A New Year, a New Adventure!

This is a new year and I'm ready to embrace what God has in store! Already God has graced my with a new close friend and now I can't wait to see how God will bless my family in this coming year. I started out 2012 at a New Years Eve party at my friend's land. There was a huge bonfire, awesome fireworks, a yummy chocolate fountain, and many laughs. :) My brother and I got home around 3 Sunday morning. We ended up having to break in through our utility room window haha! We thought there was a spare key hidden somewhere outside, but we forgot that our mom had taken it with her to Arkansas. My brother didn't want to wake anybody up so we had to try all of the doors and windows to see if any were open. All of them were closed... except for the last one we looked at! He crawled through the small, spider infested space into our utility room so he could let me in with all of our stuff. Despite that little set back, it was a fun night ^_^ 

Even though God has blessed me in the beginning of this year, I have also had some small trials. I am actually going through one now! Remember my new close friend I made this year? Well, my parents aren't too hot on the idea of me hanging out with a guy, even as friends. Anyways, this guy and I are getting pretty close and I'm praying my parents will warm up to the idea. 

We had our first Venture Crew meeting of the year yesterday! We had elections for President, Vice Pres., Program Pres., Secretary, Treasurer, and Quarter Master. I got elected as the President! ^_^ My younger brother was elected as Quarter Master. As Quarter Master he is to keep a record of all our supplies and make sure that we are ready (supply wise) for events coming up! It will be a fun year for our Crew :) Already we have great ideas for summer trips. I can't wait for this year to unfold!

For Christmas I got a new camera! I love taking pictures (even though I'm not that great at it hehe!) It is a Nikon Coolpix S6100! It is amazing ^_^ I also wrote a couple of songs... only one of them is presentable though haha. Here are the lyrics! 

"I know your life has been hard,

And I know I can't say I understand it all.

But I can promise

To stay with you,

And I will say

Don't be afraid of what's new.

You smile at me and say

That it will all be OK.

But I see your eyes,

Glistening.

So I will still say,

Don't be afraid of what's new.

(Chorus)

'Cause the new is the sunrise

In the morning.

And the new is the cloudless skies,

When you're soaring.

And the new is our smiles,

When the tears are gone.

I will always be with you

when you're broken,

and I'll always be with you

When you're joking

and I'll always love you,

even when you can't love yourself.

Don't try to push me away,

'Cause there is a reason for pain.

And I know it hurts,

So break down and cry.

Come into my arms,

And don't be afraid of what's new.

(Chorus again)

So come to me

And let out your sighs!

Please come and be mine.

So come to me,

and let your cries,

Echo through the night,

oh echo through the night.

(Chorus again.. haha)

Don't be afraid of what's new."

This has been a good beginning of the year 2012! I can't wait to see what God has planned for this next chapter in the Adventure story of my life <3

What is Love?

  What is love? How can we live it out? How do I know if I truly love somebody? How do I know if somebody truly loves me? These are questions I have been struggling with lately and, like everything else, I have been trying to figure it out all by myself. But in the end, after groveling through my dark and twisted mind (yes, it is very dark and twisted) I came to the wrong conclusion. My warped interpretation of love is the complete opposite of what the Bible says. My warped beliefs came to the conclusion that love is all about how someone makes me feel. Even though love causes feelings, it goes deeper. Love is much more complex than how another person makes us feel. If love were that shallow, all love stories would end the same; the guy/girl would make a mistake that makes the other mad/upset and then good-bye significant other! I don't know about y'all readers, but I want my love to be much purer than that. True love goes deeper than the surface of feelings. Let me share with y'all a verse that has been stuck in my mind since last weekend. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." 
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 
    This doesn't really say what love is exactly, but it shows us the products of love. When we truly love someone we will be patient, and kind. We won't have envy towards them, we will not boast to/about them. We won't be proud. When we love others, we won't try to undermine others (a.k.a. make fun of others) and we won't put ourselves before everyone else. We won't get easily angered and we won't hold grudges. We will delight in what is right and not in what is wrong. We will always protect others. Always trust others. Always hope for others. And finally, love will never cease. That is true love. 
     As you might have noticed, no one can find this perfect love in ourselves. We are just too broken. This verse, I believe, shows us how God loves us. 
     Anyways, I have been struggling with the idea of love. My old self is saying that love is impossible. My born again self is saying "all things are possible through Christ who strengthens me." I have no idea whether I'm the only one with this problem... the problem of accepting what love truly is. To love others the same way Christ loves me. Well, that's it for my deep message for today!!
    Today was kind of quiet. There was a football game today (LSU and some people I don't know.) LSU won :) I went to the library most of the day. I did some studying. I have to take the PSAT and the ACT this month. Fun. The place where my dad works gives a$8,000 scholarship to the 50 students who make the highest on the PSAT. I don't know if I can do it.... but then again, God is in control! There's this college I really want to go to! It's called Covenant College on top of a mountain in Georgia. But it's really expensive... I really hope that I am able to go though. It's an amazing college. Anyways, I have to go to bed now! It's late :) good night! 

