Couldn't Think Of A Good Title

Hey know..sorry I haven't posted in forever. *Announcement to my other "Bloggin` Buddies--post something!* Okay, with that said, today was a good day. Last night Emily spent the night again. We did the usual. Except now Emily has introduced me to a game. It's a Scooby-Doo game found at CartoonNetwork.com. It is so addicting. It's better to play at her house because my computer is slow. We also played this one game were you have an outline of the border of Continental U.S. with Alaska and Hawaii and you have to place the different states where they go. I'll tell you, the rectangle states are hard to place, along with the New England states. It's actually...fun! Oh, and we downloaded Bible Baseball and I beat her with a homerun! Whew, the questions are hard! We also watched a movie, "Boogeyman". Wow, that has got to be the absolute stupidest movie in the world. In the end *if you want to see the movie, don't read the italics...* the boogeyman ends up begin an action figure! Yeah, told you it was stupid. It wasn't scary, it's just that things popped out at you. Like in the beginning, my heart skipped a beat when this little toy bird hanging from the ceiling cawed. We went to bed extremely early, like 1:00 (well, early for our sleepovers)
This morning, we went back to Emily's house. Tylesha, Kristen, Andy, and Timmy came over, too. We had fun playing hide and seek in the pool, monkey in the middle with a splash bomb (sorry, I kept throwing it out of the pool!) and eating peanuts. LOL guys! The girls then went downstairs to play DDR. I did this one after Emily where you moved a lot. It sure got my endorphins going! I was jumping all over the mat and was out of breath when I was finished. I told Emily that when the youth group comes over to her house for the overnighter, we could have so much fun with that. So, we can do DDR at Rinky Dinks AND the Kozy's. I remember last year how much fun people had with that thing. I stunk, but Kristen A. was really good!
Hmm, now I have all these memories of my first and only trip to RD. And since this is an "on my mind" post, I will list them! ...couldn't do go-carts because of rain..played batting cages in rain..obsesivly played chance game with becky while wasting all our money trying to win portable tv..played neon mini golf inside because of rain..got sopping wet from rain. Do you see a pattern? RAIN RAIN RAIN. I just hope it doesn't rain this year! Just last year, it rained during 3 (if not more) youth events: picnic, canoeing, rinky dinks. Thankfully, none that i can think of has been rained out this year!

Tomorrow is my Grandpa Vic's funeral. The calling hourse go from 11:00-1:00 and the service from 1:00-2:00. Afterwards, there is a luncheon at the Holiday Inn. I do not know where it will be held. One good thing is that I will be able to see my family that lives far away, like my aunt and uncle from Columbus and my other aunt and uncle and cousin from Ravenna. A lot of people I have only met once (in Puerto Rico) are coming up, too. I know my mom will be happy to see them through this. - I miss Audrey so much. I just wish that she could be home for the funeral. I know she is having fun at Camp, which helps to take her mind off everything. Atleast I have my family and most importantly, I have Jesus.

Grief

As many of you may know, my grandfather passed away last night. He was my mother's father. I didn't know Grandpa Vic that well because my grandparents divorced long before I was born. But I still am very sad and upset. I loved him very much.
Last night while Emily was at may house to spend the night, my mom and dad called me and Philip (Audrey is a Camp) into the living room to break the news to us. Mom and Dad decided to go up to the hospital in Lorrain to be with my family. Philip and I spent the night at the Kozy's because my parents didn't know how late they would return. Emily helped me cope with the loss. (Thanks Em)
This morning my mom came over to the Kozy house. Emily was going out to lunch with her Grandmother and they were both nice enough to invite me along too. When we got back, Mom had already called the Camp and broken the news to Audrey. I feel bad for Audrey because she has no family to greive with. Like I said, we didn't know him that well so Philip is doing alright. I just wish Audrey was here :( The Lord has it all under control, though. I'm glad that I have him always. I don't know if Grandpa does. That burdens my heart very much.

All About Tippy

If you know my dog, you know how hyper and loud she gets. I thought you would like to know the history of my dog Tippy.

Here is her life story:
While being taken the Shigler Animal Hospital to be fixed, the beagle was found to be pregnant! Instead of killing the young pups as they usually do, the lady sewed up the dog. Soon, the young mother had children. They were mixed with a Boston-Terrier. One of them was sold to a family and named Brendel. As a young puppy and un-house-broken, Brendel wet the entire house. As a result for her actions the family abused Brendel, hitting her with rolled newspapers and leaving her alone for hourse while she destroyed there house (she's a puppy! What'd ya expect!) Being fed up, the family returned the mentally and physically abused puppy back where they got her, only to be adopted again...
(Picture of Tippy, her siblings, and mother)

Here's her Hembree life story:
After our old German Sherpard, Buddy, died, we decided to get a new dog. We went one day to the Shigler Animal Hospital where they were having animals for adoption. It was organized by the APL (Animal Protection League). We saw a little golden retreiver puppy, but we thought somebody would buy it (which they ended up leaving!) So, we looked at other animals. Curled up on a lady's lap was this little pitiful dog, shaking, named Brendel. Me and my mom were like "Aww! We have to get this one!" It's only because we felt sorry for her. She was so ugly she was cute! Anyways, after fighting with the rest of the family, we got Brendel, soon to be named Tippy! This was the day before Thanksgiving 1999.
In February 2003, Tippy got hit by a speeding truck down our street. She was raced to, guess where, Shigler Animal Hostpital, were she remained in stable condition. She returned home the next day with a concussion. She was just like a baby. We fed her with a bottle, my dad had to carry her outside to pee, and he had to hand feed her soft food. Thankfully, she is all better now.
Tippy is now 6 years old and getting calming down. She is a great addition to the Hembree family, and an even better watch dog. Without her, we would not be a complete family. (Picture of Philip and Tippy)

TIPPY ROCKS!

