Snow Is In The Air

Today I went to the middle school that my mom teachs at because it was a half day and she was going to take me out for lunch. When I left for school this morning there was barely a trace of snow, but by the time that we got released from school, around noon, we had about an inch or so of snow, a couple roads had already been shut-down, and others were very slick. It usually takes about five to ten minutes to get from my high school to the middle school that my mom teaches at, but today it took an hour! Our bus was so overcrowded with kids who had drove to school and didn’t want to drive home on icy roads that people had to stand in the isle. The cars in front of us were spinning out all over the place because people kept trying to brake instead of drifting. It was so slippery that even with the chains on the bus and extra people weighing it down our school bus was sliding all over the road and our bus driver was telling us to brace ourselves. What a crazy day!

Tahoma Powder Puff Game 2010

Remember, remember the 9th of November…it’s Juniors and Seniors tonight…as the crowd cheers and the seniors fear, you better be ready for a fight…get ready for the show stopper!

Oh, it was a show stopper alright. Going out onto that field last night was power, and oh yea, we were ready to fight! After weeks of hearing the senior girls talking smack about how they were going to kick our butt, we had just about had it, but this was our chance to show them what we’re made of, this was our chance to show our pride, and this was our chance to give them all we got. And that’s just what we did.
I’m afraid that those seniors got way too cocky and they were not prepared to but up as much of a fight as they had to in order to stay in the game. I really don't know what some of those seniors were thinking. One girl thought that she was going to be able to just knock me over and run on through, so she got really angry when she realized that I was able to block her. She got really pissed-off and punched me in the face and I was just standing there with one arm straight out, holding her off of me while she continued throwing punches. Then while this was still going on, another girl tried to come tackle me from the side, so I stuck out my other arm to block her, but she ended up tripping over her own foot and she defiantly ate some turf on that one.

Sorry girls, we sure ain’t going down without a fight. The game was going well and we were holding the seniors on our side of the field the whole time. It was almost half time and we were stoked at how well we were doing. We were in the huddle and I heard some of the Junior girls on the sidelines yelling, so I turned around to see what all the commotion was about. They were all pointing and screaming and laughing. I looked in the direction of where they were pointing and there was a kid standing near the goal post with a black shirt over his head. He appeared to be wearing a skin tone body suit, but as the crowd cheered behind me and he started booking it across the field, I realized that he was streaking. He sprinted across the football field, jumped the fence, ran past the baseball field’s, and up to the tennis courts where a red truck was waiting for him, before putting his clothes back on and slipping his way back into the stands.

It was almost the end of the fourth quarter and still nobody had scored, but us juniors remained strong and were holding the seniors on our side of the field. Down…set…hike! Next thing I know some senior girl has her hands around my throat, what is she thinking? This is girl’s flag football, not some crazy gang or something. We huddle up, call another play and get back on the line. We throw a great pass, but it’s a fumble and it’s back to the huddle. The score is still tied nothing to nothing and we’re only 30 yards away from the in zone.

We line back up pass to Sophie, she had the ball and was running down the field and she thought that she could cut down the center, but she went head on into 3seniors and they all accidently kneed her in the thigh and she went down instantly. I was like 4ft away from her trying to block when this all went down, so I saw the whole thing. She was laying on the ground grasping her leg, screaming like I've never heard before (the people sitting in the back row of the bleachers on the far side of the field said that they could hear her loud and clear from up there, and this was like a blood curdling scream, I think my heart stopped when I heard her).
She was rolling back and forth and pounding her fists against the ground, so the referees and coaches came out onto the field along with a couple PTA members and they couldn't get near her because she was hysterical and they didn't want to accidently hurt her more. So, they were trying to get her calmed down and there were tears just streaming down her face and her screaming went on for a good three minutes or so until she stopped breathing. They were able to get her settled down enough to start breathing again, but she started screaming again and they couldn't get her to talk to them for a few more minutes and even when she was talking she was still screaming in pain.

At this point I was bawling my eyes out and starting to get short of breath, so one of the referees and our offensive coach, Coach Carry, had to get me calmed down. Eventually they got Sophia to sit-up and when she did, she saw her leg and looked like she was going to go into anaphylactic shock. They got it covered up right away and were able to carry her off the field, but they couldn't get hold of her parents, luckily they were able to have someone come get her, but they defiantly should have called the paramedics for how long she was down for.

Anyways, the game continued and we went into overtime. The seniors ended up winning by making one touchdown, ending the game with a score of Seniors: 6, Juniors: 0. All in all I’d say it was a pretty great game. Definitely one that’s gonna go down in the books. Juniors I’m proud of us; we played hard, we played good, and most importantly we played fair. Great game, it was a win in my eyes even if that’s not what the scoreboard said. Thank you Junior Girls for being so incredibly amazing, I love you all! Keep on praying for Sophie.

