Wordless Wednesday

My brother the rebel

If I Die Before You Wake

Remember our troops and keep them in your prayers

A little about me and a meme

I got this in an email from Brenda, and thought that I would put it up on here, rather than email it out. Feel free to fill it out on your blog as well :)

Who are You?

Place an X by all the things you've done and remove the X from the ones you have not. Answer the 30 questions at the end and send it to your friends (including me).

This for your Entire life!


[ ] Gone on a blind date
[X] Skipped school
[X]Watched someone die
[X] Been to Canada
[X] Been to Mexico
[X] Been to Florida
[X] Been on a plane
[X] Been lost
[X] Been on the opposite side of the country
[X] Gone to Washington DC
[X] Swam in the ocean
[X]Cried yourself to sleep
[X]Played cops and robbers
[X]Recently colored with crayons
[X]Sang Karaoke
[ ] Paid for a meal with coins only?
[X] Done something you told yourself you wouldn't?
[X] Made prank phone calls
[X] Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
[X] Caught a snowflake on your tongue
[ ] Written a letter to Santa Claus
[ ] Been kissed under the mistletoe
[ ] Watched the sunrise with someone you care about
[X] Blown bubbles
[X] Gone ice-skating
[ ] Been skinny dipping outdoors
[ ] Gone to an outdoor movie?


1. Any nicknames? Mel is a
2. Mother's name? Elizabeth
3. Favorite drink? Sokata
4. Tattoo? Nope
5. Body Piercing? Yes
6. How much do you love your job? It's a job...therefore I like it
7. Birthplace? Ruidoso, New Mexico
8.Favorite vacation spot? Kentucky
9. Ever been to Africa? No
10. Ever eaten cookies for dinner? Yes :)
11. Ever been on TV? Yes
12. Ever steal any traffic sign? No
13. Ever been in a car accident? No
14. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? 4
15. Favorite salad dressing? Fat free Italian
16. Favorite pie? Peach
17. Favorite number? 11
18. Favorite movie? Too many to choose from: 300, Transformers, Remember the Titans, The Longest Yard...oh there's so many!!!
19. Favorite holiday? Christmas
21. Favorite food? Chinese, Most anything with chicken
22. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
23. Favorite brand of body wash? Avon...peach
24. Favorite toothpaste? Colgate
25. Favorite smell? Either chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven, or Ralph Lauren perfume
26. What do you do to relax? Watch movies, surf the web, read
27. Favorite gift ever given? Jesus (I love this answer)
28. How do you see yourself in 10 years? How? I really don't know. I like Brenda's answer, Only God knows this.
29. Furthest place you will send this message? Well, I'm not really sending it anywhere, but if Jennifer is reading, Japan.
30. Who will respond to this the fastest? see the above answer :)

I also got tagged for reading this on another blog. Feel free to do this one too if you want:

3 places I go all the time: Grand Rapids Community College (well, until yesterday I did...now I'm free!!!), Mike's house, my house...maybe that one doesn't count because I live there, in that case I'll add in church

3 people who e-mail me: my cousin Brandi, Brenda, Jennifer

3 favorite places to eat: I seriously had trouble limiting this to 3...Applebee's, Red Robin, Main Street Pub

3 places I would rather be right now: oh...there's so many! Romania, at the beach, hanging out with Mike and other friends

3 people who will do this: Probably Jennifer, Brenda, and Mari

3 TV shows I could watch over and over: Fresh Prince of BelAir, Bones, Home Improvement.

YAY!!!

It's time to party!!!!!!!

As of 11:08 this morning, I have successfully completed my first year of college! I had one presentation and one test this morning. Both went very well, and now I'm done!

I can't believe how quickly this year went by...but now it's time to relax...and find something other than homework to occupy my days.

Now where's that warm weather? :)

Pictures

Last night, we had a pig roast and missions auction at church. A small group from the youth group is going to Guatemala this summer, so this auction was done as a fundraiser for them.
I didn't think there were as many people as usual, but there were a lot of good things up for bid.
I bid on quite a few things...here is what I ended up with...


