"Can I do my homework in your room?...

... because your room is really cool and you're so awesome!" These sweet words came out of Hannah's mouth after the last girl left from the Grapple kickback at my house tonight. She connected so well with the girls. She was buzzing around the house before the kickback started, asking if this girl and that girl was going to be there. By the end of the night, she was begging them to stay, asking when they were going to be back, getting this one and that one to play with her, and telling Faith how excited she was that she might come over later in the week.

8 sweet little girls came over with Ms. Jamie to watch "Up", bake cookies, and eat popcorn. The movie ended early, and somehow (naturally) they all ended up in my room - and to my closet. The first girl spotted homecoming dresses. 10 minutes later, this picture was the end product. All of the girls were in one of my dresses, waddling around in unstable heels, draping on jewelry and headbands, and fumbling around in the makeup drawer - what is this for, where do you put this, is this for your eyes?

There's just something about these sweet little girls that I love. They're so innocent, so ready to love - and yet they're starting to be more aware of the shakeable world around them. This might become a monthly occurance, movie and game night with the girls. They saw my small group journal and liked the idea of writing in it and sharing. Maybe it's something we'll start doing. There's so much I want to do with them. I can't imagine some of them leaving next year for middle school.

So Hannah sprawled out on my floor while we both did homework and watched the finale of Jon & Kate Plus 8. Then she asked me about my bible study, and asked me if she could go with me. She said she wanted to learn more about the bible, and that she wanted to start taking hers with her to school to read during extended day. We went out to my car to find hers, and she laid on my bed reading it for a while until bed. We had lunch with Les, Momma T, and Nana Gail on Sunday (after we got in the car she said "Today was so much fun!"). She started talking about them and how she likes them, and asked about "Les's band". So we listened to some Fireflight as my heart defrosted a little. Tonight I'll go to bed with the first bit of hope I've had since moving.

My poor puppy... He had no chance tonight.

Permanent Kickback

I'm trying to adjust to this new life that's been thrown at me. It's so odd. One day it was just me and two others who were never home - except for my puppy. Now there's 3 puppies in a house that's never empty nor quiet. I went from doing all of the cleaning and grocery shopping to not having to do any of it, except what is my own mess. Yet I still want my old life back. I'll clean the whole house - toilets and dishes included - if I can go back home.

Suddenly, my dad's being... a dad... except it's not to me. It's to this new girl half my age who is sleeping on the other side of the house. And my dad is loving a woman - who isn't my mom. It's all so weird and not right. I'm still bitter. By the time I get to the house at night, I'm dead tired. I've noticed that when I'm tired, my resentment is magnified. This is the woman that my dad left my mom for. She is the catalyst of the past two years.

Hannah obviously wants to know me, though. In the hour or two that we are both awake and at the house at the same time, she lingers around my door like she wants to talk to me. But I never know what to say. Sometimes she'll build up the courage to say a quick "Hi Dani!" then scamper back down the hallway almost as if she's scared, or maybe embarrassed. Usually when I come out of my room she's sitting on the couch or at the table that's at the end of the hall and say hi to me or ask where I'm going if my keys are in my hand. Maybe she just likes being there, or maybe she's waiting for me to come out. I don't know how to live with an 8 year old. A part of me resents that she is the child of my dad's girlfriend. The fact that a father has a girlfriend, not a wife, just isn't even right.

Em told me to pretend it's Faith. Or to just act like it's another student that I work with, and we've just jumped to a Kickback - permanently. This makes me smile a bit, but it's not the same. I've been able to get to know Faith and her family for about two years now. I hold no animosity against them. And I don't live with them. Yes, Hannah (possibly) looks up to me - and that could be great. But I look up to Amanda, yet I don't live with her. It's a totally different situation. Very different. Not in a good way.

This does make my smile though: I asked my friend Phoebe how I deal with living with an 8 year old, and she goes "That's a good question. Make it your slave."

So, I'm off to go take a shower (there's healing properties in hot water and good smelling soaps) and continue listening to Francesca and Jon Foreman (there's also healing properties in music). They're also two of the only things that never change. Unlike most things in life, there's always music and there's always showers. They say babies work well in routine. I guess teenage girls do too.

Positive Comments

If you've spent some time around me, you've probably heard me say "3 positive comments!" It's something I started saying a while back when I was tired of hearing somebody whine about nothing. So to honor my own demands... here are 10 positive comments about the move. Here we go...

10. I like having my drive to school cut in half.

9. I like my drive to church cut in half.

8. I like my drive to most people's houses cut in half.

7. I like that I'm closer to cheaper gas (notice all these have to do with driving...)

6. My room is super cute.

5. Actually, the bathroom is pretty cute too (shout out to Amanda Fay).

4. My bedroom is about 3 feet from the front door, instead of the back corner. I can slip in and slip out without contact with anybody.

3. I don't have to share my pool with 30 other old sagging ladies and creepy men, nor do I have to reject the idea of getting anywhere near the packed pool on holiday weekends.

2. I get to organize (:

1. I got to spend the day unpacking with 2 of the sweetest people ever.

There. Positivity. Don't expect it often though (:

Last night.

In less than 12 hours I'll be loading boxes into a U-Haul and moving. Again. You'd think by the number of times I've moved, I'd be pretty good at it. Not so much. It's funny, because as a kid, I had only moved once. Then in 6th grade I moved. And I've moved nearly every year since. 4 moves in 5 years (not counting living with various people for a few weeks at a time).

I've been here for two years, and I finally feel at home. I finally remember which cupboard has the plates in it versus the cups. I've finally broken into a routine, and I can walk around the entire house in the dark with ease. I don't want to leave. I like my home. I'm doing well here.

I don't want to go live with these new people. Strangers. I couldn't even tell you their last names. I don't know the dog's names. I don't know who they are or what they're like. It's not my house. Every little peice of me is screaming out against this. But there's nothing I can do about it. I can't deal with change.

My shelves lie naked, the contents crammed into boxes scattered around the floor (incase I needed one more reason to not want to move: tripping over boxes). My stress level is through the roof. I'm not sleeping, and when I do, it's fitful with nightmares. I feel sick to my stomach and have a constant headache. I'm cranky, hypersensitive, exhausted, and could cry at the drop of a hat.

My dad tells me to suck it up. He says moving isn't stressful. He's also the same man who's snapping at nothing and who doesn't even have half of his stuff packed up yet. But he's at his girlfriend's house hanging out instead. The thought of her makes me angry. Very angry. I can't handle this. I wish I could sleep, but my body won't let me. I wish my best friend was around, but she's not. Deep breaths.

