Sweet, sweet changes

Caramel Frapps from Starbucks, gigglin' with my favorite girls, a brand new tune that rocks my socks off, ya know, the really good ones that get put on repeat for hours, a good book and a warm blanket, new beginnings, and wearing orange nail polish just to remind me that spring is near, ...these things, my sweet friends, are my current cup o' tea. These are the things that keep me moving. On this dreary Monday afternoon, I am pulling through by the strength of these very little things. They make me happy. I am realizing that it truly is the littlest things that have the biggest impact in my life, and that is a first for me!

Today, I verbally said "I am changing" while casually in a conversation with a friend. These words have so much power in my life today, and every other day for that matter. I am not who I was. For the first time in my life, I can say that I am happy with me; just me. I'm not happy because someone else has made me that way, I am happy because I choose to be.

I am living by these words every single day. I have them plastered into my mind as I am reaching for success.

[She believed she could, so she did.]

 I believe I can be happy, so I am. 

I believe I can succeed, so I am successful. 

I believe I can do big things, so I will.

Love just sucks.

Can't wait to hear this live in 2 weeks. So much talent! If you dig acoustic music, look up his other stuff!

Love Sucks- Nathan Angelo

Because you're nosey...

Go to the following website. Ask me anything. I'll answer it.
But please, try to keep it clean :)


www.formspring.me/haleyjoy

Amazing love.

Okay, so I might be a little (or a lot) relieved that V-day finally is over. I gotta admit though, I am happy today. But I'm not happy because of any physical thing. My joy is found in my Father's love. I have been reading The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning and I encourage everyone to read it. I couldn't get this blurp from it out of my head today:

If Jesus appeared at your dining room table tonight with knowledge of everything you are and are not, total comprehension of your life story and every skeleton hidden in your closet; if He laid out the real state of your present discipleship with the hidden agenda, the mixed motives, and the dark desires buried in your psyche, you would feel His acceptance and forgiveness. 

 How amazing is that?! To think that God knows every little thought I would never let out of my head, every mixed motive, every mean thought...and He still loves me more than I could ever understand. He loves me when I am completely unlovable, and I know that nobody is ever going to love me like my Father does. I am His girl; I am the favorite child of the creator of the universe. I am a princess of the King Most High. I hate to break it to you all, but I have got the best Valentine...ever. I am honestly so blessed.

Today, one of my very dear friends sent me this email. I don't deserve this kind of love:

I made her... she is different. She is unique. With LOVE I formed her in her mother's womb. With LOVE I fashioned her with great joy. I remember with great pleasure the day I created her. To me she is beautiful. I LOVE her smile. I LOVE her ways. I LOVE to hear her laugh. And all the silly things she says and does. She is herself and no else else. This is how I made her.

I made her pretty, but not beautiful, because I know her heart, and she would be vein. I wanted her to search out her heart and to learn that it would be Me in her that would make her beautiful. It would be my spirit that would draw people to her. I made her in such a way that she would need Me. I made her a little more lonesome than she would like to be. Because I need her to turn to Me in her loneliness. I know her heart; I know if I had not made her like this, she would go her own chosen way and forget Me, her creator.

I have given her many good and happy things, because I love her. I have seen her broken heart and the tears she has cried alone. I have been with her and have had a broken heart too. Many times she has stumbled and fallen alone only because she would not hold My hand. She has learned hard lessons because she would not listen to my voice. So many times I have sadly watched her go her way alone, only to watch her return to My arms, sad and broken. And now she is mine again! I paid a high price for her because I LOVE her. I have had to reshape and remold her, renewing her for my plan. It has not been easy for her or Me.

I want her to be conformed to My image. This goal I have set for her ... because I LOVE HER.

Today, I am so thankful for this love. I have found the most perfect, the most tender and sweet love. And the best part?

It's only growing deeper.

Valentine throwback.

"Poetic strings of words tied together with the ink of my heart drip solely, passionately for you.
You, my darling, are the inspiration behind the rhythm and rhyme.

My words turn to magic when falling onto the ears of your heart.

No one reads them or feels them like you do, because no one inspires them like you do.
Your love leaves me so fulfilled-

My thoughts are drowned in the pretty lyrics of my soul, all to which I owe you.

This heart has never felt such joy."

7102007

A glass half full.

If you have been keeping up with my blog, you will know that through the past month or so I have dealt with an immense amount of stress, pressure and heart ache. Through the course of the new year I have already turned 21 and lost my best friend all in the same day, worked through the worst break up...ever, gotten the flu one week and strep throat the week after, totaled my car...

...And watched life keep moving.

See, that's the thing about life. No matter what you deal with, no matter what you're feeling...it just keeps moving. Don't sit back and mourn about the bad things that keep happening, life's not stopping to wait for you to get back on your feet. Every day you have a choice. It is your attitude and not the events of each day that determine whether your day is a good or bad day.

Although most would say I have had a pretty yucky month, I am happy to say it has been the most refreshing month of my life. I landed a new job as a nanny on the weekends, and I have learned a lot about myself and a lot about others. I have learned to let the sun set on each day and be done with it. I have learned that I deserve to spend time on just me. I have learned to be thankful for each sunrise. I have learned that peoples' true colors shine through in the midst of an ugly situation. And lastly, I have learned that everything... absolutely everything, happens for a reason.

So as you start your day today, and every other day, start it with an attitude of a glass half full. I promise, you won't regret it.

Still, I'll rise

I have a mild obsession with Maya Angelo. Here is one of my favorites that is ironically fitting to my life!

Still I'll Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Everybody's got a secret.

My favorite secrets from www.postsecret.com   I found these today while cleaning out my computer!

Love, actually...

Over the past month I have had some pretty defining moments about love and relationships. Let me enlighten you on what I have learned.

-It can never, ever be forced.
-It is the result of trust. Where there is no trust, there is no love.
-When trust is broken, nothing is ever the same.
-There is no "happily ever after". Every day of a relationship has it's ups and downs.
-Love means complete selflessness.
-No matter how hard I look, I will never find anything that compares to my Father's love.
-It needs care each and everyday.
-Hold it too tight and you'll smother it. Hold it too loosely and you'll let it go.
-A man needs to cherish his girl in every way.
-Every women deserves to be pursued.
-Balance is everything.
-It is not defined by the flowers, chocolates and dinner dates; love is defined in the most difficult moments.
-Contrary to popular belief, we are completely incapable of unconditional love.
-It is not a magical sensation, it's an effort. It is a choice, it doesn't just happen.

Let me tell you what I think love is. It is that attachment resulting from the mere appreciation of the goodness in another person. God created us to see ourselves as good, so that is what we look for in others. We are attracted to good looks, intelligence and humor, and these may be the seeds of love, but they have yet to sprout.  Pure goodness is what moves us to love.