Recital Reflections

Okay, I think it's time for a normal life post (not that my life is normal... haha). Last Thursday night was a very momentous, fun, and exciting event: my last piano recital. I have taken piano lessons for nine years from an amazing, godly woman in our church, and the Lord has opened up to me an entire new world through music. It's like learning to read: once your know the basics, you can find out anything you want to know through endless books and resources. In the same way, once you know how to read music, you can play anything, and it is so thrilling!

There were thirty students in the recital, and I got to play three times. Once was a solo piece, Fantasie Impromptu by Chopin. I have always dreamed of being able to play it, but didn't imagine I'd be able to play it so soon. In September, when I started learning it, I wanted to give up and play something easier. But Mrs. Briggs gently pushed me on, and sure enough, through many excruciating hours of practice, I learned it!

I also played a duet of Yankee Doodle with my sweet student, Kameran. This is her first year, and I was so proud to see her playing so perfectly in front of so many people!

And, I played a duet with Mrs. Briggs that was a combination of Shout to the Lord, Lord I Lift Your Name on High, and Great is the Lord. It was so glorious to magnify the Lord with music together!

After the recital, we had a celebration at my house with some friends and family. We had a campfire, sang along to the guitar (not me playing... I fail at that! lol), and walked out in the woods in the pitch black of night! I couldn't get any pictures because it was so dark, but it was so much fun. I didn't want it to end! And, my parents blessed me with a dozen beautiful red roses as well.

 I am so thankful for the years of lessons and eighteen recitals to remember over the course of them. And I will NEVER stop learning when it comes to piano!

Peace in the storm

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Between my counseling course, music lessons/practice, school,, and attempting maintain some sort of a social life, I haven't had much time for blogging. Then, throw influenza into the mix, and life is REALLY overwhelming!

Last Thursday (Valentine's Day) I had three piano lessons - my regular lesson, a lesson I teach, and a practice/lesson with Pastor for Sunday (I'm learning to play off of chord sheets! It's so exciting!!). Friday was full of school, of course, and ended with Bible study, which always one of the highlights of my week. And finally on Saturday I went to chiropractor appointment at eight a.m., then went to counseling class, and had just an hour at home for lunch and a much needed phone conversation with Erik. We were quickly out the door again for a baby shower for one of my closest friends from church (her little girl is due march 29th - yay!), and afterward spent the evening with a friend.Talk about busy! I think all the busyness took a toll on my immune system, because by Monday I was totally incapacitated with the flu. I haven't gotten the flu in a long time, so I had forgotten how awful it is. I was so exhausted I couldn't even watch TV. I could do nothing but lie still, yet I was to achy to sleep. It was especially agonizing for me because I am an on-the-go person who doesn't like to do nothing. For three days I lay in my feverish suffering, and then things started to look up on Thursday. I couldn't go to music lessons yet, but at least I could sit up and do school part of the day. And then by yesterday, I was quite well, and by evening I was able to go to my church's Christian school to watch the girls' basketball teams last home game, and go from there to Bible study. I was blessed with an amazing, long, deep heart-to-heart with Katy, who hosts the Bible study in her home. It was a late night, and I slept until ten this morning. And now finally, after all the chaos, I'm able to catch up on blogging.

So that is my narrative of the past two weeks of my life, for any of my friends who want to know. I also have lots of things on my mind and heart that are either too personal ans weighty or too hard to express. But they are not all burdens; there are also many blessings and exciting lessons filling my heart. God is so good, and he never lets go of me. I'm in awe of that. Life has been somewhat stormy lately, but I have peace in it. Even if I am inadequate, and failing, getting behind in my school, not playing piano in church, and continuing to fail and sin and hurt people daily, HE is sufficient. His grace is sufficient, and His strength is perfect in weakness. I have peace. And I am so blessed!

I love you all; have a blessed sabbath!

Life is Beautiful

My mind is full of thoughts - happy thoughts and random thoughts, mostly.

