Woah buddy it has been...forever. I still check people's phuseboxes, i just...don't post for myself. School started yesterday and both yesterday and today i have a whole bunch of homework. It's gonna be a stressful year. Lots of hard classes. No Bueno.

Guess what everyone?!?! I GET TO GO SEE SHANE & SHANE TOMORROW NIGHT!!!!!! I am sooooooo excited! They are the best ever and...I get to see them live! Gah, i can't even explain how pumped i am. It's going to be awesome...i just know it. I'm going up with my dearest friend Kate :-) it's gonna be fun.  

Soooo...I don't really know what to say. -shrugs- life's going great. This is going to be a very busy year for me with hard classes, lots of homework, working for my dad, church activities and..whatever else. I'm excited about some things that are happening in my life and...yeah. So anyway...i've got to go study for a quiz i've got in Latin. yuck.

Everyone be excited for me about Shane and Shane, becuase i most definitley am. -huge smile- oh goodness i'm excited. Everyone have...good lives. Talk to Jesus and love him; he likes that a lot.  

It's been awhile. I've been on checking peoples posts and stuff, just...not posting. I've been pretty busy. School, Fine Arts, everything. We had competition this weekend. I competed in Large Drama, small Drama, Drama Solo, and Youth Choir. I advanced in all of them and got first with Choir and my Large Drama. I was pretty excited, especially because this is the first time I've ever advanced in anything other than choir.
One more month of school. I have finals this year, which is really weird and is...kinda freaking me out. I've never had a final before, and I don't do well with tests. So anyway...umm..not much going on here. I'm really looking forward to the summer. No more school baby!! Wahoo!! Well, I've gotta go finish my room so i don't get grounded. Leave me lots of comments!

Pray for me.

In regards to my last post, if I/we are longing for something that is of great worth in the sight of God...what is it that we are longing for? What is 'a gentle and quiet spirit'? What does it mean? 

1 Peter 3:3-4 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead,
it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle
and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.

 I don't know how many times I've read those verses, but i was reading them the other night, and it made me feel...very good. I don't know how to describe it. I want to gave a gentle and quiet spirit for it is of great worth in God's sight. It makes me smile.
I've also been reading in Hosea. I just started the other day, and I think that God had a good idea when he used that as a parallel. It's just...yes, He had a good idea.

Wow, it's been a while. Not much has happened. I'm out of school on Christmas break; yesterday was my last day. My birthday was last Friday and it was all good. I got a lot of presents, and I'm still getting them. It's exciting!! :-) I worked for Chris yesterday after school and again today. No me gusta. I mostly worked with mulch (sp?) and no my hands are practically stained black. I wonder if bleach would work...anyway. I'm really sad that it's not cold yet. I mean really, it's already the 15th of December and it's still warm enough to work in a T-shirt. It's so sad. :-(  ummm...like i said, not much is happening. I lead a pretty boring life.::shrugs:: God is good. He has blessed me in so many ways; continually showing me new things. He is amazing.


**** Edit
I forgot to say...I got my permit!!! I've only driven a manual, and...i'm not so good at the whole starting, stopping, and downshifting, but other than that...i'm pretty good! ;-)

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry
For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day
For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.
People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.
As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others.

How long have I been in this storm?
So overwhelmed by the ocean’s shapeless form
Water's getting harder to tread
With these waves crashing over my head

If I could just see you
Everything would be all right
If I happen to see you
This darkness would turn to light

And I will walk on water
And you will catch me if I fall
And I will get lost into your eyes
And everything will be all right
And everything will be all right

I know you didn’t bring me out here to drown
So why am I ten feet under and upside down
Barely surviving has become my purpose
Because I’m so used to living underneath the surface

If I could just see you
Everything would be all right
If I'd see you
This darkness would turn to light

And I will walk on water
And you will catch me if I fall
And I will get lost into your eyes
And everything will be all right

And I would walk on water
You will catch me if I fall
And I will get lost into your eyes
And everything will be alright
You know everything is alright

Tomorrow is the first day of our Fall Break...well, we really get a half day, but still...then I get to sleep in on Friday, Saturday, and Monday! YES! Oh, it makes me so happy...::sigh of contentment:: I'll probably clean up in the house...Go Riding! read some books, clean my room really well, work, and chill. I'm so excited! Finally...a break. It makes me so happy. We get our report cards in the mail sometime soon...dad had a parent/teacher meeting yesterday and he said that all the teachers liked us. That's pretty cool. So anyway...I'm happy. The Judgment's coming up really soon! I'm looking forward to it. 

