Ick...

Well, today has been... interesting. I was starting to feel sick last night at McDermott's and thought I was pretty much better this morning. It kinda turned out that I was wrong... I got to second hour Photography, and got an awful headache and started getting really warm. Then my stomach threatened to turn me upside-down. So between 2nd and 3rd hour, I called my mom and she came to get me. I tried laying down for about an hour and a half, but never fell asleep. So I got up, at some crackers and watched My Girl, which I had never seen before. I watched it on our Netflix online thing. If you haven't seen the movie, though, I recommend it. It was super cute, except I cried through the last half an hour, which probably wasn't good for my headache... but it was a really cute movie. I've still got that headache, and I'm starting to get warm again, which I was hoping wouldn't happen. I really wanted to go to Bible study tonight, and we're starting When I don't Desired God, but it's okay because we also just started that last night at McDermott's. It's still a bummer, though.

I acctually have a prayer request, though. On Friday, a non-Christian friend of mine, Alyssa, is having her birthday party. It's an overnight thing and then on Saturday we're going to Mall of America. Laura is also going to that, and it's just going to be the three of us. So Alyssa and I have been getting pretty close lately, and so my prayer request is that this weekend Laura and I would be able to minister to her. I've also been thinking about sometime bringing her to church with my family. So just be praying for this weekend, and for her in general. Thanks!!!

Spring Cleaning

Alright, so yesterday... I spent probably a bit over 7 hours cleaning my room. No, it wasn't THAT messy... I just went all out cleaning it. I cleaned off my dressers and desk, under my bed (which wasn't that messy because I cleaned under there a bit over a month ago), I went through all of my drawers in my desk (which were pretty much overflowing) and threw away most of the stuff, cleaned out the corners of my room that I haven't touched in probably a year (ick, I know), vacuumed for like half an hour because there was so much that I hadn't vacuumed in forever, and rearranged my room. Oh, and the obvious picking up the stuff on the floor. I'm still not completely done because when I moved my stuff around, I had to put some other stuff out of the way. But I decided not to do that today. So anyways... I'm pretty exhausted.

Church this morning was amazing, as always, though. One thing that really stuck out to me was when he was talking about hoping and specifically for Heaven. So we looked at this verse (which I sadly can't remember what it was) that said Heavens which referenced the invisible spiritual kingdom around us. It was really cool and I've been thinking about that a lot today. Annaka (yes, I've been spelling her name wrong... so sorry to Annaka!!) and her family weren't there today, which was sad. I'll see her on Wednesday for dance, though. But it still wasn't quite the same without her. You know how when you get together with a group of friends, and there's one person missing that's usually there, and it's just different? Not bad, but just different? Well, it was kind of like that... I did miss her, though.

It's about time to go to the McDermott's (Jake is already here... so I've had an interesting day since he got here...) and I still need to finish folding some sheets. So I'd better get going!! But I will hopefully be back on soon!

Exciting News!!

Alright, well, I completely forgot the last time I wrote to tell you about the exciting news!! So here it is.... my dad's choir's international tour will be to..... SOUTH AFRICA!!!!!! I'm so pumped it's incredible!!!! I want to go SO badly and I really hope we can make that happen!! It may get complicated if that's around the time that we go to China to get Hannah, but there are ways to make sure that those dates don't end up for the same time. If that would be the case, they can push up our travel date to go to China a few weeks. But if they're going to be right next to each other like BAM BAM, it might not work out so well with missing school and stuff. Also, the expenses.... It's not exactly the cheapest thing to go to China or South Africa... I still really hope that we can make it work though!! It's like my dream to go to Africa!! So that would definately be cool!! I don't really know much more than that, but I'll be sure to keep you guys updated!

Spring Break!

I am so incredibly happy that it's spring break. I love sleeping in every morning, having all this time to just read, play cards, and do stuff with my family. We're at my grandparents' house in Illinois and I totally love it that I really don't have all that much to say that's incredibly recent. It's super nice to have those periods of your life where you can just sit down and not really have anything going on. Then again, I'm glad it's not like this all the time, because that could eventually end up getting boring. Although I do seem to handle summer pretty well... I still don't think I could do it all the time, though.

