Romans 7:14-25

"For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but now the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I do do it, but sin that dwells in me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin."

This is a somewhat confusing passage. I had to read it for worldview, David Quine asked the questions: How many times does the passage have the word " I " in it? What does following " I " cause or bring about? I thought that was really good, seeing that every time " I " try to do something it turns out the wrong way, I do it for the wrong reasons or very bluntly, I sin. Thankfully the last verse in the passage shows that through Jesus Christ we can do the right thing in our minds. This is definitely something I need to be reminded of.

Quote of the post:
"Man's mind is like a store of idolatry and superstition; so much so that if a man believes his own mind it is certain that he will forsake God and forge some idol in his own brain." - John Calvin

*big smile*

I just make about 72 chocolate chip cookies. Sadly, I ate so much of the dough while I was making it that by the time the cookies came out of the oven I was full. But thankfully, I know they were good because Jacob Long and by brother Daniel both ate about seven each! :)

Last night, almost right after I posted we had an interesting occurrence in our neighborhood. Our next store neighbor Ruth Walls called my dad because a man was knocking on her door saying he needed a doctor, and her husband Will was out of town. She had called 911 and so a fire truck and an ambulance parked almost right in front of our house. Apparently the man was a diabetic and he had missed his bus, so he didn't get his insulin shot, which caused him to start to have a diabetic reaction. The ambulance workers told my dad that he would be okay.

Today, Pastor Johnston preached on Genesis 24, the passage about how Rebekah was chosen for Isaac. Ruth, Ana, Jenny and I talked about how Abraham's servant put a ring in her nose. Comments are very much appreciated!!! Thank you. :)

Quote of the post:
"Duncan:There is a war on! How is it you are going West?
Nathaniel: Well, you kinda face to the North, and real sudden-like, turn left." - the Last of the Mohicans

Song of the post:
"Your still the one" by Shania Twain

HI

Today I went to the homeschool convention downtown. My mom and I bought all the books for Worldview next year. I'm really excited because I love getting new books! Ruth and I went to the workshops and walked around in the exhibit hall. For lunch we went to Einstein's Bagels, I got a sandwich and soup, it tasted really good. I listened to two sessions by John Stonestreet, the second one was about the cultural identity crisis in our country. One of his points was about when a missionary goes to another country he usually studies the language and the culture, but we live in a country where we don't even know our own culture. Finding out who we truly are. It was an excellent talk. Anyway, after walking around all day long, I'm glad to be home sitting down. It was a long, but fun day. I love the convention! :)

Quote of the post:
"...Of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do." - 1 Chronicles 12:32

Kohls

Tonight my madre, my brother Daniel and I went shopping to Kohls. I was feeling quite depressed while trying on clothes, ( I haven't been swimming or running ) that I only bought two shirts. But, (this is the good part) my mom and I did pick out two adorable outfits for gifts at Laura Turner's shower, too bad babies don't stay really tiny for a little longer, newborn clothes are all sooooo cute!!!! :) We also got two pairs of flip-flops for my Aunt Jeanne, whose birthday is next week. Overall, today wasn't exactly the best day for me, because the plans I had were all changed and nothing happened the way I wanted it to, but the shopping trip made me feel better. Somehow I think shopping always cheers me up, even if I don't buy anything.

Quote of the post:
"I want to cling to the dream that might have been instead of ruining everything with reality." - Sam from A Cinderella Story

Verse of the post:
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:28

Song of the post:
"Bad Day" - Daniel Powter

Warrant Needed?

Do you think the police need a warrant to search a house with only one resident's permission? I supposed I'm somewhat divided, because I wouldn't just say yes, or no. If it was an obvious case of drug use or abuse of some kind, then yes I would say that the police should be able to search. But in most other cases, where someone could be lying or faking evidence, I would say they shouldn't be allowed. Chief Justice John Roberts voted no, and in light of that decision, I think there should be an easier way to get a warrant. What do you think?

Quote of the post:
"A man's home is his castle." - English Proverb

Song of the post:
"Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts

Today at speech, Andrew had the word "road" he looked up with this look on his face and said "God blessed the broken road." His speech teacher smiled and said she liked that song too. So this song is on here for Andrew! :)

24:27

This morning I read Genesis 24. My favorite verse:

27 He said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His loving kindness and His truth toward my master; as for me, the LORD has guided me in the way to the house of my master's brothers." - NAS

27 saying, "Praise be to the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives." - NIV

27And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master's brethren. - KJV

27 And he said, "Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master's brethren." - GSB

My favorite part is the last part. It sure is good to know that the LORD will lead us where he wants us to go. Calvin says, "we should always have the providence of God before our eyes in order that we may give to him praise when something happens prosperously to us!"

Quote of the post:
"Never let the fear of striking out get in your way." -George Herman "Babe" Ruth

*sigh*

At the moment, I am exhausted.

I believe my new found talent is scrubbing. Today I worked with my Dad and his company Covenant Construction, at Mister Ice of Indianapolis. The company has been remodeling the inside in sections almost all winter. I got to scrub the bathroom walls to remove all the glue that didn't come off with the wallpaper. This combined with my experiences scrubbing the floor at church, you know, I might consider going to college and majoring in scrubbing! Can you imagine all the things I would learn? :-P

Quote of the post:
"On my own, pretending he's beside me. All alone I walk with him 'til morning. Without him I feel his arms around me, and when I lose my way, I close my eyes and he has found me." -Les Miserables

Song of the post:
"Heaven" by Bryan Adams

no title

Spanish has been canceled. Tomorrow will be a snowday if the heavens decided to bless us. I'm looking forward to curling up by the fire with a book and a blanket. I haven't driven in the snow yet, that I might be my adventure of tomorrow. Who knows?

Quote of the post:
"I can put on a happy face for the world, but the world can't put on a happy face for me." - Unknown

Song of the post:
"No bravery" by James Blunt

Complaining

Tonight James Faris preached on Philippians 2:12-18. Verse 14 says "do everything without grumbling and questioning." He talked about how complaining is a daily part of our world's life, if you don't complain something must be wrong with you. James challenged us to try not complaining for a month, and to turn other people's complaints into things they should be grateful for. Overall, it was a really good sermon! :)

Thank you for bringing up a good point about my quote Nathan. I do agree with you. Friends should have some differences, and marriage should be a "single soul dwelling in two bodies," probably the kind of marriage Christ wants!

Goodnight everyone!!!!

Quote of the post:
"One must never lose time in vainly regretting the past nor in complaining about the changes which cause us discomfort, for change is the very essence of life." -Anatole France

Friend

"What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies." - Aristotle

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Did everyone wear green today??? I tried to, but my shirt isn't green, it just has green words and little shamrocks! :)

Today I...
ran the shamrock run ( 5 miles )
went grocery shopping with my madre ( haven't done that in a long time )
read an entire book ( ready or not by Meg Cabot )
made stir-fry beef and broccoli for my family for dinner

I have yet to...
clean up the kitchen
call Charity ( hopefully I can get you this time )
watch a movie ( haven't decided which one yet )

Question of the post:
"Do you wake up or open your eyes first?"

Quote of the post:
"You are very squishy. So I shall name you squishy. And you shall be my little squishy."--Dory from Finding Nemo

Verses of the post:
"'O my God,' I say, 'take me not away in the midst of my days - you whose years endure throughout all generations!' Of old you laid the foundation of the earth and the heavesn are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the smae, and your years have no end." Psalm 102: 25-27

Please still try to comment on the last two posts if you haven't already!!! Thank you! :)

Writing

Until last summer I kept a personal journal and wrote every single day. Today I was reading through some of my old ones and it brought back a lot of memories. Do any of you journal? When I was doing it I kept telling myself that writing down what I did every day and how I felt about different things, would be such a great thing to have when I got older. Writing it out usually made me feel better if I was mad about something, or more down-to-earth if something happened that made me really happy. Reading some of what I wrote today makes me want to start journaling again and I might, but I don't know for sure.

Anyway, I had a weird habit of writing out the lyrics to the songs I liked in my journal. This is one of the songs I had written out part of the words.

Song of the post:
"Everything you want" by Vertical Horizon

Quote of the post:
"The loudness of your voice does not win an argument." - My Dad

Please read and comment on the next two posts too!!!! ;)

Cleanliness

My application of the week was to be clean. I already had cleaned my room this week, but this morning my sister and I took apart the bunk-beds that we've had forever, so now we have single beds. Then we rearranged the rest of the furniture, threw away stuff neither of us wanted and now our room looks much better. I am not normally a clean person, I tend to know where all my stuff is when I need it, but if you were to walk into my room ( just ask my mom ) it wouldn't look like it. Definitely something I need to work on! :)

Tomorrow I may be going to Arkansas with my dad, brothers and other people from my church. Some of you may know the Weather's family - they own a house there, but they need to sell it, so we're going down to do some final repairs before it's sold. I'm really excited to go because my weekend wasn't looking very great and it would be more fun then staying home!

