'I just..I just can't do this you guys. Just not today!'

Middle School Camp!

everyone knows, summer has been going on for almost a month now. The summer kicked off with me helping at my church's middle school camp, which was the first time I've ever done that. I was super blessed and honored to be one of the high school students in our youth ministry to be picked to help. The group I helped with were seventh grade girls, whom I knew because some of them were my close friend's sister's or they go to my school. I was only a high school helper, but I got to know the girl's so well, and got to know my leader who I worked with all week. It was a great experience for me socially, leadership wise, and spiritually. Ever since choir tour of this year, I had a gut feeling that I should help at middle school camp, which God allowed to happen as He had in His planed for me to do. The team I was on was the gold team. GO..LD..GOLD! GO GOLD! That's right, we had the most wicked sweet cheer of them all. Even if the blue team was pretty close to wicked sweet. (This place about to blueeeeeee. blueeeeeee. This place about to blue! *while blue baloons are being hit all over the place) So many middle schoolers came to know Christ and many came to make some amazing commitments! The week was an amazing and fun time. Can't wait to help next year!

MAN DOWN! RACHAEL, YOU CAN'T MOVE YOUR HEAD WHEN YOUR FOLLOWING MY FINGER.

Once back from camp, it was my birthday that sunday. It was fun and all, but the next day was one of the worst days ever. Even if I don't remember it. I went to volleyball practice, like any other day, and I was being super aggressive like always and as I went to get a ball I dove for it and all that can come to mind is that. Apparently, I went to dive for it and I hit my head really really hard!!! I was out for ten minutes, took coach awhile to get me to roll over, coach moved her finger back and forth and I couldn't just follow it, I had to move my head to follow it. She said. "You like as high as a kite right now babe. And that is seriously NOT.GOOD." Which come to find out, I only have a minor minor concussion. But, my memory is very foggy and I have random headachs that are of the devil himself. I just know that God is going to be with me through this bump in the road. The plus side to this is that just today, june 24, I was good enough to hit the ball, serve, and play a quick game. :]

'I got my toes in the water..'
The week after camp I went to the beach with my family. It was a grand ol' time! It was the week I had to keep it easy because of my head injury, which is totally a positive since I got to lay out everyday in the hot Florida sun! Love mey some sun :] Once we were there, it was just all relaxing and drinking Arnold Palmers. Which are the most delightful thing I've drank in the longest time.

Who knew such an amazing golfer like Arnold Palmer could make such a great beverage!







YUMM!!! :]





This is just the beginning of the summer of 11'. I will catch you up once I get back from high school camp As I keep dancing through life...

Choir Tour: Minnesota 2011 Awakening

Rebekah, Abby, and I

Hey y'all! Haven't been on in awhile. Been way to busy to get on here and type out something. I mainly want to talk about a choir tour I went on spring break this year. I went in April with my church. We went all the way up to Minnesota. Yeah, that's right, the north! Absurd, I know, but them Yankee's gotta know the Lord too! Ha ha. It took forever to get up there! About maybe 21 hours to get there. We were all getting tried of the buses real soon. Once there, we entered into the most fancy place choir tour has EVER stayed in..EVER! We were just completely in luxury. Which the people back home that went on past choir trips were very annoyed at the place we were staying at since we were pretty much not in a camp type situation. Oh well, we had the best of times there. Choir tour this year was one of the best we've had. Also said by Matt Sloma, our choir director. Which that means its legit! :]



I took this from Amanda(on the left). I had to put this up because of Molly's(on the right) model pose and cause its cute!

 In Minnesota we did many community projects to help the people of Minnesota. My favorite of all of them was definitely Feed My Starving Children. It is a non-profit organization that helps feed people in Africa and many other countries that don't have food. It brought me to the realization that there really are kids out there that don't even know where or when they may get a meal. We take our food and everything for granted here, and to them they don't even know if they will eat or not. Which I've never had that issue. Which really tugged at my heart about. So, it made me really excited to box up the meals that will be sent out to different countries to kids that will be super pumped about actually getting food! They told us a story about a boy who was 7 and before starting to eat the food he only weighed 24 pounds...a 7 year old boy! That's like our about 1 year old kids here. But after a 6 month period on the program he then weighed 77 pounds! How crazy? That shows that the food they send over there really does help the kids get the nutrition they need. All thanks to the nutritionist that figured out what to have them eat.
After all of this in Minnesota, once getting home everything was going just the way I hoped. Then God came in and showed me "Hey, don't go back to normal. Remember what you learned in Minnesota!" Which was good that He reminded me. Also another way He helped us remember to not go back to normal was the tornado's that came through north Alabama.

