Life in a Six-Pack

For Emily

2011-02-19T20:25:00.000-08:00

here is your prize:

Dear Emily: Happy birthday :mrgreen: ;)

2010-10-09T22:49:00.000-07:00

kelsiescrazyworld has been, at least temporarily, retired. :(

Blogspot has turned out to be an annoying medium to work with and I'm taking a break.

If you want to follow my writing, go to http://kylermartyn.tumblr.com. That's my tumblr. I post pictures and writings sometimes. The writing is different than the writing on kelsiesvirtualnotebook...I write it for me, and not so much for you. But that's okay, because sometimes it's cool to read too. :)

Thank you for following me through this blog! Maybe someday I'll resurrect it. :)

Love,
Kelsie

Shameless Advert...

2010-06-02T22:24:00.000-07:00

So, if you haven't noticed, I haven't posted here in a while. :P Sorry about that. And we're going out of town for 2 weeks tomorrow, so I won't be posting for awhile.

However, in the meantime, I have been posting a lot on my other blog - my Virtual Notebook. I've been doing a semiregular posting thingy on Facebook, and then also posting it over here for my readers who don't have Facebook.

So, for the less goofy and more deep-thought side of me, check out my Virtual Notebook. :)

Link

2010-05-28T21:38:00.001-07:00

Emily, you're a silly silly girl :P

An Update

2010-04-30T21:50:00.000-07:00

So, I haven't posted about Colorado yet. I think most of the people who read this know why, but if you don't, it's because my boyfriend who we went to visit in Colorado broke up with me. So I went back and forth for awhile on if I still wanted to post pictures or not. When I find the time and am on the computer with all the pictures, I will post pictures from the stuff we did as a family in CO - Royal Mountain Gorge, the Garden of the Gods, etc. :) So I just gotta find time.

Also I've got a whole 'nother set of Gathering pictures to post. <3 last weekend was amazing and beyond description! So again, when I'm downstairs on the computer with the pics, I will get this blog updated for y'all. :)

Dad's Birthday

2010-03-27T09:25:00.001-07:00

The Colorado post will come a little later, because it's gonna take me a really long time to post all of that stuff. :) So right now I'll just do Dad's birthday post, which was March 11.

This is a chocolate, peanut butter, more chocolate, and more peanut butter cake. :D Here's my recipe:

Cake:

Ingredients:

One box chocolate cake.

Instructions: Make as directed on box.

Filling:

Ingredients:

1 cup of peanut butter

1 stick of butter

2 cups of powdered sugar

milk

Instructions: Melt the butter and mix it with the peanut butter. Add the sugar a little bit at a time. If it's too thick, add some milk. If it's already frosting consistency, you're good to go. Place filling on the first layer of the cake. Now place the second layer of the cake on top of the filling.

Frosting:

Ingredients:

One container of chocolate frosting from Wal-Mart

Instructions: Frost cake all the way around

Topping:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup butter

1/8 tsp vanilla

2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions: Melt butter and mix with peanut butter. Add vanilla. Add sugar and blend with a blender. It should be crumbly. Take crumbs and sprinkle over top of cake. Some peanut butter crumble may be left over, depending on how much you put on the top; you can either eat this or...I can't think why you would do anything other than eat this. A tall glass of milk goes nicely with it.

Ta-da! That's how you make Kelsie's Peanut Butter Chocolate More Peanut Butter More Chocolate Cake! :D

Snowfall

2010-03-27T09:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, it snowed on Valentine's day! In Texas!

Some pretty shots with the carnation I got from Mom and Dad on Valentine's day. :)

We made a huge snow fort!
...or, uh, okay, less-than-huge.

Question: What do you get if you take

and add
and a little
plus some
?

The answer:
snice cream! Snow ice cream. I invented the recipe, sorta, with some help from Google. And it sounds weird, but

we love it. :)

Catarina seeing snow for the first time!

Chris made a bowling alley out of snow...

I had some fun with breaking stereotypes and made a cactus and a rattlesnake. Out of snow. And they were probably the first I've ever seen. :D

Tim's birthday

2010-03-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

...which was February 2nd, yes, I'm sorry for taking so long!

Tim's cake in the making :)

I used looooots of black dye to make this thing!

...and black dye has a tendency to turn your fingers purple!

The many colors of fondant that I used...

...to make many colors of apps!

Here they all are!
and this is what his cake looks like,
as compared to the real thing!

Of course I didn't eat any black icing, what are you talking about?

Party day!

Everything's set up nice and neat.

The balloons say "Tim is 9" :)

Opening presents

Tim and all his friends

why is this underlining my words?

GAHHH HOW DO I TURN IT OFF

*sigh*

Blowing out the candles!

Everybody got an app to eat :)

This was mine - an AIM (texting) app

This was Dad's of course!

Dad with the app he invented and I put on a cake! :)

A "Teaser" Post

2010-03-27T08:08:00.001-07:00

Aaaah! I'm so behind on my blogging! I have so much to blog about - Tim's birthday, the late snowfall we got, Spring Break, and a couple of other random things I really felt like sharing.

So this post will both catch you up on the little random things, and also act as a "teaser" for the big events until I get the time to put a whole post about each of them. I'll probably get to a couple today and the rest tomorrow, if Blogger will cooperate and upload my pictures!

This is just a cool little recipe I found. It's fruit salsa and cinnamon chips. The gist of it is: Cut up a bunch of little fruits that you like (i.e., kiwi, watermelon, and strawberries), add about a teaspoon of sugar and a tablespoon or two of your favorite flavor of jelly or jam (i.e., grape), and mix it all together. And the chips are tortillas with melted butter and cinnamon sprinkled on them and baked. Yummmmm.

Tim's birthday cake! Yes, it's an iPod touch (iPhone)! Yes, I made the cake myself! 8-)

A cool pic from the snowfall we had on Valentine's day!

Me and Ethan ♥ ...because I got to go to Colorado!

My whole family had fun doing different stuff in Colorado!

Me being inducted to NHS

My dad's birthday cake - I'm gonna make a blog post with the whole recipe (which I mostly made up! :) )

The Bride Collector

2010-02-01T15:53:00.000-08:00

I got a free advance copy of The Bride Collector in return for blogging about it. :D So here I go.

***
What is love? What is free will? What does it mean to be the bride of God?
The Bride Collector, so named by the FBI who are tracking him down, has taken it upon himself to take seven of the most beautiful women and present them to God, as His bride - by killing them. He tells himself he is God's messenger.
On a hunch, Brad Raines, FBI agent, turns to an unusual source: a local center for the mentally ill called the Center for Wellbeing and Intelligence, which houses those with mental problems but who are also quite gifted in one or several areas. While there, he meets a young woman named Paradise, a girl diagnosed as schizophrenic who can see ghosts and feel the last few moments of someone's life if touching their dead body.
While trying to work on the case, Brad finds himself confronted with difficult questions about love and sanity. Could it be that the people called "different" by society and made outcasts are truly those most in touch with reality?
Ted Dekker, as usual, wrote a twisting, thrilling book that I stayed up late into the night reading. I couldn't put it down! It broaches difficult questions and proposes deep thoughts, and even after the final page a person is left chewing on the content in their mind and trying to decipher it.
There is some content that, were it a movie, would rate it PG-13, in my opinion. A girl has flashbacks to nearly being raped, people are killed, etc. But nothing disturbing, and nothing that makes it any less an amazing, gripping book.
I would recommend this to anyone who's old enough to deal with the stuff I just mentioned. I'm fifteen, and I loved it. How Ted keeps managing to come up with this stuff is beyond me!

What does it mean to love? What does it mean to be loved? What would drive someone to kill to please God?
Who is the Bride Collector?

Mexico Mission Trip, Day Eight

2010-01-07T08:47:00.000-08:00

From my journal

January 4, 2010

There was a bus that left at midnight and one that left at seven AM. All of us who had a seven AM ride stayed up till midnight singing songs and playing games and talking to those who were going to leave at midnight. I cried when I had to say bye to a lot of my friends and Chris!

Then I went to bed (on the concrete!) and woke up cold...for the last time! Then we had breakfast which was more lovely cereal and boxed milk. We boarded the buses and drove to the border, about 30 minutes away, and then got off the bus and carried our bags through gates, doors, X-ray machines and lines and finally got all 56 of us through customs. We reboarded the bus and drove to the airport.