Question of the post:
Which is worse?
Eating a handful of raisins to later find out that they were bugs?
Drinking a glass of milk that expired three months ago?

Quote of the post:
"If you have time to lean, you have time to clean." - Unknown

Andrew

Most of you have probably met my brother Andrew, and if you haven't I hope I've at least said something about him before.

Andrew is fourteen years old and he has down syndrome. Brown hair, brown eyes, short and slightly plump would describe him well. :) Sometimes cases of downs can be so severe that the person cannot talk, but that's not the case with Andrew. He loves to talk! He makes up names for people, ( mine include: miss hairdo, peas head and elephant, ) he also loves to talk about the weather. Although he still isn't always understandable, his speech has improved so much and he is learning to read.

Andrew and I have one big thing in common. Our favorite sport is swimming! I really should be thanking him, because my parents first joined the Rivi for Andrew. He swims with the Special Olympics swim team and I try to go and help coach when I have time. Andrew also enjoys basketball, baseball and bowling - all with Special Olympics.

It hasn't always been easy for me to have Andrew as my brother. He is different - he does weird things sometimes, or says embarrassing things about our family. I've gotten mad because it seems like all my friends have a sibling close to their age that they are close to, and I don't have that. But having Andrew as my brother has made me a stronger person. I know how to stand up for someone who is being made fun of and how even when someone seems weird on the outside, its really the inside that matters. Even though Andrew may never get married, and his brain will never grow older than a child, I love him! When my parents die, he'll probably come live with me - and I can't wait! :)

You can all pray for Andrew right now, last Saturday he broke his ankle and how has a cast and has to use a walker to get around. He's not allowed to go swimming or do any kind of exercise for at least 4-6 weeks. Pray that the ankle will heal quickly and that he won't get too restless just sitting around.

Quote of the Post:
"Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt." - Special Olympics Oath

Venti Starbucks!

This morning I slept in till nine. It wasn't really that late, but it felt nice not to have to get up. I cleaned my room, and then went through all the clothes I own sorting them into - clothes I wear, clothes I don't wear and clothes I sometimes wear. It was fun! Then since Philip had his tutoring at the Nora Library, my madre dropped me off at the Target in Nora. Sometimes I think shopping by one's self is quite enjoyable, though it might have been more so because I bought myself a venti double chocolate frappuccino (sp)! But sadly I used up the last of the money on the Starbucks card that I got for my birthday. (Actually I think there's five cents left.) Anyway, I had a pretty good day!

Quote of the post:
"We gather strength from sadness and from pain Each time we die we learn to live again."
-Source Unknown

Song of the post:
"Goodbye my lover" by James Blunt

Luncheon

I love when our church has luncheons. Its really fun to be able to sit, eat and have fellowship with everybody. Today was our soup luncheon, I really could live on soup and bread! It was so yummy! Pastor Johnston had all the people who worked yesterday get up and David and Becca talked. These "service projects" are the beginning of our youth events and hopefully we can do them more often!

I'm in a really good mood right now! I had a good morning at church, it was especially encouraging, and now I'm listening to music and posting on my blog!

This week, I have all my classes off except Spanish. What's really annoying about taking classes at different places it that the spring breaks are all different. Thankfully, all my other classes are off on the same week, so I will be able to have somewhat of a break. If anybody wants to get together to do stuff, like shopping or a movie, I would love to! :)

Quote of the post:
"You can always trust a dishonest man to be dishonest. Honestly, its the honest ones you have to look out for, cause you never know when they're going to do something incredibly stupid." Jack Sparrow, from Pirates of the Caribbean

*Smile*

Today I spent six hours at my church helping clean. The majority of the time I scrubbed the floor in the women's bathroom because the grout that was originally white was a brownish color. It didn't really look that bad until you realized that brown was not the original color. After about three hours of scrubbing, and the bathroom looked completely transformed, we let it dry and sealed it. Hopefully the sealer will keep the grout from changing colors for at least another 10 years. :) Savannah took pictures of us as we scrubbed, so if she e-mails them to me I'll post them. We were definitely having a party in the bathroom! :)

Last night before we went to the opera, my mom and I went to a Thai restaurant. Its called Thai Cafe, and it's in Broadripple. Its small, but completely adorable. The menu is really cool, because any dish you order you can choose the level of hotness - one through five - that you want. I absolutely love Asian food! Anyway, I recommend it to everybody! The prices are very reasonable, the service is good and the food is delicious!

Quote of the post:
"Austin: Where are you going?
Sam: I'm late.
Austin: For what?
Sam: Reality."
- A Cinderella Story

Song of the post:
"Crawling back to you" - Backstreet Boys

Hmm

1. First thing you did this morning? I checked my e-mail and drank a cup of coffee

2. Last thing you ate? a milky way bar

3. Is your cell phone a piece of junk? nope

4. What's something you're looking forward to a lot in the next 6 months? going to echo, summer break, getting my drivers license

5. What's annoying you right now? people shrugging me off

6. What's the last movie you saw in a theater? Chicken Little? I haven't been to a movie in a long time..

7. Do you believe in long distance relationships? yes

8. When was the last time it rained? yesterday, and the day before that too

9. Is there someone you miss? duh

10. Who was the last person you texted? I don't text

11. If you could kill someone who would you kill? I wouldn't kill anyone

12. Song that sums up your love life: hmm... Dido's White Flag

13. Are there a few things you wish you were better at? Oh yes, I wish I were a better runner, a better writer, and a better friend

14. If you could be anywhere this second, where would it be? hanging out with Ana

15. What's your most vivid memory from 7th grade? well, I went to China went I was 12 and I have several vivid memories from that entire trip

16. Latest addiction? music, but I've always been addicted to that

17. Have you ever had the urge to kill someone? nope

18. How many people would you say you are interested in? weird question, so I'm not answering

19. What do you love doing? I love singing, swimming, smiling and serving God

20. Do you think someone thinks about you daily? yes

21. Who was the last person you saw or talked to? my dad

22. Name a goal, large or small, that you hope to accomplish within the next three months: I hope to be able to run the mini marathon

"The Marriage of Figaro" was very interesting. I think Nathan's comment that it was "mozart-ish and a soap opera" was right. I found the story very confusing and it didn't help that it was it Italian. (with subtitles.) Parts of it were very stretched out and I kept wondering when it would end. Probably I was worried because the post I had started before I left hadn't been posted and I didn't want to get home after 12, because then it wouldn't count for today. So this my post for the day! Night everybody! :)

Quote of the Post:
"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Others stay awhile, make footprints on ourhearts and we are never, ever the same." -Unknown

Go the Distance!

I cannot even explain how much I hate running. But this year I got signed up for the mini marathon in May and so I'm going to have to start training. Swimming is almost over for short-course season, and when we don't have any practices anymore then I'm going to to try run everyday. There's a 15k on April 15th that I'm going to run. Mrs. Edwards is going to get a group together to start running, but if anybody wants to run with me besides that I love to. I definitely run better with other people then I do by myself.

Tomorrow I'm going to see an opera called "the Marriage of Figaro" at Butler. Has anybody heard of this or seen it? My mom says its very good. Anyway, after I see it, I'll be sure to post about it.

Quote of the post:
"Doors don't slam open" - Unknown

Song of the post:
"Fix you" by Coldplay

Chemistry

I am not doing any science this year, but next year I have to take chemistry. My mom is still trying to decide where I will take the class since she doesn't want to teach it to me at home. It's possible I could take it at Castleton Christian Church with a group called Northpoint, or take it at College Park Church with Wisdom Builders. I'm not exactly looking forward to it, because Ruth and Grace say its hard. We all did Biology with Alania last year, it was an awesome class because we were together. What's your experience with Chemistry?

Wednesdays are usually lowkey at my house because nobody has any classes. Some weeks we go ice-skating, which is hopefully what we'll do today. Usually I go to Butler and do a book study on "No Little People" by Schaeffer with Shannon Koons, but she's sick, so we had to cancel. :-( But here's a quote from Schaeffer:

Quote of the post:
"Quietness and peace before God are more important than any influence a position may seem to give, for we must stay in step with God to have the power of the Holy Spirit." - Francis Schaeffer

Okay

Yesterday I forgot to mention that I'm in a blogging contest. For those of you who are not in the contest know that each of your comments gives me points. So if you read my blog, please leave comments because it'll move me up in the standings.

