Almost Done

If you would've asked me one week ago if summer was EVER going to get here or if this year would EVER end, the answer would have been "not soon enough!!"

I took my last TAKS tests, EVER this week (Did you know you take a total of 27 of those stinkers from 3rd grade till you take your exit-levels junior year).

My best friend is currently at her Prom, and the fact that in a few months she'll be moving out JUST hit.

I take the SAT tomorrow.

In a week and a half I'll be done with all my AP tests for this year.

I only have to show up to school 13 and a half more days this school year.

My summer officially begins at noon on May 28th.

On June 4th, I'll be classified as a senior in high school.

YIKES! I've been waiting to get out of high school for so long, and now it seems like there isn't enough time left to do everything I wanna do.

A song came on the radio while I was driving and pondering today, You're Gonna Miss This by Trace Adkins. Totally describes the train of thoughts rolling through my head today.

House Rules excerpt

After TAKS we get to read, such a motivation for book-lovers like myself who rarely get the opportunity to read for fun admist the busyness we call life.

I'm currently reading House Rules by Jodi Picoult, loving it!

You know you have read to many required books that must be annotated when you instantly think to make a note of a line in a book because you know for sure it'll be asked about on a test or open circle at some point!!

When reading I ran across this and I totally connected, and if the taks room was silent I mighta started crying.

"When someone dies, it feels like the hole in your gum when a tooth falls out. You can chew, you can eat, you have plenty of other teeth, but your tongue keeps going back to that empty place, where all the nerves are still a little raw" --Jodi Picoult

And the total is...

$2382.16 raised by Cy-Falls for Relay for Life!

Song of the Week: April 26

Today is 6 months since Clay passed away, and after RFL on Friday and seeing the Layla teams, this song has been replaying through my head. "Hope" was a big part of RFL, and so it kinda makes since. I made a video of pictures of Clay after he went to Heaven, and this song is the background. To see that blog post, click here. The song has also been added to the embedded playlist on the right.

This weeks song of the week...

With Hope
by Stephen Curtis Chapman

"This is not at all how
We thought it was supposed to be
We had so many plans for you
We had so many dreams
And now you've gone away
And left us with the memories of your smile
And nothing we can say
And nothing we can do
Can take away the pain
The pain of losing you, but ...

We can cry with hope
We can say goodbye with hope
'Cause we know our goodbye is not the end, oh no
And we can grieve with hope
'Cause we believe with hope
(There's a place by God's grace)
There's a place where we'll see your face again
We'll see your face again

And never have I known
Anything so hard to understand
And never have I questioned more
The wisdom of God's plan
But through the cloud of tears
I see the Father's smile and say well done
And I imagine you
Where you wanted most to be
Seeing all your dreams come true
'Cause now you're home
And now you're free, and ...

We have this hope as an anchor
'Cause we believe that everything
God promised us is true, so ...

So we can cry with hope
And say goodbye with hope

We wait with hope
And we ache with hope
We hold on with hope
We let go with hope"

Winsor Valley UMC

Our youth group went to Winsor Valley this morning, AKA "black church" and we had a wonderful time!

Amens, hallelujas, testifys, my "brothers" and "sisters" were not of short supply.

I don't know how to describe it other than a 180 from Cornerstone. People ran up and down the isles, danced and clapped the majority of the time. As Megan described it "what CUMC would be like with 1000 of our youth and few adults".

Favorite line of the entire hour and 45 minute service?? "r-a-t right now". Cept when the pastor said "right" it sounded more like "rat" so we all loved it.

Everybody was SUPER friendly; I'm pretty sure I was hugged/greeted by probably 50 different people from the 1000+ people in the sanctuary.

We then headed to Brazos Bend to spend the afternoon. (different story for different time). Overall though?? A great day with great friends!!

RFL: Picture Post!

Relay For Life in 15 Pictures!!!

It was SO cool seeing everybody in RFL T-shirts, and I was really proud to see about 1/2 of the varsity team supporting RFL :)


English class!


Mina: This is the girl who got me involved! We became really good friends over the course of the past 4 months


Andrew Mina and I (Team Cy-Falls Captains)


Matt and his mom, Malissa, who is a cancer SURVIVOR


The balloon release which was really cool and reminded me of Layla Grace's Balloon Release at her Celebration.


