HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KAF DA SNAF!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KAF DA SNAF!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KAF DA SNAF!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR KAF DA SNAF!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KAF DA SNAF!!!!!


My birthday prayers for my sister:

I pray that she will always remember to laugh. Laughter is often the best conqueror of stress and worry and when nothing else seems funny, thinking of Shawn Spencer lines such as "penmanship the likes of which I've never seen" will always work.

I pray that she will always have a better memory than me to cover for the serious gaps in mine. I still can't believe I convinced her to name her fish Picante when we were little just so later in life we could say we had a fish named Picante. I don't even remember that. See what I'm talking about?

I hope that she will get to travel somewhere really cool - somewhere that she's never been before and where she can encounter God in a way that will leave her speechless, completely unable to explain to the rest of us what happened as our unfathomable Savior chooses to reveal a little more of Himself to her.

I pray that she will be able to bench 95 pounds.

I pray that one day she will call me on the phone and say, "Hey, Beth...guess what! I'm going to Vet School! I'm going to be a vet!!!"

I pray that one day not too long after that she will call me and say, "Hey, Beth...I'm not going to see you for a few months because I'm going to this country in Africa that you've never heard of and I'm going to show people who Jesus is by helping them with their animals."

I pray that until those phone calls come, she will relax in the arms of Jesus and realize that there is no more perfect place than where she is right now and that the Savior of this world has defeated worry, death, fear, the unknown, and guilt.

Most of all, I pray that she will know how much I love her. I could never be more proud of her. I hope she knows how hard it was today to leave GA on her birthday and how hard it is to wake up every morning knowing that she is 600 miles away and there's nothing I can do to make that distance shrink. I thank God for giving me a sister that can be a best friend, instead of one of those sisters who are just plain old sisters.

I love you, Kathryn, and I couldn't ask for a better sister.

Happy birthday!

GSU - Go Eagles!

Yesterday we went to Kathryn's church - a beautiful Methodist church in Statesboro, right next to her school. The people there were really friendly and they've been keeping an eye on Kathryn. I feel confident that if she needed anything she could go to them and they would help in any way they could. That's what church is about...having a network of brothers and sisters united in Christ that you can depend on. 1 Corinthians 12:26 says, "If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it." This is church - a family, a body - where no one is greater or less than the one next to him. I hope that no matter where Kathryn goes that she can find a church where that is the foremost belief in their role as the body of Christ.

We watched the Colts win the Superbowl - GO FILLIES!!! It was awesome how the owner of the Colts and their coach both deferred their "glory" to God's glory in their interviews during the post-game show. Both were making sure fans knew why they had made it to the Superbowl and what it looked like for a team to play and follow God at the same time.

Today Kathryn gave us a tour of her school and we saw her office, some classrooms and labs, the college bookstore (where we decked out in new GSU gear), the gym (which is A-MAZING!), and many other buildings. I wanted to go to the planetarium, but nobody would let me. Sniff...sniff... :( I was also confused because Kathryn told me about this cool ball room but I totally misunderstood the purpose of the room. I thought she was saying a BALL room, like a room filled with balls - basketballs and soccer balls and footballs and baseballs and balls, balls, and more balls! But then I saw a poster for the room and saw that ball and room were really one word. So sad. A ballroom is not nearly as fun as a ball room.


And if you ever find yourself lost and hungry in Statesboro, Georgia in the middle of the night (because that's likely to happen), I'd recommend eating at McAllister's Deli or Wrapsody for some great local food. Of course if it's the middle of the night, those two restaurants will be closed ... but why are you lost in Statesboro in the middle of the night anyway? It's not THAT big.

Cannons are very loud.

We went to Fort Pulaski yesterday, which is near Savannah and Tybee Island (about a mile from Tybee). There are a couple of forts around here that were used during the Civil War. Fort Pulaski was really cool because it was controlled by the Union and the Confederate sides at different times. When the South controlled it, the Union was setting up a "camp" on Tybee Island that the South didn't know about. Then they began bombarding the fort with cannonballs and finally breached the southeastern corner of the fort, which is shaped like a pentagon. The fort took over 8 years to build, used millions of bricks, and cost a million dollars, and in just 30 hours, a wall had broken through. The Confederate general knew that without the wall protecting the inside, a loose cannonball could crash into the storehouses where all the black powder was stored and then the entire fort and all of his army would be destroyed, so he surrendered. The Union took many of the Confederate soldiers prisoner and held them for about 3 months. Fort Pulaski was really important for the Union to get because it controlled all the shipping in and out of Savannah.

Kathryn and I took these pictures around the fort. The top picture is of my mom and my sister inside one of the caves.

