The Protest, part 6: Speaking Swahili and Chasing Rare Birds

Hodi! Which, is Swahili, for hello. So, for Vacation Bible School this year, my church did Kingdom of the Son, which was a safari-themed adventure focusing on the Lord's Prayer.

VBS is always an adventure, filled with all kinds of opportunities. Opportunities of all sorts. And, usually, it can go one of two ways. Each situation has two outcomes. You can either wind up feeling really good about yourself, or really really bad. I did my fair share of each, believe you me.

For most of each night, I was Miss Ella, crew leader to the first and second graders, along with Joy, Tori, a lady from our church, and Gabriel, a guy from the youth group. Gabriel was the afterthought. He, umm, wasn't thriving in his first job (read: sat there doing nothing), so the people in charge (read: my mom and Joy's) stuck him with us, knowing we wouldn't let him get away with stuff like that. So, he got the scare-your-pants-off, won't-take-no-for-an-answer, boys-beware crash course in working with children. It was fun. For us, at least. ;)

So our job was to shepherd those little ones entrusted to us from activity to activity. Craft, Bible, Snack, Games, was the order, if I remember correctly.

But for the first twenty minutes of each evening, I was Terry Jaywalker, oversolicitous, overcautious birdwatcher. Twin to Jerry Jaywalker, also oversolicitous, but extremely undercautious, adventure hound/photographer/videographer extraordinaire, played by my dear friend Joy. The two of us hired Ben Bakari (Safari guide/closet evil poacher) to lead us on an expedition into the African plains, in search of adventure (for Jerry) and the rare Blue-Cheeked Bee Eater (for me). But our jeep broke just miles away from the first stop on our safari, Dr. Doolot's Animal Hospital, on an unnamed animal reserve. So we spent the week helping the kind Dr. Doolots with her work, learning all sorts of lessons, embarrassing ourselves (there was that incident with the tranquilizer . . .), and chasing the elusive bird.

But, any more than that would be spoilers. Spoilers!!

It was a fantastic week. The good Lord moved like He always does (five or six salvations, I think). God always uses those little kids, and the lessons they learn, to teach me things I'm too hardheaded to learn any way else. Part of why I love working with kids.

But I'm glad it only happens once a year, because VBS is exhausting.

TTFN!!

The Protest, part 5: Bunnies

Well, this one kind of picks up where the last one left off, with Doctor Who.

It all started one evening while Andrew, Anne, Riley and myself were riding around on the golf cart. (Aside: the golf cart is a new addition to the family. Pawpaw picked it up somewhere as a freebie and got it into working order.) There was a guy over from church to talk to Daddy, and they were sitting in the back yard. And, of course, I was hyper. I mean HYPER. So we're dashing around on the golf cart, and feeling absolutely psychotic, and in a major Doctor Who mood. So we're quoting the show left and right, and I'm screaming "Dust off your converse!" at the top of my lungs. Just for fun, you know.

Then all of a sudden, this rabbit dashes across our path, and Carie screamed at him "Dust off your converse!!"

So I asked, "Why on earth would a bunny wear converse?"

"It would if it was a Time Lord bunny." she said.

So we followed the bunny, but it disappeared. And when I said "What happened to the converse-wearing bunny?"

"It used it's TARDIS to go back in time and steal all our radishes from our garden." Connor replied matter-of-factly.

And thus was born the Evil Converse-Wearing, Radish-Stealing Time Lord Bunny. The end.

The Protest, part 4: Matt Smith

Well, then. On the list of things on dear old Ella's mind, Matt Smith (a.k.a the 11th Doctor) is pretty high up there. Because, well, he's so cool. And when I say cool, I mean cool.

Here is a video of an interview, shortly after Matt got the news that he'd been chosen as the next doctor.

And, this is stupid. I know that just because something is part of my frame of reference doesn't mean that it's a part of everyones. I am most certainly my father's daughter. I've grown up on stuff like this. Which quite possibly makes me a nerd, 'cause I love it. But I don't know if it's something everyone would get, or knows about. Maybe I'm stupid for even wondering, maybe it's a big duh. Everybody knows about Doctor Who. Or maybe I'm being rude for thinking that everyone knows about it just because I do. I quite simply don't know.

So, just in case, Doctor Who is a British, a very British science fiction show. Kind of an iconic thing, over there, so I'm told. Watch the video.

And it's a show I've very recently fallen in love with. How do you not fall in love with such a fantastic show? And the Doctor is such a marvelous character. Very cool.

And as you may've picked up on, when I use the word cool, I mean it in a slightly different sense. Ever read The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald? "You look so cool. Yo always look so cool." Or, possibly, seen The Cat Returns? "Wow, you're cool." Anyway, I digress.

