Youth Retreat '05

This weekend was the youth retreat and to sum it up in one word would be hard. But I'll try. It was definatly fullfilling. I learned to much this year about following God as my leader. First of all, being a Christian doesn't automatically mean that I'm going to stay right behind Jesus nad never lag. No way. I have to discipline myself to not look back, or leave a part of me behind to the world. I've got to be focused. And I shouldn't be concerned about what will happen. God KNOWS what He's doing and so I have nothing to worry about and I shouldn't question him! Also, just being in the atmosphere of close Christian's who love me was a big help. My whole church (and to narrow it down my YOUTH GROUP) is so encouraging. I've never gone steadily to any other church, but from what I know and from what people tell me, I don't know of anyother church family this close. Everybody cares about everybody. It's not like we all love eachother all the time and never give eachother anyspace whatsoever, because that is definatly not it. But, I know that when I'm in a rut, next to my family, these guys are the first I will go to (but of course, my Daddy is #1!). I can't tell you guys how much I love you!

I also had a ton of fun. Even though I was alittle "injured" I was involved in a lot of activities. Friday night we went on a hike through the woods - in the pitch black dark, with nothing but a little flashlight and a thin peice of twine to keep us all together. This had a spiritual lesson. We can't go through life (the woods) without The Light (the flashlight) leading us. It's also hard to go without other people encouraging you and enduring the same hardships with you (the twine).
Saturday we did a lot of other activities and I played volleyball, hockey, football, basketball, and Frisbee. I would have like to been involved in more of the games, but my ankle wouldn't allow it.
Can't wait for next year.

Sorry I didn't type more. And sorry my blogging has been going downhill. Hopefully, I'll try to get back into it with posts that are actually worthwhile!

The Elephant Show!

Skinnamarinkydinkydink. Skinnamarinkydoo. I - Love - You!
Skinnamarinkydinkydink. Skinnamarinkydoo. I - Love - You!
I love you in the morning and in the afternoon.
I love you in the evening, underneath the moon.
Skinnamarinkydinkydink. Skinnamarinkydoo. I - Love - You!
Skinnamarinkydoo, I - Love - You -- Too!. (Boop, boop, ee-doo)

Uh-Oh...

I went to school yesterday. I had on my Ace bandage, socks, and Nike sandles. I tried putting on my shoes, but my foot wouldn't fit inside and it hurt! so I just wore the sandles. Since it was raining and "inclimate weather" the staff had all of the kids go inside. I stood against the wall in the gym for about 5 minutes before Mr. E (the assistant principal) called me over. "Hembree, come here...Why do you have on those shoes?" I told him and he was like, "Well, you're foot should have fit because you had on low-tops". I showed him the bandage and after a little more persuasion, he told me okay and to go to the counselor, Mrs. Stroll for a pass to give to all of my teachers saying I could leave 2 or 3 minutes early from class. So, I waited in the office for about 10 or 15 minutes before she came in. She wrote the pass, I am I made it to first period just in time to do warm-ups. My ankle wasn't hurting, except a little when I made contact with the floor.

I went throughout the rest of the day, limping heavily, but making it to class alright. Well, I was late for Pre-Algebra because my class is literally on the other side of the building. Then, right at the end of the day, a girl accidently kicked me in the ankle. OWW! Needless to say, it hurt!

I went to practice and just sat on the table, sorting out permission forms, keeping score of the lay-up game, passing out balls, and watching the coach teach new plays and play adjustments. When I came home, I took off my bandage. That's when Audrey went "WOW!" My whole side of the ankle was black and blue. I showed Mom and she said, "That's not good. I'm calling the doctor." So now I have an appointment in about an hour and 45 minutes. I'm scared. If I did just twist it badly, I'm sure they will tell me to stay off it for a week, or two, or more. And if it turns out it is broken, fractured, orwhatever, I'm afraid they will tell me I can't play. Not to be pesimistic or anything, but I don't know if I could handle that. I've worked so hard to get on the team. And that would automatically move me to reserved player (again!) and I'd have to sit on the side again while my team plays without me.

So now I have been elevating it more and icing it. We got my new shoes and shorts Sunday and yesterday. What a waste of money if I can't play. But, I'll try not to think about that.... :'( We also got a $9 brace. I tried putting it on my left ankle and that was even hard to get on. And I have to try and get it on my swollen twisted ankle. That should be fun. :-)

Throughout this, I just pray God will help me give all of my worries to Him. "Be anxious for nothing..." He says. And for Him to give me courage and PACIENT, because I think everyone knows I am muy impaciente. :-D

Test

Your Blogging Type is Confident and Insightful

You've got a ton of brain power, and you leverage it into brilliant blog.Both creative and logical, you come up with amazing ideas and insights.A total perfectionist, you find yourself revising and rewriting posts a lot of the time.You blog for yourself - and you don't care how popular (or unpopular) your blog is!

