I Don't Eat Brownies

Yeah, you read that right.  I don't eat brownies.  No, I don't have a chocolate allergy.  No, I don't dislike them, but I don't eat them.  I also don't eat chocolate cake.  I have nothing against these two things, or anyone who likes and/or eats them.  But I myself don't eat them.  Why?  Am I crazy?  Yes, but that's not what's influencing this.
When I was...oh, I don't know, around nine, ten at the most, I had bought and eaten a big piece of chocolate cake/brownie from WalMart, while my grandma was taking me to go pick up my cousin Norma, so we could hang out...and on the way there, I felt sick.  Too much chocolate cake/brownie.  I felt like I was going to hurl.
I'm pretty sure that no one likes to puke...but I can't handle it at all.  It's...it's really bad.  I was laying in the backseat, because I felt so sick.  I don't have motion sickness and the food I ate was the only thing that could have caused that.  In my despair, I started praying, "God, please don't let me puke!"  Then, I took it a bit further, "God, if you keep me from puking, I won't eat anymore chocolate cake or brownie!"
Maybe that was a stupid promise on my part.  But it was a promise.  And it was a promise to God.  I don't know about you, but if you make a promise, you'd better keep it...and if you make a promise to God, you'd better double keep it!
Well, I didn't puke.  And I was extremely relieved by that.  And, because of the promise I made, I don't eat chocolate cake or brownies.  Had I puked, I would still eat chocolate cake and brownies, because...well...I like chocolate cake and brownies.  I really do.  But I don't eat them, because I made a deal with Someone, and since they held up their end of the deal, I'm holding up mine.
Yeah, you can say, "Oh, but you were just a little kid!"  ...your point?  "Let your yes be yes, and your no be no" (Matthew 5:37) makes no allowances for if you're 1-12, or 12-100...it's the same no matter your age, last I checked.  I knew full well what I was doing.  I knew what I was promising.  And I still made that promise, still made that deal.
When we were back at my grandparents', I told my aunt...and do you know what she told me? "What, until next week?"  Don't ever do that.  Ever.  If any Christian, young or old, comes to you and tells you that they've made a promise to God, no matter how outlandish it may sound, ENCOURAGE THEM.  Say, "Okay, that's great.  I'm going to hold you to that."  Don't say, "What, 'til next week?"  Because that hurt.  A lot.  And if you tell someone that, especially if they're young and/or a young Christian, you're acting like a promise to God doesn't matter...and a promise, especially to God, does matter.
I haven't eaten chocolate cake or brownie since that time, except for once, when I had marble cake and didn't manage to get all of the chocolate parts picked out.  Once.  And not on purpose.
I also don't eat Ramen Noodles, but that's for a whole different reason, that's for another blog post.
~Katie

I'm Where I'm Meant to Be

Today at my night church, we had missionaries from Hungary speaking about their ministry, and naturally, as we do every time we have guests, there was food afterward.  A lady at my church asked if I was still attending the Bible School...to which I said no, I am currently attending FHS.  She later asked if I miss IBS...and I said "no, not really".  She seemed shocked.
Yes, I am happier at my secular school.  Let me give you a quick rundown of a few things that would never have happened, had I not begin attending FHS.

1. I would never have met Alex.
2. Alex never would have told me what church he attends.
3. I would never have tried out for the musical.
4. I would never have had a practice that entailed me missing my night church.
5. Because I never would have missed that night church, I never would have stopped by Alex's church to see how I liked it.
6. Had I never stopped by his church to see how I liked it, I never would have found a church to attend on Wednesday night.
7. Had I never found a church to attend on Wednesday night, I never would have found my new Sunday morning church.
8. Had I never began going to that church, I would not be baptized today.

Sadly, I wasn't getting anything out of my regular morning church.  I love the people and talking to them and all that...but I wasn't getting anything spiritual out of my previous morning church.  I get a ton out of this church.  And that's just one example!

When I switched schools, my stepdad said, "Katie, I feel like you're supposed to be here for someone."  Maybe I was supposed to be there for me.  Because despite having chapel every day at IBS, I feel closer to God now.