Advice

Earlier today, I was thinking about when you go to visit your old teachers. And hands-down the number one question that they ask you is: What advice do you have for my current students? I've been thinking about that and this is what I came up with:

• Don’t be scared of anything, but be open to everything
• Let allow others tell you who you are
• Just be yourself
• Forget about what other people think about you
• Do any extra credit available
• Take hold of opportunities you are given
• Don’t be afraid to try new things
• Give your 100%
• Stop comparing yourself to others
• Never be afraid to think a little outside of the box
• Voice your thought/opinions
• Express yourself
• Be a kid-just have fun
• Make lots a friends
• Share a smile
• Laugh ‘till you’re out of breath
• If your thinking about trying something new, just try it if you don’t
like it you don’t like it, but you won’t regret never having tried,
and if it becomes a passion in your life, you’ll be glad you did it
later on in life
• Choose good friends
• Be a good friend
• Don’t judge others
• Reach out a helping hand
• Don’t put handicaps on yourself
• Don’t get involved in sex, drugs, alcohol, or anything of that sort:
you’ll regret it
• Take lot’s of pictures; you can never have too many
• Hold onto good memories
• Trust your gut instincts
• Don’t be afraid to try something new/ different
• Do what you love and love what you do
• Get involved in the community
• Make a difference (in someone’s life, in your school, in your community,ect.)
• Don’t let go of your dreams (but be realistic)
• Use your talents and forget your weaknesses
• Make wise/ smart choices
• Step up and take action for what you believe in
• Never let a good idea die
• Don’t be afraid to make mistakes (but also learn from others mistakes)
• Be persistent (never give up)
• Take risks (but don’t do anything that may be harmful to yourself or others)
• Be willing to admit your mistakes and try to fix them on your own
• Don’t complain

Inspiration Speech-what is a handicap?

Today I went to a SkillsUSA conference at Renton Technical College, and there was a man there who gave a motivational speech. Now I mean we’ve all heard motivational speeches before, right? And for the most part they’re all the same, but not this one, this speech was extravagant.
Then man, who was giving the speech, Bob, had everyone laughing and crying as he started out by telling us his life story. But you have to understand that Bob doesn’t exactly look like most people, he’s in a wheel chair and he’s missing both legs and his left arm. He joked around about how he looked different because one of his ears is lower than the other. And then joked about losing his arms and legs because he didn’t check a box on the organ donor form, so doctors started taking his legs and arm while he was still alive. And as he joked around about being different we all started to realize that he had accepted his differences and as he joked about it, we all became more accepting of his condition.
Then he told us the real story about how he lost his legs and arm. Bob had some bad friends when he was younger. He was just like any other 16year old, thinking about his future, his appearances, what he wanted to do with his life, all his goals and dreams. But instead of taking off that mask off and being himself, he allowed those friends to influence him. He ended up dropping out of high school and living the life style of an alcoholic. There was a history of alcohol in his family, and once his brother and himself got away with drinking a few times it became more of a ritual. One night as his brother and him were driving home, drunk, after a party they came up to a sharp curve in the road and they went straight into a electrical pole and down a hill into bushes and trees.
When the car came to a stop, they got out of the car looked at each other and laughed. They were both fines, not a single scratch. And they walked away. Bob talked about how walking away, being fine is sometimes the worst thing you’ll ever do. As he came up to the top of the hill, not seeing the down power lines, his left arm hit a power line and he fell to his knees. The electrical shock blew his knee-caps right off and he fell forward getting scars all across the front of his body.
He woke up later in Harborview Medical center, and a nurse came in asking him to sign a form to amputate his left arm, he was really confused until he turned his head and saw the extensive damage to his arm. After six more months in the hospital he ended up getting rid of his legs too. But he talked about how being in a wheelchair isn’t a handicap. And went on to talk about a four month bicycling trip across America with his family (he refers to his wheel chair as a hand bicycle).
Then he grabbed a baseball cap that said, “HANDY” across the top. And he said that that was his only handicap (handy cap! Get it?). Then he went on to say that the only handicaps that we have are the ones that we put on ourselves. Some types of handicaps are attitude, drugs, alcohol, porn, sexting, and the list goes on. He talked about comparing ourselves to others and not being smart enough, or pretty enough, and so on. And he talked about how once we accept ourselves for who we are it makes it easier for the people around us to accept us too.
He talked about how once he accepted himself, he found one really great friend and Bob went on to explain that the difference between a good friend and a bad friend is that a bad friend tries to change you, whereas a good friend accepts you the way you are. He talked about how we all need good friends in our lives. And that great friend that he found is now his wife.
Bob also talked about how we are the most amazing generation of people that’s ever been around. He said that he’s allowed to say that because he’s old and has gray hair. He went on to talk about how when you give any other generation a wheel, they look at it and they make it roll. That’s what it’s supposed to do, right? Everyone knows that. But, give someone in our generation a wheel and we have to make it fly. And he talked about how we have so much access to things because we have the World Wide Web and now technology and information is all at our fingertips.
He talked about how he loves speaking to teenagers better than any other crowd of people because we have dreams. And he talked about how one of us should create a dream meter, so that he could measure the amount of the dreams in that room. He talked about how incredibly lucky we are because as long as we choose not to handicap ourselves, we can reach those dreams and we can do just about everything.
Bob told us about how he decided to go back to school and he graduated high school when he was 30 years old. Then he went on to college and got a degree (in something that I don’t remember) and he went on to work for quite some time. And after awhile he decided to go back to college and get a degree in ministry. Then he talked about his daughter and how she’s really smart and studied hard and she graduated from college with a degree in nursing at the age of 24. Bob explained that although every family has it’s traits that get passed down from generation to generation; we can choose not to continue those traits. He was a high school dropout and his daughter graduated college when she was 24.
Of course there was a lot more to his phenomenal speech than just what I’ve posted here, but I think you get the basics. Bob has used his own personal story to shed a new kind of light on these things. He really brought a new, fresh perspective to life and how we deal with the problems we face in life. How the only handicaps we have are the handicaps that we put on ourselves.

