Wednesday, April 29, 2009

India, Through My Eyes- Part One

Ya'll want to come on a trip with me, and get to know some things about India that I learned and have learned on this trip, and other trips?

First of all there's the culture shock. I mean, a different language! It's hard to get past that barrier, but all except one person that I met didn't speak English. It was comical really... I was at the beach with my dad, sisters, cousin, and uncle and being the only one in our family who loves horses, I wanted to take a beach ride.
I mean, how cool would that be? So, I climbed on and the owner of the horse led me away... The thing was, the horse just walked. It didn't gallop, didn't even trot (it's the speed after walking for horses, I believe) I asked the guy if it went any faster, because I was pretty annoyed. How could I enjoy just sitting when I could be riding?
He didn't understand a word...
Okay, I understand Tamil, but apparently not enough, because I didn't understand a word he said.
It was pretty interesting, but it turns out that it was the speed we'd go and no faster... At least the ride was a little less than an American dollar, and I got some cool pictures of me and the horse, on a beach.

Then there's religion. The majority of the population in India are Hindu, and it's a little strange seeing shrines with almost countless gods on it. All of them portray different colors, and from far away you would think it was a bouquet. It's sad seeing anyone worshiping idols when you know that you have the truth in your heart, and there is a God for them who still stands, waiting for them to call upon His name. Thankfully, there are churches out there where I went. In other parts of India there is persecution perhaps as bad as those notorious for hating followers of Christ, but through fire, things are bettered and grow stronger. It would be a great blessing for the millions of people in India to breathe a prayer, even if once.

There's also the food! Curries, sambars, ildies, dosais, pooris, tandoori chicken, chicken 365....Ah, the list could go on and on, but there's always one theme. SPICY! I also think that Indian ice cream is one of my favorites. No, there isn't a chili to be found... It's really creamy and light, and it doesn't make you feel guilty after you eat it. The milkshakes are also unbelievable!
And restaurants have another name there-hotels! Okay, so what are hotels called? Well, just hotels. Pretty interesting.
There were several American style restaurants, and, while we were in Delhi, India's capital, I got to eat at a McDonalds. It tasted VERY VERY good (I prefer American food over Indian), but I could tell that it was different. We also passed a restaurant with a neon sign that said, "Never trust a skinny chef". Ha!

There was pollution, yes, and in some places the air was SOOOO smoky-looking that it was scary. I believe that we should take care of the world God has given us, but I've never been into being green, though I recycle and whatnot. I do believe that India needs to clean up her air before it starts harming people. The streets were dirty, and I always had to wear shoes when going out. In South India, where I stayed, there was almost NO grass that was wild. I think all of it had to be specially cared for. Palm trees grew freely, and I loved looking at them.

It was SOOOO hot. I think it got into the 100's while we were there, but I survived. It was too hot to go to the beach in the daytime, but we went at night. I wish I could've gone more, but it just wasn't possible. I loved watching the waves roll in, and seeing the moon peek out from the clouds. It definitely inspired the writer in me, feeling the graniness of sand on my bare feet, the waves touch my toes and hurry back to the ocean taking shells captive with it, and the cool ocean breeze. Oh, yeah, a beach will definitely be included in one of my writings...

As for school, I worked ahead of time, not taking any breaks, and, since I am homeschooled, my schedule is more flexible than most. I did have to get up a few times at midnight, though, to attend some online classes I take. Was that interesting! I spent the days lazing around and having fun with my cousins, who live there. If I haven't mentioned it before, I soooo apologize! You've probably already guessed or known it... I'm American Indian.

There's so much to tell, and my feeble writing skilles cannot fully capture the uniqueness of that country. I hope to cover as much as I can in the next few posts!

For my next post, I'll tell you about my visit to Delhi in more detail, and my trip to Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal. Stay tuned!

Until then, ya'll!

God Bless,

Friday, April 24, 2009

Dove Awards!

Finally, I am back ya'll! We had an amazingful time, and I hope I conveyed it through my short posts. Shame, shame, shame on Prism... I am so sorry. It's hard to think there! The heat did something to my brain!!!

So I'm back, and before I start you on a little "trip" with me to the other side of the world, in India, I am going to talk about something that took place yesterday...

No, not William Shakespeare's birthday, even though it was... By the way, happy belated birthday, Will...

Did anyone else know about his birthday???

Sorry, getting off subject... As you can tell from my title of this post, yesterday was the Dove Awards. Don't know what that is?

It's a night to recognize Christian artists and their accomplishments, but I like to think of it as a gathering of God's talented mortal musicians on one night to glorify and honor him...

Here are the results:

Artist of the Year: Steven Curtis Chapman

New Artist of the Year: Tenth Avenue North

Song of the Year: "Give Me Your Eyes" Brandon Heath, Jason Ingram

Male Vocalist of the Year: Brandon Heath

Female Vocalist of the Year: Natalie Grant

Group of the Year: Casting Crowns

Song of the Year: "Give Me Your Eyes" Brandon Heath, Jason Ingram

New Artist of the Year: Tenth Avenue North

Producer of the Year: Bernie Herms

Rock Recorded Song of the Year: "Lost" by Red

Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year: "Washed By The Water" by NeedToBreathe

Urban Recorded Song of the Year: "Get Up" by MaryMary

Rap/Hip Hop Recorded Song of the Year: "Do Yo Thang" by KJ-52

Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year: "Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath

Inspirational Recorded Song of the Year: "A New Hallelujah" by Michael W. Smith

Southern Gospel Recorded Song of the Year: "Reason Enough" by Ernie Haase & Signature Sound

Bluegrass Recorded Song of the Year: "They're Holding Up The Ladder" by Jeff & Sheri Easter

