Hello again,
As this blog reaches you I hope it find you happy and healthy. I know that I never get on to blog but I have received a laptop for Christmas so my new year resolution is to write one a week! I just hope I remember.
Whew, I don't know about ya'll but this year for my family has been crazy, exciting, and wonderful with a few bouts of disappointment, doubt, worry, and fear. I'm going to catch everyone up on the happenings of our family for the year.
December 2009: The first week of December our family went on vacation to Disney World and came home with no job for my dad and low spirits despite the wonderful vacation. We had to pinch the penny and save where ever we could which meant no Christmas, or so we thought.
We exchanged gift to one another on Christmas Eve because we figured we could just get up and head on to our grandparents the next day. When we woke up Christmas morning I will admit that there was a part of me who didn't want to get out of bed at 8 (which is very late for most Christmas mornings), but I did anyway with some extreme urging from my parents. We opened our stockings to find some candy, tooth brushes, gum, and a small note in each one. The notes said something along the lines of "He give us our needs but sometimes He gives us our wants. Go look in the school room." We went to the room and much to our surprise there were very nice gifts for all of us! God doesn't always give us our wants but for the Worlund kids that Christmas He provided!
January: January came with new hopes for the coming year as Dad started his own consulting business. From day one he had work, no matter how little it may have been it was still work. Mom and Dad still tried to give us all that they could and find a way to make ends meet, but we knew that it was just too hard to have everything so we (or at least me) lowered our standards and did the best we could to get along. God always provides!
February: Dad got a prospective full time job offer in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The ball was rolling and the company was so interested in Dad. We, I guess you could say jumped the gun, and were getting all kinds of plans ready. Mom and Dad swore us to secrecy, but-being so depressed by the thought of leaving all my friends, family and new boyfriend-I let the secret slip some. We still trudged on and the thought of starting somewhere new livened our spirits (well some of us). God gives us joy in the mist of pain and fear!
March: For some reason the ball stopped rolling on the North Carolina deal, but we were still very hopeful. I eventually came around to the idea of moving and was even slightly excited about it probably because the boyfriend dumped me and I wanted to run away from the whole deal of that broken heart. At that that time the company was merging with another company and said they would get back to us. We waited and waited and waited, and finally came to realization that the company was not going to get back to Dad, for now. Which in the long run was good for me because God had somethings to talk to me about said relationship. We were back to square one and slightly confused but God has a reason for everything!
April: Dad was still working his on/off job of consulting and Mom was working her job as Children's minister at Church, which the pay check helped us through those last hard times. We kids were helping where we could and letting some things go such as, football and cheer leading. God was still good and was directing the steps of my Dad on to a most wonderful path!
May: May was a very exciting month for my family. Dad got a job in Antioch, Tennessee working for the church of some very good friends of our family, the Kaufman's. Dad went on Sunday and came home on Friday of every week in May. We went up sometimes when the weather was good and we didn't have anything going on. Zeb got a job at Five Guys Burgers and Fries in Jones Vally. I spent my first birthday with my Dad not at home. The end of the month I started rehearsals for The Sound Of Music where I was a nun in the chorus. The rehearsals took up most of my summer nights and I soon found out that I didn't enjoy missing parties and my dad because of them. I longed for the show to be over with so that I could just enjoy my summer.
June: My dad was still working in Antioch and now that school was over so we went up to Tennessee more often. The Kaufmann's-where Dad was living during the week- moved to a smaller house and Dad couldn't stay with them anymore so a couple in the church where Dad was working offered to let him stay with them. The Cook's were such a blessing and the sweetest people!
I got my first cell phone at my 15th birthday party that month. The week after that Abbi and I went to Summit summer camp on Lookout Mountain at Covenant College. We went with Life's Journey church since our own youth group had no plans to attend a camp.
