I've been thinking lately of the big changes I'm about to go through. On Monday, I'm moving away from home for the first time in my life to go to college.
Along with these changes I've been thinking it's time to take another step. I promised I wouldn't move on until September 1st and I was able to keep that promise. Last night I began importing all my Blogger blogs to Wordpress, so yep, I'm moving my blog.
The other thing is that I'm actually starting another blog called College Daze. It's something for my family to look at to know what's going on with me I suppose.
I also don't know if I'll actually be able to beat my August record this month, but I'm getting over that fact as much as it sorta bugs me. I'll try though. I realize that it is quality over quantity, but it was just a goal I had. Maybe my combined blogs will be something.
So I encourage you to go check out these two new(ish) blogs:
Jesus Loves You!
College Daze
Sorry if this one throws you for a loop too. I know a lot of people lost me for a while when I changed the web address to this one.
Like I said before, I'm not sure how often I'll get a chance to write on these two blogs. I'll probably have less blogs for September because of school starting and stuff.
College Daze is meant for anyone wondering what's going on with my college life especially my family (I was asked by an aunt to write blogs; she didn't know I already had a blog). But College Daze is also the blog I won't get so preachy on.
Well we'll see how having two blogs will go I guess.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Back to School Bash '09
Today I got to help out with this really interesting project. A few people from my church went up to Flint Eastside Mission this afternoon to help out with their Back to School Bash. They give away backpacks and school supplies to kids that can't afford to get school supplies.
I went up to Flint with some people from my church back in April for the Easter dinner and it was really great getting to help these people.
We played this game called Bible Plinko with the kids and they got a few prizes from the game. There were long lines. It was like complete chaos all around.
Seeing the kids dressed the way they were and the parents wearing pajamas and slippers makes me realize something. I'm thankful for the community that I live in. I'm thankful for the things I have.
Too many times we take advantage of what we have. We complain that our computers aren't working. Oh my cell phone is broken. Oh my mp3 player isn't working. We're pretty lucky to have these things because some people don't and we need to realize this.
Some people aren't as fortunate as we are.
I went up to Flint with some people from my church back in April for the Easter dinner and it was really great getting to help these people.
We played this game called Bible Plinko with the kids and they got a few prizes from the game. There were long lines. It was like complete chaos all around.
Seeing the kids dressed the way they were and the parents wearing pajamas and slippers makes me realize something. I'm thankful for the community that I live in. I'm thankful for the things I have.
Too many times we take advantage of what we have. We complain that our computers aren't working. Oh my cell phone is broken. Oh my mp3 player isn't working. We're pretty lucky to have these things because some people don't and we need to realize this.
Some people aren't as fortunate as we are.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Fair Parade 2009
I was very happy today that it didn't end up raining. It wasn't supposed to anyways. Soon after writing my blog this morning, my Aunt Ann picked me up to go ride up the street on the float to get it to the spot because the float had to be there at ten. Judging began at eleven.
We finished setting up. It ended up looking great. And in the sun, it was so incredibly shiny that it hurt my eyes. This was due to the aluminum foil we covered the float in. It was a space theme, so what do you expect? Our personal theme song of the float was Shine by Newsboys. Everyone riding the float had to have something with aluminum foil on it to wear. I had a makeshift spacesuit, but it wasn't made out of aluminum foil.
We ended up getting second place in the adult float contest, which is really good. We were all expecting just an honorable mention, but we got second place! It made us all really excited.
The parade was longer than it usually seems to be. We ran out of candy (go figure because that always happens), but at the end as always, the parade participants got ice cream bars.
At the end, we tore apart our whole float. That was fun. I guess while I was walking one of my friends to meet her mom, some kids on the float that won first place asked if they could have our robots and my aunt said yes.
Do you know what they did with these robots that we took the time to make? This kills me because I made a few of those robots and I wanted to keep one or two of them. They destroyed them. And to think that these kids were on another church's float. Who does that? How rude!
My dad said that when that float passed by, they people were handing out their yearly "heaven or hell" fliers and he refused to take it. That church I guess is the type to scare you into submission. The guy probably thought my dad was going to go to hell for that. Actually though, my dad is a priest. Yes, I said a priest in an Episcopal church, so he can be married and have kids.
Other than that little issue, the parade was fun. Some of the teens are already plotting next year's float.
We finished setting up. It ended up looking great. And in the sun, it was so incredibly shiny that it hurt my eyes. This was due to the aluminum foil we covered the float in. It was a space theme, so what do you expect? Our personal theme song of the float was Shine by Newsboys. Everyone riding the float had to have something with aluminum foil on it to wear. I had a makeshift spacesuit, but it wasn't made out of aluminum foil.
We ended up getting second place in the adult float contest, which is really good. We were all expecting just an honorable mention, but we got second place! It made us all really excited.
The parade was longer than it usually seems to be. We ran out of candy (go figure because that always happens), but at the end as always, the parade participants got ice cream bars.
At the end, we tore apart our whole float. That was fun. I guess while I was walking one of my friends to meet her mom, some kids on the float that won first place asked if they could have our robots and my aunt said yes.
Do you know what they did with these robots that we took the time to make? This kills me because I made a few of those robots and I wanted to keep one or two of them. They destroyed them. And to think that these kids were on another church's float. Who does that? How rude!
My dad said that when that float passed by, they people were handing out their yearly "heaven or hell" fliers and he refused to take it. That church I guess is the type to scare you into submission. The guy probably thought my dad was going to go to hell for that. Actually though, my dad is a priest. Yes, I said a priest in an Episcopal church, so he can be married and have kids.
Other than that little issue, the parade was fun. Some of the teens are already plotting next year's float.
Fair '09
So this week has fair week in my town. It's actually been a really icky, crappy week for the fair, but I know people who go no matter what. It's been cloudy, cold, rainy, and just crappy.
I only went one day, Wednesday, with my parents no less. Because I have no friends. Nah, my parents are cool and the person I usually go to the fair with is already at college.
I don't ride the rides anymore. I just don't think it's worth spending a lot of money on a bracelet or tickets to ride a few rides that get boring after a while. I haven't rode the rides at the fair in a few years.
I'm just content to walk around the barns and stuff looking at the cakes and animals and such. So that's exactly what I did with my parents. First we walked through the barn with all the vegetables and cakes and other things entered into that contest. My mom and dad like to criticize the vegetables and flower arrangements because they grow their own veggies and my mom does her own wonderful flower arrangements. We also walked through the barn containing all the people who try to get you to buy their products.
Then we went down to watch the demolition derby. There was a lot of mud flinging. It was pretty intense. We watched the van demolition derby and the featured car demolition derby.
Then we walked through the bunny and bird tent. We like to joke around with the bunnies especially the ones that look like my rabbit. My rabbit, Clover is supposed to be a miniature dutch rabbit, but he's huge. He's apparently defective. He also has two different eye colors and one eye is possibly blind.
My mom was being mean to the birds saying they were someone's dinner. Poor turkey! Oh and I love the chickens that have feathers on their feet. They're pretty sweet looking.
My poor mom has hay fever and allergies, so walking through the animal barns was a little harsh on her allergies. We walked through the horse barn and the pig barn. Then went to look at the goats and sheep and some cows too. I guess that day there had been a baby cow born.
Then we went to get our one elephant ear of the year. Mm, it was good. I also saw two friends. One of them I talk to a lot, my friend Lauren, and the other, Sam, was in my practical law class and I'm not the only one missing that class I can tell you that.
Today is the fair parade. I'll report back on it later. Last night though I had a dream that the fair packed up and was ready to leave town on Saturday (today) even though there was a parade going to the fair. Anyways I was just remembering that and it freaked me out for a second because I thought it really happened in reality, but as far as I know it hasn't.
I only went one day, Wednesday, with my parents no less. Because I have no friends. Nah, my parents are cool and the person I usually go to the fair with is already at college.
I don't ride the rides anymore. I just don't think it's worth spending a lot of money on a bracelet or tickets to ride a few rides that get boring after a while. I haven't rode the rides at the fair in a few years.
I'm just content to walk around the barns and stuff looking at the cakes and animals and such. So that's exactly what I did with my parents. First we walked through the barn with all the vegetables and cakes and other things entered into that contest. My mom and dad like to criticize the vegetables and flower arrangements because they grow their own veggies and my mom does her own wonderful flower arrangements. We also walked through the barn containing all the people who try to get you to buy their products.
Then we went down to watch the demolition derby. There was a lot of mud flinging. It was pretty intense. We watched the van demolition derby and the featured car demolition derby.
Then we walked through the bunny and bird tent. We like to joke around with the bunnies especially the ones that look like my rabbit. My rabbit, Clover is supposed to be a miniature dutch rabbit, but he's huge. He's apparently defective. He also has two different eye colors and one eye is possibly blind.
My mom was being mean to the birds saying they were someone's dinner. Poor turkey! Oh and I love the chickens that have feathers on their feet. They're pretty sweet looking.
My poor mom has hay fever and allergies, so walking through the animal barns was a little harsh on her allergies. We walked through the horse barn and the pig barn. Then went to look at the goats and sheep and some cows too. I guess that day there had been a baby cow born.
Then we went to get our one elephant ear of the year. Mm, it was good. I also saw two friends. One of them I talk to a lot, my friend Lauren, and the other, Sam, was in my practical law class and I'm not the only one missing that class I can tell you that.
Today is the fair parade. I'll report back on it later. Last night though I had a dream that the fair packed up and was ready to leave town on Saturday (today) even though there was a parade going to the fair. Anyways I was just remembering that and it freaked me out for a second because I thought it really happened in reality, but as far as I know it hasn't.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Toothpaste, Space, and Bad Words
These things all have something in common. Do you know what it is?
Have you ever squirted out too much toothpaste while brushing your teeth and didn't know what to do with it? Or maybe there was a lesson that someone wanted to teach you and they just squirted out the entire contents of the toothpaste tube out. Then they wanted you to try to put it all back into the tube.
That happened to me on a mission trip. The group I was in decided to cut the bottom of the toothpaste tube off and scoop all the toothpaste back in. What? They never said we couldn't do it that way. Some groups used a straw to suck up the toothpaste and shoot it into the tube. How ever you try, it's not really easy to get the toothpaste back into the tube if at all possible.
Did you know that once you say something, you can't take it back and basically it's somewhere floating in space? There's no sound in space. Space is like a vacuum. There's basically nothing out there, yet our words are likely floating out there somewhere even though we can't hear them again.
When we say bad things to people or just swear at things, for one it's hard to take those things back like putting toothpaste back into the tube after it's been dumped out, and two, you have the guilty conscience of knowing your words are likely floating around somewhere in space.
Jesus said, "I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." Matthew 12:36-37
So not only are the words floating out there in space, God is also keeping track and when judgment day comes, you'll have some explaining to do. God forgives though.
So why even get started with these hurtful bad words? I know I've had my problems with it. I think everyone struggles with it from time to time. It does happen and when it does, I think we all need to look to God and ask for His forgiveness. We should also go to the ones we have hurt and ask for their forgiveness.
I have a story about the toothpaste and that mission trip. I don't know if I was in a bad mood or what, but I had been mouthing off to this one adult (does that sound like the Chelsea you know?) on the trip, so then when she taught the lesson, I was even worse especially with my complaining. But then after the lesson, I understood things a little more and I apologized for saying the things I shouldn't have been saying in the first place.
So toothpaste, space, and bad words do have something in common. They're not something easily put back or taken back. Remember that the next time you go mouthing off to someone.
Have you ever squirted out too much toothpaste while brushing your teeth and didn't know what to do with it? Or maybe there was a lesson that someone wanted to teach you and they just squirted out the entire contents of the toothpaste tube out. Then they wanted you to try to put it all back into the tube.
That happened to me on a mission trip. The group I was in decided to cut the bottom of the toothpaste tube off and scoop all the toothpaste back in. What? They never said we couldn't do it that way. Some groups used a straw to suck up the toothpaste and shoot it into the tube. How ever you try, it's not really easy to get the toothpaste back into the tube if at all possible.
Did you know that once you say something, you can't take it back and basically it's somewhere floating in space? There's no sound in space. Space is like a vacuum. There's basically nothing out there, yet our words are likely floating out there somewhere even though we can't hear them again.
When we say bad things to people or just swear at things, for one it's hard to take those things back like putting toothpaste back into the tube after it's been dumped out, and two, you have the guilty conscience of knowing your words are likely floating around somewhere in space.
Jesus said, "I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." Matthew 12:36-37
So not only are the words floating out there in space, God is also keeping track and when judgment day comes, you'll have some explaining to do. God forgives though.
So why even get started with these hurtful bad words? I know I've had my problems with it. I think everyone struggles with it from time to time. It does happen and when it does, I think we all need to look to God and ask for His forgiveness. We should also go to the ones we have hurt and ask for their forgiveness.
I have a story about the toothpaste and that mission trip. I don't know if I was in a bad mood or what, but I had been mouthing off to this one adult (does that sound like the Chelsea you know?) on the trip, so then when she taught the lesson, I was even worse especially with my complaining. But then after the lesson, I understood things a little more and I apologized for saying the things I shouldn't have been saying in the first place.
So toothpaste, space, and bad words do have something in common. They're not something easily put back or taken back. Remember that the next time you go mouthing off to someone.
Monday, August 24, 2009
The Good Samaritan and his Compassion
Ok, so you know how I said yesterday that I hadn't really been listening to the sermon? This was when I was thinking about Basement Bible Study.
Well last night as I lay in bed, I began thinking about the sermon. The thing that stuck out to me the most was the story of The Good Samaritan. Of course that was the sermon scripture. I never really think I'm getting something out of one of my Aunt Ann's sermons anymore, but let's see what I can get out of it today. I also might take it to other places too because that's what usually happens when I write about a sermon I've heard.
Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan because an expert in the law asked who his neighbor was. You know the story right? If you don't, I encourage you to check out Luke 10:25-37.
When all the other men came and passed by the injured man, there was one guy who stopped; the samaritan. A priest and a Levite had also passed by, but didn't stop. Now it could be that the priest didn't stop because the man was unclean and he wasn't supposed to touch the unclean because that would make him unclean.
The one guy that did stop to help the man was actually a hated foreigner according to the notes in my Bible. Being hated didn't stop him from doing the right thing.
