Today was a beautiful day. Absolutely gorgeous. I woke up at 8:30 and the first thing I noticed was the sun shining! Erika and Aaron got home last night from their roadtrip, too. This morning I was doing my African study and found a site called RISE International. They build schools in Angola, mostly. Angola has suffered through a 27 year civil war, through which all the schools have been closed. An entire generation has grown up not knowing how to read and write. RISE builds schools, trains teachers, and supplies textbooks. They are a Christian organization out of the midwest, Iowa I believe. It costs them $12,500 to build a school and provide textbooks.
I also memorized some more countries...Chad, Cameroon, Equitorial Guinea, and Gabon. Woo hoo!
I read am still trying to finish The Greatest Generation, my Tom Brokaw. Interesting book, I'll tell you more about it when I finish.
The other day I did an Algebra test, but I am so disorganized I lost the test answer booklet. Hmm.
Speaking of being disorganized, Erika found my Rosetta Stone cd that I have been missing for months. I'm trying to load it onto this computer since I had had it on Randy's laptop before. Hopefully I'll get that working.
I had piano lessons today and learned how to play "Jericho". It's fun. I also learned about relative scales, and Jericho is in the key of A Minor, which is the relative minor of C major.
Erika and Aaron had a slideshow of all their southwest pictures. The southwest is amazing. I had never heard of Goblin Valley! That was really interesting. And the towers in Capital Reef. God made some beautiful things when he created this earth.
I'm about to run off to youth group, so that's all for now. Goodnight!
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
MASQUERADE! and poker.
It's been a busy weekend! I am continually amazed at what you can learn by just living!
Chad and Nadine had a "Poker Night" at their house on Friday. Chad is the assisant football coach for the WHS football team. On Friday, about 40 football players showed up at his house to play poker. It was just a night to get those guys into Chad's house, to serve them, build relationships, and let them know they are loved and cared for! Some of us from the Core helped served. We hung curtains between the kitchen and the rest of the house, and us girls just took care of them. It was amazing! I got there around 2 that afternoon and frosted cookies, read books to Camren (Chad and Nadine's five year old), set up tables, counted poker chips, printed rules off the internet, hung up posters, unpacked 30 cases of energy drinks, and made and served lots of yummy appetizers! So I learned how to make bruschetta [i should learn how to spell it too!] We had toasted sourdough bread that we put a tomato, a piece of mozzarella and basil on. We broiled them for a few minutes. They were really good! It was so much fun to SERVE them. We took care of them. We brought drinks and food around like every five seconds. And it all looked so pretty! I hope they felt special! Then they played Texas Hold 'Em for almost 5 hours. Of course not everybody, because it was a tournament, but the last game didn't get over until midnight!
Saturday Mom and I went to the International Gift sale at the Mennonite church in Creston. They have an organization called Ten Thousand Villages. They gather crafts and gifts handmade in villages around the world. All of the items have a tag that says in which country it was made. I got Kari her birthday present there. An anklet and cloth napkin from India. Mom also got me a cookbook. It's a cookbook about eating locally and in season. I'm excited to use it and learn!
We also went to the dollar store in C. Falls and I got spray paint to make my mask for Masquerade! Saturday night a bunch of us met at the church around 9 to play Fugitive in the dark. It was so much fun! We had a surprise party for Kari with cake, and then went up to their house to watch Deja Vu. It was a very provocative movie.
Sunday we had church. Mom, Brennen, and I had a good talk during Sunday School. We decided we can't wait until we get to go to heaven and meet a bunch of cool people! like George Washington and Esau! We continued reading Genesis. I love that. We just take out our Bibles, read and discuss. Mom is so good at making connections and things make sense. I have realized how deep, how emotional, how essential Bible stories are. It's just life, raw and pure and right in front of you. I think a lot of people have forgotten how to read the Bible. It's really amazing. We talked about Jacob and Esau and how Rebekah helped her favorite son, Jacob trick their father. How God had made known to her that Jacob would rule over Esau, and she intervened.
Sunday afternoon I went to the youth center and helped set up for the Masquerade. Anna and I spent two hours taping plywood boards to paint. They had painted a bunch of boards white, and we taped off squares that would be painted black. We ended up with a pretty sweet looking black and white checkered floor! I never knew how you would go about making it look like that, and taping it off. It turned out awesome.
Monday I went out to lunch with Kari, Angela, Andrea, Hilary, and Lainey. I went to the Chinese place early and ordered for all of them so that when they got out of school and got there the food would be ready. We did have to wait a few minutes, but not long, and it was really good! After school at about 3:30 a bunch of us went to the youth center to decorate. It was intense! there was definitely a lot to do! The band was setting up and practicing at the same time, so we had to waltz around them to get everything done. Ladders, thumb tacks, drum sticks and microphones don't mix well on one stage. You know those shiny round balloons that you can buy at grocery stores that usually say stuff on them? I never knew you could blow them up with straws...On Monday I also worked on my Africa study. Mom and I talked about how few countries we actually had heard of, much less knew where they were! I'm not going extensive into every country, but while I memorize where they are on the map, I look them up on Wikipedia and have kept a Word document off just a few facts that I've read. Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world, but it is estimated that 90% of the population is Christian. Interesting, huh? And the Democratic Republic of Congo was named Zaire from 1971-1997. Silly.