Later that month Zeb had high hopes to try out for American Idol in Nashville. As most of you know Zeb drives a 1966 Plymoth Valiant that works when it wants. The Wednesday night before Zeb was to try out on Saturday night, we were headed to church and made a pit stop on the way to eat because the car was over heating. We came out of the store and Zeb opened the hood, removed the radiator cap and and the fluid in the radiator exploded all over his hands and face. After many tears, and shouts, and pain we called my dad and he took Zeb to the ER. We sat in the Crestwood Medical center ER for 3 hours that night. I'm not sure who was more upset about not going to Nashville, Zeb or me when I found out that they lowered the auditioning age to 15! But God is so good that He protects our every move!
July: July was much the same except that Dad came home at the end of the month. He fell in love with the people at the church and they equally loved him. The offered Dad a job but since Zeb is going to college next year and the money wasn't enough to sustain us Dad decided no to take the job. I continued hating the Sound Of Music and it ended the last week in July.
God sustains us no matter what!
August: The show finally ended and Zoe turned 11. We spent the month preparing for Zeb's senior year and for school. Zeb looked into colleges and decided that Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. The price tag, I think, got him slightly motivated to dive into his studies. We started school, I'm in the 10th grade, Abbi in the 9th, and Zoe in the 6th. God leads our footsteps down the right path!
September: September Abbi and I, with our biology class at school, went to Dauphin Island. Zeb went on his senior trip to Washington D.C. and Dad went to work a temporary job with his old company Nektar which makes pharmaceuticals. Our boat was floating with the extra income as opposed to sinking slow. With the extra income Dad and Mom decided to gift us kids with something we had been longing for since Zoe was 8, a dog. The week Zeb got back we got our precious baby boy, Charlie. At first we picked another dog, a tiny 3 pound Morkie. We found out 3 short days after we got Charlie 1 that he had a congenital liver disease. We called the breeder and without any hesitation the nice couple gave us Charlie 1's brother, Charlie 2. Dad has fondly named him bro-cha-cho (brother of Charlie). The name has caught on and now Charlie answers to Charlie, bro-cha-cho, Baby boy, boo boo, punkin, and many more. One name that he absolutely will not respond to; Chuck. Zeb tried to make it work but we couldn't seem to call him that. Zeb turned 17 at the end of the month. God gives us the desires of our hearts if we honor Him.
October: In the beginning of October we threw Zeb his first ever surprise party. We were successful in our planning, much to my mother's surprise I'm sure. Dad had a birthday. We were waiting to see if Nektar would offer Dad the full time position they had proposed as an option. Nothing happened right away so we just waited. God makes us wait for a reason.
November: Zeb, Mom, Dad, and Abbi went to Union University to check it out. They all feel in love with the campus but Dad still had sticker shock. When opportunity came at Nektar for Dad to have a full time job, he was reluctant because of his longing to move to Nashville to do ministry, he took it. He figured that even if Zeb didn't go to Union, he was going to go to some college a long with us 3 girls. My parents defiantly want to go into the ministry, but it might be after their 4 children graduate college. After the cost of Union I have been determined not to go to a college with expensive tuition, so I have decided a public college will suit my taste. God does what is best for us!
December: Mom and the girls went to Daytona, FL the first week in December a long with Mom's parents and her brother. We had a good time until the weather took a cold turn and then we were just ready t get home. Our days were filled with Christmas concerts, exams, Christmas shopping, baking, and pretty much just Christmas! Abbi turned 14 and Mom had her birthday too. Can I say that this Christmas was very much not like the one before. We were blessed with many presents and as a special treat, we had our first ever white Christmas! We are looking forward to the New Year.
We found out early this morning that Zeb's ACT grade is not high enough for him to get a scholarship at Union and since my parent's can not pay for it by themselves it look as if for now, Union is not for Zeb. He did get a Presidential Scholarship to UAH. At the first of the year he surrendered his heart to full time ministry and thought that music was his area. He still wants to do that but has decided, since he can only play guitar, he is going to major in microbiology.