So, yeah, Matt Smith. Cool. And, I guess that's it! Talk to you soon. :)

~Me

The Protest, part 3: Llamas

Now that I'm here, I honestly don't remember what I was going to say about llamas. That's embarrassing. Ummmmm, let's see. There was the bit about the spitting llamas, with Cara. But I already told you about that.

There's also the happy llamas. Which are fun. It's a hand rhyme my little cousin Nikki taught me, which I then taught to all the girls at church, and my little cousin Haley.

But I don't think that was it either. So, umm, llamas?

Wikipedia defines a llama as "a South American camelid, widely used as a pack and meat animal by Andean cultures since pre-hispanic times."

But you didn't care to know that. And I can't think of anything else. So, I guess we'll be wrapping this one up. Ttfn! :)

The Protest, part 2: What's Happening in the Next Few Weeks

VBS. Dance camp. Set Me Free. Thaaaaaattt about sums it up.

VBS. Me, Joy, Tori, and a lady from our church are crew-leading (actually, I think we're Safari Guides this year) for the first and second graders. Which, is pretty much my job of choice. No stupid boy issues this year either, please. I would appreciate that. It has me kinda freaked that I'm working with an adult. Never done that before in all my (four?) years of VBS-ing. All of which have been in the same position, crew leader to first and second graders. And, it being my niche, I consider myself at the very least passable at it, if not by this time somewhat good? Can I say that? And I usually wind up in the position of leader. Not official, just in a group-dynamic kinda way. I don't like taking charge, but I am capable when necessary. So that's usually what I do. Not sure how that's gonna work with an adult in the picture. Am I working with/alongside her? Or am I working under her. Kinda apprehensive about that, but in all things, His will be done. Joy and myself also have another position, but, again, that's a story for another post.

Dance Camp. Five day day camp in Norfolk, all about praise dance. Being the age that I am, I'm 'volunteering' most of the time, while learning under experienced leaders how to lead. Which'll be nice, because that's pretty much the position me and Joy are in with the 'dance group' (we're not official, yet?) at church. So, in that sense, looking forward to it. But, there's the potential (pretty good potential) of running into people I knew growing up, which is always interesting, and I have very low belief in my ability as a dancer, and there'll be people there who've been at it longer than I have with more teaching than I have. I've been on my own as a dancer, without a teacher, for a very long time. Aaaand, I'm not exactly in ballet-dancer shape. So, yeah, the feelings are a little mixed there.

Set Me Free. Sunday, July 25th. The dance-group-ey-thingy at church is presenting a dance to the song Set Me Free by Casting Crowns. And that's the one thing that I'm NOT having mixed/apprehensive feelings about. It's ready. We're ready. God has had his hand on this thing since the beginning, and I couldn't be more proud of the girls. They are w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l wonderful. I'm excited!! Corine is dancing the main part, and she's wonderful. She has so much God-giving talent and ability for it, and she has really made this part her own. And, her dad gets to be here this time. He missed her last dance, and that was really sad, because he is her biggest supporter as a dancer, and one of the biggest supporters of the whole dance thing at our church. And he gets to be here this time, which makes me really happy.

Soooo, I guess thats it? Sweet. Jazzy. (lol, another story for another post). That's all folks! Ttfn! :)

The Protest, part 1: What I've Been Doing These Past Few Weeks

My last post was on June seventh. This means that 'catching up' is not going to be easy, so let me hit the high points.

Aunt Becky, Uncle Jared, and Cara Grace's visit came and went. It was fantastic, albeit far too short. You've noticed how when out-of-town relatives visit, you see your in-town relatives a lot more often? Yeah. That's kind of a cool side effect.

Funniest/Favorite highlights of the visit?

Dad and Calvin (age four) playing 'may I please have my brains back?' Dad pretended to pull Cal's brain out through his ear, then coached him in the correct way to stick his tongue out, drool, and slur "may I please have my brains back?" Which he continued to do for a solid week.

Cara's spitting llamas. She was sitting on the floor playing with Andrew's legos in our family room. They'd come over for dinner. I was sitting in a chair beside her, leaning over to play with her. I made what I thought was a very cute duck, and proceeded to make the duck 'quack' at her with it. She promptly informed me that it looked more like a llama than a duck. To which I replied "Well, I don't know what a llama says." So she told me, "They don't say nuffin', they 'pit (spit)!"

Standing in the kitchen, cooking side-by-side with Nana, Aunt Becky, and Mama. Peeling potatoes at Nana's kitchen table with Aunt Becky. All (*counts on fingers*) twelve? of us piling into the ten-by-ten family room to play music. Which is what we call it when Daddy and Andrew grab their guitars and Aunt Becky and Papaw grab their ukeleles and the rest of us sing along where we can and we play whatever song from the song book sounds best at the time. We managed a pretty decent He Knows My Name, if I do say so myself.