Pretty much the most exciting thing that's happened recently is that a few girls from our church and I started doing dance class! We did that last Wednesday, and it was super fun. Although, Bekah and I drove around Chippewa Falls for about 45 minutes because we couldn't find the building. We had tried calling Annika's house (we thought her parents might be able to give us directions, since they must have dropped her off earlier or at least would know where to find her), we tried calling my house (my mom is incredibly amazing with directions), and we even ended up talking to this one guy who lived in Chippewa, but ended up not really helping us. So we called Annika's house once more and left a message, just to apologize, if anything. We also left the number of the cell phone for them to call us back on if they got the message within the near future. As it turns out, Annika's brother had been home, but he just doesn't answer the phone and had called their mom or something, who called us and got us there. We felt so bad, but were able to get there and do quite a bit anyways. It was also kind of nice because Jessie got there just a few minutes after us because she doesn't get out of school until later. So we all started at the same time.

So now a bit more up to date... we're at my grandparents house and already I'm addicted to a couple more shows. Maia (my dad's cousin who is living with my grandparent's right now) and I watched the season premiere of Dancing With the Stars (the first night... the guys) and then we watched The Bachelor afterwards. We agreed that the chicks on that show are just desperate and quite pathetic, but yet, we still have our favorites. I'm pretty sure I won't keep watching that, though, because it's on Monday nights, when we have Bible study, and there's no way I would give up that for a TV show. Tuesday and Wednesday night, we watched American Idol, which apparently, my dad's entire side of the family watches that. So I watched that with them, and I'm pretty sure I'm already addicted. There's only 10 left in this season, and after only one week, I can tell you who I like and don't like. David Archuleta is my favorite... he has an amazing voice and unbelievably, is only seventeen. I like Jason, too, and I think Brooke is super cute. Chikezie makes me smile just watching him, and Carly's got some talent. I've also decided that Kristy Lee Cook just needs to go. I have no clue how she's still in the competition. So tonight is Thursday... LOST night!!! Last week, there were some pretty crazy things presented and I still haven't quite figured out the whole Sun and Jin thing. I think Sun was having a flash forward and Jin was having a flash back, but no matter what theory of anyone's is right, it was still super depressing to see Sun at Jin's gravestone.

Hmm... well, it's 4:07 and I'm still not dressed. Ahh, the joys of spring break. :) But maybe I should go do that...especially since we're going to something at my grandparents' church tonight, and I'm pretty sure I don't want to go in my PJs. I hope you all have a marvelous rest of the week!!

Busy, busy, busy!

Alright, well, I haven't written since what, Thursday? And I have a BAZILLION things to share!! So much has happened to me in the past couple days it's just insane!! So we'll start with Friday... or how about Friday night? (the only other interesting thing about Friday was Laura and I watching LOST on the computer, which the quality was better than I remembered... but we're both pretty sure that we don't want Juliet around anymore because she just gets in the way of things. But next week should be about Sun and Jin, I think, which are my favorite people and I'm super pumped!!)

So Rachel and I went to the honors orchestra rehersal which overall, went pretty well. My mom came to pick us up after the rehersal and we had to fit a full size bass and a full size cello into the van. That was pretty interesting.... We had to put both of the back seats down to fit the bass in, and then we stuck my cello right in front of the side door, which in that van is the only door into the back. And since Andrew came along, both Rachel and I had to sit in the back... illegally... on the folded down seats... It was pretty bad, but there really wasn't any other way to get everything home, which is the only reason why my mom tolerated it. So anyway, my mom drove us to Rachel's house and I stayed there for the night because we had yet another rehersal Saturday morning at 10:00 and it was just easier to carpool that way. Rachel's sister, Heather, and I talked about meniscuses (or our translation- the line where the water ends) and cracked up about that for a while, and then we watched My Summer Story which is sort of a sequel to A Christmas Story and I've never acctually seen the first one (gasp, I know) so I don't really know what to compare it to, but it was just.... weird. And I can't say that I really like it or anything because it didn't really even have a plot!! I tend to enjoy things more when they have a plot.... and the plot thickens. :) So after that, Rachel and I went to bed and it was probably around 11:30 when we fell asleep.