I'm looking forward to a package that is supposed to becoming in the mail in January because it will have an application for a semester interning as a US Senate page. The thought of this opportunity puts butterflies in my belly yet excitement in my mind and heart! I am continuing to promote my photography business Fly Away Photography. I'm still in love with taking pictures a my heart and head are tied between what want to do with my life.
Abbi is still loving photography as well and is furthering her knowledge with her new camera that Mom and Dad got her for Christmas. I'm not really sure what she would like to do being that she isn't as vocal as the rest of us.
Zoe is being her cute self and indulges our dog more then some might think she should. Zoe is most defiantly Charlie's favorite and we can get him to do most anything for Zoe! Zoe has decided that she would like to be a medical missionary when she grows up.
That has been our year! We bless you and your families during this holiday season and hope your year has been as happy as our! God bless and Happy New Year!
Love,
Alex and the rest of the Worlund Clan!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Wrong Once Again
So lately I've been contemplating things, which if you know me contemplating is never a great thing. I've realized that I've been wrong a lot in my life. I'm not just talking about a math question or a TV show answer wrong, I'm talking about one of those "Dang it I can not believe I just did that" kind of wrong. The kind of wrong that effects your future or a relationship or an event. The kind of wrong where you may not realize that your an idiot until after the fact, when it's too late. Ever had one of those? Well I've had a ton of them.
This last wrong has been a horrible one that is still affecting me. It's hurt me more then the other individual probably.
Isn't that funny? How something you do, meaning to hurt someone else, ends up hurting you the most. It just shows how broken, messed up, and incapable we humans are.
Every time God doesn't do what we want Him to, or it doesn't really go the way we want, we try and hurt God. Some times we don't realize it but we do. We try to do things like take matters into our own hands, stop talking to Him, or flat out tell God we hate Him. We hurt God when we sin, we hurt God when we don't trust Him, and we hurt God when we turn our backs to Him. If you look in the Bible you'll see a pattern... Man hurting God and if you look at our world today it's the same.
Now look back at every situation in the Bible. After man messed up so many times and hurt God over and over again, He still forgave them. And He still forgives us no matter what. God is such an awesome God that He would turn the other cheek and throw our sin as far as the East is from the West never remembering it again.
I remember when I was younger I was a constant bother to my parents. I got into everything, I broke everything, and I was pretty much the most awful child you can imagine. But every time I did something wrong, even when I didn't ask for it, my parents gave me their forgiveness.
They started a rule in our house, that no matter how mad you were at someone you should always forgive them and try not to feed grudges. Now when you're mad at your sibling for punching you in the arm, the last thing you want to do is forgive them, but we would do it anyway to make our mom satisfied.
I think that's how I forgive people now. They ask for forgiveness and I say okay just please them or to look good, but inside I still have that hurt or wrong attached to my heart and I constantly relive it, which of course isn't really forgiveness.
Now if I had been able to really forgive that person then can you imagine how much better I would have felt? I knew then that I would feel better but yet I didn't let go. Why you may ask. It's simple, I'm not God and more then that I'm stupid and would rather have a pity party then to forget it. I get so hurt by the things that people do to me, that I don't even consider the things I've done to others. In my opinion that's worse.
I've been praying and trying to come to terms with this problem but it's so hard. I'm afraid to actually go up to some one and be like "Yeah, you know that time that you hurt my like a year ago? Well I forgive you for that". Not only am I afraid of looking bad and unforgiving, but I'm also afraid of looking arrogant. But every time I feel convicted of the latter God says "You know what? Just do it with My Spirit in you and let me handle the rest."
Honestly the fact of having to give God the control scares the living crap out of me. I'm such a control freak and I want everything to be in my hands, that I would sacrifice a relationship. How dumb is that?
God is showing more and more everyday that I should just let go and sometimes I'm okay with it and other times I'm not, I'll grip the reigns as hard as I can and dig my heels in. Yet God is patient and waits for me. Isn't our God amazing?