 The damage of these tornado's is overwhelming, but after all of this we have all come together and helped one another.

To conclude on this blog update, I just challenge anyone to just try and get out there and help those who don't have a home, food, clothes, etc. Because this is the best mission field for us as believers to get out of our comfort zone and express to others ,who may not believe, the love of Christ. As I keep dancing through life..

Craziness?!

Those who read my blog have probably wondered where I am, what happened to me, and why I haven't been writing my blog. Well, let me just tell you in one word: BUSY!!!!!!! Life has been so busy/heck tick/crazy!! From working hard for choir tour, to getting really sick, to science fair, and then finally to BIG rhetoric paper deal. So, its been pretty crazy lately. But here is a recap of whats been going on lately.
First off, there is the whole choir tour deal. This is still going on since choir tour is spring break which is in about 2 weeks from now. Which is EXCITING! Matt, our director, has been up on our butts about every little thing. But, we are getting everything together and its sounding awesome! Just a Lil concerned about the temperature in Minnesota when we go there. If its cold, I'm taking all of my fun hats and all to keep me warm! :] 
Secondly on my list of craziness, is me getting really sick. Right now I'm still a little bit sick. Two Saturdays ago I got very sick. My throat was hurting as if there was glass in my throat, my neck was swollen, and I had many hot flash's. It was not fun at all. But when is it every fun to get sick? NEVER! But, the doctor didn't know what I had, so she gave me medicine to help the swelling of my neck. Which slowly but surely helped my throat out. I'm not getting blood work done tomorrow afternoon to make sure everything is okay. It scared me for a while, and still does, since choir tour is so close. But I trust that God will heal me and help me feel 100% before choir tour comes around.


(Not a wall I punched.)

 Third on the list, the dumb science fair. Woot! Woot! That thing just about made me wanna punch a wall! (No walls were harmed in the making of my science fair project)
 It took me awhile to get everyting fully together and making since. It was manely on how to not damage your hair when straighting your hair. Weird huh? Well, that science fair project got a 90. That's right, a 90! Counts as a test grade. Which helps me out a ton! It was so stupid to do, but atleast its all done with.
Lastly, the rhetoric paper. This is going to take all the rest of the quarter! No joke! Its a big, big, longggg paper! But its not that much right now.
So, life has been crazy, sick, and heck tick. But, I got through it all by dancing through life..

Big Lesson I've Learned

This school year has been the most interesting year I've gone through in a long time. Probably since middle school. People have told me that tenth grade is the most busiest, crazy, hectic, and ridiculous time of high school. Which I TOTALLY already agree with that statement. Because already I have noticed the way more amount of homework we are given compared to freshmen year, the craziness of people in our class, hectic classes and assignments, and ridiculous drama over stupid things. I mean really? Why is sophomore year so ridiculous? It's just like how it was for middle school but like 10x worse. Cause in seventh grade, we were just in our awkward stage trying to figure out who we are and all. But sophomore year we already know who we are, but we act just so different and also have TONS more homework then the normal high school student is use to.

The big lesson I've learned already this year is that even if somebody treats you so badly every day of your life, talks badly about you to others, and just tries to do things that annoy you, you still need to show them the love of Christ. It has been hard, but some where in the end it is going to pay off. No matter how much that person may cause you pain, suffering, and just complete annoyance, you need to show them and treat them the way Jesus would. Which is a lot harder then how it sounds. Because we as humans have that deep want of revenge and getting in a fight kind of act inside of us, but God wants us to rebel against that which is of the world and do what is of God since God does love that person! In times like this, you become closer and more in love with God then ever. And also more confused on what He wants you to do in this kind of situation.
Now after all this has been said, life is just crazy sometimes! We just need to have the right people around to help us through our tough times and also to encourage us when we are struggling. God is the best at doing that!! So this post pretty much shows you that I am indeed, dancing through life!!!


