Hey, Sweet, I'm a Baker!

Well, I finally did it.

I'm employed! It took a while, but because of some very nice family connections, I started working in a local bakery yesterday. It's been so fun so far! I have to start work early, six in the morning early, but it's worth it. Everyone is really polite, and a lot of fun.

Sorry this post is so short, I just wanted to let you all know that if I don't post for a while, it's because I'm either working, or passed out beacuse of working so much :-)

love is in the air.

Today has been a very lazy day, but much needed. I refused to wake up until 10am, and then lounged around until around 11. Then I finally decided that it was time to shower and get ready for the day before visiting my mom on her lunch break at 1pm. I love lazy days like today, and one thing I love to do on them is listen to music.

Lately I've been listening to a lot of different music. Not "different," but different from my normal style. Here are today's findings:

I absolutely adore the song "All I Want Is You" by Barry Louis Polisar. It's an adorable little love song, and whenever I get married, I think I want it played at my wedding:

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a river in the mountains tall,
The rumble of your water would be my call.
If you were the winter, I know I'd be the snow
Just as long as you were with me, let the cold winds blow

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a wink, I'd be a nod
If you were a seed, well I'd be a pod.
If you were the floor, I'd wanna be the rug
And if you were a kiss, I know I'd be a hug

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were the wood, I'd be the fire.
If you were the love, I'd be the desire.
If you were a castle, I'd be your moat,
And if you were an ocean, I'd learn to float.

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

Another song I found a love for today is "Anyone Else But You" by The Moldy Peaches. It's another love song, if you didn't catch that from the title. What makes this different from the mass of love songs played on the radio is that it seems more real. It talks about the quirks and uniqueness of eachother. It, too, is adorable. I won't post the lyrics for this one, but give it a listen. If you're a sucker for love songs like I am, you might enjoy it.

Tag... you're it!

Alright, Emmy tagged me to list 10 weird or random things about myself, so here it goes!

1. I'm mildly allergic to the sun. Nothing too serious, but after about 10-15 minutes of direct exposure, I get itchy and red and bumpy. Nothing Claritin and sun block can't fix, though
2. I "met" my oldest brother Eric through email last year. He's really cool, and has a three year old daughter.
3. I'm obsessed with socks. I can't stand wearing dirty socks, or socks with holes in them. If I could, I'd wear a brand new pair each day. But that's not very practical.
4. Old people make me sad. Literally. Seeing the elderly cry almost makes me feel worse than seeing babies cry. Usually babies cry when they're hungry or dirty, but the elderly cry over their lives ending. It's horrible.
5. I've changed my major like, four times, and switched schools.
6. I love cafe's. Everything about them. It's where I do most of my writing, and the people often inspire characters. Maybe I'll post a story sometime.
7. I can't wait to be a mom. One of my friends and I actually came up with a list of names for when we become moms. Jack and Max lead for boys, and Evelyn and Rose are tops for girls.
8. I always remember when I meet people. If I see them two years later, I still remember meeting them, whether they remember me or not.
9. I like having male friends more than female friends, but wouldn't trade my girlie friends for anything. I just find it easier talking to men about things. I'm weird, ok? :-)
10. I look nothing like anyone in my family. Example - in a picture of me with four of my cousins, there's one blonde and four with dark brown/black hair. I'm the blond. There's one with green eyes, the rest with brown. I have the green eyes. I stick out like a sore thumb in my family.

And I'm going to tag... Krystal, Brenda, and for kicks and giggles, Josh.

why?

So lately I've been arguing with myself about why I do things, why I believe things, and such. I thought I'd share some of my thoughts tonight.

First on my mind right now is why am I not in bed? That's obvious - I'm too busy thinking of other things to write! Anyway, more seriously, why do I believe in God? When did I start and why? I guess it's kind of hard to answer, because I really don't have a turning moment where all of a sudden it made sense to me. It kind of happened slowly, and maybe that's how it is for most people. I don't know. All I know is that I believe.

I was baptized last summer by a wonderful campus minister named Scott. We talked a little bit about what baptism meant, and what I thought it meant, and why I wanted to do it. I had already been baptized as a baby - why do it again? Well, that's simple. I wanted it to be a choice that I made, a decision on my part to walk with Jesus and be a follower. My parents were awesome for baptizing me, but I really didn't feel like it was a choice I made. Being baptized last summer brought me closer to God because I was able to make that choice. It wasn't forced on me - it was something I had thought about, acted upon, and chose for myself. Of course, with God leading me. This time it was up to me to walk with Jesus. This helps answer my where question, because this is where my relationship with God started to really mature.

But how did I get there?

A series of only a few events lead me to Scott and being baptized. I can probably list them in 10 things or less. Here it goes (from most current to oldest)

1. Student Training Program
2. His House Christian Fellowship
3. Sam
4. Bible Study at the yellow house (summer after graduation)
5. Vespers, Benton, and Dane
6. Eric
7. Krystal & Brenda
8. Church in Calumet
9. My dad.

