So, once more

...I'm trying out this email-your-post-to-your-blog thing and seeing how
it works. This is pretty lame, I know, but bear with me as I explore
new horizons and expand my internet prowess. I promise something much
more interesting in the near future, like maybe my adventures at
daycare, or something like that. Here goes the trial post!!

So...

...who's going on the Youth Retreat???? ONLY A WEEK AND ONE HALF AWAY!!!!!!

WMD's Found?...

So there's this great article on the Fox News Report about how there have been hundreds of Weapons of Mass Destruction found in Iraq. Unfortunately, all of the other major liberal-run news networks are keeping this breaking news on the d-l, not even mentioning it, either in the news papers, websites, or on t.v. I can't believe it!! Although, considering that they have all proclaimed Bush to be a liar until now probably doesn't make that news good for them. This is terrible. Spread the news!!!!!!!!! I'm actually really shocked, because this means that either Fox is lying, or that no one else is covering huge news that would really change a lot of things, both in the White House and in America. Wow. It's really shocking.

Disaster in My Room

So, I'm sitting here in the middle of my floor, surveying the disaster around me. I'm not sure if it could be classified as tornado-style or hurricane-style, but it definitely needs some work. Seriously, my room is a total mess and I am trying to get it cleaned up. The thing is, I can't work well in a messy environment. For the past few weeks, I have been entering my room only to get what I need to work on out or to sleep. I have been doing my work in various places around the house, finding adequate surface area that I can't find on my desk anymore. It's driving me insane! I know this is stupid, but if you could pray first that I would be diligent about cleaning up my space and not letting it overwhelm me, and second that I would not be too obsessed about cleanliness, that would be wonderful. I'm going off to start that task now, because I actually have a couple of hours of free time!! This probably seems really silly to most of you right now, but it's been eating away at my sanity, and I felt moved to write about it before I begin the process.

grajuashun

i just grajuaded i hop that sumer wil be fun and that i wil do good in colege

Ok, I can't keep that up for long. It's hard to type badly after years of being taught the correct way to write. Yep, I'm done and moving on. It's so exciting!! Thanks to all of those who came to the party, who came to the ceremony, who congratulated me, and who just said hi in general. It's been a great weekend!!

High School and Beyond!!

Graduation is this Saturday!!!! Wow. It's hard to come to terms with the fact that I have been waiting four years for this moment, and it is less than a week away. I suppose I should learn a lesson here: don't live for tomorrow, but for the day I'm in, because it is good and it is from God. That way I can completely enjoy life and have joy in God's creation!

On a different note, I am doing a study of Ephesians right now through NETS and it is really cool. I would definately recommend reading through Ephesians comprehensively, carefully going through each passage and trying to really figure out what it means. There is so much there!! I'm really enjoying it.

Neringa

Unlike my last Thursday-Friday-Saturday away from home, this weekend I had a blast. I went with my dad and three of my siblings to Neringa, a family camp in southern VT that is run by Lithuanian nuns (I think). Many families from church go there once a year to spend time worshipping the Lord and fellowshipping with other believers. The camp is set in a very beautiful, peaceful woods where it is easy to slip away to spend time alone with God, both in His Word and in prayer. It was really refreshing and I am so thankful that we were able to go.

This year's topic was "Mortification of Sin." It's kind of a scary topic, but an essential one. I was struck by the hugeness of the task of killing sin. We looked at a sermon by John Owens and just spent some time talking about having the power to kill sin in our lives because of Christ Jesus. I was convicted about my own lack of agression in going after sin and in failing to recognize it. I usually take a more passive approach. God will show me a sin, I will acknowledge it, and then I will let it go. I do not immediately go after it with my full armor on. My prayer is that God would give me the grace and humility to be a better mortifier of my soul. It's not easy, and I definately need to pray to be willing to pray that in the first place. Anyway, I came away recharged with a lot of food for my brain, to digest and use accordingly.

On Persecution

I've been thinking about today's sermon and I really felt challenged by it. It was on persecution and how as Christians we should expect and accept persecution because of the Gospel. Persecution is really key to our faith. We should be prepared to follow Christ both in His joy and in His sorrow. Obviously we can't experience either in full, at least not now, but we can follow in our Perfect Master's footsteps. After the sermon we were talking about what makes us so reluctant to share the Gospel. I think that for me, a lot of it has to do with pride. Also, I don't really have the right perspective. When I miss an opportunity, I don't think that the person I could have talked to is going to hell. That's just not on my radar. I forget that I will not lose in the end; they will. I also forget that I'm not presenting myself in any way, but Christ. So I really don't have any excuse. The sermon was really good and I pray that I might be more willing to follow the cross, to follow Christ, and to ultimately and wholeheartedly throw myself into spreading His amazing Word.

Katrina Regurgitation

So, apparently immigration isn't too big of a deal. I will refrain from adding my comments. Instead, I wanted to share some of my pictures that I took down in Mississippi just about three or four weeks ago. (nota bene: these are with a disposable camera.) I think that we are prone to brush these things aside after a few weeks or months, but the reality is that people are still suffering greatly from Hurricane Katrina. These are pictures of some of the destruction.




Ok, so this is just a cool pic of a tractor. It's the house in the background that was damaged and that some of us got to work on.


We drove by this place on our way to New Orleans. It is right by the coast.


This is a random, decripit, abandoned truck that says "USE ME FREE!" on the front.



A car and boat completely totaled.


It's kind of hard to tell, but this is a Walmart with the bottom completely washed out. All that's left is some of the roof and the supports.

Immigration

So, I was wondering if anyone felt like sharing their opinions on all of the illegal immigration controversies that have been so prevalent in the news and congress. I haven't followed it much, but we did have a pretty intense, opinionated discussion about it in class the other day. We played "four corners" where a statement is read and then everyone goes to a corner depending on whether they agree, strongly agree, disagree, or strongly disagree. What made it especially interesting and tense was that we had two ladies from Bosnia in our class.

One of the statements was: "Immigrants in general are taking jobs away from Americans." Keep in mind, these were open--we were free to agree or disagree, as long as we had a reason.

Another one was a scenario: "If a country falls into economic crisis, the U.S. should allow people from that country to immigrate to the U.S." It was not specified if there would be a certain quota or not.

The one that caused a lot of controversy, though, was this: "Immigrants in the U.S. have to know the English Language."

I know that this doesn't deal specifically with the illegal immigration problem, but with immigration in general. I will post my opinions tomorrow, or when I get the chance. Any thoughts, or is this a topic that most people have pushed aside???