Now my Aunt Ann told us about a study done in the 1970s (I think). Two groups of seniors in seminary were to go to this building where one group would tell of what they were going to accomplish or such as pastors and the other group would tell the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Both groups had to go through a dark alleyway to get to the building.
In that alley, there was a man dressed in very little clothing who was coughing. Oh I forgot to mention that it was below zero outside when they did this experiment. So he may have been pretending at first to cough, but then actually started coughing.
Of the many people who went through the alleyway, no one stopped to help them, but some of them when getting to the building told someone in charge that there was a man out there coughing who needed medical attention.
What gets me is that these soon to be pastors didn't stop and talk to this guy. They didn't help him. But it could have been fear of what the guy might have. Maybe they were being self-centered. Who knows?
While listening to the sermon, I thought that was horrible that no one would have stopped to help the man. I thought to myself that yes, I would have asked the man to come with me.
But then last night when I was going to bed, I realized, I would have been like the rest and just tried to walk by quickly most likely out of fear of what he may have and whether or not it's contagious.
Jesus told the expert in the law to go and do like the good samaritan did. We need to be showing compassion to everyone, not just those who are friends of ours. We need to be showing compassion to those in need. We need to show compassion to everyone because we were called to go and make disciples of all nations. We're supposed to go light our world.
So go light your world. Be a good samaritan. Go out and actively, creatively, and powerfully share God's compassion.
Well last night as I lay in bed, I began thinking about the sermon. The thing that stuck out to me the most was the story of The Good Samaritan. Of course that was the sermon scripture. I never really think I'm getting something out of one of my Aunt Ann's sermons anymore, but let's see what I can get out of it today. I also might take it to other places too because that's what usually happens when I write about a sermon I've heard.
Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan because an expert in the law asked who his neighbor was. You know the story right? If you don't, I encourage you to check out Luke 10:25-37.
When all the other men came and passed by the injured man, there was one guy who stopped; the samaritan. A priest and a Levite had also passed by, but didn't stop. Now it could be that the priest didn't stop because the man was unclean and he wasn't supposed to touch the unclean because that would make him unclean.
The one guy that did stop to help the man was actually a hated foreigner according to the notes in my Bible. Being hated didn't stop him from doing the right thing.
Now my Aunt Ann told us about a study done in the 1970s (I think). Two groups of seniors in seminary were to go to this building where one group would tell of what they were going to accomplish or such as pastors and the other group would tell the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Both groups had to go through a dark alleyway to get to the building.
In that alley, there was a man dressed in very little clothing who was coughing. Oh I forgot to mention that it was below zero outside when they did this experiment. So he may have been pretending at first to cough, but then actually started coughing.
Of the many people who went through the alleyway, no one stopped to help them, but some of them when getting to the building told someone in charge that there was a man out there coughing who needed medical attention.
What gets me is that these soon to be pastors didn't stop and talk to this guy. They didn't help him. But it could have been fear of what the guy might have. Maybe they were being self-centered. Who knows?
While listening to the sermon, I thought that was horrible that no one would have stopped to help the man. I thought to myself that yes, I would have asked the man to come with me.
But then last night when I was going to bed, I realized, I would have been like the rest and just tried to walk by quickly most likely out of fear of what he may have and whether or not it's contagious.
Jesus told the expert in the law to go and do like the good samaritan did. We need to be showing compassion to everyone, not just those who are friends of ours. We need to be showing compassion to those in need. We need to show compassion to everyone because we were called to go and make disciples of all nations. We're supposed to go light our world.
So go light your world. Be a good samaritan. Go out and actively, creatively, and powerfully share God's compassion.
Bad/Happy/Sad Dream
This morning (as in Sunday morning) before I had to get up for church, I had a bad yet somehow good yet somehow sad dream. If that makes sense.
So I guess I may have been a little freaked out that I was gonna over sleep practice again like I did last week, so that probably explains this dream. I had to be at church really early this morning, earlier than usual, 8:30 in the morning. Ok, that's half an hour earlier than usual, but still, it was early.
I got up at 7, but fell back asleep and had this dream.
So in my dream, I arrived late to church to find the pastor already set up to play piano. I saw two of my friends that have already left for college. One of them, Hannah, just left this weekend and the other, Chris, left a few weeks ago. I thought it was weird seeing them, but nonetheless I was happy to see them.
Unfortunately it was just a dream and I wasn't really seeing them, which made the dream sad.
So during church, while the pastor was playing piano, he asked me if I was ready to play and I said yes, so I went up there and I think I messed up on a song or two.
And that's all I remember of the dream.
Now back to reality. I was not late for church today. The pastor's family was not there because they were taking Hannah to college. I had to play piano today much like my dream said basically because normally if you didn't know it, I play flute.
I got to intro on a few of the songs, which wasn't as scary as I initially thought it would be. Then on the last song that I hadn't realized I was doing the introduction to, I really messed up on that one, but it didn't freak me out nearly as much as I thought it would. My practicing all week apparently paid off. Practice does make perfect. Of course nobody's perfect, so why practice? Haha. Seriously though practicing is a good thing.
We were missing a lot of people at church today. Plus it was rather icky outside weather-wise. It was kinda a sad day. I'm getting hit hard with emotions these days. I'm really starting to miss my friends. I haven't started crying yet, but it's likely that I will any day now.
So I guess I may have been a little freaked out that I was gonna over sleep practice again like I did last week, so that probably explains this dream. I had to be at church really early this morning, earlier than usual, 8:30 in the morning. Ok, that's half an hour earlier than usual, but still, it was early.
I got up at 7, but fell back asleep and had this dream.
So in my dream, I arrived late to church to find the pastor already set up to play piano. I saw two of my friends that have already left for college. One of them, Hannah, just left this weekend and the other, Chris, left a few weeks ago. I thought it was weird seeing them, but nonetheless I was happy to see them.
Unfortunately it was just a dream and I wasn't really seeing them, which made the dream sad.
So during church, while the pastor was playing piano, he asked me if I was ready to play and I said yes, so I went up there and I think I messed up on a song or two.
And that's all I remember of the dream.
Now back to reality. I was not late for church today. The pastor's family was not there because they were taking Hannah to college. I had to play piano today much like my dream said basically because normally if you didn't know it, I play flute.
I got to intro on a few of the songs, which wasn't as scary as I initially thought it would be. Then on the last song that I hadn't realized I was doing the introduction to, I really messed up on that one, but it didn't freak me out nearly as much as I thought it would. My practicing all week apparently paid off. Practice does make perfect. Of course nobody's perfect, so why practice? Haha. Seriously though practicing is a good thing.
We were missing a lot of people at church today. Plus it was rather icky outside weather-wise. It was kinda a sad day. I'm getting hit hard with emotions these days. I'm really starting to miss my friends. I haven't started crying yet, but it's likely that I will any day now.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Basement Bible Study
It could be a lot like the game Underground Church. Basement Bible Study. Fortunately it's nothing like what Underground Church talks about. It's just what it is. A basement Bible study.
This is gonna sound really bad, but today during the sermon, I had a flashback. Flashbacks aren't normally bad. The bad part of getting the flashback during the sermon is that I wasn't really paying attention to the sermon.
I flashed back today to a time that seems like it was a long time ago. Ok, it was a long time ago. It was about 8 or 9 years ago when I first started going to my church. At that time, we didn't have a solid church. A physical church. We had the people, but not the building.
At the time, we were meeting at one of the local retirement communities to have church. They have a nice chapel that they let us use. They also let us use a few rooms like conference rooms for Sunday school and such. I have a lot of good memories that are coming back due to talking about it.
My particular flashback flashes back to Sunday nights. We didn't meet in the retirement community's chapel for nightly services. Instead, we went to different homes of people who went to our church. We'd meet at our pastor's house or we'd meet at my Aunt Ann's house or wherever.
I guess I was probably thinking about this today because my Aunt Ann was preaching today. And well, the flashback I had was of Bible study in the basement of her old house.
You know with my friends and I going to college, I've also been thinking a lot about our old Bible quizzing days. We'd practice at one of my friends house. Good times with my friend Hannah reading the story of Jesus riding into town on a doinkey. There are a few other funny jokes about Bible quizzing, but I can't think of them at the moment. Thinking of these things kinda make me miss my friends a lot.
I have to wonder if my past Sunday school teachers feel old yet knowing that us kids they had 6 or 7 years ago are all grown up and going to college. I'll have to find out. I mean how young could they feel anyways? They may be a lot older than me, but I feel old knowing how far I've come and knowing how I old I am now.
This is gonna sound really bad, but today during the sermon, I had a flashback. Flashbacks aren't normally bad. The bad part of getting the flashback during the sermon is that I wasn't really paying attention to the sermon.
I flashed back today to a time that seems like it was a long time ago. Ok, it was a long time ago. It was about 8 or 9 years ago when I first started going to my church. At that time, we didn't have a solid church. A physical church. We had the people, but not the building.
At the time, we were meeting at one of the local retirement communities to have church. They have a nice chapel that they let us use. They also let us use a few rooms like conference rooms for Sunday school and such. I have a lot of good memories that are coming back due to talking about it.
My particular flashback flashes back to Sunday nights. We didn't meet in the retirement community's chapel for nightly services. Instead, we went to different homes of people who went to our church. We'd meet at our pastor's house or we'd meet at my Aunt Ann's house or wherever.
I guess I was probably thinking about this today because my Aunt Ann was preaching today. And well, the flashback I had was of Bible study in the basement of her old house.
You know with my friends and I going to college, I've also been thinking a lot about our old Bible quizzing days. We'd practice at one of my friends house. Good times with my friend Hannah reading the story of Jesus riding into town on a doinkey. There are a few other funny jokes about Bible quizzing, but I can't think of them at the moment. Thinking of these things kinda make me miss my friends a lot.
I have to wonder if my past Sunday school teachers feel old yet knowing that us kids they had 6 or 7 years ago are all grown up and going to college. I'll have to find out. I mean how young could they feel anyways? They may be a lot older than me, but I feel old knowing how far I've come and knowing how I old I am now.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Friend Sick
No, I'm not sick of being near people. No, I'm not sick of my friends. No, I'm not sick of hanging out and doing stuff.
Are you familiar with the term homesick? That's not my problem either.
I'm friend sick. I can't be homesick right now because I'm at home right now. That's the problem. I don't leave for school until September 7th.
So I have to sit here watching all my friends leave before my very eyes and it sucks. Reality is starting to hit me in the head here. All my friends are leaving me.
Last night, I know it wasn't their fault, but I was trying to talk to a few friends online and they just weren't answering me. I felt like there was a loss in communication and it really upset me. I felt like I had no one to talk to, but then someone talked to me and I felt better, but still sad.
The other problem I'm finding I have is that I see my friends that have left for school already on Facebook and it makes me sad knowing that I can't just go hang out with them anymore.
One of my friends left today for college and I know she really wasn't looking forward to going. Then my best friend is leaving to go back tomorrow morning. There are people leaving everyday and it's sad being the last to leave.
For me at the moment, college couldn't get here any quicker.
I'm going to try to enjoy these last few weeks though as much as I can with the friends I have left. Most of the friends I have left are either going to community college or they haven't graduated yet.
Are you familiar with the term homesick? That's not my problem either.
I'm friend sick. I can't be homesick right now because I'm at home right now. That's the problem. I don't leave for school until September 7th.
So I have to sit here watching all my friends leave before my very eyes and it sucks. Reality is starting to hit me in the head here. All my friends are leaving me.
Last night, I know it wasn't their fault, but I was trying to talk to a few friends online and they just weren't answering me. I felt like there was a loss in communication and it really upset me. I felt like I had no one to talk to, but then someone talked to me and I felt better, but still sad.
The other problem I'm finding I have is that I see my friends that have left for school already on Facebook and it makes me sad knowing that I can't just go hang out with them anymore.
One of my friends left today for college and I know she really wasn't looking forward to going. Then my best friend is leaving to go back tomorrow morning. There are people leaving everyday and it's sad being the last to leave.
For me at the moment, college couldn't get here any quicker.
I'm going to try to enjoy these last few weeks though as much as I can with the friends I have left. Most of the friends I have left are either going to community college or they haven't graduated yet.
Son Burnt
You know I was thinking about something yesterday. Have you ever heard the saying, Branded by God?
I know what branding means, yes, but I looked it up to be sure. When you brand something, you put your symbol on it and you can do this in a number of ways like freezing or burning it on with a hot iron. This symbol or it could be a sign usually shows ownership.
Most often when I think of branding, I think of farmers branding their livestock like cattle or horses. I've seen them brand animals in some animated movies and I imagine it probably hurts to get branded.
It's almost like getting a burn. In fact, branding is basically burning a symbol or sign onto something.
So here's where my thinking about this saying comes into play. Do you already know where I'm going with this?
If we're branded by God, then we're in a way owned by God. And in being branded we're being burnt. No one ever told me living a godly life would be easy. We're going to go through tough times when we feel burnt. Hey that's what you get when you're son burnt. Branded by God.
I know what branding means, yes, but I looked it up to be sure. When you brand something, you put your symbol on it and you can do this in a number of ways like freezing or burning it on with a hot iron. This symbol or it could be a sign usually shows ownership.
Most often when I think of branding, I think of farmers branding their livestock like cattle or horses. I've seen them brand animals in some animated movies and I imagine it probably hurts to get branded.
It's almost like getting a burn. In fact, branding is basically burning a symbol or sign onto something.
So here's where my thinking about this saying comes into play. Do you already know where I'm going with this?
If we're branded by God, then we're in a way owned by God. And in being branded we're being burnt. No one ever told me living a godly life would be easy. We're going to go through tough times when we feel burnt. Hey that's what you get when you're son burnt. Branded by God.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Sun Tricks with Cloud Cover
I had something really neat happen to me when I was out riding my bike this afternoon.Do you ever notice how the sun can play tricks on you? No, not like heat exhaustion or sun poisoning or getting burnt by the sun. Those things may not look like they're happening, but they are. The sun just tricked you. But that's not what I'm talking about here.
Back to my bike now. I was riding my usual route and the sun kept going behind the clouds to give some shade. At one point, I was watching the road really closely and as I was riding, the sunlight all of sudden started coming toward me. It was like a wave of light. It was pretty sweet!
I also noticed while riding under some trees that the light would disappear and come back like a spotlight. It was pretty cool. It's like shadow puppets.
It was really cool and it was totally God.