See? I knew I could do it! Let's start with number 9 - the oldest. My dad played an enormous role in me becoming Christian. How could he not? He was a pastor himself. However, as much as I wish it was, it wasn't his sermons that helped me believe. I didn't listen to those when I should have. It was actually him getting sick, being in the hospital, and not seeing him for weeks at a time. That was my own teenage fault. I could have went to visit him, but I was terrified. I talked to him on the phone, but I was scared of looking at him. I spent a lot of time in Calumet staying with friends, and going to church with them. Thats where number 8 comes in. It seems like everyone at church knew what was going on with my dad, so they were all very supportive of me. I was hugged, prayed for, and talked to. I loved knowing that people cared about me.

This also helped my relationship with Krystal and Brenda - number seven. We became closer than ever, and talked about God and believing more often. Then we met Eric - number six. Actually, I can't say we "met" him. We already knew him, but we started talking to him more and more. He invited us to this worship service for college students on Sunday nights. Number five - Vespers. I fell in love instantly. It was people my age (well, a little older as I was still in high school) all getting together to worship. Instead of learning from people a lot older than me, I was learning from people my age. It all started to make more sense to me. Benton and Dane quickly became friends to me, and soon it was summer. This is number four - bible study. I can't remember who invited us first - Benton or Eric, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that we were invited and we went. This was a big move for me especially. Even though I was the pastor's daughter, I didn't know as much about the bible as I thought I should. I was scared to go, but was also hanging on the edge of my seat wanting to learn more.

After bible study every week and the occasional bonfire and barbeque with everyone, summer ended, and I was off to college! And at college is where I met one of my great friends, Sam (number 3). He was one of the first, and kindest, people I met at college, and introduced me to His House Christian Fellowship(number two). Without him, I don't think the rest of that list would have been able to exist. He encouraged me so much, and I don't think I ever said thank you enough. So thank you, Sam!

Finally, number one on my list was the Student Training Program. All I can say about it was it was simply amazing, and I learned more about myself than I thought I would. I met Scott, who was our host, and three days later I was baptized in the river by Scott, with new friends there to cheer me on.

End of story? Of course not! That'd be too easy. Now we know the background story of how I came to believe. But why?

This part is easy, but hard at the same time. I believe because I can't imagine not believing. I believe because of the feeling I get when I read the bible, and when I hear and sing praise music. I believe because of the people in my life. I believe because I know God is there. He's listening. He's the friend I can (and often do) lean on when there doesn't seem to be anyone else.

Of course, if someone were to ask me why I believed, that's not what I would tell them That's too long, and one of the lessons Sam taught me was to be short and sweet with it. So here it is in a nutshell:

Before I became Christian, I was bitter, selfish, and had a short temper. When my dad became sick, I felt I couldn't turn to him, and instead turned God. I found a friend in Him when I felt most alone. With God in my life, I was a new person - self-less, happy, and patient.

Stolen from Emmy...

1) Spell your name without an E - easy: kirti :)
2) Are you currently in a relationship? no, but have my sights set :)
4) Do you like your life right now? yes and no (good answer, i'll stick with that!)
5) What was the last item you bought? A car...
6) What was the last thing you drank? water.
7) Who was the last person you hugged? my best buddy krissy :).
8) What are your piercings? one in each earlobe, one in my right upper ear.
9) do you think your breath smells? Dunno..
10) What plans do you have for tomorrow? Church, mother's day activities..
11) What do you hate? not knowing people here! I miss my friends :(
12) Where was the last place you fell asleep other than your bed? the couch..
13) Are you texting anyone? jeffery.. and also mandy
14) Do you have a best friend? yep :)
15) How are things between you and your friends? not perfect, but then, what is? :)
16) What is your favorite romance movie? Moulin Rouge
17) What was the last compliment that you received? Hair.. definitely the hair
18) Do you forgive and forget? Yes, generally right away. It sometimes does more harm than good though.
19) Would you rather love with a guarantee of a heartbreak or never love at all? "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return" - Moulin Rouge. My answer is DEFINITELY LOVE!
20) What is more important, happiness or trust? they're both equally important, and its hard to have one without the other
21) Has anyone close to you ever passed away? My dad (RIP)
22) What are you thinking about right now? thinking about going to bed, but not wanting to :)
23) Who was the last person to tell you they love you? one of my friends
24) Do you think they meant it? i think so :)
25) What time did you go to bed last night? 12:30, maybe.
26) What was the last movie you watched? Juno for like the fourth time :-D
27) What CD is in your stereo? I don't really have a stereo, I just my ipod. Hm.. in my car I think Vampire Weekend (they rule, listen to them!)
28) Has a friendship ended recently that you wish had not? Hasn't ended, really, but the distance was made way too far.
29) Do you like your music loud or at a reasonable level? depends on my mood
29) Are you a beach or a snowy mountain person? beach. I'm all about the water.
30) Is it cute when a boy/girl calls you baby? yeah.