Summer Has Officially Begun

Audrey and the other Sr. Highers headed off today for Camp. I'm really gonna miss her! I know that she will have tons of fun, it's mandatory at that Camp. The only way that you wouldn't have fun at Camp Patmos is if you were a vegetable or something. Anyways, I think I will be alright without her. This is the beginning of the annual week I like to call "The Em and Liz Week". It's where me and Emily spend the entire week together while our sisters are at Camp. She is at the orthodontist right now, but when they get home, we are going over there to swim so I guess I will just stay over there. We have so much fun together! People always ask us "Don't you ever get sick of eachother?" No. We don't. It's just not possible. I mean, any others pair of friends probably would, but not us.
This is the first year Emily is an "only child" so to speak. All of her siblings are at Camp the same week. Becky and Jimmy are campers, and Steve is a counselor. I still got Phil though :) He is so adorable! Everyone calls him "Ripped-Phil" He likes it though. Aww!
I was looking on Windows Media Player for some songs. Yesterday after church when I came to get on the computer, this screen popped up saying "Windows root>/system32/hal.dll" Whatever that means. Well, the computer wouldn't start, so Dad had to re-do the upgrade for Windows xp. Now, he says all of our stuff is still on the computer (desktops, documents, ect.) but I don't know where it is because now it's like a brand new computer: no trace of any downloaded programs, documents, NOTHING! So, I had to re-make my playlist. I used to have a ton of songs, now I only have a couple. It consists of:

• Phantom of the Opera.Overture-no words, just instrumentalists
• The Refiners Fire-some choir (not the one we sing in yg, it's like a hymn, but i still like it!)
• Wonderful, Merciful Savior-???
• Be Thou My Vision- 4Him
• Camp Patmos staff video 2004-song "All I Need"Bethany Dillon
• Camp Patmos camp tour-song "Our King"???

I only listen to the staff video for the song because I can't find it anywhere else! It's an awesome song. Any other ideas of what I can add, comment them!\

Well, I'm outta ideas of what to write so BYE!

How'd they do that?

A Ship In A Bottle

Well, coming home last night, I had somewhat of a discussion with Katie and Kristen-- a random, out of the blue-where did that come from--on how people get a ship inside a bottle. Hmm? I was wondering this when I got home because, frankly, it seemed impossible to do. So, I went to Ask.com and found this site. If you don't care, too bad, this is my blog! Enjoy...

(Taken from http://home.att.net/~ShipModelFAQ/smf-q079.html)

You lay the masts backward, then twist the yards as parallel to the masts as possible. All the forestays run thru loops on the bow sprit.
I made the "water" base from rubber mold stuff, sat the hull into it while it was still wet, peeled it from the hull after drying, then air brushed water effects on the rubber, rolled the whole thing up and slipped it thru the neck. Since the bottle is round, I had used a piece of styrene rolled to the shape of the bottle, and held round with plaster of paris cast over it, to act as the bottom of the mold for the water base, which I poured the liquid rubber into, guaranteeing a proper fit to the inside of the bottle.
Taking rubber cement I applied with a brush taped to a 1/4" dowel, I glued the water base piece inside the bottle. This was the hardest part. Since the cement was for all intent "contact cement", I had to hit the exact spot the first try. Since I only have one arm, I had to get some help. A friend held the base upside down, taped to a dowel rod, as I brushed on the glue to both the bottle and the base, then we rotated the bottle till it lined up to the base, then jammed it together. We stopped for a beer after that part!
I inserted the completed ship thru the neck after painting rubber cement to the keel, allowing all the forestays to hang outside the bottle neck. I set the ship into it's depression in the water base and allowed it to dry while returning for another beer!
Next day, I set up the masts. First I applied yellow elmers glue to the inside if the mast hinges. This was difficult because of the sails being in the way, but by lifting them up out of the way with a piece of coat hanger, I got all three masts glued, them began to draw on the forestays, which raised the masts up. The mizzen and main stays were already tied to the fore and main masts so they rose up right along with the foremast.
I raised the masts to the full posture then taped off the forestays to the bottle neck till the glue dried. I had also glued the forestays to the loops on the bowsprit. All this gluing is done one dab at a time by putting a drop of Elmers on the end of a coat hanger wire. After drying for a day, I went back in with a razorblade (out of a disposable razor) taped to a dowel rod, and cut the forestay draw strings off as near the bow sprit as I could. Next I prodded the yard arms to a level position. I had tied the topsail and topgallant yards to the main yards with a line connected to the tips of each so that as the main was leveled, the rest followed. I could not glue these since the fore mast masked the main and the mizzen from being reached by a glue dabber. In spite of this, they stayed level anyhow (I used straight pins for pivots connecting the yards to the masts).
I did two of these and sold both. I saw one last year and after 10 years it still looks good (I was afraid of the mold rubber being able to retain paint).
The bottles were antique whisky bottles about 18" tall, 6" neck with a generous 1 1/4" neck opening.
The ship hull was a bit more than 4" long with a 1 1/2" bowsprit. The masts are about 3" tall from the deck. The hull was made from a Revell "Kearsarge" quarter boat. The whole works barely fitted thru the neck.
That is how you put a ship in a bottle.