By the way, this picture was taken in 2007 when I went to Sun Valley Indian School in Arizona on a mission trip with some people from my church. Cool picture. I wish I had, had a camera with me to get a video of the sun doing its trick on me today.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Someone's watching you
Creeping through the underbrush, someone is watching you. They lurk in the darkness watching you. Turn around, they're watching you. They're watching your every move and there's nothing you can do about it. When you least expect it, they're watching you. In your classes, they're watching you. When you walk down the street, they're watching you. They're in your churches, restaurants, and homes. Face it, you're being watched.
Ever feel like you're being watched? Not in a spooky way like I may have described up there. Not in a stalker type way are you being watched.
I'll bet you're being watched. I'm being watched. Not in a stalking way...at least that I know of. That would be pretty scary to be stalked by someone.
Stalking isn't what I'm here to talk to you about. I'm here to talk to you about someone watching you in a non-stalking kind of way. Glad to get that out and into the air. :)
Ok, you're being watched. Why do I keep saying that? Because it's true. Everyday people are watching you. They may not be creeping in the underbrush or lurking in the darkness, but they're in your churches, schools, restaurants, neighborhoods, and homes.
Who are they? They are people just like you and me. They're watching your every move and may or may not be judging you for the decision you make. They're watching how you handle situations and they're watching your actions.
When I think about being watched, I think about my neighbor's three little boys. It's like little chicks or ducklings. They imprint on whoever they see first and they follow by example. I'm being watched by my neighbor's three little boys. She's being watched by her own sons.
My actions are being watched. Her actions are being watched. How are you gonna act? If I mess up, they'll see it and they might follow it.
So are you going to set a good example? Or are you going to set a bad example?
I'm watching you.
Ever feel like you're being watched? Not in a spooky way like I may have described up there. Not in a stalker type way are you being watched.
I'll bet you're being watched. I'm being watched. Not in a stalking way...at least that I know of. That would be pretty scary to be stalked by someone.
Stalking isn't what I'm here to talk to you about. I'm here to talk to you about someone watching you in a non-stalking kind of way. Glad to get that out and into the air. :)
Ok, you're being watched. Why do I keep saying that? Because it's true. Everyday people are watching you. They may not be creeping in the underbrush or lurking in the darkness, but they're in your churches, schools, restaurants, neighborhoods, and homes.
Who are they? They are people just like you and me. They're watching your every move and may or may not be judging you for the decision you make. They're watching how you handle situations and they're watching your actions.
When I think about being watched, I think about my neighbor's three little boys. It's like little chicks or ducklings. They imprint on whoever they see first and they follow by example. I'm being watched by my neighbor's three little boys. She's being watched by her own sons.
My actions are being watched. Her actions are being watched. How are you gonna act? If I mess up, they'll see it and they might follow it.
So are you going to set a good example? Or are you going to set a bad example?
I'm watching you.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Jesus loves you!
The title of my blog page right? Yeah exactly. But today I needed to be reminded of it.
I had another horrible day. Well, I had nothing going on today, but it still seemed pretty bad.
I had to do some stuff I didn't want to do today and ended up hardcore complaining about it. I'm such a negative Nancy sometimes.
My brother started segment 2 of drivers education and he didn't know he had to take his permit. So my mom called me and asked me to ride my bike to where she was to get his permit, go home and make a copy of it, and either bring it back to her or take it to him.
I like riding my bike and everything, but not in the rain. It started raining on my way to where my mom was and then after I got home, it started raining more. Plus my eyes were bugging me, so I had to take my contacts out and I was so angry that I threw my helmet on the bathroom floor and may or may not have killed a little bit. There are some cracks in it, but I'm not sure if it's from that or something else. I made the copy and took it back to my mom's truck. By the time I left there, it was starting to really rain hard.
Then I proceeded to come home and complain a lot. My status on my Facebook said earlier that I was having a bad day and was wondering where the brightside of things were.
Well I got my answer. One of my new friends on Facebook who I'm going to college with, said the brightside was that Jesus loves you.
What she said right there, turned my day around completely. Sometimes we all need to be reminded that Jesus loves us.
I had another horrible day. Well, I had nothing going on today, but it still seemed pretty bad.
I had to do some stuff I didn't want to do today and ended up hardcore complaining about it. I'm such a negative Nancy sometimes.
My brother started segment 2 of drivers education and he didn't know he had to take his permit. So my mom called me and asked me to ride my bike to where she was to get his permit, go home and make a copy of it, and either bring it back to her or take it to him.
I like riding my bike and everything, but not in the rain. It started raining on my way to where my mom was and then after I got home, it started raining more. Plus my eyes were bugging me, so I had to take my contacts out and I was so angry that I threw my helmet on the bathroom floor and may or may not have killed a little bit. There are some cracks in it, but I'm not sure if it's from that or something else. I made the copy and took it back to my mom's truck. By the time I left there, it was starting to really rain hard.
Then I proceeded to come home and complain a lot. My status on my Facebook said earlier that I was having a bad day and was wondering where the brightside of things were.
Well I got my answer. One of my new friends on Facebook who I'm going to college with, said the brightside was that Jesus loves you.
What she said right there, turned my day around completely. Sometimes we all need to be reminded that Jesus loves us.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Sad Sunday #2
I was definitely out of it today. In fact, I missed practice this morning because of it. I overslept and that was the start of my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad morning. I got up at 9:30 this morning. Ok, big deal right? Yes, I was supposed to be at church at 9:00 this morning. So I basically rushed out of my house.
When I finally got to church, my friends Hannah and Abbi were glad to see me. They were worried that I wasn't coming because I was at practice yesterday and they knew I'd be there. After I got to church, my day turned around.
We were sitting in Sunday school and we wanted to do something radical for Hannah's last day. So we went on a Sunday school adventure that I'm not allowed to talk about because I was sworn to secrecy and anyone we saw, we were told to tell, it was a girl thing.
It was really funny today during church while the pastor was trying to give announcements. We kept hearing an echo. That happened to me last week at church when I was playing Virus. I was really confused by it too. I think it's the microphones, so our pastor just turned his mic off for a little while. Technical difficulties. :)
Hannah did a few special things today during church. She sang a song right before her dad gave the sermon and she kept messing up on it. She was crying and laughing. That was her first time messing up and just stopping in the middle of a song. She told us that later. It happens to the best of us.
Then the pastor's family sang the benediction and once again Hannah messed up, but she's so funny when she messes up. She says, "oh sorry." Nothing wrong with messing up. I do it all the time on the piano and I laugh about those mistakes.
Hannah is another one of my best friends. The pastor's daughter. Well one of the pastor's daughters. No wait, actually she's the pastor's son (another story for another time). Haha.
I always thought I hated change, but then again I've been hearing all along that Hannah extremely hates change. She doesn't want to go to college. Her aunt, our Sunday school teacher, says that once we get to college we'll love it. She just knows that. Hannah just doesn't want things to change and I don't blame her because I don't want things to change either. But change is gonna happen. Nothing we can do about it.
I'm gonna miss her so much. I almost started crying while her family was singing the benediction.
I've had several people come up to me and ask when I'm leaving. Oh you guys, you can't get rid of me that quickly. I still have three more Sundays. I think they're trying to get rid of me or something. Haha. I'm just kidding. I love my church family.
When I finally got to church, my friends Hannah and Abbi were glad to see me. They were worried that I wasn't coming because I was at practice yesterday and they knew I'd be there. After I got to church, my day turned around.
We were sitting in Sunday school and we wanted to do something radical for Hannah's last day. So we went on a Sunday school adventure that I'm not allowed to talk about because I was sworn to secrecy and anyone we saw, we were told to tell, it was a girl thing.
It was really funny today during church while the pastor was trying to give announcements. We kept hearing an echo. That happened to me last week at church when I was playing Virus. I was really confused by it too. I think it's the microphones, so our pastor just turned his mic off for a little while. Technical difficulties. :)
Hannah did a few special things today during church. She sang a song right before her dad gave the sermon and she kept messing up on it. She was crying and laughing. That was her first time messing up and just stopping in the middle of a song. She told us that later. It happens to the best of us.
Then the pastor's family sang the benediction and once again Hannah messed up, but she's so funny when she messes up. She says, "oh sorry." Nothing wrong with messing up. I do it all the time on the piano and I laugh about those mistakes.
Hannah is another one of my best friends. The pastor's daughter. Well one of the pastor's daughters. No wait, actually she's the pastor's son (another story for another time). Haha.
I always thought I hated change, but then again I've been hearing all along that Hannah extremely hates change. She doesn't want to go to college. Her aunt, our Sunday school teacher, says that once we get to college we'll love it. She just knows that. Hannah just doesn't want things to change and I don't blame her because I don't want things to change either. But change is gonna happen. Nothing we can do about it.
I'm gonna miss her so much. I almost started crying while her family was singing the benediction.
I've had several people come up to me and ask when I'm leaving. Oh you guys, you can't get rid of me that quickly. I still have three more Sundays. I think they're trying to get rid of me or something. Haha. I'm just kidding. I love my church family.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
God and Piano
So if you were reading Time flies when you're having fun, you probably didn't understand what God and piano lessons had to do with each other. I think most people who don't know my piano teacher would think it would be weird for me to be have theological discussions with my piano teacher. Or maybe some people do actually do that. It's not everyday that you see a kid with a piano teacher who is also the pastor of a church that the kid goes to. That's what God and piano have to do with each other in my life. God has given me this amazing talent that has taken nine years and more to develop, but I'm extremely thankful for it.
That's right, nine years. I've been playing and taking lessons for that long. And I've been with the same piano teacher for all those years. I can't believe we dealt with each other for that long. Haha, just kidding. He stuck with me much longer than any of my flute teachers did. I didn't really care for playing flute though, so I guess that's my fault. So if you were reading yesterday's blog and sat there wondering what all my little memories were, I'm gonna explain them right here.
Wait should I list them again? I think so. I'm also gonna add a thing or two that I forgot to add in last night.
Thursday nights. Memorizing songs. Learning songs on Youtube. Solo and Ensemble solos. Theological talks. Talks about Wednesday night youth group. Irish Jig (only my piano teacher would get that one). Piano recitals. The "ok's" before playing. I'm going to play this now, but then suddenly realize that I had something else to say. Remembering what I had forgotten to say while in the middle of a song, but not stopping the song. Talking while trying to play a song. Finger Power and it's horribleness. Learning to play by ear. Music that includes an accompaniment to play with the teacher. Asking questions about God. Not really practicing and admitting to not practicing. Practicing during the summer. Practicing on the day of the lesson. Calling my teacher old, but not as old as his wife, hahaha. Playing in church for offertory. Bike rides to piano lessons. Being the student who had stuck with this piano teacher for the longest time besides his own kids. Praying. Dynamics! Notes in the notebook. Mixing up pages during the piano recital. Evil piano teacher. Which song do you wanna play first? Writing out the counting. One more week. That was good; play through it again.
Thursday nights were my night. My half hour lesson that usually went over the half hour because I was talking too much. I think I stuck with Thursday nights for almost nine years if not all nine years. I never had an after school lesson because in high school I couldn't get there right away and most of the time, my parents preferred to have the late lessons. But even after I started driving or riding my bike, I preferred the late lessons, so I could practice beforehand. Hehe.
So I'm not much of a scripture verse memorizer, but I love memorizing things on the piano. It helps not having to carry around a book all the time. I have songs from my very first piano book still memorized. There are a lot of songs I still have partially memorized, but not all the way. I love going through songs I have or thought I had memorized.
It is very true that I have learned a few songs off of Youtube. The one I know the best is How to Save a Life by The Fray. It's a great piano song. And I actually was able to play the song memorized with lyrics at my piano recital last year. People kept coming up and asking if it was lyrics that they were seeing on the paper. Yep, I just used the lyrics.
Ah yes, my Solo and Ensemble days. I only ever played one song on piano for Solo and Ensemble Festival. It was called Solfeggietto by Carl P. E. Bach. I still have it mostly memorized, but it's not as controlled and I can't play it with the music in front of me. The song has been butchered basically. I've played a couple flute solos too I think. Or maybe it was just one solo. I don't remember. My accompanist was my piano teacher. I would play piano for half the lesson and then we would work on my flute solo.
Now when I say I would play piano for half the lesson and work on my flute solo, that playing the piano part didn't always happen because we always started talking about something. We used to talk about theology a lot because I usually had some question about God. So yes, I did ask my piano teacher about God a lot. We'd also talk about Wednesday nights and how it went.
Irish Jig. That brings back some funny, yet oddly weird memories. I still have that song memorized too. I played that song for one of my recitals. I had it memorized at the time of the recital, but I didn't want to forget it out of nervousness, so I had the music in front of me. That year I also played a song called Tarantella. That was also one of the years that we had the recital where we were currently having church at the Chelsea Retirement Community (a.k.a. the CRC). So what's so special about the Irish Jig. Well my piano teacher used to annoy me by dancing to it. I always had to ask him not to dance to it. He said at the recital that year that he would dance to it at the lessons and maybe he would dance to it at the recital. I didn't see him dance to it at the recital.
And of course, the recitals. The cookies afterwards. Is food all I think about? No, it's not. I'm just saying. I always was practically the last one to play. My parents liked that more than being first I suppose. I think I'd rather be one of the first people to play though. Last year when I played How to Save a Life, my piano teacher's mom (I think) came up to me after the recital and said that looking at the music I was playing, she thought I was a serious pianist (I am in some aspects), but when she saw me give a thumbs up to her granddaughter and my friend Hannah, she knew otherwise. I had promised Hannah that I was gonna give her a thumbs up. The reason that I have wanted to play near the beginning is that I'm not afraid of making mistakes. In fact, I laugh at my mistakes. When I mess up, I just laugh. It's not a big deal to me. My piano teacher has a lot of students and I see so many of the young kids get up there petrified that they're gonna make a mistake and when they make that mistake they apologize a ton of times (trust me, I was like that too). Mistakes happen all the time. It's nothing to worry about.
I'm definitely going to play this song now. Ok. Ok. Ok. Ok. After talking for a while and finally getting to piano, we would occasionally have this "ok" war going back and forth saying ok. It would make me laugh everytime and it was always hard to play when I was laughing about that.
Ok I'm gonna play this now, but then again I just realized I remembered I had something else to say. Do I need to say any more about that one? :)
Usually if I forgot what I was gonna say and began playing a song, I would remember halfway through the song, which would mess me up even if I didn't say anything because I wasn't concentrating on the song.