My new goal: To stay in the same house for 3 years before I'm 30.

Two more years. And I'm done.

In case anybody was confused...

1. Please do not keep your high beams on when you're driving behind somebody in the dark.

2. There is no reason to tailgate while you're going 70+ on 95. Really.

3. Actually, just don't tailgate at all. And don't get all in a huff if the car in front of you isn't doing 10 over.

4. You are very wrong if you're doing 20 under the speed limit.

5. I can't help it if I hit you because you're a bike that decides to not have reflectors are ride in the street in the dark.

6. Can you please move over when there's a train of cars trying to merge? I know it's not your responsibility, but come on now.

7. Yes, blinkers may be a "courtesy" in Florida, but let's be "courteous".

8. People die from drunk driving. So you may think you're cool when you talk really loud about being wasted one night, and thinking it's funny how hard it was to drive, but you won't be laughing when you're in court for manslaughter.

9. There's 14 stoplights between my house and my school. When you hit one, you hit them all. And it always happens to be when you're in a rush.

10. If you're jamming out in your car, and you notice I'm watching, there's no recovering from that by trying to act like you were fixing your hair the whole time. Haha.

Just thought I'd get that cleared up...

Study break

So I'm taking a study break (is it a bad sign if it's not even 9am on a Saturday morning and you already ened a study break?) and I've compiled a few fun lists...

Top 15 things that shouldn't exist (in no particular order):
15. Waking up before the sun has risen
14. Having to pay to take of a Saturday morning to take a test you don't really want to take (aka SAT)
13. The fact that Josephine / 10th Street is pretty straight, yet the speed limit changes all on the same street from 35, to 45, to 30, to 40
12. Store employees standing around talking while the check out lines are 8 carts deep
11. Getting all excited about coupons only to find out that it's actually expired after you put the items in you cart
10. That really awkward feeling when there's only one seat open between two strangers, or you're in the elevator, or you think you know somebody but you're not sure or you forget their name... We could go on all night
9. Forgetting everything as soon as you get the test.
8. Forgetting everything as soon as you get the test when you didn't sleep so you could study.
7. Kids throwing fits over nonsense.
6. Those days when you're soaked with sweat and humidity just walking out to your car... and then the AC doesn't work.
5. Morning alarms.
4. Morning alarms when you're warm and comfy in your bed in the winter, and you can feel the cold air starting to rush in already.
3. Being super excited to go home and eat a certain food, only to find that somebody already ate it.
2. Getting a stain on / growing out of / ruining in the wash your favorite shirt.
1. Obnoxious songs stuck in your head... This land is your land, this land is my land, from the New York islands...

15 Best Simple Things Ever
15. That cool, foggy, dewy feeling in the morning right after the sun has come up
14. Watching a baby sleep
13. Actually getting a baby to sleep
12. Waking up feeling totally refreshed
11. Finding a note of encouragement somebody left you in a book they returned
10. A new CD and playing it over and over and over and over again.
9. Finding an old favorite CD you haven't listened to in forever
8. Going through memory boxes
7. An afternoon nap after a long day
6. Lazy Sunday afternoons
5. Ghiradelli chocolate...
4. Actually, any kind of chocolate
3. Waking up in the morning and having nothing on your agenda
2. Walking on the beach when the sun is rising or setting
1. Watching things turn white right before your eyes while cleaning it.

Need to breathe

I like to stay busy. I think having a full calendar and crossing things off on my TDL gives me a sense of self-worth. I also don't like being home often, and I've noticed that if I go home straight after school I WILL take a nap and I WILL screw up my sleep schedule. Sometimes though my pesky little habit (and the invasive motivation bug) get the best of me, and I find myself swamped with things to do, places to go, people to see.

Tuesday was one of three days all year thus far that I've been able to go home straight after school - no meetings to attend, no errands to run, no kids to watch. I was pretty excited (yes, I took a nap - yes, I screwed up my sleep schedule for the rest of the week). Wednesday, around lunch time I realized that I would have an entire 3 hours all to myself before youth group to do homework and do chores. I was pumped. Yes, I was overjoyed with the thought of being able to go home and work. Lately my crazy schedule has had me in different places every day to do work while waiting for different activities to start - the church, the media center, people's houses, etc. It was nice to sit down at MY desk with nobody distracting me and have Oprah buzzing in the background as I did my math.

So here I am, on this Friday evening. My father called to ask if I was going to be in town this weekend, or if I was even coming home tonight (hey dad - I haven't had a sleepover all year, just an fyi. I've been here.) I got home about an hour or two ago from watching 18 or 20 kids all day. I just talked on the phone for 40 minutes discussing plans to go to Chicago. I just made plans to babysit early tomorrow morning. I'm staring at a pile of homework that is undone and a room that looks like it was hit by a tornado. My closet is half naked, the rest of it lies on the floor in distress. I'm debating on whether or not I want to go to the game, and acquiring the motivation to get up and get moving if I do. I made my once-monthly phone call to La Diabla, which ended in tears and her hanging up on me. I lacked the motivation to eat dinner, let alone make it. The dog smells like a dog, in a bad kind of way. My bible has found a newly permanent home in the seats of my car - I couldn't tell you the last time I cracked that baby open. My booty sits in a chair after not having worked out in two weeks.

And I'm gasping for air.

City on a hill

I'm taking American History this year. I think we need more holidays to keep teachers in line - we get to the pilgrims and Indians in time for Thanksgiving, the Civil War for Lincoln's birthday, then skip right ahead to the 1960's for MLK Day and the Civil Right's Movement... I've never studied the Vietnam War, the farthest we've gotten with World War 2 is the Holocaust... But right now, we're still with the pilgrims (Thanksgiving hasn't happened yet...) and colonial America.

We're reading various documents from the time period to assess for their value and limitations (don't ask), and one of them is called A Model of Christian Charity by John Winthrop, who would settle the Massacusetts Bay Colony.

You can stop reading here if you really really don't care about history...

Winthrop was a Protestant Minister from Weymouth, England. He and about 108 other Protestants were crossing the Atlantic in 1630 on the Andorra when he penned this sermon that he would present on the ship and when they landed in the colony. I think it's one of the most famous sermons in history - it's the only one I've ever read in a school setting. This sermon stood the test of time; we're still reading it nearly 400 years later (okay, maybe the pilgrims didn't blog about it). It expressed the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of those early colonists who were risking everything - their lives, money, families - to settle in this New World and practice their faith without an oppressive government overseeing them. There was still an oppressive government - they were just blocked by a 3 month trip via ocean.