Possibly the most useless, pointless, dumbest post ever posted in the history of blogs.
Well, atleast now you are informed and educated so next time somebody asks you how they get that darn ship in that bottle, you can tell them exactly how it's done.

Thanks for wasting the time to read that...
Have a stinkin' awesome day!

Just Another Night With Em!

Well, Emily came over after youth group tonight. We got home around 8:45 and immediatly went to install the Sims game that she brought over. We tried to make our Sim, Guri Bartholomu, live and get a job and stuff without cheat codes. Well, that didn't last long! After Sims, which we ended at like 11:30, we played this little video game thing my brother got for Christmas. It's graphics look like an old Atari or something. Pretty lame, but it was actually addicting! Then we played TONY HAWK! We then watched Elf. I got some cheat codes off the web for TONY HAWK so we used those to play H.O.R.S.E. Emily obviously used her "signature move" the Hand Plant the whole time. Yes, that game is a classic. After TH forever we played Diddy Kong Racing. She actually beat me! SURPRISE! I'm j/k :)
Wow, it is almost 4:00 and I'm pooped! I'll just post in the morning, I mean, later today!

True Friend?

What is the definition of a true friend? Well, in my own expiriences, my definition is that trust is a mutual feeling between both people, along with respect. That person won't say negative comments to you to hurt you and they will never point out your faults so that you feel inferior you them. A true friend will love you and comfort. A true friend will encourage and strengthen your walk with the Lord. That person will honor you opinions. A true friend should be someone who you can laugh with.
The Lord Jesus Christ gave us the definition of a true friend in John. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13). Jesus is the pure example of a true friend for He laid down His life for His "friends."

I have made many mistakes when it comes to choosing my friends. Some of my "friends" have told me my other "friends" think that I am in the way, annoying, always around. These people were very close to me at one point in my life, before they got sucked into peer-pressure. But that's no excuse. I always knew that these people did not contain the qualities of a friend listed above. I always felt like "good company" to them.
Thankfully, God has given me many true-friends. These people have ALL of the qualities listed above, and many more. When I am around them, I feel good all the time. And I'm not saying that we never have our bad times, because, well, that's normal. What I'm saying is that these people are those whom I know will always forgive me and I will always forgive them. (You guys know who you are :-D)

Finally!

Hey, I am over here at Em's house. We went running before we jumped into the pool. I need to keep up with it and Em was nice enough to go with me "for moral support". I can tell she hated it, though. Anyways, when we got home, we jumped into the pool for another day of the Never-ending Pool Party. We attempted to beat out record of hitting the beach ball back and forth 385 times. We FINALLY succeeded, with a new record of 499. Wow, we were so excited. We ran inside to get our long antisipated victory food (Little Debby Nutty Bars) Strangly, they were nowhere to be found. So, we got icecream sandwhiches instead.
Now, we will go out and swim again!

Summa Sundea

Whew-ee. I am very tired. Partially because of having such a full day and half exhaustion. I didn't fall asleep until 2:00 this morning! I have dumb songs from Audrey's quince cds. Ay yi yi.. that was so annoying! LOL.
Being Sunday, we went to church. Sunday school was good. Clint gave us the analogy of the grape vine and our connection with God. Pretty much it is God=vine, Christians=branches, Fruit=new Christians we lead to Christ, Sap=Holy Spirit. Just as a branch cannot live without the connection with the vine, we cannot survive spiritually without the connection of God. Also, as a branch cannot bear fruit without the vine, we cannot bring sinners to Christ without being connected and saved from our sins by God. It's an awesome lesson found in John 15.
After SS came the morning service. The choir sang my all time favorite song (sarcasm) entitles "This Is Love". But, you know, it brought praise to the Lord. I feel bad now because I had the wrong attitude while singing it. Atleast my God is a gracious and forgiving God! After choir came the interesting message about angels. I never really thought about them in the way the Pastor Kuhns talked about. Angels are higher than man. I didn't know that!
After the morning service, we went to my cousin, Jordan's, 10th birthday party. Aww, he is so cute! :) It was like an Incredible themed party. Audrey and I made the cake. In my last post, I told you how we were making it. I didn't tell you that it was soupy in the middle when we took it out. We had to keep putting it back in the oven. It turned out to taste very good (maybe because Mom smothered it in frosting!)
After J's par-tay, we went to the evening service. Pastor gave the message on Joshua and how God fulfilled the promises, such as how the Isrealites would win every battle they went into as long as they obeyed God completely. Just as the morning service, it was very good. When the message was over, all the teens piled into the BSBC van and headed over to Mrs. Barnes house for our summer sunday night. Steve and Becky were back from Camp Patmos, tanned and everything >:( lol. Steve played his gee-tar while we sat in a circle of lawn chairs singing praise. Inbetween songs, James asked us to give testimonies and prayer requests for ourselves and others over the summer.
It was a nice, chilly, evening full of fellowship. Wow, Stephen's and Becky's testimonies of Camp made me aware that even though the week is totally awesome for the campers, at times it can be hard on the staff members. I guess it is pretty hard and stressful being "band" on the island with a bunch of little, and at times, disobedient kids while missing home. Atleast they have the comfort that their church home is praying diligently for them as they serve the Lord.