We got together for the last time Monday night. We did dinner, dessert, and music. Mom and Dad started giving each other the 'it's time to go' looks, then Nana says "Hey, don't we wanna look at pictures? So we all take turns putting our camera SD cards into the wii and we look at pictures. The looks begin again, then Nana produces a humongous watermelon and says "Does anybody want watermelon?" And even though we were all full as ticks, everybody did. And as Nana and I are in the kitchen cleaning up, I looked over at her and said, "We're stretching, aren't we?" We were, of course. Everybody knew it.

They left last Tuesday, the same day Grandma and Pawpaw came back from their vacation in Florida. Tuesday afternoon, Mom and I scooted down to NC to pick up Joy so we could go over to the CPC to volunteer, like we always do. We get there and up to the door and our 'boss' informs us (in a whisper) that she's with a client, and didn't need us that day. So I call daddy, and Joy and me wind up sitting in the kitchen at the office for an hour. Which, seeing as how it was us, was a blast.

And that's pretty much it for June. July is gonna have to be a story for another day. Au revoir!

Umm . . . ?

Bonjour. Comment vas tu? Moi, je vais bien. I think. Not so sure. I'll let you know when I figure out.

I kind of hate blogging. I mean, it's great and all. Cool for when you have a thought that won't fit into a facebook status update that you want to share, or when you're really busy and you need a place to make your schedule make sense in your own head, or for trading inside jokes with friends under false names, or when you've got something on your mind that you just HAVE to talk about, and that your family and friends will strangle you if you say another word about, or if you have a beloved aunt who wants to keep up with your life, but lives on the other side of the planet (Love you Aunt Becky!).

But it has its downsides, too. Like when you hate keeping anything like a journal, and are therefore awful at it. Or when you're super-duper busy. Or when the kind of thing you have on your mind isn't exactly the kind of thing you want to project into cyberspace.

That's probably the worst one. Because not everything is blogger-friendly. Some stuff is just . . . bigger . . . than that. But, when that's what you're thinking about, how can you NOT blog about it? And then I start feeling guilty (see Honesty, parts 1 and 2) about not sharing what's on your mind. And then, well, that's when I decide that the pros of blogging just don't outweigh the cons.

So I could tell you what I did over the past few weeks. Or I could tell you what's happening in the next few weeks. Or I could pick some random subject to ramble on about, like Llamas or Matt Smith or bunnies or speaking swahili and chasing rare birds. Okay, so there are ideas for five, no, six blog posts right there. And while I'm not particularly enthralled with any of them, why not? So, a protest against blogging, while being a good girl and posting on my blog, in six parts, coming right up. Well, seven if you count this one, the introduction.

Have a fantastic evening.

~Ella

I Lied

Whoops! I just went back, and realized I didn't say a WORD about slime night last year. Not sure how that happened, because it was epic.

So I guess I may as well just do it this year.

Once a year, several giant vats of slime (cornstarch+water=gooey icky fun) are made, and the youth group congregates in crappy old clothes to enjoy it.

We started with a burping contest (not exactly slimy, but still disgusting, which is the theme of the evening). Both teams picked two volunteers. All volunteers failed. Each team sent their oldest male. It was DISGUSTING!! But my team won. :)

Then the egg toss, which we lost, amid many snide comments from Stephen about "Watch your head, Ella's playing!" Okay, so last year, me and Mr. OverCompetitive himself were on the same team (which was awesomely fun, btw), and wound up as partners for the egg toss. I threw it, he didn't catch it, it landed right SMACK on the head of the guy to his left. We've been arguing ever since about who's fault it was.

Me: But YOU were supposed to catch it!!

Him: How was I supposed to? It was six feet to my left!!

Whatever. So this year, I replied by sticking my tongue out and telling him to shut up.

Then was the...umm...soda-bottle...cup...slime...game? Not sure what to call it. It doesn't have a name. One person lays down on the ground w/a 2-liter soda bottle on their head. Next person runs up w/a cup of slime, tries to pour it in soda bottle. When cup is empty, they switch, pourer becomes lay-er, layer runs and gives cup to next team member, repeat as necessary. First team w/a full bottle wins. We won, both times around.

Then bobbing for worms. Large vat of slime, gummy worms in it. One person steps into vat, two hold them up (man, is it slippery!), proceed to pick out worms w/ your toesies! And, I am becoming known for my nimble toes. My team won that too. :)

Relay races (kiddy pools, tarps, slip-and-slide), which nobody knew who won. Slime wrestling (two people on a slimed tarp, trying to push each other off), which we lost.

