Christmas Decorations

My favorite Christmas decoration is our christmas tree. It stands in our living room with all our cherished ornaments, white lights, and, of course, the star on top. There is something about our Christmas tree that I love. The tree has this essence about it. When I look at it, I feel like everything else is quiet for that moment. I believe the christmas tree is the most beautiful christmas decoration. Lights can be tacky, Santas can be too numerous, but the christmas tree symbolizes Christmas. It is peaceful, pretty, and joyful.

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c.faulls

Trampoline

One Christmas, I wanted a trampoline extremley bad. My neighbor had one and we always would play on it. I knew all the tricks that you could do on a trampoline. I could do front flips, aerials, backflips, back handsprings, toe touches, and many other silly things that me and my friend would make up. It was a form of exercise that we never saw as exercise, but instead, pure fun and excitement. I literally could spend hours jumping on the trampoline. That year, I made sure my letter to Santa emphazied the "I WANT A TRAMPOLINE PLEASE" part. Sure enough, good-old Santa Clause followed through. The most gigantic present I had ever had was placed in the living room when I went down the stairs on Christmas Day- the box of my brand-spankin'-new trampoline. Later on that day, my dad set up the trampoline in the backyard. In my eyes, it was the best and the springiest trampoline ever. I loved that trampoline so much. The same trampoline still sits in our backyard. And though the net has torn, the legs have bent from storms, the rust has taken over the springs, and only my lightest brother is allowed on it, I still look at it and remember the joy and memories it possesses.

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c.faulls

Thanksgiving

My family’s traditional thanksgiving meal is at my grandparent’s home here in Owensboro. My family from Bowling Green comes in and the house turns into chaos- and I love it. Grandmommy and mom are putting food on the counter, kids are running around like crazy people, and I just take it all in. The smell of the turkey and salty homemade foods make my mouth water, and I ALWAYS end up sneaking some meat before the meal officially starts. During the meal, I pile my plate with turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, and my grandmother’s famous “pink stuff” (as I like to call it.) Everything is so perfect, and the day reminds me to always be thankful for the family I have all around me. I could not ask for a better family.

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c.faulls

Beautiul Earth

Seeing the images on the PowerPoint makes me realize the amazing, beautiful world we live in. Even with the lights and electricity, beauty still comes from it. The world is so beautiful to me and really displays how spectacular God’s creation is. I look at those pictures of the Earth and know that there are billions of people on those continents, all of which are going through different things. A person from one continent might have a completely different life than the other, but from outer space, you would never tell. God looks at us from that perspective also. He backs up and sees his world, and He loves each person equally: no matter what continent, no matter what color, no matter what culture. He made us. He loves us. And He made this beautiful world-for us.

We all have the opportunity to be…

HoldingHisRightHand

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Poor, Ugly Little Bugs

You know when you are in class, you look up, and there are black shadows all over the retangular lights? Those are bugs. Dead bugs. To be honest, I found this out only years ago. I do not know how they get in there. Do they crawl through the cracks in the ceiling? Why do I never witness this? Do they crawl along electrical lines in the ceiling while we are listening to lectures? I wonder what they do when they finally reach the lights. Maybe they see a light at the end of the tunnel and run towards it in hope for a better life. Maybe they go into this lit compartment and just stay there in dumbness and confusion. Maybe they are on the lookout for new food. In the end and in despair, they die. That light is the end of their short life. The light, for them, means death. Poor, ugly little bugs.

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c.faulls

The Voice Thunders

Job 37:5-6
God's voice thunders in marvelous ways;
he does great things beyond our understanding
He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,'
and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.'

This scripture's words are so powerful. It really shows the power of God among nature. He can make anything happen. His voice thunders, He commands the weather. There is no one like Him. The snow falls to the Earth because of His strong words. The rain pours on the ground because of His mighty power. All the great things He does are marvelous. We cannot comprehend why or how God is able to do these things. All we know is that it is because He is the creator, He is the King of Kings, and He can do anything and everything. I am so honored and grateful to be...

