Enjoying Boredom

*Pause*

It feels good to pause. I've been running too much lately. So I'm taking a moment to appreciate the simple boredom of today. Staying in my PJs, chilling at home, updating blog - it's good. I don't want it to be like this always, but I needed it today. No one to babysit, no projects to write, no lines to run, nowhere to go.

Enjoy it.

Tomorrow it ends.

Paper Hearts

The last week has been one of those roller coaster weeks. You know the kind, full of those emotional ups and downs...

My Mammie died last week. My last living great-grandma. Low.

I got to spend time with my grandparents and cousins. High.

Some of my favorite people in the world came down this weekend. We had a blast. High.

It seems like my week would have ended on a happy tone, doesn't it? It should have. But it's now Sunday. It's the beginning and the end of the week. It's day zero, if you will. And now my friends are hurting, and I don't know how to help them. They're going through things I don't understand, and I'm stuck sitting here, wishing that somehow my fumbling, inadequate words could somehow heal the hurt, all the while knowing that they can't.

I can't fix paper hearts.

Pretty Much Nothing

But yeah, maybe a little something to get some people *coughmomcough* off my back about updating my blog :P. ANYWAYS. Let's see how many words I need to sum up my life presently... babysitting, school. End of story. (Well, I could add one more... Facebook, but that would make me sound like a lazy slob that spends all of her free time on there, which, we all know simply isn't true! I mean look what I'm doing now, constructively writing a blog post *Jedi mind tricks you into forgetting that you also saw she was on FB simultaneously* So, yeah, with that being said... if you haven't friended me... do it!) Well, that's all, folks. I'll try to randomly pop in more often so there won't be such a painfully long hiatus again. I know how much you need this to get through your daily lives :). Later, friends!

Yippee!

Check out what I got in the mail today (click to enlarge)...




'Nuff said. I'm happy. HA! So NOT enough said!! There are absolutely no words to express my exuberance at this momentous occasion in my life!! Look out North Greenville University! Next fall, Elizabeth Pirkle will be joining your ranks!!

She of the Blue Hand Writeths...

My dearest friends, brethren, acquaintances, and whomever else happens to read this:

Greetings!

'Tis too true that I have failed to inform you of the goings on of my daily life :(. My deepest regrets are yours. But, I shall take these few moments to bring you somewhat up-to-date. Well, I am truly and officially a senior now. We resumed our schooling two weeks ago, and fortunately I have yet to run into any serious problems... aside from math. I tried to pick right back up where I left off before Christmas break, but, alas, it seems that all my knowledge fled my mind between then and now. Thankfully, though, this has given me the opportunity to make a much wanted and needed switch back to Saxon math (this is truly shocking! who would have thought that I would want to do Saxon ever again!). It arrives tomorrow... we shall see how long my thankfulness lasts :D.

Along with school, another big part of my life of late has been my involvement with iWalk. We are halfway done with it. It has been fun, but quite time-consuming, and also the reason I have a blue hand - I acquired it whilst painting a set for part 4 of the drama we've written and are preforming each week. So far, for iWalk, we've been to the zoo, Monkey Joe's (an indoor bouncy-inflatable-playground), and to the lake. This Monday, we'll be going skating... that ought to be entertaining.

Ah, last week I acquired a majorish milestone in my life! I sent off my first (and hopefully my only!) college application! *Excitement*

This weekend we shall be gone to my grandparents'. I'm unsure as to what we'll be doing, but perhaps I shall get some good "Kodiak moments" to share with you while we are there.

The following weekend marks Rebekah's 15th birthday party, an occasion I am most excited about! Where there's friends and cake, you can safely assume to find me!

My eyelids are turning heavy, and my hand wants to be rid of this Smurf blue, so I shall bid you all adieu!

*blows kisses*

A Few SummerSalt Pics

OK. I give. Here are some of my SS pics. I wanted to wait for the billions David (our youth intern/leader) was supposed to give me, but since he's off honeymooning I'm not betting on getting those real soon. So, here are a few of mine, and when/if I get David's I'll post some of them too!




Me and "Holland" <--- Doncha love nicknames?



Me and Holland butting heads :D



Me and Lauren hanging in one of the awesomest chairs ever!