And here I am, sleepy and tired and full of memories, and waiting until 1:10 when my flight leaves. What a week. Are there even words? How do you go back home and explain all this to someone - that somebody deaf was healed, somebody blind was healed, that you were protected from a potentially very dangerous situation by what seems like chance...how can you tell somebody about how God used you?

And furthermore, how do I keep from losing the flame? When I'm thrown back into a school setting where my friends don't really care about God, how do I keep myself so in love with Him?

I can't wait to do this again next year!

Mexico Mission Trip, Day Seven

2010-01-06T14:42:00.000-08:00

From my journal

January 3, 2010

So, today was our free day. I woke up not cold for the first time - woohoo - and ate Poptarts for breakfast. Then we headed out on the 1 1/2 hour drive to Rosarito, a tourist spot on the beach. It was an absolutely gorgous beach, with clean sand and light blue water.

We sat there for about an hour in a circle

and did Kodak Moment and Hot Seat. In Kodak Moment, we went around the circle and shared our most amazing "snapshot" memory of the trip. For me, it was on day four, after I'd hammered in the last shingle and was standing on the roof, watching the orange sunset over the mountains and the mountains tinted pink, and thinking "I could stay in this moment forever. Happily."

Then for Hot Seat, everybody sits one at a time in the middle and three team members say something they really like about you. For me, they said I was encouraging, smiley and cheerful, and uplifting, and I made people laugh! Then we played one last game of our team game, Bunny Bunny, and set out in groups to see the marketplace!

First my team went and ate lunch at a place called Macho Nacho. I had a shrimp taco which was very yummy considering I don't particularly like Mexican food.

The waiter was very enthusiastic and spoke English pretty well, but he got all of our names wrong when taking our orders - like Tyler was Taylor and Katie was Kitty! He called me Kasey, which wasn't too far off, but he also thought I was a guy! I was still wearing my beanie like I always did and so he walked up and asked "What can I get for you, sir?" then looked at me again and stammered "I'm so sorry! What can I get for you, ma'am?" But I thought it was funny! I also had a bottle of Coke which is even yummier in Mexico 'cuz it's made with real sugar.

The only things I bought in the market were a coconut candy in the colors of the Mexican flag
and a cross for Mom, because today is her birthday and she collects crosses, like to go on the wall. The marketplace is crazy, all a bunch of stalls clustered together selling almost the same things!

I'm not sure how people decide where they want to buy stuff from! How do you know if one person's hammocks or sombreros or t-shirts are better than the next?

I only bought two things, but some of my friends bought a lot of stuff. Tike bought a Monster cap, and then when he was in another store, the store owner noticed his cap and asked if he wanted a Monster shirt to go with it. Tike wanted it but didn't want to pay for it so he ended up trading the guy a pocketknife for the shirt. And then he bought sunglasses to complete the look.

(Which I borrowed.)

Then on the bus ride back we had an impromptu "thanks" session and everyone got all sentimental and shared why this trip was meaningful to them. :)

For dinner I ate Goldfish and gumdrops after packing up all my stuff! Even my air mattress. I'm gonna sleep on the floor tonight - but I'll survive. Then we had a sermon on taking the missions home with us. Then we cleaned the entire ranch up - lucky me, my team got the bathrooms. :P Afterward we kind of ambled around playing games and stuff. I can't believe a week is over. I miss hot water and toilets and clean hair and warm beds, but I'll miss my friends more in a couple days!

Mexico Mission Trip, Day Six

2010-01-06T14:17:00.000-08:00

From my journal (with a bit of extra commentary upon looking back)

January 2, 2010

Today was pretty dang awesome. At VBS, we did a skit called Mi Corazon (that links to a skit which is similar but not the same) and it went over wonderfully. The kids loved it, and parents came out of their houses to watch.

Our MC dressed up as a clown again, which the kids loved. And since today was our last day, we had the job to give away all the candy and prizes and so she hooked all of them on her clothes.
Then we played a relay race which involved them dressing up as clowns! (Oh and I was allowed to take pictures today!)

All the ring pops and push pops and toys were given away and the kids of course loved that!

We performed the Ragman skit and the kids responded really well to that too; when we finished a little kid started chanting "Otra! Otra!" (again, again!) And at the altar call, fourteen kids came to Christ!

What I thought was most amazing was a little boy named Luis. Luis was a little troublemaker the past four days, being a bit of a bully and not playing fair. But apparently today we got through to him, because he accepted Christ. He even hugged me goodbye. :)

Today was the hottest day out there, too! We had a "goodbye party" and danced around and had a lot of fun (with Toby Mac playing through the speakers!)

But we had to leave really fast 'cuz a couple of guys showed up with shotguns. What is it with these people and shotguns? That's two times God has kept us - me - from potential danger or even death!

Then we moved on to the house. We had to scrape putty

and paint the inside after it was sufficiently scraped.

While they were doing that, and, er, goofing off a bit
I was painting trim on the outside of the house. The sun was very bright and glared off the trim into my eyes!
Then I moved inside and swept dust from the floor. After the rooms were swept and we had all inhaled copious amounts of dust, we moved on to painting. The wall color: bright red. The current color of my skin and clothes: bright red.

We got into a paint war. :D

Jonathan and I especially, kept dipping our hands in the paint and patting each other on the back or poking them in the face. Then he stole my beanie (which apparently no one had ever seen me take off!) and I chased him around trying to get it for several minutes!
No one was spared from the paint warring! Not even Tike!

I got Jonathan much messier than he got me!

(Group pic!)

We dedicated the house and gave the family the keys
and they got to step into their new house. It was so moving.
Then we said goodbye, which was so emotional. I'm gonna miss them, but at the same time I'm super proud. We built a whole house in only four days!

And later back at the ranch, I taught my friends how to use Pringles to be a duck! :D

Mexico Mission Trip, Day Five

2010-01-06T13:45:00.001-08:00

From my journal

January 1, 2010

It's official: my first waking thought of the new year was "Sheesh kabobs, it's cold!"

Last night we had our New Year's party at 10 p.m. New year in my home time zone, at least. :) I was eating a Twix and rockin' out to Lecrae around a bonfire while my family was drinking root beer floats and watching the ball drop, but hey, it works. The party was awesome, too. There was a huge bonfire

and they gave us sparklers

and free sodas, and we were blasting Christian rap through the speakers and all of us dancing like crazy people.

(random hand, Martha, Katy)
(Kelsie, Kelsey)
They shot off fireworks too.

Then I went upstairs and crawled into "bed" - a mostly deflated air mattress by now, and a sleeping bag full of grit and sand - and it was actually warm for the first night I've been here. Then I woke up cold, though, so whatever!

Yeah, there's sand and grit everywhere - under my fingernails, on every clothing article I have, etc. I'm saving one outfit to wear on the plane home, so I don't scare the people next to me with the way I look, but almost everything else has been worn except any white socks. They aren't warm enough, so I just re-wear my fuzzy socks and toe socks!

Dude. Today was amazing. VBS was a bit smaller but more focused. A couple things went wrong, like a girl trying to tell a knock knock joke which of course didn't translate, and our mikes messed up, and there were flies everywhere

but overall, it went pretty well. I got to take one or two pictures, too.

(Alexandra, Alex, Claire, Sonya)

Lunch was yummy. PB&J again - I don't think I'll ever get sick of it. And we had these Mexican brand sandwich cookies which I, in true punny form, named "Floreos".

We found some clown stuff somewhere in a VBS bin and everyone was wearing it - the emcee for VBS, the goofballs on our team like Joe, and our team leaders.
The afternoon, though, was what was amazing. First I went house to house with some others, becasue the house we're building was full capacity of workers. We talked to three people: Ana, who lost her job in the States and was deported back to Mexico and had her eight kids taken away by Social Services and she wanted prayer because they were in the courts right now and she might get them back.

Another lady, I think named Elena, who wasn't sure if she was good enough for heaven; we explained that it was a relationship with God, not works, that got you there.

Third was the worst and the best. We walked up to a house which was kind of having a party for the new year, and two guys were very drunk. There was a mom, a dad, a teenage daughter, and the two drunk guys. We asked if they wanted any prayer and we ended up praying for the grandma, who was worried about how her son was messing up his life - one of the two who was drunk and smoking and had done drugs. The whole time they were being rude and nasty and hitting on us girls (there were about four of us in the group) but we prayed anyway, and the dad, mom, and daughter all came to Christ.