Nothing much happening....

Hello readers! Yes, it has been a very long time. Well, both of my brothers' rooms are finished and now we're working on mine! After work, my dad is going to rip up my ugly, green carpet and we're going to place wooden floors there. I'm also painting the walls a light blue (they are a peach color right now.) The hall is practically impassible... it's full of my junk: about seven or eight bags of stuffed animals, boxes and boxes of papers, dolls, and other miscellaneous junk. My clothes are all in my younger brother's room and I'm sleeping on the couch.
  We have a new Guinea pig! His name is Cappuccino, Cap for short. He is adorable and scared of everything. When I say everything, I mean it! He scares himself and runs to the other side of his cage, then scares himself again and goes back to where he was. And he whistles! You can hear it all the way up front.
  My sister is moving to a new apartment in New Orleans. It's a really nice one.. better than the one she has now anyways.
  I'm watching The Lord of the Rings the Fellowship of the Ring. It is one of the best movies!! The books are really good too. The Hobbit is coming out in theaters in 2012. I can't wait! OK, I might write some more later, but I've got to go now. Thanks for reading :)

Venture Crew 472 Appalachian Trail

This is a slide show I made for our Venture Crew trip! We backpacked a section of the Appalachian Trail and had an amazing time :) Please enjoy my slide show! thanks :)

Lies Young Women Believe | Lindsey's Story: A Story of Letting Go

Please read this story! :)

Lies Young Women Believe | Lindsey's Story: A Story of Letting Go

The Death of Osama

Hey readers! I have been watching the news and I've seen a lot of celebration of the death of Osama. A lot of my friends' posts on facebook were like "thank God he's dead" and "yay! Osama is gone!" I couldn't say why then, but those comments bothered me greatly. Now I understand why! We had youth group at my church today, and we talked about this subject :) In the Bible it says  "Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, 
lest the LORD see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him." Proverbs 24:17–18 When I read this passage, it was made clear. Osama is no different than us. He is a sinner, deserving and eternity in hell... and so are we!!! The only reason we won't be roasting forever is by the grace of God. Osama was created in the image of God, just like us. He (as my youth pastor said) most likely had tender moments with his children and wives. There was still a hint of God's image!  If God had not chosen me, I know I would probably be just like Osama... maybe worse. How many people have I murdered in my heart? Jesus says that hating your brother deserves the fires of hell. Even if I went my whole life without sinning, except for hating one of my brothers, I would still go to hell. Of course, Jesus called me so now I am saved! There was still punishment for my sin... every single little white lie, every single little mean word (you get the picture) was put on Jesus. He was blamed for my sins! OK, so where does this leave us with Osama? Well, we know that only God can fully judge us, and that our sins our too great for us to save ourselves. We have no right at all to rejoice in the death of Osama! Osama is really just like us. When you follow the world's description of sin, you will not at all get the full picture. We place sin into categories. Murder is horrible, so is adultery. But a little white lie now and then isn't so bad. Well guess what? The Bible tells us that sin isn't just what we do... it's in our very essence. It goes deeper than the marrow of our bones. People do not want to accept the fullness of their depravity. They don't want to say that we are as horrible and dirty as someone like Osama. The truth is, we all deserve eternal separation from God. Does that make sense? It's only by God's grace and mercy that any of us can be saved! When we put all of that into the light of the death of Osama, we should be humbled that God would be merciful to us. We should feel more sympathy to the sinner. "Love the sinner but hate the sin." Now, that does not mean that I think it was bad that Osama was killed. I believe that it has saved many lives! What matters is our response to his death. We shouldn't drink beer and dance around as if we were crazy. What kind of example would that give to unbelievers? To the people in other countries? What do you think Osama's followers do after they kill someone? They dance around, drink beer etc. How are we different from them when we do the same? If you think about it, Osama died because of what we believe.... we believe it is wrong to kill thousands of innocent people. Well, Osama and his followers killed because of their beliefs. I'm not at all justifying what he did in his life time, it's just something for y'all to chew on. Anyways, please comment if y'all have anything to ask or say. thank you :) 