So, while all you slackers are wasting your time on Fall Break doing nothing, I'm going to school, slaving away and making good grades. You should be ashamed of yourselves. I don't get Fall Break until the 19th. We have a half day Thursday, then we get Friday and Monday off. That's our Fall Break. 2 1/2 days! And ya'll get A WHOLE WEEK! ::sigh:: I feel better now. Hope ya'll had a fun break...slackers. :-)

Latin is dead
As dead as it can be
First it killed the Romans
And now it's killing me!

I started school last Tuesday. It's definately different. Going to school for 6 1/2 hours a day, and then coming home and having lots of homework to do is not something that I've ever done before. It's interesting trying to get homework done in time for Band practice, Drama, Bible Studies and church. This year I'm taking Latin, Spanish, Algebra 2, Biology, Art, Art History, English, PE, and Bible. I only have 2 classes on Thursdays though, which is cool. That means I have time to do homework and stuff, but it's kind of boring. Scratch that, it's really boring. Anyway...um, yeah. There's 13 people in the high school (including Isaiah and me) and about 50 kids in the entire school (3-12th grade). We had a watermelon seed spitting contest today. I didn't participate. I don't really like watermelon, and I really don't like spitting things, so Mr. Gordon (the principle/owner guy) said I didn't have to play. Then we went and played jailbreak. I was it. 7 people against 42. I almost died. I was wearing flip-flops too which didn't make it any easier.
Tonight I have a lot of Latin homework. A lot to memorize. But other than that, I really don't have too much to do. I think I'm goign to watch a movie with my dad :-)   I don't know what else to say, other than that ya'll are really bad at giving comments and you should give me lots.

    We are here on earth to do good to others. What the others are here for, I don't know.
    W. H. Auden
   
    We must belive in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like?
    Jean Cocteau

    Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
    Benjamin Franklin

    My own business always bores me to death; I prefer other people's.
    Oscar Wilde

    I loathe people who keep dogs. They are cowards who haven't got the guts to bite people themselves.
    August Strindberg

    'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.
    Abraham Lincoln

    So, since we can't be killed by sins, the only thing we need to do to win the battle is not to give up. Who could get discouraged in a war like this, when, if we only keep fighting, we can't help but win?
    Francis De Sales
School starts tomorrow. :-(

We're back. We flew 3 different times yesterday. Took a flight to Philadelphia, then changed planes and flew to Raleight, NC and stayed on that plane and flew to Nashville. Our first flight was at 12. We didn't get to Nashville until 5. I had 7 packets of peanuts the whole day. hehe. 2 on each flight, and then Joshua gave me one of his on the way to Nashville. I was really hungry.
We went tubing Monday. I am really sore from that. It was a lot of fun. Zay and I were on the tube together and at times we were trying to push each other off, but for the most part we were just trying to stay on. It was really bumpy, and oh so fun.
I took a lot of pictures of the trip. It was a lot of fun. I got a nice tan, but now I'm peeling in places. :-( I'm excited about church tonight. Happy to see my friends, and even happier to be in church. That's the main thing I don't like about vacations...no church. I mean, sure, I can have my own little church, but it's different. I'm glad to be back.

It's miserable today. Rainy. Overcast. Windy. Nasty. That means no beach. :-(   I don't think we're going to do anything today. I'm hoping that we are going to go ice skating, but I don't think we're going to. Oh well. I get to hang out with my cool family. Have fun at church everyone!

We went sailing today...on a sail boat!! It was amazing! It was kind of overcast today, but the temperature was nice. It was really cool to sit at the front of the boat and go up and crash down with the waves--feeling the ocean spray...ahhhh. It was so nice. We sailed to the Isle of Shoals...kind of. We drove to it, passed it, turned around and came back. It was pretty cool. I love sailing. Right now I feel kind of...woozy. Like everything is rocking back and forth. It's...not very cool. But it was still really fun. I think tomorrow we're going to the beach (weather permitting) and Monday we're going tubing!! I love tubing. Knee boarding is pretty cool, but my uncle doesn't have a knee board. He has a wake board, but I've never gone wake boarding, and from what I've heard of it, it's pretty painful if you're not good, and I dont' think I would be good at it, and pain and me...we don't go well together. Haha. 

We arrived in New Hampshire this afternoon. We flew to Maryland and then took another flight to NH. The flight to Maryland was absolutely amazing. It was a cloudy morning, and we flew above the clouds. It made me think of that song off of Aladdin. Oh, come on, you know you know it...you know, the one that goes:

(Aladdin)
I can show you the world,
Shining, shimmering, splendid,
Tell me princess now when did you last let your heart decide?

I can open your eyes,
Take you wonder by wonder,
Over sideways and under on a magic carpet ride

A whole new world,
A new fantastic point of view.
No one to tell us no,
Or where to go,
Or say we're only dreaming.

