Constant Battle

It's actually been kind of funny. Lately, I really feel as though God has been preparing me for something. I'm not sure what that something is yet, but I know that when it comes, I'll be prepared. I've been having friend issues again (shocker) and this time it seems as though it's more so than it has been before just because I've been friends with this person for such a long time. I won't get into my latest frustration with her, but they've been constantly building up and we've been butting heads more and more. I'm not really sure whether this is connected to these spiels or not, but this year it's been really interesting as my comfort zone has been getting bigger and stretching more as I find myself going out of my comfort zone a little bit more. And as stated at the beginning of this, I really feel like God is preparing me for something. And something big. So although the frustrating events themselves are not the greatest things in the world, it's strange how I feel a sense of calmness about all this, and yet not so very strange at all...

Merry Christmas - Third Day

I got the Third Day Christmas CD last year, and the main reason I wanted the CD was because of this song. I cry when I sit and really listen to this song, as it hits so close to the heart for my family. It seems to be our Christmas theme song year after year (well, not quite our theme song...), and hopefully next Christmas we will be able to sing the last verse of this song!!

P.S. You don't necessarily have to watch the video, mostly I just want to share the song...

27 Things

Well, as today is Thanksgiving on this 27th day of November, I thought that I'd share 27 things that I'm thankful for.

1. Through Jesus' death on the cross and RESURRECTION, I've been adopted into God's family and have eternity to spend with Him.
2. I am so incredibly blessed with an amazing family and friends.
3. Although I often complain about school (mostly getting up early and the mass of AP Euro homework I have), I have the privilege to get a good education.
4. This is most likely/hopefully the last Thanksgiving without little miss Hannah!
5. God gave us such an amazing guide book for life.
6. Different languages and that we're able to learn them.
7. Giraffes.
8. The ability to travel around the world.
9. Weather diversity- life is so much more interesting having sun, rain, snow, etc. instead of just one.
10. Blankets, sweatshirts, and mittens.
11. Jawbones- think of how difficult it would be to eat if you had to move your mouth with your hands!
12. Little kids' laughs and fascination with everything.
13. Movies.
14. Our sponsered child, Slindile Sli, whose birthday is today!! I could also legally start driving today as it's 6 months since/until my birthday...
15. The internet- so many wonderful people it would be more difficult to keep in touch with without the internet!
16. Music.
17. Season 5 of LOST starts again on January 21. :)
18. My AP European History class- it's so much work but so worth it.
19. Photography.
20. Christmas.
21. Memories.
22. Being so close to a friend that you're even friends with their siblings and parents.
23. Toothbrushes- I can hardly stand an hour with nasty whatever it is on your teeth that makes them feel all gross, I can't imagine going any longer with that. Blech.
24. Inside Jokes.
25. The color yellow- it's just so happy!
26. Animal crackers, banana bread, alfredo, and fruit salad.
27. Every single person who's reading this. I love you all so much!!

Procrastinating

Well, there's been a lot of procrastinating going on with me lately. I've failed to post on this in over a month again, and am procrastinating on writing my essay for AP Euro on the discussion we had in class about the Enlightenment (specifically Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau). I have no desire whatsoever to write this essay, especially since I've very sleep deprived as I've stayed up late working on other papers and reading and wonderful things like that for the same class. On the plus side, all my work and sleep sacrifice paid off for my test today. I just checked online and found out I got a B- which is AMAZING for that class!!! The highest test grade I've had all year is a B. It's been really interesting seeing my perspective on grades change, though. Any time before this year, if I didn't get A's in my classes, the world was coming to an end. Now, my opinion on how well I did has to do with how hard I worked and how much I learned. Take for example, The Reformation chapter that we did. I got a D on that test (*gasp*), but I learned a lot and found it really interesting. Although it bugged me a bit at first because I thought I actually knew the stuff (of course, it never fails that the stuff I know really well is the stuff that isn't on the test...), I'm finding that that's one of the chapters that I've retained the most information about. Just yesterday, I was talking to our pastor about all this history stuff and I practically rambled off all of Martin Luther's life plus some other random facts about the Reformation. It was actually pretty cool.