Then, the Epic Slime Battle. Several buckets of slime (some still w/gummy worms in them), a load of water balloons for each team, proceed to try to kill each other. :) That was my favorite part of the evening, always is. Everybody tries to get revenge for things that had happened earlier, and revenge is oh-so-sweet, and slimy. Case-and-point, I landed a fantastic, gloppy ball of slime on Stephen's head for the egg comment. He squeegeed it off and flung it at me. Wiped it all down Joy's back. Splashed Brandon for sliming me. Poured it on Corine's unsuspecting head. Loverly.

And that, my dears, was slime night.

Today is testing, last official day of school. Breakfast, a day full of timed, mark-the-bubble tests. Fun. Talk to you later. Thanks for reading! :)

Alright, so, sorry. Ask anybody, keeping anything that resembles a journal is like, the thing I'm worst at. So, you know, whatever.

I only have a minute, 'cause I have to leave to go to the doctor's office. I got bit on the ankle by some kind of bug Monday night at Joy's, and now my ankle is all swollen up. So, I have to go to the doctor's. I hate the doctor's.

So, yeah, spent Monday evening w/Joy and her family, which was fantastic. Btw, hope everybody had a fabulous holiday weekend.

Yesterday was volunteering at the CPC. Oops, hadn't said anything about that yet, had I? Well, me and Joy are volunteering every Tuesday afternoon at the local Crises Pregnancy Center. Which basically means playing with baby clothes, bagging diapers, and lugging stuff up and down the stairs. It's really fun, and it feels good to just go somewhere and be as helpful as you can. It's not very hard work, and they're so appreciative of the help. It just feels good, you know?

Tonight is youth, as usual. Tomorrow=nothing special.

And then Friday (drumroll please!) is SLIME NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Only my favorite youth event of the year. I do believe I blogged about it in detail last year. But, it is exactly what it sounds like, A chance to get coated from head to toe in (cornstarch) slime!!!!!

Looking further forward is Aunt Becky, Uncle Jared, and Cara's visit in the (very near!!!) future. Eight days and counting!!! :D

Then VBS, which always comes up faster than expected. This year we're doing Kingdom of the Son: A Prayer Safari, which is all based on the Lord's prayer. I'll be volunteering in the same position as last year, a crew-leader-type person for the 1st and 2nd grade class.

Directly after that is Dance/Worship Arts camp (technically called Exalt) at First Baptist of Norfolk. My aunt has been helping lead that up for years. I haven't gotten involved up to this point, but this year is a little different. With the position me and Joy have been taking in the dance group (if we can really call it that), it would be wise to try to get more equipped. It just makes sense, you know?

And past that, it's all up in the air. Heehehe, I'm a little crazy right now.

Everybody have a great day! :)

Mother's Day

Howdy, folks.

So today is Mother's Day. And I feel like I should take a moment to thank God for all the Moms in my life.

First and foremost, ahead by a million miles of everybody else, is my Mama. I don't know why, but God has seen fit to give me the best one on the planet. She's my best friend, she knows everything about me. I can't ever manage to keep a secret from her for long. She knows what's best for me, and she's not afraid to be the bad guy. Is that weird? That that's one of my favorite things about her? That when it comes to what I need, instead of what I want, she's the one who holds the reins, and occasionally the whip. And no matter how badly I punish her for it, or how much I sulk, she always does what's best for me. I love you, Mama!!!

Second, my two wonderful Grandmothers.

My Nana has been one of my favorite people for as long as I can remember. She's one of those people who just loves and loves and loves and gives and gives and gives, until you think she'd eventually run out. But she never does. And as I get older and get to know her on a more grown-up level, I learn that that's because she's constantly refilling herself from her Jesus. She lives her entire life at His feet. And she is so incredibly humble. I was just realizing last night (we were over at her house) how much she has to teach me. And I cannot wait to start learning.

And my Grandma. I have only recently started to discover her. She's not one of those totally warm people like my Nana, so we were never close when I was young. She's more reserved. She's a lot like me, in that respect. But I've started to really put forth the effort to get to know her these last few weeks, and she's a really remarkable lady.

Then my Aunts.

My Aunt Becky, who was another of those favorite people from when I was really little. Actually, she was always more like another Mom to me, than an Aunt. She's been away for a long time, serving overseas with my Uncle Jared as a missionary. That hasn't been easy. But sometimes, during the summer, they come home for visits. And they're coming home this year!!!!!

And my Aunt Ruth. We haven't been close for a few years now, just because our lives have stopped putting us together so much, but there was a time when we were. She was 'Ms. Ruth' for a while, as my dance teacher. She leads a dance group at her church, that I was a part of for a long time. She's the person who really led me to fall in love with dancing. Everything I know (that I haven't learned by trial-and-error) I learned from her.

