25 Days of Song Days 18 - 25

Day 18 - A Song That You Love But Rarely Listen To:
  "What If We Were Real?" by Mandisa, on her CD of the same title. I like this song because it is so very true. I hate putting on a smile and pretending to be okay when everything is not "good."

Day 19 - The First Song Alphabetically on Your iPod:
  "Alive," from the album Music Inspired by the Story, performed by one of my favorite artists, Natalie Grant. This is one of my "shower songs"--long, loud notes. ;)

Day 20 - The Last Song Alphabetically on Your iPod:
  "You're You," an outtake from the deleted songs from the movie Frozen. I really enjoy listening to the Frozen songs, and the deleted ones are pretty good too, though I have to say that my favorite is one supposed to be sung by Anna, called "Spare." Yet another shower song. ;)

Day 21 - Your Favorite Song:
  Hm. This is a really tough one. My current I-will-listen-to-this-song-on-repeat-for-two-hours is "The Call," by Regina Spector, but my all time favorite that will never change is probably "Amazing Grace." It really is the most beautiful song there is.



Day 22 - A Song That Someone Has Sung to You:
  "I Am a Sheep." Not sure where this song originated, and I just looked it up to make sure I had the title right, and apparently there are way more verses I didn't know existed....
My mom used to sing this song to my at night, or when we snuggled, or when I was sad or scared. Pretty much whenever. :) Now I sing it to my little sisters.

Day 23 - A Song That You Cannot Stand Listening To:
  Pick a store, any store. Or a mall. Whatever is playing on the radio is pretty much going to drive me nuts.

Day 24 - A Song You Have Danced To With Your Best Friend:
  "It is Written." A song from VBS 2013. Picture two girls washing dishes whilst lip-sinking to a jazzy Bible song about saying "no" to the devil. Yep. That's me.

Day 25 - A Song You Could Listen to All Day Without Getting Tired Of:
  "If We're Honest," by Francesca Battistelli. Or really, any of the songs from her album If We're Honest. That's got to be one of my favoritest CDs ever.

25 Days of Song, Days 15, 16 & 17

Day 15 - A Song You Love Singing Along To:
  Pretty much any song playing, as long as I know the chorus. ;)

Day 16 - A Song That Has Made You Cry:
  "How Deep The Father's Love for Us." It's such a beautiful song, a reminder of just how much God loves us, and what we can boast in as Christians saved only by God's grace.

...I will not boast in anything/

no gifts, no pow'r, no wisdom/

but I will boast in Jesus Christ/

His death and resurrection/

Why should I gain from His reward?/

I cannot give an answer/

but this, I know with all my heart/

His wounds have paid my ransom.

Day 17 - A Song That Makes You Want to Dance:

  I'm not really a dancer, I'm more of a singer (obviously), but if I was going to dance to a song, it would probably be "Overwhelmed" by Big Daddy Weave, or "Cinderella" by Steven Curtis Chapman. Both of these songs are more emotional, and definitely make me want to spin and dance, though slowly, rather than fast moves.

  

A True Friend

Friend:
  A person who will let you vent your stress by staying out of the way of your "rage-cleaning," and make you smile when you're done scrubbing the walls/floors/dishes to death. Someone who will not be irritated by you ignoring them for an hour while you get a grip. Someone who will listen to your problems without complaint, then make you laugh about something to get your mind off of them.

