In between Holidays

It's that time of year again; snow falls, people are caroling outdoors, shovled sidewalks, Christmas presents under the tree and everyone gathered around the tv set waiting to see the ball drop in New York City. Some of these memories have already past, but that doesn't mean we forget them.

The holidays to me mean that it's a time for families to get together and Christmas especially means to have the family around you and celebrate Jesus' birth. Christmas this year was filled with family joys. I was very excited this year because I could finally buy everyone in my family something using my own money. I had finally saved up enough that I didn't have to ask anyone else to help me get something. I really thought about what I was going to get everyone (I hope you all liked the gifts). I was also really happy when I tore off the green bags that had hidden the gift I was really looking forward to this year, thanks to Jaci and Shane, they gave me my 5 piece luggage set! Now I can travel to places and see those whom I didn't get to spend time with this Christmas.

The new year is just around the corner. I've never really observed New Year's, it's just been something that was fun to do a little with. One New Year's eve that I remember quite vividly was when I was in California at a year end retreat (I was too young for it but Mom and Dad were cooking so I got to go). Everyone went to a nearby park to play touch football and they invited me to go along. It had snowed a little bit on the mountain and it was starting to melt so the grass was pretty wet. I was just kind of standing there, waiting for the ball to come anywhere near me. My 3rd cousin Brandon was running and he slipped. I couldn't get out of the way fast enough and he fell right on my ankle. I thought I was just sore from it so I went and sat down with some of the girls who didn't want to play. George Lawson didn't want me to get wet so he gave me a Frisbee to sit on while he was helping me hop across the field. When I got back to the camp my ankle was the size of a softball. They took me to the emergency room and I stayed there for a few hours before I was able to come back. Then I celebrated the new year with the rest of the camp.

All I know is that this Christmas vacation has been the best one yet. It's going to end in a few days and I'm not going to like going back :)

My brother now has a frog for a sister

Ever have one of those days where you jump out of your skin and become that of another? Well, today we had our Christmas choir and band concert. We had to combine them because our band concert got snowed out two weeks ago.

The senior girls did an ensamble this year and we sang "Christmas Day." It was kind of strange to finally be singing as a senior girl and not just listening to them. It was a great song. I was surprised that we all didn't start crying in the middle of it. However, during part of the song I started to sound like a frog. All that was going through my mind was "NO! I can't be loosing my voice I have sing a solo in about 15 minutes!" We got done with the song and I told everyone of my friends to start praying for my voice. I don't know how many of them actually threw up a prayer for me, but whoever did I'm grateful. I was able to sing all of our choir songs plus my solo and no one notices my froggish voice. I made it all the way up to the "Halleluja Chorus." As soon as our choir concert was over my voice was shot. Luckily I don't need a voice for band, just a working reed. Which my good reed broke this morning because I wasn't paying close attention to what I was doing and I let my reed smack against my teeth instead of meeting it with my tongue. But everything worked out just fine.

I got home and I had to say something to my brother and he has now given me a new nickname, "Frogger."

We also had to have Jeff open his Christmas gifts early this year because our great aunt from Missory died earlier this week so my parents are going to the service on Wednesday which is Jeff's real birthday. It was great to see Jeff's face when he opened his new camera that Mom and Dad got him. He wasn't expecting it at all. I also disguised the box when I wrapped it so he couldn't really guess what it was. He just came in and took a whole bunch of pictures of me typing this. I can see his face has a brighter glow now. It's really nice to see, we don't get to see that often.

So even though there were a few minor set-backs today, it turned out to be a very good day for everyone.

Count Your Blessings

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I have to say that I have many things to be thankful for this holiday season. I have a family that loves and supports me and I have close friends that care about me. I had a friend e-mail me and wish that I could have spent Thanksgiving with him and his family this year, or that he could spend it with me and mine. And I have to say that I am very thankful for him being in my life. That brightened my day since we have postponed our Thanksgiving dinner to next week after church. Just gives me that much more time to prepare the pies that I want to make and see if there is something else I can bring to the table.

Another thing that I have to be very thankful for is that yesterday my mom called Bethel University because she and Dad have been receiving a lot of mail from them inviting them to this event and that one, but yesterday they got a letter asking for a deposit check. Mom wanted to know what was going on. So she called my admissions counselor and he looked up my name and saw that I had been accepted!!! I was so excited when she told me. I should be receiving my acceptence letter in the mail soon. I find it kind of funny that I keep receiving word about my colleges on special occations. I heard about Northwesten on my birthday and Bethel on Thanksgiving. It is truely a time of year to be thankful.

