Leaving...

Tomorrow morning at 7:00 AM, I am leaving for two weeks to Florida! I am so excited I can't even describe it. If you feel like sending me a letter while I'm gone, *hint*hint* here's the address:

Ellie Cutter
c/o ECHO
17430 Durrance Rd
North Fort Myers, Florida 33917

Quote of the post:
"The world is full of willing people; some willing to work, the rest willing to let them." -Robert Frost

Please pray that:
1) Our trip would have unity
2) That we would be like the people in the quote ^__^, willing to work hard
3) That I would be leader and an example to the younger people on the trip

Song of the post:
"Everytime I hear your name" - Keith Anderson
- This song has nothing to do with the post, I just really like it. :)

Summer

I am now officially finished with school for my sophomore year. For some reason my Spanish class seemed to go on forever and ever, but we went out to eat and my teacher gave my whole class certificates that said we completed Spanish 1. It hasn't really sunk in yet that I don't have Spanish next week, but when Tuesday rolls around I know I'll be very thankful. :)

My summer is so full of things that I'm doing I'm almost afraid to write it out because I'll become overwhelmed. To begin with, I'm working at Highland Country Club and substituting at the Riviera Club as a lifeguard. I'm also the nanny of twin boys that live behind me on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Wednesdays I'm cleaning Dr. and Mrs. Blackwood's house. Hopefully I'll survive between these four jobs.

Next Thursday - a week from today - I am leaving for ECHO. It has come up so quickly and I'm only now starting to get things together. Last year I was much more prepared beforehand. My leaders are Ben and Laura Turner, Rochelle Moore and Heather Baumgarder. I am really excited because this year I get to be one of the "older, more experienced" people on the trip. I just know that God is going to teach me a lot and I'm looking forward to whatever he has in store.

I am planning on attending Covfamikoi in July, that will probably be a greatly needed break from all my work. I am excited because I've always heard so much about it, but I've never been that I can remember... most of you probably know my "drawer" story. :) I am also planning on swimming on the Riviera swim team as much as I can. I haven't been quite as faithful as I should be recently, but I'm planning on squeezing in as many practices as I can.

I probably should have posted this actually on his birthday, but hopefully he'll be surprised that I posted about it at all. My little brother Daniel turned 13 this past Tuesday. (I suppose since he is now thirteen I shouldn't call him my little brother.) I just want to say that I am really proud of him. He has grown up so much in the past year and I can really see God's work in his life. I love you Daniel! :)

This is quite a long post for me so I should probably end it now. Luv and miss you all!!!

Song of the post:
"This I swear" - Nick Lachey

Quote of the post:
"I hate the way you talk to me and the way you cut your hair. I hate the way you drive your car. I hate it when you stare. I hate your big dumb combat boots and the way you read my mind. I hate you so much it makes me sick - it even makes me rhyme. I hate it when your always right. I hate it when you lie. I hate it when you make me laugh - even worse when you make me cry. I hate it when your not around and the fact you didn't call. But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you all - not even close, not even a little, not any at all." - 10 things I hate about you

Graduation

Last Saturday I went to the graduation at my church and today I went to the graduation at Branch; a homeschool co-op for those who don't know. Seeing all those people actually get up there, give their speech and then be done with highschool is so inspiring to me. Even though I have two years to go it makes me want to work really hard to finish highschool well. I am so excited already to graduate and then see what God has in store for me in the future. I don't know what I want to do with my life, there are so many things that interest me. I would love to get married if that's in God's plan for me, but I don't want to have too high of expectations because I don't want to be disappointed if God doesn't want something to happen. Anyway, I am wholeheartly looking forward to my graduation because that marks a certain place in life. I think I'll need to grow up some and actually I'm sure I'll change a lot before I graduate, I'm so excited to see what the future has in store!

Song of the post:
"Born to fly" Sara Evans - I LOVE this song!