HoldingHisRightHand.
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Bank Deposits

Happiness is something that you can choose. Going into a situation, you can either decide it is going to be awful, or you can decide that you are going to accept it. Would you rather be negative and miserable? Or positive and happy? Throughout life, you must take the happy moments of your life and remember them. Recognize them as a blessing and deposit them in your memory so that you can dwell on them in later years.

We go through our every day life and miss so much of the blessings God has put in our life because we are not paying attention to them. We are choosing to feel the way we want to feel. We are choosing to not pay attention. We are choosing to dread things. We are choosing to be distracted. But we can also choose to be happy. Withdrawling happy moments from your past life will provide much joy in your future.

Knowing that you took hold of that oppurtunity, knowing that you were thankful for that situation, acknowledging that you were blessed, will make you happy. It is your choice. A situation can be viewed as good or bad depending on your perspective of it. Choose to be happy. Choose to accept the things that you cannot control. Choose to be happy for others and thankful for others. You never know how much happiness you will need to withdrawl towards the end of your life.

So save up.

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c.faulls

Words

Ecclesiastes 7:21-22
Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you- for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.


*I know we hear things during the day that we don't like: like people talking bad about us or someone we are close to. If we pay attention to every word people say, and take it to heart, and get angry about it, it will not always be helpful to the situation. Also, we have to realize that even we say mean or degrading things about others out loud and even more in our minds. We just need to calm ourselves and learn to ignore and not think mean thoughts either.

If someone says something mean to me or does something rude, I always think this: at the end of the day, when that person is laying in their beds, is that the thing they are going to remember and dwell on before they go to sleep? Most likely not. So that is one reason why we cannot take everything to heart.

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c.faulls

Best Halloween Ever

My best Halloween ever has not yet come yet, but the best will be this year. As a new driver, I am allowed to participate in our church's Halloween event. Jacob and I signed up to have a trunk in our church's "Trunk or Treat" event. Our trunk's theme will be Apollo vs. Owensboro. My outfit will consist of jam-packed school spirit complete with face-paint and blue and white clothing. We will have kids pick AHS or OHS, and of COURSE, Apollo will win. My best Halloween ever will include giving little kids candy, stuffing candy and a funnel cake in my mouth, hanging out with Jacob, and winning the competition for the best school. Jacob's poor attempt at winning will include having poorly done red face paint, spiritless clothing, and OHS gear slopped on his side of the trunk. It will be a sad sight seeing his desire to win and inatiquant work. Therefore, I will win the compitition and overall dominate. Sorry Jacob :).

Best Halloween Ever.

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c.faulls

Ghost?

One night a few weeks ago, I was getting ready for a football game at my house. Everyone had left, and the front door was the only door unlocked. Home alone, I went upstairs to get ready. After awhile, I heard someone, who I thought was my dad, come in the front door, lock the front door, and walk along the creaky floor. I was about to yell down the stairs and ask Dad why he was home, but something inside me told me not to. A few minutes later, I heard the door unlock, "Dad" walk out the door, and the door close again. I went downstairs to find nobody around. I figured dad left, but just because I was a little suspicious about who that might have been, I called Mom and asked her if she had been home a few minutes ago. She said no. I called Dad and asked if he had been home recently. He said no. He told me immediatley to go outside and stay in the driveway. Dad raced home to inspect the house and make sure no one had been in there, and there was no one.

It left me very shaken up. We never turned it into the police, and to this day, I do not know who walked in my house. A stranger? A ghost? A murderer? A rapist? I sure hope it wasn't any of those, but I will never know. If it was, I was protected. Thank goodness I was...