And last, but far from least, all my other moms and grandmas. Those wonderful ladies God has placed in my life that love me dearly, and that I don't know what I would do without. Brandice, Joy's mom Mary, Ms. Peggy, Ms. Tammie, Ms. Kellie, Ms. Cindy and Ms. Diane just to name a few. I am so thankful for them!

So take a moment, today, to thank God for all your moms, and to tell them that you love them.

Happy Mother's Day!

Honesty Part 2

Honesty Part 2 is going to be, essentially, a couple of lists.

Firstly, a list of things that, within the last three days, have reiterated to me the importance of honesty.

*Sunday morning, at Joy's house (omg! I didn't post about her bday party. will do that soon).

Her mom wakes us up by blaring christian music at us. The song is "Unspoken" by Jaci Velasquez. It gets stuck in my head. All. Day. Long. Important lyric: "Don't leave your heart

unspoken!"

*Saturday night, the making of a promise to several of my girlfriends to be perfectly honest with them, no matter what.

*More Sunday morning, during the sermon, the line "Hearts are oft broken by words left

unspoken" running through my head over and over and over and over again.

*Yesterday morning, listening to my iPod trying to tune the family out to concentrate on

school. The John Mayer song 'Say' comes on. You probably know it. "Say what you need to

say. Say what you need to say." so on and so forth, about five zillion times.

*This afternoon, reading an email forward from my grandmother, that says things like, "Always tell, what you feel and do what you think.", and "Nobody would remember you if you keep your thoughts secret."

And there have been more, though nothing else comes to mind.

Secondly, while I'm having this soul-bearing moment, I might as well list what's on my mind.

*Life. Get-a-job-get-your-driver's-license-get-a-car-go-to-college-figure-out-what-you're-

doing-with-your-life life. Yeah. Fun. Not.

*Dance. Figuring out where the dance thing is headed at my church, figuring out where

God wants dance to head at my church, figuring out where God wants dance to head with

me and my life, and trying to make sure His will is done.

*My age. I feel trapped, because I'm just a "child" and as such I can only do so much. I have

this fire to make a difference in my generation, and to DO something, to GO somewhere

with my life, and I am absolutely, completely, and utterly S T U C K stuck. But, then, I feel

like the time I have for goofing off, cutting up, and being a kid is almost over, and I want to

make the next two years last ffffffoooooooorrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeevvvvvvvveeeeeeeerrrrrr.

Make any sense to you? Me either.

So, there you have it. My life's problems, in a nutshell. Whoop-dee-doo.

Good night, everybody.

Honesty Part 1

So, you know, honesty is kind of a funny thing. Being honest, I mean. It's sort of a rush.

As you may've guessed, I'm not a very . . . open person. I tend to be the implosive type. I just kind of stuff everything inside. Mom says it's not good for me, that eventually I'm gonna just blow up. The way I see it, that hasn't happened yet.

And it's not that I have, like, trust issues or whatever. My life is just easier when people don't really know what's going on inside my head. I don't have to deal with sympathy, or comfort, or attempts at help.

I'm the kind of person who, when asked "How are you?", will 95% of the time reply "Fine!". No matter what's going on inside my head. I mean, unless it's Joy, or Mom or Dad, or Spring, or a select handfull of other people. I really don't care to have you know about what I'm going through.

Thats part of what I like so much about the internet, and the world of Blogger. There's this safe kind of illusion of anonymity. I know it's fake, but I feel so far removed from real life that it's safe to really be honest.

But that's something that bugs the snot out of me in other people. I can't stand anything that smacks of dishonesty. Probably because it's something I have a hard time with myself. I wish, with all my heart, that everybody (myself included) felt safe enough to be open and themselves all the time. And I'm fiercely jealous of people who are. People who have that confidence.

So it's something I'm trying to work on. I'm trying to get to where, when there really is something wrong, I can tell people. I can speak my mind. I can say what I need to say.

God's working on me in this aspect. In the last three days alone, the topic has come up about seven times, no lie.

So I'm working on it. Which brings me back to where I started.

Forget lying. Telling the truth is a real adrenaline high.

See, I have this guy friend, Brandon. He and I have been through highs and lows in our friendship. We just hit what was probably an all time low (due to some severe miscommunications, misunderstandings, and misconstruing), and are now on our way back up. He's one of those people who I'd like to be open with. But it doesn't come easy. Especially with a guy. I just kind of tend to recoil from that kind of openness with guys.

But we're emailing back and forth right now, and he's being pretty honest with me. Then he asked me, pretty seriously, how I'm doing. I gave the vague reply 'kinda going through some stressful stuff right now, but okay', hoping that would be honest enough to satisfy my newfound conscience, but vague enough to not really tell him anything.

