AP: Another birthday present.............

Hello all!!!

I am so sorry that I have not blogged sooner!!! Its just that life is very busy and we have had the joy of many people staying with us! So since I don't have much time (I have to get back to studying American Government----oh boy) I'll give you a few quick updates. Well, last Tuesday I passed another CLEP exam, College Algebra, and now have 30 college credits which makes me a college sophomore while still a senior in high school!!! The nice thing was I haven't done math since last May. So I decided to take a practice test "cold turkey" just to see how I would do. I did really well and took the Official Clep Study Guide practice test, the one by College Board, just to make sure I would pass. Then I went to UMKC and took the real test. It was so easy and made me realize how much I love math! Dance is going really well too. Mallory and I are enjoying being able to participate in the Christian dance school here. Also the Awakenings have been really awesome to go to as well.

Now to the most incredible update. As you know I turned 18 last month. For my birthday I asked my parents if I could do something special and they agreed. Only I had to wait until my actual birthday. But because of our busy schedules it didn't end up happening until last night. I'll give you a couple of clues first. Here is the first clue:

Have you figured it out yet??????? Here's another clue:

One last clue.........

Have you figured it out??????? I got my nose pierced!!!!!!!!! My parents agreed for my 18th birthday to let me get my nose pierced. But I didn't get mine out of hype or because its the cool thing to do. Mine has a significance. One of my good friends, Lisa C., got one about 7 months ago and I asked her why she got a nose ring, besides her looking adorable of course. :) She immediately whipped out her Bible and brought me to these passages:

Ezk. 16:3-14

^"3 and say, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Jerusalem: Your ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. ⁴ On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. ⁵ No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised. ⁶ " 'Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, "Live!" ^{[a] 7} I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew up and developed and became the most beautiful of jewels. ^[b] Your breasts were formed and your hair grew, you who were naked and bare.

⁸ " 'Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign LORD, and you became mine.

⁹ " 'I bathed ^[c] you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you. ¹⁰ I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put leather sandals on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments. ¹¹ I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, ¹² and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. ¹³ So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was fine flour, honey and olive oil. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. ¹⁴ And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign LORD."

Here in this passage a nose ring signifies ownership or a sense of betrothal. So to me, my nose ring is an example of how God saw me and pulled me out of the sinful nature of this world and made me His daughter, His princess. Just like a purity ring signifies your abstinence from the worldly pleasures of this life until you are married, so a nose ring declares to everyone who sees it that you belong to someone much greater than any one else. It says you are chosen, you are sought after, you are lovely, you're desired by the uncreated God who has made His beauty and glory in you PERFECT.

Song of Solomon 4:7 "All beautiful you are, my darling; there is no flaw in you."

You are one who is adorned with costly garments, people whom God loves, because you are trustworthy of His possessions. You are fed the best food because you are a daughter of the King. In you, He is well pleased. Because you are willing to seek His wisdom and are willing to seek His ways by giving what little of your heart to Him that you have to give, the uncreated, holy God is promising/betrothing himself to you. He is forever tying Himself to you so that when people see you they think of Him.

Another passage about the significance of nose rings is found in Gen. 24. It is the story of Issac and Rebekah. When it came time for Issac to be married, his father sent out a servant to find an eligible girl. The nose ring and bracelets were a sign that Rebekah had said yes to the marriage covenant with Issac, a man she had never met but only heard about.

Gen. 24:10-67

¹⁰ Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and left, taking with him all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim ^[c] and made his way to the town of Nahor. ¹¹ He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water.

¹² Then he prayed, "O LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. ¹³ See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. ¹⁴ May it be that when I say to a girl, 'Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,' and she says, 'Drink, and I'll water your camels too'-let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master."

¹⁵ Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor. ¹⁶ The girl was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever lain with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again.

¹⁷ The servant hurried to meet her and said, "Please give me a little water from your jar."

¹⁸ "Drink, my lord," she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink.

¹⁹ After she had given him a drink, she said, "I'll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking." ²⁰ So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels. ²¹ Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the LORD had made his journey successful.

²² When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka ^[d] and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels. ^{[e] 23} Then he asked, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?"