Winthrop expresses a deep faith and a desire to create a colony that would be a city on a hill (I immediately thought of TobyMac... are you singing along too?). He wanted this to be a perfect community, a beacon to the world. I can imagine that these early settlers were full of hope, full of adventure, and excitement. In this strange New World, I wonder if they thought of it as a "do over" - a chance to try life again, and maybe do it right this time. Oh sure, there would still be sin in the world and whatnot. But how often do you get the chance to create a town? An environment that is still full of bushland, that has no laws, no settlement - it's just you, your neighbor, and the omnipotent God that created it all. I wonder if they envisioned a New Jerusalem when they sailed across those stormy seas. Their greatest desire was to shine God's light. How different would the world look if that was the most intimate wish of all of us?

If / when you read the sermon, you'll see that they truly wanted to follow all of the laws that God has given us. They quote scripture, saying that they won't harm the natives, or enemies, but they would feed them and care for them. They promise to care for each other and to be a great, peaceful community that the whole world would look to, and by doing so, the love of Jesus Christ would be spread to all.

40 years later, greed takes ahold of the colonists. It happens. When your town is only one to twohundred small, and you're the only one with a specific trade, you can jack up your prices as much as you want. The government was the voting church members (basically, your elders and deacons), and they would create a law that would allow them to punish merchants and tradesmen who took advantage of their neighbors. Their reasoning - you are here to love and to serve the Lord your God, not to make a profit. That struck a chord with me. The people had agreed on this new law that would require you - by law - to live humbly, not in excess.

I wonder if I have the faith that it would take to climb aboard a caravel and sail for 3 months. To build my own house in the wilderness. To leave the city and country I had lived in and head off to this strange new land that nobody really understood (without a cell phone). I wonder if I have the discipline enough to charge my goods for only as much as I need to get by. What great faith those pilgrims had.

It makes me wonder how our nation got from a City on a Hill to what it is today. Only 40 years into it (40 years is considered a generation, btw), and we were already screwing up - but we fixed it. Other community members came along, took care of us, pointed out our errors, and set us on another path. Somewhere along the lines though, we stopped doing that. The community fell apart. Instead of living 3 feet away from your neighbor, we started getting bigger houses, bigger crops, and soon we were living 3 miles from our nearest neighbor. We stopped caring as much - we all wanted to do our own thing. It takes a lot of effort to refine a person. Sanctification is a lifelong, grueling process. Sometimes, it's just easier to look away than to clean the wound and put on a band-aid.

Today in English, we did an activity where we had different values (faith / religion, family, close friends, good healthy, beauty, wealth, etc) and we ranked them from most important to least important. There were various signs around the room with the different values on them. When the teacher called out a number, we would go to the corresponding value that we had put down, and then open up in discussion about why we picked what.

I saw some real life in people that had never come out before. I saw the class clown come out and say that one of his best friends had died in her sleep during the summmer and another girl say that her father had died during her freshman year. I can't imagine the pain that they went through, and how I went alongside these students for three years without knowing. I heard kids open up about their ideas on God, some of them breaking my heart. It was a reminder that I am still in a mission field, whether I realize it or not. I may not come to school on a boat, but I still need to be a beacon to the world.

It kind of felt like I was back in my youth group. That made me wonder why I felt that way. I guess it's because these were people trying to be real with each other and let their guard down; to just take off the mask for a few minutes. There were several awkward moments for a lot of us, especially the first few people to speak. None of us were really sure how we would all be perceived. As I was walking to lunch after that class, I realized that the reason I feel so comfortable around the kids from youth is because we're open. You go to a totally new step in your relationship when you're honest and real and people get to see the whole person. It shows trust, love, and caring about one another. The very thing Winthrop settled his colony on. It makes... a community. The very thing God created the earth based on. It's interesting how everything keeps coming back to this idea... community.

I don't want you to do this.

The past few weeks have proven to wreck emotional havoc on me. For some reason, I thought all the drama would end with the divorce. It didn't. It's still going on full swing. Dani 32169 is continuing into another season with raving reviews. I'm trying to distract myself. I'm trying to get out of the house as much as possible, and dive into my school work when I have to be here.

I don't want to move in with the father's girlfriend. Not even a little bit. I'm kicking and screaming the whole way there. As selfish as it sounds, I don't want to live in a house with 4 nonbelievers. I don't want to put up a fight 4 against 1. I don't want to constantly live in my mission field. I want to have a chance to go home... to refuel... to study instead of be tested. I know God probably wants to use me there, but I don't want to go... my heart breaks at the thought of this change - of a new house, another woman, a new "sister". I'm trying to stay positive... but I so badly don't want to do this again.

I can leave. I have the opportunity to. But the question that eats at me is "are you seriously going to give up the opportunity to reach an 8 year old girl who has never heard before, without even giving it a try?" So I guess I'm going there, at least for a little bit. I'll stay there for a couple of months and try to tough it out. I think of Paul and of his bravery, his determination, and his unyielding faith, and am given a shard of hope.

I got a chance to spend the day with the two people who have been with me through this entire crazy thing, who have never given up on me. One of them said something like "I'm proud of you, though. This is good that you can see that it's wrong and you understand why it's wrong. You don't want it to happen because it hurts you, and neither does God - and it hurts him a whole lot more. But he's saying 'I don't want you to do this because it's going to hurt you, but I'm not going to stop you, even though it hurts me.'"

So until I get a new plan for living arrangements, I'll be taking a deep breath and spending as much time away from the house as possible.

The lights are on... is anybody home?

I think there's something a lot of us do, whether is conscious or subconscious, and that's to try to figure out what others believe, as far as religion goes. I tend to do that at the beginning of the school year with new teachers. Within the first week or two, I tend to have a generally good idea with some, others my perception changes throughout the year, and some I guess I'll never know.

I just came home from my English teacher's house after an evening of babysitting. She, her husband, and I sat on the couch and talked about the public education taboo - religion. I've learned that her family is very religious, and that seems to be a comfort to me. There's something about school that makes me think that religion cannot be anywhere near it - probably the way I've been conditioned. Now that doesn't mean I don't try to incorperate it.