I like to add commentary when I play sometimes. Oh I messed up here. Oh I can't play this part very well. Oh I should probably stop talking now because it's messing me up. I never stopped talking though. I'm ok at talking while playing, but when it comes to new songs, I should just duct tape my mouth shut. Honestly that's what I should have done.
Grr! Finger Power. I started out with these books. Finger Power was among the first of my books. It just kept getting harder and harder, but what do you expect. Finger exercises. So annoying. I finally just stopped taking the book with me. I remember getting so upset about not being able to play this one exercise that I actually told my piano teacher that I had been crying about it, but then he helped me through it and now I can play that exercise really well.
This past year, I was interested in learning to play some songs by ear. Actually there was one song in particular. That song is my favorite song, In Christ Alone. My favorite version is the Newsboys version. I learned a lot of new chords and a lot of ways to play that song. By learning to play it by ear, I now have the chords and song basically down. It's a good song.
I've had a few books that always include accompaniments for piano teachers to play with their students. I've played Beauty and the Beast and My Heart Will Go On with such accompaniments. One time I played My Heart Will Go On in the talent show at my elementary school with my friend Hannah. She played the accompaniment and I played the melody. But in recent years, I have learned to play the accompaniments and I actually played the accompaniment for my brother when he decided to play that for his one and only piano/guitar recital from my teacher.
So like I said with Thursday nights, I liked having late lessons, so I could practice beforehand because as the years progressed, I didn't really practice a lot. I'm a horrible student. But somehow the playing comes naturally even if I don't practice one song for a while. Well it worked for some songs. Oh I even admitted to not practicing all week. At least I sorta practiced. I did like to practice during the summer and breaks though when I had nothing better to do. I was one of the only people to actually practice during the summer too, but that's ok.
That's right. I did call my piano teacher old. And then you know what he would do? He would say he's old, but not as old as his wife. They're the same age, but she's like more than a few months older than him. Can you tell that I don't feel like counting right now? Her birthday is in January and his is in October, so here, you do the math.
So once in a while, I would actually take my awesome piano skills (is that what I have? haha) and play in church. Playing in church made me just as nervous as piano recitals. It still does make me really nervous. I don't like playing alone very often. I'm not really meant to be a soloist. But I think everyone gets nervous. Now that I can play by ear (sorta sometimes), I actually play piano once in a while in the worship band. That's kinda annoying because they expect me to know everything and I don't like doing intros alone. But my teacher said last time when I finally said yes to playing that I didn't have to play any intros. Apparently the others didn't know about that. Oh well, it all worked out for the best. It's not as scary playing with the worship band. They really don't bite.
I met my pastor piano teacher through Vacation Bible School (VBS) at my Aunt Ann's church nine years ago. My parents were looking to get me into lessons because I had been wanting to learn how to play and so we talked to Pastor Jeff (a.k.a. my pastor piano teacher) about it because somehow they knew he was teaching piano. I don't know how that all worked out, but the same year I started going to church with my Aunt Ann was the same year I started piano lessons. I was really excited when I found out that my parents got me a piano teacher. I was so eager to learn. Not so much now. Haha, just kidding. I love the piano and I especially love learning new music and especially the hard, yet fun to play music. I was one of the piano students that my pastor piano teacher (haha, I love saying that) had for the longest. Ok I was the student who stuck with it the longest that wasn't related to him because his kids took it for a long time too and they're really good at piano. They even taught some lessons to younger kids this past year.
Occasionally I would come to piano lessons thinking or worrying about something and I would ask if we could pray about something. Or I would ask if we could pray for someone who I knew was needing some prayer. We would talk about it for a few minutes and then spend a few minutes in prayer. That's something I had forgotten to add to the list last night, but then I was praying before bed and I remembered that I needed to add that.
CIRCLE DYNAMICS!! This is written in my piano notebook right now. I always would forget to do something at home if it wasn't written in the notebook or if I wasn't reminded to do so. And I don't know when dynamics became such a big thing with my piano teacher, but in recent years they have. And when you least expect him to mention the dynamics, he goes and mentions it. Those dumb dynamics. Always messing me up!
That whole circling of dynamics was for my last recital piece because I kept forgetting the dynamics. Notes in my notebook, yeah, I'll get back to that one in a minute. There were also notes in my books about how I would never play a certain song again or something like that.
Oh funny story. Last year, I played a song at my recital that was four pages long, but I didn't want to use the book because I'm not good at turning pages while playing the piano, so I copied the pages. But somewhere in copying the pages and going to the recital, I mixed up the pages. So I'm playing the song and I realized halfway through that I was looking at the wrong page, so I stopped in the middle of it, said my bad, I mixed up the pages. My teacher said, it's ok just go on. So I went on after fixing my pages. Oh that's the other thing that tipped my piano teacher's mom off to knowing that I wasn't as serious as the songs in the list said I was. I still laugh about that one today.
For a while, I think in middle school, I went through a phase of calling everything evil. My piano teacher was one thing I called evil and he did an evil laugh sometimes. That was kinda scary. I called him evil a lot when he made me replay songs every week. There were some songs, that I wish I could just stop playing the first week.
Which song do you wanna play first? What will it be, Getting to Know You or Dolly's Dreaming and Awakening? I don't really wanna play Getting to Know You. I guess I'll play Dolly's Dreaming and Awakening. No, wait, I'll play the other one. Why does my notebook say "Getting to Know Ewe?" My piano teacher was really weird. It also says "Getting to Know Chelsea." Actually he still is really weird even if I'm not his student anymore. How come I just noticed this now? This is what I mean when I talk about notes in the notebook.
Writing out the counting. When I was younger and first starting out, he always always made me write out the counting. I finally stopped having to do that though when I actually could count on my own. Yet at lessons, I always asked him to count out loud for me. It really helped. This past year, I even decided I needed to write out the counting to one song I was playing because I was having trouble with it. There goes the writing out the counting again. You're never to old to write out the counting especially when you're having trouble with the timing.
One more week. Something I heard very often. I'd play through and it would be ok, but still need work. He would say, play it one more week. And then the next week would come and he would say the same thing about the same song. And then I would tell him that he said that last week. I think he would forget because he's old. :)
And then there were the times when he would say that I played it well and want me to play it again. Ugh. Then I would mess up on it. Oh third time's a charm...not really. Ok, maybe fourth or fifth time.
Ok, so the list keeps getting longer and longer. Can't help it though because I keep remembering things. You know how I said I'd get back to the writing notes in the notebook thing? I'm not over that ewe thing yet by the way. Haha. But what I was gonna say is that I never really looked at my notebook, so I didn't know about the ewe thing. I usually knew the songs I was playing during the week.
So I was looking through some of my books a month or two ago and I found a note that my teacher wrote me on the day of my last lesson. That was back in May. And I found it either in June or July. Wow, I'm kinda oblivious to things sometimes aren't I? So what did the note say?
Dated 5/28/09
Thanks Chelsea for all the years of being a GREAT student!! Jeff
I wouldn't say I was a great student. Haha, I'm just kidding. Well fair enough. I'd like to say thanks too.
Thanks Pastor Jeff for putting up with me in piano for all these years, teaching me memorable things, and helping make piano lessons memorable enough that I would share some of (or most of) these memories with others.
Chelsea
That's right, nine years. I've been playing and taking lessons for that long. And I've been with the same piano teacher for all those years. I can't believe we dealt with each other for that long. Haha, just kidding. He stuck with me much longer than any of my flute teachers did. I didn't really care for playing flute though, so I guess that's my fault. So if you were reading yesterday's blog and sat there wondering what all my little memories were, I'm gonna explain them right here.
Wait should I list them again? I think so. I'm also gonna add a thing or two that I forgot to add in last night.
Thursday nights. Memorizing songs. Learning songs on Youtube. Solo and Ensemble solos. Theological talks. Talks about Wednesday night youth group. Irish Jig (only my piano teacher would get that one). Piano recitals. The "ok's" before playing. I'm going to play this now, but then suddenly realize that I had something else to say. Remembering what I had forgotten to say while in the middle of a song, but not stopping the song. Talking while trying to play a song. Finger Power and it's horribleness. Learning to play by ear. Music that includes an accompaniment to play with the teacher. Asking questions about God. Not really practicing and admitting to not practicing. Practicing during the summer. Practicing on the day of the lesson. Calling my teacher old, but not as old as his wife, hahaha. Playing in church for offertory. Bike rides to piano lessons. Being the student who had stuck with this piano teacher for the longest time besides his own kids. Praying. Dynamics! Notes in the notebook. Mixing up pages during the piano recital. Evil piano teacher. Which song do you wanna play first? Writing out the counting. One more week. That was good; play through it again.
Thursday nights were my night. My half hour lesson that usually went over the half hour because I was talking too much. I think I stuck with Thursday nights for almost nine years if not all nine years. I never had an after school lesson because in high school I couldn't get there right away and most of the time, my parents preferred to have the late lessons. But even after I started driving or riding my bike, I preferred the late lessons, so I could practice beforehand. Hehe.
So I'm not much of a scripture verse memorizer, but I love memorizing things on the piano. It helps not having to carry around a book all the time. I have songs from my very first piano book still memorized. There are a lot of songs I still have partially memorized, but not all the way. I love going through songs I have or thought I had memorized.
It is very true that I have learned a few songs off of Youtube. The one I know the best is How to Save a Life by The Fray. It's a great piano song. And I actually was able to play the song memorized with lyrics at my piano recital last year. People kept coming up and asking if it was lyrics that they were seeing on the paper. Yep, I just used the lyrics.
Ah yes, my Solo and Ensemble days. I only ever played one song on piano for Solo and Ensemble Festival. It was called Solfeggietto by Carl P. E. Bach. I still have it mostly memorized, but it's not as controlled and I can't play it with the music in front of me. The song has been butchered basically. I've played a couple flute solos too I think. Or maybe it was just one solo. I don't remember. My accompanist was my piano teacher. I would play piano for half the lesson and then we would work on my flute solo.
Now when I say I would play piano for half the lesson and work on my flute solo, that playing the piano part didn't always happen because we always started talking about something. We used to talk about theology a lot because I usually had some question about God. So yes, I did ask my piano teacher about God a lot. We'd also talk about Wednesday nights and how it went.
Irish Jig. That brings back some funny, yet oddly weird memories. I still have that song memorized too. I played that song for one of my recitals. I had it memorized at the time of the recital, but I didn't want to forget it out of nervousness, so I had the music in front of me. That year I also played a song called Tarantella. That was also one of the years that we had the recital where we were currently having church at the Chelsea Retirement Community (a.k.a. the CRC). So what's so special about the Irish Jig. Well my piano teacher used to annoy me by dancing to it. I always had to ask him not to dance to it. He said at the recital that year that he would dance to it at the lessons and maybe he would dance to it at the recital. I didn't see him dance to it at the recital.
And of course, the recitals. The cookies afterwards. Is food all I think about? No, it's not. I'm just saying. I always was practically the last one to play. My parents liked that more than being first I suppose. I think I'd rather be one of the first people to play though. Last year when I played How to Save a Life, my piano teacher's mom (I think) came up to me after the recital and said that looking at the music I was playing, she thought I was a serious pianist (I am in some aspects), but when she saw me give a thumbs up to her granddaughter and my friend Hannah, she knew otherwise. I had promised Hannah that I was gonna give her a thumbs up. The reason that I have wanted to play near the beginning is that I'm not afraid of making mistakes. In fact, I laugh at my mistakes. When I mess up, I just laugh. It's not a big deal to me. My piano teacher has a lot of students and I see so many of the young kids get up there petrified that they're gonna make a mistake and when they make that mistake they apologize a ton of times (trust me, I was like that too). Mistakes happen all the time. It's nothing to worry about.
I'm definitely going to play this song now. Ok. Ok. Ok. Ok. After talking for a while and finally getting to piano, we would occasionally have this "ok" war going back and forth saying ok. It would make me laugh everytime and it was always hard to play when I was laughing about that.
Ok I'm gonna play this now, but then again I just realized I remembered I had something else to say. Do I need to say any more about that one? :)
Usually if I forgot what I was gonna say and began playing a song, I would remember halfway through the song, which would mess me up even if I didn't say anything because I wasn't concentrating on the song.
I like to add commentary when I play sometimes. Oh I messed up here. Oh I can't play this part very well. Oh I should probably stop talking now because it's messing me up. I never stopped talking though. I'm ok at talking while playing, but when it comes to new songs, I should just duct tape my mouth shut. Honestly that's what I should have done.
Grr! Finger Power. I started out with these books. Finger Power was among the first of my books. It just kept getting harder and harder, but what do you expect. Finger exercises. So annoying. I finally just stopped taking the book with me. I remember getting so upset about not being able to play this one exercise that I actually told my piano teacher that I had been crying about it, but then he helped me through it and now I can play that exercise really well.
This past year, I was interested in learning to play some songs by ear. Actually there was one song in particular. That song is my favorite song, In Christ Alone. My favorite version is the Newsboys version. I learned a lot of new chords and a lot of ways to play that song. By learning to play it by ear, I now have the chords and song basically down. It's a good song.
I've had a few books that always include accompaniments for piano teachers to play with their students. I've played Beauty and the Beast and My Heart Will Go On with such accompaniments. One time I played My Heart Will Go On in the talent show at my elementary school with my friend Hannah. She played the accompaniment and I played the melody. But in recent years, I have learned to play the accompaniments and I actually played the accompaniment for my brother when he decided to play that for his one and only piano/guitar recital from my teacher.
So like I said with Thursday nights, I liked having late lessons, so I could practice beforehand because as the years progressed, I didn't really practice a lot. I'm a horrible student. But somehow the playing comes naturally even if I don't practice one song for a while. Well it worked for some songs. Oh I even admitted to not practicing all week. At least I sorta practiced. I did like to practice during the summer and breaks though when I had nothing better to do. I was one of the only people to actually practice during the summer too, but that's ok.
That's right. I did call my piano teacher old. And then you know what he would do? He would say he's old, but not as old as his wife. They're the same age, but she's like more than a few months older than him. Can you tell that I don't feel like counting right now? Her birthday is in January and his is in October, so here, you do the math.