(Jasmine)
A whole new world,
A dazzling place I never knew
But when I'm way up here,
It's crystal clear
That now I'm in a whole new world with you
(Aladdin) Now I'm in a whole new world with you

(Jasmine)
Unbelievable sights,
Indescribable feelings.
Soaring, tumbling, free-wheeling through an endless diamond sky.
A whole new world...
(Aladdin) Don't you dare close your eyes

(Jasmine)
A hundred thousand things to see,
(Aladdin) Hold your breath it gets better

(Jasmine)
I'm like a shooting star,
I've come so far,
I can't go back to where I used to be
(Aladdin) A whole new world

(Jasmine) Every turn a surprise
(Aladdin) With new horizons to pursue
(Jasmine) Every moment red letter

(Both)
I'll chase them anywhere
There's time to spare
Let me share this whole new world with you

(Aladdin sings, Jasmine echoes)
A whole new world (A whole new world)
That's where we'll be (That's where we'll be)
A thrilling chase (A wondrous place
(Both) For you and me.

Oh man, it was beautiful. Clear blue sky above, smooth clouds below with the exception of those few times where there were the huge bumpy clouds that looked like mashed potatoes. Gosh it was gorgeous. I was awestruck by the awesome powers of God. He must have had a lot of fun creating this world. The hills, the oceans, the mountains, sunrises and sunsets, clouds, rainbows...God is awesome. I'm glad that he enjoys beautiful things. They make me happy. I don't understand how people can think that the world just randomly appeared, or happened by chance. That amazes me. Yeah, God is cool.

Tomorrow we're going to the beach. I'm hoping the water isn't too incredibly cold. I'm also hoping that I'm going to be able to go ice skating and tubing while I'm here. I love doing that sort of stuff. I'm also hoping for a tan. mmmm, I love tans.

See ya'll in a week! I'll try to keep updating.

    Fine Arts was amazing. We went to Islands of Adventure and I rode 2 rollercoasters. It was pretty fun. I didn't like the standing in line much, because the longer we were in line, the more I tried talking myself out of the rides and the more freaked out I got, but once we were on the ride it was all good. I hung out with Kate, Brianna, and Paul the whole day. It was awesome. 
    I'm leaving for New Hampshire tomorrow. Joshua and Jonathan have been up there for 3 or 4 weeks and Chris left last week. Rebecca's leaving today and Zay, Dad and I are flying out tomorrow. I can't wait. We'll be gone for a week...beach, family, fun, food...mmm good. I'm disappointed that I'm going to miss Pastor Jackson's sermons on Sunday. I love hearing him preach.
    To all of you leaving for Lee this week, good-bye and I'll miss you. I hope you all have fun. I can't believe you people are leaving me. :-(
    School doesn't start until the 29th for me. That's pretty cool. We're going to a private school this year, for those of you who don't know. I'm...trying to be excited about it.
    Well, I've got to go finish cleaning and packing. See you guys later!

Isn't God awesome! Isn't it amazing to think that Jesus is coming back for us soon, that He's going to take me into his arms and say that He loves me...isn't that just...amazing? I get excited thinking about it. God has answered my prayer. For so long I have been praying for God to ignite a fire in me, that I would have a desire to read the Word, a desire to pray, and a desire to draw close to him, and I ahve that. I am so excited at the thought of going home and reading my Bible, of finding more things that He has to say to me. Excited about praying, telling Him how much love I have for him, and listening to Him speak to me. My God is an awesome God. He's in control, no matter what happens, and He's got a plan, and I'm confident everything is going to work out fine. He spoke to me on Sunday night, specifically to me. I love my God. He's a God for today. He's amazing. 

     I just got back from spending all day at Nashville Shores! It was awesome. I have a really dark tan/burn; you know, one of those deep deep redish brown tans that look really cool? Yah, that kind. So anyway, there was this one ride...it was really scary, and Hannah Breaux (I love that girl) said it was the best one there so I decided I would go on it with her (I didn't know what it was at the time). Basically, it was a humungous U-shaped plastic thing with water running on it that was really really steep. Not cool. I went down it and told her that I was never going on something like that again. Well, Adam comes up about an hour later and they convinced me to go on a 3 person tube down it. Adam wanted to hear me scream (I am proud to say that I didn't scream either time, but Adam yelled when I went with him and Hannah screamed. Hah! Losers) Anyway...Adam flew off it and hurt himself. I know, I know, it was my fault. I shouldn't have caved into the peer presure around me. I feel awful (not really). I got to go kayaking for the first time ever...go down ginormous slides...swim, and hang out with my friends. I know I'm going to be sore tomorrow from kayaking. I don't usually use those muscles, and I kayaked for a long time.
    On a different note...My grandparents are here from New Hampshire. It's good to see them--it's been a while. They're staying in my room while I sleep on the couch in the recreation room. Fun stuff. I also found out that 3 or 4 days after I get back from Fine Arts my family is going to New Hampshire for a week! YES! One week of being lazy...lying on the beach...soaking up the sun...playing in the water...yes
   