HoldingHisRightHand.
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Scary Movies

The scariest movie I've ever watched is the movie "The Uninvited." I watched it in the movie theatre which made it incredibley scary. There was killing, confusion, and mysterious things that happened. It does not take much for a movie to be scary for me. Anything that pops out or is filmed in the dark is defined as a scary movie for me. I am very scared of the dark and very scared of things that might get me. It is a good idea for me NOT to watch scary movies because I will remember the concepts of the movie in the future, and it will freak me out. To try to find the good in the world rather than the bad, I stay away from scary things as much as possible. Whenever I am scared, I always try to remember that everything is ok, and that I am...

HoldingHisRightHand.
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Creation

I went to the Creation Museum during Fall Break last week, and it changed my whole view on creation and the Earth's history. I learned so many radical things that have never been proposed to me before. The idea that dragons always talked about in midevil times could have been actual dinosaurs is mind blowing. The fact that sin changed God's perfect world into a whole different place. Violence, pain, and death entered the world on the day sin came in. Then, the flood came and changed the physical face of the planet drastically. It wiped out the whole population. These radical ideals stretched my mind and amazed me.

The creation of our world is a topic that many people believe differently. Scientists have theories of other ways the earth began, but everyone is entitled to believe what they want to believe. God's creation is what I believe because it starts from the Bible and is based on the Bible. I choose to solely place my beliefs on The Word.

I choose to always be...

HoldingHisRightHand
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It is a Mystery!

The weather is intolerable
Wind is violently blowing through the leaves, the limbs, the grass.
High above the grass and the trees, the wind is still spinning. Yes, spinning.
Clouds are play toys to the wind.
It spins the clouds round and round.
These clouds are too full.
They let out the rain within them. More like pour.
Every second many, millions, of raindrops are sent out of the sky.
Gravity sends them toppling to the ground a few seconds later.
Meanwhile, the clouds are still spinning, much faster now than before.
We are in the midst of a storm.
A tornado

-by Christina Faulls (as a little girl)

I do not know when I wrote this, or why. I found this in my drawer today while trying to find a bookmark for our new book in English class. It was so weird to come across this and to read over it because it does not seem like something I would write. Could it possibley be when we had the tornato of 2000? I will never know. But it was something interesting I came across and wanted to share :).

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c.faulls

The Leaves Start It All

"Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn." -Elizabeth Lawrence

When the leaves turn, you start seeing nature all working together. The branches talk to the leaves and tell them to change color and fall. Once the leaves hit the ground they tell the grass to die and to turn tan. The dead grass tells the ground to turn cold. The ground tells the precipitation that falls to freeze and make ice. The ice tells the air to chill. And all these things in nature effect us as humans.

We start wearing more clothing. We eventually start to see our hot breath in the air. Some people like the new temperatures, some do not. Some see it as beautiful, some see it as miserable. It is a whole change to our personal world. Then fall leads to winter. But we always have the hope of spring coming once all the cold is over.

Painting

There is a huge painting of fruit in my living room that I am looking at at the moment. I was thinking about how painting with words (using imagery) is exactly like painting a painting. So I am going to excerise this thought of mine. I am going to try to paint a picture with my words. Here it goes...

There is a little Guatamalen boy sitting in a small tree. The boy has big, dark brown eyes with eye lashes that go on forever. His face is round and plump. His mouth is shut and straight with full lips. His face looks slightly up and to the side, looking at a flower in front of his face. He is wearing only overalls: no shoes, no shirt, no socks. His hair is jet black and sticks up. His right hand reaches up in hopes of touching the desirable flower. He is sitting on a branch and leaning against the trunk and another branch beside it, in a comfortable position. The tree he is sitting on is a small dogwood tree. It is in full bloom with the four-petal, white flowers sprinkled all over. The leaves are a beautiful green. The background has a light blue sky, completley cloudless, with other dogwoods in the background. The Guatamalen boy is the only one in sight, only concerned about this one flower he is pursuing...