I went to a God First Always meeting today with a friend during lunch. It was the first time I had ever heard a group prayer on a school campus. To me, it was very strange. Sure, I've prayed during school (often... I got REAL close to God in chemistry...), but I think there's something in a lot of Christian students that makes us turn off our lights before we even step in the door. There's a fear in us that makes us unsure of how to approach people who we don't understand their beliefs, like a class full of students. Maybe that's why there's some sort of nature in us that makes us evaluate people before we really dive into religious discussions, or sometimes even comments. We have a constant fear of offending people, of being confronted and not knowing how to respond.

We're not too bad at being religious before 7am and after 3pm Monday through Friday. A lot of us read our bibles before bed a few days a week. We're pretty good about praying during the day. Our devotionals are half done. We have an unblemished church attendence record. We hang out with each other and support each other. But Charles Francis Potter did a good job of fulfilling his goal of making sure we are all forced to spend most of our waking hours in a humanistic environment.

I try to share God as much as I can during school, and home, or wherever I am, whether it's passively or directly. For me at least, it's almost easier to do this when I'm in my "youth group" setting in town. It's a total security blanket to have those kids and leaders around me, supporting me. They're trying to accomplish the same goals I am, and we're teaching each other every day how to run this race. So when I'm taken out of that setting, by either being placed at home or at school, it becomes ten times harder. It's kinda like actually taking the test. You've studied. You've gone to review sessions. The teacher's held your hand through the lecture and some of the assignments. But when the training wheels are taken off and it's all you, you finally start to realize just how hard the material is - especically if you haven't had mnuch practice. Except this time it's not the difference between an A and a B, it's life and death.

Maybe part of the problem is that because we all share this same awkwardness; we never truly figure out who our brothers and sisters are. Our lights may be on, but there's a big lamp shade covering them. I wonder how our campuses would look today if all the Christians knew about each other. I wonder how we would step up to create an army of God.

So my goal for tomorrow is to make a whole-hearted comment about God to somebody who I'm not so sure about their faith, or who I know isn't a believer.

Shaken AND stirred

The past week has been mass chaos. I think my world has been flipped upside down, shaken, and stirred. I'm pretty sure I've gone through every emotion known to man in the past few days. Last night, I made it to bed before midnight - my brain wanted nothing more than to turn off for a few hours (nearly 11, haha).

But in light of all of this, the biggest burden of my life has been lifted from my shoulders. The Great Divorce is over. It's over. The object that has taken over my life and sent my life spiraling for my entire high school career is gone. The tumor has been removed from my life. World War Three has ended. This is like the Super Bowl of my life.

It's a new life I'm entering. If you know me, you know I don't like change - good or bad. I like order and predictability. I like ten year plans (God on the other hand, doesn't... we've had some talks about that). But this new life doens't involve court dates, or being played as a pawn (okay, I'll still probably be manipulated, but I'm hoping not as much), or meetings with lawyers that charge hundreds an hour, or not being able to do suchandsuch because the court says no. I'm free.

So here's to celebrating all that God has done, and how far he's brought me in just the past two years. God always DOES use our sins, our folly, our flaws to come out for the good. He uses it to train us, to strengthen us, to make us whole, complete, and mature. He's brought me through the fire to be refined.

Zechariah 13:9

The motivation bug

So every now and then, I get into these little spells of ultra-motivation - that always end up biting me in the butt.

The latest? Deciding to sign up for another college-level class this year. For some odd reason (seriously people, I wonder if I'm taking drugs sometimes and don't know it) last spring I signed up for a computer class as my elective. I'm not really sure what I was thinking. But it dawned on me that I would be ready to shoot myself in the foot the whole time (I know how to type. I know how to use MS Office), and I'd be surrounded by 20 geeky boys picking their noses and talking about World of Warcraft (shout-out to Kevin and Mikey). Vanity aside, I told Seth and Haley about this choice today, and they bursted out laughing. Apparently, Seth took this class his freshman year - he had some quite interesting things to say about it.

My solution to the problem? Let's get rid of my easy class, and replace it with Advanced Placement Environmental Science. I asked my guidance counselor (who happens to be the best guidance counselor in the universe!) if I was going to die with this schedule. She laughed and goes "Oh well... you'll be... very busy..." I asked if that was guidance counselor speak for "yes" and she just laughed again. Hmm...

Today though I showed the freshmen around during their orientation time. I was at school longer than a normal school day - and missed St. Augustine Turn or Burn for it. Kinda wondering how I got bit by the motivation bug last spring when I signed up to do that too. Hmm... At least I got a flyswatter in Detroit, right?

Hebrews 6:10.
Well, working on it, at least.

Love wins

It's been quite a great week!

Last Sunday I got to take two of the little boys, Dyl and Ty to the beach with another friend Meaghan. For most of my life, I've been the oldest in social situations - just how it worked out on my block, growing up with a bunch of boys that were 1-3 years younger than me. (Recently though, the tables have turned, and I've found myself enjoying the company of older friends more - there's so much to learn from them. Is that weird?) It was super exciting to be able to spend the day with them, watching how they interact with each other. Plus, it gave Mommy a day off - I'm guessing there's not a whole lot more exciting than having your kids taken for the day, and brought back to you totally knocked out.

Tuesday I had a spontaneous visit from an old friend I don't get to see often. Since I go to school out of town, the majority of my relationships with "New Smyrna friends" that actually made it through me constantly being MIA are friends who go to my church. She doesn't go though (we're working on it), so I only get to see her every now and then.

While I was cooking dinner for the two of us before she headed out, Amanda called me in a bit of a frazzle, needing a puppysitter (does anybody else hire babysitters for their dogs?...) It was fun to spend 3 days with my other family, just hanging around the house, loving, and being loved on. The dog was SUPER good too, which is crazy, considering last time I watched her she tried to eat me, and I've been calling her Satan since. We had some sisterly bonding (:

Thursday we went to Turn or Burn together - Kinsey Anne wasn't there (note: I don't know what to do with myself when my other half isn't in town), so there wasn't another "shark incident." It's kind of funny to see our leaders get super excited about sand castle building - and Kevin saying he's going to boogie board. Katie The Intern is pretty much the best tai chi leader in the world, fyi.

If you know me, you know I like to be super productive. I'm highly task oriented. Saturday totally fell into that. I babysat with Meaghan (I'm sensing a pattern to this) from early in the morning until the early evening, then ran errands, cleaned, did laundry, made dinner, went to the gym, and finished my Sunday School lesson all in one evening. Win.

