18 Lessons

It's always been a tradition of mine that every time my brother and sister-in-law find out that they're having a baby, I write a blog to that baby, telling them everything I wish for them to know. It's changed a little bit with each baby, but the main points have mostly stayed the same.
However, it is not my brother and sister-in-law this time who are having a baby. My sister and brother-in-law finally announced to everybody today that they were expecting. So without further ado...

1. This has, and continues to be my #1...YOU are oh so VERY LOVED!!! Even when you think that life's messing up and that you're alone always remember that me, your family, your friends, that God...Loves You!

2. "Inhale grace, Exhale gratitude."- Dr. Scott Johnson (Receive thankfully, and give graciously). I truly believe that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus, and not by good works, but I also believe that the least we can do for God, is try to be the best that we can be. This can be tied in to #6. :)

3. "We cannot change our past. But we CAN learn to see our past through GOD'S perspective." -Charles R. Swindoll. Remember that nobody is perfect and that God loves you despite your mistakes or your past.

4.You are a Unique Child of God and He loves you very much!   "Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of us."-Rabindranath Tagore

5. "To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the HARDEST battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."- e.e. cummings. Don't ever change because of somebody else's standards. Change for yourself.

6. "Stop judging people because they sin differently than you." One of the greatest things about the human race is that we are all alike in our sin. We all sin and no sin is greater than another. No matter how a person is treating you, be kind. "Not all scars show, not all wounds heal. Sometimes you can't always see, the pain someone feels." Take a chance on them and get to know them. Show them Christ's love.

7. "Wherever you go, go with all your heart."-Confucius. If you have a passion for something don't ever give up on it. Do whatever it takes to bring that passion to life. And if it's meant to be, God will make it happen.

8. "Raise your words, not your voice. It's rain that grows flowers, not thunder."-rumi. Yes, there will be times in life where you get angry and all you want to do is scream, but all that situation does is give you a chance to open up your heart. It's a chance to share YOUR story, which is GOD'S story. DON'T ever be afraid to share that.

9. Don't push people away. "In the shelter of each other we will live....God has given us each other." - Jars of Clay We all like to be alone sometimes, but don't keep people away forever. It's true that if you are alone nobody else can hurt you, but you can end up hurting yourself.

10. "Jesus, help me to see that I AM someone worth dying for" You are a Unique Child of God and He Loves you very much. Your life matters. It's what has kept me here. We all have experienced doubts. Doubts about whether the people we care about really love us. Whether God really loves us. Whether things will actually get better. Doubts are the devil's way of pulling you away from God. So during those doubts draw closer to God.

11. Take pride in your accomplishments and celebrate every achievement...even the smallest ones.

12. "Know who you are. Accept who you are. Be who you are."-Dietrich Bonhoeffer You have got to do this for yourself before you can expect anybody else to do it.

13. "Being rich in money and things doesn't last. Being rich in the Lord and people last forever."-Grampy Troup

14. God never answers "No"

15. The GREATEST gift you can give a person is your time. So one day when you're all grown up and your mom is grumbling about how she never gets to spend anytime with you because you're always so busy, do her a favor (and yourself) and sit down next to her and tell about your day. Ask her how her day went. Some of the greatest moments you'll have in life are small ones like that.

16. Listen to and obey your parents. They love you and most of the time the advice they give you is pretty legit.

17. "One of the GREATEST adventures you can take is to your own imagination." Read books. Watch the history channel. Go to a museum. Be a part of a play. An opportunity to learn and exercise your imagination is never time spent wasted.

18. Be proud of where you've come from and embrace it.

There you go Baby Benesh. 18 lessons that I hope you learn (but it's okay if you don't learn them all in 18 years. :) I promise it's not a bad thing).

If my siblings keep this up I'm gonna be screwed if/ when I start having kids. But that just means they'll owe me big time. :)

The Season of Giving

So after reading "In Style" magazine I was inspired by all the celebrities who chose a charity to support for the holiday. Specifically, inspired by Sarah Jessica Parker who is an avid supporter of the NYC Ballet, I decided this year to donate to Ballet Magnificat! Ballet Magnificat! was founded in 1986 with the desire to share the Good News through the art of dance. *Side note: In Latin Magnificat! means "to magnify Him." Ballet Magnificat! performs all over the world (And I so wish I could see them perform!) and seeks to show their audience Christ's love through dance. A great organization with a great message. 

My goal is to every year around this time (because it's so cliche to do that) is to pick an organization and donate a small portion of money to them. (I'd actually like to do it more than once a year, but I'm a college student with soooo much money). Something else I stumbled upon was that every summer Ballet Magnificat! has a Summer Dance Intensive and so every year they're looking for volunteers to be counselors for the dancers (A.K.A. Dorm Parents). I would really like to volunteer this summer. I think it would be a great opportunity, not only to maybe refine my own dancing skills, but also to grow in faith and help others grow in faith. Sure, I should be concentrating more on getting a job *cough Mom cough* but you know what, I figure God will provide. He provided me with a job a couple summers ago when it looked like I wasn't going to get one. I have to have faith that I will this summer too. And if I have an opportunity to volunteer for a good cause why should I not take it? God commands us to serve others and to love others as we love ourselves and that's what I want to do this summer. Now I just have to come up with roughly $400, money to get me there (Ballet Magnificat! is in Jackson, MS), 3 letters of recommendation, and convince my parents to let me go....good thing I have until May. :)

Find out more about Ballet Magnificat! at their website: www.balletmagnificat.com

I have a dream...

