to be angelic.

This Sunday afternoon I was able to spend some time with my new friend Cathryn. She has an amazingly giving spirit. Every weekend Cathryn heads down town and meets the needs of two men that have no homes, Rob and Terry. She brings everything from propane and food to matresses and tents! The pictures above are the men's tents. Today, Cathryn, her dad, and I set up a new tent for Rob and cleaned up around their campground. I was able to visit with Terry for quite sometime. He showed me inside of his home and filled me in on the purpose of everything inside of his tent. One of his favorite hobbies is cooking! With a propane burner, Terry said he makes everything from tea to fetticine alfredo! Both Rob and Terry were very nice and I'm looking forward to getting to know them! They sure do appreciate Cathryn. Terry told me today that he calls Cathryn his angel! I hope my actions are just as angelic someday.

morning date.

I have the coolest little brother in the world! I really love any time that Caleb and I spend together and one of our favorites is Starbucks on the way to/from school. This morning we left early and grabbed some to start our Friday. Ever since I have had to quit my job, Caleb has felt quite deprived of his Starbucks on the account of me being broke! When I told the family at dinner that I had gotten a new job Caleb's reaction was "Yes, we can do Starbucks again!!" So glad I can give this crazy kid something to look forward to again! He cracks me up but honestly I'm really excited too!

road trip!

me and kelsey b: my mo state partner

getting gas for the 4 hour trip

us spending the night in Blair/Shannon... our hopeful

dorm next year!

one of the picture of mo state's campus

on our way home when we had to pee really bad
this was the sign we saw!


us approving that famous bathroom


what good is a road trip without Starbucks?!

This past week my friend Kelsey and I took a road trip together to Missouri State University! It was definitely one of the most big girlish things I have ever done! We drove down Tuesday after school and arived 4 hours later. Right away we began our plans and went to something called Christian Campus House (kind of like a youth group) which was pretty cool! Then we settled into a friend's dorm for the night and watched The Notebook together in the suite's living room. The next Wednesday morning we woke up around 9:30a.m., took a 25 minute walk to my car, drove for another 20 minutes till we found a parking spot and then began our hour and half tour of the campus! After that, Kels and I went to lunch with one of my favorite teacher's friend. She filled me in about the studies, work, and life of a social worker! After talking with her for an hour, Kelsey and I headed home. It was a really packed, wonderful trip! Mostly, what I received from the trip was a dose of reality. Not in a bad way, but college is definitely not what I expected! I can't wait!

its boring.

This week has been intense. I've been studying for tests, writing papers, watching tv, and going to play practice. In case you were wondering what keeps me going, it's diet pepsi! And yes, this is all I am writing about. Maybe that tells you just how worn out I am or just how lazy I feel tonight. Either way, I'm out of creativity for the day but it will return soon, I promise. Hope YOUR week has been good!

i'm a big kid now.

i'm not sure why i waste my time watching t.v. or just laying around. sometimes even school and work seem a waste. but i'm always reminded that wherever there is people there's an opportunity to build relationships. and people are what matter. i really do long to make my life meaningful and i don't want to let time pass and miss out on anything or anyone. i want to seek out the injustice and be used by God to just be his love. but usually i don't act on these things. i feel that i'm at a point in my life that i'm being stretched in two directions and it's causing me to have to make a choice. i can either stay put and continue "thinking" about taking action or i can grow up and just do it. i'm beginning to realize i have responsibilities, whether they're as daughter, sister, friend, or Follower. it's weird but i'm a big kid now so i'm putting on my big girl pants!

update

hello readers. i am very sorry it has been such a long time since i've blogged. i guess i'll just give you an update. first and foremost there are only 56 more days of high school left for me! with that comes lots of english projects and tests but i'm going to keep looking at that light at the end of the tunnel! my family is doing great and so are all the friends. yeah not much of an update, i've just been chuggin a long. nothing very interesting has happened lately but i promise to find something interesting soon!

parents.

Meet my adorable parents. They have done some amazing things for me through out my life... like providing food and water, shelter, bed, and clothing, but more than that they have taken time to love me. Yesterday I was challenged to fight for my relationship with my parents; to find a way to make it work and to embrace their humanness. That may sound silly but it truly hasn't been until this year that I've recognized my parents are allowed to make mistakes too. They need grace and forgiveness just as much as I expect it from them. I know more times than not I have taken for granted what they have done for me. I fail to recognize the pure love they have for me and all they have sacrificed to be my parents. It must be tough being a parent. I want to honor them and obey them, but what I want the most is to know them and share life with them because I love them.

weight watchers #1.

Today was my first Weight Watchers meeting of the year. Although I make the resolution to "lose weight" every year, this year feels different. My goal is to lose my 30-35 pounds within the next four months. Exactly four months from today is my Senior class trip to Florida. Usually I would use this as "motivation" to lose my weight but not this time. I want eating healthy and exercising to be a daily lifestyle for me. Being thinner and healthier for the trip would just be a great bonus! I'll update my losses over the weeks and months. Yay getting healthy!

78 more days.

Only 78 more days of HIGH SCHOOL!!! I have officially returned to my last semester of my Senior year. I cannot even believe I am this old. I'm going to try my best to stay concentrated with my school work but I have a bad case of "SENIORitis"! Why isn't May 16th tomorrow (graduation day!)?

