FRUSTRATION!!!

Our pool is STILL broken. We haven't had a pool for over 2 weeks now because the school district doesn't like water polo so we can't get in. We were SUPPOSED to have practice Monday. NOPE! Pool broken. Tuesday? NOPE! Still broken. Wednesday? We got the clear to get in if the chemicals were right... but NOPE they weren't! I need to get back in for polo!! I miss it so much!

Frustration point two. Cheerleaders at Falls are selling beef jerky for $1. When asked what they were raising money for, one girl answered "shorter skirts". Instantly all the guys bought beef jerky. But a few minutes prior they told me they had no money for RFL. But then they go buy beef jerky so that cheerleaders can buy shorter skirts??

GAH!!! FRUSTRATION!!

Oh wells, it's Wednesday which means church :)

I hate thinkin' about college!!!

Growing up, it seems like everybody has always had an answer to "what do you want to be when you grow up", except me. And it's never really bothered me. At all. Well now that question has turned into "what are you going to major in" and "where are you going to go to college" and all of a sudden they have become a huge big deal.

It seems like I finally decided my answer to the "what do you want to be when you grow up" question. I wanna get into youth ministry. Done. Problem solved. Ha, no. I've been told that I can't just major in youth ministry because you can't make a living off of that. So once I figure out what I wanna do, I can't do that. Lovely! So I've come to terms that I'll probably just have to settle with early education. I think it's something I'd enjoy, but not something I'd love like youth ministry. But I guess we'll just have to see where that goes. Double Major? That's Daddy's game-plan.

Now to the "where" aspect. Originally I didn't want a big school. I was tired of being a number. There's already over 1,000 in my graduating class (well, before everybody dropped out), I don't want to just be a number. I didn't want huge classes. I ruled out colleges like A&M and UT, Tech and Baylor a long time ago. Too big.

Well, now I've fallen in love with A&M and can totally see myself there. I know people who go there, so I'd have a "security blanket" of sorts, but it's big enough to meet new people. No, I couldn't major in youth ministry or religion whatsoever, but you don't necessarily need a major in youth ministry to become a youth minister. Well, now I'm thinking I really want to do youth ministry, so maybe I should go to someplace like Centenary in Louisanna. It's small and has a youth ministry program. Or TCU. That has religious studies. Or Mary Hardin Baylor.

I'm too indecisive for this. There are too many possibilities. And the fact is, I want to be accepted into college early first semester my senior year so I don't have to worry about that too. That doesn't give me much time at all. AGHHH!!!!!

Song of the Week: April 5

Here is the youtube video for Get Back Up. Once the song gets uploaded to playlist, then i can add it to the playlist on the right and you can just click there.

Get Back Up
by Toby Mac

You turned away when I looked you in the eye,
And hesitated when I asked if you were alright,
Seems like you're fighting for you life,
But why? oh why?
Wide awake in the middle of your nightmare,
You saw it comin' but it hit you outta no where,
And theres always scars
When you fall back far

We lose our way,
We get back up again
It's never too late to get back up again,
One day you will shine again,
You may be knocked down,
But not out forever,
Lose our way,
We get back up again,
So get up, get up,
You gonna shine again,
Never too late to get back up again,
You may be knocked down,
But not out forever
[May be knocked down but not out forever]

You're rolled out at the dawning of the day
Heart racin' as you made you little get away,
It feels like you've been runnin' all your life
But, why? Oh why?

So you've pulled away from the love that woud've been there,
You start believin' that your situation's unfair

But there's always scars,
When you fall back far

We lose our way,
We get back up again
Never too late to get back up again,
One day, you gonna shine again,
You may be knocked down but not out forever,
Lose our way, we get back up again,
So get up, get up
You gonna shine again
It's never too late, to get back up again
You may be knocked down, but not out forever,
May be knocked down, but not out forever!

This is love callin', love callin', out to the broken,
This is love callin'.
This is love callin', love callin', out to the broken
This is love callin'.
This is love callin', love callin',
I am so broken
This is love callin' love callin

Lose our way, [way way way ay ay ay]
We get back up, [get back up again]
It's never too late [late late late ate ate ate]
You may be knocked down but not out forever!

Lose our way,
We get back up again,
So get up get up
You gonna shine again
Never too late to get back up again
You may be knocked down,
But not out forever,

This is love [lose our way] callin' love callin' [get back up again]
To the broken
This is love [never too late] callin'
[may be knocked down but not out forever]
This is love [lose our way] callin' love callin' [we get back up again]
To the broken
This is love [never too late] callin'
[may be knocked down but not out forever]

This is love callin' love callin'
Out to the broken,
This is love callin'....

Doodling... DONE!

When I had to sign up for an art class this year I was DREADING it. Like kicking and screaming. I wanted nothing to do with art. Nothing!

Well, ironicaly, art has been one of my favorite classes.

I'm not going to get into how the teacher is cool and it's only of the only classes I can be creative in. You can't even be creative in English anymore, it's all "write in this form". And the topics are like "Do you agree with blah blah blah when they say blah blah blah in regards to cloning? To what extent should cloning be legalized?" OK: buy me a break... how do you get creative with THAT kind of prompt. Oh yeah, haha, I remember... YOU DON'T!