Lauren, Daniel, and Me at the class of '09 and '10 ice cream party.



My roomies: Me, Holly, Alex (the bestest college leader!), Marissa, and Lauren.



My Cell Group


Good times, good times.

Never

Lots of things should never happen.

Finding out that someone you knew was murdered by a serial killer is one of them.

You may recognize this picture from one of my very first blog posts last June. Abby, Me, Holly, Lauren, and Faith in the middle. It was taken June 20, 2008. Who would have thought that just a little over a year later, one of us would be dead. This afternoon, I found out that last weekend, on July 4th, Abby died as a result of being shot by the Gaffney serial killer. This killer had taken 4 other victims, the fourth was her dad. She was helping out at her dad's furniture store, and for some reason, this deranged killer decided to end both her and her dad's lives.

She was just a girl I met at SummerSalt last year. I didn't talk to her again after the day this picture was taken. But we hung out for a week. We were in a Bible study group together. I remember walking down to the lake with her, just talking. I remember her being really sweet. She was the kind of person that you're supposed to recognize at camp the next year, go up and talk to them, ask how they've been. You're not supposed to find out a year later that they were murdered. Never.

So, I'm sitting here, wondering the purpose behind my writing this. Wondering why I'm crying right now over a girl I hung out with for a week a year ago. Maybe it's the sheer wrongness of it all. No high schooler should be murdered. Never. But maybe it's just the fact that this girl, who I talked with, walked with, put my arm around, is now dead. Shot. Murdered.

Now I start to wonder God's purpose behind this. Why did I meet Abby, hang out with her, then find out she was killed? Why did our lives intersect for that short amount of time briefly before hers was taken from her?

I can't imagine what her family must be going through. Losing not only Abby, but her dad as well. Please keep the Tyler family in your prayers. The unthinkable happened to them.

4th Reflections

Conceived in liberty
Birthed through blood
Formed by faith
Tainted with sin
Ripped apart
United anew
Worn by war
Struck by depression
Struggled against evil
Exploded with discovery
Drifted from truth
Assaulted by hate
Retaliating
Backsliding
Waiting...

Praying.

God bless America.

About Camp...

So it's been a week since we got back from camp. Sorry it's taken so long to get this written. I was wanting to post my thoughts and pictures at the same time, but as I'm still waiting for some pics, I figured I'd better go ahead and write this out and put up pics whenever I get them. So, here it goes!

"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends more on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." - Colossians 2:8

That was the theme verse for SummerSalt 09, and what an experience that was!

Worship/Big Group - First off, Matt's teaching was amazing, more so than last year! I mean, everyone learned and/or was convicted of so much. The truth hit us "like a truck." Truths about being desperate for Jesus, about cherishing Scripture. It was incredible! The worship time was amazing as well. The songs weren't as good as last year, but they were still really powerful. Some of my favorites new songs we learned were "Our God Saves," "Lift High," "Everlasting God" (a different song than the very popular Lincoln Brewster song), and "My Savior Lives."

Cell Groups - I was really blessed to be chosen (along with Holly, Lauren, Marissa, Daniel) to be in the catalyst cell group which is a group especially for the leaders of the youth group. I enjoyed so much being in a group with other youth leaders and sharing with and learning from them! Our Bible study times were really great, and there weren't any awkward pauses waiting for someone to say something because everyone was really open!

Church Groups - I enjoyed this time with just my youth group. I especially liked hearing from some of the middle schoolers, what they were learning and their thoughts on different things. I think it really hit us leaders that week that within a couple of years, all us "founding members" will have graduated and that we need to be training the middle schoolers now to be the next group of leaders.

Games/Activities - My favorite activity we did as a cell group was the high ropes course. This was the second time I had done one, though it was a good deal different this time. Last time, the ropes course was very much an individual thing, only one person could be on a section at a time. At SS, though, everyone had to be on the section before anyone could get off on the other side. This involved a lot of teamwork, which was interesting since we had only met each other the day before, but I think it's one of the things that got us close as a group from the beginning.

Random Hang Time - Whether we were hanging out at the pool during free time or eating rice krispies at 11:30pm, I always enjoyed just chillin' with my friends. They're such fun to be around, and we had some good times together at camp!