Praise the Lord with at that you have and He shall surely rejoice!
Alex
This last wrong has been a horrible one that is still affecting me. It's hurt me more then the other individual probably.
Isn't that funny? How something you do, meaning to hurt someone else, ends up hurting you the most. It just shows how broken, messed up, and incapable we humans are.
Every time God doesn't do what we want Him to, or it doesn't really go the way we want, we try and hurt God. Some times we don't realize it but we do. We try to do things like take matters into our own hands, stop talking to Him, or flat out tell God we hate Him. We hurt God when we sin, we hurt God when we don't trust Him, and we hurt God when we turn our backs to Him. If you look in the Bible you'll see a pattern... Man hurting God and if you look at our world today it's the same.
Now look back at every situation in the Bible. After man messed up so many times and hurt God over and over again, He still forgave them. And He still forgives us no matter what. God is such an awesome God that He would turn the other cheek and throw our sin as far as the East is from the West never remembering it again.
I remember when I was younger I was a constant bother to my parents. I got into everything, I broke everything, and I was pretty much the most awful child you can imagine. But every time I did something wrong, even when I didn't ask for it, my parents gave me their forgiveness.
They started a rule in our house, that no matter how mad you were at someone you should always forgive them and try not to feed grudges. Now when you're mad at your sibling for punching you in the arm, the last thing you want to do is forgive them, but we would do it anyway to make our mom satisfied.
I think that's how I forgive people now. They ask for forgiveness and I say okay just please them or to look good, but inside I still have that hurt or wrong attached to my heart and I constantly relive it, which of course isn't really forgiveness.
Now if I had been able to really forgive that person then can you imagine how much better I would have felt? I knew then that I would feel better but yet I didn't let go. Why you may ask. It's simple, I'm not God and more then that I'm stupid and would rather have a pity party then to forget it. I get so hurt by the things that people do to me, that I don't even consider the things I've done to others. In my opinion that's worse.
I've been praying and trying to come to terms with this problem but it's so hard. I'm afraid to actually go up to some one and be like "Yeah, you know that time that you hurt my like a year ago? Well I forgive you for that". Not only am I afraid of looking bad and unforgiving, but I'm also afraid of looking arrogant. But every time I feel convicted of the latter God says "You know what? Just do it with My Spirit in you and let me handle the rest."
Honestly the fact of having to give God the control scares the living crap out of me. I'm such a control freak and I want everything to be in my hands, that I would sacrifice a relationship. How dumb is that?
God is showing more and more everyday that I should just let go and sometimes I'm okay with it and other times I'm not, I'll grip the reigns as hard as I can and dig my heels in. Yet God is patient and waits for me. Isn't our God amazing?
Praise the Lord with at that you have and He shall surely rejoice!
Alex
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Summer
Okay so this summer I have decided that I WILL post every week... Maybe every other day... I don't know.
Anyways, a lot of stuff has happened since my last blog post. Dad has started his own consulting company and is doing really well. We still aren't very sure of what our family will be doing in the long run but we are hopeful that God will show us in time. He is coming back today from a week in Nashville, where is doing a job for our friend's church. He'll be gone for a few more weeks, coming home for the weekends.
Mom is still our children's minister at church and is loving (almost) every second of it. Some of our friends have asked her to photograph their wedding in a few weeks. I believe she is very excited and nervous at the same time!
Zeb is going to be a senior this coming school year and is getting more and more excited about "Senior Benefits" everyday! He is still looking at colleges and has yet to decide but I think he is leaning towards Union University in Tennessee. Our family will hopefully be checking the university out this fall. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm going to really miss my big brother when he leaves.
Abbi is going to be a freshman in high school this coming year and I think she is excited. This last year she has hung out with the high-school kids because of Zeb and me but I think it'll be more fun for her actually being one. She still enjoys photography and will be helping Mom shoot the wedding. She is still the same sweet, beautiful and sometimes bothersome little sister I have always loved.
