~what's it to ya?

How often do we find ourselves caught up in talking about others? If we're honest, the answer is probably, all too often. We shouldn't feel the need to discuss insignificant things about other people. That is gossip. And it is hurtful.

I've never agreed with the little saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me," yes, it my feel empowering to say, but it's not true. Words can hurt. Words can have such power in them and that's why I'm so enthralled with them. They have the ability to encourage and to discourage, to share truth and to spread lies, to comfort or bring discomfort.

But gossiping aside, how often do we find ourselves so consumed in thought about what other people are up to, or do we find ourselves with a mindset of judgment? We may be very good about keeping our lips sealed when we are tempted to gossip, but what's happening in our minds?

When gossiping or the wrong mindset towards others becomes a struggle, it's difficult, but it's best if I ask myself "what's it to me?" That very thing about that person, that thing they did or said, that I feel the need to talk about or toil over, what's it to me?

Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.”
-John 21: 20 & 22

~the unlimited broadcasting station

Nature!
Today I went on a walk with my family around the lake... what a great reminder of the beauty of God's creation! And the beauty of God Himself. The fact that God wants to time with us, amazing. Spending time in prayer out in Gods magnificent creation is beyond the best to me. He wants to hear me. Is there anything more awesome?! No. There's not.

I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in. -George Washington Carver

~heart of diligence

Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life. -Proverbs 4:23

Diligence is difficult. I think about how even with daily tasks, remaining diligent, isn't always easy. So keeping your heart with all diligence? Wow.

Out of our hearts springs the issues of life.. Have you ever heard the saying "You get what's in the well," or something along those lines? Basically meaning, what comes out of your mouth, is a bucket full of what's in your heart. If our hearts contain wrong intent, bad attitudes, jealousy, and so on, our mouths will make those things apparent. In the same way, if our hearts are full of love, compassion, joy, and so on, those things will be known. So, yeah. That's just my thought of the day.

~leaves are falling

Yesterday was the first official day of Autumn! I love this time of year. When the trees get colorful, there's just something in you that really wants to drink a mug of hot apple cider and cover the front porch with pumpkins. There is always a little sadness leaving Summer behind, but hello people! Carmel apples aren't in the Summer agenda! And anyway, there's something exciting about the whole, leaves falling, wind gusting, pull out your jacket or you'll freeze otherwise, bonfires & s'mores, pumpkin patch with friends, time of year.

~big ideas

We all have dreams. Some big, some small. We all want to be in control of our dreams. We all want the power to say "This dream will come true," but what would happen if we hand our dreams over to God? The One who gives us our dreams. The One who gives us the ability to dream. The One who is actually capable of making our dreams, or better, dreams that we couldn't even imagine, a reality.

I want to find out.

I'm on an adventure. Not the dorky, put on a jungle hat and let's explore the wilderness! kind of adventure, but the adventure of seeing how my life changes when I give Christ complete control of my life.

Part of that is giving Him complete control of my dreams. I guess I could have prayed and told God that I give Him control of my dreams, but being the visual person that I am, I wrote them out.... and burned them. Telling God they belonged to Him.
Some of my dreams that I gave to God were everything from a ride in a hot air balloon to being a missionary to getting married and being a mom. My dreams are a little bit all over the place. Just the way I like it.

They're His now! And I thought this was beautiful, because He makes beautiful things out of dust and what's that there? Dust! I'm so excited to see what Christ has in store for my life. Not what I had planned, but what He has planned for me.
A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9

~ little ideas

Thursdays. I love them. Cause I get to spend time with those two girls right over there. I get to see these lovely ladies at art class. I also love Tursdays because I have my harp lesson. But there is another reason why Thursday, out of all the days of the week, stands out to me the most. For whatever reason, be it the music or the art, or a mixture of them both, I am struck with at least one good, solid idea on Thursday. And it's not just an idea that passes through my mind and I think "Hey! That's a good idea!" and then nothing comes of it... usually the idea sticks. Last Thursday I had an idea for a painting and I am working on it still
(I won't tell you what it is, I'd rather just show it to you when I'm done:] ). Today, just so happens to be Thursday and guess what! I have an idea. I'm going to begin blogging along with a photo a day. So you can see the world through Kara's eyes. I'm pretty excited about this!