I still have not found my dog. I am strongly believing that she did go somewhere to pass away. I still have to do a good search in the woods, but I trust that I will find her when the time is right. But I can be thankful for having Angel to buffer the pain. She has been a great blessing to me, she seems to really understand what has been going on and can sense that it is now her responsibility to take care of the family now.

Dad and I have started to put up the Christmas decorations. We haven't gotten out the famous Christmas village yet, but we do have the Precious Moments village that he picked up somewhere. That has been placed on the piano. We will have the main village up very soon. Until it is up it just doesn't seem like the holiday season.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you again and seriously count all your blessing. Focus on them and not the hard times, for in the hard times God gives us even more blessings.

I want to share part of a song that I am working on. I just have one verse and the chorus, but I'll come up with the other parts soon when they are given to me.

When you feel that life has you down, just look up and all around. Look at all the beauty all around.

Thanks God for the sky. Thank the Lord for the sea. Thank God for this day; the day he loves you and me.

Lost Dog Alert.

I've been in a frenzy all weekend. I haven't seen my dog Belle since Thrusday night (Nov. 15). It's not like her to go missing, especially for this long. We've checked around the house and the yard; I went down to the creek with my other dog Angel and she kept sniffing around, it was almost like she was picking up some kind of scent but I didn't see any sign of Belle being down there. Dad and I have been looking in the ditches everytime we come home to see if maybe she got hit. We talked to the neighbors and they haven't noticed her around either. Dad also checked with with the animal hospital in Kasson where the kennels are and they didn't have any information for us, but they will keep an eye and ear out for her. Tomorrow Dad and I are going to continue in our search. We noticed that for the past month or so she has been getting very thin and she's been eating the same as she had been before. I also noticed that she was starting to get slower and she didn't like to run and play like she used to. It makes me wonder if maybe she sensed that she was sick and would be dying so she left. Dogs have been known to leave home and die somewhere else so they didn't do it infront of their family. I hope we find something out soon.

Senior Pictures

Hey Everyone,

I finally decided on my senior pictures. Let me know what you think of them. The one with me and the flower will be going into the year book. The one that I'm looking off to the side will most likely be going on the wall. I'd like to get some feedback from whomever will give it.

18 years ago, I was born!

I had a very good birthday today. I woke up to balloons and roses in my bathroom (that's quite the sight to someone who is half awake at 6:30 in the morning). I was greeted at school by many people wishing me a happy birthday and my choir sang to me. I had supper at on of the diners in town where I got my meal for free. I ate with my parents, my brother Jeff, my sister Jaci and her four kids.

I got a lot of the things I wanted like the first seaon of "Little House on the Prairie," and a dvd of "Seven Brides for Seven Brother." Dad gave me a bunch of shirts that have Snoopy on them. He also gave me a pink mustang shirt and my brother saw it and said "That is supposed to be mine." We all laughed because it was pink. But the best gift was not from a family member or even a friend, it was from a stranger. I got a call from an admissions advisor from Northwestern College in St. Paul. He was calling to tell me that I have officially been accepted to that college! It's not Bethel, my first choice, but I still cryed because I was happy. At least I know that if things don't turn out for me to go to Bethel I have a place to go. And Northwestern is still a good school.

So today was a very good birthday.

The Homecoming votes are in and the crowns are set.

This week is homecoming and we had our coronation tonight. It was quite an interesting night. The band got there really early so we played through about six pep band songs instead of only two and the choir sang songs from Queen and as usual "Be True to Your School." The rest of the evening went just as before, the different organizations would get up and introduce everybody and tell what their up coming events were. Then came the time we were all waiting for, the crowning of the king and queen.

Before our MCs even asked the kind candidates to stand up the all got up and went behind stage and no one knew what was going on. When they came back they all had put on funny hats and white face masks so no one knew who anyone was. (Leave it to my class to go against the grain) Mark Huber, the king from last year walked behind them trying to figure out who each one was, he couldn't figure it out that way so he went in front of them and slightly pulled their masks up and then began to jump the crown from each one's head finally resting it on Jacob Butcher's head. Our guys sure are crazy. Of course the audience still had no idea who our king was because he still had the mask on. They then crowned Meghan Jensen our queen. The MCs announced "And these are your Homecoming 2007 King and Queen," but we all were still wondering who our king was. After a while Jacob took the off the mask and all was well.

Quite the homecoming. Now let's just see how we do at the football game on Friday and how our volleyball team does tomorrow.