So art is the one class where I am able to spin the angle to make it something I want. I'm not exceptionally good at drawing (unlike Dad and Kole) but the crafting and clay stuff, that's my favorite.

So every so often we have this "doodle page" due for a major grade. You know, like the doodles that line the side of my pre-cal notes? Those kind. You have to fill up the entire page, it can only be done in ink, and you have to adhere to the prompt. Simple enough? The first two times, yeah it was!

1st Prompt: Just Fill Up The Page


2nd Prompt: It's My Life (Illustrate your life story in pictures)


The first 2 prompts you could pretty much draw whatever and make it fit to the theme. This last prompt though... goodnes..

Prompt 3: Phobias. You were supposed to stick to one phobia and have the entire page full of doodles of that phobia. Have dextrophobia? (Fear of objects at the right side of the body). Then you must illustrate the entire page full of objects like that. Tricky huh? A bit more complex?

Well you know how I said I love the creativeness part of this class? I was trying to think of every possible way around this, because it was way too specific, and you can only draw so many of one thing repeatedly. And I couldn't think of an honest phobia. Unlike my best friend Renee, I couldn't just draw feet over the entire page. I'm not a podophobic. The lucky thing was, you didn't have to be that specific phobia to do that one, you just had to fill up the page. So the creativeness kicks in. I went through the Phobia List and read through trying to get some idea when I came across Phobophobia. The fear of phobias. Wouldn't a phobophobic be scared of all fears? Meaning I could draw lots of phobias? Ding Ding Ding! The next day I ran the idea past my teacher and this is the reply I got...

"I love when the occasional AP student is in my class. Nobody else would have thought of that, feel free to use it. I'm looking forward to seeing it!"

BINGO! This is the outcome.

In case you are curious... The phobias I used are:

1. Achluophobia: Fear of darkness
2. Acrophobia: Fear of heights
3. Actophobia: Fear of Figure 8's
4. Agyrophobia: Fear of Streets
5. Anemophobia: Fear of air
6. Anthophobia: Fear of flowers
7. Arachiloutyrophobia: Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth
8. Arachnophobia: Fear of spiders
9. Arrhrenphobia: Fear of men
10. Astraphobia: Fear of thunder and lightning
11. Batophobia: Fear of skyscrapers
12. Bibliophobia: Fear of books
13. Cardiophobia: Fear of hearts
14. Chaetophobia: Fear of hair
15. Chromophobia: Fear of colors
16. Cynophobia: Fear of dogs
17. Defenestraphobia: fear of windows
18. Dendrophobia: Fear of trees
19. Domatophobia: Fear of a house
20. Ecophobia: Fear of ones own home
21. Entamaphobia: Fear of doors
22. Geniophobia: Fear of lips
23. Gynophobia: Fear of women
24. Hematophobia: Fear of blood
25. Hydrophobia: Fear of water
26. Ichtyophobia: Fear of fish
27. Nephophobia: Fear of clouds
28. Noctiphobia: Fear of nightime
29. Numerophobia: Fear of numbers
30. Ocophobia: Fear of vehicles
31. Ombrophobia: Fear of rain
32. Ommatophobia: Fear of Eyes
33. Ophidophobia: Fear of snakes
34. Ornithophobia: Fear of birds
35. Pagophobia: Fear of ice
36. Paraskaedekatriaphobia: Fear of Friday the 13th
37. Pedophobia: Fear of kids
38. Peladophobia: Fear of bald people
39. Pelophobia: Fear of soccer
40. Phengophobia: Fear of sunshine
41. Philophobia: Fear of love
42. Phonophobia: Fear of phones
43. Placophobia: Fear of tombstones
44. Plutophobia: Fear of wealth
45. Potomophobia: Fear of rivers
46. Psychrophobia: Fear of cold
47. Pyrophobia: Fear of fire
48. Satanophobia: Fear of Satan
49. Sciphobia: Fear of shadows
50. Scolionophobia: Fear of chimneys
51. Selachophobia: Fear of sharks
52. Selenophobia: Fear of the moon
53. Siderodromophobia: Fear of Railroads
54. Siderophobia: Fear of stars
55. Sinistrophobia: Fear of anything towards the left
56. Sitophobia: Fear of food
57. Sociophobia: Fear of people
58. Spectrophobia: Fear of ghosts
59. Speksophobia: Fear of wasps
60. Symbolophobia: Fear of symbols
61. Technophobia: Fear of technology
62. Testophobia: Fear of taking tests
63. Thalassophobia: Fear of the sea
64. Theophobia: Fear of Religion
65. Tonitrophobia: Fear of thunder
66. Trichopathophobia: Fear of hair
67. Triskaidekaphobia: Fear of the number 13
68. Vestiphobia: Fear of clothing
69. Xylophobia: Fear of wood

Oh, and of course. Phobophobia: The fear of phobias

Yahooo creativity!

Sun-rise or Son-rise?

