Inspiration Or A Cry For Help?

I recently bought a book by a very amazing woman that I look up to. Terri Brady's Letters to Lindsey. She is a former engineer, now a blogger, mom, and wife. (This is just a note to her: Terri, if you ever read this, I want you to know how much I look up to you. You are an amazing influence and role model.) I wish I could have said this to her when she signed my book. Yeah, that's right. I got my book signed by her. I always thought she was really pretty from a distance, but up close, she's SUPER pretty. She has soft blue eyes that radiate joy and make you feel safe. I would have liked to tell her that she was my inspiration for writing my blog. Unfortunately, I was so nervous and didn't want something that sounded bad to come out (even though she knows it is God's place to judge, not hers). Regardless, I couldn't say anything but thank you. Before I could leave, she said "Thank you for waiting." Just that little remark made me feel better about myself. Maybe it was because of the aura she gave off, or maybe because people (besides my awesome parents) rarely say nice things to me.
So I guess I should tell you what her book is about right? Okay, it's a compilation of her blog posts. There are cute little sticky notes in the sidebars that have quotes from her children. Almost all of her posts are about how motherhood teaches her life lessons. There's humor, there's sadness, and overall there's inspiration. Five years ago, Terri was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Before then, she was struggling with infertility. She tells her stories and how her friends, family, and God helped her to get through it. Personally, I wasn't a big sap for inspirational, life-threatening stories until I got involved with the community I am with now. In many ways, I was inspired about how amazing God truly is. But there was something inside of me saying that there is nothing special about me. Whoa... Harsh much? Let me explain. It seems like the only thing that really gets people closer to God is going through a really dark time and finding the light, whether it be medical problems, death, or some other tragic event. I've never gone through anything like that. I mean, my cat died when I was 11, but I got over that pretty quick. My parents are happily married, we have a house that is about to fall apart but it's still tolerable, and I got everything I wanted as a child (except a car, but that's a story for a later post). I have a pretty good life. I don't have many friends, but I would rather be friendless than have people poisoning me with poor thinking. The point of all of this is to say that I've really never been involved in a "dream, struggle, victory" situation. And maybe that's my own fault. Do I really have a dream that I'm willing to struggle so I can have my victory? I suppose not. What I would like to ask someone is "what does God have planned for me?", but the only one that knows is God himself. Once in my youth group, my leader gave the analogy of a stitching hoop. The hoop is over us and when we look up, all we can see is a huge mess, while God is looking down on this beautiful piece of work. It just makes me realize that He is all knowing and He has it all planned out for us.
Now I want to make everyone reading aware that I am only a 17-year-old girl and I'm still just a child. I don't understand everything yet. I will never understand everything. But I do know that one day, God will put a difficult trial in my way that I will be able to get through with hard work and determination. Maybe I'm in one and I just can't tell. The title is not to say that people put out their inspirational stories so that they can get attention. No, people do that so they can help others get through their tough times. Know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and God is always with you.

Thank you to everyone that reads my blog and special thanks to Mrs. Terri Brady. May God continue to shine light in your life (which I know he will). www.terribradyblog.com
I love hearing stories! Message me your dreams, struggles, and/or victories. God bless you and God bless America!

- Rachael A.
I AM SPARTACUS!

Bucket List

Everyone should have a bucket list. You know, a list of things you want to do before you die? It helps you to feel like you've done something worthwhile, even if it didn't contribute to society. I don't have this long rant about how we should live life to the fullest (even though we should). Instead, I want to share my bucket list with you. Here are my 25 Things I want to do before I die:

1. Go to a NASCAR event
2. Write a book
3. Restore a bunch of old muscle cars
4. Move to Australia long enough to develop an accent
5. Build the ultimate 3-screen gaming computer
6. Go drag racing
7. Meet Kesha
8. Learn guitar
9. Write a strongly worded letter to Satoshi Tajiri telling him to stop making Pokemon
10. Go to New York
11. Buy an ice rink and skate whenever I want to
12. Own a Volkswagen dealership
13. Have the coolest wedding ever
14. Get cornrows for a day
15. Go to a peace rally
16. Sit in a tree and just write, soaking in my surroundings
17. Get married to the perfect guy
18. Have the awesomest kids
19. Be mentored by Danika Patrick
20. Swim in a pool of Mountain Dew
21. Go to a rave
22. Be able to do the splits
23. Create a really cool musical web series
24. Succeed in The Sims without cheating
25. Sign up for Spotify Premium and Pandora One

Some of these things sound ridiculous. Some unreasonable. Some fun. But regardless, I want to do them all. Like I said before, everyone should have a bucket list. Do something that takes you out of your comfort zone! Live LIFE! Thanks guys :)

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. I'm working a full time job that is killing me. But I'll get through it. Prayers would be appreciated.

