Keith's wedding

11:09 PM | 0 Comments

Keith, my middle brother got married tonight! From his shiny new bling on his finger to the khaki suit he wore, it was perfect-- and soooo Keith and Sarah! I have gained not only a new sister but a whole new family as sarah's family welcomed us so graciously. I have some pictures and posts to do about Chicago, metamora, and the wedding. More to come..... :)


Mir

What I should be doing...

4:36 PM | 0 Comments

What I should be doing is working on my unit plan.
What I should be doing is getting ready for work.
What I should be doing is reading my bible study.

But......
What I am doing is so much more fun!

Growing up in conversations

12:45 AM | 0 Comments

Tonight, my best friend and I sat in Barnes and Nobles and had a conversation that was long over due.  As we have "aged" (we are now both the ripe old age of 27!) our conversations have grown up.  Instead of talking about which boys are cute or what we were doing that weekend, we have graduated to more intelligent conversation such as "what God is doing in your life" and sometimes a little politics.  Through the maturity of conversation, our friendship has grown, as any true friendship should.  I would like to point out that boys and the weekend plans are still part of our conversations, after all, we are girls, and that is a topic of conversation no matter old girls get.
 I love that we can start on the topic of a boy and wind our way to tithing and why we should do it, dip back into a tragic period of life and end up discussing politics and why we hate getting into discussions with other people about politics.  We talk about fashion, mistakes, family, the future, boys, GOD, prayer....the list could go on.  What a blessing she is in my life. A true picture of unwavering faith and strength in Christ.

The kind of woman I want to be

3:56 PM | 0 Comments

A Wife of Noble Character

10  s

Who can find a virtuous and capable wife?  She is more precious than rubies.
 11 Her husband can trust her,  and she will greatly enrich his life. 12 She brings him good, not harm,  all the days of her life. 13 She finds wool and flax  and busily spins it.14 She is like a merchant's ship,  bringing her food from afar.15 She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household  and plan the day's work for her servant girls. 16 She goes to inspect a field and buys it;  with her earnings she plants a vineyard. 17 She is energetic and strong,  a hard worker. 18 She makes sure her dealings are profitable;  her lamp burns late into the night. 19 Her hands are busy spinning thread,  her fingers twisting fiber. 20 She extends a helping hand to the poor  and opens her arms to the needy.21 She has no fear of winter for her household,  for everyone has warm s clothes. 22 She makes her own bedspreads.  She dresses in fine linen and purple gowns.23 Her husband is well known at the city gates,  where he sits with the other civic leaders. 24 She makes belted linen garments  and sashes to sell to the merchants.25 She is clothed with strength and dignity,  and she laughs without fear of the future. 26 When she speaks, her words are wise,  and she gives instructions with kindness. 27 She carefully watches everything in her household  and suffers nothing from laziness. 28 Her children stand and bless her.  Her husband praises her: 29 "There are many virtuous and capable women in the world,  but you surpass them all!"30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last;  but a woman who fears the L ord will be greatly praised. 31 Reward her for all she has done.  Let her deeds publicly declare her praise. Psalm 31:10-31 
Although I am not married yet, I believe that God is shaping me through the events and trials in my life to be the woman that He has in store for my husband, and vice versa.   I got this bible verse today in my email and it really struck me that through it all, this description is what I want to be and how I want to live my life as a daughter of the King.      
Miranda Martin

Posted via email from Miranda's Dailies

My Family

9:40 AM | 0 Comments

As I was eating with my grandparents and parents yesterday, I got a little choked up.  I was sitting by my grandma and had to help her cut her meat.  It reminded me of all the times that she had cut up my meals, or made my brother race car peanut butter sandwiches.  I was awestruck by the realization of how much I take my family for granted.  They are amazing, God loving people that would do anything for anyone. 

My brothers are possibly the coolest and best brothers that anyone can have.  Russell, and his beautiful wife Meagan, have been married for 6 years.  They have just started on a new journey in their life and are going to adopt a child.  You can read more about this at their blog.  Russell has always been there for me, from the time that I had chicken pox and gave them to him to when my best friends fiance passed away and he drove down to Pearland to be here.  Meagan has been the sister I never had from the moment that I met her.  She has embraced our crazy family with both arms and fits perfectly into the family.   I had a love/hate relationship with Keith, the middle child, when I was little.  As soon as Keith realized that I was as cool as I always said I was, our relationship changed.  His friends were my friends and my friends were his little sisters.  Sarah brings adventure and compliments my brother like noone else could.   My brothers taught me how to fish, to love Brittish comedy, to appreciate differences in people, and how to love God.  Their actions were always louder than words.  We love to embarrass our parents and have big plans for Chicago this summer.  I would not be the person I am today, if Keith hadnt had spent the quarter, and prayed for a little sister.  I am so proud of my brothers and all of their accomplishments.