I'm sitting at my kitchen table with my laptop, and the house is quiet. The sounds I hear are the quiet buzz of my computer, the wind chimes on the front porch twinkling lightly, the chattering of my fingers typing quickly, and the woodstove in the back room.

Mom and Dad are visiting my brothers for the weekend, so Zach and I are on our own. It's very quiet, but so far I don't mind. It's peaceful.

There's snow pouring down outside, and it looks beautiful. I have an intense delight in all of nature - it is so beautiful and refreshing. I can't imagine living in the city, separated from all of God' glorious natural creations! I'd rather be outside than inside any day.

Last night I made chocolate chip brownies that taste incredible.

I have so many good friends - old and new, near and far, kindred spirits and friendly acquaintances, all of whom I am very thankful for. I never cease to be amazed at how blessed I am to have so many wonderful people in my life.

My piano teacher is in India on a missions trip, so I am playing the piano in church for the next month. It's a big stretch and at first I didn't want to do it. I am reading about Moses in my devotions, though, and how he refused to do something that God placed in his lap and really missed out. I don't want to be that way. So, if the Holy Spirit can speak through our mouths, I'm sure he can play through my hands. I'm excited at another opportunity to grow up and accept responsibility!

I love reading and writing and thinking. It seems my desire for these things is insatiable!

I also love people. And I love animals. They are just fabulous.

I think pretty much, I just love life. It's so wonderful! Without Christ, I truly could not enjoy any of these things because they would have no purpose and I would be wracked with fear and despair. But with him at my side, life truly is beautiful.

June 2012

54 hours

In about 54 hours my amazing friends the Neffs will be here! Yup, that means around 2:00 AM Thursday :) My grandparents will also be arriving later that day for the big dinner and an evening together, and I am totally psyched. Today we did a lot of preparation and cleaning that's been needing to be done anyway.

So here are some things making me smile today:
~A clean house
~Cute name tags I made today for each place at the Thanksgiving table
~The expectation of lots of cooking the next few days
~Our table extended by seven - yes, seven! - leaves
~Anticipating our big house being filled with fourteen people - instead of four, which has become the norm
~Warm, sunny weather - an uncommon surprise in late November
~A whole week off of school
~Hoping for a sister-in-law sometime.... soon? Hehehe :)
~New (but second-hand) clothes that are perfect - modest, pretty, and so me
~Friends coming home from college that I miss a lot
~Good music - played loud, with the windows open, or soft by candlelight.
~Chores, especially when mom and I do them together

Yes, life is a wonderful thing. Hope you all have a lovely thanksgiving!

The romance of life

It has been a busy and glorious fall! My education this year, as I said previously, has been exceptional because I get to study God's word as a large part of it. I've been busy with a million other things besides school though. And I thought fall would mean the start of life being more quiet and settled - ha! Somehow life has managed to fill itself up with friends, events, appointments, etc. We visited my brothers in Kentucky a couple of weeks ago, and it was delightful. Most of our time was also spent with the Neffs, our friends who live a couple of blocks away from Erik and Cody. They have a son and three daughters and our families have a BLAST together! We only stayed for a weekend but we crammed in lots of talking, laughing, taking walks, playing games, and a variety of other wonderful things, just enjoying each others' company. I miss everyone and can't wait to see them again. :)

As of yesterday, there are 8 weeks until the week of Thanksgiving. That should mean 8 weeks of peacefully spending my days studying and learning, sorting the closets full of clutter that have crept up on us, and attempting to get enough rest and rhythm to life to regain my sanity. I've brainstormed up yet another new schedule for my daily life (yes, I'm quite the planner) and though this is only day 2, it seems to be working very smoothly and hopefully will continue to do so for the next 8 weeks. I love it when life follows the peaceful cadence of happy home life.

The weather here is simply indescribable. New York is definitely at it's best in September, in my opinion. It's getting very cold, but the sunshine is so bright and strong that every afternoon it's perfect for taking a brisk walk. The sky is a deep blue that isn't seen the rest of the year, and the evening sun casts a lovely autumn gold over all of the greens, reds, oranges, yellows, browns, and purples of our country homestead. It's the kind of weather that inspires songs, poems, and prayers.