Maybe it's because when you have something every day, it becomes mundane, boring, pointless...but when you have it only a few times a week, it becomes more sacred and special.  Who knows why?  All I know is my personal experiences.

I've met so many people at this school, and have been part of so many activities that I'm almost positive that I was in more of the activity pictures than students who have been attending the Fredonia district schools their entire life.

It seems that every step I take, God reaffirms that this is where I'm supposed to be and that I'm doing what he wants me to do and I'm grateful for that.  I'm so thankful for my church family and I enjoy our youth parties, and banters and Wednesday night Bible Studies that always somehow go off on rabbit trails and wind up with us learning about...well...a great variety of things.

I'm grateful for the friends I've made, and the people that I get to talk to on a regular basis.  I'm happy that I get to drag my friend, Kalli, to the library every week or so.  I'm happy for the neighbors who have invited me to come visit whenever I'd like....  Quite frankly, I'm happy.  I'm very happy with where I am, what I'm doing, and other than like all humans who need to constantly be improving, who I am.

~Katie

"Real Women"

Real women have curves!  Right?  Which implies that unless you have curves...you're not a real woman....  Of course, that excludes all naturally twiggy women.  I have no idea what they are, but they're obviously not real women.  Are they women at all though?  To find the answer to that question, I went to the dictionary.  And here is what it told me:
"an adult, human female".
Well...that's a tad vague...I mean... what does that even mean?  It says nothing about curves, or lackthereof.  MAYBE if I looked up the meaning of real, it might make sense.
"actually existing as a thing or occurring in fact; not imagined or supposed.".
Does that mean that...I've imagined all the skinny women I know?!
When I looked up "real woman definition", I was sent to this article: "real women".  It says nothing about curves either!  Of course, Urban Dictionary popped up...and because I'm typing this on my iPad at school, I couldn't pop it up, because Urban Dictionary has some...uh...moments where it's not very school appropriate.
But nothing I've found so far has said anything about real women having curves.  Maybe if I look for a scientific definition, I can find out what a real woman is.  Well, that didn't tell me anything....  But, I know from biology class that females have XX chromosomes.
Apparently, only curvy women have XX chromosomes....  Of course, with the definition of XX chromosomes, that also rules out "women" such as Caitlyn (Bruce) Jenner.
It's so confusing!  What's a real woman anyway?  Well, according to the dictionary and science, it's an adult, female human, that is not imagined, and has XX chromosomes...so...don't worry, my twig-like friends...despite what Facebook has tried to tell us, you are in fact, a real woman.  And as for you, my friends with curves...as long as you're an adult female human, that has XX chromosomes and are not imagined, you're also a real woman!
Silly Facebook...you don't know how to use a dictionary.
~Katie

Welp...I Got Baptized

So...as you can tell from the title...I was baptized!  On Valentine's Day, actually.  Have some pictures:

This one is right after I came up out of the water.  The guy on the right is Josh, my youth pastor, and the one of the left is Pastor Les, the...regular pastor...I'm not sure how to classify him.

This one is later, with Crazy Jenni and a cake they got me (seriously guys, you're way too sweet! :') )  Oh, and it's okay to call her "Crazy Jenni", we talked about this stuff.

Why did I decide to be baptized?  Well...it all started long long ago--okay, not that long ago--when I had a meeting with Josh (seen in the first picture) and his wife Abbey.  Some of the scriptures we looked at made baptism look like...well...like it's necessary...not optional.
The church I grew up in...well...they never did baptism, which gave me the impression that it wasn't necessary for salvation.  The scriptures we looked at...well...they seemed to say otherwise.
So, after that meeting, I thought for awhile, then when we had a "questions" night, for Wednesday night, I asked to talk about baptism again...so we did.
THEN...after that, I went and asked Pastor Les about being baptized and we sat in his office for over an hour talking about it and looking at scriptures...and we scheduled a meeting with him and his wife for Thursday, around 8:00-8:30.
Thursday came around, and I went over to their house around 8:15...and didn't come home until almost 11:00....
I thought for a bit after that, then on Friday, I messaged both Pastor Les, and Josh's wife, and asked for both of them to baptize me...because, well, they both directed me down that path and I wanted them both to be involved.
And...yeah....  The water was hot.  Idk what else to say....
~Katie