I had to read and then write a report this past week on Animal Farm by George Orwell. I didn't think it was a hard book to read, but it had a lot of underlying principles and things to figure out about how it relates to World War II and Communism. The basic story line is about animals who live on a farm with master who is very cruel which makes them unhappy. There is a rebellion and they get rid of the master and resolve to rule themselves and have a better life. It doesn't go so well, they take a whole circle and at the end are right back where they started. I don't want to say too much and ruin the story for all you people who haven't read it. But, I will say that my favorite character is Boxer. :)

Quote of the post:
"Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals." -George Orwell

Brownsugar Cinnamon Poptarts

I'm not usually a picky eater, but I only like one kind of poptart. Brownsugar Cinnamon without the icing. My mom got some when she went shopping today, I just ate two. I usually set them upside down for 30 seconds in the microwave and then eat them with a glass of milk. Did you know that each pastry has 210 calories? But, I'm not feeling guilty because this past weekend was a divisional swim meet.

It was held at Noblesville highschool. It was a really long meet because the prelims were in the morning and the finals were at night, meaning I had to swim twice. I placed in the 200 breast and got a medal for seventh place.

I'm really excited because my Mom ordered me sheet music. We ordered "100 years", "Incomplete" and "Wake me up when September ends." I don't know how well I'll be able to play the music, but hopefully between Ruth and I we'll have fun with vocals and piano! :)

Quote of the post:
"Sometimes we do not do things we want to do so that others will not know we want to do them." - Ivy Walker

Song of the post:
"100 years" by Five for Fighting

Today...

This is an episode in the life of Ellie.

Ellie's mother asked her to make dinner. After examining the cabinets in search of ideas of what to make, she decided on spaghetti because it wouldn't be too complicated. She took the ground beef out of the freezer and defrosted it in the microwave. Ellie placed the pan in which she intended to cook the meat on the stove and busied herself with something else until the meat was defrosted. Taking the meat out of the microwave she put it in the pan and left the kitchen intending to retrieve her book while the meat started to cook. She took around six minutes to do this, and came back to the kitchen expecting to see her meat cooking, but to her dismay she had forgotten to turn the stove on. She sighed and thought to herself, I should post this on my blog.

Song of the post:
"I'm with you" by Avril Lavigne

Dido

My car officially has a name now. I had come up with Charlie, and then George, but neither of those really fit my car. Then last week in Worldview we started reading the Aeneid by Virgil. For those of you who haven't read it, its the continuation of the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer. The main character is Aeneas who is trying to get to Italy obeying the will of Zeus. In the story there is a beautiful queen named Dido. She was married and loved her husband very much, but he died and she decided she would never love again and became very bitter. When Aeneas visits her kingdom, Hera and Aphrodite devise a plan to keep Aeneas from going to Italy by causing Dido to fall deeply in love with him. They used an arrowed from Cupid, and performed a marriage that wasn't official. After all this, Zeus tells Aeneas he must leave and Dido is heartbroken and so she commits suicide. Later in the story Aeneas goes to the underworld to visit his father and he sees her, but she won't even speak to him. End of story - and so my car is named Dido.

Song of the post:
"Vincent" by Josh Groban

Happy Valentines Day!!!

I was trying to think of something profound to post, but nothing came to mind. So here's a verse, quote, and a song for you to think about.

Verse:
"I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I warn you whom to fear; fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows." - Luke 12: 4-7

Quote:
"Love. What is love? No one can define it, its something so great, only God could design it. Yes, love is beyond what man can define, for love is immortal, and God's gift is divine." -Unknown

EDIT: I decided to change the song. :)

Song:
"From this moment on" by Bryan White and Shania Twain

Utopianism

I am reading No Little People by Francis Schaeffer, this week the chapter was about the Weaknesses of God's Servants. Schaeffer goes into great detail about how terrible utopianism is. A utopian is a person who believes in impossibly idealistic social perfection or spiritual perfection. Utopianism is terribly cruel because it expects the impossible from people. Its bad in a marriage relationship, a parent-child relationship, in friend relationships, pastor- church relationships and in one's relationship with himself . One side makes up an image of the other and expects them to be just like that image, demanding more than is possible to give. Here's Schaffer's quote: "If we demand, in any of our relationships, either perfection or nothing, we will get the nothing." I definitely think this is something we need to be reminded of once in a while. Sin is sin and we shouldn't try to explain it away, but having a standard that is too high is also wrong. Can you guys tell me what you think about this please?

Yesterday I was able to go snowboarding with my friends! I had a blast. I drove with the Youngs down and back. It was Jessica's first time snowboarding so she had to learn from the beginning, but I think everyone that went had a good time. Today I am really sore, my butt hurts, my arms hurt, my knees hurt and my neck, head... all of me. lol. But, despite the soreness I want to go again this winter. That means we need to plan another trip soon.

Quote of the post:
"Pain is no evil unless it conquers us."

Song of the post:
"May it be" by Enya

Sports

This morning I had another swim meet. It was held at the Nat, the pool at IUPUI. I think it went well overall, I dropped time in 3 of my 4 events, but the 200 breast is being depressing. Every event I've swam this year I've dropped at least 5 seconds in, except for the 200 breast. Each time I swim it I always get a 3:01. But Therese said I just need to do more breast pull and work on a greater range of motion with my arms. Hopefully I'll be able to see results.

Daniel ran the first of his training races for the mini this morning. I wasn't very happy when it was snowing this morning, but I'm sure he was even less excited. Now that I'm home, inside and warm I'm happy about the snow, but when you have to go outside with wet hair - its not pretty. Anyway - I'm very proud of Daniel for running the 5K in the snow. Which reminds me, I need to start training for the mini, definitely not something I'm looking forward to. :P

Question of the post:
What is your favorite sport and why?

My answer is obvious. Swimming is my favorite sport, I love it so much. Why, is harder to explain. I suppose it might be because its one of the only sports I can do and enjoy. But also because you can do it all year round and see results. Being fast doesn't account for everything, swimming works so many different muscles and its hard to be a fat swimmer. I guess the one downside would be "swimmers shoulders."Almost every swimmer has them, both girls and boys. Anyway, I'm excited to hear what you all say. :)

Song of the post:
"Hero" by Enrique Iglesias
I know this is the same song as before, but its one of the those ones I can listen to over and over and never get tired of it. :)

Feelings:

I was reading some of my old posts and I remember loving this when I posted it before, so here it is again. I changed several, but it still shows the way I feel right now.

I am not: normal
I hurt: deep in my soul
I love: with my whole heart
I hate: sin
I hope: in God
I hear: voices in my head
I crave: coffee
I cry: every night
I always: dream
I long to: grow up
I feel alone: in this world
I listen: but I don't hear anything
I hide: where no one can find me
I drive: everyone crazy
I sing: and can't stop
I dance: with you
I search: for meaning
I feel: sad
I fail: constantly
I sleep: when my mind and body are tired
I need: a hug
I am: scared
I think: so I can do right
I exist: to glorify God in everything I do

A Job Well Done

Once upon a time there lived a bat. His name was Matt. He lived in a tree by a stream, near the palace of a great king. During the day he was inclined to sleep, but at night he worked especially hard. While Matt wasn’t the smartest bat out there, he was the one who did his job well; he never missed a night eating mosquitoes. His mother had told him that his job was very important because without him the king would never come outside.

In this very same tree there also lived a nightingale whose name was Carol. During the day, she also slept, but at night she sang, and because her song was so lovely the king would come out and listen to her sing. Sadly, this caused Carol to become proud and she started to make fun of her neighbor the bat.
“Thou art so worthless,” she taunted “thou spends every waking second eating mosquitoes.”
The bat didn’t answer at once. This thought had never crossed his mind. Worthless? That was not what his mother had said.
“It is an important job!” he answered.
“Important?” Carol laughed. “Look at me, I sing for the king, my job is not even comparable in importance to eating mosquitoes.”
“Thou doesn’t realize,” replied Matt, “that without me the king would never come outside.”
“He does not come outside because of thee,” she sneered, “He comes to listen to my music.”