Here's the crazy part - our translator Sam later told us that the two guys had shotguns and had started to pick them up when we walked onto their property, but the mom had stopped them because she recognized a member of our team from LAST year's trip. God protected us in an amazing way.

The rest of the day was mostly fun. I played goalie in a game of 4-on-4 soccer with some local kids
who beat us 10-7.
And then I helped putty a room!

I met one of the project directors or something like that. His name's Paul.

(Luis, Paul, Tike)
I saw another beautiful sunset...I could definitely get used to these.

And today was Meeka's birthday, so we had cake! It was strawberry chocolate thought, which is like the easiest way to ruin a perfectly yummy chocolate cake!
(I ate it anyway.)

Mexico Mission Trip, Day Four

2010-01-05T16:16:00.000-08:00

From my journal

December 31, 2009

Sheesh, I can't believe it's the last day of 2009! It feels so weird - I can remember just what I was doing a year ago today. I prayed for today to be a wonderful day, a good last memory of '09.

I decided to wear my beanie pretty much all the time. My hair's a wreck.

A girl from Canada, Jenn, asked me if there were cowboys where I lived. I said maybe in Lubbock or some town out in the panhandle, but not in Dallas (except the football team!) Then she asked, "Do you guys really shoot rattlesnakes?" I laughed at that and said I'd never even seen a rattlesnake, let alone shot one!

It's so gorgeous here. I think Tijuana may be a valley, or multiple valleys, 'cuz everywhere we look there's mountains.

Also everywhere there's stray dogs! We saw 2 cats, too, and a family of chickens!

VBS was totally awesome. They won't let us take pictures till the last day, 'cuz we don't want the parents to feel like their kids are just sort of being exploited, like the Americans want pictures to show their friends how poor the Mexicans are or anything like that. So we're waiting till they trust us more.

It was really ridiculously windy today, and sand was flying in all of our faces and eyes, but we worked through that. We played Mexican duck-duck-goose (pato pato ganso!) and freeze dancing and stuff, and gave all the kids candy! Then was lunch again, and then we moved to building the house, which was so amazing!

I actually used a hammer today!

I worked in the house, nailing drywall in,

(my first nail...which, yes, I pulled out and renailed - straight!)

and on the roof, nailing shingles in!

We shingled a whole roof in about four hours. I got to do the last shingle. 8-)

The view from up there was incredible, and the sunset on the way home was just...amazing.

I felt so awesome building stuff, like I was doing the exact same stuff Jesus did 2000 years ago.
Traffic, of course, is ridiculous here - no one follows signs!

Mexico Mission Trip, Day Three

2010-01-05T15:45:00.000-08:00

From my journal

December 30, 2009

I took a shower this morning. Possibly the most miserable thing I've ever done in my life. The water is colder than the air! Breakfast was okay. I had a wonderful muffin.

There's a girl here from Canada named Kimberly who ate a honey bun and had never had one before. She could hardly believe that Americans ate them for breakfast!

I've made a lot of friends really quickly!

(Left to right: Katy, Meghan, Katie)

Now it's quiet time, and I'm freezing and shivering but it's the most gorgeous view. There's fog and mountains rising out of the fog and it's so quiet.
We're on the bus on the way to our first vacation bible school. It's a bit of a drive, I guess. We're going over some of the songs in Spanish, like Jesus Loves Me and Jesus Loves the Little Children and that one that goes "I'm inright outright upright downright happy all the time!"
Everywhere you look, it all seems so hostile and stuff, but the people are so friendly. It's very weird.

My team leaders' names are Chris and Candice. Chris is really fun and goofy. He reminds me a little bit of Dad.
This morning, our partner team Scotland will be working on the house while we do VBS, and then we'll have lunch and switch.

Whew, what a day. We walked around the city inviting kids to come to our "sidewalk sunday school", which is not on a Sunday nor on a sidewalk. I remember more Spanish than I thought, apparently, 'cuz I held my own in a conversation many times! We sat in the dirt and played games and sang a song or two and learned that God is bigger than your fears. The kids are so cute and fun to play with! Then we had lunch, PJ&J, and went to work on the house. I painted primer on plywood,

carried tools and sheetrock and framing,

and played with some local kids to keep them from playing on the build site.

My hands are speckled with pink paint from the outside of the house, which is pretty much pepto-bismol colored!

Also we changed our team name to Sonny Side Up, which is a pun, because today while we were inviting people to VBS, then Chris tried to tell people "Come with us, we have games!" in Spanish, but instead informed them "Come with us, we have some eggs!"

Mexico Mission Trip, Day Two

2010-01-05T15:30:00.000-08:00

From my journal

December 29, 2009

It was so cold last night! Our room is just a big metal building with a concrete floor.

I slept in gloves, a hat, a T-shirt, a hoodie, PJ pants, and fuzzy socks, in a sleeping bag in a room with 180 other people
and I was still cold. I would guess 20 or 30 degrees. Today is "training day"; we will learn the structure of building, and the dramas, and the Vacation Bible School stuff. (I'm still wearing a hoodie, fuzzy gloves, and socks.)
Now we're having quiet time, which I think lasts for an hour. We had breakfast. Cereal, which was okay, and orange juice which was surprisingly yummy (I don't like orange juice!)
It's only a small bit warmer. Also the bathrooms are really nasty
and it smells like a farm here - we're on a ranch with cows and stuff - and birds keep flying in the open doors! The "clean water" is in sinks which are outside, where you have to brush your teeth and stuff and get drinking water from.

It warms up during the day, but not for long. Sunup is at 6:30ish, and sun down at 5ish. And it's cold again by four.

Today we played games, learned the bits for VBS, split into groups and I'm with Candice and Chris, learned a drama called Ragman

and I'm the "blind person", ate PB&J for lunch,

had an evening seminar on evangelism, and ate Mexican for dinner. There's a "snack bar" with junk food; I bought Pringles, a Twix bar, and Cracker Jacks for $3. Technically I'm not supposed to eat popcorn or caramel...oh well! I really miss my family more than I thought I would.

Oh, and my team's name is Reckless Abandon, which is cool.

I can't wait to go to sleep. I just hope it isn't so cold!

Mexico Mission Trip, Day One

2010-01-05T15:20:00.000-08:00

How am I going to fit all this stuff in my suitcases?
With a little time and organization...

***

From my journal

Monday, December 28

The first day, then. I'm sitting on the plane, waiting for it to take off. Luckily I'm not next to anyone weird. Last time I was sitting next to an elderly guy who couldn't buckle his seatbelt, thought he was a bongo player in a pop band, informed me about Egyptians levitating and knowing the secrets of life, and lectured me about monarch butterflies. Not even joking.

I've been sleeping for an hour and a halfish, according to the people next to me. I couldn't seem to get any sleep last night - I dunno if it was nerves, or just my annoyingly uncomfortable futon, but I kept waking up.

The sky out the window is possibly the prettiest airplane sky I've ever seen. Usually the clouds have some breaks in them. Not so today. It could literally be two dimensional, a piece of paper divided in half, colored blue above and frosty white below. I've always wished I could fall through a cloud.

OK, it's been a few hours. We landed in San Diego. I met Seth, Sarah, Kiki (a man not a kid), and a grownup woman whose name I never learned. Then I met Courtney, Abby, Martha, Lindsay, Lindsey, Alex, Josh, Tyler, Chris, Mike, Meghan, Joyce, Erica, Emily...the list goes on and on. There are 181 of us. After the airport we boarded buses
and drove to a registration place so people who hadn't signed release forms could,

and from there we drove to Mexico.

Boredom Reliever

2009-12-25T23:36:00.001-08:00

My friend Josh is bored. This post is for him.

Wow Josh, I just realized this is my second post dedicated to you on my blog...you should feel very special!

If you're reallllly bored, you could always go look at the first post again...I don't think it ever gets boring... :P

http://kelsiescrazyworld.blogspot.com/2009/03/neti-pot.html

But if not, here is my really late night temporary boredom reliever of sorts.

Scroll down.

See the shiny thingy?

Yes. It's shiny. Stare at the shinyness until shinyness gets boring.

Then...go back to being blah, I guess. :P

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T14:45:00.001-08:00

Snow in Texas!

Some cute kids in front of the tree

Merry Christmas from the Beers family! :D

Jumping on the Trampoline Skillz

2009-11-24T17:26:00.000-08:00

Today is my birthday!