The Pain in Fear

So, like I said before I'm currently reading The Shack by WM. Paul Young. And alot of the things that Mac experiences in the book are similar to what I'm going through. On pages 115 and 116 it says, "Mack felt more clean and alive and well than he had since...well, he couldn't remember when. Eventually, they both calmed again and the night's quiet asserted itself once more. It seemed that even the frogs had called it quits. Mack lay there realizing that he was now feeling guilty about enjoying himself, about laughing, and even in the darkness he could feel The Great Sadness roll in and over him" Anyways, it goes on to Mack telling Jesus that he fells lost, and Jesus comforting him.
I totally get where Mack is coming from, I have so much pain within me that I feel guilty whever I feel even just the slightest little glimpse of joy. I allow the pain to seep back in and around me because I feel as if I don't deserve to be happy.
Later on in the book, on page 126-127, God says, "we want to share with you the love and joy and freedom and light that we already know within ourselves. We created you, the human, to be in face-to-face relationship with us, to join our circle of love. As difficult as it will be for you to understand, everything that has taken place is occuring exactly according to this purpose, without violating choice or will" and Mack asks God, "How can you say that with all the pain in this world, all the wars and disasters that destroy thousands?...(sorry don't want to give too much of the book away)...You may not cause those things, but you certainly don't stop them."
And I love how God responds he says, "there are millions of reasons to allow pain and hurt and suffering rather than to eradicate them, but most of those reasons can be understood only within each person's story. I am not evil. You are the ones who embrace fear and pain and power and rights so readily in your relationships. But your choices are also not stronger than my purposes, and I will use every choice you make for the ultimate good and the most loving outcome...broken humans center their lives around things that seem good to them but will neither fill them nor free them. They are addicted to power, or the illusion of security that power offrs. When a disaster happens, those same people will turn against the false powers they trusted. In their disappointment, either they become softened towards me or become bolder in their independence.If you could only see how all of this ends and what we will achieve without the violation of one human wil-then you would understand. One day you will."
How true that is, it's so easy for us to embrace fear and pain so readily, but no matter what choices we choose in life God will meet us wherever we are in life and he will embrace us in his loving arms and will chase after us and heal the brokeness that we so easily hold on to.

The Pouring Rain

Today my flip-flops broke so I was walking around barefoot. And I can’t express how amazing it feels to feel the earth under your feet. It seems like such a little thing yet it is so incredible powerful. It makes me feel closer to nature and therefore closer to God. On the way home from school today it was pouring down rain so my friends mom (our neighbor) gave me a ride home since our bus stop is a quarter mile away from my house. It felt so good sitting in the bed of a truck with the gentle breeze running through your hair and the gentle raindrops running down your face like crystals ready to break into a thousand little pieces before becoming part of a greater body of water. Maybe this place is starting to feel a little bit more like a home after all.

A Greater Calling

Since mid-July I’ve been feeling a real tug on my heart to go back to Mexico(read previous post to learn about why I was there and what happened there). I’ve been reading The Shack by WM. Paul Young and the way that Mack describes his fear of the shack is similar to how I feel about Mexico, due to the major event that happened while I was their (a 7.2 earthquake). On page 76 Young wrote,
“He had pushed away any thoughts of the place since Missy’s disappearance, sequestering his emotions securely in the padlocked basement of his own heart. On the long stretch up the Gorge, Mack felt a creeping panic begin to penetrate his consciousness. He had tried to avoid thinking about what he was doing and just keep putting one foot in front of the other, but like grass pushing through concrete, the repressed feelings and fears somehow began to poke through. His eyes darkened and his hands tightened on the steering wheel as he fought the temptation at every off-ramp to turn around and go home. He knew he was driving straight into the center of his pain, the vortex of The Great Sadness that had so diminished his sense of being alive. Flashes of visual memory and stabbing instants of blistering fury now came in waves, attended by the taste of bile and blood in his mouth.”
I won’t go any further than that because the pain is too real (and I don’t want to spoil the book for those of who may not have read it). I’m only to page 106 in the book right now, but so far everything about Mack and his feelings and emotions towards the shack are exactly how I feel about Mexico. There is so much pain and fear bottled up inside of me because of what God allowed to happen there. But maybe if I go back it could heal that hurt, by going back to “the vortex of the great sadness”. Since Mexico, I just don’t feel the same kind of joy I felt before because I have too much hurt inside of me to allow myself to feel more than a few small, short glimpses of joys because I fall right back into those fears.
But I also look at the stories of Moses in the Bible and I think about how God saved his life thousands of times and it was all because God had a greater purpose, a greater plan for his life. And since God saved my life, he must have something greater for me, but I need to face my fears in order to restore my soul and fulfill the plans he has laid out for me.

