Diane’s World

A freshman boy died today.

His name is Jon Kooima.

Not quite the dramatic ending. There was no blood. No life long battle with cancer. No heart attack even.

Jon’s heart just stopped.

No, I don’t know this guy.

Infact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him before.

Even more so, I have yet to meet someone who has.

But that’s not the point.

Right before I went to the prayer service for Jon’s death, one of my friends told me:

“I’m afraid to die.”

I’ve been thinking about it for a while now.

Well… at least for an hour.

Death scares me too.

No, I’m not afraid of the act of dying.

That’s the easy part.

Even more so, I’m slightly jealous of Jon.

Imagine finally being free from sin and in the arms of God.

What could be better?

Yes, I am genuinely excited to die.

But that’s not the point.

The worst part of dying

is what it does to the people on earth who love you and are left behind.

I mentioned earlier how I almost - and sometimes do - start bawling everytime I hear the song “It is Well with my soul.”

Not because it’s a sad song.

But because my mom wants it sung at her funeral.

And even just the thought of mom dying hurts.

So yes, that is my point.

I am afraid to die, because I know it would cause my mom, my dad, my three siblings, and possibly a few friends a mountain of pain.

My heart cries for Jon’s parents and his six younger siblings that are in California in deep suffering.

They haven’t seen him since August. This is probably the longest they have ever been without him.

He’s an oldest child, so every member of that household was probably getting ready for the holiday season, counting down the days (only 23) until their beloved son and brother would return home.

Pray for the Kooima family. I can’t imagine how Christmas will be for them. I mourn for them.

Just pray they find peace.

Then do me a favor:

Breathe.

Feel your heart beating.

Who knows.

That breath you took could all the sudden fall short.

That heart beat you just felt could just stop.

So tell me:

When that breath and heartbeat is your last

Will you be ready to say with confidence:

“It is well, it is well, with my soul”?

Deeds.

4 comments

Woah! Another post already?

Actually I am looking for someone who knows how to create floral grunge designs in photoshop so they can help me out:

(These are all examples from www.istockphoto.com… there are some amazing artists on that site)

My next goal in life is to learn how to make grunge. However, it looks like it involves a lot of detail, and I hate detail. If you know how to make grunge, tell me. Then teach me. Otherwise I’m gonna have to learn the hard way - with 20billion mistakes. Make that 20gagillion.
The grunge movement is one that was started near my home with grunge music (nirvana, pearl jam and the like). I would like to somehow create my own website theme with gunge… and actually create it myself without ripping off another person’s design like my website currently is.

I heard washington got 5 inches of snow. Last night.
WHAT?

Visit my brother’s blog (linked as “Jonny’s Blog” on the left) to see the proof.

Here is a sample: this is the pond in our back yard:

All we got was annoying freezing rain that woke me up several times in the night because it was so loud. I kept on thinking that Laura was typing at her computer at 3 am and confused as heck.

ARRGGHHHH!

Anyways, I REALLY REALLY want to go skiing. Four more weeks… I can make it.

Actually, I don’t really remember ever having a white christmas. Huh. Maybe it will happen this year… just maybe.
Chow yall

Diane

2 comments

Here’s some randomnnosity for you:
1. There is nothing quite like lightening and thunder to make you feel small:

Yup. And I heard it snowed in Washington today? WHAT? Um… that never happens.
2. Been busy today for once. (the following picture is proof… it’s the dock to my mac when I suddenly realized I had way too many programs opened. Woops. Click on it to make it bigger)

3. Break has been very interesting. Yesterday was the funniest waste of time ever ever. Me, Sarah, and Justine crashed in our living room for about 8 hours watching movies and eating popcorn.

you may call me weird now. I think I watched more movies yesterday than I have all semester combined.
4. Being the ultimate to-do list person, I think I went crazy. My window is now my to-do list:

That way I can’t focus on much else besides what i have to do.

5. Oh yeah… did I also mention I rearranged my desk? Yeah. Now I have my back to all activity in the room, making me even more of a loner…er… I mean productive student. So far it has made me much more productive:

6. Oh and even more beyond that: The reason I moved my desk in the first place is so I can fit in my ever so wonderful CHRISTMAS TREE!!!:

Yeah. I’ve been hyped about this for a while now.

7. COW IS STILL ALIVE!

I don’t know how many of you read my blog way back in the summer when I got a fish and named it cow. Well, my brother in law and sister are still taking care of him, and he’s still a happy fish.

I miss Cow.

8. Haha! This is AWFUL! Look what site I stumbled across today:

Oh dear. I think I’ve seen it all. How disgusting.

9. Diane misses home

I have a really strong urge to go skiing.

And to play with my nephews.

And be crazy with my sisters and brothers.

And give my parents big hugs.

10. HA! My brother jumped on the blog bandwagon! And his is actually pretty entertaining.

Now the only people in my family that doesn’t have a blog is mom and dad. Hmmm…

and I also think that i need to go back to kindergarten. I have problems mixing up “Is” and “are”. Darn it.
11. Only two weeks till dead week… I will make it.

People are slowly coming back on campus from thanksgiving break, so my week of solitude is over. I enjoyed this break a lot… it was perfect.
I hope you all have a good week!
D-Marie

OH YEAH! ***MAJOR kudos to anyone who can name the song the title of this post came from! I ran into this song randomnly while playing with my music collection…. and it brings memories of my childhood.

I bet anything that either my mom, dad or sister sarah would get it first easily.

Ok… goodnight for reals now.

2 comments

God is AMAZING!

For this special edition thanksgiving post, I’ve been gathering the little things in life that I am SOOOO INCREDIBLY THANKFUL for.

Yes, I’ve been writing this post for a month. So it’s long… but it’s a good one.
Each of these things is something that I specifically have been thankful for in only THE PAST THREE WEEKS.

Each one of these things I often take for granted. With some reflection I see how very amazing God is…. no matter how seemingly small the gift is.

Some are silly. Some are deep. Some are merely a feeling. I need constant reminder that EVERYTHING is proof of God’s goodness.

I added pictures because I’m a very visual person. Sorry if it makes this a very slow loading post. Woops.

By the way… I didn’t take all of these pictures - most of them are off of Google… so don’t sue me. Heck, that’s what I’ll even start the list with:

google