We have a puppy!!! I'm so excited! I got back from my trip to youth camp and NY, and I found out that dad got Joshua and Jonathan a little chocolate lab for their birthday! She's so cute! I don't know how old she is, but she is adorable. I picked her up and recieved a whole bunch of kisses all over my face, and whoah baby! does she have puppy breath! haha. Anyway...my trips were good. I had a lot of fun on them...yesterday I went to Dollywood. That was a lot of fun. umm...I really don't want to go into detail about my trips, so I'll just say that I had fun and leave it at that. I'm glad to be home though. Jonathan came in my room at 8 this morning and asked me to play nintendo with him. I declined the offer, and he came in an hour later with Faith (the puppy) and left her on my bed until I got up. ::sigh:: little brothers. lol. Well...I'll see ya'll tomorrow. 

Last night was the cookout. I played volleyball almost the whole entire time. It was fun. I love volleyball, except for the fact that I am really bad at it, other than that, it's great! Today I went to the yard sale for FA. I didn't have anything that I could sell, so I got tables and helped people set up and sell things, and just sat around. Pretty fun. Joshua and Jonathan (my little brothers) are having a birthday party today, so that should be...interesting. I'm leaving for camp on Monday!! I'm so excited! Then on Friday I'm going to New York (pretty sure I said that in my last post, but oh well.) Packing for the two events should be interesting seemings how I'm not coming home before I go to NY, but whatever. I'm going to have loads of fun (I hope). See ya'll later. bye

Tomorrow's my last day of school! Technically, I could finish today (if I went ahead of schedule) but really, there is no reason to, and I don't want to, so I'm fine with saying that tomorrow I will be done with my sophmore year of high school. I have a 4.0. That makes me happy. Well, no, not necessarily. If I make a 64% or below on this English test I have to take then I will lose my 4.0, but that's not going to happen. I'm going to make a 123%...hopefully. Anyway...Youth Camp is coming up soon! I'm excited about that, nad then I'm going to New York with Mrs. Jeana, Mr. Randy, and Bekah. YAY!! Enought of that. I'm gonna go. I'll see you all later. Luv ya'll

I had a fun weekend. I went to the women's banquet on Friday night (that was interesting) and then I spent the night at the Lewis's. Went to Oakland's graduation Saturday morning and then went to lunch with the McCann's, Morgans, Lewis's, and Gray's. We went to the Daily Buffet. Mmmm. I then went to Wal-Mart with the amazingly great Mrs. Jeana, Liz, and Beka. Mrs. Jeana bought me a shirt. Yay! We went back to the Lewis's and hung around there and I played with Daniel (the bundle of cuteness) and...yeah, hung out. Then Josh, Liz, Paul, Chris M., Rebecca, Mr. Morgan and I went to the Mellow Mushroom and waited for about 45 minutes for our table, went in and ordered, and then waited another 45 minutes for our food. Rebecca and I split a calizone...it was amazingly yummy.
The graduation banquet is tonight. I'm serving. I love serving, although it is kind of frusturating when you rush to get food to the people and then have to stand around for 5 minutes for the other servers to get their food...it takes a while, but it's fun.
Well anyway, School's almost out!!!! I'm so happy!! It makes me so happy!! I only have english and Algebra 2 to do, and I should be done with those this week! Yipee!!! Hoorah!!
I guess I'll see ya'll tonight.

Last night was the cookout. It was...pretty cool. I kinda got into a water fight with Tyler Ramsey, but it was fun. After the cookout I went home with Amanda to spend the night. We stopped at Kroger on the way to their house and we got some ice cream stuff. They were yummy. We kinda just sat in her room for a while talking, then we watched a movie, and then we went back into her room and...I'm not sure what we did. I think we talked for a really long time and then had a pillow fight or something...not sure. Oh, and then we sucked helium...that was so fun! I think we should get a whole tank of helium and suck it all...it is hilarious. Well, we finally went to sleep, and then we got out of bed at around 8:30, had another pillow fight (I think...I'm not sure) and ate some breakfast and went on a walk. That was fun. Anyway...ummm...skipping some stuff...we went to a cookout thing and I played some football and horseshoe...that was fun. At the end Amanda dumped a bottle of green tea on me and Zay dumped freezing cold water on me...right when we were about to get in the car. Grrr...I had a good time though.
Well....I'll see ya'll tomorrow. Love ya'll