Good news...and bad news...

THE GOOD NEWS:

Apparently global warming isn't worth all the hype it's been getting. According to a news article from this past Monday, there is more snow cover right now than in any time since 1966. Also this past January had record cold temperatures and the average temperature was cooler than the entire 20th century average.

"And remember the Arctic Sea ice? The ice we were told so hysterically last fall had melted to its 'lowest levels on record'? Never mind that those records only date back as far as 1972 and that there is anthropological and geological evidence of much greater melts in the past.

The ice is back.

Gilles Langis, a senior forecaster with the Canadian Ice Service in Ottawa, says the Arctic winter has been so severe the ice has not only recovered, it is actually 10 to 20 cm thicker in many places than at this time last year.

OK, so one winter does not a climate make. It would be premature to claim an Ice Age is looming just because we have had one of our most brutal winters in decades.
But if environmentalists and environment reporters can run around shrieking about the manmade destruction of the natural order every time a robin shows up on the Georgian Bay two weeks early, then it is at least fair game to use this winter's weather stories to wonder whether the alarmists are being a tad premature."

Hahahahaha I thought that was hilarious!

THE BAD NEWS:

Scientists have just nailed down when the world will end. Apparently we're going to be absorbed into the sun after it becomes a red giant in 7.6 billion years. But don't worry. Scientists have figured out a strategy for saving us. They say if we can just tame an asteroid and have it swing by our planet every few thousand years, it will be enough to slowly nudge our orbit farther out into space and allow us to avoid getting absorbed by the sun. Good luck with that. Let me just say I'm glad I have a God to believe in instead of some scientists who are trying to tame an asteroid.

Funny Grandma

I have the funniest grandma ever! She has had quite a few funny quotes in the past but this past weekend she made me laugh SO hard! Even my grandpa couldn't stop laughing either! Here are three things she said:

1. "We put up new hurricane shutters to protect our house during volcano season." Of course she meant hurricane season but said the wrong word and the image of volcanoes in the flattest state in our country made my grandfather and I laugh and laugh. The next day my grandpa even said to my grandma laughing, "Dear, when does volcano season start again?"

2. "Dr. Morrow used to not accept new patients because he had too many. But now he's accepting new patients so I guess a bunch have been dying off."

3. After unloading the dishwasher, "Now we just fill it back up again with the dirty ones. It's a vicious circle."

HAHAHAHA what a funny little Grandma

Highlights from FL

I had such an awesome time in Florida...83 degrees...t-shirt weather...I could get used to that all winter long! I even went swimming in my grandparents' pool! I helped my grandparents do a bunch of things around the house so they wouldn't have to worry about it.

And my grandpa got a totally hot new car - the Cadillac CTS! It won the Motortrend Car of the Year 2008 award! It's AMAZING, has so many features I can't even begin to describe. I was sold on it when I saw it had a built-in iPod port right in the car! He let me drive it and it was so sweet... I wish I had taken a picture of it, but I didn't. I videotaped it though!

We went to Downtown Disney, the marketplace at Disney World, so I could get a few things for some kids. The world's biggest Lego store is there so I went to visit that and did not buy a single Lego! They had a couple of new big models built including the one in the picture at the top! It's a family walking a bunch of dogs!

Also at Downtown Disney I got to see a Rawlings guy making baseball bats! He could make a bat from a solid piece of wood in about 20 minutes! He apparently has made tons of bats in his lifetime, including 8 that are in the Hall of Fame!

Then when we were heading back home, I saw a Chic-Fil-A van!! It was awesome! I took some pictures of my grandparents too! I'll put those on later!

New Haircut

Okay so I got my hair cut tonight and every time I get it cut, I tell the hair stylists to experiment with it...just try stuff out...I'm not picky. I'm looking for a style that I like a lot and I haven't found it yet. Well every time, they get really excited about it and they're always like, "Oh my gosh, this looks amazing! You're going to love this!" And then other stylists sometimes even come over and say, "Yeah, that looks really good!" But when I look at it, I'm always like, "uh...yeah...it's um...great...." while thinking, "WHAT THE HECK DID YOU DO TO MY HAIR???" Well tonight was the most excited they've ever been. I actually had hopes for it tonight... but when I saw it I still was like, REALLY? This is what you think is GREAT??? I don't think it looks like me at all. But it's happened so many times now, I'm curious about other people's opinions.

So anyone who reads this blog tell me your opinion honestly! Do you think it looks totally creepy?

Lunar Eclipse

YAY FOR FLORIDA! I'm in Florida right now, hanging out with my grandparents! It's typical winter right now, 70-80 degrees and sunny! How awesome is that! Last night I was talking to Kathryn and she was like, "GO LOOK AT THE LUNAR ECLIPSE!! IT'S SO RED!" So I went out to take a picture of it and...well...it wasn't red. Big? Yes. Beautiful? Of course. Bright? Absolutely. Red? No way. Kathryn didn't believe me, so I took pictures of it with my telephoto lens and Grandpa's tripod to prove it. Here are the pictures from last night! Definitely not red.

Liquid Nitrogen ROCKS!

Today one of the parents of a child in my class came in to show the kids what happens when you freeze stuff with liquid nitrogen! It was totally awesome and I think the kids are definitely picking up the message that SCIENCE IS COOL!!! Liquid nitrogen is -320 degrees Fahrenheit and we froze flowers and then watched them shatter like glass! We also froze bouncy balls, balloons filled with air, hot dogs, pipes, and tennis balls! The only one that didn't shatter was the balloon. It just condensed into a deflated balloon. Then as it warmed up, it expanded again to return to its original shape! The tennis ball was really cool because the rubber inside of it completely broke into tiny pieces when he hit it with a hammer! I took some video of it too, so when I have time to edit it, I'll post it so you can see! Here are some pictures of the flower shattering, the balloon condensing, and the tennis ball after it was hit with a hammer!

