Blessings and birthdays

I made it to 20! How crazy is that?

This past weekend, the fam came down to visit! Our foreign exchange student made it to the Large Group All State Speech Festival!! (I'm so proud of her!) But Friday, sis came and we hung out at an ISU gymnastics meet. It was so fun to have sister time! We haven't gotten to spend a ton of time together, so that was super special.
Saturday we made chocolate chip pancakes (a favorite!) and met up with the parents to watch all the cool acts. We loved watching everyone; they were fabulous! Then Mom and Dad spoiled me! Mom and I bargain shopped. After a while, I went to work. From the play-by-play via text, I'm sure they had fun. They also brought down a few presents and baked goods. My apartment is still in no short supply of sweets! Grandma baked cookies, Dad baked a cake (complete with frosting and funfetti sprinkles!), and Mom baked a pie. I had made brownies Friday night with sis, so we were stocked!
Sunday church was wonderful, and we had plenty of time to eat and clean a bit before I had to be at choir rehearsal before the concert, which went wonderfully!
They fed me again before leaving. It was the best weekend I could have had! :) Thanks fam!!

This coming weekend is the Salt Company Spring Retreat! We'll have almost 700 people there!!! Pray for us as we talk about the Glory of Christ. Everyone is super pumped! (I would say I'll get pictures, but I try to make promises I can't keep)

Birthdays are so fun! Can't wait for spring to come!

Favorite Things!

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Five.

Six.

1. MUSIC: I love Jason Gray! Not only is he a great guy, but his music totally jams! Overall, his tunes are pretty chill while still praising God. Some of my fave songs of his include: "Blessed Be", "Grace", and "Move". And you can find most, if not all, of these on Grooveshark! :) I love listening to him while I read.

2. NEW BOARD GAME: Last Word! Played this at a New Years' Eve party and loved it! I'm a word person, so I thought it was a lot of fun! (It probably didn't hurt that I won...) :) Basically, you draw a category and a letter, and then push the button on a timer-ish thing. (really specific, I know) Everybody gets to now yell out whatever they can think of that starts with that letter in the category. The timer goes off randomly, and whoever said the last item that qualifies, wins that category and moves up a space on the board. Whoever reaches the end first, wins! Yay!

3. VIDEO GAME CONSOLE: I love the Wii. We don't have one in our household, but I love playing at friends' houses. "Now, Emily," you might say, "isn't that kind of anti-social? Or maybe even rude??" I understand where you're coming from! But if you play the right group games, every one can have a blast dancing or playing away!

4. WII GAME: Now that we've discussed the Wii, I'd like to introduce you to a fun game! I admit my Gleek -ness. (Gleek= Glee geek; lover of the show Glee) I love music; I love singing. I HATE true karaoke... It's just not my thing. Singing all alone with just bare accompaniment and without loads of preparation in front of lots of strangers? I'll pass. But... singing just in front of friends with your friends from McKinley High that you enjoy looking up on Youtube and singing on the radio (and in the shower)?? Sure!!! My friends and I had so much fun! P.S.: I totally own "Taking Chances". I doubt you could beat me, but I'd agree you might have a chance at tying. :)

5. NEW BOOK: Longing by Karen Kingsbury!!!!! I was sooooooo excited to get this!! A. I love Karen Kingsbury! B. I love the Bailey Flanigan series because she's only a couple years older than I am. C. Bailey Flanigan was inspired by Mrs. Kingbury's own daughter Kelsey. So cool!! D. I enjoy reading books that others read too. I love sharing about what I love in a book without spoiling it! If you have never read a Karen Kingsbury novel, I totally suggest you start with the Redemption series. It sparks so many of her series! Happy reading! :)

6. FORM OF COMMUNICATION: I <3 Skype. I recently had a super long conversation with a best friend from another state for free. I love those words, too. I can even call from my laptop in my room to the home computer in the office if I need my mom or sister (who both use the home computer the most out of the four of us here). 

This is just a fun sharing of things I've been up to within the past week!


All rights to the respectful owners.

Wow, maybe some consistency?!?!

So two Saturdays in a row?? Miracles still happen! :P Thanksgiving was fabulous! Black Friday, not so much due to the almost 11.5 hours put in at work. I'm going to New York for 5 days over Christmas break, so there goes all of my hard-earned money. It's going to be fabulous though! I AM SOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I kinda like this holiday. Just a little bit. I love to sing Christmas carols; I begin in late October and keep going until about mid-January!! I guess I'm like Walmart in a sense! :) There's a chance I may begin a second job sometime soon. Right now I'm simply contemplating applying, but we'll see…

Over the past couple days, my sister and I downloaded most of our CDs onto our iTunes accounts, and I'm loving it!! I love old school stuff like records, but I also enjoy having all of my favorite music in the palm of my hand. (Which, conveniently, is where I'm writing my post: on my bed, on my iPod) That's my technology sales pitch for this post… ;)

Over the past week, my school has let out twice for freezing rain!! Wednesday, I got to Skype my brother for almost an hour. My family took over after that, but it was awesome to see and talk to him about all sorts of things!

Oh, poop. Try, try again, right?

So it's been a month. Okay, a little over. My bad! (see title) Well, first quarter is over, and so is All State. I didn't make it, but I'm okay! I was bummed, but I'm okay now! Yesterday, in fact, I sang the national anthem at the regional volleyball game!

Now I can focus on the musical The Secret Garden. I am the Ayah, Mary's Indian nanny. Technically, I'm dead, but I come back as a ghost and creep on Mary with my cohort, Fakir. It's a little weird, but cool at the same time. I recommend it and not just because I'm in it. I also recommend the book by Frances Hodges Burnett and movie!

School is going well! Composition is gonna kick my butt, though, if I don't get mine into gear! (That class is ironically the class I'm procrastinating right now.) If you would like to buy traditional, turtle, or pumpkin cheesecake, please let me know! (please insert nice wish here for 11:11!) Tomorrow is a 12:30 out for teacher inservice and next week Friday is no school!! Thank goodness! It's about time!! :)

The college search is still on! I have it limited to ISU and UNL. Maybe this is mean, but whatev, I'm going to say it: although I don't really want to see a bunch of kids from my school at my college, either one is a great school! I do need to finish my applications and send them in soon, though!

Thanks for reading through my random, kinda lame life! Until I remember (procrastinate) again!

Consistency.. not really my thing

So I'm horrible at being consistent! It's a flaw, what can I say? Anyways, Midsummer Night's Dream is really coming along! Tonight, we do full costumes, hair, and makeup! We are allowed to design our own hair and makeup for this show, so I'm trying to be creative. All State camp starts next Sunday, and I'm super excited to see all my friends from another town! For those who don't exactly know what all state camp is for, it's a choir camp where everybody gets to sing about 9 hours a day for 3 days! I'll try to be more consistent in the future, but (I make no promises). :)

Eternally Yours

This is a song that I can't find anywhere, but I love it! It's so powerful and true.
**Disclaimer: I own nothing: the rights, the words, tune, zip, zero, nada

Eternally Yours


Lord, my life you know clearly seeing where I need to grow

As you work in me cleansing all of my impurities

(Chorus)

Lord, I thank you for loving me just as I am

Though I’m weak by myself in Your strength I will stand

Your grace is sufficient for me, for me, eternally Yours


You’re all I need and it’s all I can do (eternally Yours)

To surrender my will in submission to You (eternally Yours)

Your grace is sufficient for me, for me, eternally Yours


As I learn from You, Jesus, patiently You lead me through

Though I often fail, stumbling, You assure Your love prevails

(Repeat Chorus)