It's little things like these - weather, home, friendships, family, work, school, and everything we do and have - that make life romantic. And you know what? I think I'll go enjoy the romance of life right now!

Florida!

Hello everyone! I am in Florida right now and LOVING my vacation. It's been a bit of a rainy day but that's okay because we have plenty of other things to do. We went out to breakfast at Golden Corral this morning (delicious!) and I am STILL not hungry at 6 PM! Lol :) Right now I'm sitting on the living room floor of my Grandma's mobile home watching Family Feud and eating peach rings. This morning we went to a flea market and I found some great deals. At one booth I bought an amazing birthday present for my best friend which I am tempted to keep can't  can't wait to give her, and at another I got some cute seashells with pictures on them as a souvenier for myself and two of my friends.

So far the best part of my trip BY FAR has been seeing Katy, her family, and teeny tiny baby ELIJAH SAMUEL! He is so beautiful. He's quite a little grumpyface! Usually his face his scrunched up in some adorable way, even though he's quite peaceful and content. Hopefully I will be able to upload pictures when I get home - I don't have a card reader with me.

After a fun morning with great friends yesterday, we went to the beach. The taste of salt, the feel of the warm waves, and the soft sand all added up to an amazing experience. Feeling like a master builder and artist, I created my first sandcastle EVER which I am quite proud of. And, I collected a few pretty seashells of various colors.

Well, soon I will have plenty of pictures and LOTS more to say. Hope you all are enjoying your weekend as muh as I'm enjoying mine!

Adventures

Well, life is as busy as ever! The past week has been mostly just school and normal life, but tomorrow I leave for Florida! I am am So excited because 1) I have never been to Florida, seen the ocean, or even been on a plane before so it is a new adventure, and 2) My very dear friend Katy happens to be 10 minutes away from where I am going (my grandma's cabin) and she just had her first baby very early this morning so I cannot WAIT to see them both!

My life is a wonderful adventure these days and I am loving every minute of it. Here's a sampling of some of the wonderful things going on in my life these days:
1) Practicing Moonlight Sonata (3rd movement) for a recital on may 17th, and my part of an 8-hand arrangement for church in 2 weeks
2) Reading the book Radical and studying it with our youth group
3) Planning for a month long trip to Arizona this summer to intern with a missionary pastor's family in a Hispanic church plant (which happens to be only a few hours from the Grand Canyon - maybe I'll get to see it!)
4) Going on a plane for the first time this week
5) Looking into/praying about going to New Tribes Bible Institute after high school
6) Going to Florida, seeing the ocean, and maybe even swimming with manatees - how cool is that?!
7) Seeing a friend who is now married, in her own home, and a mother! I can hardly even comprehend it!
8) Going to a "Heart of Addiction" counseling conference next week at our church
9) Watching another brother move away and my last one preparing to be gone for the summer - yikes!
10) Experiencing my walk with Christ becoming more personal than ever in prayer

I am so blessed!

Spring in Kentucky!

Well, I suppose it's about time I gave an update on my life! And before I do I might as well confess that I should be doing math right now. But I'd rather bog and listen to music, quite frankly. :)

Over Easter weekend we (Mom, Cody, and I) went to Erik's house in Kentucky. It was wonderful! Cody got a job at Answers in Genesis' warehouse, so he moved into Erik's house. Erik's best friend, Otto, also lives with him, so now Erik's house has become a houseful of guys. I can hardly believe Cody's actually gone for good... it's strange to think that he'll never live here at home again. Also, Erik's girl, Leah, was volunteering at the Creation Museum for a couple of weeks, so I got to see her too. She's such an amazing girl - I really enjoy spending time with her! The weather is absolutely beautiful in Kentucky right now. Where I live, spring is just mud, rain, and snow with a few pathetic flowers. At Erik's house, however, it's green, sunshine, and floods of gorgeous flowers covering the ground! Hearing the birds sing made my heart sing. We got to go on lots of walks in the woods, on beautiful trails, by the Ohio river, and just all over the place.  I love his little town and all of my wonderful friends there. Oh, I miss it so much! And of course, I visited the gardens at the Creation Museum and thoroughly enjoyed it. I got to sit by the waterfalls and flowers and just enjoy reading my Bible for a long time. I just keep praising God for what a fabulous visit it was.