Yesterday was my best fraaand's 25th birthday party. I must admit, I was a bit sketched by the idea of being in the heat all day, but God is good and provided a breeze - He probs didn't want to listen to me whine, either! I decided to be a rebel though, and not apply sunscreen. I told myself I wouldn't burn if I just stayed in the shade. Not so much. I'm a tad crispy. Either I burned just walking from Audra's house to the pool (as Niki calls it, speed tanning!) or I'm a UV magnet (though I do know that UV rays bounce 10 feet into the shade... brilliant).

Today Kinsey Anne and I went over to her house early in the morning before Nate left for work or she got up (shout out to Whitney) to make her breakfast. Homegirl didn't have plans, and it's just pretty much illegal to be by yourself on your birthday. I was going to make it a surprise, but she was considering going to work because she had nothing else to do - again, illegal move! I made her my blueberry banana bread - it's basically heaven in a pan. (Something is going on with my blueberries though. They sink to the bottom and get a tad soggy. Anybody know how to fix this?). We hung around her house for a bit, got lunch, then went shopping and got our nails done. It was fun, hanging out with my two best girls.

God is so good. He's giving me such great joy. I have such an awesome week with all these people that I love, and I can't imagine that there is a God out there who loves me more than all of them combined. They don't know all my dirt or my junk in the trunk (no Kinsey, I'm not referring to my backside), but He does, and covers it all with His grace. Days like these make me totally excited to see my God - I can't even fathom what better of a week it will be, being with him.

Maybe we can get our nails done, too...

A little reflection.

Wow. This summer sure has passed by SO fast. But it's definitely been the best summer yet.

I think it's quite interesting to see how I change between the school year and summer. Particularly this year.

The school year has been filled with prayers of "God, please let me make it through the next 3 hours. Help me to stay awake! Please help me remember everything I studied last night!". The summer is filled with prayers of "Wow, God, you are SO awesome."

During school, I'm somewhat forced to filter my mouth on certain topics. At some point during the summer, my darenotoffendnonbelievers filter was stripped off and replaced with a tongue that is fully aware of the Great Commission.

When I'm at school, I'm in a constant battle that comes when you're surrounded by a population that's mostly nonbelievers. This summer though, I've been surrounded by a community of followers of Christ that allow me to not worry about myself - there's plenty of people around me tending to my needs and me tending to theirs. If you know me, you know I've said several times that I think I'm going to end up living by myself when I'm older - I just don't function well sharing space. But in Detroit, I realized that it's easier living with 50 Christians than it is 2 atheists.

While I'm enrolled in 7 college-level classes, my mindset somehow seems to turn God into class number 8. I now realize that when you look at the bible as more of a textbook, going to church as going to class, and working through a devo or daily prayer as homework, you depersonify the Teacher who would rather sit down and talk WITH you rather than count up how many pages of notes you can take during his lecture. This summer though, I've found great joy in celebrating God and all of his creations, distraction-free. No obligations.

Now, the point of this is not to say that school is bad (painful though, it is), or that I'm ashamed of my faith (ask any of my teachers or peers), or that I don't love God and thank Him during the school year. While I can't take school out as being A top priority, God has SO much more to offer us when we put him as THE absolute top priority. Or maybe it's not that God has more to offer, maybe it's just more we're willing to take the time and effort to accept. When we cut out the distractions of our lives, it's amazing how much God can fill them.

While I'll still have to do all my homework come August 24th, and while I'll still be fighting to shovel everything into a 24 hour window (sleep need not apply), there's a sovereign God out there who will take care of me if I take the care to be with Him. There's been plenty of days where I've decided "I'm not doing anymore homework tonight. I'm going to go read my bible." There's also been the exact same number of following days where I've found myself being okay with not having my homework completed - due date pushed back, extra time in another class, whatever.

My life can seem chaotic at times. In some aspects, I kinda like it that way - I like having a TDL and seeing tasks accomplished or having things to do. Other times, I just want to crawl under the covers and hide. Those are the times when I have to stop and wonder, "Am I letting this world take me over? Will it take me breaking down from stress to remember that there is no reason for this, because somebody else is already taking care of it?" It's easier living with a God that you can trust than it is living with 50 Christians than it is living with 2 atheists.

And it's only Tuesday...

1. I got bit by an ant (very allergic).

2. Kinsey got thrown up on by one of her kids.

3. Christie got a bunch of little girls with seperation anxiety.

4. Miss Lilly told all the kids that Paige's burn is an alligator bite.

5. We're doing the HARDEST CRAFT IN THE WORLD. (A frog out of popsicle sticks?!)

6. I have an AWESOME (but chatty) group!

7. I GOT MY DRIVER'S LICENSE!

8. I'm currently downloading the 3.0 iPhone update.

9. Teri got a secret benefactor to pay for her Detroit trip!

10. I'm apparently getting married on Sunday.


I so very much love VBS (:
Watch for God!

I'm so cool.

I'm starting to realize that, I can entertain myself quite well - for a while. Not having any full-day structure for almost 3 weeks has really put a spin on things. Quite a few of these days have been spent with my usual gang - mostly Kinsey Anne. But today and yesterday, I spent the time home alone (Note: living in the middle of nowhere and not being able to (legally) drive really BITES).

This morning I woke up to my alarm at 9 (I'll sleep for 12 hours or more if I let myself), watched the news with the baby (if you know me, you know my chihuahua is like my child), burned toast (it's not me, it's the toaster. I swear it's possessed), finished the book of Joshua and Proverbs, did laundry, got together all the stuff people have left in my house, did Day 5 of the Daniel study homework, then started watching the Discovery Channel with the dog and eating leftover spaghetti. When I finish this, I'm going to wash Nike and then go to the gym - then shower, put my face on, and go to the Detroit Missions meeting!!!

Yeah. I know. It's a rough life (:

But! Friday at 3:30 I take my driving test! My heart rate just went up as I typed that. Feel free to pray about it!

Look at the rain.

Quite an interesting day.
Full of several different emotions.

The end result,
let's just say there's a giddy teenage girl in the house (:

Summertime laziness

My "taking a day or two off" to relax has turned into... a week and a half of barely functioning. My daily schedule has revolved around eating, sleeping, and lounging around the house in between. I'm not even sure what day it is.

If you know me, you know I function quite well on a schedule - and any little bit of change totally throws a kink in the normally well-oiled machine. No school = no schcedule = no machine.