Soooooo... those are my thoughts on camp! I'll probably throw a few more tidbits out there when I post pics, but for the most part... that's it! Yay, glad I got that off my to-do list! :D

I hope I can post some random stuff tomorrow, if I have time, about what's been going on lately and whatever I can come up with to say for Independence Day. Right now, I want to go to bed.

Nightie-Night!

Off to Camp!

Since Phillip has a fever and I'll be staying home from church with him, I thought I'd use some of this time to post a quick update. This week was pretty good. My other cousins (Brit, Bre, and Blair) came up, and we got to do some stuff on the lake with them on Friday. I had my first falls of the season, thanks to Blair! How she, who was in the middle, the safest place on the tube, managed to knock 4 out of 5 people of the tube is beyond me!

I realized I never really said how my trip to NGU went a few Thursdays ago. Well, it was raining, so we had to walk around campus with umbrellas, but I really liked it. We toured campus, met with Dr. Savage (head of the theater department), and met with Wes (my admissions counselor). Everyone was super nice and I was really please with the size of everything! Apparently the average class size is 15 students, so I'm really excited about that. The only school-like experience I've had outside of home was at MLC, and I enjoyed it so much! I got to know my teacher and our class had around 15 kids, so we all knew each other well too. Needless to say, I'm now 110% sure that's where I'm going. Now I've just got to find someone to drag over there with me! I've got a couple potential possibilities...

Tomorrow we're heading off to SummerSalt! Yay! I can't wait to see Matt again (he and Sarah officially moved a few weeks ago)! He's going to be the camp pastor that week. I'm also really excited about, well, camp! We had a lot of fun last year, and I hope it'll be as good this year! Any prayers would be much appreciated.

Well, Mr. Sick wants to get on, so I'd better get off. I'll try to update soon after we get back, hopefully with lots of pics!

Finally... an Update!

Wow. It's been a good while since I've updated, so I'm taking a couple of minutes to get ya'll caught up real quick.

Well, last weekend we went to Carowinds. Of course, we had a good time! This time, we got to go to the water park part for half a day, and we got to ride the only coaster we'd not ridden yet, the Carolina Cobra!

This week has been super busy. Reason #1 - I helped out with my Grandparents' church's VBS. I worked in the kitchen, and even though there were two boys who were allergic to, like, everything, we didn't have any big problems. Funny story though. Today, we were filling up cups with ice from an ice chest and pouring water in them, when out of the blue, a little 3 year old boy came up and dumped the rest of his water into the ice chest, and walked away!! It was too funny.

Reason #2 - Josh and Gracie were over all week for Bible School. They are crazy. Another funny story though... Today, (again) in the car, Caleb was asking who was on the $5 bill, $10 bill, $20 bill, and $1 bill. Sarah then asked Grace if she knew who George Washington was. When she said no, Sarah explain that he was our first president. Grace pause and the said, "I think Barak Obama (it took her a couple of tries to get his name out) is lying when he says he is going to save us."

I gave her a high-five.

Next week my Uncle Steve's family is coming up (yay!), so I'm not sure when I'll have time to update again. Hopefully I'll have some pics then!

G'night!

A Weekend On the Farm

Here are a few pics from our trip to Granny's Sat-Tues. Unfortunately, I'm feeling like an uncreative blob, so commentary will be at a minimum.




Our gang: Grandpa, Granny, Sarah, DeAnna, Rebekah, Me, Andrew, Caleb, Phillip, Nathan

DeAnna at her surprise birthday picnic with the gag gift I gave her... "the most comfortable pepper in the world"! Don't try to understand it :P.

Me, immature Andy, and the "tattoo" he gave me with permanent marker. Of course, I got him back.

Mwa

I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again, since tomorrow's going to be insane with my college visit and then driving to Carowinds for a weekend of camping. Maybe by then I won't feel so... narphee.

(narp-hee [NAR-fee]
-adjective
1. you don't feel like doing anything

...don't try to understand this one either)

What I didn't plan...

I planned on signing in, and doing a fun, random little post about our vacation at Granny's and Grandpa's. I didn't plan on seeing a new post on an old friend's blog. I didn't plan on reading it. I didn't plan on the tears that filled my eyes as I read the words she wrote, words about change. 