I saw this and fell in love with it. I have this written on my bathroom mirror, and I like this quote. It doesn't match my room, but like Tori said, I have to move out someday!








Another favorite quote. When I saw this, again I knew I "had" to have it. I was bidding up against my friend for it, and I ended up getting it. I was pretty happy :)







Even though the signs/paintings don't really match, I figured I'd display them anyway.









Then I saw this set of 3 paintings. It reminded me of Romania because of the fields of red poppies.













It's not actually Romania though, it's the Tuscan Valley in Italy.











Which is cool because I've been to Italy and I love Italy











Here's the whole set of 3. Again, they really don't match my room, but I fell in love with them. Eventually I'll have a place that they will match. In the mean time, I might just hang them up anyway :)


I also bought a Mary Higgins Clark (one of my favorite authors) book and a planter for my mom. The only other thing I wanted but didn't get was tickets to a Tiger's game. They sold for over $100! I would have like to have won...but I'm not made of money ;) I like going to the auction and finding this cool stuff...plus all the proceeds go to a very good cause!

Random...

I washed my car yesterday
So of course, it rained :)
Funny how that works out? Oh well, the rain didn't leave much residue so my car is still pretty clean.
I realized last night that I got sunburned when I washed my car yesterday...check it out!

Haha...wierd angle...but you try taking a picture of your back!!! :)
It's pretty much faded now, so I'm almost tan!
My face kinda feels like it got burnt, but it's not red, and I have sunscreen in my moisturizer, so it shouldn't have. I think next time I'll put on some SPF!







* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I have a new babysitting job. I don't like calling it babysitting though, because the boys are 8 and 12. Not babies!!! But nanny just sounds wierd...and kinda old fashioned. So I don't really know what to call it...except babysitting :)
Anyway, when I got there yesterday, Mitchell had his snake Georgianna (I think that's her name) out of her cage. Here are some pictures...


I'm touching the snake here :) Seriously, snakes don't bother me at all...but spiders on the other hand...!!!!!















She's a pretty big snake and she's getting ready to shed her skin. Her eyes are all glazed over and they're kinda a blue color and her skin is getting cloudy. Maybe I'll have some pictures of that to share in the near future.

Anyone else having trouble uploading pictures?
I'll update later when I can upload :)

Beautiful day!

It's so beautiful out today, after I got home from class, I thought I'd take advantage of the weather before it cools down this weekend. So I decided to wash and wax my car....if you're gonna do it, you might as well do it all. My car wasn't terribly dirty because I haven't been driving on many dirt roads, but it still needed to be washed. I put on shorts and a cut off t-shirt, cuz I figured I might as well take advantage of the sun while I'm out :) Anyway, it took me just over 30 minutes to wash it all to my satisfaction. Then I dried it off. And sprayed some foam stuff on the tires to make them nice and shiny. Then I put some Rain-X on the windows...this stuff is amazing! Then I started on the wax. It took over an hour to do my whole car, because I do it section by section. My arm is sore from making circular motions all over my car, but it was worth it!!! But let me tell you....my car is looking good!

Cheri suggested that I put up some pictures, so I ran outside and here they are...



Nice and clean!!!!!











Check out those shiny tires!!!!








I love my car...especially when it's behaving itself and nice and clean!

Am I normal?!?!?!

I saw this quiz on Cheri's site and I thought I'd see how normal I am... 60%, I'm not sure what that says about me :)

You Are Fairly Normal

You scored 60% normal on this quiz Like most people you are normal in some ways... But you aren't a completely normal person. You're a little weird too! Why You Are Normal: You are still with your first love You rather be screwed over than screw someone else over You think fishnet stockings are trashy You would eat meat from a cloned animal You prefer your friends to your family Why You Aren't Normal: You find the Chicken Dance to be the more embarrassing dance You don't keep up with your horoscope You would rather be tan than pale You would rather be a movie star than an astronaut You know a little about many subjects

What's Normal About You... And What's Not?