Oh Happy Day!

Hey all. My day was good. I woke up at 11:00 this morning and talked with Audrey for a while. When I got up, Dad was making breakfast. I had two fried eggs and sausage. It was..good. LOL. After breakfast, Mom took me and Audrey to the mall to get Father's Day presents for Dad. We got him *ATTENTION* -Dad, if you are reading this blog before you open your presents, stop reading and continue after you open them!! (Okay, sorry about that) as I was saying, we got him a nice pair of lounge pants, a buisness calculator, shampoo (oo lala) and some blades for his razor. This morning as we were leaving to go shopping, Dad was fixing the gutter in the front of the house from when the awning caved in last December. I asked him "Hey Dad, what do you want for Father's Day?" He told me needed razors and this special shampoo. I then asked him what he WANTED and of course he told me the default dad answer: I have you guys as my kids, what more could I want! Aww, so sweet, but I mean seriously, what do you want? That's when he told me that he wanted a nice buisness/ financial calulator for work. So, we headed off to Chapel Hill Mall to first find the calculator. We couldn't find it anywhere. When we went into one of the department stores (I think Kaufmann's) these ladies were passing out those little perfume cards but with cologne for men. There was this stuff that smelled really good, but it was like 64 bucks! Mom was like "I would love to get this for Dad, but he would kill me for spending so much!" We then went to Best Buy and still found no calulator. We finally found one at Target. Mom then went off to look for lounge pants for Dad, while Aud and I looked for the blades and shampoo. Finally, we found them and left. I was pretty hungry by this time, so Mom got us McDonald's. We parked in a deserted part of the parkign lot over by Burlington and ate our food. There were a whole bunch of seagulls around our car. We began throwing our fries out the window for them. Soon, there were about a dozen gulls around our little car. When we didn't throw any for awhile, they would begin fighting. All of their feathers were ruffled. It seriously reminded me of The Birds. It was so funny though. Then this minivan drives by and dumps out her hambuger crumbs. All the gulls flocked to her, leaving us abandoned. The funniest part was when you threw one fri into the middle of all the birds and watch them fight over it. LOL. After that, we came home. Dad and Philip went to visit my grandmother and about 15 minutes after we got home so did they. Dad handed me this bag. Inside was the Microsoft Office 2003. I was so happy, because we still have Lotus 1997 or something. Then I saw another green package with Windows XP Home Edition on it. I was pretty hyped up by now. Then we ordered pizza!Finally: no more Windows 98!! Dad is going to install it soon. Can't wait!!! Well, my parents are on a date and me and Audrey just finished making a cake for my cousins birthday tomorrow and now I want to rest so ttyl!

This is a picture of me that I made on a website where you can make a face. Do you think it looks like me? The link to the website is in my links section on my sidebar. Try it! 

Sidebar

Check out the sidebar. I have added a new poll for you to take. There is also a new counter so keep visiting this blog so that the numbers will go up! I have also added new links.

Wow...I have A LOT To Say!

As the title says, I have quite a bit to blog about. Well, I went over to Kristen's yesterday to hang out. We played badmitten and then we went on a bike ride. We rode up to an icecream shop and I got a chocolate icecream in a cup (just like at camp!) and she got a twinkle cone or something. after we ate our creamed ice, we stopped over at Kristen A.'s house. We sat in her living room and talked for a little bit while we drank our water. We had just riden up this HUGE hill (like 1/3 of it, but it was still tiring) so the water was very nice to have. After we left, we rode back to her house and got in our swimsuits. Cuyler and Katie were over in the kiddie pool. We got absolutlly soaking wet from everyone pouring water on our heads. After getting wet, we had dinner and went to Giant Eagle to pick up some snacks and groceries. We got toaster strudels for bfast, mac & cheese (Blue's Clues shapes) for lunch, and a pizza for our snack. We also got a movie called "Young Hearts Unlimited" to watch that night. Well, the next morning (this morning) we woke up, had the strudel things, and again went outside to play badmitten with bobby and timmy. wow, we got beat really bad, but only because it was windy and the birdie is too light. yeah, that's it... anyways, i think we played wheel of fortune after that and then had lunch. The blue paw print macaronni made it taste that much better. I don't know why, but the shapes in your mac and cheese make it taste awesome. lol. After lunch we went on another bike ride to Firestone Park. When we came back, their neighbor Corey from down the street came and "talked" to us. He was very, uh... well, he had a lot to say. And he said it. We then played H.O.R.S.E. Wow, Robby beat us so bad because he chose one shot that nobody else could make: a backwards throw. I chose a layup, which everyone succeeded at. I lost...twice. :( Corey came back and we had a "slam dunk contest". I think the concept of one of these contests it to slam dunk it, which was hard for me and kristen. I tried an "olie oop" and that didn't work out to well either... After bball, me and Kristen went in her room to get ready for YG. I did her makeup and hair. She looked really pretty! Of course, she always is pretty :) We had dinner and then hung out in her room until we left for YG.
And now about YG. We had our regular devotions led by non other then Kristen Adams. It was very good. She talked about seperation from the world and brotherly love. After devotions, Clint gave us out our directions for the rest of the evening.: OPERATION HAMMER HAMMEL. What this is is we would go onto Hammel Street (a nearby street of the church where a lot of teens live) and tell some of the teens who once came to youth night that we're still here! and that they need to follow God and come back to us. We gave them the summer youth events schedule. My group consisted of myself, Audrey, Jimmy, and Ty. Clint came with us, too. We ran into a bunch of familiar and not so familiar faces. It was very fulfilling in the fact that we told them about the youth group and that God commands them to follow Him and that they need to make time for God. They know these things and there is nothing more we can do. Like the Bible verse says, we can either sow or reap the sinners. In this case, we are sowing and God is the reaper. I just hope they come back to us! That would be awesome.