Moon Glow

Last night we went to the Puyallup fair for youth group. There are always some interesting booths there, like the jerky booth, the Emu jerky isn’t all that great, but I must say the alligator jerky was amazing! Anyhow, there was a booth there that I haven’t seen in the past. It’s called moon glow. They take pictures of the moon every night and make them into necklaces that absorb the light of the sun during the day so at night the moon appears to be glowing just like it is in the sky. So you tell the people running the booth when you were born and they look up the picture, get out the necklace and show it to you. And as it turns out I was born on a night of a full moon and a partial eclipse, how cool is that?!!? Their website is moonglow.us and I highly suggest you check it out!

Welcome to Hickville

Wow, I don’t know how many other schools would have so many people go all out for Western Day during spirit week. How many schools even have western day? I arrive to school to be greeted by a bunch of people in long sleeve flannel t-shirts, boot cut jeans, cowboy hats made of straw, and old horse riding shoes covered in muck. I know that a lot of people out here have grown up on farms or cattle ranches, but I often time forget how many hicks we’ve got around here. Seriously, how many schools do you go to where students lasso “cattle” during lunchtime? I’m pretty sure that doesn’t happen in too many places.

Back to the Jungle

As my American Studies teacher so bluntly pointed out the first day of school, high school is a jungle. And this year in the jungle I’m trying to be more like the monkey. You know the type of person I’m talking about, the person who can make you laugh and who is always inviting you with a cheerful smile. The person who you feel like you can talk to about anything without any awkwardness. The person who isn’t afraid to stand up and make a fool of themself in front of the whole school.

A Reckless Fall

For those of you that don't already know, this summer I worked in the kitchen at Sound View Presbyterian Camp(woot!woot!) And This is my third week being home and it just doesn't feel right to be back here again. For me this has always just been a house, but it's never really felt like a home to me. I'm really missing my home, back at camp, alot lately and I found this original song called "Prison Break" on youtube by Julietoriginals and I think it really describes how I've been feeling lately.



LYRICS:
What I need is a face to face talk about
How i'll escape the bars to independence
What I need is the courage to tell myself
That it's ok to be ok
I need to scream out loud, fight my own will
Won't see the rest of the world if i'm here, still

May I please, please escape my love
Where I can see the sky and shining sun
Our grounds are cold and for God's sake
I need a prison break
I'm falling, falling, falling apart
I'm not breaking rules but I might break a heart
Go and tell me this is a mistake
I need a prison break

What I need is a dose of silence to fix up this new way
The words are echoing in my ear like i'm being forced to stay
Live a little, breath a little, rip out a page
from the same old story i'm living every day
Do me a favor and bail me out, just bail me out

May I please, please escape my love
Where I can see the sky and shining sun
Our grounds are cold and for God's sake
I need a prison break
I'm falling, falling, falling apart
I'm not breaking rules but I might break a heart
Go and tell me this is a mistake
I need a prison break

I don't want to be held hostage from a sweet rejoice
I just want to be alone if leaving is a choice

May I please, please escape my love
Where I can see the sky and shining sun
Our grounds are cold and for God's sake
I need a prison break
I'm falling, falling, falling apart
I'm not breaking rules but I might break a heart
Go and tell me this is a mistake
I need a prison break

Get me out of here
Bail me out of here
I just want to be alone

I just want to go back and talk to the people I love the most and to break free from all the boundaries that limit me here. I want to screthe top of my because it's killing me to be so far away from everything and everyone I love so dearly.I want to escape the love that I’m feeling here and trade it for the greater love that always seems to be present at Sound View. I want to be where the warm sun bathes my skin as the powerful ocean waves come crashing over me. I want to get away from here because I feel like I sinking deeper and deeper back into the old me, I’m falling back into the traps of the materialistic world that is so full of people who have influenced me in negative ways. Their pulling me away from God and away from the person I want to be and that breaks my heart.
It must be some kind of mistake because I don’t feel like this is where I’m meant to be. I just want to get away from everyone else so that I can rediscover the real me that has become so evidently clear this summer. But there is another part of me that feels as if I’m being forced to stay here. I’m sick and tired of the same old routine day after day, There must be something better out there for me to do in God’s kingdom outside the walls of school. I don’t want to stay here; I just want to get as far away from this false reality as I can because I know that the eternal reality is so much greater than what I’m feeling now.

Choices, Choices, Choices

Lately I've been struggling with choosing between different opportunities that i've been presented with. Ever since I was in first grade it's been my dream to work at Sound View Presbyterian Camp and now i've been hired on as a kitchen intern for the summer of 2010. I'm so exited and can't wait to get started, but at the same time I regret not taking offers of other opportunuties.

Sure, I could have choose the easy path, joining cross-country and staying home this summer so that I could spend more time with Rick. Or I could have taken on the opportunity of spending the summer going to Cambridge, in England. I could have taken on the opportunity to join the National Miss American Pagent, but I followed my heart and choose Sound View. I just wish that God would show me some kind of sign, I don't mean clouds in the sky spellig out, "your heart is in the right place" or "you have followed in my ways", just a simple word or action showing that yes, God is callng me their for a reson, Sound View was part of God's life plan for me from the beginning.