The sophomore class minus 4 people



Area? Again? Wow!

Last night was a great night! I will remember that night for the rest of my life. The first time our boys varsity basketball team beat, oh wait, let me rephrase that. The first time our boys varsity basketball team CREAMED Athens Bible School!!! That's right, creamed! It was one of the most exciting, back and forth game.  The final score was 71-50! We had about 25 students go on a bus to go support our boys playing. And the crowd helped the boys a lot! We were constantly yelling and screaming whenever anything happened. Ha ha. The boys played their hearts out last night. And we could tell that they wanted to win that game so badly! The coolest thing that happened that night was when Cameron and John would switch back and forth and get three, after three, after three in a row! Yes, IN A ROW! When this happened, was when I jumped up in the air so high and just started yelling "Now DAT'S WHAT'S UP RIGHT THERE! THAT'S HOW WE DO!"


Cameron. (picture from Mrs.case)



If you can't see, this is Paul swinging his shirt in the air. He did that ever time we scored or did something amazing

I don't ever remember yelling that loud at a basketball game. That's how crazy and amazing the game was. Cause if you know me, I yell the entire game. I yell as if I was out there with the players. It gets pretty crazy. Those who know me very well you would know what I'm talking about. But now that it is the day after the big game, I just think of that game as how we are with our constant battle with Satan. We put our all into the game, don't back down, work as a team, and just hustle for every loose ball. Then come out with a win. It's the best victory. And those boy;'s last night deserved that win, because they never backed down, never quite. They kept pursuing to the goal. No matter if some big boy was in the way, they found a way to get around that big obstacle. Which totally goes with our battle as a believer.


"Air"Jordan going in for a nice lay up. He gets it in of course!

Now, this Monday and Friday the boys are going to area and the regional tournament! Later on this coming week you will be able to hear how the boys did. Because our boys, they are warriors!

It's the best day ever!

Today is Tuesday. Apparently everything bad happens on a Tuesday. But that was quite the opposite for THIS GIRL! *points thumbs at herself* Today was a great day, to be quite honest. Like always, there were many many funny events that occurred today! When you read all of the funny and hilarious things that happened today, you will have to ice your tummy for awhile because your tummy is going to hurt!
First off, in science Mr.Gillham was explaining to us an experiment about when you put a Pepsi can on a hot surface thing and put water in it and boil the water. Once the water is boiled you pick it up with tongs and out it in cold water and it apparently crushes. Which, of course, did NOT happen when he did it. We were like "You did that little dent with the tongs!" So, he did it again and it actually crushed this time. But he seemed as if he was 5 years old when we said he did the dent with the tongs cause he got really offensive.

Second event of the day. We were in English, with Mrs.Chandler, and we were presenting our projects on the French Revolution. So, everyone goes and does well of course. And then, we talk about France's national anthem which none of us could think of how it went. Ben bust's out into the tune of England's anthem and says "France, France, France, France, FRANCE, France, France.." Everybody started laughing so loud! Then Mrs.Chandler looks a Ben and says "..No...Ben" Her face was so funny! It was the kind of face your mom and dad give you when you say something really dumb and stupid. Yeah, you know that face!

 Third event of this fantastic day, we were in Bible, which is where some of the funniest things come from. Just FYI. We are starting to take notes on Daniel, and Mr.Johnson walks up to the board to start writing the notes on the board. He gets to this one note and it reads "Who is what God is?". Apparently that's what one of the guys that went with Daniel to Neb, his name means that. He was very much confused and just didn't know what to say to it. He looks at what he wrote, looked at the paper, looked back at the board, and turned to us saying "WHY IS LIFEWAY SO DUMB?!? IS THIS EVEN ENGLISH? "Who is what God is?" WELL, YOU IS STUPID!" Ha ha ha. This man is my favorite teacher, by far! We all busted out in laughter. It's so true, because this whole year Lifeway has made issues like this in some of the weirdest ways. Not going to get into that. Just not today.  Later on in the class Mr.Johnson was writing about Shadrak, and his name means Shak-Earth goddess. So he says "Hey, next time y'all see Shaq, tell him his name means earth goddess...he will kill you." We look at him and our faces read "Yeah, cause we see Shaq everyday. And we talk to him all the time! And wait...do you want us to die?!" This man, yeah Mr.Johnson, he's one of the funniest guys I know!