For example, normally I feed the fish at 5am right after I turn on the fan in the bathroom right before I hop in the shower (the fishbowl is in the bathroom, is that weird?). I realized the other day that I've fed the fish only a handful of times since school got out, and I can never remember if I already fed them that day or not.

Two days ago, before heading over to Kinsey's, I realized I hadn't done laundry in two weeks. Normally my laundry gets done on Saturday mornings, along with the cleaning of the bathroom and bedroom - both of which haven't been cleaned since the last Saturday during the school year (with the exception of cleaning the bathroom two days ago).

The dog gets a bath on Monday or Tuesday evenings, usually. My waking up at 5am has made a gentle move to 7am... then 8... then 9... now it's around 11am, but still going to bed around the same time. 12 hours of sleep, holla.

The point of all of this is, I think I need to start making daily TDLs. In case you're wondering, the laundry room still hasn't been tackled.

On another note, I recently saw my father-figure post this on Facebook:

"A woman's heart should be so hidden in Christ that a man should have to seek Him first to find her." - Maya Angelou

That's so legit.
I'll let you know if I ever figure out how to accomplish it.
Trying to live like Christ is not for lightweights :)

Summer Lovin'

Tomorrow will make it a week since my summer break began. I think what people do when they have few obligations and a whole lotta free time can really give you some insight to their true character. I've done a whole lot of nothing, and yet been quite productive.

Last Thursday was... a rollercoaster, to say the least. In the end though, I'm going to Detroit, so I'm content :) Unfortunately, Canal Street got to see McCrazy go psycho. As Courtland said, "It's like Jerry Springer, without the making out."

Kinsey spent the weekend at my house, just laying in bed doing nothing as the rain poured. I think everybody needs one or two of those days - to do absolutely nothing, just watching movies and talking about everything and nothing with your best girl friend.

And then Monday, I got to work. My personality doesn't let me lounge around the house for too long; I get jittery if I don't have responsibilities or I go too long without working. All this extra time has finally given me the chance to efficiently complete projects I've been wanting to do for a while. Usually I'll clean the house on Saturday mornings just enough to make it presentable to guests... but the scary places or the barely-seen places never really get much more than a quick brush through.

I took every last item out of the kitchen, cupboards included, and did a massive clean sweep. Note: being 5'3 isn't effective for reaching in cupboards. While climbing around on the countertops, I was pretty certain I was going to die - but hey, I didn't :) It was pretty funk nasty cleaning around the things that got ignored for the past two years in the dark, scary corners. My dad came home while I was cleaning, looked at me, and said "did you take the dog out yet?" No, Dad, sorry. Fail.

Tuesday I did part two of my kitchen crusade. I took everything out of the fridge (including some unidentifiable substances, and expired food I hadn't realized was outdated... and ate just days before) and cleaned it top to bottom. That was when McCrazy called me, wanting me to go to dinner next week with her and the rest of her family. I still haven't decided if I'll go to that or not. It's a Catch 22.

And then today, the beach with the girls. It was relaxing, but SO hot. Little Josie, she's becoming such a teenager... she was laying out with big sunglasses and her iPod, jamming out. The gym unfortunately, didn't happen today... But tomorrow is the beach again with more of the girls :) And then Daniel study!

My next projects... sorting through my old school stuff to keep what I need, and clean sweeping the laundry / storange room.

Pink

I got new nail polish today. My nails are baby pink right now :) Doesn't that just make you happy when you get a new shirt, or new makeup, or new nail polish, and you get to wear it for the first time? I'm waiting for them to dry so I can go for a run; one of them got smudged and had to be redone. Fail.

The past two weeks have been quite an emotional roller coaster. It's almost making me wonder if I'm bipolar, lol.

Last night I got 3 hours of sleep. I've been so out of it today. I put the milk in the cupboard and the cereal in the fridge this afternoon. Then used Clean & Clear instead of nail polish remover. An early night's sleep is almost starting to sound better than running...

I got to talk to a girl about God today while filling out Detroit papers. It's pretty cool how I'm not even there yet, and not even knowing if I'm going, yet God's already using me in this trip. I know she's not a believer, but while we had some free time and I was filling out my forms, she started asking me questions about the trip. It was pretty cool.

Retreat.

It's been such a great few weeks :) It's crazy how God will answer prayers. I'm really excited to see what He's going to do in my life, and how the things He's doing now will affect me later.

Last night the Fuel team had our retreat of sorts late into the night. It was definitely a blast. Now if you know me, you are quite aware that running is not my spiritual gift - but I love a good game of Capture the Flag. I was stunned by how many people didn't know how to play or had never played before! Lori, Elinor, and I did a pretty good job at taking defense; although the other team was good at hiding out behind trees on our side without being seen. There was a lot of yelling, laughing, tripping, and running into things. Good times. I was quite proud of myself (and will probably brag about it for days) that I captured a flag without being seen at all. I'm none too small, and was wearing a bright yellow shirt, while still managing to sneak around the backyard, having no idea where anything was, and run back to the other side. Quite an adrenalin rush, the last few yards before I was considered "safe"!

I got schooled in the art of smores making, having never done that before. I'm still quite grossed out by the fact that you take sticks - from the wilderness, and put food on them to eat. It was good though; Elinor and Cameron had to save me from my marshmallow en fuego. Davey wrapped us up with some acoustic worship songs; it was great.

My favorite part though, had to be the glowsticks. We all went out into the middle of the backyard, took an unsnapped glowstick, and spread out. At the call, we all lit our glowsticks and were to be quiet for a few moments. I saw us all standing there, barely visible, shining a light in the darkness. I'm wasn't really aware of my surroundings after that, and prayed for our team. Being able to "shine a light" has been something I've been trying to do for so long.

Today I got up at 5am to babysit. It's naptime right now, and the house is peaceful with 3 sleeping babies and 1 quietly playing toddler; I'm pretty sure I could fall asleep myself. But I should probably take this time to clean up and do homework. The living room is an explosion of child, and the kitchen is the remnants of lunch - almost a 2 hour event to get the whole fiasco finished. An essay on Animal Farm is wanting to be done, and a baby needs to be fed soon.

I need sleep. Bad.

