parents. It was how we showed our love and appreciation for each other--even if some of the years our gifts had come from the local dollar store. But after many gifts and years later, we realized that we didn't need any more presents, although they were nice. And for me, it was the act of giving that meant more than receiving.

So this year we tried something new. My younger brother, sister, and I decided to take all of the money we were going to spend on each other and our parents and put it towards a bigger, better cause than ourselves. We found this organization called Operation Christmas Child, where they send gifts internationally to children who won't be getting anything for Christmas. The thought of helping someone less fortunate than ourselves touched our hearts, and reminded us that to truly love and give, there is some sacrificing involved.

I hope that through this holiday season you slow down long enough to remember and enjoy the TRUE meaning of Christmas...and take time to love and give.

The Calm Before the Storm

A mother kills her baby because it is unwanted, yet she is not charged with murder. Is this right? Believe it or not, every year approximately 1,305,200 unborn children are aborted in the United States. The problem is they have been killed legally because of abortion. A common misconception is that a fetus is not an individual human until birth, but in truth, the moment it became an individual human was when the child was conceived.

Abortion is wrong and it should not be legal. If a doctor killed a baby one minute after it were born, they would be charged with murder. But if they were to kill a baby one minute before it were born, and a minute before that and so on, they would not be considered a murderer. At what minute can one consider life worthless and the next precious?

Some people will claim that abortion is not a matter of life and death,but medical research proves that the fetus is a living organism. People also argue that a woman has the right to control her body and has the right to an abortion, especially if the mother is in danger. But the fetus is a completely different life. Just because the unborn is dependent on the mother for nine months does not give anyone the right to end it's life.

Just think of how many interesting individuals could be filling the world today if it weren’t for abortion. By killing these innocent babies, we might be sacrificing the next doctor who finds a cure for cancer, or a fireman who becomes a hero for our nation. A human fetus is a living individual. It should be remembered that a death occurs every time an abortion is performed--the silent cry of an unborn child.

"How many wishes I've missed for hanging onto this...
When a moment brings, hope for everything,
Everytime I walk away from this..."
-FAIR Carelessness

   I thought about never updating again, just like the rest of the xanga world. 
It's hard to write out thoughts when no one is there to listen, as if I were talking to a white wall, all of my words bouncing back at me.
But then I felt this odd sense of homesickness.  A feeling reminding me that I would never "speak" on here again. 

People. Words. Places. Pictures. Memories.

    Everything seems to have gone dormant, sleeping under a hollow log, waiting for a ray of sunlight to shine through it's dark tunnel once again. 
  Will it ever be the same as it was before? Back when we would all write about the latest group activity, and then laugh over our silliness; or discover new ideas and share them with people for their feedback. I don't know. It's almost like that was another lifetime. Like the people we were in the past weren't really us at all, but rather different people playing our roles, save the memories that are our own.  

We have changed so much over this past year. Our words have changed. The places we go and the things we do together have changed. Our more recent pictures are new faces staring back. Older, mature, different. But I don't think my memories have changed...more have just been added on.

I think I've just answered my own question. I don't believe that things will ever be the same again, because everyone has moved on to new parts of their lives. No point in living in the past.
But I've decided that I don't want to end writing.
Too many thoughts to get out, poems to be written, and stories to share. So if anyone is still out there, you haven't seen the last of me yet.

Until then...<3