So once in a while, I would actually take my awesome piano skills (is that what I have? haha) and play in church. Playing in church made me just as nervous as piano recitals. It still does make me really nervous. I don't like playing alone very often. I'm not really meant to be a soloist. But I think everyone gets nervous. Now that I can play by ear (sorta sometimes), I actually play piano once in a while in the worship band. That's kinda annoying because they expect me to know everything and I don't like doing intros alone. But my teacher said last time when I finally said yes to playing that I didn't have to play any intros. Apparently the others didn't know about that. Oh well, it all worked out for the best. It's not as scary playing with the worship band. They really don't bite.
I met my pastor piano teacher through Vacation Bible School (VBS) at my Aunt Ann's church nine years ago. My parents were looking to get me into lessons because I had been wanting to learn how to play and so we talked to Pastor Jeff (a.k.a. my pastor piano teacher) about it because somehow they knew he was teaching piano. I don't know how that all worked out, but the same year I started going to church with my Aunt Ann was the same year I started piano lessons. I was really excited when I found out that my parents got me a piano teacher. I was so eager to learn. Not so much now. Haha, just kidding. I love the piano and I especially love learning new music and especially the hard, yet fun to play music. I was one of the piano students that my pastor piano teacher (haha, I love saying that) had for the longest. Ok I was the student who stuck with it the longest that wasn't related to him because his kids took it for a long time too and they're really good at piano. They even taught some lessons to younger kids this past year.
Occasionally I would come to piano lessons thinking or worrying about something and I would ask if we could pray about something. Or I would ask if we could pray for someone who I knew was needing some prayer. We would talk about it for a few minutes and then spend a few minutes in prayer. That's something I had forgotten to add to the list last night, but then I was praying before bed and I remembered that I needed to add that.
CIRCLE DYNAMICS!! This is written in my piano notebook right now. I always would forget to do something at home if it wasn't written in the notebook or if I wasn't reminded to do so. And I don't know when dynamics became such a big thing with my piano teacher, but in recent years they have. And when you least expect him to mention the dynamics, he goes and mentions it. Those dumb dynamics. Always messing me up!
That whole circling of dynamics was for my last recital piece because I kept forgetting the dynamics. Notes in my notebook, yeah, I'll get back to that one in a minute. There were also notes in my books about how I would never play a certain song again or something like that.
Oh funny story. Last year, I played a song at my recital that was four pages long, but I didn't want to use the book because I'm not good at turning pages while playing the piano, so I copied the pages. But somewhere in copying the pages and going to the recital, I mixed up the pages. So I'm playing the song and I realized halfway through that I was looking at the wrong page, so I stopped in the middle of it, said my bad, I mixed up the pages. My teacher said, it's ok just go on. So I went on after fixing my pages. Oh that's the other thing that tipped my piano teacher's mom off to knowing that I wasn't as serious as the songs in the list said I was. I still laugh about that one today.
For a while, I think in middle school, I went through a phase of calling everything evil. My piano teacher was one thing I called evil and he did an evil laugh sometimes. That was kinda scary. I called him evil a lot when he made me replay songs every week. There were some songs, that I wish I could just stop playing the first week.
Which song do you wanna play first? What will it be, Getting to Know You or Dolly's Dreaming and Awakening? I don't really wanna play Getting to Know You. I guess I'll play Dolly's Dreaming and Awakening. No, wait, I'll play the other one. Why does my notebook say "Getting to Know Ewe?" My piano teacher was really weird. It also says "Getting to Know Chelsea." Actually he still is really weird even if I'm not his student anymore. How come I just noticed this now? This is what I mean when I talk about notes in the notebook.
Writing out the counting. When I was younger and first starting out, he always always made me write out the counting. I finally stopped having to do that though when I actually could count on my own. Yet at lessons, I always asked him to count out loud for me. It really helped. This past year, I even decided I needed to write out the counting to one song I was playing because I was having trouble with it. There goes the writing out the counting again. You're never to old to write out the counting especially when you're having trouble with the timing.
One more week. Something I heard very often. I'd play through and it would be ok, but still need work. He would say, play it one more week. And then the next week would come and he would say the same thing about the same song. And then I would tell him that he said that last week. I think he would forget because he's old. :)
And then there were the times when he would say that I played it well and want me to play it again. Ugh. Then I would mess up on it. Oh third time's a charm...not really. Ok, maybe fourth or fifth time.
Ok, so the list keeps getting longer and longer. Can't help it though because I keep remembering things. You know how I said I'd get back to the writing notes in the notebook thing? I'm not over that ewe thing yet by the way. Haha. But what I was gonna say is that I never really looked at my notebook, so I didn't know about the ewe thing. I usually knew the songs I was playing during the week.
So I was looking through some of my books a month or two ago and I found a note that my teacher wrote me on the day of my last lesson. That was back in May. And I found it either in June or July. Wow, I'm kinda oblivious to things sometimes aren't I? So what did the note say?
Dated 5/28/09
Thanks Chelsea for all the years of being a GREAT student!! Jeff
I wouldn't say I was a great student. Haha, I'm just kidding. Well fair enough. I'd like to say thanks too.
Thanks Pastor Jeff for putting up with me in piano for all these years, teaching me memorable things, and helping make piano lessons memorable enough that I would share some of (or most of) these memories with others.
Chelsea
What I couldn't explain last night
So I wrote about time flying when you're having fun yesterday and I had a point, but I just couldn't get it out. Between my computer restarting itself and my memories of other days and stuff, I just couldn't find what I was trying to say.
Then when I was writing in my journal last night I figured it out. I just couldn't write it out in a way for people to likely understand it, so good luck trying to understand how I'm feeling with this one.
I feel like every time I think about my friends, Chris or Hannah, I start picturing them as little kids again.
I think how can these little kids be going off to college already?
They're so young. I picture them as little kids going to college. But in reality, it's big kids, young adults, going off to college. Likely they're leaving home for the first time in their life.
Ok, so really, what happened? When did we grow up and become adults and also how do we make it stop?
Time never stops as much as you may want to break every clock. Time keeps on going.
We all grow up so fast. I swear yesterday I was a little kid. What happened?
Then when I was writing in my journal last night I figured it out. I just couldn't write it out in a way for people to likely understand it, so good luck trying to understand how I'm feeling with this one.
I feel like every time I think about my friends, Chris or Hannah, I start picturing them as little kids again.
I think how can these little kids be going off to college already?
They're so young. I picture them as little kids going to college. But in reality, it's big kids, young adults, going off to college. Likely they're leaving home for the first time in their life.
Ok, so really, what happened? When did we grow up and become adults and also how do we make it stop?
Time never stops as much as you may want to break every clock. Time keeps on going.
We all grow up so fast. I swear yesterday I was a little kid. What happened?
Truth Journal
This one has been on my mind for a while. Last year around this time, I started another journal. I'm really into journaling and stuff. At the time, I wasn't really all that into my blogs anymore, so I started this journal that I called my Truth Journal and it was like a "blog" journal that I didn't put online because I didn't want anyone to see what I was writing about. Well ok, this journal started on July 29, 2008, but it's still quite close to now I suppose.
In this journal, I told my true feelings that I couldn't admit to anyone really. I complained a lot about youth group. I don't like rereading some of the stuff I've written in this journal because of it's negativity. I was so negative towards my church, youth group, and things like Vacation Bible School. I guess it was telling the truth of how I was truly feeling at the time.
I do have a few blogs on here that came from this journal, but they were more positive things like stuff I wrote about pastors and kiwi-strawberry propel. Ok so may have some negative stuff on my blog too, but I was really into complaining last year. I had so many problems I faced with my youth group. They didn't even realize how annoyed I was. And for the most part, I kept my mouth shut.
Today, I miss my youth group days. I wish I wouldn't have been so negative about it last year. I remember my pastor telling me that we were gonna try to make this past year, the best year for everyone. You know after I stopped complaining a lot and just focused on the good, the year turned out to be a pretty great year.
Not only was this journal full of my truthful feelings, but it was also full of a lot of anger. Glad I'm not writing in that one much anymore. I have written one thing in it this year and that's it. It was a slight complaint, but I'm over it now.
In this journal, I told my true feelings that I couldn't admit to anyone really. I complained a lot about youth group. I don't like rereading some of the stuff I've written in this journal because of it's negativity. I was so negative towards my church, youth group, and things like Vacation Bible School. I guess it was telling the truth of how I was truly feeling at the time.
I do have a few blogs on here that came from this journal, but they were more positive things like stuff I wrote about pastors and kiwi-strawberry propel. Ok so may have some negative stuff on my blog too, but I was really into complaining last year. I had so many problems I faced with my youth group. They didn't even realize how annoyed I was. And for the most part, I kept my mouth shut.
Today, I miss my youth group days. I wish I wouldn't have been so negative about it last year. I remember my pastor telling me that we were gonna try to make this past year, the best year for everyone. You know after I stopped complaining a lot and just focused on the good, the year turned out to be a pretty great year.
Not only was this journal full of my truthful feelings, but it was also full of a lot of anger. Glad I'm not writing in that one much anymore. I have written one thing in it this year and that's it. It was a slight complaint, but I'm over it now.
I hate my life!
I hate it! I hate my life! Sometimes I wish I were never born at all! What's the point of living such a horrible life? Everything's going wrong. My computer froze when I was writing my blog last night and it made me so mad.
Are you confused? What happened to the ever so nice and calm and oddly funny Chelsea you knew to write such positive things?
Nothing. No, I'm not a faker. My positivity is a real thing.
Do you ever feel like this? Hating your life and stuff?
Truthfully I used to say it a lot. I used to say I hated my life all the time. I was so negative.
Something happened though. My negative attitude took a turn for the better.
I love my life. I don't know why anyone would want to hate their life. We only have one life to live, so you're gonna go hate your life? Sounds like a bad idea. God gave you this life to live and He also gave His one and only Son to save you from your sins.
Why would you want to hate the life God gave you to live? Everyone has a purpose here on earth. You might not realize that, but it's true.
What's with all this negativity anyways? Yesterday, my computer froze and decided to restart itself while I was writing a blog because my VBS cd wasn't playing correctly. Thank you God for Blogger and how it saves my drafts, so I could just pick up where I left off. I wasn't negative about that one. Not a big deal except sometimes I do get really mad when my computer isn't working. I get mad at inanimate objects all the time. I don't hate my life because my computer isn't working though. I love my life. It's one of those things, that you should be thankful that you even have a computer at all because some people don't have computers at all.
I don't get why people say stuff online about hating their lives if they're actually joking. You hate your life because you're computer stopped working? There are better excuses than that. I hate this particular texting phrase "fml." It is so negative and if you're joking when you put that up on the internet, why not tell us you're joking because most of the time people don't know when you're joking online. Trust me on that because I learned that one the hard way.
Just another one of my pet peeves I guess.
Are you confused? What happened to the ever so nice and calm and oddly funny Chelsea you knew to write such positive things?
Nothing. No, I'm not a faker. My positivity is a real thing.
Do you ever feel like this? Hating your life and stuff?
Truthfully I used to say it a lot. I used to say I hated my life all the time. I was so negative.
Something happened though. My negative attitude took a turn for the better.
I love my life. I don't know why anyone would want to hate their life. We only have one life to live, so you're gonna go hate your life? Sounds like a bad idea. God gave you this life to live and He also gave His one and only Son to save you from your sins.
Why would you want to hate the life God gave you to live? Everyone has a purpose here on earth. You might not realize that, but it's true.
What's with all this negativity anyways? Yesterday, my computer froze and decided to restart itself while I was writing a blog because my VBS cd wasn't playing correctly. Thank you God for Blogger and how it saves my drafts, so I could just pick up where I left off. I wasn't negative about that one. Not a big deal except sometimes I do get really mad when my computer isn't working. I get mad at inanimate objects all the time. I don't hate my life because my computer isn't working though. I love my life. It's one of those things, that you should be thankful that you even have a computer at all because some people don't have computers at all.
I don't get why people say stuff online about hating their lives if they're actually joking. You hate your life because you're computer stopped working? There are better excuses than that. I hate this particular texting phrase "fml." It is so negative and if you're joking when you put that up on the internet, why not tell us you're joking because most of the time people don't know when you're joking online. Trust me on that because I learned that one the hard way.
Just another one of my pet peeves I guess.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Time flies when you're having fun
I've been thinking a lot lately about this one and to be honest it's kinda depressing me. My Aunt Ann asked me to make a video for Sunday about past fair parade floats. Well I only have pictures of two of the floats that we did. This is one of those.It was from our Kingdom Quest VBS and it's meant to be a castle. I don't remember how many kids we had, but I remember participating in it not as a volunteer, but as a kid. That was my second Vacation Bible School at this church. I still have the music to it and listening to it now, I remember so many things about it.
I know the picture is small, but I'm on the far left. The girl next to me is Hannah who also graduated with this year. We're all wearing our Kingdom Quest shirts except for JJ in the blue (he's now the youth leader).
The more I think about this picture and look at it, the more I remember things from the past. I'll start thinking about all of us older kids leaving for college rather soon and then think how can this be happening? Weren't we just kids yesterday? How can this be happening?
I think of my friend Chris who left for college yesterday. I think of my friend Hannah who is leaving for college next Saturday. I think of my friend Becky who leaves next weekend sometime too for her second year of college. Mostly though I think of Chris, Hannah, and I because we were the start. Well, they were the start, but I came in after four years. We've finally graduated. Our generation youth group is leaving and new kids are coming up into the youth group. I saw that last year when we had a few 6th graders move into 7th grade.
I haven't started crying about this yet, but I know I will. I hate these lasts. I hate being asked if I want to do things because it will be the last thing I do with everyone before I leave for college. Guys, I'm not going very far away. You can come visit, you know that, right? As far as I'm concerned, my lasts with the youth group have been the last Wednesday in May, the Cedar Point trip, and Vacation Bible School and after VBS nights.
My summer isn't up yet, so I'm not exactly out of youth group yet. Well technically I am because that's what all the adults say. That hurts me though. I've been with this group for nine years and now I'm out. Sorry, but I'm having trouble with this changing point in my life.
I'm upset. My friends are all leaving me to go to college already. I'm stuck here until September 7th. What happened to us? When did we become adults and how do we make it stop?
I guess time really does fly when you're having fun. I have had fun all these years. I've had my rough spots, but my friends have helped me pull through. And now they're leaving me with total strangers and I'm leaving them with total strangers. We're such good friends aren't we? Haha, we're gonna make new friends this year no doubt about it. We'll be fine. And before we know it, we'll be graduating from college and then real life comes.