It was a post about graduation. People I had spent a lot of my childhood and early adolescent years with were finished with high school, were taking a huge step into a scary time called adulthood. I didn't matter that I hadn't seen some of them, most of them, in years. Perhaps that made the feelings more acute. The memories I have with them, still fresh as ever, are when we were kids. And now their world, and soon my world, is going to totally change. 

Change.

I never expected life to move so fast. Those of you my age are just now figuring this out. Those of you older than me have been trying to tell us for years, but we're now finally listening. Those of you younger than me might not quiet believe me yet. But here I sit, a rising senior going on my first college visit Thursday. It's scary. It's exciting. It's...

Change. 

I didn't plan for life to move this fast.

Memorial Day Thoughts

Ugh. I hate that this is going to have to be so short, but I'm going to need to be in bed in 20 minutes, so we'll see what I can get done in that amount of time.


Today was Memorial Day. Usually, it means nothing more than a day off work or school and a crowded lake. But this year, for some reason, I saw things differently. I actually thought about what today is all about. About our soldiers. About how they sacrifice their comforts, their privileges, their safety, their lives, so that we can have ours. And they do all this under extreme opposition. Not only from the enemy, but from home. And the freedoms they have fought and died for, are being threatened. Not only from the enemy, but from our current administration. But I'm different. To me, being patriotic doesn't mean wanting to give the government more money in taxes. It means placing my hand over my heart when I say the Pledge of Allegiance. It means proudly singing our national anthem, however off key I might be. It means staying faithful to the One Who made our nation great in the first place, and asking Him for His much needed grace and undeserved mercy. It means being thankful to our military. Our heroes.

Thank you.

I Should Be In Bed

I've been doing school all day. I've got nursery, youth leadership meeting, picnic, youth, and Kids Connection planning tomorrow. I've got the last week of school coming up. I've got a research paper due in a few days. I am tired. That's why I should be in bed.

But I'm not. I'm sitting here, in this chair, in the quiet, fingers on the keyboard because I have something to say. I'm not quiet sure what it is yet, but I figure that's a minor detail.

Still sitting. Waiting. Waiting for some profound thought to pierce through this haze. But it doesn't. So I wonder, what's wrong with writing just because? Just because I feel compelled to throw some words on this virtual paper. Just because maybe writing forces me to really think. Just because maybe I am more myself when I write than I am at any other time. Just because maybe writing is only another way I can act like someone I'm not. Or, just because.

I love writing.

Goodnight.

I've got the Fever...

Summer Fever, and it's driving me mad. The end is in sight. The 29th is so near I can almost taste it. Yet, looking at everything that I've got to get accomplished before then, I begin to despair. *deep sigh* I just keep telling myself I'll get there, eventually

Anyways. I know I need to update but... I'm not sure what to write about. Uh... yesterday was Phillip's party. Holly got to come over the spend the night. It was fun. We got really hyper. And now I'm tired.

Oooooh. Now I know what can get me excited! Guess where we might be headed to for vacation... DC!!! I've always wanted to get to return there ever since I went in the 6th grade (was that really 5 years ago?). I'm soooooo excited, and I hope we can get everything worked out so we can go! I want to go back to Arlington, visit Lincoln again. I want to go inside the Washington monument this time, get to see the museum of natural history and the smithsonian, take tons of pictures, and bask in our rich history. You can keep your beaches and your mountains, your rollar coasters and your funnel cakes. But as for me, give me D.C., or give me... never mind; I'm going to bed.

Like Strawberry Jelly!

Yup, I was preserved!

As far as the SAT goes, when I got home I made Dad promise never to make me take it again! Thankfully I wasn't as stressed this time... nor am I now, waiting for those scores! Not sure if I improved or not, but I'm so glad it's over... forever! (oopps, totally should not have said that!)

As for drama, we might have done too well, as we were asked to perform at St. Paul's church next Sunday. Yes, I have a bad attitude about it. I was really glad that I didn't have to worry about my monologue anymore. One thing off my stress-list! I was finished. Through. *sight of relief* Not. OK, I'm being selfish... pray for me :D. On another note, the performance did go amazingly well. I screwed up on my monologue once (on a part I thought I had down, go figure!), but I think everything else went off without a hitch! Thanks for praying!