So...last week in my Exploring the Christian Faith class we were talking about spiritual disciplines. On one of the questions we were asked what our biggest dream was if we did not have to worry about failure. At first I put that I would love to be a performer. I love to dance and I love seeing plays and musicals. But then once I started hearing everybody else's ideas I remembered  the one that I had. One that my mom and I started a while ago when my grandpa passed away.

After my grandpa passed away as you can imagine my grandma became very depressed and lonely and we kind of started to worry about her. How long she had left. What was she going to do now that she lived alone if something happened to her. Then we got on the subject of what would happen when grandma left us. What would happen to the house and all the land she has. How would we spend our summer vacations if we didn't go visit grandma a few times. Of course, my grandma would split up the land between her four children. That would be the fairest option. When my sister and I were younger we would say how cool it would be to turn Grandma's place into a camp. When my grandpa died that idea kind of resurfaced but I didn't really give it much thought. Until last year when my mom was saying what she would really like to do is make a camp out of it. I kept trying to convince my mother that we should do it, but she was like "no no, we wouldn't have enough money to do that because Ron, Roger, and Becky wouldn't give up their share and grandma wouldn't put it in her will for us to make her house into a camp." My mom is very good at shattering dreams. :( I've been trying to think about this dream more. Putting a name and a picture to it. I've come up with the idea of creating a camp for children in crisis. I think it would be neat for schools to send at-risk kids to our facility for a week during the school year or even a  few days and we would give them exercises to build up self-esteem and self-confidence. We would work on effective communication and positive coping skills. They would also have time to get to know the other students and have fun playing games. Then I was thinking that along with all of that, why not get my other passions involved. Something we could use as exercises for positive communication and coping is doing everyday things that kids love: writing, drawing, dancing, painting, singing, acting, those fine arts that give so many people joy, but don't always have the resources or encouragement to do. After they spent a week there during the school year, we would invite them to come back over the summer for a longer, maybe more intense, visit.
I know it would be very easy to find another place to do this and that it doesn't have to be my grandma's and if I can find another place that would be great, but the real reason that I want to have it at my grandma's is to keep her spirit alive and because it's the perfect location. Her place is quiet, calm, and relaxing.
The name I have in mind for the camp is Camp Caring Hands because I think I want to focus more on kids who are deaf, kids that get bullied for stupid reasons like that.

I know I could do this, but I definitely can't do it alone.

Me and Shelby from handicamp

Me with Mom and Grandma, we're Foxy ladies!

(Grandma and Mom's last name is Fox) :)

18 things I want my niece or nephew to know

Today at church we had a baptism and it had me longing for the day when I would get to see my little niece or nephew for the first time. When he or she is born these are the things that I want them to know. I'd like it if I was the one to teach them, but if I'm not that's okay. :)

1. You Are Oh So VERY LOVED!

2. You are a Unique Child of God and He loves you very much!
3. You are NEVER alone.

4. Receive thankfully and give graciously.

5. Never change for ANYBODY EXCEPT YOURSELF, and make sure it's a change of IMPROVEMENT.

6. You are here for a reason, though sometimes that reason may not always seem very clear.

7. Don't be like your Aunt Liz and hold on to your anger. Be quick to forgive (I know this one will be tough).

8. Don't give up doing something that you love just because somebody tells you to, they say you're not good enough, or they tell you there's something better, or you have more important obligations. Live your passion.

9. Respect your parents. I know there will be times that you will not be able to stand the sight of them, but they love you so much, and being a parent is one of the toughest things you can be (though I believe being a child is no walk in the park either).

10. NEVER give up HOPE. God is ALWAYS looking out for you and HE is in control.

11. Live by your standards and nobody else's (as a Christian there will be times when this is difficult).

12. Take pride in your accomplishments.

13. Don't be afraid to leave home to follow your dreams.

14. There's a reason for EVERYTHING. It just takes us a little while to figure it all out.

15. Tell the truth. LIES EAT YOU ALIVE! And it's just the moral thing to do.

16. Don't use foul language. It just makes you sound stupid with a weak vocabulary.

17. Your story is God's story, so don't ever be afraid to share it.

And lastly...I'm sure Gamma Troup will be the one to teach you this...
18. Treat others as you would like to be treated. You don't know everybody's story and not everybody will know your story. Believe me, this one will take time. Be patient.

I can't wait to meet you little one!

                                                  7 months and counting...