Matt knew he should not reply. He decided to show her what he meant. The next night he did not go out and eat the mosquitoes. Instead, he watched while Carol sang her song to the king. She was so into her own song, she didn’t notice that her audience was distracted. Soon they were swatting the hungry mosquitoes that attacked them and they quickly retreated back into the palace. Not one remained.
Carol was quiet for awhile, then, knowing that the bat was correct, she sighed. “Thou was right, Matt, the job that thou hast is just as important as mine. I can sing for the king, but I cannot do it without the help thou gives.”
Matt smiled, and from then on the two worked together. Carol sang, while Matt caught mosquitoes. The king and his royal court once again came outside and enjoyed the lovely song of the nightingale. Clearly, we need to learn to be thankful for those around us that do their job well. Without them, we wouldn’t be successful in ours.

Ellie needs...

Ellie needs a place to stay.
Beautiful Ellie needs a home.
Ellie needs the water) --- Screamed at maximum volume when I turned off the garden hose she was spraying.
Ellie needs help with suicidal thoughts.
Ellie needs her little pleasures.
Ellie needs to be crated when she is home alone.
The last thing Ellie needs is to fall for the wrong guy.
Ellie needs more than $8300 monthly to maintain her lifestyle.
Ellie needs a husband or her father's odious fiancee will choose one for her.

lol. Following several other people's examples, I decided to post these "needs" of mine. I found it very amusing and some of the results are quite funny! :) I was very surprised to find that there are a lot of dogs named Ellie.

Quote of the post:
"All you need in the world is love and laughter. That's all anybody needs. To have love in one hand and laughter in the other." - Unknown

Song of the post:
"Hero" by Enrique Iglesias

Sweet Sixteen

So here I sit. Yesterday was my 16th birthday. I cannot even explain, I have felt so loved in the past several days. Friday night I had an ice-skating party, a lot of the people I had invited couldn't come and I was worried about how it would turn out, but to my surprise those who came made me feel so special. Sara, Bekah, Laura and Jessica took me out to dinner as a surprise, but the best surprise was Sara coming home for my birthday because she had told me before that she couldn't. Then yesterday - Saturday - my family took me to a movie and out to dinner downtown. We saw "The end of the spear", the story of Nate Saint, Jim Elliott and those who were killed trying to share the gospel. This birthday made me realize that I have so much to be thankful for, I just don't always see and I get caught up in my own selfishness.

Verses of the post:
"You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light."
- 1 Peter 2:9

Quote of the post:
"Born to be wild - live to outgrow it." - Unknown

Hope this works...

Sara just told me that her computer wouldn't let her go to my blog because of my song. So I'm letting you all have a little slack and I'm gonna guess that all you people's computers won't let you come to my blog either and that is why you didn't comment.

Since I can't play the song on my blog, here is the link for "Why." See the post below about it.

New song of the post:
"If you are not the one" by Daniel Bedingfield

Why?

For the record - I love the song "lonely" by Akon, but because (thanks to Abby) I finally figured out how to do free webhosting I wanted to put the song that Ruth and Zachary wrote on here. I have to experiment with recording singing with it - if anyone has any suggestions on how to do that I am very willing to listen. Anyway here is piano version - and I'll just post the lyrics too. Luv you all... :)

Why
Tell me why
Why are you going
Why are you leaving
I need to know why
You need to tell me
Why won't you call me
Why don't you care anymore
I need to know why to live
I need to know why should I give you my love
Or should I take it away

Why
Tell me why
Why are you here again
Why are you begging me to come back to you
Why when I find someone new
Do you break my heart again
I need to why to live
I need to why I should give you my love
When you took yours away

We used to be together
But you found someone new
and now she's tired of you
So now you're here again
but this time I've got someone else
I broke your heart today

So why am I sorry for you
Why am I crying
Why am I coming back
Now I know why
Now I know why I should give you my love
when you took yours away
I love you
its cause I love you




btw... my b-day is saturday!!! :)

Update:

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, we've been having some computer problems. It started when a CD exploded - and yes I do mean that - inside the CD-drive. We bought a new drive and I tried to replace it, but when that didn't work we took it to a shop. The guy at the shop said something else was wrong with it, so he deleted everything we had inside the computer - excluding my dad's estimates. Anyway we haven't had the computer since last Wednesday, so I'm sorry if I haven't had the chance to reply to any of your e-mail, comments etc.

I just finished an awesome book that I think everyone should read. It's called "A thousand tomorrows". I guess you could probably call it a girls book because its a love story, but its more than that because of the circumstances in the book. I cried more than once, especially because the boy has a brother with down-syndrome who reminds me so much of my brother. I loved it and it is definitely on my list of best books!

I had a swim meet last weekend. Not exactly something I was looking forward to, but it ended up not being as bad as I thought it could have been. There were only eight older swimmers from Rivi, so it was a more personal meet. Therese told me what to remember while I was swimming before my event and then told me what to work on afterwards. I dropped at least 4 seconds in every one of the four events I swam. But I had a lot of fun cheering for my friends and I think as long as I don't stress myself out I do fine.

And I should to stop talking because I have Worldview to finish. And remember if you comment you'll make my day! :)

Quote of the post:
"A little rebellion now and then is a good thing."
-Thomas Jefferson

Song of the post:
"Lonely" by Akon

January

Happy New Year everybody!

At the moment I think this year is going to be great. I turn 16 in nineteen days and I'll be able to drive. That will be a big help to my mom and it will make a difference in how much I work. School is going well, though its helping me to think that I'm halfway done with the year and I only have one more semester left. But then when I try to think of all the positive things I can't help but think that last year I was thinking the same thing, I had my hopes and my dreams. But I shattered a lot of them. I did a lot of things that I can never change, not really thinks I regret, but things that changed my future. *sigh* I'll stop there, please tell me what you think?

I'm also writing this post because I need to change my song. I don't think "My December" goes very well in January. But its definitely one of my favorite songs.

Quote of the post:
"If all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be contented to take their own." - Socrates

Song of the post:
"Think of me" - Phantom of the Opera
~ I love singing this song.

Well....

We're back. It was alot of fun, but sadly I have no tan. I really enjoyed getting to see all my cousins again, they were definately different then last time ( five years ago. ) Here are some pictures:

Our House 

Mark, Scott and Jenny 

Jenny and I 

Private and Captain

Jason 

Lynn, Mom, Grandma and Jeanne 

Our Family w/ Grandma 

The Truwit Family 

The Gross Family w/ Grandma 

Feliz Navidad

City side walks,
busy side walks
Dressed in holiday style
In the air there's a feeling of Christmas
Children laughing
People passing
Meeting smile after smile
And in every corner you'll hear.

Silver bells, silver bells
It's Christmas time in the city
Ring a ling,
hear them ring
Soon it will be Christmas day.

Strings of street lights
Even stop lights
Blink a bright red and green
As the shoppers rush home with their treasures

Hear the snow crunch
See the kids bunch
This is Santa's big scene
And above all the bustle you'll hear.

Silver bells, silver bells
It's Christmas time in the city
Ring a ling, hear them ring
Soon it will be Christmas day.
Soon it will be Christmas day.

Christmas day.
Silver bells.

I think this will be my last post until my family gets back from our trip on the 30th. Sadly I won't be going to Winter Conference, so I hope that all you people who do go have a wonderful time and don't miss me too much! :)

Angel's Sing

This week has been fun. Mostly because all my classes had parties for the last day and then because I'm done with school until January! Yippie!!! :) Last night I helped with the babysitting at church and then I went over the Faris's with Ruth to assist her while she put them to bed. We ended up watching The Last of the Mohicians. If you haven't already heard me say this - it is my favorite movie!

Here's one of my favorite quotes:

Duncan: "There is a war going on in the east. How is it you are heading west?"

Hawkeye: "Well, you face north and, real sudden-like, turn left."

Tonight I went to the Angels Sing ICC concert at St. Luke's. It was really good. I got to go up and sing with the alumni... makes me wish I was still in it. I got to see some of my old friends, they thought I had died or something because I didn't come to graduation last year. :-( And I think I have to come to a close now. Goodnight, sleeptight and remember to comment! :)

Comic

I thought this was pretty funny. :)

Christmas Controversy

This is an excerb from a book called "Conduct for the Crayon Crowd." Its written by Edna Gerstner for children and most of the stories she is talking to her daughter Rachel who is six. I thought maybe it would help me add a little to the discussion that's been going around on blogs.