Anywho, I need to go to bed. I just got back from babysitting two adorable girls, 2 years and 2 months, for 5 1/2 hours, and I shouldn't even be up now. I foresee behaving like a zombie in the near future. Later ya'll!

Oh Preserve Us!

Just thought I'd share a couple of prayer requests!

(1) I've got the SAT tomorrow morning *moans*. I've taken it before, and it wasn't a pleasant experience (5 hours + hard chairs - much stretching = misery!). I'm going to try and focus on my math score this time, since nobody really looks at writing and I did good on critical reading before. So I'd appreciate your prayers!!

(2) Our drama group is doing a program at my Grandparent's church Sunday evening. It's still pretty rough, even after a 3 hour practice! So please pray that we'd remember lines/parts (especially my 2-page monologue) and that it would be a blessing to others.

Thanks guys!!

Carowinds!

They say pictures are worth a thousand words, so let these pictures speak to you about our trip to Carowinds last weekend. I'm too tired to write much else.







(couldn't resist, I hate unclarity... is that a word? nope) us getting read for an intense putt-putt war. I won. Hurray.







Bananagrams







standing in line







one car I can drive... a bumper car!







not a good pic, but I thought my expression of woe was pretty funny, if you can make it out







swings







scooby-dooby-do






I rode more coasters here than I have in my whole life! We almost rode all of them. Missed one. Will ride next time. This is the NightHawk, a "flying coaster", muchas funas.






*goes to bed*

*zzzzzzz*

Becka's Party... Finally!!

'ello there, all yea out there in... uhh... front of your computer! Greetings from my world, a pretty frightening place at the moment, but hey, whatever. Anyways, back to the topic at hand, Becka's bday party... a week and a half ago! It was a blast. We watched movies, played games, and talked about and did more random stuff. Oh, and ate yummilicious pizza and other appetizing foods :D. Here are some pics!!




The birthday girl!



Think she like her gifts? lol



Me, Becka, and the newly acquired possessions



us trying to look... uhh...



Wow, interesting



Do the Egyptian!



My attempt at the Heisman (fail) and Becka's attempt at ?? cool pose tho!



Hummmmm huuummmmm



Me, Brooke, and Becka

The whole gang: Abby, Rebekah, Sarah, Me, and Becka

On another note...

Sorry to those of you who have emailed me in, oh, the past month. School is killing me (bet you're tired of hearing that one lol!). So yeah, I'll try to email soon, when I can think to write a coherent sentence (which is obviously not now lol) *sighs and dreams of summer*.

Anywho, hope all of ya'll had an amazing Easter!

And we're going to Carowinds this weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So excited!!!!! So maybe I'll have some more pics to post of that trip.

And (drumroll) Boneman's Daughters came out today!!!!!!! AHHHHH!!!! My copy should be shipped today, but I'm afraid it won't be here in time for camping *whhaaa*.

Well, got to go finish up school now that Mom's home to help me. Talk to ya'll later!!!!

Actions

*pops in to write a quick random update, then has the following realizations:

1) She has nothing to post about that doesn't require putting up pics of Becka's party last weekend, and that she doesn't have time to do that.

2) She really ought to be working on school for Friday.

3) Because of reason #2, Mother will skin her alive for wasting time on the computer when she reads this.

then posts this update, exits internet explorer, backs slowly away from the computer, mournfully returns to said school work, and all the while is dreaming of eating hibachi shrimp (it's the sauce!) with friends later tonight.

...

oh, and resolves to post pics soon, along with an update that actually makes sense ;)*

Telegraph Update

School is crazy. Stop. But thankfully going to Becka's party Thursday. Stop. Will have lots of fun. Stop. Post pics soon. Stop. Maybe. Stop. Need to go to bed so I'll. STOP.

Call Me Doubting Thomas...