Note: most of this was taken from my youth group tonight. I do believe all of this is true :)

It has been forever :)

Hey readers! Very sorry for my temporary absence. I've been very busy! My family is remodeling our house. We're working on my brother's room, and we did some work on my bathroom. We also replaced part of our roof that fell from a storm. Please pray that our family has patience! We all seem to be at each other's throats. *Sigh*

I've been thinking a lot about college now.. more like worrying. I'm really considering a college in Georgia, Covenant (the only PCA college in America). But it's really expensive (this year it was $37,000 a year)! I know it would be worth it though. I'm also thinking of going into music, and from what I've seen, Covenant has a nice music program. I was originally going to try for a nursing career, but that doesn't seem to fit... I mean, I used to think that it was my only option. My sister is going into med-school and my mom graduated with a biology degree. It seems to "go" with my family. But then I started to think about what I wanted to do with my life. I don't think I can take the stress of being a nurse. But I love to play the piano. When I was younger, I played with the idea of being a piano teacher. The job doesn't get paid very much, but I think I would enjoy it. I would get to be with kids (which I love!) and I would be doing something I enjoy... piano! 

Nothing Much :)

Hey readers :D Today my brother and I had a piano festival! I believe it went well. We both played one Hymn (my brother, For all the Beauty of the Earth. Me, Blessed Assurance.) The judge I had was really
nice!!! :D

Tomorrow is going to be fun! Church (:D) then possibly the Reenactment. The Reenactment is where they reenact the Civil War. My dad is a BIG Civil War buff! haha:D Those pictures are of the things he and my oldest brother found. 

My mom went back to Arkansas to be with my grandmother. Please pray for them! Thanks:)

The cannonball in the middle weights 80 pounds. 

This picture is of some (a very little...) of the bullets they've found! (yes, it is sideways)

My dad really loves bottles, even over Civil War stuff. These are some of the ones he found or was given!

All of those are just a little bit of what he and my brother has found! There's a LOT more :D

That's it for now! Thanks for reading and please keep praying for my family. :)

Nobody Said it Would be so Hard

Our family got news today of my grandfather's death. 

I was washing dishes and listening to music as dad came in. I didn't hear him (because my music was too loud) but I knew when he said something to my brother that something was wrong. I took out one of my headphones and looked at my brother. "What did he say?" I asked. Casey looked at me and said "We're going to Arkansas Thursday." Pappy had died. I quickly put my headphones back on and continued with dish washing. I didn't want them to see me cry. I tried to keep the tears out of the soapy water, but it was no use. They slipped down my face and onto the pan I was rinsing off. I then finished the dishes in a flurry of movement wanting to go to my room. But then I realized what I really wanted was something to do to keep my mind off what had happened. I took a slower time in drying them, but I still wanted more things to do with my hands. So I exercised for about thirty minutes or so. That still didn't help. Nobody had said it would be that hard. Usually if I am upset or something, I work. It takes my mind off what happened Or I pray as I work, which is a great comfort. What really brought me through today was my brothers. They always know how to make me smile... or maybe they don't, they just do it naturally :). Here is part of my journal entry last night that I made before I went to bed (before we knew Pappy had died.) 

Jesus, I'm sorry to say that I'm jealous. I'm jealous of Pappy! LORD, he is going to You soon! How I wish I could go to You too, to see Your face! But I am being extremely selfish aren't I? What about those I would leave behind? But, they would see me again... Then I think of all I would miss! Prom (hahah! maybe:D) college, my first job, my wedding (maybe?) my children (maybe?) I think of all who would benefit from my life. LORD, who do I impact? Do I impact anyone? Who would want to be around me if they knew all of what You know about me? 

I won't put anymore about that. But when I was writing that I was thinking about the sermon we had on Sunday. It was mostly about how this life isn't our home, that it is a pilgrimage. How we should look to our new life with longing! Here is what my pastor said! "We are living for a hope, a Kingdom, where Christ has saved a place for us." (might not be exactly as he said it, but it means the same thing!) As I'm going through this, and as my family goes through this, I will remember a promise made to us. A promise that is said beautifully in this song;

"This is what it means,

To be held,

how it feels

when the sacred is torn from your life

and you survive.