Sold for a Quarter

My friend sent this email to me today and I thought I would share it with you:

Several years ago, a preacher from out-of-state accepted a call to a church in Houston, Texas. Some weeks after he arrived, he had an occasion to ride the bus from his home to the downtown area. When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had accidentally given him a quarter too much change.
As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, "You'd better give the quarter back. It would be wrong to keep it."
Then he thought, "Oh, forget it, it's only a quarter. Who would worry about this little amount?
Anyway, the bus company gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept it as a 'gift from God' and keep quiet."
When his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, and then he handed the quarter to the driver and said, "Here, you gave me too much change."
The driver, with a smile, replied, "Aren't you the new preacher in town? I have been thinking a lot lately about going somewhere to worship. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change. I'll see you at church on Sunday."
When the preacher stepped off of the bus, he literally grabbed the nearest light pole, held on, and said, Oh God, I almost sold your Son for a quarter."
Our lives are the only Bible some people will ever read.
This is a really scary example of how much people watch us as Christians and will put us to the test! Always be on guard -- and remember -- You carry the name of Christ on your shoulders when you call yourself "Christian."
Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

A Wonderful Saturday

Saturday was awesome! I had the entire day off....which is a very rare thing for me. I decided to spend the entire day baking and enjoying the day all to myself. Here's some of the recipes that I made:

Carmelized peanuts...these will be featured on my recipe blog later today

Chocolate chip cookies

Sugar cookies

Chocolate chip and sugar cookies

Chocolate peanut butter filled cookies

Dinner rolls

Reese's bars

Cream puffs

Mike came over for dinner, so my mom made the table more "fancy" than usual

I made chicken alfredo

Thanks for all your dessert suggestions for me. I left the final decision up to my mom, and because she doesn't like chocolate, she picked cream puffs. But I will definitely be making death by chocolate some time soon!

Cream puffs

After dinner we went to the park by the Grand River, we saw 5 white tail deer, and some beavers.

It was a great way to spend my Saturday off!

Help!!!

I'm making dinner tomorrow night and I want to make something special for dessert....Does anyone have any suggestions of something for me to make? Thanks!!!

Isaiah 6

Isaiah 6
Isaiah's Commission
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
9 He said, "Go and tell this people:
" 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes. [a]
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed."
11 Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?"
And he answered:
"Until the cities lie ruined
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields ruined and ravaged,
12 until the LORD has sent everyone far away
and the land is utterly forsaken.
13 And though a tenth remains in the land,
it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
leave stumps when they are cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump in the land."

Romania

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm leaving for Romania in less than 2 months...1 month, 29 days, and approximately 2 hours. (June 13) Wow. In a way, it almost doesn't seem real.
This will be my fourth mission trip to Romania. I went on my first trip in 2004. I went with a group of 8 people from my church. We did children's ministries in villages around Romania. I absolutely fell in love with Romania and the people. The next year, I desperately wanted to go back. I ended up going back, this time with just one lady from our church, Gerri, who has gone there nearly 30 times in the past 15 years. Again, I focused on children's ministries. I taught Bible stories and played games with the children. I worked with a woman, Maria, whose job was to go to this villages each week. The following year, it did not work out for me to return. However last summer, I was able to go back. This time, two of my friends from school, and my mom, and Gerri went with me. We did children's ministries again in the villages, but for a longer time each day.
This year's trip is going to be a completely different experience for me. I am going completely on my own. This is a huge step, but I have made the trip 3 times and I'm completely comfortable with the route and everything. Plus, I've experienced just about everything that could go wrong with air travelling, so I can deal with those issues.
My focus this year is going to be...children's ministries! Big surprise huh? :) The first week that I am there, I will be working with another group, CERT. We will be doing VBS, and a small medical and dental clinic, in 4 villages over the course of the week. The following week, I will be working with my good friend, Magda, and we will be doing VBS for the church in Medias. Those two activities consume 2 weeks, and then I will have the Monday of the next week to do whatever I choose, and I leave again on July 2.
I am super excited to see what is going to happen on this trip...and you can be assured that you will hear about it!