My parents- what can I say?  My mom  and dad have been there for the three of us (now 6 of us) for all of our lives.  They showed us how to love each other and that no matter how little we had, we could still give back to those who had less.  My mom and dad took their summers to go on our youth missions and choir tours.  They made time to know our friends, no matter how much we protested.  They made us spend our Sundays at the church all day long. Which I never minded because that is where I made many of my lifelong friends.   My mom made Christmas special.  From the stockings to the presents, Christmas Eve service and having to go to church before opening presents, some of my favorite memories are at Christmas. My mom shows the same love and patience for her 2 year olds that she did for us and shows that same love to my elderly grandparents.  She took care of my Bappaw, along with my Granny and aunts and uncle, while he was sick.  She still takes my granny to appointments and takes my dad's parents to doctors appointments or whatever else they might need.  My dad has showed me that no matter what, laughing is a must, and that sometimes, you just need a cookie.  He has given up so much to make sure that his family, his kids are taken care of. He takes off work to help his parents, even when it is inconvenient to him.   He let my mom go be with her dad for over 3 months and was there, by her side, when she needed him.  They have shown me that just because you have a fight, doesnt mean you give up on love.  There have been hard times in our family, but they never stopped loving each other, or us.

My grandparents have shown me what unconditional love is and how to have a long, happy marriage. Both sets of my grandparents were married for over 50 years, helping their children in anyway they could.  I have been incredibly blessed to have known all of my grandparents for 25 years. Both sides of my family have engrained the importance of family in all of the grandchildren's brains.  Although the Martins are spread all over the country now, we still get together at least once a year, and  I have sweet memories of trips to NASA, family reunions, hoildays, Labor Day weekends, fishing, the river house, and many other times that my family has been together. My moms family still has Christmas together and is very involved in each others lives.

I am incredibly blessed by a huge family! What is your family like?

Christmas 2007

Posted via web from Miranda's Dailies

Losing Faith

3:23 PM | 0 Comments

I am registering for what is to be my last lecture semester.  I am to graduate in the Spring of 11.  Only one more year to go before I can stop saying, "I am in school, still".  Only now, a small roadblock has appeared in my nice smooth path down graduation lane.  Two classes that I must take before I can student teach are offered at the exact same time!  Imagine my surprise when I was trying to lock down my schedule for the Fall.  This school schedule is the thing that lets me know how much work and free time I will have in my life.  I am pretty much live by it for 4 months.  If I have to take a class on Thursdays, I have to find another day to work with the boys.  Class on Wednesday? No bible study for me.  

Is this bump my fault? Probably.  Will it be the absolute end of the world if things stay as they are right now? Nope.  

It seems crazy to my how quickly we jump from "God is in control of my life" to " HOLY MOLEY--- what am I going to do".  As long as life is great, I am all for God having control of my relationship, finances, school, friendships, etc.  But once things become rocky, I want to instantly take that part of my life back and fix it, and fix it now... As I was sitting in the library, I could feel my breaths getting shorter and faster.  I could feel this pressure grabbing a hold of my chest and my eyes start to well up with tears.  All I could think about was that I was not going to graduate and who else could I blame.  I did not think, "maybe I should pray" or " this is not the end of the world". 

Do I think that God wants to keep me from graduating or that the professors are out to get me?  Nope.  
But who am I to question God's plans?  "For I know the plans I have for you" says the Lord.  "They are plans for good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope.  Jeremiah 29:11  I just got done sending an email to a friend about how God's plan is so much better than I ever thought and that I have been blessed with so much in my life.  All it took was one little glitch in the system, and all my faith went right through the window.   

I do not know what the next email from my professor will bring.  I am hoping that it will be good news that one class got changed, or they want to pay for me to take it in the summer (that would be a miracle).  But, if it isn't, I will take the news, and continue on with my classes, and not let this knock off my path.  I hope and pray, that in the future, I can grow deeper in my faith and hold on to it when the little things get tough. 

Posted via email from Miranda's Dailies

How I feel

5:21 PM | 0 Comments

Today I changed my blog to a private thing.  I am ready for the whole world to not know what I am doing.  I want to connect personally with people instead of constantly hearing " oh I feel like I know you via Facebook"  While I do not put anything on Twitter or Facebook that I would be embarrassed about, I am done with spending hours a week seeing what everyone is doing and stating what I am doing.  I would rather call someone and have a conversation with people.  Guess I am over Facebook and Twitter.  I was getting all of my news from twitter instead of watching the news or reading a newspaper.  I also was hearing about events through the internet instead of my friends.  I have to decided to take the time that I would usually spend on Facebook and twitter and journal and read the Word.  I have a lot of decisions to make and I want to make sure it is the right one.

I have started a new relationship.  It is great, and fun and exciting.  Do I love him?  Not sure... Do I like him? definetly.  I get chills when I am near him, and butterflies when he kisses me.  I love that he pays attention to me.  I love that he is comfortable with me.

It is proving to be hard to let my guard down and let him in.  I want him to know me, all of me- the good and the ugly.  I fear rejection and someone not liking me.  I have a seen a lot of things that I do not like about myself.  For all these years, I have done things that have been okay with me, but after reflecting and looking to God for guidance, I realize that I am not walking the walk... i am a hypocrit- easy to come up with advice for someone else, but the instant that I am faced with the same decision or event, I clam up and want to face it on my own.  I also feel very convicted for the alcohol binges and bad decisions.  i am a leader in the church and will be in the community.  I should act as that leader, and my actions prove to be louder than words. We are all faulty and we all fall short, but I feel as though I am not trying to come any where close to what I should be doing.

Miranda

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