I'm starting to wonder if you can die from lack of sleep. Or if survival skills will kick in and force you to pass out to sleep. I've been running in zombie mode lately, ranging in different levels of crankiness. I haven't slept more than 6 hours in over a month. The only day I have a chance to sleep in is Friday night / Saturday morning - and that has been busy for weeks... the schedule isn't looking like it's going to clear up before summer begins **insert hyperventalating deep, relaxing, yoga-like breaths here**.

My eyes are being blinded from the screen. I'm sitting in the Meehl's dark living room "doing homework" on my laptop and texting as the kids watch tv and eat ice cream. I'm a great babysitter... This morning I got up at 5am to watch a group of babies pro bono for two families. That's love. As soon as I got in the car to leave that job, I got a text asking to babysit tonight. So I went home for about an hour or two, packed my overnight bag, and here I am. She's cashing in her Christmas present - a free babysitting. That's love. I'm still trying to find a light in this living room, lol.

Kinsey stayed the night last night; I picked on her all night her up on my way home from school. I've had all of 2 hours to myself this weekend. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I absolutely love being with people and being busy; babysitting makes me want to be a mom so bad (shout-out to MS52: you can breathe on that comment - not any time soon). I JUST NEED SLEEP.

I called my father-figure, Nate, earlier this week and vented. One of those vents of frustration. I got about 2 minutes of sub-meltdown in. Until the phone call ended with something like "You're over tired. You have two options: go to bed right after you hang up (note: it was only 9pm) and call me when you wake up; or hang up, don't go to bed, and don't call in the morning. Goodnight, love you." After a bit of protesting that I wouldn't fall asleep before midnight anyway, I chose the former option - and no, I didn't call back at 5am when I got up - that's not very loving. I didn't end up falling asleep until midnight, either. HML.

Side note: I haven't bit my nails in 3 weeks :) Whitney's No-Bite ministry is quite successful! Maybe this lack of a vice is contributing to my crankiness.

Besides physical exhaustion, I'd say it's been a good weekend so far :)

All smiles.

It's been a good few days. Things are starting to look up. It's crazy how prayers are always answered.

I've realized how much I absolutely love the people I surround myself is - and how odd it is that I love to be around them, yet I don't care if my favorite people in the world are much older than I. "What'd you do this weekend?" I hung out with my youth leaders.

I've gotten the chance the past two Sundays to reconnected with Lori, just sitting on the barstools in her kitchen, chatting about everything and nothing while making brownies. And to get to know Christie, who I could never get on the same page with. Recently, I've been able to build a relationship with somebody who I've known for a long time, but could never fully trust. I've been called "like a daughter" and heard "I love you" more times from a handful of people than from the entire world combined. I've been disciplined and guided and hugged. I've made friends with people I never thought I would talk to, and broken down barriers I never thought would crumble. Do you remember me a year or two ago? Probably not. I was extremely introverted, distrusting, and self-conscious.

I thank God every day for bringing me so far in such a small amount of time. He could have easily let me find my own way. Recently, I've received quite a bit of praise about my character - and people, even non-Christians, are associating it with my "Godliness" (can we put a definition on that, please?). I don't think I ever thought somebody would call me a "Godly woman". (Okay, so hearing my name associated with "woman" is still slightly odd.) It's a bit of a scary thought, to be compared with something so ineffable and powerful - yet it's humbling. I've gotten 2 phone calls today of younger students asking me for advice, and I've had the opportunity to witness 3 times in the past 2 days. It's like I'm paying it forward. God's using me in ways I can't yet see.

So here's to answered prayers and feeling loved.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Revolting.

This video made me want to vomit. A 55 year old Canadian journalist was taken hostage by the Taliban; she now looks well over 80 and a depressing shade of gray. She has a second hostage video, as well from about a month ago. Even if the Taliban didn't kill her, she doesn't have long to live by the looks of it. I don't think I've ever seen somebody look so pathetic and sick in my life. The woman claims that her captors will kill her by the end of March - less than a week away, if they don't receive their ransom of 2 million dollars. The choice of death: beheading her with a small kinfe. It's heartbreaking to see somebody plea like that and knowing you can't do anything about it; it's not a movie. I can't put it into words.

She's screaming, pleading, begging for somebody to help her. She's desperate and can't understand why her country, her business, the NGO's (non-governmental organizations... think Amnesty International), the government, everybody is ignoring her pleas for help. The US government won't save her; we have a no tolerance policy with terrorists. We have refused to make negotiations with terrorists. When I first heard this theory several years ago, I thought it was good - once you negotiate with one terrorist, you have to negotiate with them all. That will ultimately lead to being manipulated by the terrorists once they see an ounce of weakness. I can't imagine being in that position; do I let this poor woman die, or do I attempt to possibly maybe prevent further negotiations? I can't imagine the desperation she must feel. I'm worrying about getting a B in Spanish and threw a fit today about my mean English teacher, and she can't sleep because she doesn't know if she'll wake up the next morning.

I can't fathom the idea. Somebody needs to help her. Yet nobody can nor will.

Can we just make a blanket statement...

Boys are dumb.

Self-explanatory.

It's been so long

since I've posted on here, that my browser didn't recognize the website anymore. Slacker.

The past few weeks have been crazy. Testing, bronchitis, FCAT, SLT, Sweet 16, VBS stuff, hanging out. Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing SO much that I never have a chance to fully enjoy where I am at the very moment. I'm totally going out on a limb here, but I'm going to guess that if you have anxiety when you're not working, there's probably a problem.

Friday afternoon Kinsey, Lacey, and Haili came over to the house. We went tanning (well, they went tanning; my chicken-pox scarred, albino, no-sun medication side effect self sat in the shade) at the condo's pool, and made some friends with some spring breakers. Holla.

That night we went to stay at Kinsey's. Cameron brought us home McDonalds late at night... which gave us food poisoning for the rest of the weekend. That's some fun stuff. Kinsey and I laid in bed all day Saturday doing absolutely nothing, until my two favorite people in the world called to ask if we wanted to spend the night.

Saturday night we stayed at Nate and Amanda's. Nate's getting a legit night light for his guest room - it is SO dark in there. After a few "what are you? Five?" comments from Nate, the lovely Amanda put the bathroom light in our room.

Sunday I went to church, took a nap, and went back to Fuel (aren't those the best kind of Sundays?). I'm pretty excited for Fuel. My "spiritual gifts" totally fit me. Planner, Learner, Organizer.