More writing

First off...I leave for Romania in exactly TWO months from today! Wow! I'll write more about that trip later.

But to continue on the topic of my last few posts...
I still have not come up with a title for my poem, I do however like the idea from Cheryl, Narcissism in the Library, so I am thinking of using that.
Here is another poem that I wrote from the same time. It's a different style of writing, very compact:

Concentration. Lost.
Head bowed
Writing furiously
Researching
Then writing
Thinking
Then writing
Concentrating until
A person
Walks by
Talking loudly
Interrupting
Concentration lost
Gathers papers
And leaves

Anyway, I finished my story for creative writing. I am very pleased with the way it turned out. I have my editing appointment with my professor on Tuesday morning, so I will see what changes need to be made. At least I don't have to think about that any more!

However, we only have 2 weeks left before exams! That's only 6 more days of classes for me! Sa--weet!!!! :) But, that also means that final projects have moved into crunch time! For my business communication course, we have to write a 15 page analytical report. My group chose to write about language barriers in the workplace. I didn't know how difficult it was going to be writing a paper as a group. The problem is, that everyone has their own way of doing things. I am putting together the main body of the paper, and my goal was to have it done by tomorrow, a week before it's due. This is so that the others can take care of the other parts of the paper, like the transmittal memo, contents page, appedix etc. Well, I didn't have all the information I needed in order to start the paper on time, and I ended up working on it most of the afternoon (with a short break to talk with Alecia!!!), and I'm still not done. So obviously, it's not going to be done by tomorrow. Oh well :) I'll get it done in time! Welcome to the life of a college student!!!

Also, if anyone could tell me how to make the strike through appear on my words (you know, where there's a line through the words), that would be much appreciated! Thanks!

A poem

In my creative writing class the other day, we were told to go out and write GR. This meaning, go wander the streets of GR and write down things you see and write something creative using those things. My writing/editing partner and friend Stacey was not there, so I really didn't feel like walking around downtown by myself. I decided to go across campus to the library and write what I saw there. So I sat in the lobby area and made a list of the things that I observed. This is a poem that I came up with (so far it's untitled, I never can think of titles):

They come in laughing at nothing
Talking on a cell phone
And sit down across from me
Pull out a fashion magazine
Gossiping about their friends
Who's dating who...who's single
A man walks by says:
"That's an awesome smile"
"Thank you" and laughs
To her friend "that's so wierd"
Goes back to careless gossip
Back to their stuck up world

There you go. I don't usually share my writing with people because I'm too self-conscious about it, but a few people told me they liked this one, so I figured I'd step out of my comfort zone :)

Also, I think I have overcome my writer's block I mentioned the other day. I talked with Stacey, my professor, and some other friends and I think I know where my story is headed!

Writer's block

As I mentioned yesterday, I don't really have much to blog about.

I'm currently working on writing a story for my creative writing class. We have to have 2 manuscripts by the end of the semester. Our first one was due a few weeks ago, and it was pretty easy for me to write. We only have to have 8 pages, and mine ended up being over 16. And the story isn't even close to being done, but I wanted to write something different for my next manuscript. So anyway, I've been working on that a lot. I have to have something done by Tuesday because we are working with our editing partners. I currently have 3.25 pages. I guess that is contributing to my writer's block and lack of things to say.

Anyway, if you want to see the adorable dogs I'm watching for the next week, go check out Heather's blog.

Enjoy another BEAUTIFUL day!!!

Blah...

I have absolutely nothing interesting to blog about.
But I feel as though I should at least say hi because I have not blogged yet this month. So "hello" and "goodbye". I am going to go outside and enjoy this warm weather and sunshine by going for a run and then shooting some hoops.
I'll be back when I have something interesting to say.
Have a wonderful day!