High Time for a Serious Blog Post

As you can see from my last post I was out of town. Well I'm back now (can I get a really big Whoopee?). On the way to and from Illinois my family listened to a book called Liberty and Tyranny by Mark Levin. Let me just say right now that was one of the most phenomenal books I've ever heard (I'd say read, but I didn't actually read it). In fact, I'll actually go as far as to say that it is a must-read for anyone who cares at all about the future of our nation.
Levin addresses many of the issues relevant to today's society such as healthcare, global warming, the cap and trade bill (something much worse that I ever thought it was), and many others. The book is an indepth search into the liberal's mind and exposes why they do what they do and where they are headed with their agenda.
I'd love to write more on this, and maybe I will in the future. It will probably be about Cap and Trade, if you care. But right now it's late and I need to go hunt down some beauty sleep.

here

I'm sitting here in Illinois with a little white lick-obsessed dog on my lap. I don't have anything to say, but at the chiding of Bethany Abernathy (who says my I don't post enough) I decided to tell you that usless fact. Tada!

I can relate.

Darn, they suprised me.

I've been procrastinating on this post for a very pathetic reason. Here it is (are you ready?): I didn't have any pictures to post (all mine were blurry or made it look like the French Revolution done over.....if you don't know what I mean, brush up on your history). I thought maybe if I waited long enough someone else would post and then I could steal theirs. And the Gradys did just that (sorry about about pirating, I didn't think you'd mind).

Anyway.

Yeah, the title, I know. You're saying "What is she talking about?!". My B-day party. Thrown two months late to kill any suspicion. And the plan worked. BWSB did it all without me picking up on any of it. She really is a horridly good liar.

Anyway.

She got me into thinking there was a "banquet" being thrown by her "sword master" (I wonder if he appreciates being lied about) and that I was invited because BWSB didn't have a date. Ha. Ha. Ha. When she gets one I'll warn him about her.


Anyway.


I fell for it. As stated before. And this is how innocent little me showed up at her house two Saturday's ago thinking I was going away to some strange place for a banquet with people I didn't know.



Instead I was greeted with a hoard of girls, food, and a video camera. Oh, and evil laughing (that was Eep). But it was amazing. Think about it, getting told you HAVE to eat your food with your fingers. Oh! And I got my very own, personal chicken. And table. And butter. And lots of other cool edible stuff (In addition to being a good liar Eep is also an excellent cook).


Anyway.

After the personal chicken we all tromped out to watch some sword fighting (No one was fatally wounded in the entertainment).


And then dancing. Which was fun....and exhausting. And rather difficult in a long, billowy dress (If you haven't tried it yet, you have not experienced life. Go and try it).



Oh yeah, this was my Page. I got to order him around. It was great!!!


So yeah. My B-day party. It was awesome. Not mentioned above was the really funny, interesting........kinda-hard-to-play-if-you-have-bad-aim-like-I-do game (yes I am stalling. It's because I can't remember the name) where you knock pins over with pieces of wood. Good times (I lost).


Anyway.

Also not mentioned above was the trip to the park. Picture the weird looks you'd get if you and about 10 other friends walked down the middle of the road in amazing costumes for the hey of it. And then imagine a guy staring at your group and spending about 10 minutes trying to count and see just how many of those nutcases there really were! Get the point?

Anyway (yes I am aware of the fact that I just used that word in the same context for the 6th time. And yes, I do also know it is getting redundant. Oh, you're head is hurting? I'm sorry.....here let me fix that *Wump*)

a huge thanks to my awesome friends, but mostly (or is it hugest?) to Eep, my awesome cooking, lieing friend. She really is the bomb.

the end

"I marvel that where the ambitious dreams of myself,
and of Alexander, and of Caesar should have vanished into thin air
a Judean peasant, Jesus, should be able to stretch his hands across the centuries,
and control the destinies of men and nations. "

These were the last words of Napoleon


*what will you say when it's your turn?*

Wondering

It is the blessing of the Lord

that makes rich,
and he adds no sorrow with it.

Proverbs 10:22



I'm struggling right now with this verse. I can't quite get it. I know this is a promise of God, and therefore it is true, yet sorrow still comes into our lives.

How can both be true?

*sigh*

I feel great.

Because.....there is none of this


Or this


In my life any longer.


What a great feeling it is....I truly wish you could feel the same, it really IS glorious!

Regionals

So I mentioned how great my God was a while back in regards to the Lincoln Qualifier Tournament. I went there expecting not to qualify for regionals and ended up getting 5th in debate. Well, I went to regionals and God was as amazing there (actually more) as in Lincoln.

Because.....

Natalie and I not only broke into outrounds (the top 16 teams), we won in octafinals and went on to Quarter Finals where we lost and took 8th pace. In Region 5. 8th out of everyone in 5 states.
I was blown away.

Oh....and I got 6th best speaker. I'm not a good speaker. At all. But God blessed me with amazingly generous judges that gave out high points and the result was that I got an award thought I thought these were my worst speeches yet. And Natalie got 5th. Nether of us were expecting anything so we were rather ecstatic :)

So here we are with our awards......

And here is the amazing group or people we went with. I love my club, they are so supportive and amazing.

Top left to right: Micah James, Bryan Brooks, Simon Pena, Chris Schneider, Jacob Bunch
Bottom left to right: Natalie Schneider, me, Anna Seipel,
Katie Donnelly, Christa James, Janna James.

And here are the results for those other than myself (and Nat):

Simon and Chris: 4th in debate and going to Nationals!!! They did amazing and ended up making it to semi-finals. I was very proud of them :)


Bryan and Jacob: 4th in duo and going to Nationals. They did and awesome job debating and in their duo. For some reason they didn't break, which they totally deserved to. I guess I am a little biased on the subject though......*ahem*



Bryan Brooks: Forth in Humorous. He didn't make Nationals (only the top three teams did) but he was awesome anyway. Again, I totally think he deserved to break.....Ooo yeah. He also got 11th sweepstakes and something else, but he gets so much stuff I can't remember it all. He's really the over-achiever of us all.


Katie Donnelly: 8th best speaker. She deserved higher. After all she's way better than me. I just had the kinder judges.....
Anna Seipel: Katie's amazing debate partner, and a great friend. Comic relief....super sweet. Yeah.....she and Kat definitely deserved to break too (yes I do realize this is the fourth time my bias is showing in this blog post!)


There. Now you've read something that made absolutely no sense to you since you don't do debate and probably don't care about how people you don't know did! You still should thank me though. Now you at least have faces to go with all the names I keep bringing into conversations, right?! (the answer is yes).

But seriously.....God was with us. He's the only reason I made it anywhere with this crazy fun debate stuff. Here's a big thank-you to everyone that prayed for me!!!! God did amazingly, abundantly above all that I could have asked or thought.

Debate is life, the rest is just prep time.

*bang*

This says it all......

Oh....and this too.....

Friends who let us blow their money (literally) are great!

Hair

Before:

After:

I got 14 inches taken off. And then two more when they layered it.