What's" Your Blogging Personality?

I wouldn't say that is 100% correct, but it's pretty close!

Typical...

Well, yesterday was the first offical basketball practice after school. Everything was going well. I made some good shots, decent defense, and ran the plays correctly. Yup, it was a good practice. I felt confident about myself. Then afterwards, Mrs. Firtha has us run (shuttles before and after practice). I ran down to halfcourt, touched the line, and ran back..almost. Right before I crossed the baseline, I landed sideways on my ankle. I almost tripped because the the emense pain that shot up through my whole ankle. Luckily, I was right infront of a chair. I hobbled over, sat down, and tried to hold in the tears. Coach Firtha came over and I told her were the pain was, how I landed, and how bad it hurt! Now, I have never broken a bone in my body, nor have I twisted any ankles, wrists, nothing. So, I didn't know what to think. Did I break it? I didn't think so. Mom says that when you break a bone you scream and can't take the pain. Of course this hurt A LOT, but I figured I just sprained it. I got some ice, and my mom was called in from her car in the parking lot.

When we pulled into the driveway, I took one look at those stairs and my stomach went up to my throat. "Wow, I so do not want to climb up those steps." Eventually I made it up and immediatly plopped down on the sofa. Then came the tears. I cried. I was so mad at myself! First day of practice, and I already hurt myself. Everyone's always telling me to be aggressive. Why in the world couldn't this have happend maybe a few weeks into this, so that I would have been conditioned enough?"

Then, Kristen and Clint came over to wish Audrey a HAPPY 16TH BIRTHDAY! I felt kind of embarrased sprawled out on the sofa with a big ice pack on my ankle. They gave me Reese's peices as a congradulation for making the team. I was happy because I love Reese's! :) But then I kinda felt bad because it was Audrey's birthday and I didn't want to take the attention off her. She is such an amazing sister and she deserves it.

Our family came over for Audrey's birthday about two hours later. It was nice to just sit and talk about things. Audrey got a lot of nice things. Earrings, a ring, make-up, and all that other good stuff a 16 year old should have. When it was time for bed, she helped me get ready for bed. Dad came in and re-wrapped the ACE bandage and helped me under the covers.

I love my family so much. They are always there to help me and anyone else who needs it. Hopefully this thing will feel better tomorrow so I won't have to be on crutches at church and school! And I just have to keep reminding myself, it all happens in God's perfect plan. Don't question myself or him. Who knows? Maybe it is His plan that during these two or three days of resting I will be aware of Him and His love.

Happy birthday, Audrey.

New Edition

Today, Mom and Philip found a kitten! Aww, it is soo cute! Mom said that when she picked up Philip and they were getting in the car to come pick me up, they saw this little kitten under the car. Since it is a black cat and around Halloween, she picked it up. "If it were any other time or any other color, I wouldn't have taken it," she said that some sick kids find black cats and sacrafice them. She just couldn't let that happen. And PLUS it is absolutly adorable! We bought food, litter box and litter, a dish, and a collar. Mom said we can keep it if Dad says it's okay. I hope he does! He has always says he likes cats.

I think this cat has fleas, though. When I was holding it, I found two little bugs crawling on me. Gross! And now I itch all over. Poor little thing, it is so skinny:(

We have locked Tippy in Philip's room so she won't see the cat until we know if we can keep her (atleast we think it's a girl). With our last cat, Tippy literally drove him insane. Milky had scabs all on his neck and he was a vicious, demon thing. I feel kinda bad though because Tippy is wimpering and barking and all the other annoying stuff she does. I don't want to think about what she will do once she finds out she isn't the only pet. She's almost as jealous as Luke! LOL

NEWSIES

Wow, if you have never seen this movie YOU BETTER! This is the best movie ever created. Newsies is a musical the depicts "actual" instances in 1899 during the New York newsies strike. The songs, all written by one of my personal favorites, Alan Menken. You'd probably recognize his work in other big time Disney movies, like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Hercules, and many others.

My absolute favorite song is Seize the Day. Wow, all of these songs are awesome though. And not to mention, Christian Bale stars (lol).