Left to right: Otto, Erik, Leah, Me

Uhhh.. cute couple?? Haha!

I've also been thinking about the future quite a bit lately.  God seems to be leading me to some awesome things, and I am just praying and trying to figure out how they all fit together! It's exciting to know that He has ordered all of my steps, and all of my days. I am hopeful and eager to see all that he has in store!

Well, I had better get back to it. We're headed to Florida in less than a week and there's lot's to be done before that. Enjoy your day, everyone - and just remember, it's almost the weekend! :D

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."

Jeremiah 29:11

I'm not cool, but that's okay :)

Wow. I just thought I'd tell you all that I had an AMAZING weekend. Some friends of mine invited me to an event called Youth Ablaze, which I had never heard of before. It sounded pretty cool, and I thought it would be a spectacular opportunity since I had been wanting to see them again, anyway. When we got there, I was kind of intimidated. It was huge! I had never been to anything like it before. During the second sermon, I broke down crying and was extremely encouraged and challenged. Later on, at supper, I pretty much spilled my whole life story and told my friends everything I've been going struggling with. They were so supportive and welcoming - I loved it so much.

This weekend has taught me one basic thing: be different. I need to be unafraid of being totally and completely different from our culture - no matter what anyone says or thinks about me. It sounds like a scary concept, really - being brave enough to do things (or not do things) that may cause me to be despised or mocked. But in truth, it's freedom. While most people are stuck wearing, watching, saying, and doing only what the culture tells them is acceptable, I can choose ANYTHING that pleases God! If you think that God is a harsh taskmaster, you should try obeying trends and culture. Christ does have expectations about what we do, say, think, wear, etc. But His expectations are freeing, not confining. I can be a total freak to the world, and still please Christ! It's pretty cool when you think about it. :)

"For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matthew 11:30

Here's a link to an awesome song that goes along with this:

I'm Not Cool - Scott Krippayne

That's all for now, folks!

Facing another week

Sometimes, you just need a break. A chance to forget about the pressure of everyday life. As the winter has dragged on, that's exactly what I have needed. And thankfully, I got it this past weekend. My best friend, Emily, came over on Saturday night and we had SO much fun. Staying up until after midnight, we painted our nails crazy ways and watched movies, which is what we always do when she comes over. And of course, we talked and talked and talked. That's the best part!

It's been a lonely week without Cody here. I am so thankful that the Lord has blessed me with such good friends and  loving family, because I don't know what I'd do without them. :) Happy Monday everyone; let's face another week with the joy of the Lord!


"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." ~~Hebrews 12:1-2~~

Our visit to Kentucky :)

Last week I visited my brother Erik, in Kentucky. It was the most wonderful, refreshing week I've had in a long time. The reason we visited him was because he had to get all 4 of his wisdom teeth taken out, and needed some help through that. When he first came out of the surgery he was SO funny! The laughing gas and anesthesia made him totally loopy, and he would not stop talking, and saying the funniest things. The funniest part was that he had gauze in his mouth, and Novocaine making his mouth numb, so it was really hard to understand him. He was so funny! He was in pain for a while afterward, but overall he did very well, and was soon talking and laughing again.

Some of my best friends live in his little town, and I was extremely happy to see them again. I spent every evening at their house. It's so wonderful to be in a place where there are so many people who you love and who love you! We had lots of fun, and I miss them all a lot.

Also, we got to see the Garden of Lights at the Creation Museum. I was excited because, although I've been there many times, I've never been there at Christmas. It was absolutely spectacular. I adore Christmas lights, so it was especially beautiful to me. We even got to see a sneak preview of Christmas Town, and we didn't even plan on it! Another cool thing was seeing Jason Lisle's "Christmas Star" video at the planetarium. I have often wondered about what the Christmas star was, and it answered a lot of questions.