Survivor Walk!


Ms. Malissa's Luminaria


My Grandma's Luminaria


The Cy-Falls mascot, Hunter, aka Matt and me after Fight Back


The start of an OSHKA game!! I think this is the most people we've ever had playing one game :))


L-->R: Matt, Andrew, Travis. Our "pimp" Mr. Relay entry!


Luminaria's lining the track


The best picture of the night! One of the proudest (and only) moments of being a Cy-Falls Eagle!


HOPE: The reason why we relay.

Relay For Life was AMAZING

*This is the non-picture blog post :)*

We ended up getting to Cy-Woods around 4:00 for massive confusion. Andrew wasn't there yet, and neither Mina or I had ever participated in a RFL event before, let alone Team Captain one. Once we figured out that people need to check in with us, then go over and sign up to work a certain shift at the registration table, the set up went a lot smoother. We hauled in all of our tents and tables, and got our area set up while a few of Cy-Falls people went and helped Mrs. Cissy set up the luminarias. The 3 hours of setting up went by REALLY fast, Mina and I spent a lot of time on our phones and running around while Andrew directed people in setting up and helping others out.

Ms. Malissa showed up around 6:45, and we all loved having our own survivor for Cy-Falls. I'm hoping next year we can get more people involved in the survivor activities, because that's part of the reason why we RELAY!

At 7:00 the festivities began with Mrs. Kovar talking, the pledges to the flags, a really funny 2-year cancer survivor talking, and then the Survivor Lap. It was really neat to see Ms. Malissa walking, and at the halfway point having Matt be able to walk the second half of the lap with her. After the opening lap, everybody was kinda set free for a little while to run whatever needed to be run. I went back to our area to get people signed in with us to get their service hours, and signed up with the RFL Committee to volunteer. People began walking the track, a BUNCH of our group was helping out with the Carnival games, it was rewarding seeing everything getting done.

After manning our area and booth (we had goodies to sell, face-painting, and a nerf-gun shoot out) it was time for the Luminaria Ceremony. They had some people talk and tell their stories, and lit all of the luminarias. On the bleachers they had empty milk cartons that we lit like the luminarias that spelled out the word "hope". I missed most of the ceremony because we were getting ready for the Fight Back Ceremony, but from the looks on everybody's faces and from what I was told, it was really moving and wonderful. I'm kinda upset I missed it, but I know better for next year!

After the Luminaria Ceremony, Cy-Falls was up the lead the Fight Back Ceremony. We had our well-known state-wide drum-line there, along with a few cheerleaders, and then some more people participating in the Relay to help out perform skits about "pledges" to prevent cancer. Matt dressed up in the Hunter (our mascot) costume and was a GREAT Hunter! He was SO funny, the perfect mascot.

Once the Fight Back Ceremony was finished, we were once again set loose for a little while to walk and work. Andrew got ready for the Mr. Relay pageant, some people volunteered, some walked. Mr. Relay wasn't too far after the Fight Back, so before we knew it Andrew was up as our "pimp" Mr. Relay, accompanied by Matt and Travis. They totally should have won, we yelled louder, and they were much more appropriate than some of the others.

This was like 10:00, and nothing else was planned till midnight, so we all walked the track and played Ninja or Oshka. A bunch of the polo kids walked around the track passing Matt's polo ball which was really fun. Oshka and Ninja was also entertaining, and probably resulted in why I have random scrapes all over my legs... oh wells, it was worth it!!

Around midnight we got the notice to start packing up and that we needed to go home because we were under tornado warnings, and there was hail and bad storms in Prairie View heading towards Cypress. It was a real bummer, but I think my favorite part of the entire night happened when cleaning up.

I went over to help Mrs. Denee clean up the carnival and I LOVED talking to her! She had such interesting stories, and was such a cool lady. I think everybody who was carrying tables for her that night would agree, it was wonderful.

By 1:00 this morning, everybody loaded whatever was left at our area (chairs, tarps, tents, random poles, etc) into my truck and we all left. I got home around 1:35 this morning.

It's a major bummer that it got rained out, but we learned SOO much! I'm so thankful Mina got me involved, and I can't wait till next year when we can make it even better!!

Now I'm off to Andrew's to meet with Mina to sort out everybody's "stuff" that all got mixed up.

Pictures WILL be in a following blog post!!