Gotta Love Him!

My Sunday

Yesterday was Sunday. It was the 75th anniversary for the church. It was pretty cool, actually, it was extremely hot, but you know what I mean. Anyways, Pastor Jeff Reed came back for the celebration and taught our Sunday School class. After that, the choir practiced and went up for the service. It wasn't the regular routine. Pastor Reed sang 4 songs, and Dean Henry's (the pastor of BSBC before Pastor Kuhns) son, Dave Henry gave a short little message. He asked the congregation who their hero was from Brown Street. I wanted to say Mrs. Dodd. She was a fun woman and she would always give us healthy foods like plain popcorn, carrots, and water for second hour snack. She also had this little saying when we got too antsy "Put your seat on your seat". LOL Anyways, after the service, we all got nifty pens. We then went to eat some delicious chicken, potatos, salads, and desserts. After I was done eating, I went into Philip's sunday school room to watch a slideshow presentaion. There were a bunch of pictures of people I didn't know, but there were some recent pictures. Like this one of me with these big pink sunglasses that literally took up my whole face that I got from VBS a few years back. It was a nice time.
After church, my family went over to the Kozy's to swim. Me and Emily tried to break our record of 358 hits, but only got to about 230 or so. We then went down to play on the computer. Emily finally posted in her blog after I kept nagging her while I played the Sims Superstar. Yeah, my guy on the Sims is a very bad entertainer. He got booed off the stage... Well, after all that, we went back in the pool and soon got out again for pizza. We ate it up in their tree house. Yeah, we still act like kids... :)
When I got home, I watched some tv in the basement until Audrey got back from her date. She comes down and was like "Do you want to watch a movie? We can pull out the sofa bed and sleep down here". I agreed. We ate nasty Twizzlers, Nutty Bars, generic SunnyD, and Ice Pops. We tried to watch Aladdin (we have hardly any DVDs and the VCR down in the basement is broken) but soon got tired and turned it off. I could not fall asleep. Our sofa bed has the worst mattress and I was lying right on a spring. I finally fell asleep after what seemed like hours, while Audrey next to me slept like a baby. Early this morning, like around 5:00, Tippy came and layed next to me. I didn't wake up until 9:30 and finally got up at 9:45 this morning. I watched Texas Court and now here I am. Hopefully, today will be a good day.
Well, sorry I don't write anything interesting for you to read anymore, but that's all I have to say until later today. Love ya!!

Canoe Trip

Wow, the canoe trip was so much fun! It was about a half hour drive up there to the Tuscarawas River I'd say. We stopped at the Canal Fulton canoe stop, signed in, got our oars, and then jumped into a van and headed upstream to where the voyage begun. We all divided up into groups, which were: Me and Emily; Audrey and Jimmy; Beckie and Brittany; Kristen K. and Tylesha; Katie, Kristen A., and Vicki; James and Timmy; Carl and DJ; Clint and Cuyler; and Bobby, Andy, and Michael. Emily and I did a pretty good job. We didn't really run into anything after we got used to it. We just kept going over big logs which were a delay, but not too bad. At one point, we, along with Audrey and Carl's boats were far ahead of everyone else so we pulled over to wait for them. Me and Em pulled over by a muddy bank and made mud balls. We surprised those coming around the bend with a shower of mud. Then, as we were about to go off again, I lost my oar and it was too far away for me to reach so I jumped in to get it (I was already soaked to the bone so it didn't matter that much). I then couldn't get into the canoe. Luckily James was just passing then so he attempted to help me get back in. Finally I got in, only to fall right out again. I tried two more times before totally submurging the canoe in water. All of out stuff was floating on the brown, stinky, murky water. The Clint and Cuyler showed up helped us get out boat to shore. On the bank, the muck was discustingly thick. You would put your foot down and sink like 2 feet under. We lost a flip-flop of Emily's in that stuff. Finally, our canoe was floatable and we were off. Of course, just then James' boat went under. We gave our thanks and left (sorry guys). We then were absolutlly sopping wet and stunk. Flies were flying all around our heads. Emily was like "Hey, just 'cause I smell like poop doesn't mean that you have to fly all around me head." I was cracking up as she tried to rid herself of those nasty little flies. We then began singing. A few of our numbers were: Phantom of the Opera, YG songs, Tomorrow, You Raise Me Up, Peter, James, and John in a Sailboat (which we mixed the words up to sing about ourselves), Newsies, and other songs. Soon, we were in the rough part. Our canoe was going crazy and turning all over the place. The water was very shallow and the bottom was all rocks so we just jumped out and steered the canoe out of the rocks. Soon after that, we were all done and went to rinse ourselves off with the freezing cold, yet refreshing hose. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait for next year and the other youth events the leaders have in store for us!