There were TONS of cannons - really cool ones and we got to see how they turned for aiming, how far they could shoot, and we even watched some "soldiers" fire a real cannon. It was so loud - I can't imagine what it must have been like to be surrounded by 45 cannons all shooting 3 rounds per minute at the same time!


We went to look at the southeastern corner too (the one that was destroyed by the Union army's cannons ) and it was awesome to see the cannon ball holes. Check it out in the picture! Don't the holes look cool? And look! It even has a moat around it with real alligators in it! How sweet is that!

Tybee Island

Today was the first day of our trip down to Georgia. Well, technically it was the second day but yesterday we were driving the whole day, so today was really like our first day here. We drove through Savannah to Tybee Island which has a beach and some lighthouses! The beach was really beautiful, with tons of shells to collect and birds everywhere! We found lots of cool shells, none of which I can remember the names of now, but they had cool names. Kathryn even found a shell that still had a hermit crab inside of it! She carried him around and tried to convince him to find another shell to live in so she could have his shell, but he wasn't going for it.



Here's Kathryn walking across some driftwood.



We had fun creating illusions with the lighthouse in the background!








Here's my mom and Kathryn looking at boats sailing across the water.





This is some driftwood that I found with the lighthouse in the background.




Here's one of the hundreds of birds hanging out by the beach!

Brilliant New Strategy for Getting Kids to Stop Yelling

Today I discovered a brilliant new strategy for getting kids to stop yelling at eachother. At recess two of my kids were throwing mulch, so they had to sit down for the rest of recess (about 5 minutes left). Well they started screaming at eachother about whose fault it was and after listening to it for several rounds back and forth, I calmly said, "Hey guys? Why don't you yell louder, because I don't think you can hear eachother from 3 feet away?" They looked at me with heads turned sideways (like in this picture of my dog, Cody) and then began whispering to eachother, "you threw mulch first" "no I didn't, you did" "I didn't even touch it" "yes you did!"

Again after a minute or so, I said, "Guys, really, I'm serious. We're going to have to go inside in 3 minutes. So if you're going to yell, you need to do it now because you definitely can't do it inside the school. You have 3 minutes left. Go ahead and yell now." And again, they looked at me with sideways heads, very confused. Then they didn't say anything at all for the next 3 minutes!

Who knew? Clearly the way to get kids to be quiet is tell them to yell. Go figure.

John Boggs - defeated three times in a row

So tonight, John Boggs was defeated for the third straight time at Settlers. I must say he's slipping. He would probably give you some such nonsense as "I had a headache" but when you've lost as much as he has, excuses are no longer valid.

And I was looking through pictures on my computer and I just had to post this picture of one of my favorite dogs ever, Tucker. This is little Tucky Tuck when he was a puppy. Don't you just want to hug him? He's so adorable and soft like a cute little... uh... puppy! He's sitting in my mom's garden at our house in Earlysville.

Only 5 days until I get to see my sister in Georgia!!!!

Why can't every day be just this good?

So this morning I woke up with that song called "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" in my head. The chorus goes

"It's a great day to be alive

I know the sun's still shining when I close my eyes

There's some hard times in the neighborhood

But why can't every day be just this good?"

That's the way I felt after today because I spent the whole day snowboarding at Wintergreen! My stepdad works with Adaptive Ski up there and he got me a free lift ticket to ride. It was my first time up this season! There were perfect conditions - 55 degrees, sun shining, almost every slope open, soft snow! I won't be able to go again until February 17th! I can't wait!

Then this evening, I watched my friends Juan and Marco perform in the play Snow White. They were awesome dwarves and Juan even had a very fancy belt with his costume. Marco was wearing his lucky hat like usual, but sadly not during the play. I think he should put his lucky hat on when he comes out to bow at the end! Finally, Juan, Marco, their mom, and I went to a place on the downtown mall and ate gelato. AND I DIDN'T EVEN GET SICK! YAY!!!!!

See what I'm saying? Why can't every day be just this good?

Taekwondo

Yesterday, some students from International Black Belt Center came to my school for a taekwondo demonstration. It was so hard to just sit on the sidelines and watch them do it. I wanted to get out there with them so bad! When the instructor would call for attention to his students (which means you stand up straight with your hands by your side and your feet together), I of course wouldn't really move, but I could feel my muscles reacting to the direction and trying to go into "attention" stance.

The instructor talked to the kids about having "strong mind" which means being able to focus even in the face of teasing or other distractions. It was really good and the kids seemed to understand that having "strong mind" means not reacting back to other kids picking on you or annoying you. I think I'm going to keep going with that idea during the remainder of the year because I have a lot of kids that annoy the other kids.

And on Tuesday, the little guy in my class (we'll call him Hernando) tested for his yellow belt! He got his first color belt and a medal! He was so excited! He forgot to put his seatbelt on when we got in the car because as he said, "I was so impressed with my yellow belt, I forgot!"