School Update

School is still going really well. I absolutely love my concurrent English class. We get a writing assignment every week which is really nice because since I am not the editor of the Beacon in the Sabbath Recorder anymore it gives me chance to keep writing essays. We're using a book called "30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary" and I'm loving that because I'm learning new words that will make my writing better. I even used one in a college application. "Altruist"- some one who puts the needs of others before their own. Like every other year we are learning grammar but we are learning more in depth which is a nice change because I've always done pretty well in grammar in the past and now I can challenge myself a little bit more.

I'm loving my psychology class and I feel like I'm really learning things and all I'm doing is reading the text and then doing worksheets. Last night I was working on it before I went to bed which wasn't a very good idea because it's a chapter on sleep, so reading it was making me very tired.

In a few weeks I will be starting to practice for the HVL (Hiawatha Valley League) Honor Choir. I was in the honor band last year because they knew I would be in the choir this year.

We have also started our fall play "Greater Tuna." I forget who wrote it, but it is about the town Tuna, Texas and it's wacky and hilarious. I play a very outspoken lady who is stern and sometimes very mean but has a sympathetic side to her. It's kind of a stretch as an actress for me because I have some lines that are half a page long and one scene that I speak for about a page and a half. But I'm up for the challenge. Bring it on!!

My LAST FIRST Day of School!! (as a high schooler anyway)

Today was the best first day of school in a really long time. Not just because I am a senior, but because I turned over a new leaf and became a slightly newer me! For the past three years I've been hanging out with the same three girls, talking to them, sitting at the same lunch table and at assemblies with them and all that kind of jazz. And for those same three years they have kind of treated me like dirt. Not really seeming to care about what was going on in my life, not being excited for the same things I was excited about and not really listening to me or understanding who I was and what I stood for. But all that changed today.

For the longest time I've been wanting to get myself out of this situation and be with people who seem to appreciate me a lot more. I finally sat at a new lunch table with friends that I've known for years and who I enjoy to be around a lot more. Last year I sat with them sometimes and really wanted to leave my three girlfriends and join with my group of about ten. There is one girl in particular who I really get along well with. Her name is Amanda. We are in a lot of the same classes and the same study hall. We both decided to be a teacher's assistant for our band teacher during one of our study halls we had together. It's going to be a lot of fun. She really listens to what I have to say and it's great!

We also have new up to date science rooms with some pretty cool technology! We have computers with wireless keyboards and mice at each lab station, and remote control devises that will allow us to take our own attendance, answer lecture questions (so that everyone can answer not just one or two people) and we can use them on tests! It's great!

I was also able to take one of the classes I wasn't able to take because it was offered during choir, so I'm able to take psychology as an independent study during my other study hall but also still be able to use that time for a study hall. I get all the assignments every Friday and then they aren't due until the next Friday! It's great! I still get the credit for doing it but also am allowed to have the freedom to use that time as a study hall for other classes. And if Mr. Gepson, who I'm a teacher's assistant for, doesn't have things for me to do some days, I can still do homework and get the credit!

Everything seems to going well for me! I'm taking two college level courses and calculus is meant to be a college preparatory course, so I will be able to learn how to pace myself and manage my time as if I was in college already and not get burnt out! It's really exciting! I enjoy all of my teachers and I'm sure I will have fun this year. I'm glad I get the chance to be the new me and really do something I love. Today was just a marvelous day!!

On my way

Well, I just finished my college application to Bethel University. The only down side is they don't start looking at them until September 1. And then I have wait until December to hear back from them.

It's been quite the experience in having to grow up and think about the future. It gets scary at times. I have to wonder if everything I'm doing is what the right decision is for me. Like I said in my essay, I have to trust God that he's leading me through the right things. I have to trust that he's giving me the wisdom to know what he wants from me.

I don't remember being so anxious for anything else in my life. Just to find out if I made it, if that's where I'm supposed to be.

But I love the campus. I really feel at home there. It's small, quiet, surrounded by nature and everything is pretty much in one building.

Waiting is definately the hardest part.

High waters

We received 8 inches of rain last night! It rained all day and all night. The storm was really awesome to watch, but I wish that it wouldn't have flooded everything. I was babysitting late last night and the girls and I were trying to watch High School Musical 2 but the satillite kept cutting out. For a half an hour the girls and I just sat in their living room with all the lights off and just listened and watched. I got home and there was water in our basement. It always comes in by the bath tub and it seeps into the west side of my room about 2-3 feet. So I pulled all of my furnature I have on that side out and pulled my carpet back.