*parties*

Today my best friend Sara (<3) came to sleep over! After several minutes of "Whadda you wanna do?" "I dunno. Whadda you wanna do?" "I dunno..." we decided to... (cue scary music) ...jump on the trampoline.

Yes. The trampoline. (more scary music)

Tomorrow is the 7 month anniversary of me breaking my foot. So, it's been 7 months since I got on a trampoline. But I braved it anyway. (more scary music plays)

It was scary. (climax of scary music)

We braved the cold of November in Texas - all you Northerners can come complain about how it's not cold in Texas, cold shmold, it's colder than this in July in your state, whatever, blah blah - but I was cold! :P

"Our feet froze," says a local resident of the horrific coldness. (That would be Sara.)

"I am proud of my sister," says Timothy, a local eyewitness to Kelsie's immense jumping skillz.

"Do you speak whale." says Christopher. (He said it like a statement, not a question.) "I am a whale?" (he said that one like a question.)

All three of the interviewees were rather hyper, and so was I.

Apparently "interviewee" is a word. Because no red squiggly line appeared. Wow. I feel special.

If you are being weirded out by the goofy style of this blog post: This is my NaNoWriMo style. It's invading my brain. (The verb "Invading" has been brought to you by Sara (R). Yes, Sara is a registered trademark now.)

Whee. (As suggested by Sara (R) who is as random as I am. Maybe that's what the R stands for. Ooooo...*is thoughtful*)

Sara saying "No paparazzi!"

...she plans to be on Broadway one day.

Chris looking immensely intelligent

Tim following in his big brother's footsteps

He looks like he's conducting a band.

The camera kept delaying before taking the pictures!

Zombie boy.
Breakdancer in training

Chris looks like he's doing the robot!

(he isn't.)

He called this the humpback whale or something like that. I think that's just special fancy talk that makes it sound cool that you can throw yourself at the floor.

I'm pretty sure there should be a sign that says "No diving".

Tim is in immense concentration over propelling his feet into the air.

He left his brother for dead.

-Sara

Um, that's a lovely angle, there.

He fell out of the frame before I could take the picture!

Me: Show us some of YOUR moves!

Sara: I have no moves!

Me: Please?

Sara: I can smile and do a funny thing with my pinky.

(No she didn't actually say that.)

Me: Please do SOMETHING!

Sara: I surrender!

(she didn't say that either.)

Nice torso.

Lemme see your dead bug! What's that you said? I said...

I like how both of their heads are conveniently and perfectly chopped off despite being on opposite sides of the picture. That takes talent, people!

Chris called this the "Dumb Cheerleader". Sara said "As opposed to what other kind?"

Suuuuuuperman!

(He actually called this the Superman. A gymnastics move named after the superhero. Without a doubt, this one's for you, Josh.)

Suuuuuuperman!! ...craaaaashing!!!

I'm more interested in what Tim is doing with his head in the background than Chris falling in the foreground. What is he, a moose?

"This is my intelligent face."

"Caaaaaaaaannonball!!!!!"

Me: PLEASE DO SOMETHING STINKIN' INTERESTING!!

Sara: hehe. camera!

(no, this conversation never took place.)

I'll fly away, oh glory, I'll fly away...

I'll catch you!!!

'Tis a rare sighting of the flying bent eagle with two legs sprouting from his chest! A rare deformity, indeed.

Tim: I love you!

Chris: uuuuuhhhhh....

(not this one either.)

Me: See above.

Sara: No.

(see above. :P)

Chris: I'm coming for you!!!!

Tim: I'm a ballerina!!

Me: Fine then I'm going to take pictures of you looking stupid.

Sara: I'll make that easy for ya.

(Sara says "thank you for putting the disclaimers that say this didn't actually happen!")

He's a real chick magnet.

Ready to leap!

...and post-leap.

***

And at last, the moment y'all have been waiting for.
(cue heroic music)

Yes. I stood on the trampoline.

...And, um, was immensely happy to do so.

A better view of me standing. See the "ta-da" pose of the arms. This is a victory stance, folks.

AND NOT ONLY DID I STAND...

...I JUMPED!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dad disclaimer: All of this happened before massive amounts of sugar were consumed through fondue. No whales were injured during the filming of this blog. Batteries not included.

National Novel Writing Month

2009-11-07T16:58:00.000-08:00

The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words - a full-length novel - in just 30 days. This is my first year to try it!

The synopsis of my novel:
Once upon a time, there were two girls. One was named Kris, and the other was named Kelsie. The two of them were very similar – both had chin-length blonde hair, both had dark chocolate eyes, both were sophomores in high school. Kris was sixteen, and Kelsie was fourteen, but she would be fifteen by the time this novel was over. Both lived in Frisco, Texas.

There was only one fundamental difference:

Kelsie was a writer, and Kris was a character.

Other than that, they were pretty much identical. And anyway, if you asked Kelsie, Kris wasn’t so much of a character as a friend. See, Kelsie had thought so hard and so long about Kris, and waited so impatiently for November to come so she could start writing, that Kris had seemed less and less like a character and more and more like a real person. In fact, Kris even helped Kelsie out sometimes when Kelsie got stuck.

And Kelsie was most definitely stuck.

Kris heard about this problem. Considering that she was in Kelsie’s head, she pretty much knew all of Kelsie’s issues. And Kris decided to do something to help. She very kindly volunteered to be a guinea pig of sorts – to help Kelsie find her genre, as it were. And since Kris was a writer as well (and an aspiring poet… except for the part where her poetry is almost as bad as the Vogons’ in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”), maybe she could give Kelsie some pointers. And, of course, completely obliterate the fourth wall along the way.

Homecoming '09

2009-10-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

Homecoming '09 I discovered how fun it is to go with a group of girls. :)

From left to right: Brooke, me, Sara. (I know Sara reads this blog. Hi Sara! ...and hi Brooke if you ever read this!)
We're so cute! ...well, they're cute. I look sort of like "hey! who put me in this dress? ...and what am I supposed to do with it?"
They were teaching me how to stand when wearing a dress - one foot out. ...I never claimed to be girly.
Girls just wanna have fu-un...
I don't do self-portraits well. ...and Brooke is just special.
Sara's thinking: OK, smile for the camera!

Brooke's thinking: OK, smile for the camera!

Kelsie's thinking: EAT THE CAMERA!! MWAHAHA!
I <3 this picture!
This reveals Sara's true nature: she's a zombie.

Look into my eyes...
All the sophomore girls - the ones who came to the photo shoot, at least :)
All the girls and the boys
All the boys (who were getting rather impatient with all the pictures)
The girls were more excited about the pictures than the boys were!
This would be cute if I wasn't staring at the camera with my lazer eyes.
Notice my hair, by the way, in a cute little sideways braid!
Then we went to dinner at Texas Land & Cattle...

(This is what I had to look at during the whole meal! ...I didn't eat much.)
Foiled in my attempt to capture a picture! Perhaps to avoid more insulting commentary on the boys. ;) (OK guys, I'll admit it, y'all were handsome!)
Matt, hiding from the world, and Tim fascinated with his flower
Andrew taking pictures, and Tim mesmerized by the shiny iPhone. ;)
The boys started throwing stuff at me (but maybe I brought that on myself!) so I put my jacket on backwards to keep the little straw wrappers and stuff from going down my shirt!
The entrance to our cafeteria-turned-ballroom...
Everybody dancing the night away!

(I asked Sara to comment on the evening. She said "Three words: Best. Night. Ever.")

Spiderman

2009-10-18T13:08:00.000-07:00

Whenever Mom and I are working in the 4-6 year olds class on Sunday, there are always kids who ask me to draw them things like superheroes, dinosaurs, and movie characters. I'm much better at drawing than my mom is, so I walk around helping them draw pictures of Hulk, Superman, Darth Vader, and Princess Leia. But today I was busy cutting out the pieces for our craft, so a little boy walked up to Mom and asked her "Could you help me draw Spiderman?"

Now, understand something about my mom: She can draw cats. She can draw dogs. She can draw happy little cartoon snakes, and stick people, and flowers. That's about it.

But nonetheless, she decided to try. So, with the little boy looking critically over her shoulder, she set out to draw Spiderman.

^She stopped at this point, because he finally said, "Oh Mrs. Kristi, it just gets worse and worse."

So I drew him a Spiderman. (And he decorated the area around Spiderman.)

