You must not know 'bout me.

"1Señor, tú me has examinado
y me conoces.
2Tú conoces mi sentarme
y me levantarme; desde lejos,
entiendes mis pensamientos."    Salmos (Psalm) 139:1-2

None of my life goals is to become famous just so that everyone knows me, but sure does it feel good to enter an environment where people completely accept you and know who you are! I'm not going to deny that when I go to the parties that my friend C. throws, she always makes a big deal about me being there and my head swellllllllssss up! She yells my name as I walk in and proceeds to run through the crowd of people to recognize my presence. This makes me feel on top of the world, because anything I do after that, does not change the fact that she really is happy to have me there.

And this passage is hinting at the same thing. God knows me, inside and out, and actually cares about my thoughts. It opens up with "God, you have examined me and you know me." <--This right there is basically saying: God you know what I'm like. I'm not that organized. I don't always tell the truth and disobey you on purpose. I don't even have to tell you how messed up I am, because you know all that, but still you want me.

  Reminds me of someone once telling me that people shouldn't change who they are to please someone else because of that person really likes you, he/she will take you as you are, faults and all, which made me super happy 'cause boy am I a rough package. And I see the same applying here, but God loves us more and doesn't even see the faults because Jesus covers them up.

So, not only does He know how jacked up I am, He still loves me and choses to protect, guide and sustain me. "But God, you know that last week after aunt Julie told me not to give Hannah the candy I...." I know.
"Okay, but did you know that I lied to my mom about...." I know. "Well, you obviously don't realize that I ignore you sometimes." I know, but I love you just the same.

Chuta. He must really know 'bout me.

"1 You have searched me, LORD,
   and you know me.
2 You know when I sit
 and when I rise; you perceive
 my thoughts from afar."

Ditch the box?

Oigan!

Ah. Another fine evening in Valparaiso. It's rather quiet and everyone is asleep...except for me. I have a hard time getting myself to work or do anything at all when it gets dark, but I really have to finish this part of my paper or else I have failed. No completamente, pero...eh.

   Have you ever wanted something that you thought you wouldn't want? If so, isn't it a strange feeling? "Ife, de que hablas?"

I'm talking about staying in Chile.

Treason. Treason you say. What if I stayed? Obviously I HAVE to go back, but honestly at this point in time, I'd rather just be here and...IDK. Tan raro, pero quizá es el ambiente del programa que me hace pensar en quedarme acá o es algo distinta. I can't put my finger on it. I just am not ready to leave. I'm not leaving yet, but in one month and 5 days, my plane takes off.

Today, I rethought law school. Nothing too dep, but because I feel like I've been given a lot of privilage in this life, I want to be able to share what I've been given in a deep/profound way. To be a children's lawyer. Is that even the proper term. Minors' lawyer? Juvenile lawywer? lo que sea. This is what I'm thinking, however, whenever I think of lawyer, I think formal, box.

I don't like boxes and don't do well in them. I'm uncertain, not extreeemly organizada and like to sit in the park and just watch people. Do lawyers do that? Do they? Okay, I'm sure not all lawyers are hard core people with little to no breathing room, but I'm sooo not that. I'm Ms. smiley that enjoys to rock out to music and watch romantic movies at night with a cup of Milo and lots of cookies.

I'm the girl who doesn't mind working at a kid's summer camp because I love the great outdoors and can't go for too long without naturaleza or some form of outdoors feel. Fresh air? Yes, please. I need to read articles 2 times to fully understand and draw large images to write a paper. My life doesn't fit in a box.

But, I feel like being a child/juvenile, minors' lawyer is something I should do. Something concrete.

Nope. Now that I think about it, it doesn't make sense at all. My gut says no. Ditching the box and making a moment.

Más que pan-Of Satisfaction

Aight homies and homettes.

Another morning...though I missed yesterday morning's activities, I'm back on the ball, thank God.

Read/don't read (your choice): Juan (John) 6:25-36.

         I'm getting pan (bread) from the sky! Yep, so I got this super cool deal (Actually everyone got this deal, but some people didn't want it. Don't know why) that if I want to live forever and ever in PARADISE (WOOT WOOT!!), all I have to do is go to the guy who owns the place and ask for *bread. The bread that gives me access to this sweet joint. But when I go to ask for this bread, the guy tells me that it's not necessary because HE can give me access because HE's the real key to this ballin' crib. He said that he's more than the bread that was sent earlier.