And, of course, he had to ask what kind of stressful stuff.

I was still vague, but more honest than I've been with a lot of people here lately. And, like I said, it's a rush. I'm a bit jittery.

And it feels good, to be honest with people. To not hold back the truth. We should all try it some time.

Have a great day!

So, Blogger=procrastination central! I know I should be screnzying, and I know I should start school, and I know I should clean my room, but, here I am!

So last night was supposed to be that thing at the library, but apparently THAT particular library is just retardedly hard to find. We got lost. Hopelessly lost. In the rain. On empty.

It was Tom-Tom's fault. I swear, that stupid gps thingie has tried to kill us on several different occasions. The thing is evil! And it almost cussed at me, but that's another story.

So we get there about five minutes after the event ended. Walk in, attempt small talk with a couple of librarians, pick up our copies of the booklet of entries, take a cookie so we didn't have to feel guilty for not eating, and went off to browse the library until my parents came back to pick us up.

Yeah, they dropped us off and left to get gas, asking us if we could find something to do until they came back. Us. At a library. Yeah, I'd guess we could find something to do.

I embarrassed myself horribly, which made me thankful that it was just Joy who saw. I couldn't for the life of me find this one stupid book I was looking for. Apparently I don't know how to use a library. Whatever.

So she found the book for me. And here I suppose a little backstory is necessary.

A friend of ours claims this particular book as his all-time favorite. And, at face value, that's ridiculous. All the great works of literature this world has to offer, and you pick that one.

But my grandmother chided me on not giving it more of a chance before I just started making fun of it. So yesterday I picked it up.

I felt like it was stealing, or sneaking drugs into the house or something, they way I hid it from my family, simply because it would get me laughed at. I'm supposed to have better taste than that.

So I sneak it up into my bedroom last night, and turn to face the wall to read it, so Anne can't see. And next thing I know, I'm three chapters in, Anne's asleep, and I should've cut the lights out about an hour ago. So now I must grudgingly admit that it is a good book.

And that makes me so mad! I hate being wrong, especially about things I was soooo sure about. I mean, there was no way in this world it was going to be a worthwhile read, and yet...well written, good message, touching, a page turner. Grr.

Buutt coming back from a very long rabbit trail, we started home. Well, we went to take Joy home. Got stopped by a wreck, had to turn around and go the other way.

The wreck was particularly bad, with several emergency vehicles clustered around. We could see paramedics dealing with people on the ground. So there we are in our old community, hoping it was nobody from our old church.

And later we find out it was somebody from our new community, a friend of Joy's family.

He's just my age. He's alright, thank God, gonna be okay and all that, but it's a wake-up call.

We're young. We feel invincible, like nothing can touch us. We've got our whole lives ahead of us, right?

Wrong. Time and again I see people my own age and younger, cut down in their prime. Life. Is. Short.

So why are we still living like we have 50+ years on this earth? Why aren't we living like every day could be our last? Why do I still get so wrapped up in life that I don't stop and look around.

Love the people in your life till you drive them crazy. Don't go to bed angry.

Get things right with God.

Do you know that He loves you? Do you know what He did for you? Yes? Good! No? Find out. Ask somebody.

Have you accepted His gift of eternal life? Do it! You never know when you could lose the chance.

Wow. On that incredibly serious note, I think I'd best be going. As wonderful as procrastination is, you should never do it long.

Have a great day!

My Poem

Hey, y'all! Here's the poem I entered into that contest I was telling you about. :) Enjoy!

Music

Make a sound

Make it loud

Make it fast

Make it last

Fill the room

Boom boom boom

Fill my ears

Calm my fears

Stop my heart

Start stop start

My ears ring

Sing sing sing

Can't help that grin

Shout, "Again, again!"

And I smile

And I sing

And I soar.

So, yeah, not all that great. But, you know, I had fun writing it, and that's what really matters.

Good night, sleep tight!

A Dare

Hey guys! Check out this post on my other blog, Confessions of a Homeschooler. While your at it, hang out. Read some stuff. Tell us what you think!

ttfn!! :)

Pointless Ramblings

Wowwwww, it's been tooooo long. I'm a bad person, I know.

But I can' t think of anything to write about!

This past month has been life as usual, almost to the point of being laughable. Like, overly-dramatized going according to plan. Which gives me the sneaking suspicion that something is about to bust wiiiiiide open.

But as my life is going about it's merry way, it gives me a chance to sit back and admire. And when I do, I just get this bizarre feeling of 'who am I?' How could God possibly see fit to put me here? I'm nobody!