I mean do you see this man ^. He has HUGE muscles and has tattoo's!!



Oh, and in the hall today, my friend Joseph gave me a ketchup packet that was completely different then I have ever seen in my life! It's now at Chickfila! You got to check it out! Its in an thing where you can dip or squeeze and it has 3x  the ketchup in it. Greatest thing Heinz has done. Well, it took them awhile. :]

As you can tell, I had an amazing day!! Hopefully, tomorrow will be the same. As I'm just dancing through life.

 

DIP&SQUEEZE KETCHUP=BEST IDEA EVER!







"IM AWAKE!!"

Today I was hanging out with Rebekah, Annie, Abby,and Jessi. Just having a great time. Laughing, cutting up, making obnoxious noises with our straws in our cups,(specially Rebekah) and just having fun! We went on a nice little old picnic at the green way place where they have the man made lake. It was perfect weather for it. Well to an extent it was. Ha ha. The geese were not eating our fries that we were throwing out at them...which confused us. And of course, wasted about 7 fries. So thanks a lot geese at green way!!! That makes us feel just grand.

 So, let me just tell you about a movie called "Awake". It's one of, well now, one of my favorite movies! It's about this guy who is dating a girl, but doesn't tell his mom because his dad died and he is all she has. But him and her have been dating for about a year. He finds out he has to have a heart transplant because he has issues with his heart. In the time between finding out he needs surgery to the day he has the surgery, he tells his mom about him and his girlfriend and gets married to her. He goes into surgery, they knock him out. He is numbed and all, butt he can still.feel.everything.they.are.doing!!! He feels and hears everything that's going on! He felt them cutting into him and everything. Later on you find out that the doctor doing the surgery is in debt and is going to kill him just so he can have all his money. Oh yeah, and his wife, yeah, she is on the doctors side and only got married to the patient just so she can gain his money since she is now married to him. HOW RIDICULOUS IS THAT?!?!?! HIM FEELING EVERY LITTLE CUT THEY DO TO HIM!!! CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT HAPPENING?!? I know I can't!
Later on the doctors get caught, sent to jail. The mom kills herself with overdose of pills, and gives her heart to her son so he can live. Just for your information, the whole mom killing herself happened a few minutes after she was told he didn't make it. And the cops were called, and another doctor saved his life. I have to say, this movie freaks me out because what if that ever happened to me? Its just to unbarring to think about.
That reminds me of how it is for us as Christians to think of all the pain Jesus went through for us on the cross...I mean, that is so much pain. And he was not knocked out. It's crazy to think that you can watch a crazy, ridiculous movie like 'Awake' and come out with something life changing.
Now, I just have to get over this now fear of surgery and possibly being able to feel every little nip, cut, break, and scrap they do. Joy.

Eureka! A blog

Finally, a blog. Yes, I'm writing a blog. What's wrong with that? Nothing. That's right. I never thought I would ever come to the conclusion of having and actually using a blog. Seemed a bit out of my league or just not something I nor others would suspect of me. But, hey there's a first time for everything.

When I told my parents I am starting a blog my mother was quite amazed and happy. She said "Oh, that sounds like fun! Whats the name? What are you writing about?" Many, many questions came from her. But my father on the other hand, was a bit different then my mother. He was saying "WHY? YOU HATE TO WRITE! What is a blog even for anyways? What's the point?" Isn't that just lovely. But, my mother explained to my lovely father what this "blog" was. I love my father so much. For saying things just like this.

Just the thought of writing about what happens in my life everyday, kind of scares me. Because people think their lives are crazy, hello! Have you seen what my life is like?! Just kidding. My life is not really THAT crazy, but it's on up there. My life is very entertaining,mostly at school. Many crazy, dumb, stupid, ridiculous, 5 year old things happen in my classroom 24-7 throughout the day. This is why I enjoy school. When I go to school, I start the day off with Mr.Gillham who will bore you to the point of sleeping. Which is worse for my class since we have the loving chance to hear him teach first thing in the morning. So, to brighten up our morning we always try to make each other laugh. Which just a few of the funny things happen in that classroom.

 Later on you will get to hear of what amazing things happen in my life. Since I'm dancing through life everyday!