  Is this the definition of "friend" in the Webtser's Dictionary? No. But it is in my book. I'll admit it, I've been really stressed lately. With Mom being so sick, it's hard for me to be mostly running the house while Dad's working. Today, when a close friend of ours offered to let the kids play at her house for the afternoon, I thought: "Yay! Now I can clean!"
  But I actually ended up talking with Mom about some future-affecting issues, and discussing the fact that I am a control freak. Yes. It is so hard for me to accept help, because I want it all done my way-- the "right" way. Well, my friend stayed to help clean when her mom picked up our kids, and I'm ashamed to say that my first thought was, "Oh great. I wanted to just job out and focus solely on cleaning. Now I have human interaction to deal with." So I pretty much ignored her while I took out all my stress related to the past month and future uncertainty on the mess. I probably shouldn't have scrubbed quite so hard on the walls, but my wonderful friend just looked at my list and started mopping (in a different room, which was a good call on her part).
  After putting away the laundry scattered throughout the living room, scrubbing walls, painting over red marker on the walls, and vacuuming, I had calmed down enough to be civil to my friend.
  "I think you scrubbed the wall to death," she remarked. "Never get in the way of Seriah's rage cleaning. Seriously."
  I had to laugh at that. I was being ridiculous, and we both knew it. Thankfully, my friend forgave me for ignoring her, and we finished the cleaning together, and she helped cheer me up after my afternoon meltdown. I am glad that God designed us to have friends to help us like that. And I hope that I can be more like my friend, easy-going and always willing to help.

 "Your strong love for one another will prove to 

the world that you are my disciples."

John 13:35

25 Days of Song, Days 12, 13 & 14

Day 12 - Last Song You Heard:
  "Grace Like Rain," by Todd Agnew. It's one of those original hymns with an extra chorus and a slightly different tune. This is definitely one of my favorite versions of  "Amazing Grace."

Day 13 - A Song That Reminds You of a Former Friend:
  "I'm Not Who I Was," by Brandon Heath. I think he went into my brain and wrote the song just for me... it's pretty much exactly how I feel about a former friend of mine.

Day 14 - A Song That Reminds You of Your Boyfriend/girlfriend:
  I have no boyfriend...
Day 14 - A Song You Love to Sing in the Shower:
  (What was I thinking? Why did I come up with such a hard question for myself???) OK... Um... "Spare." It's actually a deleted song from the soundtrack of Frozen, but I love to sing it because it works really well with my voice and some of the notes are long and loud. ;)

-SG

25 Days of Song, Day 11

Day 11 - A Song From the Soundtrack of Your Favorite Movie
  "The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing," from the soundtrack of White Christmas. This isn't my all-time favorite, (there's too many movies to choose from!) but it is definitely my favorite Christmas-y movie, tied for first place with It's A Wonderful Life. I like White Christmas because of all the singing, (obviously) and because the actors are just so talented. They sang, danced, and acted--you got the whole package back in those old musicals! It's A Wonderful Life is a family tradition; we have watched it every Christmas for as long back as I can remember, and I love the story and the message: don't take what you have for granted, just enjoy the moment that God has given you.
  Do you have a favorite Christmas movie? Why is it your favorite? ♥

25 Days of Song, Day 10

Day 10 - A Song by Your Favorite Band
  "Change the World," by the Newsboys. It's a great reminder to me to not just think, "Oh, I'm not a missionary in India, I can't really do anything." It's true that I may not be a missionary, but I can still witness to people and bless those around me, right where I am--where God has put me. ♥

25 Days of Song, Days 07, 08, & 09

Day 07 - A Song That Reminds You of the Past Summer
  "This is Amazing Grace" by Phil Wickam. They seemed to play this a song a lot on the radio this past summer, and I felt like it sort of was my summer too. A year full of amazing grace. :)

Day 08 - A Song That Reminds You of Your "First Love"
  "More Like Falling in Love" by Jason Gray. It's sort of a trick answer, because this song doesn't make me think of a boy, but my true First Love and savior, Jesus.

Day 09 - A Song That Makes You Hopeful
  "The Call," by Regina Spector. I know that originally this song is about the Pevensie children leaving Narnia for the second time, but to me, it's more. It reminds me of the very first play I was in, The Silver Chair, and of the dear friends I made while doing it. It seems as if Narnia is a little bit of all of us now, and as long as we can remember Narnia, we'll all have a little bit of each other there, too.
  It makes me think about not really having to truly say goodbye to people I love, because I will see them again, if not on earth, then in Heaven.

  It's a sort of bittersweet song, because it's the end of an adventure, but it's also the beginning of a new one. 

Let your memories grow stronger and stronger, 

till they're before your eyes; 

you'll come back, when they call you,

 no need to say goodbye; 

You'll come back when they call you, 

no need to say goodbye...