Bored and Bloggin IV

READ: Since it is now summer and I have nothing better to do, expect multiple posts a day.

Well, today was alright. The highlight of the day was when we went over to the Kozy's to swim. I tried sun bathing and it was so hot I jumped into the pool. When I was walking down the steps from their back door in their back yard, I tripped and dragged my foot on the cement. My whole top layer of toe nail came off. Becky's friends were over and I only got to see Emily for an hour again. Atleast today was their last day of school! Me, Emily, and Lindsay made a "whirl pool" in the pool. It was a pathetic whirlpool, but it was still a whirlpool. When we were driving over there, Audrey saw roadkill. This is not unusual in Tallmadge, but she felt sick because she saw it's face. She was like "Oh my gosh, I am going to puke" throughout the whole ride there. Gotta love her!

I got my report card yesterday. I got all A's for this marking period and my final grades were all A's. I'm proud of myself!! It's not vain proud, I just didn't expect to do that well. I also got all A's on my final exams except for Language Arts. In the LA exam, that is the one where I wrote about Audrey in the essay part, too! What I am really surprised about is getting a 100% on my math exam. God is good!!! Without him, I probably wouldn't have done so hot.

Tomorrow is the teen canoe trip. I am going with Emily in a canoe. Last time I went canoeing it was with Audrey. We were on the Moheekin (that's not how you spell it, just sound it out) River. Me and Aud were in one canoe and Dad, Mom, and Philip were in the other. I was in the front and we kept running into things (actually that's her fault because the back steers it.). She got so mad that she stood up in the canoe, lifted her paddle into the air, and was about to hit me over the top of my head. Then the boat started rocking. Luckily, we didn't fall in. After the trip, this guy was at the end and helped us onto shore so we could get out and not go all the way down the river which emptied into the Ohio and then the Mississippi River and then the Gulf of Mexico. Anyways, I was just sitting in the canoe and was like "Oh, do you want us to get out?" he was like "uh, yeah..." I felt like saying "grr, get an attitude check, I was just asking!" Yeah, canoeing is fun. Last year it got rained out so we all went bowling.

I have another Mark Schultz song stuck in my head.. THE LEGEND OF McBRIDE

Long ago on the Texas Plains

Was a little town

That never changed

Until a man rode into town,

A Ranger known for miles around

Well, he could keep the peace without a gun

From Abilene down to Galveston

When he rode by the general store

People crowded through the door

To see the legend and the man called McBride,

CHORUS:

Oh, in Iverson

Through the doors of the old hotel

A burnin' fire began to build

People screamin' for their lives,

And the first one there was John McBride.

And just as soon as he stepped in

People saw the roof cave in,

And everybody knew that he would not survive

CHORUS

Than a lady right outside,

Said her baby boy was trapped inside

But not a man would fight the flames,

And she knew that it would be too late

But through the smoke and burnin flames

She heard her baby call her name

The boy appeared

But no one knew

Who saved his life.

And when the boy grew old and gray

He spoke about that fateful day,

And the man that saved his life,Texas Ranger, John McBride

Yup, I always have a song stuck in my head.

I have a verse that keeps coming back to me. Maybe God wants me to have it for some reason;

John 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts you double-minded.

Sorry that was so long! g2g

Shout Outs!

Shout-outs to my girlfriends!

• Emily- Wow, where do I begin? You are my best friend ever! We have known eachother forever, literally. I am so blessed to have you as my best friend. I would honestly not be the person I am today without all that encouragement you give me. You are an awesome Christian example to follow after. And a great poet, I might add. I cannot count all of the wonderful, wacky, pointless, and hilarious times we have shared over the last 13 years, and I doubt you can either! Remember the pool excercies, the 358 bach ball hits (I think that's how many), Tony Hawk for ever, and countless others. I love you, girl!! UTSBFF (lol)
• Kristen- Hey! You are an awesome friend. You are such a strong and devoted Christian and and true-blue, won't let ya down kinda friend. We have known eachother for 13 years!! You are downright hilarious. Remember those "conversations" we have when I spend the night? We have had some good times. Love ya!
• Tylesha- Tylesha, Tylesha...you are awesome! You are another one of those friends I have known all my life, and I'm glad of that! You are one funny gal and an awesome friend. I can always count on you to come through and make me laugh and lift my spirits when I am down in the dumps. You have such a passionate attitude towards Christ! I love it!! Love ya!

• Audrey- I know you are my sister, but you are also my best friend! I love you so much and look up to you. Without you, I would never have anything to wear! I'm just kidding. Without you I would be lost and confused and, well, not the same girl I am today. You are such a mentor for me and a great example to follow after. You always have great advice for me when I'm in a pickle or having social trouble! Whether it's me or Philip, you are always willing to lend a hand and be involved in our lives. You manage your life so well and it seems so easy for you (but I know it's not, partially because I don't make it that way...) I love you so much and am honored to tell people you are my big sister!