100th Post

2009-10-12T15:39:00.000-07:00

This is the 100th post on this blog!

In honor of the occasion, I will list 100 things that have happened since the opening of this blog. I may or may not have already blogged about them.

1. It has been 468 days since this blog opened.

2. I got a boyfriend

3. I broke up with the boyfriend

4. I went to my first homecoming dance

5. I went to Disneyworld

6. Our football team went all the way to State, and then got 2nd

7. My marching band got 2nd in state as well

8. I marched on the field at Baylor Stadium

9. I started high school

10. I started sophomore year

11. I got a new best friend :)

12. I went to the Gathering

13. I discovered this really cool phenomena where you meet a group of people who you've never before met in person in your entire life and you already know them as well as any of your real life friends (and they were AWESOME!!)

14. I broke my ankle

15. I had two surgeries

16. Ted Dekker signed my cast

17. I had a scooter, crutches, and a wheelchair before I could walk

18. I walked!

19. I moved into a new house

20. I visited Alabama

21. I visited New Jersey

22. I visited Galveston, Texas

23. I visited Florida

24. I was a bridesmaid

25. I started writing a book

26. I discovered my talent for writing and opened another blog

27. I baked about a bajillion cakes

28. I discovered a love for photography and took a good deal of pictures ;)

29. I wrote a lot of songs

30. I decided what career I want to do when I grow up - occupational therapist! :)

31. I have followed a blog about the little girl who inspired me to be an OT since before this blog opened - www.urbanfunnyfarm.blogspot.com - but it was worth mentioning here anyway!

32. I realized that I actually do like to sing

33. One of my best friends came on a band trip to Dallas!

34. I drew cartoons

35. My drawing skills got better

36. I discovered an immense love for music

37. My room was painted blue

38. I decorated my closet

39. I contracted post-Gathering syndrome (PGS) ;)

40. I got texting on my phone

41. I sent about a bajillion texts

42. I got Skype on my computer
43. I learned the fun of video chatting :D

44. I got a laptop!

45. I spent quite awhile with a Mac and am now able to use both Mac and Windows

46. I learned cake decorating

47. I learned how to photo edit

48. I used my photo editing skills to ~~make fun of my friends~~ make my friends laugh

49. I fell in love with God

50. God rocked my world :)

51. I helped launch a youth group

52. I grew up a lot

53. I discovered an affinity for this smiley face :P Thanks a lot Theresa! :P

54. I turned 14

55. My best friend moved away

56. My best friend came back for a visit

57. I discovered how much fun Bible classes are

58. I discovered how much fun debating is

59. My room is taken over every week by a herd of 6th grade boys!

60. I turned my closet into my reading/writing private space

61. I went through 3 notebooks!

62. I posted all that notebookery on my Virtual Notebook
63. I had a growth spurt (finally!)

64. I'm gonna get a poem of mine published!

65. I saw Brad Stine live

66. I saw Tim Hawkins live

67. I saw Skillet in concert

68. I saw Disciple in concert

69. I saw Decyfer Down in concert

70. I saw RED in concert

71. I learned how to speak Spanish

72. I went to countless Wednesday night youth groups

73. I brought lots of people to those youth groups

74. I had a screw put in my foot

75. I learned how to hop everywhere I went

76. I hopped into every rest stop we took between here and Tennessee

77. I fell off my scooter a few times

78. I rode my scooter around the mall

79. I went to many many physical therapy sessions

80. I had the screw taken out of my foot

81. I kept the screw

82. I learned how to hobble

83. I learned how to walk

84. I learned how to run (well...still working on this one :P)

85. I still did marching band despite the ankle

86. I finished reading the New Testament

87. I finished reading Genesis

88. I started making dinner every night

89. I decided I want to adopt kids when I grow up :) (again, see http://www.urbanfunnyfarm.blogspot.com/ )

90. I got a Facebook

91. I got a 2nd facebook...for a bad guy :P

92. I pulled off the bad guy facebook for several months until my awesome reveal at the Gathering!

93. I discovered an awesome place in our neighborhood called the Shire

94. I watched a whole season of Survivor

95. I watched a whole season of Amazing Race

96. I managed to make it through Geometry only to realize that Geometry is so much better than Algebra II! :P

97. I read approximately twelve katrillion books

98. ^The best ones were Dekker books

99. I read a Dekker book that hasn't come out yet 8-)

100. I posted a thingy on my blog about 100 things I did ;)

101. I added one more in hopes of many more blog posts to come! :)

And there will be more blog posts to come...as long as Kelsie is sarcastic, witty, and can take pictures, there will be blog posts! (And we all know that that's another way of saying "forever." :D)

OK, Maybe I Did Teach Them

2009-10-12T15:26:00.000-07:00

When I'm trying to get a NORMAL picture of myself, and my lunatic brothers are being goofy...

...Mom and Dad always say that I'm the one who taught them everything they know...
...but that can't be true! Just look at my angelic little smile!
See, I'm not weird and I don't make goofy faces for the camera!
Umm...well, okay, so maybe sometimes...

Well, okay, so you can find the occasional goofy picture...

or "distracted" picture, I guess.
See? I'm smiling! ...Sort of.
That...could still be considered...a smile...maybe, if you squinted and looked at it upside down.
OK FINE! I concede!
Maybe they did learn it from me!

Fun on the Town

2009-09-05T15:39:00.001-07:00

So Mom and I went shopping for a bunch of stuff for me to wear to Brittani's wedding, for her to wear to Brittani's wedding, she wanted a new purse, etc.

First we went to Plato's Closet, a used-clothes store where I get a lot of my stuff. It's awesome! I don't have any pictures from there, but I did get some cute outfits! :) I'll post pics some other time.

When we were checking out I noticed that the cashier had a sign on her register that said "We accept everything but checks."

I told Mom she should pay in twelve glass beads, a woven blanket and a beaver skin. (She didn't think that was nearly as funny as I did. :D)

Then we went to Steak-N-Shake. I had an AWESOME mint cookies-n-cream milkshake! Mmmmm. (I recommend you go get one right now.)

We had a waiter come over and ask us if we needed anything. Mom said we were okay, thanks. He walked away. Then another one walked up and asked if we needed anything. Mom said no thanks, and then when the guy left she said "Yes, in the past ten seconds, ten needs have come up."

I laughed and said "I would like a million dollars in small unmarked bills, a helicopter waiting at the airport, and the letter Q stricken from the English language."

Next up was Sam Moon. Remember the pics from last time? More sarcastic commentary and funny pictures followed:

Purses at Sam Moon come in three sizes: Large, Texan, and Shamu.
If you lean into this purse to retrieve your Chapstick, be careful not to get lost on your way out.
Does my butt make this purse look fat?
We should buy Sam Moon purses and distribute them to homeless people to give them somewhere to live!
I think these are real diamonds.

For the gangsta hunter in you.
Is this a bracelet or a cupholder?
Oops. We seem to be breaking the rules. ...And does this mean I'm forced to wear a cap if I've got eyeshadow on?

Then we went to JC Penny's to get a dress for Mom.
She asked me what dress she should buy. I closed my eyes and pointed randomly. Apparently Mom will be wearing a homecoming dress to Brittani's wedding.

We also got my ring shined!

And finally we went home. Shopping is so much more fun with me there to make it crazy. 8-) (I'm not so good at the advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?)

♥

2009-08-17T16:01:00.000-07:00

GREEN

2009-08-03T10:16:00.001-07:00

Aidan (and other late-night photography)

2009-08-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

This is what I was doing at one in the morning last night...

This is Aidan. Aidan is my teddy bear. :)

Aidan doing a headstand

Why do I take pictures of my water bottles? *shrug* They look cool with just one color accented.
More animals!

With a few settings switches, I can turn an ordinary ceiling light into a supernova :)

Aidan with a "color-accent" (meaning only one color in the picture shows up, the rest is black and white) blue bandanna.

A series of pics that I call, "Aidan does a front roll" :)
Aidanette
This one's gotta be my favorite. It looks like something from a horror movie: "When Aidan Attacks."
I love how there's just the slightest hint of blue in the center heart.

Even a button can look cool if you play with the settings long enough!

How many different ways can you photograph a flower? :)

Mystery Pic

2009-08-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

Can you guess what this is a picture of?

This is the way we walk to the Shire...

2009-08-01T08:54:00.000-07:00

This is my new brace

Fits right inside my new tennis shoes!

Go down this road...

Turn onto this road...

