Huzzah! Today's the day of our Junior/Senior Banquet! I'm in the middle of getting ready to head out. And I'm finally excited. :) It's going to be a fabulous evening. I'm even going to CafeJam afterwards to see Cool Hand Luke! Awesome band I've seen twice- once at Cornerstone NC and another time at the Rock for Life Conference in DC. They're great live. Hopefully I'll see a few of you there tonight. (Alison!! ;) ) So last night was very cool. Our small group had a birthday dinner at Macaroni Grill for Delane and Nanette. It was a blast! I especially enjoyed hanging with Alison afterwards. You rock girly! Oh and I need to wish everyone from mi iglesia a safe and wonderful beach trip! I'm almost jealous. Oh wait no I'm not. haha... Allright, so I better head off to finish getting ready.

Well today was interesting. It was even cooler outside than I expected. And I had more fun just driving today doing my thinking. I believe I've stated here before that I do my best thinking in my car. Especially with the windows down and some uplifting music playing. :) Good times... So this morning I got up early and headed to our Bible study. That's always awesome. Makes my Wednesdays special. So I had a great day at school. Almost time for graduation. Almost there you guys! Ok, then I got home and mom told me to head out for shoes for Friday. Nice. That was fun. So when I got back I went out to the grocery store because believe it or not I made dinner. Cooking's great. I need to do it mas. So then I babysit at the Miller's. More fun. Sara and Maddie are so awesome. Then I came home and yes, this evening I finally beat Charlie in pool. At least online. Told you the day would come. hahaha. Anyway, I can't think of much more to write. It's too late... I'm looking forward to tomorrow night. A birthday dinner. Nice. I'm off.

Good morning! Well I got up at 5:30 this morning. My clock was an hour fast. Not cool. haha. Anyway, yesterday was wonderful. We had youth group at CoolBeans. Ginna, Ashley, and Sarah came too which was very cool. Glad you guys made it! Because I had a lot of fun :) Ginna, your pictures were beautiful! It looks like Paris was just lovely. I'm glad you guys had so much fun! So I'm off to school about now. I can't believe I only have a little over three weeks left. And between now and then we've got cool stuff like the banquet and the spring concert. Therefore the countdown begins! And I couldn't be more happy. :) I'm gone. See ya.

Back from DC! Whew what a whirlwind. So glad to be home too! Not that I didn't have a great time. I mean, DC is my favorite place in the world. It is one of the most beautiful cities. I love more than anything to walk around those streets at night. It's gorgeous! So let's see... this is going to take a while to go through the whole week. From the beginning:
Monday, I got up and headed to the school at 8:30. We said goodbye and were off. I'm not sure that car ride wasn't the best part of the week, or at least the most interesting. It mostly consisted of the group of us making plans for the trip- who would be dying their hair what color, etc. We also had the greatest time making a pit stop at Walmart. Very cool. So as soon as we were fortified with candy and hairdye and those few things we had forgotten to pack, we continued on our way. We also stopped at a gas station by the name of WaWa. I just don't get it... So at about 4pm or so we arrived at our hotel in DC. And it was gorgeous. We found out that there was a highschool conference going on there that week. That was cool because we got to stay in two rooms they had on the same hall as where that group was staying. And the rooms ended up being bigger than we had planned on getting, even equipped with a fridge and microwave. Pretty cool. And providential. So for dinner that night, we went to the Rainforest Cafe which was in a huge mall, with a Bloomingdale's, a Delia's, an H&M, and some other really cool stores including Steve Madden. That's where I found my very excellent shirt. :) Oh and the Rainforest Cafe rocked. Definitely. OK now for Tuesday and Wednesday- sorry but these days are going together because they are kind of blurred that way in my very bad memory. haha.

to be continued...

Ok so back to Tuesday and Wednesday. We went to a couple museums. Namely the National Aeronautics and Space Museum and the National Museum of American History. I think the latter was my favorite. It's also where I saw Although the Imax movie we saw at the space museum was pretty cool too. So in the evening we ate out, once at Olive Garden, where we told the waitors it was Mrs. Duncan's birthday. Pretty funny. :) We also went to see the White House and a few monuments in the evening. It was awesome walking around DC with my girls. And we had a nice conversation with the guard outside the Whitehouse. He was cool. Ok so Wednesday we went to Arlington National Cemetery and took the bus tour. It was really really awesome. And seeing the tomb of the unknown soldier was really special. It was pretty cool that we were all there to respect what that represented. Those guarding it go through so much to show respect for that memorial. I found it pretty amazing. And intense. OK so Thursday was pretty much just spent getting to Williamsburg from DC, swimming at our new hotel there, and eating at a really nice small Italian place. Fast forward to Friday. We got up and went to Busch Gardens. I rode Loch Ness, Apelgeist, and Apollo's Chariot- the best of which was definitely Apollo's Chariot. I'm all about the big drops. :) Busch Gardens was a beautiful park too. So we left for home from there and most of us slept about half the time. Well I may be adding more later, but that was pretty much it till last night. See ya.

Demi is currently wandering aound Washington DC and reported today that she scored a pink Jesus is my Homeboy t-shirt. YES!

So sorry I haven't written in a couple days. I know that's not cool. I really want to try to be consistent with this. Anyway, Wednesday was the day of my test at the hospital. It went well, but the results weren't too great. Well, anyway, today was wonderful. First I got to hang by the pool in the morning, listening to music and getting some sun. Yea, I got burned a little. lol I also rediscovered my love for DC Talk. Their Jesus Freak album is the coolest. And the lyrics are so simple but really really great. Afterwards, I went out with Mom, Jes, and Eavan and got my dress for our banquet. It was the first one I tried, and it's perfect. I'm really looking forward to the evening I get to wear it! We're going to have a blast, you guys! Oh yea, anyone else watch the Apprentice finale last night? Awesome! I knew I should have put some money on my man Bill. So I'm pretty tired and I think I'll go chill and maybe watch a nice movie. Buenas noches!

**Thanks to everyone who's been encouraging me and praying for me. I appreciate it more than you know! :) God has blessed me unspeakably with friends like you!

Lamentations 3

21This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.

22Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
23They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
24"The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
"Therefore I hope in Him!"

25The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.

First day of Spring Break!!!!!
However, another day which is cold and dark. :( I had at one point planned on some golf, but that's out the window. Oh well. :) As you may have guessed, I am indeed headed to Longhorn in just a few for dinner... How wonderful. By the way, I hope you guys will remember to pray for all these people being kidnapped in Iraq. It's getting out of control. Now it's not just the soldiers who are in danger... So keep praying! Well I must be off. Till we meet again...

An evening on Easter Sunday- always beautiful. The best holiday. I wish it wasn't called a holiday. A holiday makes me think of Martin Luther King day, Valentine's Day, etc. This is so much more. If it were a holiday, it would be nothing more than Easter bunnies and dyeing eggs. But it's all about us not only having a Savior, but a living One! Awesome.... So church was superfantastic. And after lunch Jes and I went to a movie- Ella Enchanted. Mom and Eavan had seen it and loved it. So did I. I thought it was the greatest. Had so many elements of the movie Shrek. But was even better. Anne Hathaway? Adorable. And, as mom pointed out, the storyline was wonderfully unique. Ok, you guys, tomorrow's going to be just grrrreat. My last day to eat before my procedure. Dinner with mis amigos! :) So till tomorrow....

Let's hear it for Condoleeza Rice!! Go girl! And who was it who predicted the liberals would forever regret forcing her to testify to the 9/11 commission? That'd be me. And I guess others too... :) But anyway, I loved how firm she was. She gave a full and complete answer to every question, put those guys in their places! They asked for it... So that excited me today. Also, the golf team played at Twin Oaks this afternoon. So fun! I think I did ok. Sure it's a par 3 course, but hey, it helps build my confidence when I can get the ball on the green (or at least pretty darn close) in one shot. haha. I also had lunch with Ashley today. Everyone needs to eat at that new bakery in Friendly Center next to Ltd. Too! It's called Carolina something Bakery I think. O well. haha Good stuff. Tomorrow is our last day of school before spring break. Then senior trip, then banquet, then graduation. woohoo! adios...

What a day. Bizzarre at times. But it was a beautiful morning. I thoroughly enjoyed Bible study with Hannah, Chaya, and Christine. It was an awesome way to start the day. Anyone else love the passage in Gen. 22 about Abraham being asked by God to sacrifice his son Isacc? I do. Wow! I want to have that perfect obedience like Abraham had. We talked this morning about how hard it is to know that God has made us a particular promise and to live our lives in the knowledge of that, without taking control of the situation. God can always do something more beautiful with what we give Him than we ever could. When Abraham decided to obey the Lord to the point of sacrificing Isacc, and submitted his love, his hopes for, the son who had been such a miracle, it proved his faith that God was in control, that He could fulfill His promise that Abraham would be the father of many nations regardless. And how ironic is it that one of my very favorite authors' most recent column is about putting complete trust in God? I just now saw it. Check it out... About the rest of my day, I went home early with a headache, ate lunch, rested, then washed my car and played some basketball with Eavan, who was home sick today and is looking especially adorable lately without one of her front teeth. haha. love it. So then I left to get Jes from school. We always enjoy our car rides together. :) I think my favorite thing is driving. I have the best conversations with God when I'm in my car. Very awesome. It's a really great quiet, meditative time for me, unless I'm cranking up Switchfoot with the windows down, of course. :)

So what's really important? I've been thinking about that a lot lately. I struggle in different areas of life- we all do. And it's so hard to admit that, to be honest about it. I am not always consistent in my quiet time with God, and it hurts. It hurts that I'm often lazy, that I do my own thing and don't want to submit to the Holy Spirit sometimes. But isn't that a good thing? That there is pain there when we know we've hurt our Savior. We've been talking in our Bible class about psychology. And we've been talking about how so many times feelings of guilt and depression are focused on as things to get rid of. Those feelings must be the result of our circumstances, our surroundings. But I'm not sure they should be gotten rid of. Sensitivity to our sin and to the Holy Spirit is so important. I mess up every day, it seems like it just gets worse all the time. Maybe it's just that I'm more sensitive to it? Or both? Either way, the recognition of our own human depravity is not a lack of self worth- it's healthy. Knowing that I'm a sinful being needing to be restored and redeemed every day, every minute, is what makes me so thankful for Christ and what He's done for me. Without that, without Him, I would be nothing. So I hope noone has minded me getting a little deeper tonight. It's just been one of those mellow, contemplative days for me. On days like this I feel like staying in my room and reading scripture and a few other really really great books for hours on end. haha

Back from Baltimore! Believe it or not, I missed writing every day. :) I had an awesome time up there though. Every GAC team did an amazing job! I watched every one perform except for Senior Gold. Eavan and Twinkles rooocked! And Elite was just plain incredible... I am so impressed at what those girls can accomplish. You were amazing! So a little of what happened over the weekend while we were in Baltimore: Jes kicked his shoe into the harbor, Duke lost, Dad ordered sweet tea at an Italian restaurant in Baltimore (???), I went to a 7-Eleven, etc. The hotel was a lot of fun too. So beautiful. And it was great to just walk right to the convention center next door in the mornings. A pretty great weekend. I can't wait to find out the results of all other GAC teams! Eavan's Twinkles received fourth. You go girls! I'm also really wanting GAC to get that Best Fans award. Yea, we earned it! What a fantastic weekend. Now to get into the swing of things again- school in the AM. Buenas noches...

That was a first- I missed a day yesterday, no entry. Hey it's cool, ready or not, I'll make up for it now with an extra long entry tonight. At the moment, I'm watching the end of the Apprentice. Great show- for a reality show that is. I love it. Anyway, today we finally were able to play at BelAire! And why was I so optimistic? I do not know. lol I did terrible. It was mildly discouraging, but I'll keep working on my swing, etc. I still enjoy playing, no matter how many golf balls I chuck in the lake (today's grand total was 3...). At least the schoolday was rather uneventful. Pretty surprising. April Fool's Day is all but meaningless it seems. It must be the worst day to try to pull anything on anyone. How ironic. There's my philosophy on this holiday. Hope you enjoyed it. Another irony- since I declared at the beginning of this entry that it would be so very long, I seem to have writer's block. So till we meet again...