• Becky K.-Hey you! Like a sister to me. You, Audrey, Emily, and I have had so many weird and awesome expiriences to remember. Like dressing up in big winter coats in mid August and throwing your Barbie's into your brother's rooms and getting them returned without heads!! You are so awesome, absolutlly hilarious and somebody who I can come to for advice. LYLABS!!!
• Becky G. -You're awesome. I came into youth group and you were leaving for Cedarville. But what I do know, I love! You are a great Christian woman and I look up to you! You're pretty hilarious too! Remember sitting on that big slab of cement at Camp Patmos talking about seeweed throwing, the guys playing basketball (*cough cough* lol) my "husband" Mr. No-Hands? And then moving all those sticks, 'cause we are beasts. LOL Wow, that was so much fun. That weekend I really got to know you a little bit more. Have fun cooking at Camp, and I can't wait to see you there!
• Brittany- I haven't known you too long, but what I know is that you are cool. Pretty fast, too. You have given me some really good advice and it seems like you are always available to chat with. I hope we can get to know eachother a little better this summer!
• Angel- Hey, I don't know you that well,but you seem like a really great person and I'm glad you have been coming to YG. I have talked to you and I can tell you that you are really interesting and cool. I hope that we become good friends!

Thursday Night..wooh hoo

After taking Tippy for a walk, I came home and showered. Then I began to read the paper and Phil comes running up the steps and says "The party is about to begin". Of course I knew what this meant: the neverending pool party at the Kozy's! I got in my suit and went over there. Em was still in school and so I only got to hang out with her for about an hour. When we came home I again showered to get the chlorine smell off. I ate some strogonoff and went to Philip's game, which they lost. :(

Lately, Audrey and I have been listening to the old Mark Schultz cd and this one song has been stuck in our heads. It's called He's My Son. Obviously, I don't have any kids and won't until I say "I do" (that's from your post Audrey!) but the music is really beautiful and the lyrics are as well. It was writted by Mark for his friend who's 14 year-old son was dyign of leukimia. Here they are. Though I must say the music makes it all the more better:

I'm down on my knees again tonight,

I'm hoppin' this prayer will turn out right.

See, there is a boy that needs Your help.

I've done all that I can do myself

His mother is tired,

I'm sure You can understand.

Each night as he sleeps

She goes in to hold his hand,

And she tries

Not to cry

As the tears fill her eyes.

Chorus:

Can You hear me?

Am I getting through tonight?

Can You see him?

Can You make him feel all right?

If You can hear me

Let me take his place some how.

See, he's not just anyone, he's my son.

Sometimes late at night I watch him sleep,

I dream of the boy he'd like to be.

I try to be strong and see him through,

But God, who he needs right now is You.

Let him grow old,

Live life without this fear.What would I be

Living without him here?

He's so tired,And he's scared

Let him know that You're there.

Chorus

Can You hear me?

Am I getting through tonight?

Can You see him?

Can You make him feel all right?

If You can hear me

Let me take his place somehow.

See, he's not just anyone...

Can You hear me?

Can You see him?

Please don't leave him,

He's my son.

Tippy

My dog is fast. Half BEAGLE half BOSTON-TERRIER. I decided to take her on a walk today. We walked up to Hyre Park and I decided to run around the 1/2 mi. loop with her. We stopped on the steps of the community center and she came up and sat next to me. After that we went home. She is a little beast, that Tippy. She is as skinny as a malnourished cow but she runs like a bullet. I was breathing pretty hard, especially since it is scorching hot outside, even though it was at 11:00 this morning! When we walked into the central aired house, she immediately went to her water bowl. So, I gave her an ice cube (she loves ice cubes) and then she went to lay down in the living room under the ceiling fan.

Yea, it was fun.

Now I get to go swimming :)

My Fun Wednesday

Today was a good day. I woke up at 10:30 *gasp!* and did nothing for awhile. Then Philip got picked up by Natalie and Mrs.Rostedt to go to Ellet Library for some fun day of popsicles and balloons. Audrey had Jennifer over and so I was online, in my room, just hanging out for awhile. I had a pizza pocket for lunch, mm mmm!!! Anyways, we had the youth group school's out (well, almost, for you Tallmadge people...) picnic tonight at FirestoneMetro. I think Audrey is going to write about it on the YG blog a little bit later, but here's my expirience...

First, we had hamburgers for dinner and talked. Then we did whatever for a little bit longer. After that, came the GAMES. We started out played "Ultimate Frisbee" which if like Ultimate Nerfball for you Hyre people and Ultimate Football for those of you who went to Skyveiw Ranch. Except, it has a frisbee and not a nerfball/football. I think the BSBC people like to put me and Audrey against eachother, like at Easter when we went up to demonstrate the egg cracking contest and tonight when we were both team captains for the frisbee game. Anywho, my team consisted of myself, jimmy, clint, angel, beckie, kristen, katie, cuyler and i think that is it... Carl, who was on Audrey's team, went to pass it to her when i jumped up behind her and smacked it down.. :) I think that got her steamed. But, I love her!! After the tiring game, we had a water break and played monarchy. Philip won!! whoo, he has some pretty good agility, or in his words "cat-like reflexes". Throughout the whole night, I had "He's My Son" by Mark Schultz in my head. Why? Because Audrey keeps playing the cd! It's a good song though...

And that was my night. [comment]

My Weird Dreams...