I've also been nominated to got to the National Youth Leadership Forum on National Security, in Washington D.C. next fall. But I don't know if I should go or not, because I don't want to miss any school.And I'm already going to miss a weekof school when I go to Mexico in the spring. And I have a chance to go to Rome during Spring Beak next year. I've been praying about these choices lately, and I will countinue to pray until I recieve an answer. Please join in my prayers. God bless!

Picture Slideshow from Mexico Mission Trip 2010

Peter and Katie Neumann

Mexico Mission Trip 2010

I spent April 2nd-10th on Maple Valley Presbyterian Church's annual Mexico Mission Trip through Azuza Pacific University. On April 2nd I woke-up bright and early so that I could be to the Sea-tac airport by 6am. My dad and I arrived around 5:35 and walked back and fourth accross the airport searching for others from my flight group (we left the flight info at home and couldn't remember what airline I was flying on). After about 30minutes or so we finally spotted a few people from our church and got me checked in. After waiting for everyone else to show up and check in we headed through security and found our boarding gate, only to discover that our flight was delayed due to weather problems in San Francisco. Lucky for us the people working the Virgin America counter were more than prepared for us. They did a bunch of games and gave way vouchers for free food and movies on the flight. They did a contest for the oldest coin that people had and we even had a paper airplane making/ flying contest. Kayla and Gracie pulled out the playing cards, while Dan, Rick, and myself played iSketch on Dan's laptop and everyone else either got to know each other better or cought up on sleep.

Once we boarded the plane we felt pretty lucky though, the plane had blacklights and their was a touch screen on the back of every seat. The monitors let you listen to music, watch movies, play games, watch satellite TV, chat seat-to-seat, and so much more. We ended up having about a two hour delay from Sea-Tac to San Fransisco and ended up missing our connecting flight. So we switched to another flight that wasn't suppost to board until 2:55pm. And it was almost noon when we got their, so Dan payed for our lunch at a pizza place in the airport. Of course the airport was supper fogged in and only one run-way was open so we ended up loading the plane around 6:30pm. So almost everyone did all of their homework and caught up on their reading. Then we pulled out the cards and played for hours.

When we finally landed in San Diego we were really hungry so our van drivers, Brian and Dave, stoped at In-N-Out Burger for us to get some food. Then we went on a long road trip to El Centro. We arrived at the church in El Centro around midnight or 1am.

The next morning(techniqlly i was later that morning), April 3rd, we got up at 7am packed our bags and headed over to breakfast at The Golden Corral. After we finished up their we headed off for a quick 10-minute Wal-mart run, then we prayed and loaded up the vans. Advanced team crossed over the boader while the rest of us dropped off some supplies and went to a different Wal-mart we(Ruthie, Morgan, Alli, and myself) had lunch at the Taco Bell/ Pizza Hut that was inside the Wal-mart. Then we loaded up and crossed over the boarder. When we arrived in tent city the frst thing we saw was a certified dog(a really cute little pug). Ruthie, Morgan, Kristin, Laura, and myself grabbed our bags from the big pile in the middle of our camp site and set our stuff in our tent. Then Ruthie, Morgan, and myself found Alli and headed over to the vendors, where we purchased our very large Mexico blankets. Then we went back to our tent and got our hair braided. Then we had a dinner consisting of bean burritos, sharp cheddar cheese, riced, and mixed fruit. Then we had chapel and headed off to our tents for a good night's sleep.

The next morning, April 4th(Easter), I woke up around 6:15am to the people in the tent next to us screaming and laughing their heads off. At 7am Fernando's voice came over the loud speakers("Good morning Cuernavaca! Did you know that diarrea's hereterary?...it runs in your jeans") and music was blasted through out tent city to get us ready for the long day ahead of us. We got dressed and went to breakfast, then to chapel, where they discussed the ABC's of christianity(ask, believe, and celebrate)and about 15 people accepted Christ for the first time. When chapel was over we had our devotion time and then loaded up the vans and headed out to our villages.

When we arrived in our village, Chihuahua, their were many people gathered their awaiting our arrival. The children ran around laughing and playing while the adults sat talking to one another in the shade. I was really nervious because of the language barrier (my spanish consists of taco, barrito, and a few other simple words)lucky for me Morgan was in the same situation, so we kind of stood off to the side while others started to get involved with the children's games. After awhile everyone headed into the church building for chapel, which I found to be a bit of a culture shock, instead of singing they yelled into the microphones and claped as loud and out of rythmn as they possibly could. During one of the songs this littl kid, whom I call, "monkey boy", took Rick's water bottle and chugged the whole thing before we could even react to the water bottle being stolen.

They also got Steve to play the drums for one of the songs and part way through worship during one of the songs that gets repeatedly faster Danny told them to sing even faster and it was really amusing. When Lofy was interpreting the pastors sermon, the pastor kept cuttig him off. After the service we went outside and set up tables and chairs for lunch. They fed us tacos with both wheat and flour tortillas, guacamole, pico de gallo, beans, what appeared to be steak, and pineapple soda(i know it sounds a bit weird, but it was really good). I felt really bad though because we were sittig in chairs at tables, while the people in the village sat on the ground.