I love the weekends when I'm not home. It's refreshing :)

Now, I'm procrastinating the work I need to do, and my legs are crying - 6 mile bike ride after not working out for a few days. Ouch. But I want to fit into my old clothes, so it's all good :) I think I'll take a deep breath, do a bit of work, and then spend some time with God. It's really interesting that whenever I don't study or do my work, and instead read my bible, I never have a problem the next day.

Ramblings

So I've been in bed for the past 4 days with bronchitis and laryngitis (party...) and after my 4th dose of cough syrup of the day, I've concluded:

Night-time cough syrup gives me crazy nightmares.

I haven't had solid foods since Friday. So I'm eating pudding, and it says sugar-free. I think Sugar-Free Pudding is an oxymoron.

FCAT is against my religion. God can create nothing bad - thus he did not create the FCAT. If God did not create it, then it's not holy. If it's not holy, it's sinful. FCAT is a sin. Therefore, I shouldn't take it.

I think Adam & Eve were vegans, and we'll be vegans in heaven, since there's no death.

The world will see Dani En Fuego if I'm still sick on Saturday and can't go to my concert...

Bath time.

So if you know anything about me, you know that my puppy is my baby (okay, so he's 14 months old, technically not a puppy... but he's a little cutie). Every week, sometime around Tuesday or Thursday, he gets a bubble bath, a brushing, and a blowdrying (yes, I blow dry my puppy... I don't want wet puppy on my bed). Out of all the dogs I've owned, her certainly gets the most excited about bath time out of all of them.



Lets say it all together now... awww.... :)



In case you're wondering, he's a chihuahua mix. I think he's crossed with an Italian Greyhound - he looks exactly like a hybrid, is the average weight of the two of them, plus he's a wicked fast runner. He doesn't walk - he prances. SO funny to watch. I think painting his nails has ruined him.

Count it all joy!

In the past hour, I've managed to...

Not start my homework or anything else on my TDL, despite the fact that it's 8pm.

Drop a glass jar of olives out of the fridge (don't try balancing multiple containers) which decided to drop on the very bottom of the fridge and put a crack in it.

Get a series of shreds of glass in my hands and feet.

Lose some very important papers (I never lose anything) despite my looking absolutely everywhere.

Get an email from the person I need to give the papers to, saying she would like them in the next few days.

Realizing that I tentatively needed those papers on Saturday.


On the brighter side of things...

I made a delicious dinner :) Cooking shows are working.

I won't be at my house again until Sunday night :)

My dog still gives me kissies even when I'm yelling at him to stop moving after the glass dropped... he decied to run across the kitchen anyway.

He doesn't have any glass in his feet :)

Anybody want to volunteer for spring break VBS?


** Update: I found those papers in my bible :)

There was quite an uproar...

... in world history class today.

What I "learned" today: Christianity is the same as all other religions and you're racist if you wouldn't vote for an athiest president.

For a school system that claims to keep religion out of schools, they sure do a good job of bring it up in every class - I've learned the evolution theory in every single class from English to Chemistry to Psychology to History. Somehow the term "world history" got changed to "world religions - as long as it doesn't shine any light on Christianity". You think it's a hint when you're required to write an essay on the contrubitions of Muslims to society one day and the corruption of the Pope the next?

So today, we had a class discussion: Why should there be separation of church and state? Of course, the first person to speak brings up the whole "rights" thing - we're given the right of separation of church and state. Actually, that's a lie. Find it for me in the Constitution. You won't. The idea was first proposed by Andrews (or Jefferson?) in a letter to a Quaker during the founding of Maryland who was concerned about having to practice Catholic rituals (holla, Countering Culture Sunday School) - we just ran with the idea for fear of "offending others" and finding ourselves in a law suit.

So a few more people go to speak, and the general concensus is that there should be separation of church and state to have equality. I said that in theory, government and religion shouldn't be separated - the bible teaches that God should be in every aspect of your life. Oh my. I said the "G" word in school. That gets everyone going. "What if I don't believe in God?" Well... you asked for my opinion, did you not?

So then we got onto the topic of Barack Obama winning and what would happen if he was Muslim. He wouldn't have been voted in. That's a given - I think we can all agree on that; America just won't do it. So the next question: would you vote for an athiest president? I said I didn't think Christians as a whole would - and since America is predominantely Christian, they wouldn't be voted into office. I want someone in office with my same beliefs, my same values, my same morals.

And that's when my teacher stepped in and said that all religions are the same - all religions have the same basic morals. And that's when the class stepped in and called me racist - we're not talking about skin color you're born with, we're talking about a chosen belief system. And that's where a profound athiest called me out for being a hypocrite because I, and other Christians, don't follow all the laws in the Bible, and she made references to Levitical Laws. I told her those were Levitical Laws, Old Testament, before Jesus; in the Christian faith most of those aren't viable anymore... because that's not a long conversation or anything...

I think it's interesting that we can sit there all day and badger about equal rights and such, but the minute a Christian starts to defend his or her faith, they're called arrogant, narrow-minded, pushy, hypocritical...

2 Timothy 3:12.

It's been an exciting week :)

Now normally, I crash and burn when change comes, but I'm pretty excited about Obama. I wasn't a big fan of him, but I really think he can change this country around. It's amazing how unified America has become - I don't remember 04's election being so celebratory, and I don't remember us being so patriotic since 9/11... I thought surely someone was going to get hurt at the inaugeration - but there were no arrests. Oh, and don't even act like you didn't laugh when Warren said "SASHAAAA" during the prayer :)

I finally got out of my piano class, and switched out of Psychology II into Sociology I and Law Studies I. So much better :) We actually do stuff in there! And I'm not being yelled at at 7:30am!

Baby shower tomorrow, cookout Saturday, church on Sunday, and my last AWANA lesson on Monday (tear).

Jamie is allowing me, Christie, Kinsey, and Courtland to design and lead Spring Break camp. Christie and I get SO excited about planning. Courtland's thinking big - he wants to plant a butterfly garden in the plot of land between the chapel and the office. Such a fab idea. We're meeting with Jamie to get the final okay on the idea on Monday.

In the words of Kinsey: "Well I'm really good at popsicle sticks, and you're really creative. Together, we're an unstoppable team!" I love craft time... two boys playing sword fights with popsicle sticks... another one making a tower out of markers... one kid eating glue... another bathing in the finger paint... it's a blast. We're wanting to do a Senegal / Environment theme. And it'll be free to the parents, so that's really good, especially right now. Day camps are rediculously expensive. We need ideas to raise money though - suggestions? Purdy darn excited :)

Best day ever!

I love God.
End of story :)