The Christmas Tree
"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." Exodus 20:4

Mrs. Gerstner especially loved the Christmas tree. When she was a little girl, she explained, she had to to give up having a tree. One year they had gone into the forest in the jungles of India to cut down a tree for their living room. There were no fir trees, but they had found a small tree with lots of leaves. They had such fun stringing popcorn for garlands. But the Indians did not understand what they were doing. They had said to her father, "What sort of holy tree do you worship?" They did have a sacred tree, the "people tree." They would put food out for the gods under its branches. They had thought that the Christmas tree was an idol, and that Grandmother's delicious fudge was for the gods.
Mother told Rachel about this time in her girlhood as they shelved their potato peeling fo the day to make Christmas cookies.
"How said," said Rachel.
"Yes. But in a way it was good for us children. We learned not to do anything that would cause another child of God to stumble. It was good for our souls to have to give up the Christmas tree. It was especially necessary for us because as well as having neightobrs who were Hindus who worshiped idols, we had neighbors who were Muslims. Muslims did not worship idols. They believed in the Ten Commandments also. Their prophet, Mohammed, took much of his teaching from the Old Testament, and they were especially careful to keep this commandment, the second of th ten. 'Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.' They would not even allow themselves to be photographed because this would be a graven image. We did not photograph them. We respected their customs. But do you think this is what God meant in this commandment, Rachel?"
"I hope not," said Rachel, who had asked for a camera for Christmas.
"The rest of the verse explains what God meant. Let me read it to you while we set the timer for the cookies. In Exodus 20:5 God explains the commandment: 'Thou shalt now bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.' We are not bowing down to our Christmas tree nor to our snapshot albu, so we are allowed to have both of these and not sin. We did not wave our own photographs around to offend our neighbors, so we did not need to give up our cameras in India. But it is very hard to hide a lighted Christmas tree, so we did not practice this custom in order not to harm what the Bible calls the weaker brother."

As for the idol, a craftsman casts it
a goldsmith fashions chains of silver.
He who is too impoverished for such an
offering selects a tree that does not rot;
He seeks out for himself a skillful
craftsman to prepare an idol that will
not totter.

This only touches on the subject of a Christmas tree, but I thought the way it was written was good and it made me think. I do celebrate Christmas and we usually do have a Christmas tree, though this year, because we'll be gone we're not having one. I realize that Christmas is not a celebration of Christ's birth anymore, but I think that at Christmas people are more open to hearing the truth and we need to be willing to share it. Please tell me what you think.

Snow

I don't know how everyone else feels about winter, but I know that I wouldn't love it nearly as much without snow. Snow just seems to make everything so beautiful... I can't even try to describe it. But with snow comes so many fun things, like snow-ball fights, sledding, skiing and snowboarding all of which I love! Tonight after the "parent's night out" thing at our church, Ana and I had snow-ball fight, I haven't done that in forever and I loved it! :) I guess it was cold and its not the nicest feeling at the moment when snow goes down your shirt, but I enjoyed myself more then I could have imagined. If you are ever in the mood for a snowball fight and I'm around... I'm willing as long as I have gloves!

I was listening to Josh Groban and I absolutely love this song that he sings by Linkin Park, but when I tried to look it up on the internet I couldn't find Josh singing it, so I'm putting the Linkin Park version, but its not the entire song because it cuts off towards the end. Here are the lyrics -

Linkin Park - My>DSMBR
This is my December
This is my time of the year
This is my December
This is all so clear

This is my December
This is my snow covered home
This is my December
This is me alone

And I
Just wish that I didn't feel
Like there was something I missed
And I
Take back all the things I said
To make you feel like that

And I
Just wish that I didn't feel
Like there was something I missed
And I
Take back all the things that I said to you

And I give it all away
Just to have somewhere to go to
Give it all away
To have someone to come home to

This is my December
These are my snow covered dreams
This is me pretending
This is all I need

And I
Just wish that I didn't feel
Like there was something I missed
And I
Take back all the things I said

To make you feel like that
And I
Just wish that I didn't feel
Like there was something I missed
And I
Take back all the things that I said to you

And I give it all away
Just to have somewhere to go to
Give it all away
To have someone to come home to

This is my December
This is my time of the year
This is my December
This is all so clear

Give it all away
Just to have somewhere to go to
Give it all away
To have someone to come home to

Give it all away
Just to have somewhere to go to
Give it all away
To have someone to come home to

Quote of the post:
"Lucius: Honey?
Honey: What?
Lucius: Where's my super suit?
Honey: What?
Lucius: Where - is - my - super - suit?
Honey: I, uh, put it away.
Lucius: Where?
Honey: Why do you need to know? [helicopter explodes outside]
Lucius: I need it! [Lucius rummages through another room in his condo]
Honey: Uh-uh! Don't you think about running off doing no derrin'-do. We've been planning this dinner for two months!
Lucius: The public is in danger!
Honey: My evening's in danger!
Lucius: You tell me where my suit is, woman! We are talking about the greater good!
Honey: 'Greater good?' I am your wife! I'm the greatest *good* you are ever gonna get!"
From the Incredibles

Song of the post:
"My December" by Linkin Park

Swimming

400 back
6 100's IM

12 150 back/breast kick/free

6 75 free
4 50 free
200 back pull

4 75 free
4 50 free
100 back easy

I know that's not all of it. When Otto and I added it up right after practice it was more like 5000 something, but what I wrote only adds up to 4250. Oh well, that's just a taste of what one afternoon practice is like. I really didn't think it was that hard either. Anyway my swimming is going great! I always feel kinda bad posting about it, because it feels kinda like a one-sided interest. I hope I don't bore you people.

Today was a good day for me! Spanish wasn't too bad, though I would majorly appreciate prayers because I have a huge test on Thursday. It covers all the material we've learned this semester and I am not looking forward to it. But back to today being a good day - I was singing Christmas carols while I put the groceries away and I finished the list of the people that I want to give gifts to this year! Then my grandma sent us a snowman in the mail, Jessica decorated a gingerbread tree and finally, just to make it all even better, it was snowing outside! Anyway I thoroughly enjoyed my day! :)

Quote of the post:
"Love is a great beautifier."
-Louisa May Alcott

Song of the post:
"You'll think of me"
- Keith Urban

Decode:

yy u r yy u b i c u r yy 4 me

All you have to do is tell me what that says. Either all you bloggers are really smart and you can decode this easily, or you are like me and can't figure it out until you read the answer. Please comment with what you think the answer is! Have fun! :)

Lacey's Song

This song might not be theologically correct. But I think its adorable and it makes me think about how sometimes we need to back away from life and just look at it kinda like this: ;)

The moment was custom made to order
I was riding with my daughter on our way back from Monroe
And Like children do, she started playing twenty questions
But I never could have guessed one could touch me to my soul
She said daddy
When we get to heaven Can I taste the Milky Way?
Are we going there to visit or are we going there to stay
Am I gonna see my grandpa ? Can I have a pair of wings?
And do you think that God could use another angel
to help pour out the rain?
Well I won't lie
I pulled that car right over
And I sat there on the shoulder tryin to dry my misty eyes
And I whispered Lord, I wanna thank you for my children
Cause your innocence that fills them often takes me by surprise
Like daddy when we get to heaven can I taste the milky way
Are we going there to visit or are we going there to stay
Am I gonna see my grandpa? can I have a pair of wings
And do you think that God could use another angel
To help pour out the rain
Well I thought about it later on and a smile came to my face
And when I tucked her in to bed I got down on my knees and prayed
Lord when I get to heaven can I taste the milky way
I don't want to come to visit cause I'm coming home to stay
And I can't wait to see my family and meet Jesus face to face
And do you think Lord you could another angel
To help pour out the rain?
Hmm can I help pour out the rain...

Song of the post:
"Help pour out the rain (Lacey's Song)" by Buddy Jewell

Break

I have had a busy, but wonderful break. Friday night I got to hang out at Starbucks with Sara and Jessica. We got caught up on what's been going on in each other's lives. I miss you while your at college Sara! Saturday I was at church almost all day. I got there at ten to help Mr. Brown cook for the wedding and I was there till around seven cleaning up. He taught me how to decorate pineapples with strawberries and surprisingly they looked beautiful when they were done! I didn't get to see any of the wedding, because I was in the basement the entire time but I'm sure it was beautiful! :) After the wedding Ana and I went to Starbucks and Wamart then we went and saw Chicken Little. We laughed through the whole thing, but it is mostly dumb movie! :)

Verses of the post:
"May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May he send help." Psalm 20:1-2

Song of the post:
"Incomplete" by the Backstreet Boys

Thanksgiving

Today was a good reminder of the things I am thankful for. My family went to my Dad's sister Sharon's house in Southern Indiana. It was a good time, and I got to spend some time with my Grandpa. He had a stroke when I was seven and he's been in a nursing home for the past five years or so. Today was the first time in a while that I was really able to talk to him, even if it was only about how he was feeling and how I could help him. I am so thankful that I do remember what he was like before he had the accident!