So youth group. We've met thrice now (I find thrice a fun word to say... or type, in this case) and it's been really good all three times!! Jer has gone through some different parables and I find it so cool that although they're parables that I've read/heard multiple times, there are still so many new things that can be pulled out of them!! Afterwards has been good, too. I've gotten to talk with people that I only see once a week otherwise and that's been cool, too. Bekah and I have kind of stuck together like we're joined at the hip lately at church and have recently decided that we really need to be more sociable with other people. So yesterday after church, I spent my time talking to Pastor Matt, Jessie and her siblings (I hadn't seen her sister Rachel in forever and her brother Austin, I've only met a couple times before), and Heather. I love devloping new relationships with people and it was just really cool talking to everyone.

Jessie and I are also doing a study together. We're going to go through
The Sovereignty of God by A. W. Pink. We met for the first time last week on Tuesday and mostly just decided what we were going to do for the next week (which is tomorrow, and I still haven't read the Introduction, which is what we were supposed to do for tomorrow), worked on our memory verse for youth group, and just talked. It was really neat talking to her, which I haven't really done one-on-one with her since Mississippi. I'm super excited to see how this develops!!

Well, I really need to go and finish this paper and hopefully, it won't be so long until next time!! Just shoot an e-mail my way when it's been too long and I'll hopefully get right on updating! :)

It's been WAY too long!

Well, I apologize, it's been over a month since I've given you an update!! It's been pretty crazy around here. I've been getting a ton of homework in AP Euro, but I still really love that class. We just finished the Reformation, which was pretty sweet. The test was on Wednesday, and I thought that I was pretty well prepared for it and actually felt like I knew most of it pretty well. Of course, most of the stuff that I knew really well wasn't on the test, but I still think I did okay. The multiple choice is what's difficult. They're worded so strangely, but I suppose our teacher only does that to get us used to the format of the AP test at the end of the year. We had a four day weekend for some teahcher's convention this week, and it was nice being able to have a social life again instead of spending my evenings working on homework!

I do have some exciting news, though! Our church is officially starting a youth group on October 29!!!!!!! I'm SUPER excited!!!!! Katie and Jeremiah are leading it at their house from 7:00 to 9:00. Jeremiah's not exactly sure what we're going to do yet, but I'm so excited! Maybe that'll be a motivation for me to give y'all an update soon to tell you how it goes. :)

ADOPTION NEWS!!!! ...oh, and the First Week of School

So the past seemingly forever, whenever we've been asked about the adoption, it's been a sigh and a rolling of the eyes. It was always so far away and never seemed to get any closer. But a few days ago, my dad told me that the referrals were at February 9th (I think) and our date is March 13th. Basically meaning, that all the adoption websites are predicting we'll get our referral in FEBRUARY!!!!! That's only six months away which is SO much better than waiting until this summer. Besides that information, I don't really know much about it, but I just thought I'd share with y'all the exciting news!!

Another "exciting" thing recently was the first week of school. So far, my AP European History class is my favorite. By quite a bit, actually. That's one of the two classes we've actually done something in. On Thursday night, I spent almost two hours reading six pages of my textbook. I took about two pages of notes, plus 11 vocabulary words. Of course, I took a couple 5 minute breaks, but still, that's a pretty hefty time to spend on six pages... Hopefully that time will shorten up as the year goes on. The only other class we've really done anything in is Math. The rest of my day is pretty boring as of now. Hopefully that will get better, too...

Well, Andrew has a football game in about an hour and I should probably go and get ready for that. But there'll be more updates coming!

More Pictures

At the request of Jenny, here's some more pictures from our Mississippi trip!

Mudding


Bethany painting


After splatter painting


Meal time (which we all looked forward to just so that we could have a break and be able so sit down without feeling guilty!)


Zach sanding


Trees


My first time seeing the ocean!! (which we got to swim in on Thursday night, also another highlight of the week)


GIANT SPIDER


House on stilts (as they all were)


Spoons


Pickle's house