Yesterday and Today

This is me in 6th grade. I was 11 at the time. I was at the Painted Desert in Arizona while on a mission trip with my church group to Sun Valley Indian School.
This was me at the tail end of 9th grade. It was still cold out, though I think it was also April. As you can see, I'm a brace face and I have glasses.
So much has changed since 9th grade. My braces came off in May of my 9th grade year. I got contacts during that summer. This is one of my senior pictures. To me, it kinda shows off my funny side. This is actually one of my favorites.

With me, I've got three pictures. Yes, they are all of me at different points in my life. I've got one from 6th, 9th, and 12th grade. I'm doing this to show how much I've changed over the years. Not only have I changed a lot of my attitudes and actions, but I have blossomed into a beautiful young woman. At least that's what everyone in my family says. No I'm not having low confidence levels at all; I just think it's kinda corny to say that I've blossomed into a beautiful young woman.

Though I do want to say that I've never really wanted to get into the whole wearing make-up thing. And guess what? I haven't. I don't wear it. I don't need it. God made each of us beautiful in our own way. Why do some girls think they need to wear make-up? It only hides what God made them to be. I'm not saying make-up is bad; I just want to know why girls wear it.

I was looking through some pictures of friends of mine on Facebook. They're freshmen. It amazes me that they think they have to hide who they really are to fit in. Hopefully by the time they're my age, 17 or 18, they'll know who they are. High school has helped me find out who I really am and I've grown through everything I've experienced. As a freshmen, I don't really remember trying to fit in with the crowd by wearing make-up. I just went with the flow and hung out with my friends. I didn't think I was ugly, but at that point I guess I didn't love myself as much I do now. And I don't love myself in a self-centered way. Today I'm feeling beautiful and I don't care what other people think of me so much anymore. In fact, I stopped caring last year when I had physics. Junior year was bad. I just stopped caring about everything. Even my relationship with God almost fell apart. But like I said I'm feeling beautiful and I'm loving the renewed relationship with God. Thinking about my relationship with God makes me happy...so very happy. I can't even begin to explain how happy I am to be back where I am. It's amazing! I'll leave it at that.