Oh! And also, I've gotten a pretty good little collection of words to blog about in October. I'm getting pumped for that! But I still need more, so if you have a favorite word, let me know. I want to post about it:]
Well, now I have the idea that I need to finish up some school work. So, I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday!

~words

Word. noun /wərd/ words, plural

A single distinct meaningful element of speech or writing, used with others (or sometimes alone) to form a sentence and typically shown with a space on either side when written or printed.

I have a new (ish) found fascination, words! For the month of October, every day or possibly every other, we'll see, I'll be posting about one word. The meaning of the word, and my thoughts on the word.

But here's where I need your help; I need you to tell me your favorite word. You can leave it in a comment or you can e-mail it to me at throughkaraseyes@gmail.com. I want to do a post on YOUR favorite words. Sound dandy? :]

dan·dy/ˈdandē/ Adjective:

Excellent: "upgrading seemed a dandy idea".

I hope you all have fun thinking about what your favorite word is!

~distractions

dis·trac·tion. noun /disˈtrakSHən/ distractions, plural
A thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else.

I think when it comes to distractions, it's safe to say we all have them. The key to getting rid of them is identifying them. But hey! Why would we want to get rid of distractions? What is it that we have to give our full attention to? The simple answer is Christ. He should have our full attention. Without any distractions. What is the chief end of man? The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
Glorifying God! What a beautiful thing! And why wouldn't we? He sent his Son to pay the pardon for our sins, so that we can have freedom from eternal death. That is such a magnificent thing that we, in return, should want to give Him all honor and praise. Praising Him even through the hardest of trials? Yes!
Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.
- 1 Peter 4:12-13
Now, To glorify Him and to enjoy Him, we have to get rid of these distractions that are getting in the way.
Identify the distraction! Usually when something takes a lot of your time and it's unimportant, it's a distraction. For me.. Facebook and television are distractions. I spend too much time seeing what my friends are up to and watching movies. Ouch. I'm working on it:] That leads me to the hardest part...
Diminishing the distraction! Ask yourself, "How much time am I spending on the internet?" Then spend the same amount of time in God's word and prayer. By no means am I saying that I do this everyday.
We are surrounded by distractions in today's culture. It is so vital that we, as followers of Christ, keep our focus, and that we are set-apart.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
-Romans 12:2

~back in action

My blogging is back in action! And sadly I've not blogged at all for the past year and a lot has happened this year and there is so much I'd like to share, but I'll just pick up where I am now.
School is back in action! I thought I would have been upset about that, but I've actually been enjoying it. It's nice to be back into a routine and all. I'm looking forward to J. Wile making Biology fun... still not quite there yet, but there's plenty of time!
Creativity? Back in action! I feel most creative when it is Fall and Winter. I'm not sure why. For Winter, it might have something to do with being stuck in the house and having nothing to do but allow your creative-ness bloom.
Reading is back in action! I've picked up a new book, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and I'm excited finish that! It has a very interesting plot, but I'll let you pick up your own copy and figure that out for yourself;] My friend and I are in a race to finish the book!
I guess I'll wrap up this post by saying that I'm insanely excited to be back in blogging action!

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about
its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. -Matthew 6:34

~hello autumn

Wow... I forgot about my blog. I guess I got caught up in the fun of summer:] which is a good thing.
We went to Table Rock Lake with some of our great friends and... we had a blast! It was so gorgeous. Silver Dollar City was really fun, too!
At the beginning of the month I went to a festival called, LifeLight. It's a weekend where different speakers and bands come together and put on a free festival for teens. My painting of the lighthouse was on display at LifeLight during the festival:]
There was so much that happened this summer that I'll remember for a lonnngg time! Today is the last day of summer '10.

...So, goodbye Summer 2010!

Hello Fall 2010!

Fall is my favorite time of year. I know most people are upset summer is over, and I am (a little), but I am SO happy that Fall is here:]

I hope you all have a wonderful Autumn!