Then last night I worked out at Gold's Gym for the first time. I was so excited and I called my sister to tell her. Her reaction? "YOU'VE HAD A MEMBERSHIP TO GOLD'S GYM FOR FIVE MONTHS AND THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME GOING THERE? WHAT DO YOU HAVE A MEMBERSHIP FOR??????" I quietly answered, "the pool." I really want to be able to do pushups because I feel ridiculous at taekwondo being a black belt and not being able to do pushups. My arms are just so weak. So back to Gold's I will go tonight and see if I can increase bicep curls from 2 pounds to 3. Just kidding. It's not quite that bad.

Hidden Settings

Here are some hidden settings that people rarely know about, but explain the mysteries behind your PC's most frustrating actions!
Hahahahaha isn't that hilarious???? I couldn't stop laughing when I saw it. Even last night, I kept waking up at 1:45, then 3:15, then 5:30, thinking about it and laughing. Finally I understand why my computer acts like that!

On another note, I finished all of my report card comments (the hardest part)! And I even wrote them in Spanish for the first time! I'm so happy that I finally know enough Spanish to be able to do that! I only had to look up a couple things, like "on grade level". That's not really something that ever came up in my Spanish lessons at home. :)

Answered Prayers

I heard a cool story from a high school girl tonight. She's been in foster care for most of her life and she was just adopted recently. She said she's been worried lately because her behavior has been getting worse and she's worried that her new mom won't want her. She's been asking God for help to change her behavior but also to give her peace so she won't be so anxious about whether her new mom loves her. She said God's really been helping because she's just felt happier and calmer. Her counselor told her that he didn't even recognize her because she had changed the way she dressed and she had a huge smile on her face. She's been waiting for a family for a long time. But her hope is in God! He always comes through!

"Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord,
We will wait upon the Lord!"

Praise God for his strength while we wait for his perfect timing in answering our prayers! Praise Him for this loved child who is standing in his light and turning to him for help when she needs it most! And finally, praise Him for all the adoptive parents out there who are answering prayers made in tears from kids who need their love the most!

No School!

NO SCHOOL TODAY!!!!!

NO SCHOOL TODAY!!!!!!!

NO SCHOOL TODAY!!!!!!

PRAISE JESUS!!!!!!

NO SCHOOL TODAY!!!!!!

Since it's a snow day, here's a funny cartoon of a dead snowman's funeral. Sort of morbid... but it's funny nonetheless.

SNOW!!!

Yay it's snowing! Or at least...it was snowing. It's still doing something out there but I don't really know what. I hope we don't have school for the next 6 months!

Here's a picture of my church, Portico, this morning with snow coming down! Church was great, by the way! I started Gospel Class this morning which is a requirement if you want to be a member of the church. I met a cool person in the class who used to want to be an architect, just like me! We started laughing when we realized that we both used to cover every piece of paper in high school with floorplans and insist on writing in all capital letters, much to our teachers' dismay. (On a side note, writing in all capital letters is a great way to cover up when you don't know which words are supposed to have capital letters and which ones aren't.)

Oh and here's little Lauren Boggs. She was especially cute this morning in the front row, sleeping right through "Jesus Paid it All", "Mighty to Save", and "There's No One Like You". Well, report cards are due on Tuesday at midnight...and I haven't even started. So I'm off to school IN THE SNOW to get some report cards done!

Drive-Thru Moose

Hahahahaha I would have loved to be there that day! What a smart moose!

God Takes Over Computer

So a cool thing happened this morning (6:30 AM) when I was praying... I had just been reading a few chapters in John on www.biblegateway.com, because I had left my bible downstairs and I was too lazy and sleepy to walk ALL THE WAY down there to get it. After I finished reading, I started praying, like usual, just asking God to please oh please help those second graders learn to focus, make life start to calm down again for my family, and oh yeah am I ever going to get married. When I finished, I looked up and went to turn my computer off so that I could go to work.

That's when I noticed that the screen was different.

Even though I of course didn't touch the computer while I was praying, the screen had changed. It was still on biblegateway.com, but it was showing a different passage from the one I had left it on when I went to pray. I looked at the verse that it showed me:

John 14:1. "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me."

I stared at it, sort of in bewilderment for a moment (head cocked to the side like a puppy trying to understand goofy humans). When I got over my initial confusion at how the passage changed on its own, I realized that that's the first time I felt like Jesus was speaking to me THROUGH the bible. I've heard people say that, like "Yeah, God uses the bible to speak to us." But I had never really felt that before.

I heard him saying, "I know you've got a lot of questions right now and you don't understand and sometimes you wonder if I'm even listening... but trust me. Just trust me."

Praise God that even AMD Athlon Dual-Core Processors are under his control!