I am so blessed to have such an awesome family, and friends, and opportunities. :)

Thanks be to God

Another day to be thankful! Today I am thankful for:

Relaxing weekends
Christmas songs
Friends
School
My brothers

And, I thought I'd give you an update about what's going on in my busy life lately. Last week I was kept busy with: Prayer group, visiting friends, choir practice, a volleyball playoff game at the Christian school, and of course, lots of school. This week I am looking forward to spending the day with my friend Mrs. Reese tomorrow, enjoying an afternoon with Mrs. Taylor on Wednesday, and a Veteran's Day program on Friday. Trying to get school done amidst all those activities does get a little tricky, but today I was able to do extra work, so I know things will all work out. :) I absolutely cannot WAIT for Christmas. It's when I really shine. I've already started thinking about my Christmas shopping, and I can't wait to get started on it. As soon as December starts, you can be sure I'll be singing/playing Christmas music (I already am! hehe), baking lots of Christmas goodies, decorating for the season, dressing in seasonal colors, shopping, wrapping, watching Christmas movies and classic shows, and of course, getting together with friends and family to celebrate! Are you as excited as I am? But of course, Thanksgiving comes first. We'll have a big dinner, and my Grandparents are coming on Friday. I am so thankful most of all for Jesus Christ, salvation, and the amazing things God is teaching me every single day!

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
1 Corinthians 15:57

It's a wonderful life!

Hey friends! :)

Well, the NANC conference was AWESOME!! I learned so much, and it encouraged me! It reminded me that I can give all my worries to God, and never worry. It reminded me that God LOVES to forgive us - if we ask. And, it reminded it me that there is a glorious hope for this dying world - so let's share it with them!

You'll think this is just crazy, but... we went to Kentucky again! Haha. Dad decided it would be nice for Emily (the girl that Erik is courting) to be able to see Erik's house, town, etc. Also, he knew that Mom and I would love to go down again and see Erik and all of our friends. :) We traveled down on Friday, stayed through Saturday and Sunday, and traveled home on Monday. It was such a fun trip!! Emily and I (we are very good friends!) had fun together, and I had a wonderful time in general.

And then, I had to get back to school. I've been busy as ever with it all! Today Emily and I got together and discussed Chemistry... it was very helpful! Earlier this afternoon, I went to piano and voice lessons. I love it! I'm so blessed to be able to take lessons :)

Tomorrow night I am going to a (gasp!) dance! You don't need to worry, though - it's all 19th-Century dances: Reels, Square dances, etc. Nothing inappropriate. ;) It is going to be *SO* much fun!

So that is an update on my life... and now I must go, because it's 6:30 PM and I still have to do history! Blessing, all!

Kentucky - Part 2

Okay, and now for the conclusion! :)

We were home for only 1 week before we went back to Erik's house again. This trip was a lot easier, but still had a lot of challenges. We were SO blessed. It's amazing how God has lead Erik all of the way... giving him the perfect job at the Creation Museum, leading him to a house in Petersburg, blessing him with a wonderful church family... everything!

I was with my awesome friends every day -it was SO much fun! When I'm with them, I can be myself. Even in spite of me being a total loser sometimes, they still loved me! It was really refreshing. We had tons of fun, crazy times, good talks, lots of laughs, and fellowship in Jesus Christ. What more could I ask for?!

Above: Lauren, Me, Patty, Otto ~~~ Below: Autumn, Patty, Me, Gwen

Below: Me, Patty, Candy, Otto

And Joseph. :) He wasn't there the day we took the other pictures, so I had to get a different one.


I got home again Monday, the 11th. It's been weird trying to get back into the rhythm of school/life/etc. I've been so blessed being home again though... I've missed my good friends here! God has also been working in me so much... I've been reminded of how important it is to live life 110% surrendered to Jesus Christ - not holding back, not distracted, not looking to anything or anyone but Him. He is enough. He is so much more than enough!