Still right now, I'm missing all the fun times in youth group. Tea parties in the nursery. Hanging out at Timber Town for Sunday After Church (SAC). Rocking out to awesome Christian music with some of my best friends. Mission trips and community service. Helping with VBS. Fun games at youth group. Refusing to memorize verses, but doing it anyways. Talking about parables on Wednesday nights. Having to listen to and watch two people argue about the parables on Wednesday nights. Are you ok? situations. Movie nights. Buck Buck. Twister. Apples to Apples. Underground Church where JJ always gets hurt. 30 Hour Famine.
You know I'm also finding that I'm really missing piano lessons right now. I played my final recital at the end of May. Well it may not be my final recital forever, but it was with this piano teacher. So here goes, some memories of that one.
Thursday nights. Memorizing songs. Learning songs on Youtube. Solo and Ensemble solos. Theological talks. Talks about Wednesday night youth group. Irish Jig (only my piano teacher would get that one). Piano recitals. The "ok's" before playing. I'm going to play this now, but then suddenly realize that I had something else to say. Remembering what I had forgotten to say while in the middle of a song, but not stopping the song. Talking while trying to play a song. Finger Power and it's horribleness. Learning to play by ear. Music that includes an accompaniment to play with the teacher. Asking questions about God. Not really practicing and admitting to not practicing. Practicing during the summer. Practicing on the day of the lesson. Calling my teacher old, but not as old as his wife, hahaha. Playing in church for offertory. Bike rides to piano lessons. Being the student who had stuck with this piano teacher for the longest time besides his own kids.
I think that's all I can think of at the moment of piano lessons. Maybe I'll explain the meaning of some of those things sometime. I know a lot of it might not make sense to you, but to me, they're valuable memories. I think I will be explaining these rather soon actually. Maybe in the next day or two. I like to share these memories. Who knows, I might share some of my youth group memories as well, but I also know that I've shared a lot of those already.
I'm having trouble accepting the fact that these days with youth group and piano lessons are over. I know my friend Hannah doesn't want to go to college and I somehow feel the same. I don't want things to change and I wish our friend Chris hadn't left already. I miss them both already even though Chris is the only one who has left thus far.
Time sure does fly when you're having fun. I also think time just flies by faster and faster every year. That's how I feel. I was a senior going to my first day of classes yesterday. What happened? Don't waste the time that you have with your friends in high school and in youth group. It will be over sooner than you know it. Have some fun, but realize that time does pass by a lot faster when you're having fun and not realizing that time is passing you by.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Knowledge is power...so says the serpent
You know I've been thinking a lot about Adam and Eve this week. I think they possibly talked about Adam and Eve last week at VBS, so that might be why the two have been on my mind lately. I didn't actually go to any of the lessons due to helping with games or crafts, but on Sunday I heard Adam and Eve mentioned and it got me thinking.
We all know the story of them right?
God made Adam, the man, to work and take care of the Garden of Eden. But then God noticed Adam had no suitable helper or as I like to think of it, Adam was lonely. So God made Adam fall asleep and He made Adam a companion from one of the ribs of Adam's body. So that's Eve for ya. Then the serpent comes along one day and tricks Eve into eating one of the fruits from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and then Eve gave Adam some. And they hid from God because they were afraid of then they got kicked out of the Garden of Eden.
Ok, so there are some things I didn't put too much detail into my summary, so if you want the full, long story, check out Genesis 1-3.
Have you ever thought about what would happen if Eve hadn't been deceived and eaten from that tree?
I think about it a lot sometimes. If she hadn't been deceived, would we still be living in the Garden of Eden or would someone else have turned against and gone to eat the fruit? Or digging deeper, would Jesus have needed to come if we were still leaving in the Garden of Eden? But then again, what if Eve had been smart and not eaten the fruit and waited for God to give her and Adam the knowledge about this kind of stuff?
I want us to ponder on that last question.
What if they had waited? What if they had not been deceived? What if Adam had told Eve not to listen to the serpent? What if they had waited on God's plan?
I think God had planned on telling them eventually. But why would He put that tree there? Only God knows why that for sure. It was after all His garden. I think it was a test. God knows everything right? So didn't He know that the serpent would trick Eve into eating the fruit?
This kind of stuff just amazes me about God! God knows everything. He has a plan for our lives. Each and every one of us, He knows what we're supposed to do with our lives. It's an amazing thing. Yet I have so many questions about how He works. It's amazing that He knows our future. I'm just so amazed and fascinated by the way God does things.
So, what if Adam and Eve had waited for God to tell them about this knowledge? But then again I question, what if that was God's plan all along for them to be deceived and to eat that fruit? Was it His plan? But what if they had waited for God's knowledge? Who needs fruit to give you knowledge when you have a God who is bigger than anything else?
So I guess we come to waiting. Maybe Adam and Eve were impatient. Or maybe they just didn't know any better. I don't think they were troublemakers on purpose. I really don't think they knew any better. They heard God say not to eat from that tree, or did they? I'm pretty sure Adam heard it, but Eve came after that was said I believe. So maybe it's the fault of Adam. Did he not tell Eve that? No, I'm pretty sure he did tell her something of that sort because she told the serpent that she wasn't allowed to eat from that tree.
I don't think that knowledge really helped them at all. The serpent said that they would be like God, knowing good and evil. We know good and evil today right? And we follow Jesus and we follow God, but we're not God. We could never be God. I would never want to be God. That's too much responsibility. Thank you God for being who You are.
The knowledge they gained came with a price. God wasn't too happy, was He? No, He cursed the ground because of them. To find out what all He said, check out Genesis 3:17-19.
But I keep coming back to what if they waited for God to tell them this wonderful knowledge? What if we waited on God instead of going our own way or doing our own thing?
I have a feeling that if we waited, we would learn a whole lot of interesting stuff. God would share a lot of things with us that we would have never known unless we would wait for it.
Wait for it. Wait for it. You know I've heard that patience is the ability to keep a good attitude while you wait. This I actually read from Battlefield of the Mind for Teens by Joyce Meyer. Good book, definitely one to pick up.
I think God plays a little game with us sometimes. You can pray about wanting something and you can ask God for it, but He isn't always gonna give it to you right away. He wants you to be patient. I call it the patience game and sometimes it really stinks.
There are times when I can be patient, but other times when I'm not so patient. I'll give you an example of my impatience.
So the college I'm going to (Spring Arbor University) said that they would have roommate information out to us in August. On the first day of August, I went out to my mailbox expecting a letter, but there was none. Then the next day that we had mail, I expected something, but I didn't get it. Then the next day, I thought I was finally getting it, but instead, I got something about financial aid. I finally got my letter this past Saturday. I was overjoyed to finally get it.
I did not want to wait for it however. It was driving me crazy everyday not getting to find out who my roommates were. But I had to be patient. I think last Thursday or Friday, I finally decided that I needed to be patient and then the letter came on Saturday.
So getting back to Adam and Eve, what do you think would have happened if they would have waited for God to reveal His knowledge? Would we know more from God than from eating that fruit? Probably. I think God would have been happy to share with Adam and Eve this knowledge when He felt they were ready to hear it.
As for the serpent, knowledge isn't really power. We don't have as much knowledge as God does. We don't have God's power. And the serpent, lost his legs for deceiving Eve. Way to be knowledgeable. And the serpent thought knowledge was power. Think again.
We all know the story of them right?
God made Adam, the man, to work and take care of the Garden of Eden. But then God noticed Adam had no suitable helper or as I like to think of it, Adam was lonely. So God made Adam fall asleep and He made Adam a companion from one of the ribs of Adam's body. So that's Eve for ya. Then the serpent comes along one day and tricks Eve into eating one of the fruits from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and then Eve gave Adam some. And they hid from God because they were afraid of then they got kicked out of the Garden of Eden.
Ok, so there are some things I didn't put too much detail into my summary, so if you want the full, long story, check out Genesis 1-3.
Have you ever thought about what would happen if Eve hadn't been deceived and eaten from that tree?
I think about it a lot sometimes. If she hadn't been deceived, would we still be living in the Garden of Eden or would someone else have turned against and gone to eat the fruit? Or digging deeper, would Jesus have needed to come if we were still leaving in the Garden of Eden? But then again, what if Eve had been smart and not eaten the fruit and waited for God to give her and Adam the knowledge about this kind of stuff?
I want us to ponder on that last question.
What if they had waited? What if they had not been deceived? What if Adam had told Eve not to listen to the serpent? What if they had waited on God's plan?
I think God had planned on telling them eventually. But why would He put that tree there? Only God knows why that for sure. It was after all His garden. I think it was a test. God knows everything right? So didn't He know that the serpent would trick Eve into eating the fruit?
This kind of stuff just amazes me about God! God knows everything. He has a plan for our lives. Each and every one of us, He knows what we're supposed to do with our lives. It's an amazing thing. Yet I have so many questions about how He works. It's amazing that He knows our future. I'm just so amazed and fascinated by the way God does things.
So, what if Adam and Eve had waited for God to tell them about this knowledge? But then again I question, what if that was God's plan all along for them to be deceived and to eat that fruit? Was it His plan? But what if they had waited for God's knowledge? Who needs fruit to give you knowledge when you have a God who is bigger than anything else?
So I guess we come to waiting. Maybe Adam and Eve were impatient. Or maybe they just didn't know any better. I don't think they were troublemakers on purpose. I really don't think they knew any better. They heard God say not to eat from that tree, or did they? I'm pretty sure Adam heard it, but Eve came after that was said I believe. So maybe it's the fault of Adam. Did he not tell Eve that? No, I'm pretty sure he did tell her something of that sort because she told the serpent that she wasn't allowed to eat from that tree.
I don't think that knowledge really helped them at all. The serpent said that they would be like God, knowing good and evil. We know good and evil today right? And we follow Jesus and we follow God, but we're not God. We could never be God. I would never want to be God. That's too much responsibility. Thank you God for being who You are.
The knowledge they gained came with a price. God wasn't too happy, was He? No, He cursed the ground because of them. To find out what all He said, check out Genesis 3:17-19.
But I keep coming back to what if they waited for God to tell them this wonderful knowledge? What if we waited on God instead of going our own way or doing our own thing?
I have a feeling that if we waited, we would learn a whole lot of interesting stuff. God would share a lot of things with us that we would have never known unless we would wait for it.
Wait for it. Wait for it. You know I've heard that patience is the ability to keep a good attitude while you wait. This I actually read from Battlefield of the Mind for Teens by Joyce Meyer. Good book, definitely one to pick up.
I think God plays a little game with us sometimes. You can pray about wanting something and you can ask God for it, but He isn't always gonna give it to you right away. He wants you to be patient. I call it the patience game and sometimes it really stinks.
There are times when I can be patient, but other times when I'm not so patient. I'll give you an example of my impatience.
So the college I'm going to (Spring Arbor University) said that they would have roommate information out to us in August. On the first day of August, I went out to my mailbox expecting a letter, but there was none. Then the next day that we had mail, I expected something, but I didn't get it. Then the next day, I thought I was finally getting it, but instead, I got something about financial aid. I finally got my letter this past Saturday. I was overjoyed to finally get it.
I did not want to wait for it however. It was driving me crazy everyday not getting to find out who my roommates were. But I had to be patient. I think last Thursday or Friday, I finally decided that I needed to be patient and then the letter came on Saturday.
So getting back to Adam and Eve, what do you think would have happened if they would have waited for God to reveal His knowledge? Would we know more from God than from eating that fruit? Probably. I think God would have been happy to share with Adam and Eve this knowledge when He felt they were ready to hear it.
As for the serpent, knowledge isn't really power. We don't have as much knowledge as God does. We don't have God's power. And the serpent, lost his legs for deceiving Eve. Way to be knowledgeable. And the serpent thought knowledge was power. Think again.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Sad Sunday #1
Maybe I was out of it today. Maybe the reason I wasn't smiling much today during the songs and other things we did was that I was actually kinda sad.
Today was one of my best friends last day at church. He leaves on Thursday for college. I'm gonna miss him a lot, but hopefully we'll stay in contact through Facebook and stuff.
Reality was bashing me over the head last night multiple times. I was just thinking a lot about how much I'm gonna miss my friends when I leave for college stuff even though I know I'll make new friends. But I was also thinking about my Aunt Ann, who last night when we were talking about today, almost started crying.
Why? She is really emotional to the fact that the kids who practically started the youth group in my church are leaving for college...finally. Our pastor said earlier this year that we're our own peer group and it's so true. We've been together for about nine years. Nine years ago, I met these really great kids who I didn't go to school with, but that would change by the time we reached middle and high school. And we really hit it off. We all grew really close after our first mission trip together.
Now this guy in particular whose name is Chris, has helped me a lot over the years. We've had a lot of great conversations. We can talk about anything. When I first started listening to and getting really into Christian music, he introduced me to some great bands. I had started out only listening to Newsboys and Relient K. Chris introduced me to DC Talk, Hawk Nelson, Kutless, Thousand Foot Krutch, and a lot of other great bands. I now have over 1000 songs on my mp3 player and about 98% of that music is Christian.
Chris played his last offertory today at church. He plays guitar and he will be missed in worship band dearly.
His little sister who is my little brother's age, doesn't think she's gonna miss him. And actually she's kinda mad at him for the way he's been treating her lately. Ah, sibling rivalry. I think she'll miss him eventually. It will probably be weird not listening to his weird whale jokes or hearing him rock out on his guitar.
I know when I leave for college, I'll probably miss my brother. I don't know if he'll miss me though. Maybe he will eventually like Chris' sister.
It's gonna be so different the next few weeks as my friends slowly start leaving me for college. I will be the last to leave. There are many more sad Sundays to come. And sad days period because summer is ending and college is starting.
Today was one of my best friends last day at church. He leaves on Thursday for college. I'm gonna miss him a lot, but hopefully we'll stay in contact through Facebook and stuff.
Reality was bashing me over the head last night multiple times. I was just thinking a lot about how much I'm gonna miss my friends when I leave for college stuff even though I know I'll make new friends. But I was also thinking about my Aunt Ann, who last night when we were talking about today, almost started crying.