It is 10:43 and I just woke up an hour and 15 minutes ago. Man, I had a crazy dream... I was just about to tell it to Audrey when my mind went blank and I couldn't remember it at all. Don't you hate when that happens? Well, a couple minutes later, she said she was getting a rash on her elbow or something and for some odd reason, my dream came back to me. This is as much as I can remember:

I was at an amusment park with my family and some their adult friends. I guess I had a little blonde baby sister or something. I let her go down a slide and everyone got mad at me. My punishment is that I had to ride all the rides showing no emotion on my face. And if you know me well, really well, you will know that I am an emotional person and this would be very hard for me.
The second part of the dream was that I was at home and was about to make a fried egg. I opened up the Eggland's Best container and there were a bunch of golden eggs. I looked at the lid and it said "Eggland's Best 100th Anniversary Golden Foil Covered Eggs" (Yes I told you this dream was crazy!) And you all remember how I had that sty thing in my eye, right? Well, Philip comes waltzing in while I am making my egg. His left eye is big and completely pink. He has a sty on the side of his nose and wants me to make him an egg. Oh, and this whole scene was part of a soap opera. Then Audrey comes in and she has a sty as well, but not as bad. And that's all that I can remember. All parts of this dream is true. I don't know what made me have this wacky dream because I didn't have chocolate icecream before bed. Dad says that's what makes me have weird dreams. I had another weird dream two nights ago too but I don't think I should tell you...

What am I going to do today? I don't know. Philip has a baseball game at 6 o'clock and I'll probably go to that, but I still have no idea what to do until then.

Well, I'm out of ideas for now, but I might post a picture or another entry in later today. BYE!!

UH-OH..MY COMPUTER IS GETTING SLOW AGAIN!

Ideas...

I need some ideas for the youth group blog. i have been racking my brain trying to figure out what to post in it on days other than sundays and wednesdays. do u have any ideas? comment them into this post.

i have had some ideas for giving out assignments (like one person would report on wednesday nights, another on youth events, ect..) but i don't know if anyone would be willign to do that. if you are, comment on that too and i'll try to make this work!

I think this poster tells you already that today was very hot.  

My Day

Today I arose out of bed at 8:45. I was lying awake in my bed while petting Tippy for I don't know how long before I finally got up. I got dressed, ate a Pop Tart, and then went to church with Dad and Audrey for the work day. All the men were doing to "big" work, like putting some plaster stuff on the side of the wall, tearing off dead wood from the outside of the building, painting the hall, trimming the hedges, ect. Well, being the only females there, Audrey and I did garden work. We weeded, cultivated the soil , and planted and watered 66 flowers in the front and back of the church. Whew, it was veeeery hot!! In the back, the soil was as dry as a desert and was covered with dead woodchips. After that, we washed the front windows. Pastor was telling us how there were bullet holes in the windows in the office. He's like, "That's life!" and I was thinking, "Not my life!" It's sad though how people can have no respect for God's House!
After the work day, we came home and I made some Mac & Cheese (we used up the last box of that naaaasty kind [Mrs. Cubberson or something] yesterday..thank goodness!) I already had some in my bowl and got up to get the remnants that Audrey didn't take. I was so "Abrupt" as my family calls me the "abrupt one" that I dropped the bowl, and it was a nice bowl!, and it went splattering all over the floor. I was so fumed and had to make another box to satisfy my stomach, which ended up being full half way through my half eaten, long antisipated bowl that I had to wait another 10 minutes to eat. Man, funny how the world works. But it was "The Cheesiest Blue Box" kind KRAFT MACARONNI AND CHEESE so it filled my up faster than the usual MRS. CUBBERSON. (yuk!)
We went over the Grandma Iris and Grandpa Jose's and spent time with them for a couple hours before dropping off Aud at Jimmy's and coming home, where I am typing this. I am anxious for the QuizBowl tomorrow because it is the last week and my team, Team Pocahontas, is in the lead with 23 points, but the other two teams are trailing behind with 22 and 21 points. :-0 !!
--*Well words are
L
O
W
so g2g!

Finally!

Well, school is finally over after 9 long months. Emily doesn't get out until next Friday so we still aren't gonna be able to hang out for a while longer.
I was grounded for two days (wednesday and thurday night) from the computer and today when it was over and i could get on, the connection wouldn't work! so finally i am able to get on @ 10:00 tonight when nobody is on my buddylist!
Philip had a game tonight. Dad, Audrey, and I got there an hour late but I got to see him play a lot. He hit 2 singles and was walked once scoring 3 points, the third he slid into home and was safe because the catcher dropped the ball. He is getting really good! I was soo proud of him, but of course, I always am. :) He is so cute when he is playing. When he went up to bat the last time all his teammates were going "Let's go Philip! Let's go! Whoo-whoo!" After he slid in his team practically jumped on top of him because I think he made the tying point, 10-10. (That was during extra innings at the top of the 7th inning and the opposing team went away with the victory 11-10)
Tomorrow I'm not sure what I am going to do. Philip is going to the Akron Zoo with his Sunday School class and Audrey will probably go out with Jimmy tomorrow night. Maybe Mom, Audrey, and I will venture out again to find a decent bathing suit.

**Thanks for your comments on the Sesame Street Quiz. Oh, and make sure you visit the BSBC Youth blog for the upcoming summer events!