I have not done Algebra for a while, so I spent some time Monday doing review problems from past lessons. It came much easier the second time! I spray painted my mask on Monday. It's silver now, and I added some cool black and red feathers to it that I got at JoAnns. And I hot glued a stick to it. It looks cool!
Tuesday I woke up and went to the youth center again to help Nadine. We hung up the huge mask on the black curtain behind the stage. Then we blew up balloons. Almost 70 of them. I had never used a helium tank before, so now I know how! And Nadine showed me an easy way to tie them...I was definitely slow when we started! Then Lisa came and we tied ribbon to all the balloons. Lisa and I then got to be creative and decorate the stage with balloons! We had fun cutting up some gold material and tying them together with that. We stuck peacock feathers in the bouquets of balloons and put them on some pillars on the stage. It was entertaining, especially when we let a few balloons go on accident, and I had to climb on a ladder to get them from the ceiling. But it looked great. I came home and laid outside on a blanket, while Mom sat on the porch and Elly was learning how to ride her two-wheel bike. I did my Habitudes book, and talked it over with Mom. I did more work on Africa, too. I printed off my Transactions record from the bank, and used it to plan my finances and budget. I highlighted all the things I spent money on that wasn't necessary, and then estimated what I will be making this summer, and how much I have to pay each month in all the things I owe people and am committed to. This helped after reading those Bank Account, Savings, and Credit Card books I got from the library. After that I potted some of my herbs! I am very excited for that, and look forward to taking care of them, and then using them! I've read lots of good ideas for different uses for all the various herbs. Gail and I had piano lessons as well. I'm learning how to play O Sole Mio! It is in the key of F major, and starts out with three very fun fermatas. Gail and I couldn't decide how to spell it, but we decided on Fermata. I'll check later and see if we are correct.
Tuesday night was Masquerade! I wore by dress that Katie made me for my party, wore lots of black eyeliner and sparkling gold eye shadow all over. And of course, my mask. They had the whole place decorated. Before service they had a professional photography taking pictures in front of a red curtain. There was really good punch and mask cookies. Downstairs they had a food game. There were 7 different foods that were "masked". They all looked like something, but tasted like something else. Such as root beer that tasted like soy sauce. And red jello, that REALLY looked like real jello but tasted like ketchup. There also was cauliflower mashed potatoes and mustard banana cream pie, among others. It was some what disgusting! Service went really well. The band played at the beginning and sounded amazing, like always! They played a really good Yellowcard song...Chad's message was really good. He talked about how we all hide behind masks, in different places and around different people. How we are scared, lonely, or we don't really like ourselves. Some of us are scared that if people know who we really are, they'll leave at any second. He used the monologues that we recorded last week, and they sounded good. His point was that God wants us for who we are, and he is the one we don't need a mask for. He loves us for who we are, and he talked about being who God created us to be. We all mess up, but we don't need to be perfect for him. Once we go to him, he's the one that fixes us, we can't fix ourselves. We don't need to hide.
I know this was superlong, but I've been running around a lot! It's been exciting...
Chad and Nadine had a "Poker Night" at their house on Friday. Chad is the assisant football coach for the WHS football team. On Friday, about 40 football players showed up at his house to play poker. It was just a night to get those guys into Chad's house, to serve them, build relationships, and let them know they are loved and cared for! Some of us from the Core helped served. We hung curtains between the kitchen and the rest of the house, and us girls just took care of them. It was amazing! I got there around 2 that afternoon and frosted cookies, read books to Camren (Chad and Nadine's five year old), set up tables, counted poker chips, printed rules off the internet, hung up posters, unpacked 30 cases of energy drinks, and made and served lots of yummy appetizers! So I learned how to make bruschetta [i should learn how to spell it too!] We had toasted sourdough bread that we put a tomato, a piece of mozzarella and basil on. We broiled them for a few minutes. They were really good! It was so much fun to SERVE them. We took care of them. We brought drinks and food around like every five seconds. And it all looked so pretty! I hope they felt special! Then they played Texas Hold 'Em for almost 5 hours. Of course not everybody, because it was a tournament, but the last game didn't get over until midnight!
Saturday Mom and I went to the International Gift sale at the Mennonite church in Creston. They have an organization called Ten Thousand Villages. They gather crafts and gifts handmade in villages around the world. All of the items have a tag that says in which country it was made. I got Kari her birthday present there. An anklet and cloth napkin from India. Mom also got me a cookbook. It's a cookbook about eating locally and in season. I'm excited to use it and learn!
We also went to the dollar store in C. Falls and I got spray paint to make my mask for Masquerade! Saturday night a bunch of us met at the church around 9 to play Fugitive in the dark. It was so much fun! We had a surprise party for Kari with cake, and then went up to their house to watch Deja Vu. It was a very provocative movie.