Why? She is really emotional to the fact that the kids who practically started the youth group in my church are leaving for college...finally. Our pastor said earlier this year that we're our own peer group and it's so true. We've been together for about nine years. Nine years ago, I met these really great kids who I didn't go to school with, but that would change by the time we reached middle and high school. And we really hit it off. We all grew really close after our first mission trip together.
Now this guy in particular whose name is Chris, has helped me a lot over the years. We've had a lot of great conversations. We can talk about anything. When I first started listening to and getting really into Christian music, he introduced me to some great bands. I had started out only listening to Newsboys and Relient K. Chris introduced me to DC Talk, Hawk Nelson, Kutless, Thousand Foot Krutch, and a lot of other great bands. I now have over 1000 songs on my mp3 player and about 98% of that music is Christian.
Chris played his last offertory today at church. He plays guitar and he will be missed in worship band dearly.
His little sister who is my little brother's age, doesn't think she's gonna miss him. And actually she's kinda mad at him for the way he's been treating her lately. Ah, sibling rivalry. I think she'll miss him eventually. It will probably be weird not listening to his weird whale jokes or hearing him rock out on his guitar.
I know when I leave for college, I'll probably miss my brother. I don't know if he'll miss me though. Maybe he will eventually like Chris' sister.
It's gonna be so different the next few weeks as my friends slowly start leaving me for college. I will be the last to leave. There are many more sad Sundays to come. And sad days period because summer is ending and college is starting.
VBS #2 Sunday Edition
At my church, we have VBS for a week and then on Sunday, we present what the kids learned. We do some songs and some of the lessons.
Today we did just that. I made a video for the occasion because my aunt asked me to. It was a fun day. We sang and a few people did some of the lessons. All the kids got to go on stage to do the motions to the songs.
The kids did a good job, but I found that I wasn't smiling as much while singing. I wasn't as excited. I don't know where I lost my excitement. Maybe it was the fact that I was doing it in front of the adults. Who knows?
I will tell you that when we got around to doing our drama, I was really nervous. Everyone enjoyed it. We did the last day drama, which is actually the best. We had to fill in one character because he couldn't make it to church, so the guy who filled in didn't really know what he was doing, but it was still funny.
I got a lot of comments after church about how I should make some videos of my evil character persona thing. Yes, I was the evil character, Virus. Who knows, you might see one of those videos. Unfortunately I don't have the blue wig that was his hair. I was also told that I should definitely try to get into something drama related while at college. We'll see about that.
And finally the funniest thing I heard from some people was that I may have started a bad reputation for myself in the church. I knew that would happen if I played the bad guy. Darn it. Just kidding. It's all good.
Today we did just that. I made a video for the occasion because my aunt asked me to. It was a fun day. We sang and a few people did some of the lessons. All the kids got to go on stage to do the motions to the songs.
The kids did a good job, but I found that I wasn't smiling as much while singing. I wasn't as excited. I don't know where I lost my excitement. Maybe it was the fact that I was doing it in front of the adults. Who knows?
I will tell you that when we got around to doing our drama, I was really nervous. Everyone enjoyed it. We did the last day drama, which is actually the best. We had to fill in one character because he couldn't make it to church, so the guy who filled in didn't really know what he was doing, but it was still funny.
I got a lot of comments after church about how I should make some videos of my evil character persona thing. Yes, I was the evil character, Virus. Who knows, you might see one of those videos. Unfortunately I don't have the blue wig that was his hair. I was also told that I should definitely try to get into something drama related while at college. We'll see about that.
And finally the funniest thing I heard from some people was that I may have started a bad reputation for myself in the church. I knew that would happen if I played the bad guy. Darn it. Just kidding. It's all good.
Friday, August 7, 2009
VBS #2 Day 5
Tonight was our final night of VBS. We had a lot less kids than we have the previous days, but I still think they had fun.
I was surprised that not a lot of kids showed up right away at 5:30. Normally we had a bunch of kids walking in, but not tonight. But at least we got to practice the skit all the way through.
I had a lot of fun tonight. We sang and danced and ate pizza and popsicles. I think the kids enjoyed the skit. It was a fun skit. I think we're doing that part on Sunday during church.
The craft for the little kids was a robot. I don't know what the big kids did. The game was something like duck, duck, goose. I don't know why they played it with the big kids. Sounded kinda dumb to me, but I wasn't in charge of games, so nothing I can do about it.
After VBS, the teens helped tear down and then they went to Timber Town. You were expecting that, weren't you? No, they actually went to my aunt's house. We played Twister, sat by the bonfire, ate candy, had a dance off, and played some other games. But then everyone left and it was only my aunt, the youth leader JJ, and me. It was a good night.
Oh yeah and I was really excited today when I saw that my verse of the day on this blog was Matthew 24:35 because that's the theme verse for our VBS this year. It made me jump for joy literally. :)
I was surprised that not a lot of kids showed up right away at 5:30. Normally we had a bunch of kids walking in, but not tonight. But at least we got to practice the skit all the way through.
I had a lot of fun tonight. We sang and danced and ate pizza and popsicles. I think the kids enjoyed the skit. It was a fun skit. I think we're doing that part on Sunday during church.
The craft for the little kids was a robot. I don't know what the big kids did. The game was something like duck, duck, goose. I don't know why they played it with the big kids. Sounded kinda dumb to me, but I wasn't in charge of games, so nothing I can do about it.
After VBS, the teens helped tear down and then they went to Timber Town. You were expecting that, weren't you? No, they actually went to my aunt's house. We played Twister, sat by the bonfire, ate candy, had a dance off, and played some other games. But then everyone left and it was only my aunt, the youth leader JJ, and me. It was a good night.
Oh yeah and I was really excited today when I saw that my verse of the day on this blog was Matthew 24:35 because that's the theme verse for our VBS this year. It made me jump for joy literally. :)
Exactly one month
I have been reminded of this a few times today, but I keep forgetting about it. The anxiety has been amped up in the last couple of days. I keep having dreams about college.
In exactly a month, I leave for college. I'm moving in on this day in a month.
I'm still waiting to get my dorm information. The patience game is bugging me, but I'm trying. As Joyce Meyer says patience is the ability to keep a good attitude while you wait. It's so hard to do that. But I'm trying.
I'm not the only one having difficulty though. I've talked to a few others who are just as anxious as I am.
In exactly a month, I leave for college. I'm moving in on this day in a month.
I'm still waiting to get my dorm information. The patience game is bugging me, but I'm trying. As Joyce Meyer says patience is the ability to keep a good attitude while you wait. It's so hard to do that. But I'm trying.
I'm not the only one having difficulty though. I've talked to a few others who are just as anxious as I am.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Does length really matter?
When I was younger, I used to wear a watch. Not just any watch, it was a watch that was also a stopwatch and had an alarm on it and a light. Nowadays I just look at my cellphone to find the time.
Now you might find what I did with my stopwatch a little weird, but it's a fond memory in my mind. It brings me back to the time before we moved into our new church building. Back when we were still at the Chelsea Retirement Community (CRC) for church.
Uh oh. It has to do with church. Can you see where this is going?
I used to time my pastor's sermons. It was just something to do when I got bored and never really listened. Nowadays, I wish I would have listened. I love his sermons. He's really good with putting real life stories and experiences into them.
The funny thing about my timing his sermons was that I actually started telling him his times after the service. Eventually he just started asking me how long he talked for. It was a little joke we had.
Eventually my watches broke and I just stopped timing him. It was a phase I went through I guess.
I guess when I was younger, I got bored easily and wanted short sermons. I get that way nowadays as well. I like things to be short, simple, and to the point. Some are and some aren't.
I'll bet you wish my blogs were short, simple, and to the point, but they're not always. I can never get my words out it seems. It's something I struggle with especially when I decide to rant about something. Haha.
Does length really matter though?
I don't think length matters as much as quality does. Now I say that, yet my blogs are always really long. I just can't get my words out. I guess I just want to make sure my blogs hit the point. Ok, actually bash the point in the head and get it in there.
There are some Sundays that I leave the church thinking what was he even talking about? But then there are other Sundays when the stuff just sticks.
The sermon could be long or it could be short. It doesn't matter, but when it sticks, it sticks and that's a good thing.
Now you might find what I did with my stopwatch a little weird, but it's a fond memory in my mind. It brings me back to the time before we moved into our new church building. Back when we were still at the Chelsea Retirement Community (CRC) for church.
Uh oh. It has to do with church. Can you see where this is going?
I used to time my pastor's sermons. It was just something to do when I got bored and never really listened. Nowadays, I wish I would have listened. I love his sermons. He's really good with putting real life stories and experiences into them.
The funny thing about my timing his sermons was that I actually started telling him his times after the service. Eventually he just started asking me how long he talked for. It was a little joke we had.
Eventually my watches broke and I just stopped timing him. It was a phase I went through I guess.
I guess when I was younger, I got bored easily and wanted short sermons. I get that way nowadays as well. I like things to be short, simple, and to the point. Some are and some aren't.
I'll bet you wish my blogs were short, simple, and to the point, but they're not always. I can never get my words out it seems. It's something I struggle with especially when I decide to rant about something. Haha.
Does length really matter though?
I don't think length matters as much as quality does. Now I say that, yet my blogs are always really long. I just can't get my words out. I guess I just want to make sure my blogs hit the point. Ok, actually bash the point in the head and get it in there.
There are some Sundays that I leave the church thinking what was he even talking about? But then there are other Sundays when the stuff just sticks.
The sermon could be long or it could be short. It doesn't matter, but when it sticks, it sticks and that's a good thing.
VBS #2 Day 4
Tonight was a fun night. I had a friend come back to church who was a little anxious to do so because of people I know who don't like her. But all went well. She hung out with me and the pastor's daughters and of course my aunt's dog, who she was taking care of for the evening. The dog didn't even want to be involved with those kids. I think she could sense something.
The kids didn't seem as hyper during VBS tonight, but afterwards, they were crazy wild. The kids are really starting to get the songs. The play went really well tonight I think. It was a lot of fun.
The drama team didn't really help with preschool crafts tonight because help wasn't really needed. We got through our practice without disruption, which was nice. Tomorrow will definitely be a fun skit.
I made a sun pillow. That was the older kids craft. It'll go in my college dorm room. Haha.
At the end of the night, while kids were eating their snack, the adults actually had to quiet the teens. Come on you guys, set an example. We're supposed to be setting a good example for the younger kids. What kind of legacy do you wanna leave with these kids? Teens goofing off when they're supposed to be helping out doesn't look good. It doesn't make our youth group look very good.
Speaking of the youth group, they decided to go watch a movie up town tonight instead of going to Timber Town. I heard bad things happened after I left last night. I'm totally creeped out by the things that happened, so I'm never going back there in the dark again. I'm once again not with the youth group because I decided I wanted to go to bed early. It's like an every other day thing with me. Haha.
The kids didn't seem as hyper during VBS tonight, but afterwards, they were crazy wild. The kids are really starting to get the songs. The play went really well tonight I think. It was a lot of fun.
The drama team didn't really help with preschool crafts tonight because help wasn't really needed. We got through our practice without disruption, which was nice. Tomorrow will definitely be a fun skit.
I made a sun pillow. That was the older kids craft. It'll go in my college dorm room. Haha.
At the end of the night, while kids were eating their snack, the adults actually had to quiet the teens. Come on you guys, set an example. We're supposed to be setting a good example for the younger kids. What kind of legacy do you wanna leave with these kids? Teens goofing off when they're supposed to be helping out doesn't look good. It doesn't make our youth group look very good.
Speaking of the youth group, they decided to go watch a movie up town tonight instead of going to Timber Town. I heard bad things happened after I left last night. I'm totally creeped out by the things that happened, so I'm never going back there in the dark again. I'm once again not with the youth group because I decided I wanted to go to bed early. It's like an every other day thing with me. Haha.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
VBS #2 Day 3
I don't know why, but I keep having dreams about VBS. Actually last night I had a dream about my dad's VBS. I also keep getting the VBS music from my church stuck in my head. Not a bad thing. The music is very catchy. Even the adults are getting it stuck in their heads.
We had a lot fewer kids tonight. For dinner we had fried chicken and mashed potatoes. It was so good, but I ate too much.
We sang some songs and did the skit. My character came into the skit tonight. I'm Virus. He's a evil genius set on destroying all the Bibles on earth with his Bible Blaster. And he also plans on renaming earth, Virus, after taking over the world. Quite selfish of him. The adults said I did really well even though I only had one line tonight.
The drama team didn't get much time to practice tonight because we had to help the younger kids with their crafts. They had a pretty easy craft too. They were just making a space background.
There was some sort of water game. While the kids were at snack, the teens helping with that (and actually 3 of those teens I say have graduated) were having some sort of water war. Could we please act our own age? I like fun and games too, but doing that sort of thing just encourages the younger kids. Good thing no kids were watching them.
After snack, they finished up with songs and prayer. While we were doing the songs, I know no kids look behind them much, but our immature graduates were doing the actions, but they didn't seem very serious.
That bothers me.We're supposed to be setting a good example for these kids. Not constantly goofing off. There is a time for goofing off and there is a time for being serious. Yes, I will admit that I was having fun singing and doing the actions for the songs tonight, but I'm standing up in front setting an example for these kids; not completely goofing off.
After VBS once again, it's becoming a tradition to go to Timber Town with the teens. I don't like being there after dark. It makes me nervous. I'm always afraid the cops are gonna show up because there are druggies that hang out at a children's park after dark to get high and stuff. Last night I didn't go, but tonight I decided to go and hang it. It was pretty fun, but kinda boring at the same time.
We had a lot fewer kids tonight. For dinner we had fried chicken and mashed potatoes. It was so good, but I ate too much.
We sang some songs and did the skit. My character came into the skit tonight. I'm Virus. He's a evil genius set on destroying all the Bibles on earth with his Bible Blaster. And he also plans on renaming earth, Virus, after taking over the world. Quite selfish of him. The adults said I did really well even though I only had one line tonight.
The drama team didn't get much time to practice tonight because we had to help the younger kids with their crafts. They had a pretty easy craft too. They were just making a space background.
There was some sort of water game. While the kids were at snack, the teens helping with that (and actually 3 of those teens I say have graduated) were having some sort of water war. Could we please act our own age? I like fun and games too, but doing that sort of thing just encourages the younger kids. Good thing no kids were watching them.
After snack, they finished up with songs and prayer. While we were doing the songs, I know no kids look behind them much, but our immature graduates were doing the actions, but they didn't seem very serious.