Sleepiest Weekend Ever

I think this was the sleepiest weekend ever...

I was SO tired because this past week was crazy with being really cold, then really warm, Valentine's Day, kids were nuts, you get the idea. On Friday, I took Miguel snowboarding right after school. He did great and he even went down a black diamond slope for the first time! We stayed until 8:00 and when we got back to Charlottesville, we went to the pool with another friend to go swimming. We were swimming until 11:00 and then we were all starving so we went to IHOP to eat pancakes! We finished and got home at 12:30 AM, just in time for his mom to pick him up after work.

I was wiped out. That night I slept and slept and didn't wake up until 2:00 PM on Saturday! I was still exhausted the rest of the day so I went back to sleep and didn't wake up until 9:30 AM this morning! Insane! I NEVER sleep that much! I picked up Miguel for church and after church I went BACK TO SLEEP and woke up at 5:00, just in time for youth group. Finally, FINALLY I wasn't tired anymore.

Youth group was great and afterwards Miguel and I danced and sang to a bunch of David Crowder songs, watched some snowboarders on TV while he played Club Penguin on the computer, and then we watched the movie Bridge to Terabithia - totally great movie by the way. Now it's 12:30 AM and I'm wide awake. I wonder why?

The Perfect Flower

So last night something kind of sad/cool happened. I was about to go to sleep and I was laying in bed, when I suddenly started crying...another "Dad moment" hit me. I was consciously trying to talk myself out of crying, saying to myself, "Come on, Beth...Dad's gone...this isn't a big surprise all of a sudden," but I couldn't stop crying. Finally, in the dark, I cried out, tears streaming down my face, "Dad! Where are you? Dad!" No answer, of course, since I was alone in my house with just my cat. Then I cried out, "God, why can't my dad come back? Why can't I just see him again?" Then in the silence that followed, my mind was consumed by a picture of the most beautiful, perfect flower I had ever seen. Somehow I knew it was a white magnolia flower and it was so pure, so big. It seemed big enough to lay down on. This picture was the closest I could find to the flower I saw, but it doesn't even come close to the beauty of this flower in my mind. I felt instantly at peace, calm, and comforted but I found myself asking God, "Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Then I heard him saying, "Look up. Look deeper! Look farther!" So in my mind I looked up, past the flower and everywhere I looked there were hundreds, THOUSANDS, of these beautiful flowers EVERYWHERE! Covering paths, covering trees, covering a palace, covering everything with such a pure, sweet beauty. As I stared at it in amazement, my next thought was, "He's here. Why would he want to leave?"

I'm pretty sure I've never read in the bible that Heaven is covered with white magnolia flowers, so I'm not sure what that picture in my mind was about, but the reason I think it was from God is because I felt comforted INSTANTLY and my very next thought was one of absolute worship of a Savior who is majestic, pure, holy, and good. A Savior who created a paradise so perfectly wonderful, a paradise where even the smallest detail is more breathtaking than the most amazing scenery in all of Earth, a paradise where he wants us to spend forever with him. This is the God I want to spend my life living for.

i miss my dad.

i miss my dad.

And the season begins...

Miguel had a soccer game last Saturday with SOCA. It wasn't with his real team that he's going to play with in the spring. It was more like a little pre-season game that was combined with a tryout for Challenge teams. He is going to be on a Cale team so that he'll know some kids on his team.

Happy Birthday Kathryn!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATHRYN!!!!

Wednesday was my sister's birthday! We had dinner at my mom's house to celebrate and my other sister, Cameron, came with our little nephew, Leland! Leland is only the most adorable baby on the planet! It was truly a wonderful surprise to find out that they were coming to visit for Kathryn's birthday! Leland rode on a horse for the first time with Kathryn! He loved riding the horse and even held the reins! He is the most patient baby ever! He did not cry the entire afternoon and evening even when it was 3 hours past his bedtime. He just laughed and laughed! He loved eating the ice cream that Grandpop gave him! Look at his face in that bottom picture! So it was totally cool that we got to spend Kathryn's birthday UP HERE in Virginia with her AND we got to see Cameron and Leland too! Happy birthday Kathryn!

quick update

Hey everybody! Thanks for praying! My grandpa came home from the hospital yesterday! He's doing better - on a new medication - and he's not allowed to do any work for a week to give his body a little more time to heal. I'm going to go down to visit them in two weeks.

My sister's horse has been very sick. My mom had to take him to the horse hospital up in Northern Virginia on Friday and he spent the night in the hospital. Kathryn drove up from Georgia on Friday and is spending the week here to administer medicine to Connor every six hours. We still don't know why he's sick...waiting for test results today or tomorrow.

A tree fell on my stepdad's shed. Like, SERIOUSLY!

More positively, my friend, Miguel, who goes to church with me seemed to really understand the message yesterday about forgiveness. We participated in the Lord's Supper and when we went up front to accept the supper, he took a card with him with the name of one person who he really needed to forgive. For his privacy, I won't tell you who he wrote, but he told me why he wrote it and it's a pretty big deal. He left it on the altar when he took the Lord's Supper to symbolize forgiving that person while he accepted his own forgiveness.

Okay...gotta go to school!