²⁴ She answered him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milcah bore to Nahor." ²⁵ And she added, "We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night."

²⁶ Then the man bowed down and worshiped the LORD, ²⁷ saying, "Praise be to the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives."

²⁸ The girl ran and told her mother's household about these things. ²⁹ Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he hurried out to the man at the spring. ³⁰ As soon as he had seen the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister's arms, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man said to her, he went out to the man and found him standing by the camels near the spring. ³¹ "Come, you who are blessed by the LORD," he said. "Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels."

³² So the man went to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and fodder were brought for the camels, and water for him and his men to wash their feet. ³³ Then food was set before him, but he said, "I will not eat until I have told you what I have to say."
"Then tell us," Laban said.

³⁴ So he said, "I am Abraham's servant. ³⁵ The LORD has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, and camels and donkeys. ³⁶ My master's wife Sarah has borne him a son in her ^[f] old age, and he has given him everything he owns. ³⁷ And my master made me swear an oath, and said, 'You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live, ³⁸ but go to my father's family and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.'

³⁹ "Then I asked my master, 'What if the woman will not come back with me?'

⁴⁰ "He replied, 'The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father's family. ⁴¹ Then, when you go to my clan, you will be released from my oath even if they refuse to give her to you—you will be released from my oath.'

⁴² "When I came to the spring today, I said, 'O LORD, God of my master Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come. ⁴³ See, I am standing beside this spring; if a maiden comes out to draw water and I say to her, "Please let me drink a little water from your jar," ⁴⁴ and if she says to me, "Drink, and I'll draw water for your camels too," let her be the one the LORD has chosen for my master's son.'

⁴⁵ "Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, 'Please give me a drink.'

⁴⁶ "She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, 'Drink, and I'll water your camels too.' So I drank, and she watered the camels also.

⁴⁷ "I asked her, 'Whose daughter are you?'
"She said, 'The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.'
"Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms, ⁴⁸ and I bowed down and worshiped the LORD. I praised the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master's brother for his son. ⁴⁹ Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn."

⁵⁰ Laban and Bethuel answered, "This is from the LORD; we can say nothing to you one way or the other. ⁵¹ Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master's son, as the LORD has directed."

⁵² When Abraham's servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before the LORD. ⁵³ Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother. ⁵⁴ Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night there.
When they got up the next morning, he said, "Send me on my way to my master."

⁵⁵ But her brother and her mother replied, "Let the girl remain with us ten days or so; then you ^[g] may go."

⁵⁶ But he said to them, "Do not detain me, now that the LORD has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master."

⁵⁷ Then they said, "Let's call the girl and ask her about it." ⁵⁸ So they called Rebekah and asked her, "Will you go with this man?"
"I will go," she said.

⁵⁹ So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham's servant and his men. ⁶⁰
"Our sister, may you increase
to thousands upon thousands;
may your offspring possess
the gates of their enemies." And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,

⁶¹ Then Rebekah and her maids got ready and mounted their camels and went back with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.

⁶² Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. ⁶³ He went out to the field one evening to meditate, ^[h] and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. ⁶⁴ Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel ⁶⁵ and asked the servant, "Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?"
"He is my master," the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself.

⁶⁶ Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. ⁶⁷ Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death."

Here are some pictures of me getting my nose pierced: You can click on them to enlarge the view.

Never thought you'd see me by a sign like that did you????? My mom couldn't believe she

was actually in a tattoo parlor! Some of the people who came in there were a little odd.......

This is in the shop, Freaks on Broadway, about to get it done. The girl in the back is

Steeny and she did my nose piercing. She was super nice and made

me feel very comfortable and not at all nervous.

This is the needle through my nose...........pretty gross huh???

These are some of the logo shirts they have hanging on the walls.

The amazing thing was it didn't even hurt. She told me it would be quick but all it felt like was her bracing her hand against my face before she pierced it. Or so I thought. Moma asked to take a picture of the needle through my nose and I asked, "It's done already?" I thought it might pinch or make my eyes water or something but I never felt it. I really like it and can't wait to show you in person!!!!

Have a great day!!!