This is what it means, 

To be loved

and to know

that the promise was when everything fell

We'd be held."~Held by Natalie Grant

Fishing:D

I've decided I love to fish. Today the Sr. High youth group went on a fishing trip (well, part of the youth group.) We got up early in the morning! It was a beautiful day outside. I mean, the kind of day you would get down on your knees and thank God for! The sky was clear except for a few stray clouds:D Of course, I had to make a stupid mistake (considering I'm me!) haha:D I put sunscreen on, but I forgot to put it on the top half of my face! Now only my forehead is red! The ride to where we were going was really fun. We mostly listened to Cold Play and The Frey, and ate a few donuts. Well after fishing (I only caught one fish) our youth pastor let my brother and me take the fish home! Of course, we had to clean them... even though it was extremely gross, I liked it. Not because of all of the blood and guts (there was plenty of that) but because I like the work. That doesn't make sense. haha:D I like to do the heavy kind of work, or work that someone else will benefit from! Like when our family cleaned the whole house up before my mom got home from Miami! I cleaned up the Living Room until there was no dust at all:D It made me feel happy that I was doing something for her:) Same with the fish! I felt satisfied that I could help feed my family! It was, of course, disgusting, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. My hands do still smell like fish though! haha:D OK, I've got to go to bed now! But I will try and post some more tomorrow! Thanks for reading.

"Cry the Beloved Country"

Today I finished a book for book discussion tomorrow. It's is called "Cry the Beloved Country" written by Alan Paton. My favorite quote from it is “The tragedy is not that things are broken. The tragedy is that they are not mended again.” :D Well, I love how even though this book is really sad, the author doesn't write it as a lot of modern writers write. He writes it with hope woven into the words! The story doesn't end on a completely sad and horrible note. Though it did leave me crying, it left me feeling satisfied and full. Through all of the hardships this guy (Stephen Kumalo) went through, he remembered God. He still loved and worshiped the Father! He remembered that God is the God who gives and takes away. That is something I believe everyone should remember in life. It isn't going to be easy. It is going to be filled with pain and suffering! But if you focus on God and lean on him when you are in trouble he will sustain you. You will be overflowing with the blessings of God <3 I think everyone should read this book! It not only gives us a wonderful African History background, it shows us how to deal with pain. I recommend this book to anyone who is hurting! :)

I Hate Anger

     Anger is everywhere in my house. I get angry at siblings, parents, computers. Oh yes, anger is everywhere in my house. I hate it! It corrodes the mind, blinds the heart with spitefulness. It poisons our spirit, making us quick to insult, hurt, shame, kill, and cut down others. It makes me sick. Why am I a slave to my emotions? Because I worship them. We are a slave to the things we worship. We give it our trust, our devotion, and our time. We fan it up, making it bigger. Why can't I do the same for God? If I did, I would be slow to speak, quick to listen, and slow to become angry. I would live by the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I would try and please God, not others or myself. *Sigh* If only it were simpler. If only we didn't sin. But it isn't right to live in the "Land of 'if only'" We are what we are, we have been given what God has given us. As one of my favorite movies said (Lord of the Rings)
I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened. (Frodo) 
So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. (Gandalf)

     Anyways, today at Thursday Class, something happened that made me EXTREMELY mad. Well in literature class, we started reading "The Importance of being Earnest." One of my favorites:) anyways, there is a part in it where a guy proposes to a girl. He starts off talking about the weather and the girl said something like "oh don't talk to me about the weather. Whenever someone starts talking to me about the weather I get the impression they mean something else. It makes me nervous." Well, he then says "I do mean something else." well, the girl's name was Gwendoline. After class that Stalker (the guy who likes me who I do not like) decided to open his big mouth and say to me "Nice weather today, isn't it Gwendoline." Makes you sick too, doesn't it? And what bothers me the most about this is that he said he would stop making those kinds of stupid comments. *Sigh* I feel sorry for him, but this has been going on for, say 2 years? Maybe less, I don't know. It feels like 2 years. I think he needs to grow up and get over me. Quickly. OK, done with venting for now. Sorry! hahaha:D OK, I think that is all I have to say at the moment. 