I went out today to see how high the creek by our house is and it's about 20 feet over it's bank. It's about halfway up the hill that leads down to it, and the water was going really fast. I looked down at our neighbors who live in the log house down the driveway from us. Their house is now an island! They get all the run off from the neighboring houses that are on higher ground. I haven't heard how much water they have in their basement but the last few times that it flooded down there, they get about 6 feet in it.

At the bridge north of our house the river is flowing over the road, the same thing happened in Wasioja, which is a town just a mile from my house. A lot of their roads are washed out a bit.

We're supposed to get more rain this week, maybe even some today. I hope that there isn't any serious damage that happens. It hasn't before, but that doesn't mean it can't.

Good Clean Humor

It's been a while. There isn't really a lot that has been going on, but my uncle did send me a pretty good joke. I thought I would share this good clean humor with you all.

The day finally arrives. Forrest Gump dies and goes to Heaven. He is at the Pearly Gates, met by St. Peter himself. However, the gates are closed, and Forrest approaches the gatekeeper. St. Peter said, "Well, Forrest, it is certainly good to see you. We have heard a lot about you. I must tell you, though, that the place is filling up fast, and we have been administering an entrance examination for everyone. The test is short, but you have to pass it before you can get into Heaven." Forrest responds, "It sure is good to be here, St. Peter, sir. But nobody ever told me about any entrance exam. I sure hope that the test ain't too hard. Life was a big enough test as it was." St. Peter continued, "Yes, I know, Forrest, but the test is only three questions.First: What two days of the week begin with the letter T?Second: How many seconds are there in a year? Third: What is God's first name?" Forrest leaves to think the questions over. He returns the next day and sees St. Peter, who waves him up, and says, "Now that you have had a chance to think the questions over, tell me your answers" Forrest replied, "Well, the first one -- which two days in the week begins with the letter T? Shucks, that one is easy. That would be Today and Tomorrow." The Saint's eyes opened wide and he exclaimed, "Forrest, that is not what I was thinking, but you do have a point, and I guess I did not specify, so I will give you credit for that answer. How about the next one?" asked St. Peter. "How many seconds in a year? Now that one is harder," replied Forrest, "but I thunk and thunk about that, and I guess the only answer can be twelve." Astounded, St. Peter said, "Twelve? Twelve? Forrest, how in Heaven's name could you come up with twelve seconds in a year?" Forrest replied, "Shucks, there's got to be twelve: January 2nd, February 2nd, March 2nd... " "Hold it," interrupts St. Peter. "I see where you are going with this, and I see your point, though that was not quite what I had in mind....but I will have to give you credit for that one, too. Let us go on with the third and final question. Can you tell me God's first name"? "Sure," Forrest replied, "it's Andy." "Andy?" exclaimed an exasperated and frustrated St Peter. "Ok, I can understand how you came up with your answers to my first two questions, but just how in the world did you come up with the name Andy as the first name of God?" "Shucks, that was the easiest one of all," Forrest replied. "I learnt it from the song, "ANDY WALKS WITH ME, ANDY TALKS WITH ME, ANDY TELLS ME I AM HIS OWN." St. Peter opened the Pearly Gates, and said: "Run Forrest, run." Give me a sense of humor, Lord.Give me the ability to understand a clean joke,To get some humor out of life,And to pass it on to other folks!!!!!

Born to be Wild!

I went to the Minnesota Zoo with the kids a nanny for, their mom and two of their cousins today. I hadn't been there in a while, I guess since 2nd grade. I didn't realize how it had changed. When I had went a long time ago I thought that we had elephants, lions, leopards, wolves, coyotes and a whole bunch of other animals but they didn't have any of those things there. Good thing we have a farely good sized aquatic part to our zoo, that is my favorite part. Tracy, the girls' mom, was asking me if I remembered coming to the zoo with her and her son, Weston, when we were 4 years old. And I said I did. We went to the zoo about four months before Tracy and Weston were in a very bad car crash and Weston had a lot of problems come on to him. It was a really fun time going there I remember though.

When we were there we decided to see a movie in their Imax theater. It was in 3-D. It was so cool!!! Sometimes it got hard to watch because the screen in so big so you have to dart from one side of it to the other to see the whole picture, but it was really fun anyhow.