That bothers me.We're supposed to be setting a good example for these kids. Not constantly goofing off. There is a time for goofing off and there is a time for being serious. Yes, I will admit that I was having fun singing and doing the actions for the songs tonight, but I'm standing up in front setting an example for these kids; not completely goofing off.
After VBS once again, it's becoming a tradition to go to Timber Town with the teens. I don't like being there after dark. It makes me nervous. I'm always afraid the cops are gonna show up because there are druggies that hang out at a children's park after dark to get high and stuff. Last night I didn't go, but tonight I decided to go and hang it. It was pretty fun, but kinda boring at the same time.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
VBS #2 Day 2
Tonight the kids seemed really hyper. They were probably more comfortable than yesterday. I don't think it was the dinner. We had hot dogs and chips and fruit. I guess fruit could make one hyper. Mmm, fruit.
The person I was subbing for on games wasn't there tonight, which kinda upset me because she was supposed to be or at least I thought I was only subbing one day. Fortunately I didn't have to do it because I had other stuff I had to work on. So we put some boys in charge. The game was an obstacle course. It looked like the kids were having fun with it.
While some were doing crafts and games, the drama team tried to practice. We've got a good group of people for the drama. A lot of good actors and actresses. They may not think so, but I think we all make a pretty good team.
We sang a few songs and added a new song that isn't as exciting as the first song, but still a good song. The snack was a jelly wrapped in a piece of bread tied with some sort of fruit string. I'm not really a fan of jelly, but it was ok.
We finished a little later than we were supposed to, but I think the kids had a great time.
Once again, the teens decided to go to Timber Town and I would probably still be there with them if I had gone, but I opted out because I'm tired tonight. I think it's the heat.
The person I was subbing for on games wasn't there tonight, which kinda upset me because she was supposed to be or at least I thought I was only subbing one day. Fortunately I didn't have to do it because I had other stuff I had to work on. So we put some boys in charge. The game was an obstacle course. It looked like the kids were having fun with it.
While some were doing crafts and games, the drama team tried to practice. We've got a good group of people for the drama. A lot of good actors and actresses. They may not think so, but I think we all make a pretty good team.
We sang a few songs and added a new song that isn't as exciting as the first song, but still a good song. The snack was a jelly wrapped in a piece of bread tied with some sort of fruit string. I'm not really a fan of jelly, but it was ok.
We finished a little later than we were supposed to, but I think the kids had a great time.
Once again, the teens decided to go to Timber Town and I would probably still be there with them if I had gone, but I opted out because I'm tired tonight. I think it's the heat.
Monday, August 3, 2009
VBS #2 Day 1
Tonight was our first day of Vacation Bible School (VBS) at my own church. It was a lot of fun. I don't know why, but I always get really excited for VBS. I'm just about as hyper as the rest of the kids it might seem.
Our theme this year is space. It's really cool. We had a ton of kids tonight, but it was a lot of fun.
The drama was great as much as one of the characters complains that there are only two good actors in that drama and one of them isn't even in the play until Wednesday. She was talking about her robot and the bad guy. I thought they all did a nice job. I guess she's more so talking about there only being two funny actors. We'll see on Wednesday.
I really enjoyed the music and I think all the kids had fun with that tonight even though us singers don't know the actions very well. Hey that's what the dvd is for.
I was in charge of games tonight because I was filling in for a friend. It was really windy and we were supposed to play a game with frisbies, so we ended up playing follow the leader with the little kids, but later we did get to play with the frisbies with the big kids. It went ok. I guess I just don't have enough confidence in working with young kids.
We had s'mores for a snack. Then sang a bit more and talked a little bit. Oh yeah and the kids also learned how to say hello in Ukrainian, but I don't remember what it was. That was earlier in the night.
I'm not organized tonight obviously. For dinner we had mac-n-cheese. At least this time it didn't have gummy worms in it. That happened last year.
After VBS, we older kids, the teens, graduates, whatever you want to call us crazy kids, went to a park in the dark (that so rhymed) and played for a while. I'm exhausted tonight. I hope we have a lot of kids tomorrow as well. We got rid of all our music cds, so now us singers can't practice. Oh well, we'll wing it tomorrow. Haha.
Our theme this year is space. It's really cool. We had a ton of kids tonight, but it was a lot of fun.
The drama was great as much as one of the characters complains that there are only two good actors in that drama and one of them isn't even in the play until Wednesday. She was talking about her robot and the bad guy. I thought they all did a nice job. I guess she's more so talking about there only being two funny actors. We'll see on Wednesday.
I really enjoyed the music and I think all the kids had fun with that tonight even though us singers don't know the actions very well. Hey that's what the dvd is for.
I was in charge of games tonight because I was filling in for a friend. It was really windy and we were supposed to play a game with frisbies, so we ended up playing follow the leader with the little kids, but later we did get to play with the frisbies with the big kids. It went ok. I guess I just don't have enough confidence in working with young kids.
We had s'mores for a snack. Then sang a bit more and talked a little bit. Oh yeah and the kids also learned how to say hello in Ukrainian, but I don't remember what it was. That was earlier in the night.
I'm not organized tonight obviously. For dinner we had mac-n-cheese. At least this time it didn't have gummy worms in it. That happened last year.
After VBS, we older kids, the teens, graduates, whatever you want to call us crazy kids, went to a park in the dark (that so rhymed) and played for a while. I'm exhausted tonight. I hope we have a lot of kids tomorrow as well. We got rid of all our music cds, so now us singers can't practice. Oh well, we'll wing it tomorrow. Haha.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Cruise '09
This is what we did to amuse ourselves for 3 hours waiting to go home. At least that's what the boys did.
Bye, bye ship. Sorry my pictures are kinda backwards.
At port in Florida. I thought this was a really cool picture with the reflection of my friend.
That high blue part goes out 6 inches over the ocean. Scared me a little bit, but nothing broke, so it's all good.
This is what the cruise is all about. All you can eat ice cream!
Me gambling. :P
Sunset while at see. From left to right, that's my mom, dad, and friend Becky.
Putt putt! I got two hole in ones that I took pictures of, but I'm not putting them on here.
Yummy chocolate ice cream swan.
The waterpark.
My friend Becky and I sang Don't Cha by the Pussycat Dolls. It was bad.
You can barely see them, but my parents are up there waving at us as the ship sails away. Just kidding about that last part.
That's Atlantis.
This is my favorite picture. It was the sunset and I love seeing the trees and the ship right there. It's so pretty.
Had to add this one. I may be 18, but I'm still pretty immature at times. We thought this sign was funny.
One of the manta rays at Atlantis. There were two of them and everyone kept calling them sting rays. People, there is a difference.
I like to call these flying horses. It makes me sound so intelligent. Just kidding. It's Pegasus at Atlantis.
Info about some castle we visited.
Police officer in the Bahamas. Cool pointy hat.
Towel Animals
I forgot to mention the awesome towel animals we got nightly. Here are the ones we got:
The first night was a seal. My friend said it was a towel. She didn't get it though. It's definitely a seal or sea lion.
This was Day Two. It's a pig. I moved our pig because I wanted to go to bed and the head fell off, so my dad wanted to prove to my friend that the crew knew what they were doing, so he gave us the one my mom and him had. We traded and my mom said that the one I gave them was an elephant.
Now this is definitely an elephant. This was our third night.
This was our last night. Not an animal, but it's a heart.
The first night was a seal. My friend said it was a towel. She didn't get it though. It's definitely a seal or sea lion.
This was Day Two. It's a pig. I moved our pig because I wanted to go to bed and the head fell off, so my dad wanted to prove to my friend that the crew knew what they were doing, so he gave us the one my mom and him had. We traded and my mom said that the one I gave them was an elephant.
Now this is definitely an elephant. This was our third night.
This was our last night. Not an animal, but it's a heart.
Bahama Mama
I just love saying that. It's so much fun. Say it with me: Bahama Mama. Haha. Well, I'm back. Did you miss me? I've missed you. Although I've been reading other blogs, I have missed writing on my own blog. At times, I was just craving to write something, but I didn't do that as you can see. But today I'm so happy to be able to share the things that have been going on in my life lately.
So about my cruise. I'll get some pictures up in a bit, but for now I'll write about the trip.
On Saturday night (7-18-09), I got about 5 hours of sleep. We got to the airport and through security on time on Sunday morning, but then we were delayed until 11:30 in the morning because they decided to fix part of the plane, but didn't have the part at our airport. We spent that time freaking out that we were gonna miss our ship, but there were some other people on the same ship and in the same situation we were. We played Scrabble and Uno. It was fun, but still we were freaking out and stressing. Finally we got on the plane and they held the ship for us. It rained a lot while we were down south.
On Monday (7-20-09), we arrived in Freeport, Bahamas. We shopped around a little bit, but I didn't get anything. Then the drinking age in the Bahamas is 18, so my parents took my friend and I to a bar. I'm strictly against drinking (and I might rant about that later), so I didn't get anything, but my friend did. We got bored after a while, so we went back on the ship and went to ride the waterslides. One of the slides goes about 6 inches over the ocean. I got burnt that day. We also saw a funnel cloud almost touchdown. My friend got a picture of that. In the afternoon, we did this really fun line dancing and the instructor was totally cute. One of my favorite parts of these cruises is seeing where the crew and workers are from. Our cute line dancing instructor was from Australia. There was also a guy at the desk by the name of Fabio. He was from Brazil. Our line dance goes like this (of what I can remember at least):
Toe, heel. Toe, heel. One, two, three. Hips to the front. Hips to the back. Motion of the ocean (that's my favorite part). Step, step, chachacha. Step, step, chachacha. Step, turn, step, turn. Grapevine, turn, and clap.
We also did battle of the sexes. Guess who won that one? Yep, the ladies.
On Tuesday (7-21-09), we did a lot of stuff. We were in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. We took a tour of Nassaue. At one stop, we tried this fruit, which was known as a Spanish lime. It was very interesting. It tasted like a mix between a grape, a lemon, and a lime. We got to see part of Atlantis. In case you don't know what that is, it's a huge hotel that has an aquarium in the basement. We didn't get to go into the whole aquarium, but we got to see manta rays and other fish. Later in the evening, my friend and I got off the ship to go take some pictures and the guy at the door asked if we were 18 and if our parents knew where we were. At least he cared. My friend and I did karaoke. My brother had a fan club by the end of the cruise because of all the karaoke he did.
Wednesday (7-22-09) was our day at sea. We played putt putt. Yes, the ship had that on one side and a waterpark on the other. We had dinner in the dining hall. Our waiter was really nice. He was from Indonesia. then we went to the show. Then my parents made my friend and I go gamble in the casino. See, I'm not into drinking or gambling, but I have the pictures. My dad practically made me put the quarter in.
On Thursday (7-23-09), we had to get up uber early for breakfast because we had to get off the ship and stuff. Customs went quickly. But then we had to wait in the airport for about 3 hours. We found ways to entertain ourselves though. We saw some people who were from our town on the same flight as us. Then my friend and I saw a guy in handcuffs on hands and feet. That was kinda interesting.
I'm happy to be home, but at the same time, I miss the all you can eat soft serve ice cream. And my sunburn is still kinda peeling. I'll definitely get some pictures up real soon.
So about my cruise. I'll get some pictures up in a bit, but for now I'll write about the trip.
On Saturday night (7-18-09), I got about 5 hours of sleep. We got to the airport and through security on time on Sunday morning, but then we were delayed until 11:30 in the morning because they decided to fix part of the plane, but didn't have the part at our airport. We spent that time freaking out that we were gonna miss our ship, but there were some other people on the same ship and in the same situation we were. We played Scrabble and Uno. It was fun, but still we were freaking out and stressing. Finally we got on the plane and they held the ship for us. It rained a lot while we were down south.
On Monday (7-20-09), we arrived in Freeport, Bahamas. We shopped around a little bit, but I didn't get anything. Then the drinking age in the Bahamas is 18, so my parents took my friend and I to a bar. I'm strictly against drinking (and I might rant about that later), so I didn't get anything, but my friend did. We got bored after a while, so we went back on the ship and went to ride the waterslides. One of the slides goes about 6 inches over the ocean. I got burnt that day. We also saw a funnel cloud almost touchdown. My friend got a picture of that. In the afternoon, we did this really fun line dancing and the instructor was totally cute. One of my favorite parts of these cruises is seeing where the crew and workers are from. Our cute line dancing instructor was from Australia. There was also a guy at the desk by the name of Fabio. He was from Brazil. Our line dance goes like this (of what I can remember at least):
Toe, heel. Toe, heel. One, two, three. Hips to the front. Hips to the back. Motion of the ocean (that's my favorite part). Step, step, chachacha. Step, step, chachacha. Step, turn, step, turn. Grapevine, turn, and clap.
We also did battle of the sexes. Guess who won that one? Yep, the ladies.
On Tuesday (7-21-09), we did a lot of stuff. We were in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. We took a tour of Nassaue. At one stop, we tried this fruit, which was known as a Spanish lime. It was very interesting. It tasted like a mix between a grape, a lemon, and a lime. We got to see part of Atlantis. In case you don't know what that is, it's a huge hotel that has an aquarium in the basement. We didn't get to go into the whole aquarium, but we got to see manta rays and other fish. Later in the evening, my friend and I got off the ship to go take some pictures and the guy at the door asked if we were 18 and if our parents knew where we were. At least he cared. My friend and I did karaoke. My brother had a fan club by the end of the cruise because of all the karaoke he did.
Wednesday (7-22-09) was our day at sea. We played putt putt. Yes, the ship had that on one side and a waterpark on the other. We had dinner in the dining hall. Our waiter was really nice. He was from Indonesia. then we went to the show. Then my parents made my friend and I go gamble in the casino. See, I'm not into drinking or gambling, but I have the pictures. My dad practically made me put the quarter in.
On Thursday (7-23-09), we had to get up uber early for breakfast because we had to get off the ship and stuff. Customs went quickly. But then we had to wait in the airport for about 3 hours. We found ways to entertain ourselves though. We saw some people who were from our town on the same flight as us. Then my friend and I saw a guy in handcuffs on hands and feet. That was kinda interesting.
I'm happy to be home, but at the same time, I miss the all you can eat soft serve ice cream. And my sunburn is still kinda peeling. I'll definitely get some pictures up real soon.
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