Long Time No See

Hey readers! It has been forever since I've actually sat down and decided to blog... Sorry for the long wait:D Well, I'm now sixteen and it feels no different from being fifteen. I do the same things, like the same things, dislike (hate is a strong word) the same things. All of this is perfectly fine with me! There are a lot of things I don't like about myself, but I'm very happy all of the things I do like have not changed! I still love God, reading, singing, piano, computer, family, friends... Yes, I have not changed too much.

Yesterday, my mom, brother, friend and I went to a concert. It was the Winter Jam 2011. It was really fun (but extremely loud.) I suppose us sitting by the speakers accounts for the loudness (haha:D) Well, I believe my favorite band that sang was David Crowder Band. They were AMAZING! I loved how in their last song, they went "Texas style." haha:D Red came up too! They were wonderful, except for the fact that they were singing so loudly you couldn't understand what they were saying. They did do one song that I like a lot.. "Breath into Me." I also liked Kutlass (or however you spell their name.) The Newsboys were also there... I was kind of disappointed with them, but I really liked how they sang "Jesus Freak."

Today there is an Eagle banquet that I'm going to! I'm excited! My brother is going to be formally rewarded for becoming Eagle (I say formally because he has had it for about 3-4 months.) Anyways, for those who don't know, Eagle is the highest rank you can get in Boyscouts (again, BOYSCOUTS IS NOT STUPID :P) haha:D Anyways, I have to go in my Venture Crew uniform. I hope the food is good! ;)

Today we had our piano festival. That's where we go in front of one judge and play two solo songs (that we have to memorize) and two Hymns (that we don't have to memorize.) Well, I've done it now for about three years. This time I think I did waaay better than last year!!! On my hymns (last year) I messed up so bad that I had to start over. haha:D well, I (thankfully) didn't mess up any! <3 thank you God!

I am now officially addicted to Cafe World (on facebook.) I know I must be annoying a LOT of my friends, because I keep on sending them help requests!
OK! I've got to go now! Thank you for reading ;)

Almost 16

OK, I'm turning 16 this Friday and for some reason I feel just the same. I don't feel older, prettier, smarter (in fact, if anything I'd say I'm dumber;D) I guess it's because I don't really want to grow up. I want to stay this age, I want to stay in what I know. I want I want I want I want. Where did wanting ever get us? Well, for sure I'm not getting any younger and I'm not going to stay the same age, so why wish for things when you will only be disappointed? Why wish for things we aren't given? God knows what is best for my life and he will direct me where I need to go. I know it's kind of early to be worrying about for me, but I am confused about college. Where am I going to end up? I want to go to Covenant. I want to go to Two Lane. I want to stay close to home. I want I want I want. *sigh.* All I can say is, God take me where I'm supposed to go! Open the doors and keep me from completely loosing my head. Anyways, pray that I will trust in the LORD for all of this! Thanks:D
We had a missions conference at our church this weekend, and I helped with the kids Friday. They are so wonderful!!! They are funny, engaging, well behaved, and sweet! I love children. That night we sang songs, made valentines for the kids in New Orleans (that is where our guest speaker is from) and watched a cute and very silly video! hahah:D They were also taught the Parable of the Lost Coin. That is one of the most encouraging parables in the Bible! I know this isn't much put down tonight, but I need to go and eat something before I go to bed. Good night, sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite! ;)

Dear Readers

 Hello everyone! :D Today is cold and icy. The temperatures here are around 30 degrees. Well, enough of the weather updates!

Today we had Thursday Class. It was a half day due to the weather :D. I had to read 500 pages last night and stayed up till about three doing so. It was a book called Les Miserables and I loved it! I definitely recommend it! Well, nothing much happened except Chemistry and book discussion on Les Miserables. We spent an hour hearing about Molarity and molality (or however you spell it) in solutions. Fun. Then we went home.