:)


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c.faulls

Fall

This season technically started last week. Though, it does not fully seem like fall has truly come yet. I have not gotten out my sweaters and warm clothing yet. The scarecrows are out in my front yard, yet they do not seem like they belong. I do not yet have this longing to carve a pumpkin and eat pumpkin seeds. I have not felt the desire to drive out to Reid's to go through the corn maze. I wonder why this is? Oh I know! It was 100 degrees just a few days ago! That kind of heat does not make me get in the mood for fall festivities. I am not really complaining though, because I know that right after fall comes winter. I am not at all a fan of winter. Temperatures are freezing and below. My bones shake because of the chilly weather and my jaw chatters. My fingers, toes, and lips turn blue. My skin turns the whitest of the year with a blue hint of gross. Multiple layers of clothing is a necessity unless you want one of your body parts to fall off. It is just not my favorite. So for now, if it need be warm still, I shall not complain. I will make the most of it. I will enjoy the heat while it lasts, I will enjoy fall, and I will tough it out during the winter. So bring it on, because I'm ready. I am....

HoldingHisRightHand
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Prom-Prepared

A couple Saturdays ago, my neighborhood had it's annual Town and Country garage sale. It is pretty much the highlight of my entire year. There are garage sales everywhere: up and down every street. It is the greatest thing ever. I went with my family, grandparents, and my boyfriend. You see how this is a big deal. Once we were off on our garage sale journey, we didn't find too much for awhile. Then....THEN....we went down this one court- Stonehenge Court. Jacob, my boyfriend, shouts out that there was a Hannah Montana poster afar beside a door at a garage sale. In coming closer, he saw it. Right there hanging on the door. It came in a plastic bag and had an amazing sign on it- $50. Jacob got my attention, and then I looked at it. It was just what we were planning on looking for. It was yellow and everything. A prom dress. It was orginally $200 and it was only worn once. The people living there were so nice and sweet. They let me go into their house and try it on. Of course, by then I knew it was destiny, because it fit perfectly. My mom wrote the check and we took that beautiful thing home right then and there. I am looking at it at this moment while writing this post. I am "Prom-Prepared"! PTL!


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c.faulls

Contacts

Contacts are so weird. You put this little gelly thing on your eyeball, and some how it helps your eyesight improve. I've been wearing contacts since 8th grade. When I first got contacts, I was in the eye doctor for two hours just practicing putting them in. It was pathetic. Eventually with much practice I got used to putting them in and am now pretty much a professional. Except for now they are rebelling against me. For some reason, my right eye keeps hurting extremley bad every time I have a contact in. It is terrible pain every time I blink and even when I do not blink. While this is happening, my right eye's vision is a complete blur and it is pointless for me to have it in. I cannot ever concetrate on what I am doing because I am focusing on how bad my eye hurts. Contacts are a mystery to me and the problem with my eye is a mystery. When shall I ever understand such things.


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c.faulls

Gettin' and Givin'

"Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting."

Someone who is truly humble and truly selfless will be thankful and not expect anything back when they are given. To give without remembering is to give selflessly-not for their sake but for the sake of the person being given something. During Christmas, we get in the habit of getting gifts. We EXPECT gifts because it is an annual event. What would happen if, one year, you got nothing for Christmas? Just because it is December 25th, we want to get things. We want the excitement that comes along with presents. Do we even deserve it? Even if you have been categorized as a "good kid" in Santa's book, do you really deserve to get? At Christmas, when you do receive gifts, are you truly thankful? Or do you just say thank you because it is expected of you? These are some things to evaluate about yourself. We are not here for ourselves. We are not here to GET. We are here to GIVE.

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c.faulls

The Road

"The road doesn't tell the traveler what lies ahead." -Tanzania


There is no way anyone can know for sure about their future. There will always be something that you do not expect. There will always be some change in your plans. The future cannot be controlled by your commands. That, however, is the thing that makes life exciting and mysterious. It makes life a journey of adventure.