Kentucky - Part 1

Whoa! I haven't posted in a LONG time! The reason is that I have been in Kentucky for most of it! Yes, I know, I was only going to be there for a week... but things didn't go as planned... at all!! I don't know where to begin because so much has happened. I guess I'll have to leave out all of the details and just sum up.

Erik's house was a wreck at first!! We worked for a whole week and got some stuff put together, but not nearly all of it. It just so happened that Erik decided t get a well drilled, and God perfectly worked it out that he was able to get one right away!! You have NO idea how amazing that is! Many people wait months or even years to get their well drilled by the person who drilled his well. God's timing is amazing!!

Since he was getting a well drilled, though, we had to stay until it was finished. That meant that we stayed all the way until September 25 - more than 2 weeks!! It worked out so well, though, because we were able to get a lot more work done.

And, while I was down there, I met an AMAZING family - the Neffs!! They are the Pastor's family of Erik's church. I ended up hanging out with them every single day the second week of our trip! I've become really, really close with them... it was so hard to say goodbye! We had lots of fun, and God taught me SO much on the trip. In spite of how hard some things were, it turned out to be an amazing trip!!

We got home on Saturday night, the 25th. As it turned out, there was so much work left to do on Erik's house that we ended up going back a week later! I'll write about that another time though... I'm worn out from typing! :) Thanks for taking the time to read!

My, oh my!

My goodness! Life has been good but very busy lately. I turned 15! So now I'm all old and wise and mature and all that - NOT! :-) God's been doing such amazing stuff in my life!

For my fifteenth birthday, I had 4 of my very close freinds over - Kyla, Emily, Kara, and Kelsea. Great girls! We stayed up til 5:00 AM (or later ;) ). We atched 4 episodes of my very favorite show ever - Sue Thomas F.B.Eye. It's about a deaf woman who's an F.B.I. agent and it's really awesome (minus a couple of moments in a couple of episodes, which I do not give my approval to.) Also, we did our nails, talked laughed, sat around the fire, and took a walk out to the beautiful field with the windmills, which I do believe I have mentioned before. It was asuch a wonderful time!

Cody is back from Circle C! I missed him SOSOSOSO much, as you know! He's such an amazingly awesome brother. :)

Erik is moving to Kentucky in less than a month!!! Wow... it seems so crazy. He will be 6 miles away from the Creation Museum, which is why he's moving there. That way, he will be able to work at the office. He's bought a little 2-bedroom house, and we're going down in a couple weeks to help him get it fixed up and ready to live in!

Our youth group went on a camping tip this past weekend. It was really neat! We stayed at the home of one of the guys in our youth group - they have a big yard and were very generous to let us all camp out there! We went rafting on the Genesee river at Letchworth, and we also went hiking and swimming there to. It's SUCH a beautiful place! For those of you who are reading this and are not from New York: Letchworth is a state park with a huge gorge and some spectacular views! God's creation truly is amazing. I grew a lot closer to God this weekend, too!

Today is my dad's birthday! We didn't do much for it though. :( We wanted to, but life's been so crazy that we didn't end up getting anything ready in time. So we will probably celebrate it more another day.

Cody, Erik and I went to my wonderful friend Abby's presentation about her missions trip to Mexico this evening. She went on a missions trip to Chiapas, Mexico this summer and tonight she told us all about it. Afterward we all stayer around for a while and had a TON of fun!!

All in all, God had been really, really amazing lately, and has been teaching me a lot about standing up for my faith - especially when it costs me something! I need Him so much... may He get all the glory in my life!

Oh, what fun summer is!

Hey all! Sorry I never posted an outfit from day 6. I have to have my brother to help me get it, and we've both been so busy that I never did! Well, I made a collage of days 1-5, so that you can see all the outfits at once. It's small, but kinda cute :)

So, I have not posted a *real* blog post this whole week! It's been a good week. I thought it would be a really boring week, but it turned out to be very fun and eventful!