I have the movie, but am missing the soundtrack. Now, I have been looking all over the internet for the movie CD -- ASCPL, eBay, Borders, Amazon, FYE, all of those places. Of course I found them, but now I just have to figure out how to buy it. I wouldn't have time to go out and buy it inbetween homework and school, and weekdays is cleaning day mostly. *Sigh* I guess I just have to wait until Christmas. I've lived this long without it, I guess I can wait 3 more months :(

A Week With Me!

Audrey and Jimmy going off to homecoming. How cute!

Here's me and Audrey before the Hyre Fall concert. She was singing with the Madrigals, and I was in the choir and orchestra. Too bad I'm not looking at the camera :)

Here we are with the Kozy gals this evening. Kinda blurry...

Here's some of the people who came out for the coffee house tonight. And is that Becky celebrated her teams victory in Catch Phrase?

Yeah, that was pretty much my week. A whole bunch of posts combinded into 4 different pictures. :) The main reason I did this was to bring a little light to this blog. It is Saturday, October 15, 2005 by ten minutes, so I am off to bed. Toodles!

The Daily Rambler

Well, today was rough. Sorta. Just overwhelming I guess. Emily is sitting right next to me, haha. She says "hi".

First off, I went to the planetarium today. Wow, there was like a half hour long powerpoint presentation, ZZZZZZZ. Then came the star show. Some of those Greek astronomers must have had a lot of time on their hands because they say some weird things when they looked up there. Like these to starts vertical to eachother was a dog...ok... It was literally like ". ." Lol, see? Those don't look like a dog to me. Oh, it was the planetarium at Firestone Highschool so I wore an Ellet Orangemen shirt on purpose because Ellet is playing Firestone tonight. Hehe, sneaky sneaky!! Anyways, we got back to school during 5th period -- science. Okay, well I spent all morning with Mr. Niinisto and then I had to go to science class. But it's okay, he's cool.

I went through school and then at the end of the day came open gym for basketball. Only me and Shannel were the only girls there that were on the team last year! But, some of the girls had softball practice. I'm not sure if I will make it this year. A lot of girls moved to Hyre that used to go to like Jennings and Rosewell-Kent that are really good, along with a lot of good 7th graders. But, I don't know. Come Wednesday for try-outs, I will just play my heart out, be aggressive, and not worry about they think! Because I am a Hembree!! woo hoo! LOL.

Tonight is the coffee house at church. Yeah!! I will ask Mom is I can take the digital camera so I can post some pics on the yg website!

Well, that's all. Toodles.

Most Embaressing Moment!

Today in science, we were reviewing for the quiz tomorrow. Mr. Niinisto said "Don't you hate it when you find a CD-Rom that has no label on it?" So, he wrote Frank on it. Then he's like "Okay, who in here is trustworthy and responsible?" Of course, everyone raised their hand, including me. "Ok, Liz," he said, "you're the only one I can choose". So, I went up to the room. He hands me the CD and he told me to look out the window. "Alright, you see that bald-headed man out there by the brown car? Uph, he just went behind that milk truck. Okay, there he is again. You see 'im?" I saw him, but only his white, bald head. His name was Frank. He told me to run out to Frank and give Frank the Frank disc (obviously, right?) So, I bolted out the door, down the hallways, and into the parking lot to the milk truck. On the ramp was this BALD guy. I told him "Mr. Niinisto wanted me to give this to you". He's like "what?". I turned around the face the building because my science room faces the front of the school and is visible from the lot. I saw Niinisto in his bright yellow shirt flapping his arms like "No, no, no!" Then he used his hands to tell me to go around. Oops, wrong guy? I couldn't find the bald guy anywhere! I went up to the door to see Mr. N opening the door for me. "Did that look like a police officer to you?" He was cracking up! Oh! No, I guess not. Then I remembered before I went outside I saw a white-haired bald police officer. So, I went running all around the school looking for a guy who was inside? Oh my... I must've gotten into the gene pool when the lifegaurd was off-duty because I think I'm supposed to be a blonde (No offense!). I knew that when I got to the room that there would be a wave of laughter. Sure enough, there was. I was so embarressed! Mr. Niinisto was like "Liz is going to run away from you when you drink milk at lunch because she will think it is the fuzz..." and "Now when she goes to the dairy section at Acme she will feel safe because the grocer is a cop." Oh, my. I even said "I'd laugh at me, too!" Wow, that was so embarressing! Now, I will be the laughing stock of the science room. But, it's okay. I'll just laugh along ;-).

Boobahs

Ahh! These things are so freaky! The things they put on public educational television!