It says in the Bible that God knows all. He knows the past, present, and our future. He wrote our life's story. He knows the plans he has for us (Jeremiah 29:11). God is omniscient and knows all things. What other choice would make sense besides trusting him fully? No one on the planet can tell you what will happen, most likely God will not either. But trusting him means trusting the one who holds our future. Our faith in him can give us a comfort about our future. We know that God is all-powerful and completely trustworthy. There is no one I would rather trust to hold my future besides the God who made the universe! I don't want "the road..(to).. tell the traveler what lies ahead"!!!

It does not matter what I know about my future, just as long as I am always...

HoldingHisRightHand ><>

Skeeters

The one thing that ruins your outdoor day.
The thing that prevents you from play.
The annoying thing that is NEVER okay.
Don't ever want them on your fillet.
Kind of an ugly blackish-gray.
Gets on you wherever you lay.
Even pester you in the month of May.
When they get on you, they are going to pay.
Ruin your skin when trying to catch sun rays.
They somehow always find a way...


Mosquitoes. Every single day they find a way to leave bites on me everywhere. It doesn't matter if I am out side thirty minutes or five minutes; I always come inside finding mosquito bites. The itch they leave behind takes over your mind and ruins any experience or relaxation time you are trying to have even sometimes an hour later.

Every night, my boyfriend and I read the Bible over the phone, and lately, I have been reading outside on the backdoor porch. It is absolutely gorgeous out there. You can see the crescent moon and the hundreds of stars that blanket over my neighborhood. The weather is absolute perfection when I sit outside on the deck chair in my over sized jersey PJs. Everything in the world seems right and perfect, and then, of course, THEY come along. They are little messengers of the devil that puncture holes in my body and suck out my precious blood leaving behind ugly bumps all over my skin. Terrible. Nothing seems as comfortable anymore, nothing seems as beautiful any more. All because of skeeters trying to ruin the day I just ended.

Darn all you skeeters out there.

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c.faulls

MY Home

"One who goes back to his home does not consider the night too dark, he knows his way"
-Uganda

My home is my place of complete comfort. I have lived here 13 years now I believe and I know every nook and cranny in the place. I have space that I can call my own and a bed that I am privileged to sleep in every single night. In my home, my mom, dad, sister, and two brothers live with me. Being with your family in your home brings a feeling of comfort also. You know them so well, they know you so well, they know your likes and dislikes. In a home you are surrounded by familiarity. You have freedom to go any place you want in the house and everything in it is available for your use. There is no place that will be like a home. No hotel, condo, friend's house could even compare to how you feel when you are in the comfort of your own home. Even when moving to a new house, you adapt to it and come to find it as your new "home." It is YOURS. The ownership of a home can bring peace when you step into it. I am always looking forward to stepping in my house and just having that feeling of "home."

My home is special to me. The door frame in my room has marks of how tall we've been since we were little. Our dining room holds so many memories of the countless number of meals we have eaten. Scratches on the floor reminds us of our dog, Pepper, as she always slips around on the hard floors. The backyard reminds me of all the games I've played, all the picnics we used to have, the time I accepted Christ under the big tree, all the imaginary people that my brother and I would make up, and all the grapes that I've eaten off the grape barber.

So many memories in just one space of the world with only so many square feet that seems microscopic in the grand scheme of things. Although, the memories in my home will always stick with me for all of my life.

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c.faulls

Selfless Leadership

The best characteristic to see in a leader is humility. A good leader is someone who sits in a high and worthy position, but does not act like they are high and worthy. I love that in a person. My youth leader is so humble and reaches out to the students with a huge heart for them. God has done so much in his life and gives him great skills for his job, but my youth leader is not one to boast unless it is about the Lord. That is how I want to be when I display my leadership abilities when I am an adult. I want to be someone that people look towards for help, comfort, guidance, and stability. I want to draw in people and not send them away because of any cockiness I might possess. In my career, I want to be in a leadership position. And in that position I want to, in everything I do, not be wrapped up in my own selfishness, but in other people. Most importantly, I want to always be...


HoldingHisRightHand

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Last Two Years

"Haste makes waste."