Walk down this one...

I think you get the picture

Almost there!

I made it! Ta-da!

Walking back home

Pretty trees :)

I'm home! I did it!

One whole mile!

Cleaning Out the Car

2009-07-25T09:51:00.000-07:00

We're trying to buy a new car, and so Mom had the boys clean out all the stuff in the backseat and on the floor and stuff like that. There were some...unique things in there...

CD's and DVD's. Where can these hide in our car that we wouldn't see them?!?!

Mom holding a pile of coupons and receipts.

Some bookmark...how have we not noticed this stuff in the bottom of our car?!

A Toys 'R' Us receipt from 2006.

And these are only the ones I got pictures of...Mom was standing there sorting through the stuff on the counter saying "Hmm, a Victoria's Secret refund from 1995...a Great Clips coupon from 2003...a Qwik Stop receipt from '04... you think they would still accept these?"

Batter Blaster

2009-07-25T09:38:00.000-07:00

This is this really cool stuff that Mom found at Wal-Mart. It's like, pancake batter in a whipped cream squirt can!

Squirt it into the frying pan...

Voila! Perfect pancakes!

Or squirt it into a waffle maker for some easy waffles!

Babysitting Brothers

2009-07-22T14:21:00.000-07:00

Independence Day

2009-07-06T19:08:00.001-07:00

For our fourth of July we went out and sat on the roof and ate hamburgers, chips, watermelon, and ice cream sundaes while watching the local fireworks!!

All of us on the roof with our hamburgers and chips!

I took this picture of Mom from a laying down position...what I love about it is the accidental inclusion in the background. Look! It's Robo-Cat using her laser eyes!!

My brother looking gorgeous

See above

How's the weather up there?

Mom serving us watermelon

The cat looking at us from the windowsill. "What are those silly humans doing out there? Maybe they're chasing birds. Luckyyyy."

Me :)

All of us on the roof...me texting and looking cute...the boys watching for fireworks...Dad doing who-knows-what with the iPhone

Dad looked at this picture and, after getting done with laughing his head off, said "I should tell Theresa that this is what texting does to Kelsie's brain..."

Proof that Mom was on the roof!! And this is no small feat! (No Mom, I'm not calling you fat.)

A couple of cool fireworks shots that I got!

Haircut (Again!)

2009-06-29T08:14:00.000-07:00

Before:

After!

Work, Work, Work

2009-06-10T08:14:00.000-07:00

Wow! I'm way overdue for a blog post!

So, my mom made us this little chore sheet today. One of mine was "Clean up any dishes."

So I hopped on over to the sink and this is what I saw.

Gosh, Mom. Don't you think I already do enough around here? ;)

Kiss

2009-05-24T07:10:00.001-07:00

Sometimes dying with the truth is better than living with a lie.

All Shauna McAllister wanted was peace with her dysfunctional family. She got a lot more than she bargained for.

Waking up in the hospital, Shauna finds that 6 months of her memory have been wiped out. She’s spent the last six weeks in a coma after a car accident which left her brother devastatingly injured and her family shaken. Even worse, she’s accused of being on drugs and therefore causing the crash. And she can’t even remember the fateful night in order to defend herself.

She must slowly recover, piece by piece, the memory of the days leading up to the incident.

But how can she get the memory back?

I’m a complete Dekker fan, and I had high expectations for this book. Ted did not disappoint. I stayed up late into the night, unable to put the book down - I had to know what would happen to Shauna!

I had never heard of Erin Healy before I heard about this book, and silently I wondered if the Dekker suspense and thrill which I loved so much would be in any way diminished by adding another author to the mix. I was not disappointed at all. It wasn’t 50% Ted plus 50% Erin - it was 100% Ted plus 100% Erin to make something with all the twists and surprises which Dekker fans have come to expect, yet a softer, more feminine side which was clearly Erin’s influence.

All in all, I would give this book a five out of five stars. I have already re-read it twice and each time it still thrills me.

Keep up the good work, Erin and Ted!

Vid #1 - Under Anesthesia

2009-05-14T16:06:00.000-07:00

This is me right before surgery, all drugged up. ;) If you listen closely, you can hear me go "Whee!" just before the camera turns off.

Half Empty/Half Full

2009-05-10T19:21:00.001-07:00

If I told you what I did on Sunday, you might hear the events of the day kind of like this.

Today I had to get up an hour earlier than I would've liked. It was hard to get down the stairs, as usual, and then when I was in the kitchen trying to make breakfast I tripped over my crutch and crash-landed on the tile floor. We had to rush out the door to get to church on time, and no one was really very happy. There was a silent auction today to raise money for camp, but very few people bid on my items. I had to stand at the door and be a greeter, which is hard on crutches. Then after church I came home and had to do a bunch of homework. After I finally got done with all of it, it was time for lunch. After lunch I took a nap, but my mom woke me up after an hour. We went to the park, but of course I couldn't walk, so my mom just wheeled me around. Finally, we came home and ate dinner. I had a baked potato, but it was weird and the cheese didn't melt right so it tasted funny. Then I took a bath, which means hanging my foot out of the tub which is difficult, and went to lay in bed for an hour and a half before falling asleep.

This is what I choose to see it as, though. :)

Today I woke up early to go to church. I managed to get down the stairs again. When I was in the kitchen, I tripped on a crutch and fell, but I managed to take most of the impact with my right knee which saved my ankle from any injury. There was a silent auction to raise money for camp, and even though not many people bid, I still got a few bids - some of them to make cake! I came home and finished my homework for the weekend pretty fast. I got to eat Pei Wei for lunch, which was yummy. Then I took a nap, and slept for a full hour before my mom woke me up. We walked to the park, and my mom pushed me in my wheelchair. Then I managed to hop over to a swing and swing for awhile before we went home. I had a baked potato for dinner, and we watched the Amazing Race finale. I took a bath, and finally went upstairs and fell asleep.

Ankle Surgery

2009-05-01T11:19:00.001-07:00

Surgery is over! :) I did not freak out when I got an IV! I was proud of myself. As soon as I am able to get on my computer and not just my dad's laptop, I will upload the whole story to my blog.

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Although when I had to hobble down to the bathroom on crutches in a hospital gown, with my nurse Courtney holding my IV bag and holding the hospital gown shut (o.O) I felt like such an old lady!

At the very beginning in the waiting room, I was more nervous than I have ever been. Mostly because I don't get nervous at anything really. I played a couple rounds of Scramble on my mom's iPhone and talked to my mom and dad. It was funny, because my mom was taking pictures of me and uploading them to FB with her iPhone, and she said "Isn't it so weird, how everyone else in the world can see what's going on in our life in like 2 seconds?" And then she added, "And these pictures are really just a bunch of ones and zeroes!"
Then my dad, who is a software programmer, started explaining binary code. :D And I was kind of understanding him and paying close attention, and saying like "oh that makes sense" and "ohhh! That's cool!" And then when he got done, my mom was just looking at us weirdly and she said "Ta-da, Jerry! She is my gift to you - someone to talk to about this stuff who actually understands and actually cares about it!" :D

When I had to get the IV, that was the part I was fearing the most. I don't like needles. o.O So I was somewhat nervous and cried a little bit. I was trying not to cry but...
Anyway, so my dad said "Hey, let's talk about binary code some more!" and started explaining some stuff with HTML and a sixteen-base code (I forgot the word for it) and A B C D E F. :D And so then him and me were talking about HTML and colors and stuff and the nurse and my mom just stared at us like "uhhh..." It was funny. :D

The IV didn't even really hurt that much. The little baby numbing needle that they do first, that one pricked, but not too bad. Then the actual IV just felt weird, kind of like...I dunno, kind of like how anything that gets shoved into your vein feels weird. :P Then the saline solution stuff felt pretty darn cold. But it wasn't that bad.

Let's see, some other highlights of the day. When they gave me the anesthesia, I got all giggly. It was funny. And then when they wheeled me around the corner, I just kind of grinned and went "Wheee!!!!" :D

The only things I remember after that are really fuzzy. I was in a white room with lots of stuff on the ceiling and metal stuff. And there were lots of people with masks. And I was smiling at a lot of people but it was probably more of a drunk-looking kind of smile (lol.) They had to move me to a different bed so they were tugging on the sheets under me so I slid onto a different bed. And one of them put an oxygen mask on my face and then I fell asleep.

I woke up in the recovery room 1 - for those of you who haven't had surgery, people usually don't wake up till Recovery Room 2. There was a male nurse named Troy who was taking my oxygen tube out and stuff. When I woke up he was surprised. He told me that there was a funny hat contest that day - that's why he was wearing a straw hat with a pink flamingo on it! It was the strangest hat I'd ever seen! The flamingo had earrings, a pirate eye patch and a plastic kitten sitting on its head!
Then when I went to Recovery Room 2 - the one my parents were in - I told them that I had woken up and talked to Troy. They thought I might have been dreaming, especially when I told them Troy was wearing a pink flamingo hat!! :lol:

Also, Troy and I had a little conversation - when I asked him what his name was (I asked everybody what their name was), and he said Troy, I said "That's a cool name, I like that name." (At least that's what I tried to say. I probably stuttered something fuzzy out, but he understood.) He said "Really? I've always wanted a different name." Which I thought was funny. :)
Then he put a little oxygen tube thing in my nose - those ones that old ladies have? And he said take a couple deep breaths. And so I did, and then started coughing. So I tried again, and then I forgot how you're supposed to take a deep breath, and accidentally fell asleep again. ;)

When I woke up after like half a minute of being asleep, I noticed that my blue hairnet was gone. I mentioned it to Troy. He said "if you want it..." and gave it back to me. I was really groggy and so I hugged it and mumbled "Just like a teddy bear." He said "Oh, you want a teddy bear?" He left the room for a couple of minutes and when he came back, he had a little teddy bear with scrubs and a surgical mask. :D It's really cute! I got to keep it!

I said some pretty funny stuff when my head was all foggy. I looked at my mom and said "You're all fuzzy." Then I looked at my dad and said "You're even fuzzier!!" He said "That's how God designed me! Fuzzier than Mom!" I sort of snorted and then looked confused and said "That was funny, but I don't remember how to laugh."

I also asked all my nurses if they were Christians - Peggy, Shelly, and Troy. All of them said yes. Troy had a story about his, but I was too foggy to remember it.

I told my mom I liked her shirt. :) The same shirt she's worn a gazillion times. But it was just cute that day. :D lol.

Also, I had a blood pressure cuff and a little clip thing on my finger to monitor my heartbeat. After a couple of minutes, I realized that the beeping sound in the room was coming from my clip thingy and I randomly started waving around my finger so it looked like I was conducting a band except I was conducting the beepy noises. :D

Let's see, what else happened...I've been pretty much laying here for the rest of the day, foot propped up. Except when I had to go to the bathroom a couple times. Tim came over after school to keep me company. :) He's so sweet.

I have to have another surgery later to take the titanium screw out - when they cut my leg open, they realized the bone shard was big enough to screw back in place so they didn't have to take it out. Not taking it out is a good thing. Having another operation isn't. :( But I'm trying to come to grips with that.

I won't even be able to put weight on the foot for 2 months. I have a splint for a couple weeks, then a cast. I don't mind the not-walking as much as I mind the not-being-able-to-do-anything!! Like, I'm supposed to raise near 1000 dollars, 400 for camp this summer and 600 for a mission trip. I will be better in time to do the mission trip and camp, but I don't know how I'm going to raise the money - normally I would babysit, but no one wants a babysitter who can't even WALK! :P So prayers in this area would be appreciated, especially for the mission trip, because that's priority over camp.

Anyway, thank you all for everything, for praying and supporting me. It's funny how it takes an accident like this and surgery to realize how darn many people love you!! :D Not that I didn't feel loved before, but this is like...above and beyond. Y'all are awesome. Thank you for everything. :)

How to Make an Easter-Style S'More!

2009-04-21T18:40:00.001-07:00

Christian Youth Weekend '09

2009-04-13T15:27:00.000-07:00

Tim and I at Six Flags for Christian Youth Weekend 2009! :) it was awesome!!

Christopher's Pics

2009-04-04T10:06:00.000-07:00

Christopher recently discovered the "Digital Macro" setting on my camera. And had some fun.

This spider is really a miniscule speck, until you put the camera waaaay up close to it.

Flower!
I don't know what this thing is but it's cool looking.
The carpet. (?)

Chris and Tim's eyes. (again, ?)

And some leaves and plants. :-) He's a photographer in the making.

The Soap-Opera "Stalker" From Colorado

2009-04-04T09:39:00.000-07:00

Last night, with my mom, I got to go and meet a friend of mine for the first time. I've known Ethan for a little over a year now, and I've been writing a book with him for 10 months now! But, I've only known him online, I've never met him in real life. (I know him on Facebook and on www.elyonscircle.com, which is a forum for people who like the author Ted Dekker.)

So when his band - from Colorado - took a band trip to Dallas, I got to meet him! It was awesome!

The title of my blog post comes from the fact that my mom (for whatever reason) thinks that his name, Ethan Cain, sounds like a character on a soap opera. :-) So I tease him about that.

And the whole way driving to meet him, my mom kept teasing about "You're gonna just think you can drive anywhere and meet anybody online! I'm teaching you bad life lessons! What if he's like a stalker and he follows us home, then what! If that happens, no more internet for you!"

Two of Ethan's friends from Colorado: Kara and Michelle (I think I got those names right!)

Here's Ethan. Missing his hat...

...because I stole it! Mwahaha!

He got his hat and glasses back.
This is me mimicking the above picture.

And Ethan and me together. :-) Proof that we were both there, and actually met!! YAY!!

Neti Pot

2009-03-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

This has been uploaded for Josh's sake...I can't believe I'm putting this on my blog!

OK, so my mom got me this little teapot-looking thing called a Neti Pot for my allergies. Basically you fill it with water, and then put the saline solution in it, and then pour it up your nose in such a way that the water comes out the other nostril, which effectively cleans out all the nasal passages as it filters through your nose. It's really crazy, but it works!

Card Towers

2009-03-28T09:27:00.001-07:00

This is the other thing I did with Christopher last night - we built card towers! (Timmy was at a sleep-over, if any of y'all were wondering about that.)

007: Quantum of Solace

2009-03-27T20:31:00.000-07:00

Tonight I (who happen to suck at this game) went upstairs and played 007: Quantum of Solace with Christopher (who happens to be a master sniper). Needless to say, it was a unique experience and I owned him. The game ended with me: 1 kill and him: 7 kills. But I still won. Cause since I'm older, one of mine counts as like 20. Yeah. That's in the rules somewhere.

Anyway, this is some of the interesting conversation:

Kelsie: Look at me! I'm dancing! Yaaaaay!

Chris: *pow*

Kelsie: Aw come on! The screen turned red! I died! Crum!

Chris: My gosh, Kelsie...

Kelsie: Oooh look, a fire extinguisher! I can do cool things with those, Moreso taught me about that...Hey look, a cash register! *shoots the cash register* It didn't open! Why not?

Chris: *sneaks up behind me and snipes me*

Kelsie: Hey! Sniper, no sniping! Aww man...

Chris: Wow.

Kelsie: I'm in a truck. I think I will sit here and wait for you to come along and I'll snipe you.

Chris: Mmhm. *walks up to truck*

Kelsie: Oooh! *staring at the ceiling*

Chris: *standing directly in front of truck in my line of fire*

Kelsie: Whee.

Chris: *shoots me*

Kelsie: HEY!

Kelsie: Ooh look a door!

Chris: Wow. You really should not sign up for the military anytime soon. You'd be like dancing around in the middle of the field with your gun waving in the air. And then you'd be like "Ooh look a rock!" and staring at the rock. And then you'd walk up to a enemy and be like "Are you the bad guy or the good guy?" and he'd be like "Get out of my way or I'll shoot you!" and you'd be like "That's not very nice!"

Kelsie: Hey, I owned in paintball. I was good in paintball. You ask any of the guys I played with.

Chris: Define good.

Kelsie: I shot three guys and got shot three times.

Chris: Well if that was in real life if you got shot 3 times and shot someone else 3 times, you're both dead. You call that good?

Kelsie: No, cause I got shot once in the hair, once in the mouth, once in the neck.

Chris: So?

Kelsie: *dancing in the parking lot* Oom...pa. Loom...pa. Doom...pa. Dee... Do.

Chris: Oh my gosh Kelsie, you're waving your gun at the ceiling and dancing and I'm right here.

Kelsie: Whee!

Chris: *shoots me*

Kelsie: These barrels annoy me. *shoot trash cans*

Chris: Those are trash cans, genius!