I am thankful for: (in no particular order)

- Family, both immediate and extended.
- Friends, I know I'm really weird and I am so thankful for my friends who put up with my weirdness and who forgive me for my mistakes and who stand by me no matter what.
- People who talk sense into me. This kinda goes along with ^_^, but I do a lot of dumb things and I am so thankful for the people who take the time to talk it out with me and set me straight.
- Love.
- My church, for all the problems my church has, I wouldn't be the person I am today without it. - My bed and pillow. :)
- Being warm.
- My car, even though its really ugly, I'm still thankful that I have something to drive.
- Music - I don't know what I'd do without it!
- Shoes! (something random here)
- You - even though I might not even realize who reads this post, I am thankful for you, whether or not I know you and whether or not you know me.
- Angels, I want to meet one someday! :)
- God.

Song of the post:
"Calling all Angels" by Train

Quote of the post:
"The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone. " -George Elliot

Cansado

Yo extremamente cansado.

I don't even know if that makes any sense. Its supposed to say that I am extremely tired. The past couple days have been really busy and I am really looking forward to having a couple days off for Thanksgiving. But it won't really be that much of a break because I still have Spanish on Tuesday. Anyway this is boring, so I'll tell you about my weekend.

Friday afternoon was worldview and right after that, Grace, Beth, Ruth, Danny and I went back to Noah Judd's house for a game night. It was a lot of fun, we played imagine-if, scatories and bolderdash. Unfortunately all the girls had to leave at 6 because Ruth and I were going down to the Blackwood's and Grace and Beth wanted a ride home.

Once we were at the Blackwood's we got to see their rooms and then we went down to the basement and watched "signs" and "raise your voice". It was fun, we had a bit of screaming and I think we made "signs" a lot scarier then it really is. We went upstairs around 12:34 and went to sleep around 1:15. I was pretty tired.

Saturday morning - we had chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. Yummy! :) Then we got dressed and Mrs. Blackwood drove us to deals and to goodwill. Charity and I tried on so many outfits, most of them were hideous and/or too small, short, tight or big. We took pictures and I think Charity said she was going to put them on her blog/xanga, I would like to put them on mine, but Maria has my camera at the moment.

We went to McDonald's for lunch and then straight to the Southside church were I got to see some of my friends who go to Southside. My mom drove Ruth and I back up to Northside, but we didn't get to go to any of the leaf rake. :-( I was so tired after I made two pies and so I took a nap in the afternoon, then I just hung out on the computer listening to music and went to bed.

Today was our church luncheon. The food was really good and Ruth and I got to practice her songs. I really wish some of my lyrics had music at the moment. I really want to sing some of the stuff I wrote, but when I try to sit at the piano and write a tune it turns out awful. I am not very talented musically.

Question of the post:
Which is worse?
Getting your tongue stuck on a pole
Getting your head stuck in a bucket

Song of the post:
"Listen to your heart" by DHT

Cold

It was snowing this morning! I was sitting in the car and I could see the snowflakes coming down on the windshield and then melting. They were so pretty and it made today much less depressing. Some days I absolutely love storms and gray days... but this morning it was so cold, I got my coat out and I was shivering. I love winter - don't get me wrong, but its much nicer when its cold and sunny.

Right now I am writing a paper about Odysseus for Worldview. (technically I am updating my blog, but I'm also writing the paper.) While I'm on the subject of school if you guys could remember me in your prayers because I have alot of school to get done right now and I'm not being very constructive. I am also somewhat depressed because of something else in my life right now, so I'd appreciate the prayers!

Quote of the post:
"We gather strength from sadness and from pain Each time we die we learn to live again."
-Source Unknown

Song of the post:
"So Cold" by Breaking Benjamin

Ugh

I wish I would have never put that Willy Wonka song on my blog. It is the most annoying thing in the world!!!! (okay maybe not THE most, but it comes pretty close.) So basically the reason I am updating is so I can change my song. Great reason... huh? :)

Wisdom Builder classes are over till January. Its a really weird schedule where we only have classes for eight weeks, then a break and another eight weeks. Only thing that's not fun about having this break is that my Algebra teacher still gave us homework... she says that if we didn't do any the entire break we wouldn't remember any when we came back. But I'm not quite convinced that would be such a bad thing. Anyway not having composition class gives me much more time to work on my Spanish, which by the way is going quite well. I'm starting to really enjoy class because I can actually understand stuff. :)

Quote of the post:
"Death and honor are thought to be the same, but today I have learned that sometimes they are not." -Colonel Munro from the Last of the Mohicans

Song of the post:
"Have you forgotten" by Darryl Worley

Geekdom

Even though last time I put something from the newspaper on here it didn't turn out that great, I still thought this was really interesting and kinda weird.

You are a geek if . . .
-You have studied an artificial language
-You have created an artificial language.
-You have worn two or more watches at the same time to keep track of multiple time zones.
-You have corrected a professor in class.
-You have indexed and catalogued any personal collection.
-You have quoted Yoda in conversation or debate, at least semi-seriously.
-You have been a game master.
-You have been to band camp.
-You want a real light saber.
-You want a 100-sided die.
-You want to take over the world.
-You wear your shirt tucked into your underwear.

If you answered yes to more then three of these questions you should visit this website, you can create your own geek code! And just in case any of you were wondering, I did not answer yes to any of these questions, I just find it highly amusing to read.

Wednesday night my family watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, I had heard from alot of people that it was really weird and that I would hate Johnny Depp afterwards, but I didn't. I thought it was a very well done movie that showed how great families are. I thought Willy was halarious. Anyway that's about all I have to tell you all! Luv and miss you!

My favorite quote from Willy Wonka:
Charlie's Grandma: "You smell like peanuts. I like it."
Willy: "You smell like old people.... and soap. *pause* I like it." :)

Song of the post:
"Wonka's Welcome Song"

Captivating

Last night my mom picked up "Captivating" from the library for me. You might have heard of "Wild at Heart" for guys, well Captivating is for girls - about how to unveil the mystery of a women's soul. One thing I absolutely love is that Stasi quotes movies, books and poems. She uses examples of Aragorn and Arwen, as well as examples of real people who have real problems like us. But in the end she (and her husband John) bring it all back to the Bible and God. I've only had time to read a small section of it, but I already love it and I recommend it to everyone, even the guys.

Quote of the post:
"I will find you. No matter how long it takes, no matter how far - I will find you." - Nathaniel to Cora in The Last of the Mohicans

Song of the post:
"Cry" by Mandy Moore from a Walk to Remember

Why?

Today was church. Pastor Fairs preached from Genesis 8 "God remembered Noah." It was really good. We also had a special man named Little Bear Wheeler come and speak during Sunday school. That was interesting, he spoke about the Piigrims and talked about some of the customs are and things they wore, etc.

Ruth recorded the song "why," and I am attempting to learn how to sing it. I am excited for us to actually write and record some songs. :) After service we went into the old building and practiced the two songs she recorded for me. Our voices are different so she kinda has to transpose the song into a different key, but its so pretty. I wish I could play the piano like her, she makes me feel somewhat untalented. Sometime once its very natural to sing and play it, we might ask James if we can perform it for Small World Cafe. That would be really fun! :)

Quote of the post:
"Oft expectation fails and most oft there Where most it promises, and oft it hits Where hope is coldest and despair most fits. - William Shakespeare

Dreams

Tuesday morning I babysat my neighbor and I watched part of Cinderella with her. I hadn't really thought about the words to this song for a long time, so I thought I'd let all of you think about it with me! ;)

A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you're fast asleep
In dreams you will lose your heartache
Whatever you wish for you keep
Have faith in your dreams
and someday, your rainbow will come shining through
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you just keep believing
The dream that you wish will come true
A dream is a wish your heart makes
when you’re feeling small.
Alone in the night you whisper
think no one can hear at all.
You wake with morning sunlight to find fortune that smile on you.
Don’t let your heart be filled with sorrow
for all you know tomorrow the dream you wish will come true.
The dream is a wish your heart makes
The dream is a wish your heart makes
You wake with the morning sunlight to find fortune that smile on you.
Don’t let your heart be filled with sorrow
for almost in tomorrow the dream you wish will come true.
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you just keep believing
The dream that you wish will come true

Love and miss you all!! :)

Updation

This past weekend has been really busy. Friday night and Saturday morning I had my Rivi swim meet. I swam the 400 Individual Medley, 500 Free, 200 Free, 50 Free, 200 Breaststroke and the 100 Backstroke. I was signed up for more events on Sunday, but I didn't swim them. It was actually a lot of fun, I was nervous, but I got best times in every event minus one.