So, for the past 21 days, our church has been raising money for our building campaign, Advance for the Sake of the Gospel. To make a long story short, we have to be out of the building we're currently renting by August 31st, so we've been praying and looking for months for the right property to move to. We found a plaza (oh yeah, who's diggin' the thought of church in a grocery store? me!) that we want to buy, but we had to have 40% of the money as a down payment for the loan... around $1.3 million. We had 21 days to get this money. I was skeptical. It seemed impossible (first mistake :D) that our church, with a large percentage of our congregation being college students, could possibly raise that much money in that amount of time. Yes, I prayed (though not as faithfully as I ought to) and I gave, but deep down inside, I was afraid; afraid to trust, afraid of being let down by God. I've always sorta kinda struggled with this... how much faith I should put into God answering my prayers in the way I want and feel like I need Him to. I've been hesitant, because I wasn't sure how I'd handle a situation where I had earnestly prayed to God about a real need (like a building for our church to meet it), and He didn't give the "right" answer. So I held back. But God didn't. Tonight we found out the we had, in hand, $1.6 million; more than enough to be able to get the loan for the building. Impossible?

I know I've learned a lesson from this experience, but since I can't seem to articulate it properly (my brain... how could you fail me now?), I won't attempt it. But maybe, just maybe, the next time a situation like this comes around, I won't be so quick to pull another "Doubting Thomas."

Let Me Know...

What you think of my new blog background! I was going to save it for the first day of spring, but I couldn't wait that long :D.

When Family Comes A'Callin'...

Fun/interesting things are bound to happen! Here are some pics from my weekend with my family!



The "Ancients" (Me, Deanna, Rebekah, Andrew) at breakfast Saturday morning.



It took forever for us to get our food, but even with all our hunger, me and Deanna couldn't come near to eating all our of ginormous pancakes!



After eating breakfast, we went to the Christian book store and then to Tuesday Morning to look for Granny a rug (looked for the rug just at TM, not the CBS!). And I said I couldn't pull off sunglasses! LOL!

(read below before watching)


*first and foremost I must go to dance madly and joyfully around the room at the reality that I actually got a video to upload!!* After we went to TM, we went to the bowling alley. Any of you who have gone bowling with me knows how excellent I am at that sport, but since I felt pity for my poor relatives and their lack of bowling skills I suggested we play "PIG bowling" where one person has to bowl a really weird way and everyone else has to bowl the exact same way. We bowled with our eyes closed, backwards, with our left hands (this caused Deanna to throw the ball in the wrong lane... TOO funny!!!!), and, as seen in this video, with our bums!



Lastly we went to Belks, where we tried on some... interesting outfits, and these lovely hats! Granny also had to call us twice on the speakers to find where we were (those things are not loud enough!)!! Too much fun!!!


Well, now that the play is over, I'm not sure what I'm going to do except school, church stuff, and work on our homeschool drama production (for which I have to memorize a two page monologue!!!!!). Maybe something interesting will occur soon... but I doubt it. Guess you'll have to stick around and find out!

The Play's the Thing

Get excited!! Here are some pics from the LWW play!!



My Mrs. Christmas scene during dress rehearsal. Peeps: Lucy (Sarah), Susan (Gail), Mrs. Christmas (Me!), my Elf (Paul), Peter (Seth), Mr. Beaver (Paul)



Me and Arabia (my enemy), the White Witch in the Green Room



Me and Paul, my Elf... yes, that's his real hair!



Me and my fellow "Russian," Comrade Bruce the Dwarf!



Me and my bad self as a little demon dude



Oh yes, I plan to haunt your nightmares



My majesty and me... it's true, evil people do have all the fun!


Anyways, a bit more about the play! I think all in all it went really well, with the exception of a couple of bloopers like breaking the lamppost in the wings whilst getting the banner (it was NOT me!!) and Sierra (a member of the WW's army)'s shoe flying off while she was kicking Aslan. Good times.

Ahoy! Fun Weekend Ahead!

G'day maties! Just wanted to fill you in on my great weekend coming up! First off, I've got 3 LWW performances (fun fun!) and friends from church coming to see the show today. My grandparents and cousins are also coming up for the weekend (even more fun!) and they'll come to see the play tomorrow night. Plus, I'm all caught up with my school so I actually have a school-free weekend (yay!!!!). Right now I need to go clean up my room for company. Hopefully next update will have some fun pics from the last two weekends. Ta ta for now!

Theatre is Life!