~i love my sissy

I am so thankful for a sister like Fallon! I love our late-night chats, rainy movie days, baking something sweet when we get the sweet-tooth... I just love my sister!

~dancing with daddy

I recently went to a father/daughter dance. I had a great time with my dad. We learned the waltz and the tango. It was a wonderful afternoon! I love my dad and I'm so happy we have this new memory.

~valentine

Thank you Mrs. Lynette for this ADORABLE valentine! I absolutely love it. The owl is so cute.

~san-pou candy box

For this box you'll need a piece of scrapbook paper. First fold the paper in half then in half again. Unfold the paper and pull the corners into the middle.

Then fold in half, making a mountain fold. Fold in half again, making a valley fold.

Put your fingers in the top fold and pull up. It will open out and the left corner will rise.

Press the point down onto the corner of the triangle. Repeat on back to make a diamond.

Place you fingers in the opening as far as you can. Fold the paper down and repeat this on the back to make a simple house.

Pull the top flaps together and repeat on other side.

Pull the sides into the middle and.... Repeat on back!

Pull the top down and repeat on back.

Put your fingers in the top and pull out to create the box!

~friends

Kara and Kara!

Jessica and Hannah!

Kara + Kara = KaraKara!

~my 15th birthday

Yesterday we celebrated my 15th year of life!

~ my art

This is 'Dreadlocks man' . I drew him the winter of 08 with charcoal. I love using charcoal!

This is an oil painting that I finished the day before my brain surgery! I did this painting at the Hidden Acres art school.

I made this pitcher on the pottery wheel. I love pottery! It is a lot of fun... I must say I think pottery is my favorite! I made this pitcher this summer.

This is another oil painting. I painted this is my backyard. It was a lot of fun with all the different and bright colors. I painted this in late June.

I don't exactly remember when I drew this... It was a while back. It is done in charcoal.

I drew this the winter of 08. Also charcoal!

This is a clay church I made this summer. It was a lot of fun to make this!

This is all the art for now... But there is more to come!

~tea time with mom

Every so often mom and I enjoy a little tea time break. Our friends at the Mcduff's tea room in Fayetteville sent me this wonderful Superfruit tea from The Republic of tea. Mom and I enjoy time together when we can just talk. Sometimes we talk too long and forget about preparing dinner!
I love tea. I love my tea cup. I love my tea pot. I love time with mom. I miss Fayetteville!

~just what i did the summer of 09

I was in my room one late morning when I saw this little light. The light started as a tiny dot directly in front of me and slowly grew and as it grew it moved to my far right eye. I had never experienced anything like that before! It scared me. I went upstairs to tell my mom and she immediately got on the phone and got me in for an appointment. The second the light faded away I was hit with a horrible headache. Little did I know that this was the beginning of something BIG!

My head was not getting any better on the way to the hospital. When we finally got there we walked in and I sat in the waiting room with my head in my hands. My name was finally called and I walked into the cold square room and sat down. I explained everything to the Doctor. The light, the headache following and the bad headaches I had been experiencing for some time. He said that it sounded like a normal migraine but... He wanted a brain scan to be sure.....

So a few days later I went to get the scan. I didn't think much about it. I laid on the narrow, uncomfortable bed not moving and listening to the annoying sounds the big donut-shaped machine was making, went home and got a call saying the needed me to come back for a scan of my vessels. I didn't think anything about that either. I went in and did what I had to do... Well we went back home and there was a message on the answering machine saying that there was a finding! What was it? We had to go into the office and find out tomorrow morning.

The rest of the day I was fearful... What was it? Was it going to kill me? I didn't know!
Somehow I manged to fall asleep that night. The next morning I woke up and jolted out of bed, threw on the first outfit in the closet I saw and we all piled in the car and drove... I wanted to know what it was. I'll skip through all the waiting and anxiety and tell you what it was. It was a brain aneurysm. I didn't exactly know what it was but I had heard of them. Everything I heard was not good. An aneurysm is a weak spot on a blood vessel that bubbles out and most likely rupture when it gets big enough! Mine was 6 1/2 mm. Big enough to rupture!