25 Days of Song, Day 06

Day 06 - A Song That Reminds You of a Best Friend
  "The Lord of the Rings in 99 Seconds," by Paint shown to me on YouTube by my cousin and best friend, Lara. Since she's a big LOTR fan, she imparts all sorts of LOTR facts and funny things to me. All the time. Which I enjoy--as long as it's not WHILE GANDALF IS DANGLING OFF A CLIFF IN THE MOVIE. Seriously. Not a good time to show me memes of a raccoon hanging off a porch with the caption, "Fly, you fools!"
  One day around the table, my family decided to come up with theme-songs for everyone. (Just in case you're curious, I got awarded the Indiana Jones soundtrack: dun-dun-dun-dun! duh-duh-duh! dun-dun-dun-dun, dun-dun duh! duh! duh!) We all decided that Lara's would definitely be LOTR in 99 Seconds, which we all promptly started singing. :)

25 Days of Song, Day 05

Day 05 - A Song That is Often Stuck in Your Head
  Ummm... this changes often, but these last two weeks it's been part of the soundtrack from BBC's Sherlock. (It's a bouncy tune--so hard to stop humming!) That's not really a song, though...
  So, a song with words: "Watch the Giants Fall," by Francesca Battistelli, from her latest album If We're Honest. This song really means a lot to me right now, as I seem to have a pretty big giant staring me down. I'll explain more later, but go look the song up--it'll definitely encourage you!

-SG

Winter Wasteland Tag / Day 04

Well, my good friend and fellow blogger Rebecca tagged me to participate in this Winter Wasteland Tag. I am rarely ever "bored!" (as my favorite highly-functioning sociopath would say), but here are some things I like to do in the winter, since here in NM there is currently no snow. :'(

  For this tag, you come list 5-10 things you do to beat the winter blues and then tag 5-10 people to carry it on. I don't really know very many bloggers, but we'll give this a go:

• Write a coded letter to someone. If it's a common code, such as Morse Code, you can make them look it up, instead of writing out a key. (Mwa ha ha ha ha ha!)
• Knit or crochet something--if you don't know how, then learn! It's lots of fun to be able to make things to give as handmade presents, and to sell. :)
• Write a poem. It doesn't have to be Shakespeare--just write something to your own rhythm. Maybe even a haiku or a limerick!
• Write as a fictional character to a friend's fictional character, (preferably set in a different era). I've done this with my cousin: our fictitious characters were sisters during the Revolutionary War, with I in America and she in England. Right now I'm doing a new one with another dear friend of mine, only set right before and running into WWI. Keep it going as long as you can, and see where your characters end up!
• Have a tea party! It doesn't have to be fancy, you can drink tea out of mugs--just invite some friends (and their moms/little sisters), drink tea, and have some sort of fun dessert. Maybe cookies, or if you want to be more "classic," scones are great too. (Just don't forget the lemon curd!)

I don't know very many bloggers, but you can also participate on Google+ too! So here's my list:

Blogs:

Sarah

Morgan

And my G+ers: 

Hannah Yu

Emma Holets

Lara Gourlay and 

Kara Goff

                                                                        ~ ~ ~

Also: Day 04 of my 25 Days of Song:

Day 04 - A Song That Calms You Down

  Hmmm... "Edelweiss" from The Sound Of Music. I sing it as a lullaby to my sister Violet, so it always has a pretty calming effect on me. :)

25 Days of Song Day 03

Day 03 - A Song That Reminds You of One/both of Your Parents
  "God Gave Me You," by David Barnes. Really, this song is written from a husband to a wife, but I really think in some ways in applies to me and my Mom.

"I've been a walkin' heartache/

I've made a mess of me/

The person that I've been lately/

Ain't who I wanna be/

But you stay here right beside me/

Watch as the storm blows through/

And I need you..."

And really, that's what Mom does. She sticks by me, even when I'm having the worst days, even when I am ungrateful for all her sacrifices for our family. I am so thankful that God gave her to me as my mother. I wouldn't have chosen any other mom. ♥