Some might think of this as hurrying through homework creates bad grades. Painting a portrait in a hurry creates bad works of art. Writing an essay 10 minutes before it is due creates low quality work and most likely, sloppy handwriting.

Let's take this to a whole different aspect. High school. We want to trudge through our day just to mark it off our calendars. What is on our minds? College. You want to get out of your house. You want to have freedom. You want to be an individual. You want to make your own decisions. High school sucks, right?

But does it really? When do we ever look at all the blessings we have during this stage in our life. When do we ever realize how much we have to be thankful for? During high school, you gain friendships, with your peers and also with your teachers. Even if you don't have a huge group of friends, you can probably think of that one person you really enjoy to be around. Also, our schooling will help our future. When you seriously think about it, that is such a huge blessing.

We can have such good experiences in these last two years if we just choose to. You can have a bad attitude about these times, or you can make the best of what you have. Life is worth it. That means these two years are essential. Make the most of it... slow down. Take the good and fun times in. You don't want to look back at high school like it was one big rush to get to the next stage in your life. You don't want to think of it as a time where you did not care and just wanted to leave those high school doors in haste.

Don't waste it!

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c.faulls

Joy x2 + Grief/2

"Friendship doubles joy and halves grief." -Egypt


I definitely believe that this proverb is true in my life and in the lives of the people around me. My friends and family truely value relationships in life. They impact our lives and give us so much gain. My best friend's granddad died earlier this year. It was a sudden and very tragic death for his family. I believe that this family was impacted by the love of friendship shown to them during this difficult time. My best friend was grieving because of his grandfather's loss, but the love of his friends, church, family, and God lightened the grief he felt. Imagine going through something like that and not having anyone helping you through it. Imagine there being no one to turn to, to cry on their shoulder, to hug, to cling to. Complete darkness. That is why friendships are formed to enrich and enhance life. We expierence joy and comfort through relationships. That is why we should always invest and value in friendships.


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c.faulls

Busy Bees

Compared to any of my relatives, I am most like my dad. We can understand each other without even explaining ourselves fully. I can just know how he's feeling. Both my father and I would rather have a fast-paced life. We enjoy staying busy and having many things to do. "Home-bodies" are something we are not. My dad feeds off of his job and the hard work he puts into everything. I really look up to him in that way. He tries his very best at everything, putting his full self into his work. Although, because we are so similar, he is probably the person in my family I see the least. He spends so much time with work, meetings, funerals, weddings, out-of-town trips, or staying in his office working with his online professor job. I spend so much time at school, school meetings, dance, church meetings, get-togethers, or with my friends.

The times we do get to see each other though, are special. Normally these times are late at night when we are the last ones up, working on tasks, and in conversation about our day. But the similarites between us, bond us together; especially since we share the same passion. We share the passion of God's work in our lives. That is what keeps us both going. That is what we cling to when all else fails. That is the most dominate similarity between my dad and I.

We are both...

HoldingHisRIghtHand.

Boldness

I've really been challenged to think about this word today-bold. So, it is an adjective. The word "bold" describes a person or an action of a person. "That was a bold move" is a common phrase used. The realization I had today is that I can be so much more bold in my actions and in my reaction to things. My best friend challenged me to this today. He made me wake up to the awareness that I live in my own bubble. He didn't say this to me, but it made me aware of myself. I like being in the places I am "comfortable" in. I want to be forced into uncomfortable situations where I can display the characteristic of boldness. You can display a characteristic of boldness by talking to that person that usually you would not talk to, inviting someone to church even though you are normally hesitant, or even smiling and saying "hi" to someone in the hallway when normally you would look awkwardly at the side wall as you walk. I want to come to the point where people see me as a bold person. A bold person does not conceal their beliefs in a compartment in their mind forever, but shares it to the world. We only have 86,400 seconds in a day. A bold person would use their seconds being confident and courageous. That is how I would like to be.

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c.faulls