KINGS DOMINION!!!!! (part 2)

I'm baaack. :)

So right after Intimidator, half the group rode it again, while the other half went next door to Flight of Fear, a smallish indoor coaster. I knew I needed water, but I put it off. Not a good idea.

I started feeling really dizzy. Everybody else said it was sweltering, but I was freezing. I told Joy I needed to get out, and she started to lead the way. From there on, it gets pretty hazy, but I've been told the story, so here's how I think it went. I slumped over onto Joy, and she kinda layed me down on my back, then I wanted to get up, so she helped me up, but then I slumped over again, and some random guy behind me offered to help me sit down. Some other random person way back in the line passed up their cup of water. And then, while I was sitting on the ground, Isabel comes rushing by, dragging Corine by the hand. Corine calls to us, "I feel like I'm going to pass out." And me and Joy looked at each other, and started hollering. Tori came after, and I like, yelled, at her, "GO GET CORINE!" meaning, go take care of her, but she thought I meant to get her and bring her to me. And she gets there and tells her that I wanted her. And Corine bit her head off and told her she'd call me when she got out. Fortunately, we worked it all out later. Amidst it all, Joy asked me if I was with her, and told me to talk to her, and I stared at her like she was crazy and said "I'm here." Like, where else would I be? And, some random lady asked me if I was diabetic. Which, kind of irritated the overprotective best friend. She told me yesterday that she thought, "Umm, don't you think I would know that? Wouldn't I be digging in her bag for insulin?" lol. A lady (who we think worked there) went and got help, the guy who was running the ride came and got me and lead me out. As It was scary, it was aggravating, it was vaguely exciting, I am NEVER doing it again.

Mr. John came and met us, then we met up with the rest of the group at a restaurant for drink/chill break. After that, Mr. John, Ms. Carol, and Isabel, not having brought stuff for swimming, went to ride more roller coasters, and everybody else headed for the water park. But, not before Ms. Carol could sneakily whisper in my ear, "Watch out for the little munchies." Meaning, keep an eye on all the kids younger than yourself. Which, was everybody but Joy. I swear, I must have the word mother tattooed on my head. Because that sort of thing is always happening to me. Joy says its a good thing. That everybody needs someone like that. And, I am the one always doing head counts and making sure that we stay together in a crowd and carrying everything anybody might need and anything anybody doesn't feel like hanging onto for themselves around in my ginormous black hole of a bag. So, maybe they're right. Whatever.

On the way to the water park, us girls got clothes-lined on Drop Zone, which we'd all been wanting to ride all day long. So we sent the guys ahead to the water park and told them we'd meet them there. But, of course, as we're waiting in line for the ride, it starts raining. They close it down. So we went to the water park, only to find people pouring out in droves. They closed it down. Because of the rain. Well, the tornado watch might've had something to do with it too. So we waited outside the water park for the boys. Freakishly tall, freakishly short, and mohawk. You'd think they'd've been easy to spot. Not so much. As we're standing there, it starts pouring. So, being us, we get off to the side out of the way and start dancing around like maniacs. :) It was fun.

Eventually, they made it out, and we all decided to just stroll about for a while. Yeah, that lasted a long time. Not. It hadn't been a minute before the guys started running away from us, full-tilt. At first, we thought they might've just been trying to get away from us. And, maybe they were. But they made a beeline for the carousel. So we followed them, and we all rode the carousel together. Oh, yeah. We're cool.

Well, folks, thats all the time I have for today. But one more post should take care of it. Maybe. How one day can provide this much to blog about is beyond me. Ttfn!!! :)

KINGS DOMINION!!!!!

Okay. Okay, how stupid is that. Like, every blog post I write starts with the word 'okay.' Whatever.

Okay, so my youth group went to King's Dominion last Thursday, just for fun. Sounds like no big deal, right?

Wrong.