Quiet Night Home

That's right, it's pretty quiet now. But today was busy! Emily spent the night last night. She came over after Jimmy's game around 10:45. I was watching monkeys crack open nuts with rocks, so we watched that for like 5 minutes. Then we went into my room and played on the computer a bit. We were really tired, so we went to bed around midnight. I'm glad we did because we had to wake up early.

This morning, the alarm went off at 6:10 so I went and took a shower. We left the house at a quarter to eight. We were the first ones at church. We set up some things and were told what to do. Em and I were incharge of seating all of the women that came to the AAWFM in the "terminal". I had fun playing with the walkie talkies, annoying everybody by ringing in and saying stupid code phrases: "Code red! Code red! The Goose has laid the Egg! I repeat: the Goose has laid the Egg!" LOL. Then, Kristen and I ripped up tickets while Ty and Emily stamped passports. Since those two were the stewardesses for the first flight, Kristen and I hung around, practicing what we were going to say. The flight took quite a bit longer than intended so we made sure we got it perfect ;-) Finally, it was our turn. We did our little shpeel. Kristen did the "Hello, and thank you for flying with us" and I demonstrated the oxygen mask and located the vomit bags, but of course I called them doggie bags and made a fool out of myself. "Oh yes, I would like to take this vomit home with my, thank you!" LOL. Other than that I think it went pretty smooth. My feet were absolutly killing me!! Wow, I wore these shoes that my heel slipped out of the back and the toe was all scrunched up in the front. OUCH!

I came home, changed into sweats, and watched the Michigan/Minnesota game. Then Audrey came out in her dress with her hair all done and her little sparkly silver handbag. I couldn't help but, "aww!" She looked so beautiful. Jimmy came over to pick her up, and again I "awww"ed :) I took the pictures and then they left for dinner. Aww! They are so cute together :). So, I ate BLT's while watching the Tennessee/Georgia game. Of course the game I really wanted to watch was not provided for basic cable users!

After that, I cam down here and played some games. I have found a new favorite. It's called "Cargo Bounce". The characters are the Pirates. You know, the ones who don't do anything? Yeah, well Larry the Cucumber is on and boat and you have to bounce the cargo (thus the name) onto the ship with the captain. Quite addicting! And guess where I found it? Addictinggames.com.

Now I am just sitting here blogging about my buisness while my dog stares at me. Freaky. Toodles.

What Is This World Coming To?!

Hyre is a great school. They offer many extra curricular activities, the disiplinary system is pretty good, many help/tutoring times are offered by the teachers, and the staff in general is well-trained and amicable. All of my teachers are good teachers and they all have had much exprience. But, one of this fine adults said a few things that made me a little perturbed. I won't mention his name.

At interum pick-up last night, Mom and I only had a little bit of time to visit my teachers. When we came to one (whom I will not mention by name) we began a humorous conversation. "You have a bright, fulfilling future ahead of you," he said. "Do you know what independence is?"

"Yes," I responded, "it is being able to support and do things for yourself."

He turned over my interim paper and drew a big dollar sign "$".

"Money, my dear. Now I'll tell you what you gotta do... You finish highschool with atleast a 3.5 GPA average, ya get a bunch of scholarships, you'll then be excepted into a high-profile university. You major in medicine or psycology or whatever before you graduate. You get a high-paying job, settle yourself in, THEN go looking for a 'nice suitor'. You find a wealthy guy who brings home the money and you become a stay-at-home mommy. Now, the key is, you find a guy who you can afford to divorce once you can't stand him anymore because you have a high paying job to fall back on."

:-0

Well, this shocked me. Well, not really. This particular teacher has been divorced atleast 2 times and is remarried. So, obviously he doesn't really have any sort of respect for the unity of marriage. Second of all, he loves money. One day in class, he pulls like 6 $50 bills out of his pocket along with a bunch of 20s.

Also today in class, the teacher was talking about suicide and how "when you commit it you go to hell". I wanted to tell him that isn't always the case. You will only go to hell is you are not a saved person! But, I didn't know what to say! I didn't feel like there was anything to say.

I won't listen to this. Although, I plan to strive to be successful, I will not put money, nor my career, nor any man before God. Like I said, what is this world coming? Greed that's what. Success. Money. Ay yi yi.

P.S. Blogging rocks. You can get so much out of your mind and just VENT!