I'm tired. But for a good reason. I had to do school this weekend. But that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make (though if you're one of the ones I've been complaining to all weekend about my chemistry test you might not believe me lol!). I love acting. Anyways, I think opening weekend went good. My family, Grandma and Granddaddy, Holly, and (to my surprise) Becka, Abby, Becca, and Mr and Mrs Wallace all got to come and watch on opening night. Afterwards we went to DQ for some yummy ice cream and to chat (though for not nearly enough!). Hopefully next weekend some more of my friends from church will come! I've decided to hold off posting pics and specifics about the play until after next weekend so as not to spoil anything for those of you who've not come yet. But get excited, they ought to be worth the wait! So yeah, sorry this is so disjointed... I think my brain's about to die, so I'll bit ya'll farewell until I feel like updating again :D. Till Then!

Camping and Gymnastics!

Even though it was raining most of the time, we had a pretty good time camping. We played games like imaginiff, bananagrams, and cranium and watched some movies. And of course ate junk food! Then Saturday afternoon, we went to Athens to watch the Gymdogs vs Florida meet! It was so awesome!! Here are some pics...

On the way to the meet

We love gymnastics! (interesting fact... this pic was taken "illegally," before I realized you couldn't take flash photography... oopps! needless to say, all the others are taken without the flash)

Vault... look at 'er fly!

Uneven bars... must say I'm quite proud of this pic!

Beam... sweetness!

Floor... (BTW, i had a pretty awesome video i've been trying to upload all today of a floor exercise, but i'm giving up tonight. so bummed... maybe i'll try some other time)

We won... and we're #1!!

Happy Times!

Reason #1
Got an email tonight saying that Matt and Sarah had their baby!!! She's a girl, Avery Elizabeth (told him great job on the middle name lol!), and everyone's doing good. I can't wait to see her!!

Reason #2
FREEDOM!!!! Tomorrow, after my math quiz and science lesson and chores we going to Athens!!! Yay for camping!!

Reason #3
Practice went good tonight! We did a dressed rehersal (different, you must understand, from a dress rehersal), and apparently my costumes are a big hit. Maybe on Monday I can bring my camera...

Pause...

Hurray! Practice ended early today, and I just realized that I can do today's SAT prep tomorrow since I don't have it then, so now I have time to do a quick update! (yay for run-ons!) Anyways, Restore was good. I got to meet some new people (all the leaders were from North Greenville U, the college I plan to attend... so that was cool) and play some new games and learned some new things (unfortunately "how to become a better bowler" was not a session we did lol)! Tomorrow we get a break from rehearsal, so I get to go to small group! Then Thursdays will be crazy-insane, as usual, but Friday we get to go camping for the weekend! We've all been looking forward to that! Then next weekend... AHHHHH... showtime! Almost after every practice I say, "I wish I were the director!" But then... the cast would probably quit because of my perfectionism and bossiness :/. Oh well, it is getting better, and hopefully people will actually LISTEN (what a concept :D!) and we can get it together. So yeah, enough of my mini rant... gotta go now. Will update soon! Maybe. Or maybe not. You know, just keep checking... never know what you might find! Who likes predictable people? :D

Quick Lil Update... Dos!

"School + play practice = LIFE" - The Laws of the Life of Elizabeth 17th Edition

So, this'll be short. The only big thing coming up this weekend is the Restore Conference my church is helping sponsor. Everyone has different conferences and classes, from elementary to "empty-nesters." It's about restoring God's design for the family. The youth are doing a sorta one-night DNOW thing with that theme... should be fun.

Next weekend we get to go down to Athens to go camping and catch a GymDogs meet. Yay! Then the next two weekends are LWW performances *momentarily freaks out... we've got a lot of work to do!!*. That's pretty much my schedule for the next 3 weeks. I don't know how much time I'll have to update during the week, but I'll try to at least post on the weekends. Later!

WINTER JAM!!

Friday, my family and Holly went to Winter Jam!!! It was unspeakably amazing!! And we had a phenomenal time!!

Waiting in line

After we got seats, the pre-jam party began...

Stephanie Smith

pureNRG

Caleb, Holly, and Me waiting for the main show to start

Francesca Battistelli

Newsong

"Hawky" (aka Hawk Nelson)!!!!!

Brandon Heath


TOBY!!!!!!!


WJ 09 ROCKED OUR SOCKS OFF!!!!