You'd think we would've learned by now that we can't go anywhere without it being a biigggg deal. Whiiich is why I'm a tad apprehensive about our beach trip later on this month, but moving on.

This is probably going to take more than one post. I mean, I could fit it in one, but it'd be realllyyyy long. And, you know, there's nothing worse than a retardedly long blog post. I mean, just telling my dear cousin Spring about it took two emails. Granted, she gets a considerably different version of stories like this than cyberspace does. So, consider this part one. I've been doing a lot of multi-part posts here lately. Whatever.

But, anyway, it was the most epicest youth trip ever. We all piled into my family's fifteen passenger van together. No girls' car/guys' car deal this time around.

For the ride there, we played 20 questions. It's us girls' favorite game to play on car rides, but we'd never played it with the boys before. One person asks a random question (i.e. what's your favorite food?), then everybody else answers it. We had to FORCE the guys to play. Which is fun, especially when Ella gets evil ideas. I asked the question "What's your favorite thing about a member of the opposite gender." I know, evil, right? Those poor boys. And, of course, the whole thing was infused with inside jokes that zoomed right over their heads. They hated it. :)

So, anyway, when we were about half an hour from the park, the van broke down. We were stuck sitting by the side of the road for about two hours. My mom saved the day, got in touch with a church nearby, and had them come pick us up in their youth bus and take us to the park.

We ate our lunches outside, which involved Corine trying to tie a cherry stem with her tongue and her big bro yelling at her for it. . . lol. I have to admit to being a bad influence there. We did it at my birthday sleepover. The conversation played out like this.

Me: "Stephen, your sister's trying to tie a cherry stem with her tongue."

Stephen: "Corine! Do you even know what that means?"

Corine: "Umm, no?"

Stephen (whispering): "It's to see if you're a good kisser!"

Corine: *coughs and splutters, spits out cherry stem.*

Everybody else: *laughs*

After that, we dropped most of our junk at a locker, then headed into the park. Without really meaning to, all of us stuck together. We rode the three biggest coasters in quick succession. Dominator, Volcano, and Intimidator. Boy, do I love roller coasters. Somewhere in between them, we rode the little Boo Blaster's ride, with the laser guns, where you shoot the little ghosts and stuff. I love that ride. :)

Well, I think that's enough for one post. I shall return. :)

Set Me Free

Okay, so I wanted to post a video, but can't manage to without it displaying my real name, which, I kinda don't wanna do. Grr. The sound quality was awful anyway.

It went off without a hitch. As everybody arrived, I spirited them away to the girl's bathroom to apply dark eye make up, befitting their characters as either demons or the demon possessed person. Corine played the demon possessed person.

Okay, I'm starting to sound a little crazy. Ever heard the song? Set Me Free, Casting Crowns. If not, check it out here. It's about the story in Matthew, about Jesus casting out a great number of demons from a man. Corine played the man, and the rest of us were her demons. It was really emotional, really powerful. Everybody did a fantastic job, from little Noel, Joy's seven-year-old sister, to seventeen-year-old Joy herself.

And, we've welcomed a new one to the fold. It was Anne's friend (I'll insert screen name later) first dance with us, and ever since then she's been telling me what a great time she had and how excited she is for the next one.

I adore worship dance. I love the changes it makes in life after life after life. I've seen how much it's come to mean to Joy, who technically just started last December. I've seen the changes, the unbelievable changes, it's made in Corine. She's closer to God! Through this, she's growing and thriving in her relationship with Christ. Noel, (insert name later), all of them! It's such a powerful thing, and we have such a gifted group. A truly gifted, Holy Spirit gifted, group. When this door is opened up to someone, it's literally like shackles just fall off. To learn that there's this full-self, mind, soul, body, way that you can worship your Creator, it's freeing! If I may, John 4:23 "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks." Worship in spirit . . . and in truth. And, also consider: 2 Corinthians 3:17 "Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." and, John 8:32 "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

So, it follows that to worship in spirit and in truth is to worship in freedom!!! Now, I can't claim that logic as my own. Ann Stevenson wrote that in her book Restoring the Dance, which I highly recommend.