School Pics

My eighth grade school picture. Compared to previous portraits, this is probably the best. You should see kindergarten. I honestly have a mullet! Well, practically... First grade I have a major cow lick (but I still think it is really cute, my best elementary school picture!) And, oh, second grade. Oh, my. Messy hair, missing, crooked teeth. Yikes! Third grade, I am not smiling with my teeth (I guess I learned my lesson from the last year!) Fourth grade, I have messed up teeth, a weird side braid. Fifth grade, I have yet another cow lick. I have on a "cute" Mickey Mouse shirt though! Sixth grade, I have messy hair, and seventh grade my hair got really frizzy from the humidity. I guess I'm just not photogenic! LOL. In elementary school, I guess blue was my favorite color because in practically all of my pictures I have on a navy blue shirt with a blue background. Now we just get the gray ones because they are free! :)

"It's Just Another Day" and Absolutly Pointless!

School: boring.

First period was alright. We just went over our songs for contest. The guys in this choir are very proud, or just timid. They do not sing!! Their mouths don't even move! So, Mrs. Laktash had ME, an alto, sing with the dudes. I mean, is that an insult? I already feel like I sing like a guy because it is so low. Now, I am publically singing with boys. I find it offensive! :-0 LOL, well anyways I was heard, my shy little voice, louder than all of the 8 boys put together. I felt goood...

Well, in Lang/History I aced my daily quiz on Johnny Tremain. I didn't do so hot on my Beacon Journal quiz though. Tomorrow is interim pass around day. Yikes! I am scared of what I will get! I'm not doing the best this year, but hopefully I will "crawl out of the pit of ignorance and climb to the peek on intellegence"

Now, I can proove Ms. May does not like me. Like I said, I have no clue why. Well, we got our quizzes back today and I saw a 100% on my paper! Yeah! But then as she was going over the answers, she said she marked off if we didn't have this certain peice of data next to the box-and-whisker plot. Well, I didn't. I told her, because I wanted to be honest. USUALLY, any other teacher would say "Oh, you got lucky. It was my fault. I won't mark that off". Well, not her. She said "Oh, I will lower your grade immediatly! (Not exact words) And then she smiled as she did it. Now, I know I am a little selfish because I got what I deserved. I mean, I didn't have to tell her. But, I mean, c'mon, I think she is out to get me! She's a nice person, but I think she is out to get me!

LOL, a little too dramatic. I'm overexaggerating alittle :)

Well, time for bed! Nighty-night!

Aww!

Would you like fries with your weiner dog?

This is too cute!

Don't Worry, He'll Be There...

While listening to the CD I got from Emily and Becky for my birthday (WOW Hits 2005) I skipped to #12 on the purple disc. It's a song called "You Were There" recorded by Avalon. Wow, that is an amazing song. It talks about how God was always there, when David slayed Goliath, when Abraham was put to the test of faith as he almost killed his son. Yeah, He was there through all of that.

And ya know what the even awesomer thing is? He still is there...er, here. God is still as real and as powerful today was he was waaaay back in "Bible Times". Despite whatever you thought changed, he didn't loose a little bit of His power, nor did he just not care as much. True, things are a little different nowa days. God doesn't write on walls with His hand or anything, but He's still up there.

So, you may be sitting in class and your teacher puts this paper on your desk with the words "POP QUIZ" at the top. Just say a little prayer for God to help you. Ya know why? 'Cuz God is there. And you may be up to the plate at the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs and a runner on third. Don't hesitate to pray to Him! 'Cuz He's there and He will help you!

"...I will never leave you, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). See, He even says he isn't going anywhere, and He never ever breaks a promise.

So, if He's always there, that means He's always there for a reason. You can go to Him for anything. The little things like "Lord, help me color in the lines" or the big stuff like "Lord, give me the wisdom to know what to say this unsaved person." It's not like He's going to say "No, that's something stupid, I don't have time to help you with that!" NO! Nothing is too small or stupid for God. Get that: nothing.

How wonderful is this? Even when your best friend can't help you because her toes are drying, you can always go to God. Of course, he should be your FIRST resort. Go to Him first.

This relationship of God is with Christians. If you are reading this and you are not a believer in the Lord, I urge you to turn away from Satan and become a child of God! Because right now you are under Satan's evil rule and you are a prisoner to sin! You are bond for eternal Hell fire.

1 John 1:9 "When we confess our sins...God is Faithful and Just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us of ALL unrighteousness". Realize that you are a sinner, confess your sins to God, and recongnize Him as the one, true God and the only way to Heaven. Love Him. And when you your do this, you are bond for Heaven!

And when you have Him in your heart, He's always there.