Our youth group always leads an Easter Sunrise Service every Easter morning, and this year was no exception. We even got to hold it at the new property which was really exciting, as we hope by this time next year we will be there permanently.

The youth that ended up helping out consisted of 8ish Senior High and then 1 Junior Higher, Kole. Then there was our youth orchestra which had 2 more Junior High Kids, and then a couple of the Senior Highers who were already helping out. Kole ushered while I lead the opening prayer and read out of Mark.

So this morning at 5:40 when Kole and I are pulling up to the new property, I begin to become kinda spectacle about how this will all work out. First of all, I was wearing a dress (gag! thanks youth group for telling me everybody was dressing up!) and it was raining/misting. We were waiting on Charles to go get awnings to set up over the chairs so we all wouldn't be wet. Once we got it all set up we were pretty lucky that the raining/misting slowed down. Phew!

Considering the service started at 6:30 with the intent for the sun to rise during the service, it didn't quite happen according to plan. We all had candles to help us read/see during the service, but we were all banking on the sun rising behind our 3 wooden crosses for the service. Well, it didn't happen.

The alter call to the crosses was still beautiful, and while standing in awe of God's wonderful creation by the crosses this morning, wishing we could see the sunrise, I realized there was something more important.

The sun may not have rose this morning, but the Son did. He is Risen. He is Risen.

Happy Easter Ya'll

Well I'm not going to be sleeping tonight...

...blame Dad.

We were watching NCIS upstairs, all the lights were off, everything was quiet except for the TV. NCIS creeps me out the way it is, but it's addicting and I love watching it with my Daddy when he can go and predict the ending like 10 minutes into the show, while I think of every possible way to make his prediction wrong. I've only been right like twice. I prefer to watch it with the lights ON, and in the middle of the day when there is activity in the house. But the fact that it was dark and nighttime and we were on our 2nd NCIS episode...

So I'm laying on the floor on a pillow and Daddy's laying on the couch next to me. We are in the middle of an episode, the climax is about to happen, and I'm already the slightest bit freaked out because 2 guys have been found dead and me being who I am is like "ahhh!!" freaking out.

So when the bad scene comes on I close my eyes (like always because I can't watch the fight scenes where the NCIS guy kills the bad guy, even though I know NCIS will prevail) and when I open my eyes, my dad's fingers are 2 inches from my face. Let me just tell you, I FREAKED. I was already creeped out, and this sent me over the edge. I was so scared.

30 minutes after the fact, I'm still shaking. Not to mention Dad thinks this is the funniest thing on the planet. Guess who's not going to sleep well tonight??

Makin' a Difference

You know that feeling that you get when you feel like you're stuck in a situation, and no matter what you do you cannot find a way out of that situation? Your life seems to be on repeat, nothing new and everyday is the same ol' same ol'? You wake up, go to school, go home, do homework, eat dinner, go to practice/work/church (depending on the day), come home, eat a 2nd dinner, take a shower, do more homework, go to bed by eleven if you're lucky, then at 6AM the alarm is going off so that you can spend another day doing the same old thing? Wash, Rinse, Repeat?

Yeah, well that had been what I had been thinkin' for a while. Every once in a while the opportunity to teach a swim lesson or help out with the Intermediate and Advanced groups at practice had become the highlight of my day. Everyday felt like a drag.

Then Relay for Life happened. Registering high schoolers, figuring out fundraisers, rounding up nerf guns, planning snacks and drinks, selling bandannas.. there was always something to do. Something that didn't involve school or swimming. Then on Tuesday 5 of us who were all in swimming and polo and helpin out with Relay emptied out my locker which was full of empty water bottles that I never felt like throwing away and made collection bottles for people to donate coins to Relay.

I feel like I'm making a difference and it makes me so happy. A lot of the football coaches are helping out, and seeing random people come and giving me their coins really means a lot.

Story: Yesterday one of the kids I sit with in art (not autistic, but similar) wanted so badly to donate money to RFL, but he didn't have any coins, so I dug around in my purse, fetched out a few random pennies that were hiding, and gave them to him so he could donate. The smile on his face was precious. Today he walked up and wanted to donate again, but all he had on him was a $20 bill. Well I wasn't going to let him donate that because I knew it was probably supposed to be used for something, but he wanted so bad. So he gave me his $20, and I gave him a $10 bill, a $5, and five $1 bills. Then he was able to donate $2 to RFL. Once again seeing him fold the bill up so that it could fit in my collection jar (which at this point had been upgraded to a milk jug) and the smile on his face was precious. Not only did he donate to RFL which made me happy, seeing him light up like that was one of the coolest things I've seen in forever.

I feel like now, each day is not another drag. Each day I wake up with the goal in mind to tell more people about Relay, to sell more bandannas, to fix some of the kinks in our fundraisers, and more than that, tell more people why I Relay!

On that note, if you happen to be roaming Cy-Falls High School or Cornerstone UMC's Bible Studies... donate money to Relay for Life so we can continue to make a difference for RFL, because we are in a big way. But more than that, we are making a difference in our own lives by helping out others. And it feels awesome.