Homecoming

Homecoming always makes me sad. Every single year, I end up crying for some reason. Not once was I asked to go with anyone. Not once was I able to make a mum. Not once did I buy a dress that actually liked. And of course, no one cares. All I ever wanted was a date that I could do the stereotypical Texas homecoming thing with.
Let me start off by explaining what sucked about each year. Freshman year, I was a fifth wheel. In fact, the "friend" I went with asked the guy that I wanted to go with. I wore a dress I got at a garage sale for $5. Pretty much, I felt left out.
Sophomore year was the worst. I went with some friends. Now, this year was bad not because something happened to me, but another one of my friends. That same "friend" had someone ask her, but she said no. When she found out my other friend was going to ask this guy, she turned around and said she would go with him. She's one of those girls that doesn't want anyone to be happy. That's not the only thing that happened that year. I had asked my crush since 8th grade to go with me. Yeah, I was thirsty. Anyways, he said he probably wasn't even going to go. The next weekend, I found out that he had wanted to ask my BEST FRIEND to go with him. Why I still went to the dance, I have no idea.
Junior year. Ah yes, this was actually not a bad year. Mainly because I didn't go to the dance. I went to the movies with my folks instead. I had been telling people since summer band started that I wasn't gonna go if no one asked me. Naturally, no one asked. Which now that I think about it, I was kind of happy. I didn;t have to deal with any of that bs hoco drama.
We all know that I dropped out of school, so I couldn't go to hoco unless I had a date or someone invited me. For the longest time, I thought this guy was going to ask me, but once again, I was fooled by an oblivious guy. So I'm not going this year. But I still have my hopes up that someone will ask me to prom. For once, I want to have a date to SOMETHING. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to get asked. That's what I want more than anything.

Thank you to everyone who is reading my blog. It means a lot. I know most people don't actually care about what I have to say, but I care. And I am going to continue saying what I want. God bless you and God bless America.

Oh My Gosh, I'm Writing a Book!

I had the craziest dream last night. It was like a movie. There was a beginning, middle, and end. There was a plot, conflict, and semi-resolution. It was amazing. I woke up and immediately wrote down everything I could remember. I want to give you a quick intro to what it's about (just so you know, the rest of this blog will be me thinking of ideas for characters and story progression).
So I'm thinking of a few good names for the main character. In my dream, it was me (it's always me), but I want it to be someone else for the story. I really love the name Gwen. But I feel like that wouldn't fit the character. I could definitely see her being named Bree or Kennedy. Something like that. For now we'll just call her MC (main character). MC is just a plain old normal teenager in the US of A and of course, the government is really terrible at being a government. So aliens invade the Earth (I have the coolest dreams) and all they want is to live in peace. But the US, being the place that it is, won't allow that. Oh no, no peace for ANYONE. WAR IS THE ANSWER! No but really, Obama attempts to fire missiles at the aliens (thanks Obama!). Obviously that was a stupid idea because the aliens are far more technologically advanced than we are (I mean seriously, they brought their entire race to Earth from a completely different solar system and we can't even get a person to the next planet over). They take over Washington D.C. first and then slowly start heading around the world. Back in (enter city name here), MC is just doing her thing on the internet like she does everyday. Everyone has heard about the aliens and stuff, but they aren't really doing anything about it. Instead, they make stupid memes and update their twitters about how ridiculous the government is.
The aliens were putting people in these camps. I guess you could call them concentration camps. But they only did it if you disobeyed their two laws. 1) you owned certain types of synthetic materials (I suppose they were trying to clean the earth?) or 2) you were hiding fugitives. But if you were a fugitive, and were caught, you were sentenced to death. Basically, MC did something to become a fugitive (not sure what yet) and she goes on a journey to run away from the aliens chasing after her. I know how it ends, but obviously I'm not going to tell you. You'll just have to read and find out what happens. I'm gonna start writing this week and have the first chapter out by next Friday. I do want feedback on any ideas you have for characters, conflicts, or small scenes. I really like ideas from other people (hint).

I also want to thank everyone that has read my blog. It means a lot to me that people actually like to read my writing. I work really hard on every post and most of the time I think about taking each one down because I don't think people will like them. I don't get much feedback so it's hard to tell, but I am confident that each post will mean something to someone. Once again, thank you :)