Sunday we had church. Mom, Brennen, and I had a good talk during Sunday School. We decided we can't wait until we get to go to heaven and meet a bunch of cool people! like George Washington and Esau! We continued reading Genesis. I love that. We just take out our Bibles, read and discuss. Mom is so good at making connections and things make sense. I have realized how deep, how emotional, how essential Bible stories are. It's just life, raw and pure and right in front of you. I think a lot of people have forgotten how to read the Bible. It's really amazing. We talked about Jacob and Esau and how Rebekah helped her favorite son, Jacob trick their father. How God had made known to her that Jacob would rule over Esau, and she intervened.
Sunday afternoon I went to the youth center and helped set up for the Masquerade. Anna and I spent two hours taping plywood boards to paint. They had painted a bunch of boards white, and we taped off squares that would be painted black. We ended up with a pretty sweet looking black and white checkered floor! I never knew how you would go about making it look like that, and taping it off. It turned out awesome.
Monday I went out to lunch with Kari, Angela, Andrea, Hilary, and Lainey. I went to the Chinese place early and ordered for all of them so that when they got out of school and got there the food would be ready. We did have to wait a few minutes, but not long, and it was really good! After school at about 3:30 a bunch of us went to the youth center to decorate. It was intense! there was definitely a lot to do! The band was setting up and practicing at the same time, so we had to waltz around them to get everything done. Ladders, thumb tacks, drum sticks and microphones don't mix well on one stage. You know those shiny round balloons that you can buy at grocery stores that usually say stuff on them? I never knew you could blow them up with straws...On Monday I also worked on my Africa study. Mom and I talked about how few countries we actually had heard of, much less knew where they were! I'm not going extensive into every country, but while I memorize where they are on the map, I look them up on Wikipedia and have kept a Word document off just a few facts that I've read. Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world, but it is estimated that 90% of the population is Christian. Interesting, huh? And the Democratic Republic of Congo was named Zaire from 1971-1997. Silly.
I have not done Algebra for a while, so I spent some time Monday doing review problems from past lessons. It came much easier the second time! I spray painted my mask on Monday. It's silver now, and I added some cool black and red feathers to it that I got at JoAnns. And I hot glued a stick to it. It looks cool!
Tuesday I woke up and went to the youth center again to help Nadine. We hung up the huge mask on the black curtain behind the stage. Then we blew up balloons. Almost 70 of them. I had never used a helium tank before, so now I know how! And Nadine showed me an easy way to tie them...I was definitely slow when we started! Then Lisa came and we tied ribbon to all the balloons. Lisa and I then got to be creative and decorate the stage with balloons! We had fun cutting up some gold material and tying them together with that. We stuck peacock feathers in the bouquets of balloons and put them on some pillars on the stage. It was entertaining, especially when we let a few balloons go on accident, and I had to climb on a ladder to get them from the ceiling. But it looked great. I came home and laid outside on a blanket, while Mom sat on the porch and Elly was learning how to ride her two-wheel bike. I did my Habitudes book, and talked it over with Mom. I did more work on Africa, too. I printed off my Transactions record from the bank, and used it to plan my finances and budget. I highlighted all the things I spent money on that wasn't necessary, and then estimated what I will be making this summer, and how much I have to pay each month in all the things I owe people and am committed to. This helped after reading those Bank Account, Savings, and Credit Card books I got from the library. After that I potted some of my herbs! I am very excited for that, and look forward to taking care of them, and then using them! I've read lots of good ideas for different uses for all the various herbs. Gail and I had piano lessons as well. I'm learning how to play O Sole Mio! It is in the key of F major, and starts out with three very fun fermatas. Gail and I couldn't decide how to spell it, but we decided on Fermata. I'll check later and see if we are correct.
Tuesday night was Masquerade! I wore by dress that Katie made me for my party, wore lots of black eyeliner and sparkling gold eye shadow all over. And of course, my mask. They had the whole place decorated. Before service they had a professional photography taking pictures in front of a red curtain. There was really good punch and mask cookies. Downstairs they had a food game. There were 7 different foods that were "masked". They all looked like something, but tasted like something else. Such as root beer that tasted like soy sauce. And red jello, that REALLY looked like real jello but tasted like ketchup. There also was cauliflower mashed potatoes and mustard banana cream pie, among others. It was some what disgusting! Service went really well. The band played at the beginning and sounded amazing, like always! They played a really good Yellowcard song...Chad's message was really good. He talked about how we all hide behind masks, in different places and around different people. How we are scared, lonely, or we don't really like ourselves. Some of us are scared that if people know who we really are, they'll leave at any second. He used the monologues that we recorded last week, and they sounded good. His point was that God wants us for who we are, and he is the one we don't need a mask for. He loves us for who we are, and he talked about being who God created us to be. We all mess up, but we don't need to be perfect for him. Once we go to him, he's the one that fixes us, we can't fix ourselves. We don't need to hide.
I know this was superlong, but I've been running around a lot! It's been exciting...
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