Saturday night was our church hayride at the Koss's farm. We sat on haybales and talked forever, then the hayrides were fun and taking walks in the dark is a blast! :) Towards the end though, I was getting extremely tired... and I was so happy to crawl into my bed that night.

Sunday was church. Pastor Johnston preached in the morning from Genesis and Pastor Fairs preached in the evening about Faithfulness. I was convicted that I need to be more faithful in doing my quiet-time. My problem is I just do it when I have time, not at a set time every single day. You can pray for me that I would find a time that will work well.

Yesterday was Halloween. My little sister Jessica and I carved pumpkins all afternoon. I can remember doing that when I was little, and how getting my hands all slimy pulling the seeds out was so cool, and now Jessica is the same way. :) You should have driven by our house, our pumpkins looked so cute from the road! :) I ended up going over to church to watch "Luther" with people from our church. That was an okay time. If you haven't seen that movie I recommend it, I've seen it like three or four times, so it wasn't that exciting for me.

Today I have to babysit all morning, then I have a Spanish test. I come home from that go to practice and then work from six to nine. It'll be a long day, but I'm actually looking forward to it, because when I'm busier I tend to get more things done faster. :)

Quote of the post:
"If I am not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don't want to go there." - Martin Luther

Quote

Do you or do you not agree with this quote? Why?
"God helps those who help themselves." - Benjamin Franklin

I read this little article in today's newspaper and I thought it would be interesting to post some of it. Its talking about the top ten beverages that Americans drink daily.

- Bottled Water, 72 percent
- Soft Drinks, 62 percent
- Milk, 61 percent
- Coffee, 61 percent
- Fruit Juices, 51 percent
- Black Tea, 31 percent
- Vegetables Juices, 17 percent
- Green Tea, 15 percent
- Beer, 14 percent
- Hard Liquor, 10 percent

I think that it's very good to see that water is on the top of the list, hopefully that will stay on top. I was surprised that coffee is the same percent as milk. Apparently we are becoming more dependent on caffeine. Comments are appreciated!!!! :)

Joy

Yesterday I went to my orthodontist and I got my retainer. I am excited to have it because it will help my jaw, but its painful, makes my cheeks look weird and I can't talk very well. But that's only supposed to last the first couple days. I have to wear it all the time except when I am eating or brushing my teeth. Unfortunately, I don't know how I'm going to speak Spanish if I can't speak English, so class will definitely be interesting. :)

10 Things that make me joyful: (because I was tagged by Ana Liza)

1. First and foremost that Jesus died on the cross for me. If I had everything else in the world but wasn't going to heaven someday none of it would be worth it.

2. All my wonderful friends. Even though there are always going to be ups and downs, you guys are always there for me when I need to talk or when I need a hug. I've had so many friends, and I'm not as close to some of them as I wish I could be, but at the same time I don't know what I'd do without you people!

3. My family. They are the people who see me for who I really am and they love me for who I really am. My parents have made such a big impact in my life, and I know I wouldn't be who I am today if my brothers or sister were any different then they are. I may want to change my family sometimes, but in the end I know they are good for me!

4. Music is a big joy! I could sing and sing and sing!!! I am constantly listening to something, even if its just playing in the background of my room. There are so many different types of music, but I don't even think I have a favorite, little bit of everything is the best way to go! ;)

5. What can I say except I love swimming! There's a certain joy in completing a set, in dropping time or even finally getting the hang of the stroke. Even when it gets hard and I'm sore, or depressing because my progress is slow, a smile from Therese makes me know she think I can do it. That makes me so happy! :)

6. I have had some awesome opportunities to travel!!! I went to Hong Kong and China for 11 weeks when I was twelve. I just recently traveled to London and Paris with my Grandma for a vacation. And then there are all the trips we took to Williamsburg, Philadelphia, Gettysburg, Washington D.C., Florida, the Caribbean and to Grandma's. I love to travel, even riding in the car is fun especially when you are with people you love! :)

7. And kinda to go along with that, being homeschooled! I have had so much more flexibility to do things like travel because my parents decided to homeschool me. People always ask me if I want to go to school, and truthfully it might be interesting, but in the end I would always want to come home. And its not just for things like doing school in my pajamas or sleeping late, its being able to be taught by someone who loves me, and being able to believe what I believe and incorporate it in my school.

8. Living in my house. I have lived here my whole life that I can remember. Our neighborhood has always been so welcoming and friendly. It has been special to be close to the Johnstons and the Pulliams but most importantly the church. Sunday morning we can see people drive by our house and on Monday's we see James running by. I have so many memories of hide and seek and bloody murder. Our house has so much character and it's really become our home. I can't ever imagine moving.

9. Rainy Days like today! Even though they can be depressing they also show the awesomeness of God like nothing else does. I love curling up with a book an a cup of coffee - just seems like perfect example. I guess its a comfort thing.

10. Sleep. Here's the cold hard truth: if I never had any sleep I would never ever be joyful. Waking up after getting a good night's sleep is so refreshing and going to bed after long days feels so wonderful. My pillow is my best non-living friend. :)

I tag: Alyssa, Alissa, Beth, Bekah, Sara and Tamera.

Quote of the post:
"A joy that's shared is a joy made double." -English Proverb

Fall Ministry!

I'm back! Did you miss me? lol.

I know this is a great way to start out, but I hate group games, I know they are supposed to be ice-breakers, but more or likely they are just another way to make a fool of ourselves. The only one that I've actually ever liked was the one we played at SONrise where we tied a string to a balloon, and tied the other end to our ankle and we had to pop everybody else's balloon. Anyway I ended up having a better time then I expected.

Friday night was a combination of group games, a speaker, finding out where we were headed and just hanging out and talking. I slept at the Faris's, and ended up talking till pretty late. Addy and I were the first two people - besides Mrs. Long - in the church basement Saturday morning. Breakfast and making our lunches was fine, and then Rebekah Sawyer drove my group up to Lafayette.

Lafayette is a great city, and they have a wonderful church. I can definitely see God working especially with the college age people. Two teams went to Lafayette this year, one team to the church and one team to the Pentecostal camp that Winter Conference is held at. My team included, Pat Hart, Ben Jones, Julia Cerbus, Ellen Edwards and Rebekah Ray. Our leader was Emily Humphreys, and we cleaned the Lafayette church building, pledging the pews, vacuuming, washing the windows inside and out and getting rid of all the cob-webs. We finished all the work early, as did Micah Humphreys group at the camp. The two groups combined and played ultimate Frisbee and "I never", then we ate our dinner of pizza together at the church.

Julia, Ellen, Rebekah and I went back to the Humphrey’s for the night. Emily did a wonderful devotional about serving, and then we watched "13 going on 30!" Be proud of us - we got to bed by 11, though I know I feel asleep before the others, so you'll have to ask them how late they stayed up. In the morning we all got ready for church and Emily made monkey bread which was delicious. Church was encouraging, Pastor Long preached on having a "teachable spirit." I loved seeing some of the people I know that go to church up there, though the one week I was actually at your church Sara you weren't there. :) After service, Mrs. Kessler made us a wonderful meal which was also delicious.

Since we didn't have to be back at North-side till 4 we played scategories (sp) and just hung out. We got back to North-side and I talked to Ruth until service. Last year a lot more people stayed and went to North-side service, this year nobody did. It was kinda sad. Anyway I had fun, though I was pretty tired when I came home. Thanks to all you who prayed.

Quote of the post:
"He had a feeling that the answer was quite different and that he ought to know it, but he could not think of it. He began to get frightened, and that is bad for thinking." - J. R. R. Tolkien

Hola

Today was Spanish - we have been learning about ar, er and ir verbs and how to conjugate them. Last Thursday we had a test on ar verbs and I am happy because I got a 95% on it. Our assignment for next week is to memorize the er and ir conjugations because we will be having a test on them. In our text book we've been learning about time, and I'm actually pretty excited because I actually feel like I'm learning something and I can see myself making progress.

This week for Composition we had to write 3 paragraphs about homeschooling. Topic's including "Homeschooling: the only option", "Homeschooling: A good option" and "Homeschooling: not an option."I had fun coming up with reasons to put under each of those, and hopefully I was creative enough! :)

Swim practices have been going well. I can't explain how much I love swimming even though it makes me so extremely tired. Going back and forth across the pool may sound boring to some people, not me. At the end of October we will be having the annual Rivi swim meet at the Natitorium. I am excited and hopefully I will drop some time.