Saturday morning we woke up (I, unwillingly) and Rachel's mom made us french toast and tea, which we drank from little Japanese teacups, and we were off to rehersal again. So after rehersal, my mom picked us up (except this time we could just leave our instruments at the State Theatre) and we dropped Rachel off and I came home and just kind of vegged out until Rachel called wanting to go shopping for black sweaters to wear over our dresses. So I agreed to go and I'm pretty sure we looked through almost all of the stores in the mall before Rachel picked one out that she liked and then we went to Savers to look for me because I couldn't find anything less than $10, which is what my mom gave me. :) But I acctually did find a pretty cute black sweater there, and it looked nice with the dress. As we were driving around Heather and Rachel were singing to this Sesame Street tape that they had, which was definately pretty funny. :) So another hour and a half passes after Rachel dropped me off and then she's all of a sudden back again with Arith (her brother) driving us to our final rehersal... and then our concert. It turns out we were half an hour early... oh joy. But I got a lot of good practicing done, so that was good. And then.... the concert. Which acctually went really well!! That was the best I ever played it! Which is also quite a good thing. So then the acctuall symphony orchestra played and a junior from Memorial who's acctually in orchestra (and Jazz 1) played piano and it was absolutely amazing! Seriously, that should not even be possible.

And today... John Raymond came to church with us again today and the Van Goors were there again, too. Matt preached on "little sins" today and it was really convicting. How it starts out looking and then we linger and then we live it out and then we're lounging in it. And I've noticed that in my own life, too, how true that is. So Annika, Jessie, Bekah and I (and Bethany once she finishes this semester) are going to be doing a dance class... Annika is going to be teaching us and it's confirmed for Wednesdays at 3:15 and we also decided on swing and I'm SOOOOO excited!! I'll be sure to keep you guys updated on that. Then around 2:30, Jess came and picked me up and we went to Cold Stone and were there for like an hour and a half talking and people watching which I think is the most hillarious thing ever. We also noticed one of their smoothies... made with sorbet and MOUNTAIN DEW. Does that sound absolutely bizarre and sort of gross to anyone else? We thought it was really weird and kept waiting for someone to order it so we could see what exactly it was, but no one ever got it... We weren't too surprised. :)

I've also got another very exciting piece of news for you guys, but I'm afraid if I say it now, I'll just keep talking about it and I REALLY need to get to bed because I'm wiped. So next time... Stay tuned!! :)

TRAUMA

Okay, so I think I just may have to go to therapy for this... High school basketball is on instead of LOST and LOST won't be on until 1:05 this morning!!!!! Seriuosly, how could anyone do such a thing?? It will be on the ABC website tomorrow, but to be honest, those are just not very good quality. It skips a ton and it's kinda hard to see sometimes. Ugh. Oh well.



Anways, so about some other things that would probably be more interesting for you guys to hear... I'll start with our church situation. For those who don't know, we're not at Salem anymore and are now attending Sovereign Grace and my parents have acctually talked with Matt (the pastor) about becoming members. I seriuosly LOVE this church!!! The worship is so incredible because everyone is so centered on God and they sing just because they love to worship. And the messages are amazing! I come back every week SO glad we are where we are. And the people are so... I don't even know how to describe them.... just wonderful! I've already made some really good friends there and we've started planning doing things together. And it's a really cool God thing that there's acctually another freshman girl, Annika!!! Out of my entire life, there's only been about 3 years or so that I've had girls my age at our church. And it's been about the same for her, that there haven't really been any girls her age, so it was also pretty exciting for her, too. Acctually, I think they had been praying about that. So that's another cool thing. Then there's Jessie, a junior (I believe) in high school, and Katie, who is eight years out of college and married, and the Van Goors have been coming to church with us the past few weeks, too. But I'm already so close with some of them and I was talking to my mom about it and she described it partly being because they're not hiding anything. When we talk to them, they just pour their hearts out and don't feel like they have to put on a "good Christian act" like I've seen so many Christians do. If you've ever listened to the song "Stained Glass Masquerade" by Casting Crowns, thats a part of what I mean by the "good Christian act."