Country Recorded Song of the Year: "I Wish" by Point of Grace

Rap / Hip Hop Album of the Year: Ordinary Dreamers, Group 1 Crew

Rock Album of the Year: Satisfied, DecembeRadio

Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year: Never Going Back to Okay, The Afters

Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year: Revelation, Third Day

Inspirational Album of the Year: Great God Who Saves, Laura Story

Southern Gospel Album of the Year: Lovin' Life, Gaither Vocal Band

Bluegrass Album of the Year: We Are Family, Jeff & Sheri Easter

Country Album of the Year: Around the Bend, Randy Travis

Urban Album of the Year: The Fight of My Life, Kirk Franklin

Traditional Gospel Album of the Year: Down in New Orleans, The Blind Boys of Alabama

Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year: Change the World, Martha Munizzi

Instrumental Album of the Year: Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Various

Children's Music Album of the Year: Absolute Modern Worship for Kids 4, Various

Spanish Language Album of the Year: Aline Barros, Refrescate!

Special Event Album of the Year: Passion: God of This City, Various

Christmas Album of the Year: Peace on Earth by Casting Crowns

Praise & Worship Album of the Year: Hello Love by Chris Tomlin

Musical of the Year: God Bless the USA by Sue C. Smith, Brentwood/Benson

Youth/Children's Musical of the Year: An Island Christmas by Wayne Haun, Shelby Haun, Joel Lindsey, Lillenas Publishing

Choral Collection of the Year: I'll Say Yes by Carol Cymbala, Brooklyn Tabernacle Music

Recorded Music Packaging of the Year: Revelation (Third Day) by Tim Parker, Becka Blackburn, David McLister, R.W. Sims, Essential Records

Short Form Music Video of the Year: Slow Fade, Casting Crowns, Erwin Brothers Motion Pictures

Long Form Music Video of the Year: "Alive & Transported," tobyMac, Eric Welch, Tameron Hedge

Link to source

Of course, I have a few comments on how everything went and all, and in case you missed it, they are replaying the award ceremony on Gospel music channel both today and tomorrow.

First of all, I'd like to congratulate Steven Curtis Chapman on his accomplishment as artist of the year. His latest CD and versions of the CD, This Moment, are precious to me. I love all of the songs on there a lot. Especially "Beautiful Scars". To those who do not know, Mr. Chapman's gorgeous daughter, Maria, was killed in an accident with a car. They were an amazing testimony through all of it. I just about cried when his wife came up with him to accept the Dove award, but I didn't because my sister was watching me. (Not Lil' Sis)

We would've had a conversation like this:

Her: "Dude..."
Me: "What?" *snif* *dabs tissue*
Her: You're...crying...*stares at Prism like she's an alien*
Me: Well, duh! *blows nose*
Her: But you never cry...Only if someone's, like, hurting you!

So yeah...

I just wanna say that the award is definitely NOT a pity award or anything like that. He is an amazing person with an amazing God who sustained him and his family during that time. His family and he have been amazing and are an inspiration to me and I'm sure to many others. His songs and his voice are an amazing gift, and he's sure to stay a favorite artist of mine for a long time. Congratulations again, and may God bless you!

There were a lot of amazing artists that I saw yesterday, including three of my favorites, tobyMac, Mandisa, and Third Day.

Did any of ya'll who saw the Dove awards notice that when Mandisa was singing towards the end, the camera shot a lady talking and she said, "She's lost a lot of weight!"...
I don't know if it's embarrasing to say that or anything, but it's true, and Mandisa looked so good yesterday! She was, is, and will be beautiful inside and out! She recently released a CD entitled "Freedom", and I ♥ the songs on there!!!

Anyone heard of Tenth Avenue North before??? They sang last night, and won the award for new artist of the year. I love their song "By Your Side"! It sounded different yesterday, and I started wondering if they were really nervous or something, but the meaning of the song and its lyrics just touch my heart every time.

The ending was good but I have to admit I liked last years ending better. Mac Powell (Third Day) Came out with the Seven Blind Boys from Alabama and sang some songs, and then a lot of people came out... It wasn't my type of music, but that's cool. Everyone likes different stuff..

One thing that disappointed me a lot was the ladies there. A lot of them wore clothing that showed off their shoulders, dipped low, or were a teensy bit too tight. That was really sad. What about standing out from the rest, being a beacon pointing the lost to Jesus, and only pleasing Him??? I thank God that they were more modest than most award shows, but I feel as if the standard has dipped down. Pun not intended... Please pray for the ladies out there in the music business that they won't compromise.

Have any opinions on anything that happened last night??? Feel free to comment!!!

God Bless and it's Great to Be Back,

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Nightmare's Edge

EEK! I am so excited! Nightmares Edge, by bestselling author Bryan Davis, is about to be released!!! It's the last book in an amazing, action-packed series that is both inspiring and entertaining.

Can't wait! Here's a little video about it.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Easter! It's Easter

Greetings, Friends! It's early Easter morning for you all, but Easter afternoon here. We went late last night for a midnight service at my cousin's church. It was different than what I was used to, but very very cool. They had this pipe organ that made my skin tingle with every note...

Little sister is doing really well with family and friends. She loves everything and I love her muchness. The last post I deleted, and it had a big oops. I wasn't supposed to post her name. It was late, and I did a huge blunder, and it's out there. I ask you to please refer to her from now on as my little sister. I would be really sad to turn away a comment if it contained her name. I'm the one at fault... Please accept my apology....=(

Anyways, India is a place with such culture, such people! I hope to really let you see what I saw through my eyes in the near future...

Thanks so much to you, my readers!

He is risen!

Blog Widget by LinkWithin