Tomorrow night (Friday night) starts Fall Ministry. Last year was my first year and I had a blast going to Michigan with Alyssa and Charity! :) This year I don't know what to expect so I'm looking forward to seeing what God has in store for me. My top 3 choices are 1) Lafayette 2) Kokmo, 3) Bloomington. You can pray for me that I will have a good attitude no matter what! Luv and miss you all!!!!

Quote of the post:
" I pretty much try to stay in a constant state of confusion just because of the expression it leaves on my face. " - Johnny Depp

My Week

I've done several hundred pages of school and I've swam several miles. I haven't gotten enough sleep all week but I'm still up early on a Saturday. I've stressed out over a Spanish test; stressed out over getting all my Worldview done and stressed out over my work hours. There is something I'm signed up to do, but the more I think about it; the less excited I become. I don't understand why people are like they are, why people say certain things; why people don't say other certain things, why people talk; why people don't talk. Wondering, "is that my fault?" Last night in family Bible Study we read Jude, here are the verses that stuck out to me:

Verses of the post:
"But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." Jude 1:20-25

Little People

Today I had classes at College Park Baptist Church. Since one class is from 9:30 to 10:30 and I have a long break before the next one at 12:30 so, I get to help out with the 3 and 4's. Today their letter was "C" and their number was "3". We colored pictures, practiced cutting on the lines, read books, played with play-dough, and told stories. I had so much fun, some kids are a lot harder to watch and play with then others, but these guys were way more on the fun side! :) Here's a song I wanted to post - I can't find the music itself, so here are the lyrics:

LITTLE PEOPLE -

They laugh at me, these fellows, just because I am small.
They laugh at me because I'm not a hundred feet tall.
I tell 'em there's a lot to learn down here on the ground.
The world is big but lil' people turn it around.

A worm can roll a stone.
A bee can sting a bear.
A fly can fly around the sky 'cos flies don't care
A sparrow in a hut, can make a happy home.
A flea can bite the bottom of the pope in rome

Goliath was a bruiser who was as tall as the sky.
But David threw a rock, and gave him one in the eye.
I never read the Bible but I know that it's true.
It only goes to show what little people can do.

A worm can roll a stone.
A bee can sting a bear.
A fly can fly around the sky 'cos flies don't care
A sparrow in a hut, can make a happy home.
A flea can bite the bottom of the pope in rome

So listen here, professor with your head in the cloud
It's often kinda useful to get lost in a crowd
So keep your universities -- i don't give a care
For better or for worse it is the way that I am

be careful as you go
cos little people grow
and little people know
when little people fight,
we may look easy pickings
but we got some bite!
so never kick a dog
because it's just a pup
you'd better run for cover when the pup grows up

and we'll fight like twenty armies
and we won't give up

A worm can roll a stone.
A bee can sting a bear.
A fly can fly around the sky 'cos flies don't care
A sparrow in a hut, can make a happy home.
A flea can bite the bottom of the pope in rome

I thought that was really thought provoking - in the movie Les Miserables one little guy is singing this and picking up bullets from the fallen enemy soldiers when he gets shot and dies. When I saw the play I was sobbing during that part. It was so sad. Sometimes we think little people are just little people, but I'm slowly learned how much little people can teach you, including patience - which James should be proud of me for mentioning.

Quote of the post:
"To be pleased with one's limits is a wretched state." - Unknown

Ello -

I feel like I'm due for an update. Right now nothing much is happening in my life. There's school, swimming, work and church. That's about it. Sometimes I feel like life just goes on without me. The funniest thing I've done since I came back from Europe has been going to Starbucks. Going out with college people is alot of fun, though they kinda make me feel awfully little.

I updated my links... Taking several people off etc. And then I added a Spanish word a day thing since I'm taking Spanish this year. Anybody know how to put accents in a word while your writing? I know its possible, but I don't know how. Maybe I should just download some sortof Spanish software. There seems to be a lack of comments lately. And I'll just tell you that every comment I get makes my day! I luv and miss you all!

Verses of the post:
"In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls." 1 Peter 1:6-9

Quote of the post:
"Criticism is prejudice made plausible." - Unknown

The Eiffel Tower at Night.  

Entertainment in a French Restaurant.  

Flowers on a English Pub by Windsor Castle.  

Jessica with English Policeman outside Buckingham Palace.  

Double Decker Bus in London. 

Quiz Thingy

Looks like I've been tagged by Sara. So here goes... :)

5 years ago I was:

10 - nothing significant comes to mind

1 year ago I was:

Starting Highschool
Taking Biology
Swimming for real

Yesterday I:
Swam at 5 am
Took my composition class
Went to Algebra
Babysat for my neighbors
played on the computer
Listened to my new CD

5 snacks I enjoy:
Sour Rips
Mint Chocolate-Chip Icecream
strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, backberries... :)
Almost all fruit

5 songs I know all the words to:

Happy Birthday
Sk8ter Boi
Friends
Star Spangled Banner
Phantom of the Opera
And tons more I don't have room to mention

5 things I would do with 100 million dollars

Go to college
Get a Corvette, Miata, Jeep and maybe a Mustang
Donate Money to Special Olympics
Take a tour around the World
And go visit the Blackwood's while they are in Australia

5 places I would run away to:

LA
Chicago
London
My Grandma's
My room

5 things I would never wear:

A jean jumper
pants that go up past my waist
any baggy clothing..

5 favorite tv shows:

CSI
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Joan of Arcadia
Lost

5 bad habits:

Drinking cappacinos before going to bed
Not studying/doing homework when I should be.
Saying things I regret.
Being grumpy alot
throwing my stuff all over the floor

5 biggest joys:

God.
Friends.
Family.
Swimming.
Chocolate.

5 fictional characters I would date:

Will Turner
Aragorn
Frodo
Mr. Darcy
Valjean

5 people I tag to do this:

Hee hee this is the fun part!!
Nathaniel
Alyssa
Stacey
Daniel
Bekah

There are two people I would like to tag but can't because they don't have blogs.. yet!!! So, whenever Jessica and Andrew get blogs they are tagged to do this quiz! And for all you people who want me to post more pictures... that will be my next post! Luv you all! :)

Rain

I love the rain
For the difference
That it brings
Adding a new personality
To the day

Each puddle
Its own little world
Each drop
Adds another character
To the picture

The eerie sky
Creating a melodramatic background
As life goes on
Playing out the passions
As depression rears its head
Searching for a helpless victim
Among the million of candidates
Pouting about the rain

-Unknown

I went with my brother Daniel to help close up Mr. Faris's stand tonight. We take down the sign and put all the vegetables in the cooler. Right before we were done it started pouring down rain. We had no other choice except to either walk or run in the rain. We ran. It was amazing, I don't think I'd ever quite run in the rain like that before. Anyway I thought I'd share my wonderful experience with all of you.

Now on to something a little more boring. I'm slowly get back into my swim team schedule, morning practices started this week and that's all I've been to. I know right now afternoon practices are really full, I can't wait till high-school swimming starts and a lot of people don't come to Rivi practices anymore. That might sound mean, but when there are less people Therese can really help with stroke technique and stuff like that.

School is okay, its still school though. I feel really behind in Spanish because I hadn't been there for 3 classes, I think I kinda made a fool of myself today. *sigh* And this next Monday, Algebra and composition start. I'm not really looking forward to that very much, this'll be the 3rd time I've tried to take Algebra. And its just kinda depressing. But Worldview is going well, I really enjoy the Iliad, though our class kinda argues an awful lot over which God's are better. What's your opinion?

Verses of the post:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter 1:3-5

Question?

Do you guys want me to post more pictures?

This Tiny LIttle Car. Itsn't it cute? 

The Mona Lisz. 

Grandma, Mom, Jessica and I in Paris. 

Back home again in Indiana...

This will just be a somewhat short post before I crash. London and Paris were wonderful, the tour majorly exceeded my expectations! But I have to say I never totally got over the jet lag while I was there, so now it is finally catching up with me. I need to sleep. We got to the Paris airport at 7 am their time this morning. Its a 6 hour difference so about 12 midnight IN time. And now we're here at home - 8:30pm. It's been a very long day and I am so happy to be home. Anyway I'm going to sleep. Tomorrow I have Worldview, of which I got some of it done... maybe. Anyway pray that I will get enough done to go to class tomorrow. Goodnight!