Also- about the adoption.... Well, the referrals are finally in 2006, which is when our log-in date is!! Our log-in date is March 13 (it's almost been 2 years!) and we're predicting that we probably will get the referral sometime around the beginning of 2009. Which is a bummer. Pretty much the only thing getting me through this is that God's timing is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT and so even though He's making us wait for a SUPER long time, it's still all for the best and all for His glory. The other day, my mom was in the Christian Bible Bookstore and they were selling these lambs and you could pay $5.00 and they would give one to an orphan (which I thought was a super great idea). And then you could also buy one of your own, and so my mom came home and talked about it with my dad (and I just so happened to be in the room and became a part of the conversation) and we all agreed that she should go back and get one for Hannah. So she did the next day and we named her Gracie because Hannah means grace and the name Gracie is just cute. So this is acctually a picture of me with Gracie.

Alrighty you guys, well I hope you have a blessed rest of the day!!

Kirsten

Oh, and if any of you guys want to help me out with the whole name of my blog thing, that would help me out a ton because I'm just not that creative and I would end up coming up with something such as, "Kirsten's Blog" or something. Creative, right? Not so much. So any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated!!!!

Long Time, No See

Well, it's been a while since I've written on here and I deleted all of my other posts partly because my view on things has changed a bit since then. Also, I didn't particularly like to read them because I thought I was kind of a dork... but I guess I can't really help that.

So, what's new with me? Not a ton, although lately I've been thinking about growing up a lot. I had a conversation with Bethany yesterday when she was driving me home from a service project we were doing and we were talking about one of Piper's sermons from The Blazing Center on suffering. He started out talking about how we're supposed to go and make disciples of all nations and how Muslims and Buddhists and everyone else doesn't want us to do that. How they don't want us coming and telling them about Jesus and trying to convert them. And how there are people who die because of that. Well, I want to be a missionary in Morocco, where Christians are treated kind of similar to the way African-Americans were treated in the earlier 1900's. I just looked some stuff up on the persicution in Morocco and found that there have been times where police officers will not investigate a crime because the victim is a Christian, when a pastor was falsely accused of theft, he, his wife, and a member of his church were thrown into jail for two days just because they were Christains, a Christian recieved 15 years in jail for proselytizing, and then there was also some other stuff (see http://www.persecution.org/suffering/countryinfodetail.php?countrycode=31). It was also number 33 on the top persecuted countries in January of 2007. So anyways, when I was talking to Bethany, I was wondering if my dad was having a hard time with that. Because I've heard him say that he has struggled with that and while we were watching it, he kept looking at me kind of different. I know there's NO way he's going to prevent me from doing what God has called me to do (whether that stays the same as I feel it is now, or whether he changes that and wants me to be a surgeon--which I would NEVER want to do, but do it if that's what He called me to do). But then I was just thinking that I only have three more years of high school! Which was a completely mind blowing thought. And then I'll have a few years in college and after that, maybe Morocco? Which means I could possibly have only 7 more years here, depending on what God does. Growing up feels like it's happening all too fast. Sometimes I wish it would just be done and over with, but at other times, kind of like now, I wish time would just slow down for a while (geometry class is not one of those times... that class can not end quickly enough). One of the things that would be extremely hard for me if I did end up in Morocco is the distance from my family. My family means more to me than I can even describe and I just don't know how I'd deal with being so far away from them by myself. Which is one of the many places where God comes in. There's no way I could get over that without Him. But He has done the impossible in the past, and I have no doubt He can do it again in the future.

Okay, well, I've got a bazillion more things to say regarding church, school, our adoption process (next time I'll have to talk about Gracie, the stuffed lamb, which we got for Hannah), and our possible trip to Greece. There's a bunch of other stuff, too, but those are the first things that come to my head. I'm totally wiped so I'm going to get to bed early tonight and maybe be not so wiped tomorrow for LOST!!! Oh, that'll probably be a pretty big topic next time I write, too. Last week was about Desmond and it had THEE cutest ending ever and I'm really excited to see what they're doing with that this week!! And I'm also hoping they'll show when Kate comes back to the beach, since they didn't really develop any of that stuff last time.

Okay, for real now, I'm off to bed!! 'Night!