On Tuesday a friend (and mentor!) of mine, Sarah, called me up and asked if I would like to go to the mall with her. Of course, I was thrilled! It was a lot of fun. She was able to find a modest bathing suit, and I got some very nice smelling body spray from Bath and Body Works - on sale, btw, for only $3!

On Wednesday I got to go over to my friend Kyla's house for a few hours while my mom was at a ladies' Bible study. We were peeling potatoes in the kitchen, when the stove started shaking like crazy! It was odd, because nothing else seemed to be shaking. It stopped after a few moments, and we thought nothing more of it until our mothers got back and told us there had been an earthquake!! People felt it from Toronto all the way to the border of Pennsylvania, and it was rated a 5 - 5.5, so apparently it was quite a big deal! Thankfully, no damage was done as far as I know.

Thursday night, I went to the home of some family friends. They had a Bible study for college-age young adults, so Erik, my oldest brother, went to that while I hung out with the rest of the kids. They have 2 teenage boys, an 11-year-old daughter, and some little boys (besides 2 college-age kids who were in the Bible study), so altogether we had a blast. Hopefully I will post a few pictures up soon!

On Friday I went to a 19th-Century Dance at the home of some friends. It was SO fun! There were no indecent moves, and the most physical contact there was was holding hands an arms length away from your partner. It was really, really fun, and also great exercise!! I was glad to be able to enjoy dancing that actually was pleasing to the Lord!

Saturday-Sunday I traveled to see relatives and go to a graduation party to for Cody and Zach, two of my brothers, as well as a few other relatives. On the long drive home I prayed and listened to Christian music on my iPod, and basically had a heart to heart with God! It was SO wonderful.

So that was my week! I'm guessing most people will get bored after reading the first paragraph or so, but that's okay, I enjoyed writing it and it's there for those who want to read it! God Bless!

Pefect timing :)

Ahh... I just have to tell you all that our God is AMAZING! He does everything perfectly in his time. I have been learning that lately. For example, one of the bindings on my snowboard broke last Thursday. If I don't get it fixed, that means I'm done snowboarding. Getting it fixed, however, is expensive. Sounds like a no-win situation, right? Well, as it turns out, it's most definitely not! I still have one functioning binding, and the other one kind of functions. I can still use it on small hills, like the one at the town park or the bunny slope at Kissing Bridge. It's harder, though, because if I'm not careful, my foot will slip out of the binding. Yesterday I went to the town park, which has a great sledding hill, to meet one of my good friends whom I haven't seen in a long time. She has a snowboard and wants to learn to ride, so I was going to teach her the basics. We spent several hours and had a lot of fun. Then we got an idea... what if she could come to KB with me? After looking up the details, we decided it would be a great idea! So, she's coming snowboarding with our family at KB tomorrow and the staying overnight. It's going to be so awesome! The fact that my snowboard binding broke actual provides a new challenge for me. If it hadn't broke, it would be really easy for me to be on the bunny hill. Since it did, though, it will be fun and challenging to go on the bunny hill, AND I get to spend the day hanging out with a friend!! We're both really excited!

I probably could ramble on about hundreds of other things, but I won't ;) God is so awesome... in so many ways! I knew my binding would break eventually, (it was in lousy condition) but I was hoping it wouldn't be this year. God timed it perfectly though! Pretty cool! :)

An AMAZING weekend!!

