Zechariah 8

The old testament is filled with God's chosen people grumbling, disobeying God's laws, turning their backs on Him and in turn worshiping other idols. Every time God's people did this He sent them a prophet to bring them back and tell of the wonderful things he had in store for them if they would just repent and follow him.

Like Enoch, Jonah, Samuel, Elijah, and Elisha; Zechariah was a prophet sent to tell the children of Israel to repent and follow Yahweh. The children have not been in their land for many years now due to Babylon invasion and it is now to return home to the land God promised them long ago.

Zechariah 8 speaks of a beautiful future that God has in store for his people. These are some verses that really struck me:

"Old men and old women will come back to Jerusalem, sit on benches on the streets and spin tales, move around safely with their canes—a good city to grow old in. And boys and girls will fill the public parks, laughing and playing—a good city to grow up in." vs. 4,5 (the Message)

"But this is what you must do: Tell the truth to each other. Render verdicts in your courts that are just and that lead to peace. 17 Don’t scheme against each other*. Stop your love of telling lies that you swear are the truth. I hate all these things, says the Lord.” vs. 16, 17 (New Living Translation)

*I'll admit this is one that I am going to have to conquer.

I think these verses paint such beautiful pictures. If we do what verses 16 and 17 tell us then we can have a peaceful city where children can laugh and play safely. We lost the ability long ago and I want to regain it. Will you help me?

i want these

anteater

Sabbath Hair

So I was talking to mom, all dolled up for Sabbath and my Grandma comes in and says "Taleah I hope you aren't going to church with you hair like that."

I was.


Oh Grandma. At least I annuciate well (she complimented me on that this morning at breakfast.)

You win some and lose some.

World's Top 100 Wonders

The circled ones are where I have been. I still have a lot more places to go.

michelle

The other day I was in event planning class and Michelle said something. I replied back to her and she gave me the most intense high five of my life. My hand stung for like an hour afterward. It's good to know that I have a friend who can give such amazing high-fives.

Think about this

So here at Union College there are tons of furry squirrel friends.

They run in front of you as you walk, they tumble in the grass and they've even been known to occasionally chuck a acorn at a passerby.

Here is one question though:

WHERE IS ALL THE SQUIRREL POO???

No one ever complains about stepping in/ smelling squirrel feces. Why is that? It isn't like there is only one squirrel and it has a plethora of places to do it's business away from the public. There are at least a hundred squirrels on Union's campus and I've never in my four years have seen squirrel poo.

Disclaimer: I don't ever want that moment of "oh my goodness i just stepped in squirrel poo." so I'm not complaining. I'm just wondering if acorns don't really promote regular bowel movements and we need to offer our furry friends something that encourages regulartiy.

Now what do you think about that?

my least favorite

i didn't like my cub campers. They were annoying. I'm glad they are gone.

camp akita

So I haven't updated in a while so here it goes.

I decided to work at a summer camp in ILlinois so I drove from Whittier, CA all the way to Gilson, Il. It was fun, thanks Ryan for the fun trip.

I made my way to camp with my college roomie, Angela, and we got there super late. This is because when you put two very white washed latina chicks together you get super late spanish time. Don't ask me why this is so it just happens.

Two of my cousins from Philadelphia are working here too so it makes for a fun family reunion.

After teh week of staff training we started with Family Camp/Camp MEeting. It was pretty chill. I'm a life guard so I spent my day at the waterfront. We have a pond and a small lake that we do tubing on.

Wednesday night though brought an intense storm though that knocked out the power and water for camp as well as most of Peoria (one of the bigger cities close by to camp). IT was ROUGH! THe night of the storm it woke up all the girls and the lodge that we were staying in was lit up with constant lightening. I felt like i was in an Alfred Hitchcock movie and was waiting for someone to come kill us. However no one died just most of the trees were hit and fell down. The Lord is good though because no one was hurt and everyone was safe.

The lack of power and water didn't stop from the campers from being here though and we finally had to throw everyone out Friday at noon.

The staff was pretty stressed to and we hadnn't had showers for a while so the camp leadership decided to take us to fun city, a water park in Iowa. ON our way to Fun City there was huge tornadoes so we had to turn back to camp. It was frustrating and scary because the weather was intense, but we were all safe. A very wealthy God fearing family invited the camp staff to there house and we were able to stay with them adn shower. I've honestly never have been in such a big house in my life. It was huge!!!

we showered slept and ate. ITw as good adn then we made our way back to camp finished a relaxing Sabbath and then when the sun was down we cleaned. We cleaned until very late and we woke up super early to clean more. Our efforts were rewarded when we were able to have cub campers.

The Lord blessed us and so far it has been very interesting.

Rice and Beans

I missed eating rice and beans.
I forgot how it was such a staple in my diet and how I missed it so much.

I love rice.
I love beans.

however there is a clause: my parents need to make them.

How cellphones at times are the bane of my existance

So I've concluded something after having a cell phone for four years now. No, no let me rephrase that I have concluded MANY things after owning a cell phone for a couple of years and these are them:

1. If I didn't feel safer with a cell phone I would get rid of it. The security that a cell phone brings is nice. A couple times I have been without my cell phone and I feel 2 things: naked and uneasy. Knowing that I could call 9-1-1 or my parents at any given time is nice.

2. I screen my calls. I won't pick up for a couple reasons:
A. I'm in class
B. I'm working
C. I'm studying
D. I'm talking to someone face-to-face (I think it is rude to interrupt a face-to-
face convo unless my mom is calling)
So I apologize if you feel that I'm ignoring you, technically I am, but not because I don't like you, it is because I'm busy with other stuff.

3. One of my biggest woes in life is that I don't' have texting. I know it is sad, but I don't have it and I don't pay for my cell phone so I am going to keep what ever free to me. So stop complaining that I don't have texting, it is annoying I KNOW! But please stop whining to me about how you texted me and I never replied back. I told you when I gave you my phone number I DON"T HAVE TEXTING! I remind people all the time I DON'T HAVE TEXTING. This isn't by choice that is just how it is. So suck it up and give me a 1 min phone call, if I don't answer leave a message it isn't that hard. AND STOP BOTHERING ME THAT I DON'T HAVE TEXTING!!!!!!!!!!!!

4. I hate being so easily accessible. What happened to the joy of getting a special visit from someone face-to-face? You don't need to call people and tell them every single detail of your life. Also it isn't necessary for me to call you and tell you what I'm exactly doing every minute of my life. (this has nothing to do with calling my mother and updating her though. love you mom) Having a little mystery in friendships are good.

So friends please be kind and understand where I am coming from. Know that this blog is just trying to share how I feel about cellphones and not necessarily you as a person. Also you are still allowed to call me and update me on medium to big events in your life. and hey, if I don't answer leave a message I will get back to you...eventually.

this captures my soul

loving yellow

My t-shirt design

cubed in a manor.

green room, following

so I'm not to hot about this one, but I'm perfecting. I'm sure it will get better.

inspired yet again

my new artwork

so I'm sick of people being talented at cool artsy stuff and I'm not. So I've decided to venture on a new artform. Well not super new, but new to me. I've decided to dabble in album artwork so hey there musicians check me out. So without further to do the first in my album artwork collection: