Towson Tiger :)

Received my acceptance letter from Towson today :) exciting! Occupational Therapy MS here I come!

First day of my last year :)

First day of my senior year of high school today :) the day went very well and was a lot of fun. The new 7th graders coming in made me laugh and smile. While they were being sorted they were soo nervous but were excited by all the games and even came up and talked to me about choir :) I have many new teachers but all very exciting. A lot of long term work already and projects and essays due next month yay :P but all of the teachers wanted to get to know us and try not to give a lot of hard work. Day two tomorrow and I'm hoping with it being the first real full day of school everything goes well :) I'm definitely going to need strength and patience this year :)

Change in the Wind

As senior year approaches and I complete my last year of high school, I decided to change things up a bit.

16 miles later...

Yesterday my family decided to take a bike ride up at NCR trail in monkton. It is a 40 mile old rail-road trail from here to PA. Originally we figured 5 miles up and 5 miles back would be plenty. Knowing my family that never happens, we ended up going 8 miles one way and then 8 back, with a 30min snack and creek walk break. While the biking felt good during my legs hurt this morning and stairs are fun. The trail was beautiful, and had many different places to take a break or go down the river in a tube. If you get a chance it is a fun family or friend activity :)

Oh and while we were on our creek walk I decided to go sit on a rock out in the water. While climbing up the rock I found a pair of plaid boxers and maroon sports shorts :P I hope somebody didn't loose those recently lol.

Time for Goodbye :(

Today was the last day of camp and a dinner banquet for all the kids and their families :) We played human bowling and messy eggs (crack eggs on your leaders head, either hard-boiled or raw), and even had pool Olympics - all before the rain broke out! Watching the kids participate in belly flop, diving, cannon ball, and whirlpool contests as well as animal races was such a highlight in my day. I got very close to many of the kids in my group as well as many other kids. The one little boy Peter always wanted me to come and clap his hands together with mine and do all the dances and hand-motions to the songs right with me. He was always smiling and laughing and liked to pretend he was sleeping on the bus just to tease you :P I will miss the kids soo much and was sad to see them leave :( I had to go before the banquet and the kids wanted us to stay soo bad; not letting go and then giving hugs and wanting to see us again. I love you guys <3 Special needs children are so very wonderful, and I'm excited to hopefully be working with them for the rest of my life.

Special Needs Camp :)

For the past two days I have had the opportunity to be a camp counselor at a special needs camp with Grace Fellowship Church and Capernaum Life ministries. The kids are full of joy and laughter and love to interact with all of the counselors. Some of them go to school together, others attend church together, and some are just meeting for the first time. Watching the joy on their faces as they get ready for camp has to be one of my favorite things :) Waking up early and hearing "miss miriam!! What are we gunna do today", the best feeling in the world. They may be disabled in some ways, however they have soo much joy in their hearts and do not care what others think of them or how they look :) They love each other.

Today was day two: County Fair Day :) Once we sang our songs and ate all of our crazy and somewhat gross food it was time to go to the farm (where we play games, eat  lunch, and get in the pool). Our games for the day were fair games: duck pond, milk bottle toss, frisbee toss, and of course a pie smash and a dunking booth (these were for the leaders specifically). You get your tickets by playing the games, once you have five tickets your camper gets to choose to dunk you or pie you in the face :P Of course my camper decided to do both...whooooo and dunk me 3 times :) The water was freezing, but it felt good in the hot sun. Oh i almost forgot the hay ride, a classic county fair fun event. Just a small taste of my week with 12 wonderful ( and many more in other colors) campers in my blue group :)

See ya'll tomorrow :)

First Day of Summer

First day of summer and it's beautiful outside :) Full week of relaxing, settling in to summer and getting to hangout with some friends before the craziness begins. Got my final report card today, 3.96 GPA and graduated with Suma (highest) Honors :) Not to shabby.

A Painting in the Sky

A sunset is a beautiful painting in the sky. The sky is the canvas and God is the painter. Color after color streaked across the sky, colors our eyes have never seen. An amazing display of God's power and beautiful creation :)

Every time my best friend goes away he takes a picture of the sunset where he is and sends it to me :) Each one is more beautiful than the next and shows a different view and background. What amazes me is that even though I am miles away from him and others we all see the same sunset. The same gorgeous colors in the sky, just with a different landscape. Here are just a few of the sunsets over the past month.

                  OBX, North Carolina:

                   
                  Virginia (Back-roads):

Weird Compliments.....ummm thank you?

Have you ever been complimented, yet your not entirely sure how to respond? It's one of those: "ummm thank you?" responses. Well I started a few years ago making a "book" of all the weird compliments I have gotten over the years. Today I think I just got the best one. In talking to my best friend, we were talking about how long my hair was and he was saying how much he likes it. Yet his compliment was: "Yeah it's soo long, and pretty and warm". Warm? That's a new one, but don't worry it gets better lol. I proceeded to question the warm compliment and got "yes, it's warm like a blanket made from Norwegian alpaca belly fur". Haha :) Not really sure how to respond to that, my hair got compared to this little guy: (and then blanket underneath)

Not Ready for Goodbye...

As you go through the school year, most of the time, all you want is to be done. Can't it be summer already is what most people say. I would say i fit into that category, well that was until now. All finals are finished, and possibly all finals for the rest of my high school :) Today was the last day, clean up the school day and pack up your lockers. Tomorrow is field day and Friday is awards ceremony. All i wanted was to be done school and get on with summer. But, now, looking back at the year I realized I'm going to miss everyone soo much. Seniors are gone and heading off to college and my class, all 8 of us, will be down to three. As i was thinking back over the memories we had, the inside jokes, and the lunch conversations it made me realize how much of a family we really are and were :) You guys I'm really going to miss you next year, more then you know. Even if at times I got annoyed, I want you to know that you guys will always my class even when you leave next year, our senior class will still be you guys. Oh and you guys better come to graduation, because you're sitting right behind us :P I love you guys and will miss you soo much :( That crazy 10-year reunion we always talk about somebody needs to organize :) Ryan, Joel, Sam, Nick, Dan, Dan and Joel  :)

One down one to go!

Lacrosse team win!! whoop whoop :) Playing Eleanor Roosevelt yesterday and won 12-6. If we win Monday against Bowie then we have first round playoffs at home. If playoffs are at home then we can move them to Thursday yay! No longer will they interfere with Prom Friday night. Life of a lacrosse player....let's goo FCA we can do it :) One game down one game to go.

Want You Back

Missing my sissy :( She's always there for me and encourages me :) Long night talks in bed when mom and dad think we have gone to bed :p Two years older than me and practically the complete opposite of me. Yet I love her soo much and can't wait for her to come home. Life is very different with her 6 hours away at college in Erie, PA. Miss you Rachel :) <3 Come home soon!

:( No Sports

Sooo I fell down at practice on monday (no biggie) but had and still have this headache, and a little bit of dizziness. Scheduled doctors appointment and they tell me I can't play sports for 1 week. Including practices, running, tumbling, jumping, etc. No biggie considering I had a lax game today and one Friday :( And only if my headache is gone am I cleared to play again. This is not fun at all! Well I am thankful that I do not have a concussion and I am only off sports for 1 week - it could definitely be worse.

Hurt Little Ducky :(

Home Sweet Home

They're finally home! The seniors left 10 days ago to go to Europe for their senior trip. School was very very quiet and I couldn't talk or see any of them :( But today they came home and had soo many stories to tell. My best friends megs was soooo sooo happy and phil was right there to greet her and hug her tight :) Hunty was soo surprised to see me and was soo smiley :D It was sooo good to see them and drive home with them. The stories keep coming and I can't wait to hear some more. Hunty got me a BEAUTIFUL scarf from Rome gosh its very soft and its gorgeous if i didn't already mention that. He said that the cities were beautiful and it was hard to believe they were standing in and near and seeing these famous sites. Thats all for now until I hear some more :)

p.s oh and the time change threw off hunty so when he got in the car he thought that the sun was rising and he had a whole day to go through, he was very realized that he could go home and sleep...hehe awwwww hunty :)

Coffins With Legs?

Just finished practicing and recording a little skit for my literature class with the best group of guys. We had to pick a scene from the book Tale Of Two Cities and reenact it. So, naturally we chose the scene where a little boy gets smacked twice, a husband throws a boot at his wife, and a little bot gets chased by a large coffin (with legs?). We all went to Jerusalem Mill to do the filming, figuring it looked the most like pre-French Revolution England with all the old buildings and fields. From smacking to shouting, "flopping" to boot throwing and digging up a coffin to running from a screaming coffin with legs; we finished our skit/scene and laughed through the whole thing :) Once my friend nick finishes putting it together I'll put it up so you all can see :)

Germany...Immigrants..& Food

In History class we are learning about immigration to the United States in the late 19th century. We all had to choose a people group that immigrated to the U.S and do a small presentation on it, I chose Germany :) For part of the project we get find and make a recipe that that country would have eaten. Germany has a lot of things but whats better then soft pretzels (yes a German food) & berliners (or jelly filled, sugar coated donuts). In doing my project I found soo many interesting facts that I did not know. Most of the food we think of as American is actually German: hamburgers, hot dogs (and other sausages), and of course chocolate. The Christmas tree you put up every year is actually a German tradition, as well as gift-giving Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny :) So many interesting things I never knew. The Germans (of which i am part) are wonderful :)

Lax Practice....Frozen (first) one

WHOOOOO HOOOOO :) Today was the first lax practice of the season. From 4:15-6:15, from 35 degrees-25 degrees with wind, we made it through :) Being at lax creates a wonderful atmosphere; it was great to be able to be running (even though i hate running the most), catching, throwing, and playing defense again. Our teams a little rusty this year but no worries we can do it! Team work and communication are key, even in the freezing weather. But i am happy to say with numb butts, fingers, toes, faces, lips and a little bit of numb pain we made it through our first practice and i can't wait for our first game :)

Shining Star

I had my first experience going to a black baptist church yesterday with one of my best friends. It was sooo much fun :) Everyone was very welcoming to me, saying hi and asking my name and how i knew Joel (one of my best friends). We had Sunday school first then went upstairs to the sanctuary. Service started and everyone was praising God and and singing loud and saying amen and hallelujah! The choir sang a few songs and then the pastor started his message. It was from Isaiah 6, it gave me a wonderful insight that i had never seen before on this chapter. He talked about how ugly and disgusting we are, but how wonderful and powerful we think we are. He was also talking about God and how if even the angelic creatures cover their faces because they cannot look at him, how can we sinners and wearing filthy rags think we can just talk to God and disagree with him and be in charge of our life? I was very convicted and encouraged throughout the entire thing. I definitely felt at home and would love to go back :) If i can find the message i will post it on here.

My Buddy :)

Working with special needs kids has to be one of my favorite things to do. Yesterday I got to spend the day with 86 special needs kids (ages 3-21), teaching them dancing and singing. I got to dress up with them and play musical chairs; we even had a dance off (Zac, a boy with autism won)! Watching them dance around and smile was sooo much fun :) They are soo joyful and have soo much love in their hearts. The one little girl was in my group last time I worked with these kids and she remembered me, smiled and gave me a hug. Just watching the kids smile and say goodbye and the parents cry out of thankfulness was a wonderful experience. Then again today i got to spend time with my little buddy at church Calvin. He is three years old and has autism, he cannot talk very well, and today he was very hyper and soo smiley. His mom told me that he didn't sleep last night but surprise at the end of the day he was fast asleep on my lap waiting for mommy and daddy to come pick him up. We had soo much fun today, walking around, playing games, singing songs, making crafts and hearing about Jesus' love for the little children :)

Etiquette Class

Today I didn't have my last two period's of the day (British & American History and Literature), instead we had a lady come in to teach us Etiquette. How to set a table, properly address someone, excuse yourself from the table, eat your food, etc. She had some very funny stories to tell and even a way to remember how everything goes. Surprisingly my 11th grade class had the best etiquette out of 10-12th grades. I love my class :) Only two girls and the rest boys we are like one big family; i'll be sad to see a lot of them leave next year. Totally worth skipping out on history and literature! Though she was very feminist, "girls we are equal to the men and everything does not need to be different for us". Haha though one of my best friends made sure to point that out across the table :p love him. 

Super Bowl Prep

So while my parents are visiting my older sissy in Erie, my aunt and I were put in charge of Super Bowl food :) Shrimp & Chicken Gumbo, Buffalo Chicken dip, veggies, and Dashi Mushrooms (something new i have never made before). Yummy Yummy :) Cooking, country music, and dancing...what could be better! Can't wait for Super Bowl!!!! Let's go Ravens!!!!! :D 

 Oh and i almost forgot, Ravens cupcakes with rings :)

60 degrees and warm rain to end the day :) Beautiful and fun :) Yes it's February and 60 degrees is crazy but I'm not complaining! One of my favorite kind of days are the warm spring rain and the slight  chill in the air :)

Hold My Heart

Tenth Avenue North - Hold My Heart

How long must I pray, must I pray to You?
How long must I wait, must I wait for You?
How long 'til I see Your face, see You shining through?
I'm on my knees, begging You to notice me.
I'm on my knees, Father will you turn to me?

One tear in the driving rain,
One voice in a sea of pain
Could the maker of the stars
Hear the sound of my breakin' heart?
One light, that's all I am
Right now I can barely stand
If You're everything You say You are
Won't You come close and hold my heart

I've been so afraid, afraid to close my eyes
So much can slip away before I say goodbye.
But if there's no other way, I'm done asking why.
Cuz I'm on my knees, begging You to turn to me
I'm on my knees, Father will you run to me?

One tear in the driving rain,
One voice in a sea of pain
Could the maker of the stars
Hear the sound of my breakin' heart?
One light, that's all I am
Right now I can barely stand
If You're everything You say You are
Won't You come close and hold my heart.

So many questions without answers, Your promises remain
I can't sleep but I'll take my chances to hear You call my name
To hear You call my name

One tear in the driving rain,
One voice in a sea of pain
Could the maker of the stars
Hear the sound of my breakin' heart?
One light, that's all I am
Right now I can barely stand
If You're everything You say You are
Won't You come close and hold my heart.

Hold my heart, could you hold my heart?
Hold my heart.

Have you ever felt out of place? Like you didn't belong? Or maybe you just can't do anything right? I understand how you feel :( I woke up today, and I was going to have a great day and not worry about drama and school social stuff, yet what happens? Yup, drama, well i guess that's the life of a high school junior, oh wells :p If anyone reading this thinks about i would love some prayer right now :) Getting through the rest of this week is going to be interesting, painful, and hard just to name a few.

Then I remembered I have Jesus on my side :) He is my strength and portion forever. I know that this does not get rid of the pain and if you're feeling like me does not change the fact that the drama is still there, however, it does give us hope and joy :) God loves us and is our stronghold in times of distress and danger :) Our rock and our shield and someone whom we can rely on no matter what :)

Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?

Remember this as a kid? I sure do :) Everyday playing it on the computer, trying to figure out where she was and what crime she had committed lol :p I miss my childhood.

Imago Dei

In my theology class we are going through a book entitled: Bible Doctrine, by Wayne Grudem. As we delve into the creation of man, my teacher had us consider these questions based on the creation of man:
~How does is make you feel to think that you, as a human being, are more like God than any other creature in the universe? How does that knowledge make you want to act? Do you think that God has made us so that we become happier or less happy when we grow to become more like Him?

 I was thinking and pondering the fact that God created us to bring him glory as I was reading the Bible Doctrine book. Our purpose in life: to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Christ lived a perfect life, and we are made in His likeness and image, how should that direct our actions. If we are made to glorify Him and represent Him then shouldn't we strive to live a perfect life? - one that we are incapable of. God calls us to be perfect just as our heavenly father is perfect.

Mail...mail...and more mail

For the past week i have gotten soo many college letters :p all saying the same thing: We want to show you the right college for you, let us send you fill in the blank. Haha guess that's what i get for signing up for scholarships and my PSAT scores and the like :) The life of college letters and finding scholarships had begun :)

Urgent doesn't equal Important

Today our senior pastor, Don Sharpe was preaching from Proverbs 26 on Wisdom at Work. Something he said really hit me that i think we as teens or even as adults don't think about a lot. He said that most of the time the urgent things in life, the things that beep, buzz, alarm, and push at us to answer them and answer them now are not the important things in life. The important things in life sit back and wait they don't push at us and pull and get us to answer them now. Pastor Don used cell phones and computers as an example of the incessant beeping and buzzing to answer now, when things like homework, or the job you keep pushing off, and most important God's word don't beep and buzz at all telling us do them now! Rather they wait as the big important things of life. It really hit me today and just helped me to understand a lot better how the important things in our life work. When we don't do them, there is consequence; sometimes not immediate, but the consequence is there. So remember that the urgent things in life are not the things that are most important :)

(if you want to listen to the message it's online at gracecommunity.org under sermons and 1/27 - Wisdom at Work)

Chocolate :) my favorite bedtime snack....just a little something to help you go to sleep without all the stress within your day. Tomorrow is a brand new day, full of joy and laughter :) So rejoice in the Lord and be glad in it (Philippians 4:4)