Zoe is going into the 6th grade and is getting older and more mature everyday. Sometime I look ahead and realize that she will be a teenage soon. She is still the same cute little sister who amazes me more and more every day with her grown-up thoughts.
And me. Well I've become quite the photographer. I've already taken pictures of several friends and this summer I have an opportunity to take some friend's senior portraits! I'm very excited and I long more and more everyday for a Canon camera. I've decided that I really want to start a minor photography business while I'm in high school. I'm going to charge very small fees given that I'm only a high schooler. If you are intrested give me a call or you can look at my work on Facebook.
I had and lost my first boyfriend last month and oh my gravy was that an wonderful yet unpleasant ordeal. I've decided that boys really aren't (or shouldn't be) that important to me. I'm going to plunge myself into my school and work this summer. I'll work on making Jesus my main guy (with Daddy and Zeb taking second and third places) and on making friendships stronger instead of relationships.
My birthday is in 6 days and I'm counting down the days until I can get my permit! I'm sad that my whole family won't be together to celebrate my special day but I'll get through some how. I'll be a sophmore in high school and I'm looking forward to my classes and serving on SCA.
I'm planning on going to Summit summer camp in a few weeks and I'm really looking forward to it! God has opened my eyes to so much the previous years I've gone and I'm looking forward to what he is going to show me this year.
God has told me that one day I will open a house for pregnant teenage girl who have no other place to go. I'll show them God's love and help them choose the best choice for their situation. I'm throughly excited about what other things God has in store for my future!
Well that's about it for the update. As you can probably tell that I'm still the same spunky, crazy teenage girl that really needs some lessons in grammer and writing. I'm really looking forward to my summer and I have high hopes! I hope you guys will continue to follow me. If not I hope you have a blessed summer all the same!
Bless the Lords name with all of your praise and He will rejoice!
Alex
Anyways, a lot of stuff has happened since my last blog post. Dad has started his own consulting company and is doing really well. We still aren't very sure of what our family will be doing in the long run but we are hopeful that God will show us in time. He is coming back today from a week in Nashville, where is doing a job for our friend's church. He'll be gone for a few more weeks, coming home for the weekends.
Mom is still our children's minister at church and is loving (almost) every second of it. Some of our friends have asked her to photograph their wedding in a few weeks. I believe she is very excited and nervous at the same time!
Zeb is going to be a senior this coming school year and is getting more and more excited about "Senior Benefits" everyday! He is still looking at colleges and has yet to decide but I think he is leaning towards Union University in Tennessee. Our family will hopefully be checking the university out this fall. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm going to really miss my big brother when he leaves.
Abbi is going to be a freshman in high school this coming year and I think she is excited. This last year she has hung out with the high-school kids because of Zeb and me but I think it'll be more fun for her actually being one. She still enjoys photography and will be helping Mom shoot the wedding. She is still the same sweet, beautiful and sometimes bothersome little sister I have always loved.
Zoe is going into the 6th grade and is getting older and more mature everyday. Sometime I look ahead and realize that she will be a teenage soon. She is still the same cute little sister who amazes me more and more every day with her grown-up thoughts.
And me. Well I've become quite the photographer. I've already taken pictures of several friends and this summer I have an opportunity to take some friend's senior portraits! I'm very excited and I long more and more everyday for a Canon camera. I've decided that I really want to start a minor photography business while I'm in high school. I'm going to charge very small fees given that I'm only a high schooler. If you are intrested give me a call or you can look at my work on Facebook.
I had and lost my first boyfriend last month and oh my gravy was that an wonderful yet unpleasant ordeal. I've decided that boys really aren't (or shouldn't be) that important to me. I'm going to plunge myself into my school and work this summer. I'll work on making Jesus my main guy (with Daddy and Zeb taking second and third places) and on making friendships stronger instead of relationships.