1st Princess of the Miss Dodge Center Pageant

Well, hi everybody. You are now looking at the 1st Princess of the Miss Dodge Center Pageant. We had the pageant yesterday and I had a blast. We started off the pageant with a dance that we wore poodle skirts for to the songs from "Grease" and then after that we had to get into our evening ware. I had my hair in a pony tail with curls and I wanted our coriographer (who is also a cosmotologist) to just pin the curls up, but she had a different idea, she took all my hair out and did a full updue! I'm glad I was the last contestant because she was doing my hair all the way until I was walking out to do my introduction walk, literally. Before I walk out she was still putting finishing touches on my hair but I still had to put my shoes on and zip up my dress. So all the girls who were done with their walk were doing things for me. I had two girls put my shoes on, on girl zip my dress and another was handing the bobbie pins to Summer. When she was done I ran down the hallway to get to the gym in time for them to announce me. Talk about your close calls! But I had a great time. We have our first big apperance as the reigning royalty tomorrow at the Fly in Breakfast that they have at the airport. I can't wait!

They better make a new Nanny sitcom, starring ME!

I finally was offered a job that is out side of my home. Of course it's in someone eles's home being that I am now a nanny! My neighbor (the same neighbor that I played the Wii at) has two nine year old girls, twins, that she would like me to nanny while she takes her son to his job and she runs errands. Today was my second day and it's going great. Now I just have to wait for my van to come back from the shop (hopefully this afternoon) so then she doesn't have to pick me up every time and I don't have to drive one of their trucks if I want to take the girls to the pool or something. I mostly just have to watch them in the morning hours but I'm just glad that I'll be making more than I would if I started at a restaurant or grocery store.

WAHOO!!!! I played a Wii!!!

Hey everybody. I had so much fun today, I went over to my neighbors house because my cousin is house sitting and somewhat "babysitting." My neighbor has been asking me and some other people from church to come over for a while to play with him and his Wii so we finally did. And let me tell you, it's awesome! My favorite was bowling and baseball. I couldn't really get the hang of boxing. My brother, my other cousin, my boyfriend's brother, and my housesitting cousin's friend came over to play too. We also played pool and air hockey. After my cousin's friend, my brother and my boyfriend's brother left after we ate my two cousins and I watched Ant Bully (which I fell asleep during) and then we watched Garfield: A tale of two kitties. But seriously the Wii is awesome, if they weren't so expensive I would so buy one!

Dog Gone Tired

Well, today was the first official day of summer. It felt so good to sleep in. However, since my room in the basement and doesn't haven't have any windows I have no idea when the sun comes up. Not to my knowledge I allowed myself to sleep until 11:30! It felt good, but I don't want all my days to be like that, then I just feel like I've wasted a day.

For my Miss Dodge Center pageant I have to have many different outfits. I have to have a sun dress for my informal interview at the brunch we are having at the country club, a formal dress for the pageant itself, a poodle skirt which my mom is making for the dance that we do to Grease, and a formal interview out fit. I had to borrow some clothes from my sister since I don't really own "business attire." I look pretty good in it though. Good thing I have to get used to wearing it if I want to be a counseling psychologist.

Live and Let Live

Triton's graduation was today. I was surprised that I didn't even cry. Usually I'm the one that never has a dry eye. It was my last time singing next to my friend Aimee in the choir. We have sat next to each other in that class for the past three years.

I have two cousins that graduated today too, but since I was playing in the band and singing in the choir at our graduation I didn't get to go.

Isn't it weird how you don't really miss somebody and you don't know how much you appreciate them until after they are gone? My boyfriend is going to be gone for two weeks. He's going up fishing and then to work on the farm at his uncle's place. There is a good part and a bad part to this. The good part is that I get a chance to do some really work with my dog for my senior project. But I'm going to miss hanging out with him terribly.

You also begin to realize how much you miss loved ones when they are gone forever. I've had quite an eventful year and a half. First I had a band concert on December 13, 2005, after the concert my dad got a call from my uncle that my grandpa went into the hospital because he fell and had a brain hemorrhage (or he had the hemorrhage and he fell, they haven't figured out what came first). That was a Tuesday night. That Thursday I went to see him in the hospital and I couldn't help but cry and pray. He was lying in that bed looking so helpless. He couldn't see, he didn't move and he could barely breath. I had never seen anything like it. I didn't want him to die, but I didn't want to watch him suffer like that. Before I left for the night I said goodbye and that I loved him, and to keep fighting. Later that night I prayed that if he was going to go that he would go during the meeting that my family was going to have to decide on what to do. And what do you know, that's just what happened.