So, this past weekend I went to snow camp and it was amazing!! We got there Friday at 7 PM for registration, then after some games and unpacking and stuff we went roller skating. It was super fun... tons of people, friends, and fun. There were lots of "special skates," like limbo, couples' skates, backwards skate, all girls skate, etc. that were lots of fun. We got back from roller skating at about 2 AM and we were all sooo tired! The next day there was lots of fun stuff like laser tron, rock wall climbing, karaoke, games, dodge ball, and (my favorite) free time! I loved free time because we would just sit around and talk, or play ping pong, or something else like that. The chapel sessions excellent. During the first chapel session a lot of people made professions of faith. One of them was my friend Lynne! I had just met her at that point, but we got to be really good friends by the end of the weekend! I'm so thankful for her! My favorite chapel session was on Sunday morning. They gave us 15 minutes of just being still and being with God. I read some scripture from 1 John, and prayed, and it was extraordinarily good. They gave us a few minutes to go around the chapel and pray with people - even people we've never met. That was really cool... realizing that even though we don't even know each other, we have something in common - our love for Christ. I think I prayed with 3 or 4 people, and it was a huge blessing to me. Sunday was fun - we had the "Donut Classic," which is a race that involves a lot of people and obstacles and a tray of donuts. It was so fun! The goal was to be the first team to go through the race ad eat all of your donuts, which were shot out into the mob by 3-man slingshots. We didn't win, but it was really fun. :) Lunch was pretty fun that day... we were all SO overtired and crazy - especially our youth leaders! We kind of had a food fight... it was so funny! Everyone in the dining hall was staring at our table. :) After all of that we had to clean our cabins and say goodbye. :'( I miss everyone so much already! All in all it was an AMAZING weekend! I hope I get to back next year! :)

Shelter amid the chaos

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't written much these past few weeks. I actually intended to write about more things than snowboarding in my last post, but I ran out of time. I guess now I'll have to double time to catch you up! I will summarize though; it won't be too long. :)

Saturday, 1/9 - Sunday, 1/10
My wonderful friend friend, Vicki, came over! Although Christmas was already over, we wanted to make a gingerbread house, so we did! We got a gingerbread house kit at Wal-Mart for a couple of dollars; it was on sale because Christmas was already over. We had a hilariously awesome time putting it together! We made a mess! After a lot of messy, fun work and lots of laughing, we were finished. Amazingly, we didn't destroy anything in the process. ;-) It looked creative and adorable. We watched Fireproof (a GREAT movie!) and then went to sleep.
The next day we went to the morning church service together. After it was finished we went home and had lunch, and then Vicki went home. We had a great time!

Tuesday, 1/12
Psalm 37 is such a great chapter! God is so incredibly good to us! Although we are sinners, He still continually takes us back. If not for Him, I would be nothing! I love Him so much!

Thursday, 1/14
Yay! Another Thursday! That means more snowboarding for me. :) The sun was shining cheerfully, the air was warm, and it was a fantastic day! Excitedly, we threw on our snow gear and went out to enjoy the day. I rode with my friend, Courtney, for most of the day. It was nice to have such a sweet friend to go with! Talking and riding with her was a lot of fun.
My lesson was at four o'clock. My instructor said that I was advanced enough to start learning jumps, if I wanted to. Nervously, I said I did. Although I was scared to try the jump at first, I got used to it. I learned a lot from the lesson, and continued to try the jump throughout the evening. I only tried a few small kickers and rollers(the two smaller types of jumps) because I'm not very good yet. I improved a lot! I can't wait to go again this Thursday.

Friday, 1/15
When I got done with all of my school I went to a Bible study. The study is held at the home of some friends of ours. The topic was love. It is so astonishing to see what true love is! The passage was from 1 Corinthians 13: "⁴Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ⁸Love never ends." We all fall miserably short of this level of love. Thankfully, God is forgiving!
We stayed for several hours after the Bible study and spent time with our friends. We laughed, talked, sang, danced, and had altogether a wonderful time.

Saturday, 1/16
I went shopping with my best friend! We went to Kohl's, which is my favorite store ever! I got a pair of nice jeans and two shirts. I was excited to be able to get a pair of jeans that were modest and feminine! It is so hard to find them.
Seeing my best friend is always SUCH a blessing. I love her SO much! Not surprisingly, we had a delightful time together! I thank God for her every time I remember her. (Philippians 1:3 =])

Sunday, 1/17 -Wednesday, 1/20
The message in the evening service was very good. It was about Ai from Joshua chapter 7, and avoiding defeat. God has been teaching me so much. I love reading His word; it is the only shelter amid the chaos in this world. Please pray for me. Specifically, please pray for me on Friday: I have an appointment with a TMJ specialist. Hopefully he will be able to help me know what to do from here on out. Thank you so much!

~Christy <3