I did have to cancel our Venture Crew meeting for tonight because of the chance of icy roads! It's so weird having this kind of winter weather in Louisiana. I just wish it would snow! It snowed the last two (three?) years. Last time we got 6 inches. SIX INCHES! :D That's the most snow I've seen in my life. Anyways, I saw a news report about a 15 car pile up on one of the roads down here (can't remember which road...) Can y'all please pray for them? Thanks:D Continue to pray for my Pappy too! He's not doing any better:( pray for my mom and my uncle and aunts and for my Me-me. Thank you very much:D

Nothing at all interesting or exciting or even irritating has happened in that last few days. Only my brothers' continued "war." I hope the youngest one grows up really really soon and gets out of this puberty stage. ugh. He can only criticize the middle brother. It's really annoying! haha:D well, I love them both and hope they see what they are doing before it goes too far! This whole situation with them got me thinking of this song called "The Older I Get" by Skillet. Everyone needs to hear that song:D:D:D

Well, nothing new is happening with my "stalker." I feel bad being so mad at him, but I've told him more than once to back off (not to mention the time a couple of my friends decided to "talk" with him.) Why oh why can't he just give up on me? I don't know:/ this has been bothering me for about a year (more?) Well, he'll get over it eventually!

Tomorrow I'm going to be watching little kids! :D Our church is having a Missions Conference and some of the women in our church wanted to do something for the kids. Well, I'm going to be helping:D They're going to make Valentines for some kids in New Orleans and sing songs! It'll be fun. OK, I've got to go now! Thanks for reading this post:D

Piano Today:D

I don't have much to post today. I do have piano again! We are doing groups:D That's where the kids playing songs for festival get together and play them in front of each other. It's supposed to get us used to playing for an audience. I love groups! I haven't seen some of the other people that are in my group in a long time. Well, I started reading "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" again. That's a really good book! Anyways, I'm reading it for school. I just finished a book called "Jacob Have I Loved." That was a sad book:( It had a happyish ending. She never reconciled with her sister, but she got married! :D 

How will people remember me? I want to be remembered as someone who lived for God, loved deeply, forgave easily, laughed loudly, and smiled constantly:D If you are wondering why I started to think about this, it's because I'm listening to "Legacy" by Nichole Nordeman. I love her music! She is not only talented, she lives for the LORD. OK, I think that's all I have for now... I might post some more later today! :D 

Lost Friends

I've been listing to "How to Save a Life" by The Frey. It got me thinking. I had this one really good friend in kindergarten. We grew up together! We were really close, but she got into things that weren't at all good. She moved away to her birth father's a year or two ago. We had this really really big fight before she left. I mean, really big. It's been hard for myself to admit it, but she had a huge influence over me. Anyways, it hurt. I cried for about three days and then she moved. I haven't talked to her sense. A lot of the time I wonder if me not being a Christan at the time messed our relationship up. She always asked me questions about God and the Bible, and because I wasn't a true Christian, I couldn't answer them correctly. I tried, really I did! I know now that she needed Jesus. I wish I could have been a better friend. She never really had any great friends and she was always verbally abused by the "good Christian" kids. I do admit completely that she had problems. I've always held a grudge against her because she did pull me into things that weren't good... It's only now that I realized I still love her :( I don't know how I can put into words all of the things I'm feeling right now. I feel like I've lost something important.
"Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend somewhere along in a bitter descend. Would I stayed up with you all night, then I'd know how to save a life."  

It's Been a While:D

Hey readers:D I know it has been a while but I have many things to say to make up for the time laps! One, after SIX YEARS I am over this dude! OK, remember the guy I said a couple of posts ago that I liked a lot? Well, I'm over him:) I guess I had known that for a while, but I realized it Tuesday. One of my friends (who has a crush on him) is going on a dance with him. And instead of feeling pain or envy creeping into my heart, I felt happy. Strange huh? Well, I guess it's because I finally set free! I had been so attached. You know what? There are only three reasons I can think of liking him: 1. He was cute 2. He was funny 3. He was good with little kids. Yup! Only those three! Thank you Juli! You got me thinking about what I really wanted in a guy and this one didn't fit into the category <3

OK, three of my friends and I started up a blog called Doulos Teen to Teen Ministry (DoulosT2T for short.) Well, we got an email from someone in Nigeria! They wanted to know if it was possible to send them 8 Bibles. Of course, we're going to tell them we will try to! :D It makes me feel so connected to believers around the world! Thank you God:D

OK, another happy thing is my mom is back from Arkansas!!! :D I'm not sure how my pappy is doing, keep praying please!! But I'm happy my mom's back <3

I haven't gotten an email back from that lady who does fonts, but when she does I will definitely be letting y'all know:D I downloaded some pretty awesome fonts that I might use on here (even though they aren't mine.) Below is what I sent to her:D

Right now I'm listening to "Unbreakable" by Fireflight. I <3 this song:D Anyways, I've got to go soon because the Venture Crew will be doing a service project at 2:30! OK, I'm so bubbly happy!!! haha:D OK! I've got to go. Thank you, again, imaginary readers for reading about my life.