Then in November, again on the 13th I had a HVL honor band concert and after that was done my mom said that Grandma went into the hospital and wasn't looking good. All the way there I was praying, "God, don't let her go until I get there to say goodbye." I had time, the expected her to die that night. My aunts and uncles were there and a few of my cousins. Before everyone started leaving we all sang "Jesus Loves Me." When I said we had time, I meant it. She didn't die until a week later.

I miss them so much and I never knew how much I would. Every time I think about the Mayo Clinic I think of Grandpa because he used to work there. And I have a goal to find the puzzles with 500 or more pieces in my house and put them together in remembrance of him. The last thing I did with him before he died was put together a puzzle. It was a picture of two kittens in a mailbox, but because of his Alz-Heimer's he thought they were rabbits. Every time I think about birds I think about Grandma. She loved birds. She could pick out which one was outside her window just by listening to it's song. She and I used to play card and board games whenever I was at their house. I miss doing that stuff.

You really don't know how much you miss and love someone 'til they're gone. My advice, Live life at it's fullest, don't have regrets and live as if it's your last day.

I don't know how many of you know, but I'm a candidate for Miss Dodge Center. We had our first practice to learn our dance that we have to do at the pageant. We're doing it to three songs from "Grease," Summer Days, You're the one that I want, Hand Jive. We're having a great time with it. We're going to wear poodle skirts that my mom is making. We have another practice for it tonight. I'm so excited!

I used to be a cheerleader and my favorite and most missed part is band dances.

I didn't get to bed until 2:00 A.M. this morning because I was trying to finish up a final project for environmental science. We had to make a booklet of "50 Simple ways to conserve." I didn't mind the project, I was just really tired of school and became a very bad procrastinator. I'm so glad that tomorrow is the last day of school. We have an early out at 1:00 P.M. and our classes are shortened to 25 minutes long so that all teachers will have the oppertunity to see all their students.

I officially have my senior project approved. Mr. Schrieber, my english teacher and school play director, is in charge of the projects and he gave back my approval packet.

I really hope that my dad will have a small break in work soon. About three weeks ago the van that I was driving developed problems. It kept dying on me. It's quite an interesting story actually.

I was on my way to Byron and was trying to accelerate on the on ramp. Well, it kept getting slower and slower no matter how low on the pedel I was pushing. I pulled over to the side of the road and let it cool down a bit. I then made my way for a mile to the next exit back into Dodge Center. I then decided I would try to make it the mile to the church or the 2 1/2 miles to my house. I didn't even make a quarter of a mile. I had to park in the park and ride. I called my mom and my brother, Jeff. Jeff came and looked at it but he didn't even get out of the driveway or the park and ride. A friend of mine took me to Byron and then brought me back to the van. I had about 30 minutes before church (this happened on a Wednesday) so I decided to try to make it to the church where I knew the van would be safe. I went two tenths of a mile to the railroad tracks and it died again. Not on the tracks don't worry. I stopped about four more times on the less than a quarter of a mile stretch to Main Street (the street I have to turn on to get to the church). I was able to make it all the way down the street but it died half a block from the church. I was getting quite frusterated then I was finally able to make it to the church. But I was just glad that at all the places it died I was somewhere where I could safely get off the road and I knew what I had to do. God really does take care of us.

This is quite new for me

Well, everyone always tells me that I don't tell them what is going on in my life enough. I guess this will be my way of doing it easily. If people want to know what's going on they can now seek me out, and if they don't I don't have to know about it.

School is almost out for the summer! I can't wait I have one full day left and two half days. I'm so excited! But I can't believe that next school year I'm going to be a senior! I'm sure my sisters don't like the thought of that either, or their friends that knew me. I often get told that people always see me as the 10 year old that I used to be because that's when they left the area so they have to keep reminding themselves that I'm 17. I have to remind myself often times.

I already feel like a senior. This year's seniors had their last day on Friday and so now my grade is the oldest in the school. That hasn't happened since 6th grade. If feels so weird to be that way. When we first entered high school in 7th grade we were the babies for three years. The school administration was switching all the grades around so we never had the other class come up to the high school until we were in 10th grade.

I also feel like a senor because at our school we have to take a senior seminar class and do a senior project. We get the option of either starting it when we have the class 2nd semester or the summer after our junior year. Since I'm training my dog to read sign language commands I decided to start mine now.

In a way I can't wait to be a senior but in others it's the scarest thing in the world. I want to grow up and have a wonderful career as a Christian family counsilor, but I miss being seven years old. When you're seven, you don't have a care in the world. Your scarest fear is that there are monsters under your bed (which I never thought was true :) ) But we all have to grow up sometime. We can't all live in Never NeverLand.