Hold Fast

"But you are to hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have until now." Joshua 23:8

In the middle of this crazy time, I was driving home in my car (I forget which car...one of the three I've had in the past week). Anyway, I was feeling overwhelmed and as I was listening to the radio (90.1 in case you care), I sort of wished that a song would come on that I'd never heard before that would make sense out of these situations. Right as I pulled into the driveway, a song by MercyMe came on and it started, "To everyone who's hurting" (to which I thought, um...me), "to those who've had enough" (yeah...that's me), "to all the undeserving" (yep, got that one too), "that should cover all of us"...

Well then I was immediately sad because as soon as the song was over I couldn't remember the words or the melody and anyone who knows me knows that I'm not allowed to spend money on anything that's not food or gas, and that includes 99 cent songs on iTunes. So yesterday I noticed that on my box of Poptarts it said "ONE FREE SONG DOWNLOAD" and I started jumping up and down saying, "No way! No way! Yippee skippee!" So I ran back upstairs to get the song FOR FREE! It's an awesome song - here are the words that really spoke to me:

"To everyone who's hurting
to those who've had enough
to all the undeserving
that should cover all of us,
please do not let go
I promise there is hope

Hold fast, help is on the way!
Hold fast, He's come to save the day!"

Fun Kids

This weekend I also got to visit some friends who are in 4th grade now. They were in my class 2 years ago. The one on the right lives in North Carolina now and she was up visiting for the weekend! It was really cool getting to see them again, eating lunch, and just hanging out!

Ryan's Birthday

Today's my brother's birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RYAN!!!!!!!!!

Disc Golf Lessons

Yesterday my friends, Ann, Alicia, Peter, and I went to play disc golf at Walnut Creek Park. It was perfect weather - 65 degrees and sunny. Ann and Alicia are my best friends from college. We were roommates at Bridgewater where we all went for undergrad. Alicia and Peter have played disc golf before, so they knew what they were doing. It was Ann's and my first time and we learned several hard lessons about disc golf. Here they are:

1. Throwing disc golf frisbees is not the same as throwing ultimate frisbee frisbees. Of course I didn't learn this lesson until after I had lost the frisbee twice in the woods and then thrown Alicia's favorite frisbee in the water. That's when I learned lesson number 2.

2. Disc golf frisbees sink. Fast. They hit the water and go down immediately. Fortunately Peter is part-prophet and as he foretold this would happen, he was down by the edge of the water waiting to see where the frisbee would go in so that he could go retrieve it. Unfortunately, I of course managed to sink it in the very deepest part.

3. Unless you really know what you are doing, disc golf frisbees don't go where they are aimed. For example, had I been aiming for the deepest part of the water, the frisbee would have sailed right on to the land, clearing the water easily.

4. Just because the air temperature in January is warm doesn't mean the water temperature is. Peter was quite cold having to retrieve the frisbee. He never did find it, but he found another one to replace it!

5. Don't stand in front of people when they are throwing a disc golf frisbee. For that matter, don't stand behind them or to the side either. I suggest finding safety in the very top of a tree or else curling up in the fetal position on the ground until everyone else's turn is over. I almost had my head taken off 3 times and I wasn't even standing in the path. I was traipsing through the middle of the woods searching for my long lost frisbee.

6. Disc golf frisbees are colorful for a reason. After trudging up and down bank after bank, looking behind trees and under thickets, I finally found my bright blue frisbee. Thank goodness frisbees aren't brown.

7. It's fun to have a friendly dog with you, especially one named Chaos. It's especially good when your friendly dog doesn't chew frisbees. And if you can teach them to dive under water to redeem sunken frisbees, then you are definitely ready to play this game.

The Adventures of Juan and Marco

So yesterday Juan and Marco and I struck terror into the hearts of innocent swimmers as we took over a local pool! We saw people who had come to the pool for a simple, relaxing soak in the hot tub, a nice quiet respite after a long day...and we laughed. We played a long game of animal tag where the poor bystanders had to listen to the barking sounds of sea lions, the splashing of kangaroos as they hopped through the water, and the continual sounds of "You're it! Now I'm a platypus!"








Marco wasn't sure about the water temperature at first. He was a little nervous of going in unprepared.



















We also gave the spectators a show of creative jumps. Unfortunately, the other people left surprisingly early. I have no idea why. I guess they didn't like our jumps.

Okay it's starting to get funny...

So I picked my car up from the body shop yesterday after it's been there for 3 weeks... and my car was just hit again tonight, 24 hours later. Back to the body shop we go. Does anyone else see what I'm talking about???? It's not me just being tired or frustrated or exaggerating otherwise simple situations...

Anytime it would like to stop would be great with me. Preferably soon. Like yesterday.