09 Resolutions List.

New Years is probably one of my favorite holiday times. I love the new start it offers and the chance to just begin fresh. This year I have tons of Resolutions, as I do every year. I was thinking that maybe if I put them on my blog I might be even more motivated to actually accomplish them! So here's my favorites:

lose 35 pounds through Weight Watchers & Exercise

read 22 books this year

have an adventure day every other month

(this is my attempt to be more "risky" and get out of my comfort zone)

get involved with volunteering somewhere regularly

be a better daughter and sister with more dates with family members

write Litzi a letter every week

And of course I have my spiritual and individual goals between me and God. Hopefully I will be updating my blog with my accomplishments and not my failures throughout this year!

my favorites of 08

became an official "regular" at Starbucks!

had the most amazing night of my life with my mom at my man's... i mean micheal buble's... wonderful concert! it was perfect.

went on one of my very favorite mission trips to nashville with my awesome youth group.

was able to spend christmas in dallas with my family and it was a tasty, wonderful time.

my senior homecoming was a blast and i was on court with my best friend (the queen!).

my little brother came to my school! i got to spend time with him every morning driving him to school. i cherish this time especially since 09 means college soon!

hoping 2009 will be even greater than this past 08. have lots of resolutions to fulfill, graduating high school, going to new york for a mission trip, headed to mo state for college, and who knows what will fall between those high points. can't wait!

Christmas in Texas

There were so many wonderful things that we did together in Texas. But I thought I'd begin with my favorite and most memorable. My Aunt Beth arranged for an extraordinary chance to serve the homeless of Dallas, Texas. We put together 200 boxes of items: socks, coke bottle, candies, tooth brush/paste and wrapped each box and also put together a baggy of homemade cookies. On Christmas Eve all 14 of us packed a rented truck with the boxes and picked up buckets full of hot hot chocolate and headed down town. It was so fun handing out the packages and goodies. The people receiving them were so appreciative and nice. We were able to stop and talk to some for a while. Each group we came across saved their present for the next Christmas morning. I thought that was just the coolest thing. I'm very thankful my Aunt Beth thought of this wonderful experience to do as a family; to work hard together to help provide a special Christmas for complete strangers. It was amazing.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all my blogging friends! Hope you are with family and loved ones and are remembering the true meaning of today... Emmanuel was born... Redeeming Love is ours! Merry Christmas!

been a while.

It's Christmas time! We are down in Dallas spending some time with the family at my Aunt Beth and Uncle Dan's house. It is always an enormous treat when we get to come and stay with them. They are an amazing couple of people. I have not updated my blog in... a while! Sorry. I don't have Dallas pics uploaded to the computer just yet either so those will be along soon. Just thought I'd say I'm having a blast in Dallas.. We will be off to Mattoon for the other side of the family Friday! Christmas time is my favorite! P.S. The picture is of my two girls: my cousins Lyndsey and Courtenay. Unfortunately they couldn't make it out to Texas and I'm missing them. I'll defintely be blogging like crazy soon! Until then...

our tree.

Mom and Dad being cute.

Dad and his new, free mug from the tree place.

Caleb standing next to "his" size tree.

The tree.. still naked.

It didn't take much time today, but we had a lot of fun picking out our Christmas tree together. We never can all agree on which tree to pick. The standard is just tall and skinny. One tradition Caleb has every year is to find a tiny tree for him and me. A tiny tree really means a small broken off tree branch. We bring it home and claim it for our own. Today was a lot of fun. Reminding me just how close Christmas is!

The Joe Show.

Today, we continued our annual family tradition of picking out the Christmas tree together. Here to talk about it is my little brother, Caleb or as he is known in this interview : Joe on The Joe Show. Enjoy!

babysitting adventure #2.

Last night was so much fun! These kids were wonderful and loved to cuddle! Plus they were incredibly cute, as you can tell from the pictures. I traveled out to Alton, IL yesterday and arrived at their house around 5:30 p.m. We played all sorts of games from "Elefun" to "Operation: Spongebob Edition". However, "Thomas the Train Memory Game" was my personal favorite. We also ate pizza and chocolate sticks and towards the end of the night we popped in A Mickey Mouse Christmas Movie. After the movie, I battled with these kiddos for an hour and a half, asking them to please go to bed. Finally around 10:30 they all quieted down. I was told the parents would get home around 11:30 but it wasn't until 1:00a.m. that they came through the door. By this point it didn't matter and they definitely made it worth my while! They were very generous. Even with out their generosity, these kids are definitely in the top five of my favorites to babysit!

baby brother.

The past two days for some reason my brother has been especially special to me. Maybe it's the thought of having to leave him next year or maybe its just how I've recognized how much he is growing up; either way, I've just been really proud of him. Today I found something that he wrote about God. Can't believe he is even old enough to be thinking "maturely" in a sense but it's so cool and comforting to know that God is working in my brother's life.. even now. Like I said, leaving him is a very tear-jerking, hard thought for me, but it's days like today that I realize my God is going to take care of my baby brother. Caleb truly is one amazing kid. It's cool to see the young man he is becoming. And it's nice to have a brother that helps me want to be a better big sister. I love him very dearly.