Laughs, lunch, and languages.

          Today was so much fun! Ashlyn, Quinn, and I got to push Lukas around during the ten-thirty hour at church. We went downstairs, upstairs, outside...pretty much all around the church. As we were walking back inside, Quinn spotted some chalk. So we drew some lovely pictures on the sidewalk and went about our way. After church was over, I went to lunch with some fabulous ladies from the youth group and my wonderful small group leaders. One of my leaders, L.A, is leaving to study abroad in Italy for a month. This was the last time we would see her until July, so we made the most of it. One of the highlights was the following conversation:

LA: I'm so excited to go to Italy!

Ashlyn: Is there a language for Italy?

Me: Um...Italian?

Ashlyn: Oh. That makes sense.

   So it was quite the lunch. Have fun in Italy LA, we'll miss you!


Houston: 16 days.

Have you ever...

...danced so much your feet felt like they were going to fall off? I have. Last night was our prom for SCIL and it was an absolute blast! We arrived at 5:30 to receive our orders and take our places. People starting arriving from 6:30-7:30. I was the officially un-official paparazzi (until my camera died)/ registration person/ dance partner. My new friend Ian and I boogied for several songs (including some of the ever popular Black Eyed Peas) until we could boogie no more. It was such a blessing to be able to serve these people. They were so grateful and thanked us numerous times. I was so impressed with our youth group. The students were always willing to help and had such gracious attitudes. Prom ended at nine, and after tear down, we left around ten-thirty. I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. I spent today watching all three High School Musical movies. When those movies first came out, my best friend and I were in "love" with Zac Efron. I mean, at eleven, he was the bees knees. We would throw HSM premiere parties. I remember when the second one came out, we spent the evening in my basement with our eyes glued to the tv. As I watched them (for the hundredth time) again today, I had a hard time believing I ever considered that quality entertainment. Between the overly cheesy acting and the lip-synced love songs, it was vomit inducing. But I still sat there and relived my pre-teen dreams. It was sad, but I still enjoyed it. I hope you have a fantastic week, and maybe watch some HSM?


Houston: 17 days.

Tonight is...

...PROM! Every year, my church hosts a prom for kids from the Southwest Center for Independent Living. The students design and run the whole thing...and we get to dress up.

Here is my dress:


I needed something that I could dance and move around in and this was perfect! I'm not sure when I'll have pictures up, seeing as I still have my moms camera. But I am so excited to see the looks on these kids faces when they realize that this night is all about THEM. Do you have any fun prom stories?

HOUSTON: 20 DAYS :)

HOUSTON COUNTDOWN = 21 DAYS. :)

Houston means I'm one day closer to you...

    I have been humming all day...the tune? "The sun'll come out tomorroooooowwww." After almost a week of b-e-a-utiful weather, we are back to cloudy skies. BUT I have been consoling myself with thoughts of this summer. My youth group is heading down to Houston, TX. I am s-o-o-o-o excited! We will be working with First Baptist Houston on what they call 'The Houston Project'. This is a mission trip in their own backyard. They travel throughout the city hosting Vacation Bible Schools, Youth Events, Adult Ministry, Food Distribution, Sports Ministry, Evangelism, and Prayer. We will not actually be participating in the project but helping set-up the week before. We will also be doing an apartment ministry. The apartment complex houses over 5,000 families. The youth group will be putting on a VBS type camp for the kids.  Another aspect of this trip is different religions. We will be touring a Mosque and an Islamic Da'Wah center. Houston is the fourth most populous city, so there is a large number of homeless people. We are staying at one of the FBH outreach centers. This center feeds thousands of homeless people a week. I am so excited to see how God is going to use our group this summer. Please pray for safe travel and unity as a team.


HOUSTON COUNTDOWN: 24 days.

Saturday surgery.

      Hello friends! Sorry I haven't updated lately. Things have been pretty hectic around here! Let's start with a recap of my week before I get to the real kicker.

Monday: boring.
Tuesday: Co-op performance day!
Wednesday: fun (and cake) filled day at the office.
Thursday: dad had a doctor appointment. His blood platelets are supposed to be between 130-240. His are at 7.
Friday: dad had an appt. with a hematologist. They scheduled him for 6 hours of transfusion Sat. and Sun.
That night my stomach started hurting. I thought I was hungry or (excuse my bluntness) constipated so I ate and then went to bed.


          And then came Saturday. I woke up and had awful pain in the right side of my stomach. Being the self-diagnoser that I am, I googled 'symptoms of appendicitis'. Pain in the right side: check. Pain when pressure is applied: check. Loss of appetite: check. So I caught my parents before they left for the transfusion center and told them what I thought was wrong. So after dropping my dad of, my mom and I went over to Urgent Care. Ick. Since I'm not legally an adult, I got to go to the pediatric clinic with every other screaming child on the planet. After talking to the doctor he ordered a CT Scan. Not fun. So before I could get a CT Scan, I needed an IV. My nurse was three days older than dirt and stabbed me three times with no luck. OUCH. So she brought in another lady who got it in the first try. After drinking 32 oz of iodine water and sitting for an hour, I was off for the CT Scan. After being slid back and forth a few times, the nurse came in. She gave me this medicine through my IV and stated, "This will make you feel hot and like you're peeing the bed." Yep, it did. I finished with that and went back to the UC room. Fifteen minutes later the doctor came in. "I have good news and bad news. The good news is I know what's wrong with you. The bad news is that it has to come out." Appendicitis was the official diagnosis. So I was immediately wheeled back to the Operating Room holding room. I chatted with my nurses and anesthesiologist before I passed out because of some medicine. The next time I woke up was when I was being wheeled toward the Operating Room. They gave me an oxygen mask and told me to breathe deeply. The next thing I knew, I was in recovery. I was so groggy when I woke up, that I couldn't open my eyes, but I could hear everything going on around me. After about an hour in recovery, I was in my own hospital room. Keep in mind that by this point, I haven't had anything to eat in about 19 hours, so I was SO hungry. I was allowed Jello from the snack room, and had that scarfed down within 5 minutes. They were supposed to release me about 9-ish, but I was still experiencing some pretty bad pain. So when that subsided, I was released at around 12. My mom had to wake me up at 3 this morning to give me my pain pills, but other than that I slept like a rock last night. The stress of the day combined with the pain pills really knocked me out. I am still in some pain, but it's not as bad as it was last night. Plus, I have some pretty rockin' battle scars. That was my Saturday...what did you do with yours?