Of Satisfaction

   That's what this chapter in this Love Letter is saying. "El que viene a mí, nunca tendrá hambre, el que cree en mí, no tendrá sed jamás." vs. 35. If I'm willing (making choices, thus moments), to go to Jesus, I can find continual satisfaction and not feel the hole of needing a guy to make me feel like 'Ah yea. Mi vida es completa.' Not necessary.

  I can feel like some may think "Whoa, what a large claim this Jesus guy is making. Being completely satisfied in all aspects of my life is not an easy task." For me, it's getting rid of the desires to fill my life with what society says is necessary. When I watch TV, it's one commercial or TV show giving me hints about what I should be wearing, buying, having to get where I need to in this life. I'm not trying to be bombarded with these never ending messages that say that crazy is in, but only until Lady Gaga wears crazy out, then posh and prim are in.

    God didn't come to change the way my physical appearances look to society, but He came to show me that there is so much more to that to reach satisfaction. He's reassured me that I can, first, be satisfied in Him and the life He aims to give me and, secondly, be satisfied in who He's made me into (someone beautiful of course :) ) and the, once again, amazing plans He's got for me.

Okay, I'm pretty satisfied. Más que pan? I think so. More than Loaves.

*bread=the key to Paradise in this case

Who? What? Where? When?

Dear readers,

Today, I made waves. En serio.

Okay, not really. I just went to a concierto con mi amiga (Hi Conchita: her codename. When you're making moments you've GOTTA have/use codenames). I'll tell you why it was a moment:

So, today I had to get up early (at 8am...early) to go to a meeting with my project advisor (codename Ann) at 10am in the neighboring city: Viña del Mar-Vinyard of the sea. I'm 2 min. late, but that's okay because no one was in the building we were going to use so we went to her casa (bonita). 1 hour and a half later we're done with our enlightening conversation about diversity and her old house that they're redoing.

I head back home con hambre y sueño. Which do you conquer first? HUNGER. I eat, check my email (she's send me more articles to read), watch an episode of NCIS (!!!) and take a nap...more like sleep for many hours. I didn't bother to set my alarm because I was pooped so I'd sleep until I could sleep no more. Forget going to church or doing ANYTHING.

I went to church. I was fighting with myself because I really wanted to go but I already WALKED UP MY DAGGONE HILL (this is something NO ONE does. It's so steep that even the busses have issues with getting up.) and I didn't want to go down again. I shook off the sleepies and went. But...

BUT....

but before I left, I got a message that made my moment. My friend was going to a concert for the Astros (a Santiago band) and invited some friends to go. I know nothing of this band and had never heard of them. I responded with a YES. We'll see how this goes.

So after church I have plans to go to a rockin' electronic concert in SPANISH. However....

HOWEVER...

however, when I meet up with Conchita, she has a very vague idea where it is. Boy was it an adventure. I tried helping by asking the following questions: "Where is it?"- En esta calle, con esta direccion- But the address did not exist. What is the name of the place? -Don't remember.- We walked up and down the streets for about 30 interesting minutes. She was super determined to go to the concierto and so was I...back to my house. I had already waited 15 minutes for her and I thought that the concierto would have started, but by the time we walked around looking super lost (because we were), asked questions from people we THOUGHT were knowledgeable (turns out they just looked pretty) we literally stumbled upon the concierto!

It was great. I danced (in my seat. Chileans can be fome-slang for boring- when it comes to pretty rock out concerts. No one seems to be feelin' it. But maybe that's just me). The lights were crazy and there was a song with a jungle theme. Quite fantastic. Afterwards...

AFTERWARDS...

afterwards, I bought an empanada and hot chocolate!!! Nunca compro comida en las calles (soy prudente), pero hoy, me decidí que no debo hold myself back 'cause yo tenía hambrecito. En serio.

I say this is a moment because I had work to do, definitely was being lazy that day and did not feel like walking about, I chose to ignore all that for just a few minutes/hours and enjoy the moment I was being given. I didn't want an opportunity to pass and I'd be back in my green pieza eating fish and reading about Chilenization (check it out. Quite interesante).

 So, I am very happy with this day and made some moments. The talk we had afterwards was the best conversation I'd had in a while. I decided that I wasn't going to rush it and was going to spend time with a friend and not worry about missing onces with my fam. I was here, in a vegitarian restaurante (El Jardin de la Profeta) drinking hot chocolate and watching nightfall. Que rico.

Eso. That's is. Se acabó.

Until la próxima vez,

Make some moments. Eat empanadas (de pino. I'm partial).