Sometimes, I'm almost scared somebody's going to start laughing at me. Like, when I tell somebody that I'm Joy Marie's best friend, they'd react about the same way they would if I told them I was really the President of the United States. Or being able to list Corinne, Isabel, Haley, and Stephen among the people I call 'friend' would be like saying I'm related to Brad Pitt (or somebody equally famous. I don't keep up with this stuff.)

"You? You work with kids?? Yeah right!"

"You? Worship dance? For Him? Yeah, just keep telling yourself that."

"You? You're friends with THEM? Ha!"

Or maybe even "You? You go to Abundant Hope Baptist Church? Okay, honey, thats nice. Now, if you'll just come with me, I'm going to take you to a nice place where these nice men in white coats are going to give you this nice jacket that lets you hug yourself, okay sweetie?"

But then I remember, 'Oh yeah! Sometimes that's how God likes to work. He uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.'

Well, I don't know about confounding any wise people, but it sure does confound me! But, even though I understand it, I can't even begin to thank Him enough! My God is an awesome God, and I'm am so psyched with His plans for me.

But anyway, after taking such a serious turn, ummm, yeah. This week is Nothing Special. Possibly a trip to the beach at some point, and definitely getting out of the house tomorrow. Grandma and Pawpaw are having their 'cousins' over for a powwow. And not that that doesn't sound like fun, but you know extended relatives. We won't be home tomorrow.

OH! I'll find out this week if I won the poetry contest or not. The public library puts on a teen poetry contest every year, and this year me and Joy both entered. So I should find out sometime this week. Hey, maybe I'll post my entry!

But for now I've gotta go. You have a fabulous day!!!! :)

So, here I am again. It's Saturday morning. That's another marble from the jar of life.

Don't know what I'm talking about? Check out http://www.naute.com/stories/marbles.phtml

We're watching Lord of the Rings. Just finished a lovely late breakfast of hash browns. Grandma and Pawpaw are out to breakfast. Today we're headed to the church for passing out flyers to the community (invites to our Easter, erm, Resurrection Sunday, service), then potluck fellowship, followed by a prayer service. Long day ahead.

Oh, btw. I didn't go to Joy's last night. It fell through. :(

That's okay though. We still have tonight. She's coming home with us from church. Which is good, because we need to talk about our SCRIPT FRENZY!!

Script Frenzy is the sister-event to NaNoWriMo, wherein participants ('screnzies') write a 100-page screenplay in the month of April. And me and Joy are tag-teaming.

So you should join us! I'll post a link asap. It'll be fun.

Our script is what you would call downright bizarre. As in, makes absolutely no sense AT ALL. But we're really just doing it for fun.

So, you guys have a super-awesome Saturday. I'll be back on soon! :)

Soooooo.....

.....hi. It's me. Been a while, I know. Sorry.

Life has just been a little wild these days. So, I know I told you about the Easter dance, right?

Oh gosh, I didn't? Holy cow.

Okay, so three weeks before Easter, the Pastor and the worship leader decided they wanted a dance for Easter.

Yeah. Drama. I don't feel like relating it all. It fell apart, and got put back together, blah blah blah. Long story short, it was a God-thing. DEFINITELY a God-thing. It was a really biiggg deal. God is having fun teaching me patience. And I'm learning. Slowly. Painfully.

So, I was gonna go over to Joy's tonight, but it fell through, so I'm a little lost. I'm on the couch again tonight, as Grandma has a friend over. It's okay, though. No biggie. I adore her friends. :)

And I could go into what's going on for the rest of the weekend, but I don't feel like it.

Well, I've gotta go. ttfn!

So, tonight, Mom and Grandma had the most pointless fight ever.

But, to the untrained ear, it wouldn't've sounded like fighting. Over who was going to make the honey mustard.

"Well, you can make it . . . or I can make it."

"Oh, well, I can make it, or you can make it. It's up to you."

"Well, if you've made it before, I wouldn't know your ratios for it"

"It's just honey . . . and mustard. That's it."

"Okay, well . . ."

"I mean . . . just . . . "

And I wanted to turn around (I was washing the dishes, minding my own business) and scream "Look, it's JUST honey mustard!! Somebody please just make the honey mustard!"

It was kind of hysterical. But that's completely needless information.

Today started out as one of "those" days. You know, those days when everything just kind of goes wrong? Well, nothing went wrong per se, but the kids were in rare form. I spent most of the morning hiding behind my iPod, and pointing at my ears and mouthing "I can't hear you" whenever anybody tried to talk to me.

Okay, so get this. Exactly a week ago from today, it was snowing. Today? Near 70 degrees. Why not? Of course! That makes perfect sense. And, logic says that it'll be snowing again by this time next week. Just you wait and see if I'm wrong.

Well, I'm not sure why I started this post. Bored I guess. But I've gotta go now. Mom made dessert pizza, and the smell alone is calling my name. Good night!

