My Sister's Bridal Shower

My sister, Stephanie, is getting married! This means that there will be a bridal shower held for her at our church, and I end up with the responsibility of coming up with games. The thought had overwhelmed me, that one simple task. I had never gone to any bridal showers, and only once when I was little I went to a baby shower and one of the only games I can remember is where you have to melt an ice cube and get the plastic baby out of it, that wouldn't do for a bridal shower! I finally convinced my mom to come up with a list of games from off the internet and I would pick out a couple. But the best game, at least in my mind, wasn't searched up on the internet at all. my family and I had gone out to eat at Culver's and we realized that no one knew what Stephanie's fiancé looked like, and we joked about having a game where the people would have to pick out of a bunch of pictures of men the guy she was marring. We realized that was actually a good idea and this afternoon Emily, Mom, and myself searched the internet for some pictures. Emily and I wanted to add some pictures of celebrities that we knew, but Mom and I realized it would be too obvious. Stephanie is coming over tonight and she won't let us use any pictures unless she approves of them first, I certainly can't blame her.

The Little Angel In The Curio Cabinet

In the curio cabinet, on the top shelf is a collection of Precious Moments statues. Hidden among the pastel colors and melancholy faces is one little angel girl, with tiny wings, and a bright yellow dress. A crown of jeweled flowers adorns her hair, and she rests on a vivid red flower, staring curiously at a little bug on her finger. That one little statue is mine. A long time ago, before my grandmother died, my family got to choose one statue from Grandma's huge collection of Precious Moments dolls. Our name got written on the bottom of the statue so that some day when grandma died we would know whose is whose. That day came and went and that little angel that I stared at whenever we visited became mine. This little angle is different from all the other Precious Moments dolls, because the trade mark of the Precious Moments statues is the subdued colors and sad eyes of little children. But this one is vividly colored, and has an air of happiness about it. Just the other day I was looking at the statues again and was struck by how much that one little angel stood out from the rest, and I thought how it resembled who I am, at least who I want to be, someone original, unlike everyone else, a trend breaker and someone with the sense of joy and curiosity of the world. This may be an impossible goal of who to be, but it's not about the destination, it's about the journey getting there.

From My Notebook: 9/11

This is a poem I wrote in memory of 9/11.

Black smoke fills the skies,

People’s screams, heartbroken cries.

Dancing flames leap out open windows,

In an instant, young wives become lonely widows.

People leap from on high,

 With hopes to grow wings and fly

 But there will be no escape from this horrible fate.

The two stately towers will surely be missed from the blood red Manhattan sky,

 On 9/11 that fateful date.

The Left Handed Drawing Project

The last few weeks I've taken up a new hobby. It's to draw, with my left hand, a different person each day. The rules are that I have to do it with a permanent marker so that I won't be able to erase my mistakes. The people turn out deformed and barrly reconisable, but it's really fun just to be able to draw something and not worry if it's going to turn out good. Here are a few of my first drawings.

This was my very VERY first one. It looks like a monster, but it's my sister!

This is my sister again, once I got a little better I thought I might as well draw her a little more decently.

It was my goal to draw one every day, but I only got up to day 5 or 6. That's because my family went on a weekend trip to visit my older sister. After that trip I didn't draw another one for at least a week. I have problems with staying committed to stuff, but I really want to change. Maybe this daily project will help me become better at staying committed. Speaking of being committed... I know I haven't been updating this blog very often, but I promise I'll try and post more.

From My Notebook: Journeying

The sun is my lamp

And the moon my nightlight at camp

The trees are my chapel

Without a penny to my name yet joys I have ample

The mountain peaks are where I sing God’s praise

And in the valleys I lay and watch the sheep graze

I’m always journeying

 

Through snow and through rain

Though the worldly sins are ever burdening

I keep journeying to light and a place with no more pain 

Back to School

I've started school recently even though it's a few weeks early, since I teach myself I can do that. Being my own teacher has many advantages. I can learn at my own pace and not worry if I'm doing as good as my other class mates. It also means that I can go by my own time table, so I could watch my brother play video games all afternoon, and still get all my school done before I go to bed. the only thing I have to complain about is that it's harder to explain that you're home schooled instead of just saying what school you go to (it gets even more complicated when you're your own teacher). I really enjoy doing school; I've found that it's all in the mind set. As long as I don't think of school as a chore that has to be done as quickly as possible, I actually look forward to it every day. I like school so much that I'm even thinking about continuing school through the next summer so that I can graduate early. I still am not sure though, I guess I'll just have to wait and see how I feel about it at the end of this school year. Over the past few years of my life I've slowly come to realize that learning is a joy and a enjoyable way to spend my time, and now I can't get enough of it.

Camping Again... and Again.... and Again

I haven't posted recently because it's been sooo busy for me lately. So instead of trying to tell you in detail of all the stuff that's happened lately, I'll give you speedy one sentence updates! ready... set... GO!

I went camping the Wednesday before last Wednesday with the girls group I'm in. It was fun, except for the cement work. The goats were cute. The last day we got kicked out of our cabin because paying patrons were top priority. We came home a day early instead of setting up tents for the night. Friday was the day we got back, and guess what? The next Friday was another camping trip! And there is still at least one more camping trip coming up this year!

Whew! That was fun, now I'll slow down and tell you about the last camping trip I just came back from yesterday.

Well, my parents said we'd be in the car and going by 3 o'clock PM, but it turned out to be four. That's because it was another KFC (that's the girls group I'm in) outing and since my mom is in charge of everything we had to wait around for all the girls to arrive and then some had to go back and get their permission slips signed by their parents. Sometimes I wish that I could be like the other girls, being dropped off at the time we're supposed to leave instead of having to go an hour early to help get things ready and then wait around some more for all the girls. The trip in the car itself was only an hour or so, thankfully, because our van that I was riding in had no air conditioning! My sister and I survived by using a battery powered fan and a squirt bottle mixed together as one. We got there and got the tents up pretty quickly, and we had supper. The next day and a half consisted of me staying behind to just sit in the screen tent and read while everyone else went off on long bike rides and hikes. I went on two hikes, a short one where we all borrowed a GPS and found a little treasure box in the forest, and the other, right before we left for home, was one just with my Mom, Dad, and Emily down to where the other girls had been going back and forth the whole time, catching frogs. It may seem boring to other people to just sit in the tent and read the whole time you go camping but that's what I enjoy doing. To me, I go camping to be close to nature and to slow down, not go speeding off on hike after hike and get so exhausted that you can't even enjoy the nature around you. To me, camping should be a relaxing experience. I spent almost the whole time reading, since I'm not that much of a talker, and most of the time I didn't find the stuff the other girls talked about very interesting. It's often frustrating that I can't ever find someone that shares the same interests as me. I can't talk about Lord of the Rings, or discuss the newest book that I've read. I can't debate the theologies of Christianity or untangle the mysteries of Lost with someone. I often feel very old for a fourteen year old, but that's the way I like it. Back to the subject of camping. All I have left to say is, "Boy am I glad to be home!" I was thinking before I left on this latest camping adventure that most people go on these things to get away from the troubles in their lives, but for me it's just the opposite. I go into my room and close the door, and escape from all the problems of this world with the picking up of a pen and paper.

Here are a few pictures from the camping trip. My mom and sister took most of these, because I feel weird taking pictures of people other then my sister. The last two are mine though.

My dad setting up tents.

This is Emily, my sister.

These are three of the four other girls that came along.

Here we're on a Geo-cache adventure, where you get a GPS and try to find some co-ordinances.

These two are the pastor's kids, besides being a KFC outing it was also a church event.