Massive Moment Maker 

Day 2-My prayer

Today I'm saying some prayers that should have been said long ago, but since God knows it, he's answered (YES, NO, or WAIT). I may not always like these answers or understand why he chose it, but deep in the depth of my heart I truly want to trust God. As I sit here in my pieza, my heart is crying out to the God that made me and knows me like a BFF. He knows. He knows that I am worried about the future and that I really need to find a place to live next semester. He knows that I worry about my future mate because society is saying that dating is like shopping, gotta try a few out before you find the perfect fit, but I'm not trying to go through heartache just to find the right one. But God also knows that I'm not ready for someone else in my life. Why?

Because I'm one of those addictive people. Once I get into something, I'm into it. Especially people. Once I find someone I remotely like, the rest of my week better be clear 'cause I'll probably spend at last a few hours a day thinking about that person. This isn't a horrible thing, it's that I can't handle that at this moment in time. I'm schooling, learning and growing. I need to do some growing (and I'm sure my future mate probably does too) before I get into anyone. :sigh: The facts...they make me mellow sometimes, but they are as they are.

So I'm praying that my head doesn't come in the way of what my heart truly desires: to be close to the God who loves me and has the most ballin' plans for  my life. When I say ballin' I mean ballin'. Look at me. I'm in Chile with a fantastic family and am not paying for my college experience nor have I been a summer without work (didn't always love the job, but it's work). I have a house to go back to and at least one friend who could almost be my sister. God doesn't fail. This, my friend, is the truth and the source of my prayer.

Not even close

Hey Hey Hey

Aight. So, today, on my way to making moments, I just stayed in and did work. I think that's a moment. You know? The times you choose to do the right thing. Like the time you chose to stay in while all your friends went out because you had a larger than life project due the next day. Like that. Except you imagined yourself missing out on special moments in this life. Well, darling, you make the moments. You're not missing anything, unless you choose to.

It's like going to a baseball game and missing parts of the first inning because you were busy talking it up with a fantastic friend from high school. The only thing you 'missed' was a few minutes in the lives of people who get paid whether you're there or not. Really. (And they get paid a whole lot. So if you'd rather be without this friend and watch someone else make money, go ahead). But, you really, at the end of the day, didn't miss the first inning. You were given an opportunity to make a moment and you chose to. Hopefully you and your fantastic friend from high school have skype so you two can keep in touch and make more moments happen.

Long story short, I did work. And got to spend time with the fam. Buenas noches, home skillet.

The start of something new

Okay ladies and gents. Buckle up because I, Moment Maker, am taking you on a ride.

-As an intro blog, I want to explain its purpose.

1. To give me something permanent to do during my month of my own schedule
2. To be a place to share thoughts
3. To encourage me to make moments everyday and do something because I chose to, not because I have to.
4. To share/encourage the world to do the same: Make moments
5. (It's a one month blog....as of now)

I have something that I could share, but that would be cheating since it took place days ago. The first blog of the day will be a devotional and the second will be a look back onto what moment I made this day. I might write in Spanish or English, depending on my thoughts/mood. I won't be translating, but I'll be sure to not keep all of you in the dark, so I'll provide a link to translators :)

I've been slacking in being consistent with Jesus and other things in my life, but I want to be more disciplined, less of a slack and more adventurous in my moment making.

---Today's devotional: 1 Corintios 9: 24-27---
        Basically, what I got out of this is why this blog came to be. It's talking about the crown of life and how to attain it: Go for it. If you're an athlete and have a race coming up, you do what you must (legally) to prepare yourself to win or at least do the best you can. This means training, not spending days on the couch eating popcorn while watching 2 seasons of House.
       This is what the Christian walk is like. It's not a sprint, it's the gosh-dang long marathon that consists of abstaining from somethings and applying self control. La palabra en español para self control es templanza. It sounds pretty cool. However, I've come to realize (through the Our Daily Bread) that there isn't much success in dominio propio, but solamente en el Espíritu Santo.
    I've struggled with self control in my life and still do, but I usually rely on myself or others to let me know when is too much. I need to start electing the Holy Spirit as my guía because at the end of the day, I just fail.

---That's it for today. Tune back in later tonight to see what moments I make today. So whether you're preparing for a race, studying in a foreign country or going to class, make those moments. Life is a whole lot more than the mundane. --

  Much love, peace and elbow grease,
                   Moment Maker AKA EmmSquarred. Deuces.