My birthday is in 6 days and I'm counting down the days until I can get my permit! I'm sad that my whole family won't be together to celebrate my special day but I'll get through some how. I'll be a sophmore in high school and I'm looking forward to my classes and serving on SCA.
I'm planning on going to Summit summer camp in a few weeks and I'm really looking forward to it! God has opened my eyes to so much the previous years I've gone and I'm looking forward to what he is going to show me this year.
God has told me that one day I will open a house for pregnant teenage girl who have no other place to go. I'll show them God's love and help them choose the best choice for their situation. I'm throughly excited about what other things God has in store for my future!
Well that's about it for the update. As you can probably tell that I'm still the same spunky, crazy teenage girl that really needs some lessons in grammer and writing. I'm really looking forward to my summer and I have high hopes! I hope you guys will continue to follow me. If not I hope you have a blessed summer all the same!
Bless the Lords name with all of your praise and He will rejoice!
Alex
Sunday, February 7, 2010
My favorite story
I have known ever since I was a little kid that God want me to let Him be in control of my life. I've known that for what seems like forever. Well, I ask myself now, why has it taken me so many years to be able to really do it? Why has it taken me so long to give up all of my hopes and dreams up to God? I know that He will do what is best for me, I know that I'm going to end up loving the life He is going to give me. Why has it taken me so many years?
The problem is I'm a planner. I had my life all planned out, finish high school, go to college and study ____, (depends on what year it was. I decided many times what the "perfect" job for me was) fall madly in love, get married, have ___ number of children, (this also depended on the year) watch them grow up and retire happily.
That is the problem. I wanted so badly to have a fairy tale life that I didn't look at the big picture. I didn't ask God what He wanted. In my "perfect life" God was in a box, and that is the way I wanted it. If God wasn't there then... then I wouldn't have to wory about unexpected pop-ups right? Boy, was I wrong! God shouldn't be in a box. He should be my center!
Of course I still want all those things to happen. Who wouldn't? But I've decided that I'm going to wait for God to tell me if I'm going to have that life or one that he picked out. I've learned that our lives aren't like books that we can write and if we don't like how the story is progressing then we can just erase it or push the back space button. Lives are forever! I want God to write my story for me, because He is the best author.
This doesn't mean that I've given up that storytell life forever, but for now, in this season of my life, the life I'm living is the perfect storytell. It's the best story of all because it is the one that God has written for me. Now, I know that most of these stories are usually the same; first bad things happen, and seem to be getting worse, but just as the unthinkable is about to happen, the prince swoops in and saves the princess! And of course they live happily ever after!
In my story the prince is God and he will be untill he decides to let the perfect man step in.
The problem is I'm a planner. I had my life all planned out, finish high school, go to college and study ____, (depends on what year it was. I decided many times what the "perfect" job for me was) fall madly in love, get married, have ___ number of children, (this also depended on the year) watch them grow up and retire happily.
That is the problem. I wanted so badly to have a fairy tale life that I didn't look at the big picture. I didn't ask God what He wanted. In my "perfect life" God was in a box, and that is the way I wanted it. If God wasn't there then... then I wouldn't have to wory about unexpected pop-ups right? Boy, was I wrong! God shouldn't be in a box. He should be my center!
Of course I still want all those things to happen. Who wouldn't? But I've decided that I'm going to wait for God to tell me if I'm going to have that life or one that he picked out. I've learned that our lives aren't like books that we can write and if we don't like how the story is progressing then we can just erase it or push the back space button. Lives are forever! I want God to write my story for me, because He is the best author.
This doesn't mean that I've given up that storytell life forever, but for now, in this season of my life, the life I'm living is the perfect storytell. It's the best story of all because it is the one that God has written for me. Now, I know that most of these stories are usually the same; first bad things happen, and seem to be getting worse, but just as the unthinkable is about to happen, the prince swoops in and saves the princess! And of course they live happily ever after!
In my story the prince is God and he will be untill he decides to let the perfect man step in.
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