Quotes of the post:
"The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future life." - Plato

Weight Loss

Joke of the post:
'I was talking to my doctor about a weight-loss patch I had seen advertised. Supposedly you stick it on and the pounds melt away. "Does it work?" I asked. "Sure" he said. "If you put it over your mouth.'" - Readers Digest

Quote of the post:
"The rest of the world lives to eat, while I eat to live" -Socrates

The Play

Our homeschool play "a celebration of Hans Christian Anderson" was two weeks ago. I took some pictures and had meant to put them on my blog sooner, but I didn't have a chance. Even though I wasn't actually in this play, I got to help by turning the lights on and off. I had a blast and am definitely looking forward to next year and maybe being in a play. Enjoy the pictures and don't forget to check out the pictures of our kittens further down! :)

Quote of the post:
"Every man's life is a fairy tale written by God's finger." - Hans Christian Anderson

Ruth and I  

Abby and Lyndsi 

Jessica and Eraena 

Anna and Lacey 

Kittens!!!

Our cat Margaret has had her kittens this past Friday. Three black - which we are guessing look like the daddy and one gray - like mommy. They are still incredibly small and hard to get good pictures of, but I tried to take some because I promised Maria and Charity that they could see the kittens, since Margaret used to be their cat before they moved! Once they get a little bigger, I'll try to post some better pictures. :)

Quote of the post:
"The trouble with a kitten is that When it grows up, it's always a cat." - Unknown

sleeping... in their box 

here are the four sleeping  

this kitten doesn't want to get its picture taken...  

Jessica and Margaret ( the mommy ) 

Rain

My daddy picked me up from Dr. Blackwood's this afternoon and it was raining. One of the windshield wipers on his truck is broken and so the wiper part itself is missing so the metal pole just sticks straight out from the windshield. All the way home the pole just waved back and forth in mid-air and it made me smile. I wonder how many people thought we were weird? :)

The forecast says that its going to rain for the next 4 days. I do love rain, especially when I get to become soaking wet with my friends, but somehow just the thought of rain for the next several days isn't a very happy thought. :-/

I do have good news to announce though, Elizabeth Enas has joined the blogging world!
Visit her at: www.greenbookoflife.blogspot.com

Song of the post:
"To make you feel my love" by Garth Brooks

Quote of the post:
"Little drops of rain
Whisper of the pain
Tears of love
Lost in the days gone by"
- Unknown

Not much...

to report.

I’m still writing my paper on Les Miserables and the French History surrounding it for composition; I have my last Worldview paper to write this week; two tests to take for Algebra and then three more weeks – 6 classes – of Spanish. *sigh* Somehow I don’t feel that close to being done, though I am so extremely excited to be finished.

I just finished a wonderful book called Riding the Bus with My Sister. It is a story about two sisters; Beth who is mentally retarded and rides the bus all day all year round and Rachel who takes time off her job as a teacher to ride the bus with Beth. I can easily relate to Rachel because I also have a sibling with special needs. One point that struck me was when she talked about how it hurt her when people casually say “oh I’m so retarded” to make whatever stupid thing they did seem less stupid. Maybe it was said unconsciously, but it doesn’t give much consideration for those who are truly retarded. Anyway, it definitely helped me understand the way my brother and other children like him respond to different situations in life. There were many good points in this book and I recommend it to everyone.

Quote of the post:
Maria: What is it?
Harriet Miller: Its a bundt.
Maria: A bun?
Harriet:A bundt
Maria A Bondt?
Harriet: BUNDT BUUNDT!!
Maria: I know, its a cake!....(to friend) there's a hole in this cake.
- My Big Fat Greek Wedding

I watched this movie yesterday with my brother, this quote is not nearly as funny written down as it is in the movie itself, but when I was watching the movie I couldn't stop laughing it was so hilarious. :-P

Song of the post:
"A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton

Pictures

I did some debating about which pictures I should post, because I really didn't want anybody to get mad at me, but because I couldn't decide on just a couple pictures... I just posted all of them. SONrise was a blast and I wish I had taken more then this, but it was good for me just to remember to take my camera. ;-)

Quote of the post:
"You know what a camera is? A mirror with memory." -Unknown

Ellie Faris 

Ben and Amy 

Cathy, Beth & Ben 

Flo and Grace 

Trenton :-P 

Jamey and Jessica during breakfast 

Abby, Lydia & Lyndsi 

Becca 

David, Ben & Luke 

Jessica 

Mary 

Addy 

Ben with his eyes closed:) 

Amy and Beth's bear