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday was amazing! We had a youth group/birthday party (for my friend's brother) and played capture the flag. Only two of the girls in Sr. High played, my friend and me :D it was fun! At first it was kind of boring 'cause I stayed with the prisoners. I used to think that was my favorite job, but I don't like it anymore :) Now I love to guard the border! I have some great stories from that night ;) While I was guarding the border, one of the Jr. High girls ran past me. Of course I ran after her and in the hight of the chase I didn't think to look where I was running. Guess what happened? There was a log laying right where I was putting my feet and I swear I did the most graceful front flip while falling down in the world! hahaha:D Now I have this horrible bruise on my shin and it hurts to walk... but it was very funny! Then this dude ran away with the flag and I started to chase him. And of course, since this party was in a pasture that had a horse, I slipped in.. you know what :/ haha:D But so did the dude and I caught him anyways :D Over all, an amazing day!
My mom is leaving today to go to Arkansas because my pappy is not doing very well. Please pray for him!!!!

I haven't finished all of my school yet, so I will have to do that today. My brother and I have piano practice today! I personally love piano! I'm thankful that God made music:D The Sr. High girls at my church have bible study tonight at our youth pastor's house. His wife is doing it with us with a book called "When People are Big and God is Small." I've heard it's really good! I can't wait:) I've got to go and get ready for piano! Sorry this is short, but I might get around to writing some more later today! :D

Sickness and Moby Dick

  Today is yucky. It is yucky because multiple people in my family are sick. With a stomach virus. ugh! Pray for health to return and to keep those who aren't sick (My mom, me, and two of my brothers... oh! and my sister:D) from being sick! Thank you:D Well, we had a Venture Crew meeting last night, and we are going hiking tomorrow! We're going to a place that has waterfalls (very pretty!) and a hilly terrain. I can't wait! The Venture Crew is going to the Appellation trail sometime this summer and we are doing this to train for it (and, not to mention, some fun:D) Yesterday was better than last Thursday! "You know who" didn't dance with me the whole last half (I felt really bad about you having to dance with him Juli, that is, if you minded it!) Anyways, what I hate the most about this whole situation is that I seem to be burdening my friends with it. One time, our Envirothon team won State competition so we went to Nationals (in California.) Well, it was fun and stuff, but on one of the plane rides, they put me and "guess who" guy right beside each other. This was a small plane so it would have been only us sitting alone. ugh! Well, thanks to one of most wonderful friends (not just because of this indecent of course) switched seats with me! :D well, now that I think about it, it makes me feel bad. What if she didn't want to sit there? I know I didn't ask her to, but still. So now I've decided that I'm not going to burden them anymore! I'm just going to have to deal with this thing by myself without having someone else take the hit! OK, done ranting about that for now!
I've finished all of my school for today so I'm happy! I started reading this book called "Jacob Have I Loved." It's really good so far, but my mom said that it was really sad when she read it. I hope I'll like it still! I just finished reading Moby Dick. O. My. Gosh. What a boring book! You learn everything you DON'T want to know about whales. Well, that is the second book I absolutely hated. The first one is a book called "Peace Child." A violent book. Well anyways, pretty much all of the books I've read I kind of like. "Belle Prater's Boy" and "Shadow of the Almighty." "Bud, not Buddy," "The Chosen." I can list a bunch more that I couldn't put down!!! I like books to have a happy ending, even if the middle is sad. Maybe at least a satisfactory ending, something I can accept. Later today, I've got to read to my little brother. Yes, he is only two years younger than me, but his curriculum does call for read alouds. After that I don't know what else. I'll probably play the Xbox 360 (maybe the game Oblivion?) or I can play Morrowind on my computer. Or I could read! I have three books that need finishing. One for a book discussion next week. Fun:D We're reading Les Miserables! It is one of the best books we've read so far (even if it is the longest.) I think it might be longer than the Bible (not sure though ;D) Nothing much else is happening in my life at the moment.
Now I'm thinking again, are you really there? I know, in my mind, I can see "my" readers... but is that just my imagination? I think I'm going crazy. Oh well! Gotta run!