And that's what dance means to me. Freedom. Freedom to all-out worship my King.

But, I'm starting to ramble. It's what happens when I'm passionate about something. But, I should stop. Bye, now! :)

DANCE CAMP!!!!!!

Umm, yeah. So I'm trying to play catch-up, if you hadn't noticed. And three days after Vacation Bible School ended, the epicness that was dance camp, erm, excuse me, worship arts camp, began.

First day. Got up at five in the morning, rode with Grandma to Aunt Ruth's house. Aunt Ruth heads up the whole thing.

Okay, forget the play-by-play. In the words of the fabulous Inigo Montoya, "You killed my father, pre-" wait, wrong quote. Hang on, "Let me 'splain. No, would take too long. Let me sum up."

I listed two worries that I had going into dance camp several posts ago. The were A) running into people I used to know, and B) (hahaha B) looks like a funny little face.) my own lack of ability. A caused no problems at all, besides Joy, Aunt Ruth, and my two little cousins, I didn't know anyone from that famous patriarch of patriarchs, Adam. Can you tell I'm feeling ADD today?

But anyway, B. I had four classes. My dance skill level caused problems in one, a very, shall we say, vigorous? dance class. But, it only meant I had to work that much harder to get the dance, which I didn't really have a problem with. It was fun. The other dance class was really fun. Took me outside of my comfort zone, but it was fun. One of the two pieces we worked on over the week was a hip-hop dance, to the song Shackles, by Mary Mary. Ella. Does. Not. Hip hop. Me and Joy both almost decided not to do it, because we were scared. But we stuck with it, and we managed. We did something hard. Go us.

We had a Bible study, oddly enough lead by a friend of my mom's from growing up. It was marvelous. Slightly creepy, but marvelous. See, one of my reasons, okay, my only reason, for doing dance camp this year was the fact that I felt ill-equipped to be in the position I am at church, and hoped that it might, in some way, help. I'm young. I'm so young. And I had this mindset that that meant I couldn't do it. And I get there, and what is the Bible study focusing on all week, but young heroes (and heroines!) in the Bible who did amazing things. David. Samuel. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Daniel. Esther. It was incredible.

On the wall in the Bible classroom was a large sheet of butcher paper, which read "God, let us be..." . And every day, after we'd done the Bible study, the teacher handed out little squares of cardstock, on which we were to write one word. Faithful, passionate, and honest were most of mine. Can't remember the third to save me. How cool is God?

But the class I had the hardest time with was my first class of the day. The one I volunteered in. Drama. Now, see, I didn't know I was lacking in ability when it comes to drama. I've always been capable enough for whatever was needed of me. And I've done plenty of it, in my day. Had the lead part in my fair share of Christmas plays. My mom's a drama freak, of course some of it rubbed off on me.

But apparently not. Because, even though this class was geared toward sixth graders, my Juliet was lacking in emotion, my senile old lady made no sense, and I couldn't get loud enough to save my life. I was feeling pretty down on myself until the last day. I'm not usually the kind of person who needs afirmation, but this teacher had managed to take me down a few notches in the self-confidence arena. But then, the last day, I was given an improv character I could actually do something with (an overprotective mother in a screaming match with her seventeen-year-old daughter, who was headed down a bad road), and an opportunity to show off my valley girl accent. Both of which merited "Very good, Ella!" from the teacher. Lol.

The week, as a whole, was an absolute success. Met some people I'll never forget, learned a ton, got a crash course in worship, found some support for the whole thing at church, and met Joan Wilson. Ate lunch in a lunch room, became a pro at packing lunches, making pajamas look cute, and arching my back in ways probably not humanly possible. It was an awesome week. Can't wait 'til next year!!!