Aneurysms are not common in children and if it was that big now it was only going to grow as I got older. It had to be fixed. We were told to find a neuro surgeon. Scary! We went to a few that were not right for me then we met Doctor Thorell. Doctor Thorell was so kind and he talked to me about was going on... Not just my mom and dad, like the other surgeons. When Doctor Thorell started talking about the treatment it hit me. I was going to have brain surgery! I started crying. Doctor Thorell handed me a tissue and said it was going to be okay.

Doctor Thorell's confidence helped me with mine. I knew that if my surgeon was confident in his ability to fix this I could be brave! I had tests and more scans that had to be done before the surgery that made it all seem a little too real. I had moments of anger and fear but I also had moments of knowing that the fact it was found was a blessing. Most aneurysms are not found before they rupture! Most that rupture don't live. I was blessed that it was found. After this was taken care of I get to live a full, long life.

The morning of the surgery I didn't cry... until we pulled up to the hospital. We walked in and dad went up to the counter and I sat in mom's lap. We waited. My pastor came in and read Psalm 91. Psalm 91 is what several people have read or sent in letter's to me. When he said he would be reading out of Psalm 91. I couldn't believe it. After he read it he gave me the book of Psalms that he read it from. Shortly after that they called my name and my mom, dad and I followed a woman through the hallway into a room with two chairs, a desk and a computer.
She asked my dad some questions that I couldn't even hear because I was looking out the window and thoughts were racing through my head.

The woman was looking in my direction and said something. It sounded like "ma ave yur and". I looked at her. She repeated "May I have your hand?". I lifted my hand and she put two bracelets on it. One said 'NO KNOWN ALLERGIES' and the other had my name, date of birth and a ton of numbers on it. We walked back out into the waiting room and waited for my name to be called again. We walked into what seemed to be a whole different hospital. There was a long hallway and on one side there were greenish-blue curtains. The nurse pulled one curtain open. There was a bed and a million electrical things that I have no idea what they are for.

On the bed there was a hospital gown. It wasn't the cutest but none the less I closed the curtain and changed into it. I opened the curtain and my mom and dad walked in. I slid under the covers and there I laid in the hospital bed. Waiting, waiting, waiting. What was I waiting for? My aneurysm was going to be clipped! As I laid there my mom and dad took turns letting Nick (my brother) and Fallon (my sister) come in to see me.

Doctor Thorell came in and sat down at the end of the bed. "What are we going to do about your hair?" He said. I had gotten a short hair cut a week before because I was told it would have to be shaved off and I wanted to take a small step. I replied to him "I'm ready! Just take it all off.".
He looked at me... "No. I don't think we have to do that.". He said. "I think we will just take off a little bit." He used his fingers like a marker across his head to show me how much he was going to take off. "How does that sound?" He asked. "Really? That's awesome!" I said with a little smile. I looked at my mom "I get to keep my hair!" I said and then started to cry.

Doctor Thorell got up "Now... I am going to go eat a ham scramble. But you can't because you can't eat anything!" He said jokingly. The anastigiologist walked in and talked to me about what was going to happen. She numbed my hand and stuck a few things in my hand (they were for IVs). A little more waiting and then she came back in and put some liquid through the plastic thing in my hand. I felt it going through my arm. I can remember a few things after that but it is a little blurry.


The next thing I remember is this white light above me and people around me. They handed my bible to me "here's your baby book". Baby book? I had no fear! 'With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation' it was almost like I was reading it strait in front of me. I felt the presence of God all around me. I have never felt so close to Him. He was with me, in the operating room. The Great Physician!


Recovery wasn't easy but it was easier than the anxiety leading up to the surgery. By the grace of God I am here. Being told that at the age of nineteen this aneurysm could have taken my life... That is hard to wrap my mind around.









Going home!
With 30 staples (temporary) ,
2 titanium clips, 3 metal plates and 6 metal screws (permanent).

~Psalm 91

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I willsay of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I trust."
3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence.
4 He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. 5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, 6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor the destruction that lays waste at noonday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. 8 Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked. 9 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, 10 No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; 11 For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.
12 In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. 14 "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name. 15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation."