Time to update! I think I need to start doing this more. Not that anyone cares so much but hey this is super fun for me to type away in this thing whenever I do. So ok guys, if you haven't heard the news...I'm going to Bryan College! And I couldn't be more excited. It's going to be amazing, and I know that's where God wants me to be. And, yes, it will be sad for many reasons too. But I think this will be an amazing year. I am so excited to see what the Lord is going to do to me and with me. And I am so wanting to learn all I'm going to be learning there. I really really hope Julie and I can room together! ;) Well I've still got lots to do to get ready, and am feeling a little crazy just because I've got only three more weeks in the boro. So if you guys would, please pray! And also for everyone else leaving the 21st. It's going to be an insane next couple weeks for sure. So anyway, before I get emotional (again), let's review the last couple very awesome days. Thursday I went to see The Bourne Supremacy (again!) with Catherine and Ginna. We also went to the Carolina Bakery and Cafe beforehand, which was so very fun! I totally miss hanging with you gals, just because you've always been the best God put in my path. We need to most definitely get together again ASAP! Also on Thursday was band practice- which rocked as usual. I also got to chat with Hannah which is always special of course! The next day, which was yesterday, I did some things around here and went to VBS at the Master's church to lend a hand once again. I wish I could have been there all week because it was awesome. There was a most excellent group who had traveled from Omaha, NE (OBC!) to help lead the VBS and it was amazing to get to know them and just see them minister and lend a hand where I could. We went to this spiffy little coffeeshop in Burlington last night after VBS ended and played jenga, phase 10, those kinds of things, and talked and all that good stuff. (side note- i had a cup of blueberry crumble flavored coffee there. very awesome, i must say!) Oh and I also have somewhere around 28 cents left from my lessons in flinging change which I learned can be quite a violent weapon in the hands of one who can snap... yea. So I was very encouraged talking to them- Abbey and Megan and Frances (still love your name!) and Pat and Matt(Spidey!) and Tim etc. etc. You guys rock my world! I mean besides your passion for Christ which is the first thing anyone sees in you guys, you also share my love for both LOTR and only the coolest music. (ex.- TFK, Sanctus Real, etc.) lol. So I had a blast last night and I'm in such a great mood today now as a result. Despite the fact that everyone and their sister is out of town but hey it's cool, I'll be next- our fam is going to the mts. of Tennessee for a few days. We'll see my grandpa there too. So I'll be gone till either Tuesday or Wednesday. So until then...

It's been a couple days since I last posted. Monday and Tuesday have been great. I'm keeping busy with reading and things. Today I've been playing with Eavan, discovering PollyPockets don't get old over the years. And I went to Steves around lunch and actually tried fish. Wow. Can't say I hated it. lol So I'm getting increasingly excited about the upcoming election. There's no place I'd rather be this week than protesting in Boston at the DNC convention. But it's cool, because I've got my Bush bumper sticker to flaunt around G'boro. I cannot wait to vote in November! And to volunteer anywhere I can for Bush before then. woohoo! So tomorrow I'm thrilled because I get to see Catherine again. We're goin to see the Bourne Supremacy. Such an amazing movie! And it's been way too long since I've gotten to hang with her. :) So who else saw Michael Moore on the O'Reilly Factor last night? The guy makes me laugh. He either dodged every question or gave an irrelevant answer. All he's about is hating Bush. Anyway, let's just hope he keeps being so ridiculous and then we'll have an even better chance at vistory this November. Unfortunately that leaves and open White House for Hilary in '08, but we'll deal with that then. lol. So I'm off for now- pray for our troops and pray for our country. God is good. Later!
Wait just a minute...does John Kerry not look oddly similar to an OompaLoompa? hmmm...

What an incredible day! Full of....stuff. I've had one of those days when I think I was aware of a lot more and realized a lot more going on around me than I have lately. After church I gained some perspective on various things and was comforted a lot by things that were said to me by various people, and especially in the sermon this morning. Today's church service just blew me away. It got pretty emotional and there was even a video about our Appalachia missions trip that was played and that got me pretty emotional. I still think about and pray for those kids we spent so much time loving. It was great to see Jen again too. ;) We had fun on our mission to Boston Market and then to Steve's for the grand meal he prepared. Rocknroll Steve. Ok, so that was extremely fun. And afterwards I came home and got ready to leave for the pot luck at church. Let's just say that it made my week- I forgot about all the stress and craziness of the past few days and our whole band just worshipped. Pure worship. How awesome to be up there with a group of amazingly and incredibly talented guys who love to be up there worshipping like that. You guys are my heroes. Yea so I'm having an awesome evening. Planning on topping it off by watching The Bourne Idenity, since I fell in love with the sequel last night. Later.

Listen to Us

Wow! What a week. It seems like I just posted, but I guess I need to update. Well, Thursday I went out with Kyle for the day and had practice that evening which went extraordinarily well. Doubt I've had so much fun at practice ever. I also had a fantastic Friday. I got to stay home and finally catch up on some rest. Then yesterday I went to Friendly and had lunch with Mom and Eavan at my favorite place eeever. And then I met Jordan so we could shop for a few hours. Then headed home before practice again, which was exciting since woohoo we're playing tonight. Oh and after practice, yea, I saw the best movie eeever- The Bourne Supremacy. I plan on seeing the Bourne Identity tonight since I still haven't seen it but the movie was still incredible last night! I had a ton of fun. Well now I've gotta run because it's time to get ready for church. That makes me happy. Adios!

Get ready for a rant, folks... So I heard this song by Casting Crowns on the radio this morning and I've never been a huge fan of theirs, their music is just more mild than my style, but I LOVE the words to this song that I heard. "Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth/Would care to know my name/Would care to feel my hurt/Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star/Would choose to light the way/For my ever wandering heart/Not because of who I am/But because of what You've done/Not because of what I've done/But because of who You are/I am a flower quickly fading/Here today and gone tomorrow/A wave tossed in the ocean/A vapor in the wind/Still You hear me when I'm calling/Lord, You catch me when I'm falling/And You've told me who I am/I am Yours" Isn't that the coolest ever? And that humble recognition of who God is should just make us want to become holy. I want to be holy. I can't. Only with Christ in me. But I do want to be holy. We have one lifetime to live for God. He is eternal. He is bigger than we are. Yet I have the nerve to let my heart wander, like that song says. But He's still there. It amazes me! And it amazes me that He chose me to even have the hope of becoming more like Him. I'm not existing here on this earth for my own purposes, to have a good job and a family; I'm here to worship God and to point others to Him by living my life in a way that lets others see Him in me! Wow! What a calling! He chose me, little me, who probably won't be on this earth much longer than 70 or 80 years, to bear His name, to live for Him. And if I don't live up to that calling, I'm not only selling myself short, but I'm selling God short. I still remember what Mr. Thurman told us at graduation- to live our lives so that we are worthy of Christ's sacrifice. We can never do that, but that should be our aim, our goal. There are too many petty distractions in my life most of the time. It's hard to be focused, but I want my life to be worthy (or as worthy as a human life can be) of Christ's sacrifice. How dare I live any other way? So there's my long and drawn out thought of the day. Hope you enjoyed. And today has been awesome. This morning I went to Panera for Bible story, and only three of us showed up so we basically discussed youth group plans and such. Afterwards I sat with Ashley, and we had a great chat about things. I'm so thankful for friends like her, who will just listen and say "hey let's pray for you about that." So yea that made my day. Then I came home and have had a beautiful time just hanging with the family. Jes and Eavan and I made a lot of very cool MadLib stories. Anyone know what those are? Where you insert random adjectives, nouns, verbs, etc. into a story and then read the result? Good times. I almost forgot! Yesterday I played golf with Jordan, Adam, Charlie, and Steve. It was great. I had so much fun and did better than I even thought I would. Which isn't saying much, but at least I didn't go five over par on every hole. That's success for me. Anyway, I'm off for now. Later.

Greetings! What a beautiful day. Again! And I just got back from the movies with Eavan. We saw A Cinderella Story of course. It was great. Not amazing and probably not as entertaining for a seven year old, but it was still really cute. Anyway, let's review last night. All I can say is what I've said to more than one person- that I haven't had that much fun since the Earthsuit days. It was such an excellent show that we saw. Quite an experience. Urban Sophisticate's cd really doesn't do them justice... Man, being up there watching them was more than awesome. And I am so so glad Jen got to be there to see them. She hadn't ever heard of them before I dragged her there, and ended up almost moved to tears during the show. Now how great is that?? :) And the rest of us enjoyed it almost as much... haha. Alison and I greatly enjoyed dancing, especially to our very favorite Urban song... Jen and I also saw some people there that we knew. Very cool. Then we chatted with the persons in the band afterwards. Very fun. Anyway, what a terrific evening! I can't wait to see them again. Next time I'm going to recruit all of my other people who haven't seen them before. I'm on a mission. That includes my mom who I'm sure will love them to death cuz they just rock almost as hard as Earthsuit back in the day. Ahh reminiscing...  Yea so tomorrow I'm going to hang with Kyle again. Love that girl. Then I'm not so sure but, as for now I'm off to go outside and chill. And read for a bit! Adieu.

I am finally a registered Republican! And am officially stoked about the upcoming election! woohoo! And am also stoked about the Urban Sophisticates show tomorrow night. Some ultra cool people will also be there and I'm excited to see 'em. :) Aaaaand, I'm looking forward to next week because this past one has been just insanely hectic and I'm going to try to have more focused quiet times and am also determined to finish one of the several books that I've started this year and haven't finished. lol Preferably Mere Christianity or that Elizabeth Elliot book. I'm almost done with both, but I can't seem to finish. I'm thinking it must be spiritual. I'm also looking forward to this week because it almost feels to me to be the beginning of the end of the summer. I'm not sure why, but it does. It's not such a happy thing, but change always interests me, and there's a lot I think is looming on the horizon. A lot of things about to happen to me, and I'm curious. That was a strange insightful moment but true. I've been struggling with so much lately, not even in such a bad way, but dealing with things in my life that have needed dealing with and I'm so thankful. Couldn't have done it without Christ either. For sure. But yea, life is good. And at the moment I'm off to my sister's birthday party. Buenas tardes.

What a BEAUTIFUL day! I am so excited. It's just lovely... Anyway, I'm home and have just come in from the pool. I ran right out there when I got home from babysitting at church. It was super fun. Now I'm about to head to Curves with Megan. A workout is always good. Then we've got Destination Unknown with the middleschoolers. I'm totally excited about that! It's been a lot of fun so far and tonight's going to be the best... ;) Buuuut I feel like soon I'm going to need to slow down. I'm going to be at school again in about a month and it's insaaaane. I've got orientation to think about and so much more. I need to give it to God, but I also need to be working on getting it all settled. Well, it will be taken care of. It's still stress. Anyway, I really haven't much else to say except that this has been a crazy crazy loco week... but tons of fun. I get to hang out with Kyle Milligan tomorrow too! woohoo! And then I've got to watch Sara then I'm babysitting at the church for the evening. Wow. So seriously, pray for me you guys because maybe I should be slooowing down a bit. I need to learn to consider things a bit more before I dive into a commitment. lol. Yea. But as I said, it's a beautiful day, and I'm enjoying it thoroughly, even though I wish I was playing golf out there! Yea. That'd be sweet. :) But hey it is now time to head out for Curves. And only TWO more days till the Urban Sophisticates show!! woohoo! Later, beautiful people!

I'm here only to say...HAPPY BIRTHDAY EAVAN!!!!

And now, for your viewing pleasure... It's... my brother and sister. :)

It's a beautiful day. Eavan's at cheerleading and Jes and I are hangin' at home. Later I'm going to go get my pictures and hang with Jessica for a bit. We've got a lovely flick called Emma to watch. And another- something Blue Collar... dot dot dot I'm not sure. Yesterday was most excellent. Church was great, though I was a few minutes late, my bad. Then some of us went to lunch at Qdoba. Very awesome. And I saw a few wonderful people I don't see very often anymore, namely- James, Charlotte, and Michelle. That made me happy. Then Adam, Charlie, Kevin, and I went to Barnes and Noble planning on some Starbucks and borwsing around a bit until I remembered that my new favorite place to chill was around the corner- that new Carolina Bakery. I love it there. One word- atmosphere. Oh and another word- jazz. So that was very fun. Then I headed home and went by the pool with the fam and then played and colored with Eavan then headed to the Thurman's house so that we could all go out and canvass some of Burlington for the Master's Chruch vbs. I had a blast. I love making new friends and all that. Chessa (I seriously hope that's how to spell your name. If not, my bad!:) ) was so much fun to go door to door with. And I enjoyed chatting with Rebecca about life again. Ok, how great is it that I get to see the UrbanSophisticates once again this Sunday! woohoo! You'd all better come too... Then Cool Hand Luke is the day after, but I'm not sure I'm so set on making that show, and then the 25th is the Bleach show. Their farewell tour! That makes me sad. But they all have families now, and it's cool. Whoa! I just saw that John Reuben's going to be in town Aug. 11. Hmmm Pretty awesome... So anyway, I just ran to the mailbox and got kind of wistful, missing the mountains in Tennesee and Kentucky where I spent time with so many special people. I can't wait to get the letters that were promised to me, and I can't wait to write those kids back! And I can't wait to go see them again. but for now, they're in my prayers. Ok, so on that sentimental note, I'm off. Aloha

Hey guys, I'm home! It feels so wonderfully great to be home. However, it's kind of hard since I am seriously missing everyone in Pathfork, Kentucky. I'm praying for them and anxiously awaiting their letters. It was quite an amazing week. I don't think I can really go into all that happened or describe how some of those lives touched me and were touched by us, but maybe later I'll relate a few stories. There were also some really funny moments throughout the week too... And it was the greatest to get to know everyone who came with CCC better. Right now I'm off to go out with mi madre. I'll be back later though. Until then....

Life is beautiful! I love saying that, because it encourages me just to say it. This week has been insane- I'm learning so much through a heck of a lot of reading and thinking and prayer about a lot of things, and when God is teaching me something in life, that's when it's tough. When I'm learning that my circumstances aren't what make me happy, that people don't make me happy, that even doing good things doesn't make me happy, it's trying, but at the same time, enlightening. I learn where my joy comes from. (And yes, I know that prepositions at the end of a sentence are improper.) I find joy in serving Christ, in reading about Him, in praying to Him, in worshipping Him. In the grand scheme of things, all the superficial things like looking for affirmation from others don't matter. Making sure everyone likes me doesn't matter. I'm the happiest when I'm content in Christ alone. That's just a broad, general look at things. I mean, I care a great deal about my family and my friends etc. All I'm trying to say is that sometimes I worry too much about the earthly garbage that constantly distracts me. I have to ask myself... Would I be content with just Christ? I love that song that we sing sometimes that says "All of You is more than enough for all of me..." I love it. That's what I want. And I think that sometimes I look at how I live and my life and I wonder if it mirrors my desire to have that kind of reckless abandon for Christ. I want to live like He's more than enough for me. Because I know that He is! Anyway, I know that I've been rambling, but that's something that I've been learning. On a slightly less intense note, I had a very fabulous day. Most of it was spent with my wonderful brother. Jes is amazing, and if you aren't privileged enough to know the guy, you should. The two of us met dad for lunch at Pizza Hut and then went to Jordan's and played with her adorable kittens! Later that day, I went to Eavan's cheerleading practice and finally got to see her back handspring. Amazing. Then I met Jen and Charlie and Steve at Friendly, we chilled at Barnes and Noble, and enjoyed some live jazz in the parking lot. Then I dropped in Lerner and came home, where I found mom just off our new treadmill. Very awesome! Who wants to have a go? I mean the incline on that thing can get pretty crazy! Anyway, now I'm getting ready to finish packing and getting stuff ready for this week in the Appalachian Mts. I am incredibly excited about this trip. I'm going to miss my family and those friends who aren't going, but I have a pretty great feeling about the work we're going to get to do with those kids! So I'm off! Later. I'll leave the lyrics to a random song. Hmmm which one shall I leave you with? My last post for a week.... How about-

Home
by: Switchfoot

It's a long way from Miami to L.A.
It's a longer way from yesterday to where I am today
It's a long way from my thoughts to what I’ll say
It's a long long way from paradise to where I am today

All that's in my head is in Your hands

It's a long way from the moon up to the sun
It's a longer road ahead of me, the road that I’ve begun
Stop to think of all the time I’ve lost
Start to think of all the bridges that I’ve burned that must be crossed

Over, over, over, take me over

I've been poison, I've been rain
I've been fooled again
I've seen ashes shine like chrome
Someday I’ll see home

Home, home

I can see the stars from way down here
But I can't fall asleep behind the wheel

It's a long way from the shadows in my cave
Up to Your reality
To watch the sunlight taking over, over
Taking over
Take me over

I've been poison, I've been rain
I've been fooled again
I've seen ashes shine like chrome
Someday I'll see home

All that's in my head is in Your hands
If it's in my head, it's in Your hands
It's in my head, it's in Your hands
It's in Your hands

I am really very close to being sick. Yes I do have an untimely cold, but just watching Sadaam on tv at his trial this morning would make any person ill. And I'm getting there. He looked too confident and well-dressed in his pin-striped suit. His hair and beard were too nicely trim. He had the gaul to sit there in front of the Iraqi judge who was questioning him and spout off that he was the president of Iraq, Bush was the criminal, the Kuwaitis were dogs, etc. So wrong on so many levels. I hope they get through this trial as soon as humanly possible. The guy doesn't have a chance at getting away with his life, but the quicker they can sentence him, the sooner justice will be served to the man who murdered thousands. He absolutely doesn't even deserve a fair trial, but he's getting one anyway! Makes me mad. But anyway, besides watching that garbage on tv today, it's been beautiful. Maegan and Jenny and I went to the mall for lunch and shopping, and I even met up with Jen! :) Good times. Oh and last night I saw Spiderman 2 with mis amigos, which was most excellent of course. I think I jumped three feet in the air when that crazy arm jumped out of nowhere. But I loved it! I haven't really posted in a while so let's rewind to Sunday. First of all, Kyle was kind enough to get me the newest Pillar cd (also autographed- crazy!) at their show at CafeJam last Tuesday. I've been listening to it constantly ever since. You guys need to have a listen- it rocks! So later that day, the people going on the Appalachia trip had a cookout at DL's, then we went to see Jeremy Camp. Great show! Then Monday we had a nice Cuban dinner with some friends and Tuesday was yet another pool party. Oh so fun of course. So then we're back to Wednesday then Thursday, and yea, told you about those. So tomorrow I've got to finish getting ready for the Appalachia trip which I leave for on Saturday (also Jordan's birthday! :)) And check it out, I'm discovering that I have an obsession with Elizabeth Elliot. She is such a beautiful person- her writing is incredible and so insightful. Her first love is Christ, and that just comes right through in her books. Anyway, I'm off to play some Game cube with my very handsome bro. Later.