Then we cleaned up and while I was watching the baño door while Ruthie was in their, a little girl came up to me and said something about baños, but I didn't understand what she was saying at all. Then Morgan, Ruthie, and I hung out by the vans laughing at the young boys aggressively playful nature amoung Danny, David, Issac, Rick, and Austin. After a little bit a young girl, about five years old, named Sophia came up and started tickling me so I tickled her back. She said something that I didn't understand so I turned to ruthie, who informed me that Sophia wantd me to chase her, so I ran around chasing her and Morgan joined in. Sophia stoped running, looked at us questioningly, she pointed at us talking for a bit and then she would stop to giggle and start talking again.

Nobody understood what she was saying, but we think that she was asking the two of us ifwe were twins because both of us had our hair in french braids, we were both wearing sunglasses, and we both happened to be wearing our Mexico Outreach 2010 t-shirts. We chased Sophia and a couple of her friends around for a few more hours and ten went inside for siesta.

Shortly after siesta we were all gathered in the back room of the church. Brain had just pulled one of the party vans up right next to the door going outside so that we could quickly put away our blankets and pillows without attracting the attention of the people in Chihuahua. We heard the loud banging of the tree branches outside hitting the metal roof of the church. And the building started to shake. At first we thought it was just a strong wind or a truck passing by because of how weak the buildings are where we were. Then someone yelled, "Earthquake! Get out now!" and we all scrambled for the door. As I passed the van parked right outside the door I watched it tilt wildly from side to side and I'm surprised that neither of the vans flipped onto their side. When I got into an open spot in the field outside the church I looked around me and you could literally see the huge waves in the ground, but you could also feel the up and down and side to side motions of the earth's crust moving under your feet as you frantically moved around trying to maintain balance. It lasted for about 42 secounds, but felt more like two or three minutes becase the motion threw off your body's balance and your center of gravity. It turned out to be a 7.2 earthquake and we're lucky that nobody got injured physically, we definately shaken emotionally though. It didn't really hit me hard until a few minutes after the quake when I went to put my stuff down in one of the van and Lofy asked me if I was okay. Of course I totally lost all ontrol at this point and started balling my eyes out. For the rest of the time we were down their we had over three-hundred aftershocks. Many of which were 4 or 5 point earthquakes.

The funny thing about the quake was that the people living in one of the houses next door to the church, had been sitting outside having lunch or afternoon tea or whatever. They didn't even get up from their seats they justed started at us lke we were crazy, it was almost as nif they didn't feeli a thing. Either that or they had become so familiar with the recent quakes that it didn't effect hem anymore. oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that I was 20km away from the epicenter of the earthquake.

It's been weeks since we returned home from Mexico and I'm still nable to go much more than 20mins without thinking about earthquakes and aftershocks. My head starts spinning and I either get dizzy or get a headache everytime I go inside a building. At least I don't have to worry about port-a-potties falling over during an aftershock though(it never happened, but everytime I used a bono I would be hesitant because I thought that it might happen).

After the earthquake some people from the church dropped all their plans that they had for the day to come back and check on us, which was very kind of them. What a huge sign it was of God's love for us! Afterwords we all spread out and went around the city passing out fliers to promote our VBS.

When we arrived in tent city that evening, all of the other villages from Maple Valley had already returned safely and I was grateful to see that my sister was okay and not stuck in her village due to the bridge that had collapsed. We ever able to have dinner and chapel that eveningall thanks to the wonderful inverntion of generators. And luckily the power was back on the next morning so we didn't have to be sent back home.

The rest of the week went very smoothly between VBS, morning and evening chapel in both Chihuahua and in tent city, women's ministry, teen ministry, vendors, van rides, store runs, meeting the people in Chihuahua, doing our service project in the park, meeting a puppy named Cherry(AKA my bby), the end of the week BBQ, and saying our final goodbyes, our time spent in California(at the church, in vans, on the beach, in the hotel, and in the airports).

Please feel free to add comments about your own experience in Mexico and feel free to expand upon any and all of the things I've mentioned above.

Dance Team Districts

On Saturday, March 13th, we had Dance District's at South Kitsap High School. We actually got to sleep in because division four didn't start until 4pm! It was nice to see, almost all of, the teams that we've competed against this season. Our hip-hop and show performances came across beautifully! It was so nice to see how much all thegirls have improved from the beggining of the season. I'm super exited for State, in Yakima, this weekend. It will be nice for our team to have some quality bonding time. We've been so focused on perfecting everything for districts and we've all been so caught up in drama, that we've forgotten that we're all one big family, and we've always got each others back, for better or for worse. I love all of you and would like to congradulate you for making it to state! Can't wait to spend the weekend with our dance team family!

Seth Vallejos

Seth Vallejos was found dead this morning (Tuesday, March 2nd). He was a sophmore at Tahoma Senior High School and a very quiet one at that. From what I have heard, he called a bunch of people on his cell phone last night just wanting to talk. The people who talked to him at that time said he seemed to be perfectly normal, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing at all worry-some.

This morning Seth's mother went down into the basement to wake him up for school. But instead of seeing her son in bed, asleep. He had hung himself he night before. Nobody know why(stress? bullying? just for attention?) and we might not ever find that answer, but we need to be more aware of the people around us and what they are feeling, so that we can get them the help that they need, and prevent this from happening again.

Dance-Team Sleepover 2

On Saturday, February 27th, we had our secound team sleepover of the year. This time we slept in Mrs. Lindersmith's classroom. We had TV going all night long(showing Saturday Night Live, The 2010 Olympics, and the news). We did our nails and talked for awhile, but we were all exhausted so we finally went to bed around 1am. Of course I got woken up at 2am and couldn't go back to sleep because I didn't take any pain medication for my hand and it hurt really bad, but oh well. It was alot of fun getting to know the other girls on the team at a more personal level.

Interlake Dance Competition

Saturday, February 27th, we had our dance competition at Interlake. I think that this was the best Dance Competition this year as far as everyone on the team having fun. Their was alot more goofing off, but we were still able to concentrate and get things done.

Their were alot of changes to our Show routine this week. We changed the entire ending(the coreography is much better, but we still need to get down the timing). Jeanna was doing her part and mine (since I can't dance due to my broken hand)so she had to change from a vampire hunter to a vampire part way through. And both Alyssa and Sammy quit unexpectedly this week, so it wasn't our best performance, but for how much time we had practiced it, I thought that it came accross very nicely.

As for hip-hop they performed exceptionally well! They won 1st place, but did not get a trophy because hip-hop and dance were combined categories.

Sabrina Roberts

On Thursday, February 18th Sabrina Roberts passed away due to complications with a blood clot in her lungs. Sabrina was a Junior at Tahoma Senior High School and will always be in our hearts and on our minds.

Sabrina was that wonderful girl that we all knew and loved. She was that girl who was never afraid to take a risk and who always strived for her goals in life. I didn’t talk to her very much in the past couple years, but when we were younger I remember being in Millennium Choir with Sabrina at Shadow Lake Elementary School. She was that girl who everyone wanted to sit by so that we could her that soft melody as is rushed through her lungs and lit up sparks across the room. Her voice is one of those things you just know that you won’t ever forget. Along with choir, Sabrina used to take dance lesions with me through Dance Expressions. Man, that girl knew how to stand out in a crowd!

Of course after quitting dance, she took on acting and modeling, which is what most students at Tahoma know her by. She was beautiful and talented; she always knew how to set herself apart from everyone else. Last year she was on MTV’s Made with one of her best friend’s Jenna. They got made into Ti Kwan Do masters (okay, maybe not masters, but you get my point). That’s when people really got to see her competitive side. And perhaps we all need her competitive spirit so that we too can achieve even our highest goals in life. She may not have a long life, but she did a lot in the time that she had, and she definitely left her mark on the world. She will be forever missed and forever loved!

My Hand

On Wednesday, February 3rd I was at youth group and we are currently doing an Olympic theme so we were playing a mix of hockey and ga-ga ball. I reached my left hand in to hit the ball and didn't see what happened because their were too many people in the way, but I felt a sudden shock of pain and was unable to move my fingers. That night I went to the ER.

When I walked through the hospital doors there was a lady sitting accross the room at a counter so I walked up to her. She asked what was wrong and then saw my hand(which was really badly swollen and was covered in black bruises, I thought my hand was going to explode from the swelling)and asked me, "oh, do you have a boo boo". (What, does she think I'm 3yrs old or something?)Anyways, I played along and told her what happened. She took some information (name, address, phone number, ect.)and sent me into the back room.

In the back room, a nurse took my pulse and blood pressure, asked me how it happened, had me rate my pain on a scale of 1-10 (the first thing that came to my mind was Brian Regan, "say eight! say eight!", but it hurt so bad that I said nine)from their they sent me into my own hospital room.

In the hospital room multiple nurses came in asked me a buch of repeated questions and ran off. Finally the doctor came in asked the same questions, left the room, and brought me back an ice pack and some vicodin for the pain.

Awile later a man came in with a big machine and took a bunch of x-rays of my hand. Soon after the doctor came back telling me their's no broken bones, she said, "It's just extremely bad bruising and swelling" and gave me a perscription for Naproxen and Hydrocodone. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a pharmacy that's open at midnight??? We finally found a Walgreens that was open and that's when my dad looked at me and showed me the text my mom sent him it said, "she's such a drama queen".(typical, mom)

It had been awhile and my hand wasn't gettig any better so my mom took me into the doctor on Monday, February 8th. They took more x-rays and still couldn't find anything wrong with it, but they put my hand and arm in a brace and a sling as a procautionary thing (to lower the swelling, increase circultation, and prevent further injury)and told me to come back in on Friday.

Friday, February 12th came along and the doctor realized that my hand still wasn't getting better. So she refered me to go get a CT Scan. On Tuesday, February 16th I went into get my CT Scan (which went very well, I didn't even flinch). On Friday, February 26th I got a phone call saying that I broke my middle finger(and messd up the tendon that runs half-way up my arm, which is why I couldn't move my fingers), so I went back into the doctor. They took off the brace and sling and replaced it with a finger splint. Gee, at least the doctor doesn't think I'm crazy anymore.

Dance-Team Sleepover

After our Kentridge competition, we went back to the high school to unload props and then a group of us headed over to Red Robin's for dinner(most people weren't feeling very good and went home). After dinner we went home to take showers and wash off all of our crazy make-up.
We meet back at the high school and spent the night in the school library. It was really late by the time we got their so we watched Step It Up 2 and The Sleepover, before crashing at about 2am. Then the warning bell woke us up at 8am and we were all out of their by 9:15am.

Kentridge Dance Competition

On Saturday, January 30th, we had our dance competition at Kentridge High School. We didn't place in any category, but we did win spirit award! Whooo hoo!

WIA-Salute to Spirit

On Saturday January 23rd, 2010 we had our WIA-Salute to Spirit dance competition at the Comcast Arena in Everett. We arrived at Tahoma Senior High School around 4:45am to have our team meeting, load props, and eat breakfast. We loaded the bus an arrived at our destination at 7:09 making us the first team their. We set all our our bags in the stands, right behind the announcers station, and headed to unload props.
In my opinion none of our routines did very well this weekend, but we did bring home a first place trophy in the Show Catergory, since all of the other show routines dropped after the trophies had been ordered. We got back to Tahoma Senior High School around 3:30pm and unloaded props. Once again the coach's were just glad to bring home a trophy even though none of us dancers think that we actually deserved it.

Uncle Jim

On Sunday January 17th, 2010 Uncle Jim finally passed away. For those of you who didn't know, he got into a bicycle accedent on thanksgiving day. He was riding his bike and had a stroke or his diabetes acted up or something (we don't know what actually happened, but those are our best guesses) and he fell off his bike. He was unfortunately not wearing his bicycle helmet and had severe brain injuries. He was immediately air-lifted to the ICU at Harbor View and spent the rest of his life there. His part of the brain that controls basic functions, such as breathing, was shifted way out of place and even if he had survived he would have been paralized and would have had very little brain activity. He likely would have never learned to walk, talk, or even comprehend his surroundings again, so in a way I guess it was almost better for him to die. The one thing that I really regret about his death though is the fact that he did not have a relationship with God.
Jim did alot of terrible things in his life time putting his family in a lot of pain, but even he should not deserve a life in eternal hell. But I guess that's how life works. We live and we die. It's a fact we have to face because it's true for all of us. Which is why we need to learn how to live in the moment, forgive, and forget. And when worse comes to worse we need to learn to move on and trust that there is something so much greater after this life on Earth.

Edmonds-Woodway Dance Competition

On Saturday January 16th, 2010 we had our Edmonds-Woodway Dance Competition. We arrived at Tahoma Senior High School early in the morning to load props and loaded up the bus. When we arrived we were greeted at the team entrance and given a brief tour of the school before unloading our props and changing in the boys locker room. Our floor time went well, and we had lunch before the competition got started. Hip-hop danced their way into first place and the coach's were proud to bring home our first trophy of the season!

Bodies Exhibit

Today I went on a field trip with Outdoor Academy, we went to the bodies exhibit in Seattle. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, of course I knew that we would be observing dead people's bodies, but that's about it. They had alot of really cool stuf their. I mean come on, how many people get to look at a real human fetus?!!?
I think what really stood out for me the most was the human brain that belonged to someone who had a stroke. Almost half of their brain cells were dead. I also didn't realize how small a human bladder is or a baby's skull. If you've never been their before I strongly recommend going their next time you visit Seattle.

My Birthday

On my birthday (January 13th)I didn't do a whole lot. I went to school and then skiped youth group to go out for dinner at The Chessecake Factory, although i'm no quite sure why since my sister is the one who loves chessecake, pesonally it makes me gag.
I got alot of birthday cards i the mail today, but with my dace schedule and whatnot I don't think I'll have a birthday party.

Kentlake Dance Competition

On Saturday, January 9th, 2010 I had my first dane competition of this season. We arrived at Tahoma Senior High School around 7:30am to load our props into peoples truck beds an cars. I eded up riding to Kentlake with one of the other girls on the team and we got lost on the way their so we arrived late. Since wehave around 130 girls on dance team between the middle school/Jr. High team and the high school team we got a gym all o ourselves, or at least until basketball players decided todrop in for practice, that was interesting. Anyway the performances went very well. All three(dance hip-hop, and show) Tahoma Legacy Dance Teams got scores high enough to qualify for state and show won first place! We got back to our school arond 6pm to unload props. Afterwards y mom and I went to QFC to pick up some pizza for dinner and I forgot about my hair and make-up and couldn't figure out why everyone was staring at me funny until I saw my reflection in the refrigerator doors of the frozen section. What a day!

A Great Start To A New Year

I spent this New Years Eve with my dad. We drove my sister up to Sound View Presbyterian Camp for their annual staff new years party. I spend an hour or so playing mad gab and visiting with people before my dad and I headed home. I wanted to stop at the Womens Correctional Facility, just because it would be funny to tell people that thats where you started off the new year, but dad was more focused on finding somewhere to eat because he hadn't had dinner yet. Of course, nothings open at midnight on new years eve.
On January 1st, my dad was trying to fix my sister's computer and he accedently super glued his fingers together. We only had anti-acidtone nail polish remover at home and rubbing alcohol wasn't seeming to do much, so my sister, my mom, and I drove up to Bartell Drugs, which was of course closed. Lucky for dad, the QFC was open and happened to have some nail polish remover in stalk. It took him at least an hour to get his fingers unstuck, but man the people who checked us out at QFC got a good laugh out of it!