Picking Up Where I Left Off (And A Possible Taylor Swift Rant)

Okay, so, that would be, Thursday? Thursday was fairly ordinary. The only day last week me and Joy weren't together all day. Mom and I went to walmart to do grocery shopping for Friday.

Friday was psycho from beginning to end. The whole day was about getting ready for the party. Joy got here around two. We just barely managed to get ready before the rest of the guests showed up. Now see, here would be where I gave you a rundown of who was who and what the plotline was, but that would take up extra energy, and thought, and Joy already did it, so why would I when I can just copy hers?

"Ella: Captain Nancy Martin, of the Fury (luietenant to murdered Captain Flint)

Joy: Alice Tremain, Nancy's first mate
Stephen: Captain Black Jack McKraken, captain of the Scurvy Knave (also luietenant to Captain Flint)
Stephen's dad: Sawbones McGraw, Black Jack's ship's surgeon (murderer)
Corrine: Tom, Black Jack's cabin boy (secretly Meg , runaway daughter of Sir Percival)
Brandon: Sir Percival, hostage aboard the Fury at beginning
Isabel: Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Percival...also a hostage of the Fury (secretly requested that Nancy kidnap her and her father so she could avoid marrying the Don)
Andrew: Captain Hal Overy--pronounced ah-vry--of the HMS...something-or-other. My character hated him, so I decided not to remember. An English Navy officer
Dad: Don Inigo, Spanish...noble, engaged to Elizabeth. Also El Cuervo, masked 'do-gooder' suspected of murdering Flint
Bryan: Hayapitl, native chieftan...wanted to marry his daughter off to someone who would take her off the island.
Brandice: Tokeleth, Will's daughter
Josh: Bill Pistol, marooned pirate and my character's closest friend. Completely mad, but sort of knew where the treasure was."

It was the most incredibly fun night ever, and all of my friends were so fabulous. Everybody came in costume, and got in character, and it was great. And, true though it may be that Stupid Old Jack got the treasure, I pulled the coolest doublecross of the century, plus we got Tom. Aaaaannnddd, I get to treasure the memory of him running away from my little brother.

Upon me asking Jack why he was scared of the little brother, he replied "Because . . . aren't you??"

So yeah. It was funny.

Then Isabel and Corrine stayed over, which by all logic and reason should've killed me. I mean, they're some of the coolest friends ever, but the secrets they dragged out of me. Put it this way: just because I'm not dead now doesn't mean I won't be by week's end.

Went to bed at five, got up at nine, ate pancakes, went to (and tried to get kicked out of) walmart, dashed home, went to church (with a sidestop at the barn), practiced for almost as many hours as we'd had sleep that night, ate dinner (where my beloved youth pastor's laugh was almost more than my poor thin patience could handle, much to my little brother's amusement), practiced the dance some more, stopped at the gas station on the way home to get peppermints to try and stave off the incoming sore throat, came home, died. Almost literally.

Got up at seven on Sunday, having had eight hours of sleep that did me absolutely no good, went to church depending on the Lord and the trustworthy influx of adrenaline to get me through, helped out in Riley's Sunday school class, went home long enough to eat lunch, get a power nap, and be just aware enough of myself to feel slightly guilty for not helping mom with the kitchen, went back to church. Sat (or stood) through a memorial service for a teenager who died in a car accident a few weeks back. No, I didn't know her, but it was emotional enough just being around all those mourning people.

Hid in the preschool room having dangerous, hysterical conversations with Isabel and Tori. Waited for Corrine and Stephen to show. Smacked Tori for saying something dangerous to Stephen immediately upon his arrival, proceeded to talk dangerously and giggle like little girls, pelted Stephen with paper cups, ate GRAPES, discussed grape flavored snowcones, the fact that ice is CRUNCHY, and laughed at how twisted it was that there was a toothpick through the GRAPE Corrine was eating, and then how twisted it was that she was eating GRAPE!! lol

Apologized to Stephen for making him uncomfortable, whereupon he replied "It's okay, I know it has something to do with me in some way, shape, or form." To which I replied with a laugh and a vague implication that it had to do with the entire male race, but inside was thinking "Yup, dead by week's end. Just you wait."

Delighted in the fact that there is now a MIRROR IN THE GIRL'S BATHROOM!!! So that I could fix my makeup. Headed to band practice, then had the worship service. Which included the dance. Which went great. I couldn't have been prouder of my little sister or Joy's. They were awesome. Aaaannnddd, somebody got our symbolism!!! Me and Joy wore gray, Anne and Joy's sis wore blue. Do yooouuuu get it?

And now, I'm pretty much out of time. So the Taylor Swift rant either gets put off, or ignored altogether.

TTFN!!!