Kelsie: Whatever!!

Chris: Hi, I'm right here.

Kelsie: *shoots Chris*

Chris: Good job. You finally shot me. Now I know I'm actually playing against a human being.

Kelsie: *starts shooting a previously-dead figure of myself on the floor* Look! When you shoot them, their shirt makes poofy noises!

Chris: *sneaks up and shoots me*

Kelsie: Grr. ...I'm gonna go blog about this. Come help me blog about this.

Declaration of a Designer

2009-03-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

Family Fun!

2009-03-27T16:29:00.000-07:00

My Aunt Vicky, Uncle David, and cousins Michael, Kyle, Christian, and Gabriel came to visit on the 21-22nd! It was totally awesome! But instead of just uploading all the pictures on here, visit this site:

http://picasaweb.google.com/KristineBeers/Mar222009?feat=email#5316737157245583090

and you can get my mom's spin on the whole thing!

Haircut

2009-03-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

Before...
And after!!

My Virtual Notebook

2009-03-09T13:01:00.000-07:00

I have opened a new blog...a blog for all my writing, for all the poems and stories and songs that I come up with. A blog where you can read it, you can maybe get some God out of the things I write, and not be interrupted by the pictures and the events which happen in my daily life. Not that there's anything wrong with fun. But there's a time for fun, and there's a time for being serious. Most of my writing is serious. Most of this blog is fun. I thought it might be time to separate the two.

So here you go. It's called "My Virtual Notebook", because it is. In real life, I have a medium-sized blue notebook that I carry with me to all my classes and take home at night. And I'm almost non-stop writing or drawing in it. So this is my virtual counterpart.

Hope you like it!

My Virtual Notebook

Main Event

2009-03-02T14:11:00.000-08:00

My Alabama Grandma came to visit for the weekend while Mom and Dad went on a cruise! It was awesomely fun!

Among other things, we all three went to "Main Event". It's a place kinda like Gatti Town, Incredible Pizza, or Strikz (If you don't know what any of these are, then we'll just call it a "Chuck-E-Cheese for big kids!")

This is the "Gravity Ropes Course", with all sorts of hanging ropes and rope bridges and such...you're strapped in to the tracks that go around the ceiling and you're free to dangle and climb to your heart's content! ($9 for fifteen minutes. That's the disappointing part of the deal.)

Little Timmy played Deal or No Deal and ended up with 56 tickets.

I am officially named a "Starter Quarterback" by the football game. (Tim Mask would laugh his head off. :) )

Basketball - I did better at this than I thought I would, I got 28 points!

Chris, shooting up a saloon. ;)

The pizza was served on a little springy thing!

One of those lottery wheel things that teaches children how to gamble. ;) I got 80 tickets from it, though!

I rock! Guitar Hero tells me so!

The boys got several toys with the tickets they got. Among them was one of those "Magic 8 Balls", where you ask it a question and shake it up and it "tells" you the answer. Timothy asked some question like "Does Christopher like Keely (a girl in his class)?" He shook the ball and it told him "The stars say no." He shook it again, and this time he asked "Are the stars liars?" :-)

Multitasking to a Whole New Level

2009-02-28T15:44:00.000-08:00

Question: While playing Rock Band, how do you sing and play the drums at the same time?

Answer:

Planet Wisdom

2009-02-22T15:50:00.000-08:00

Planet Wisdom was an AWESOME youth conference that I got to go to! :D

The pretty stage that I helped set up the day before
Mark Matlock, youth speaker
Tim and I :-)
A bunch of happy teens!
A bunch of spazzy teens!
Logan, lead singer of Dutton - the praise and worship band
Everyone worshipping
More of everyone worshipping! :-)

If You Can't Say Anything Nice...

2009-02-22T15:37:00.001-08:00

This is my completed science project! I didn't win anything, though.

It was all about talking to plants - the effects of saying nice stuff, vs saying mean stuff, vs just blowing on them (to see if it was just the CO2 that was having the extra growing effect.) But my control group did the best. Which was not exactly supposed to happen...

Story Time!

2009-02-14T13:19:00.001-08:00

I always tell people I'm a writer. 'Cause it's true, I am! I'm co-authoring a story with a friend of mine, and I love to write poems and short stories. But then I realized I've never shared one with my blog readers!

So, here is my latest short story. It doesn't have a title, and if you've read the Ted Dekker book Black, it may sound a bit familiar. Whether you have read Black or not, though, you can still enjoy it. :-)

So without further ado...

She dismounts from her bike, hands numb from being whipped in the wind, hair blown carelessly out behind her. Her eyes sting from blinking back salty tears. She walks into the woods, desperate for solace, for peace. There is no sound but that of birds lightly singing and wind blowing bitterly against houses and trees.

She is alone. No one else has dared to brave the chill of the grey skies. Alone physically as well as spiritually, for she knows all to well that her love has slipped away.

A sudden sob breaks from her lungs, and she is no longer delicately stepping among the decaying leaves. She is tearing through the black trees, abandoning dignity in search of relief.

Soon, she slows. Her chest heaves and aches with the strain of running and crying. The trees thin out, letting in cold sunlight, light which offers sight but no warmth.

The trees are choked out by thorny vines. They are stripped of leaves, the leaves which lay brown and dead under her feet.

She hears water trickling in the distance. Cold rainwater drips from a nearby branch. Tears drip from her eyes.

Stumbling blindly, she leaves the path. She staggers from the trail towards the sound of water. A song enters her mind, and she attempts to call out the notes. They echo back, dim, raspy.

Even music cannot satisfy the hopeless.

She hurls her frustration at the sky, shredding her throat in a raw, helpless, agonizing breath. Birds flitter away, startled.

She stumbles up a hill and loses her footing. Her hands crash into gravel. Her knees are shredded by the rocky slope.

Cold dampness seeps into her clothes and skin. Completely hopeless, she pulls her knees to her chest and sobs.

There is no one. She is alone. Her God has forsaken her.

A blue light flashes behind her eyes. They snap open.

Gone are the forbidding hill, the dying trees, the broken landscape.

Instead there is a white, a solid whiteness as far as she can see.

The air seems thick, moist, rich. Everything seems at once clear and pure and golden and true.

She is suspended in the air, as though submerged in water. Her tears dry and cease. It is silent.

Then a ripple flows through the air. A giggle, like that of a small child.

The sound is so pure, so real, that she cannot help laughing with it.

Another giggle. Radiant light fills her soul, her very being. Pleasure, raw pleasure is packed into every inch of her body.

A low moan escapes from her lips, a moan of utter joy. She shouts again, this time the note of her voice ringing with bliss.

A single note reverberates, ringing through the air with complete clarity. One note, yet it is the most stunning music she has ever heard. And the note translates to words.

Do you love me?

A tremble runs through her body. She nods her head in dumb silence.

The music sounds again.

I love you.

Burning light cascades through her, from head to toe, bathing her in emotion. She begins to shake, her body vibrating with sobs of passion. She screams it out. “I love you! I love you!”

The voice has become a child’s, accepting, innocent.

Why are you sad?

Blackness begins to creep into the air, violently choking out the gold and white. Red lines streak the sky, pulsing with every heartbeat. Evil, violent, angry tremors shake her like a rag doll.

Bitterness, pain, hate. She inhales and chokes on the thin air. Her breathing becomes raspy and she flails her hands to stop from falling, because suddenly she is; falling into the black, black depths of her own soul.

The pleasure has evaporated. The air licks at her skin like fire, and then that is what it is. She screams in pain, racking with sobs.

A cry pierces through the air, and the physical pain subsides. The cry escalates to a wail, an intense outpouring of emotion which clutches her skull and refuses to let go. The blackness becomes darker, fuller, and a red shaft of light pierces through the darkness.

She presses her hands to her ears and screams. The two cries intermingle.

The flames stop. The burning stops. But the cry continues.

She forces her eyes to open, and what she sees nearly kills her. The flames have not dissolved. Instead, they are eating away at her God, her love! He has taken her pain on himself!

Her cries stop, and are replaced by a groan. She falls to her knees, pleading with him. This is her fault, he is dying when she is the one who should be!

His body begins to convulse violently with the same raw, endless scream. She drops to the ground, crying. She is certain the pain will kill her.

The wailing stops. The horrific, terrible sound of crackling flames is gone.

She opens her eyes. The blackness is gone. The pulsing red depths of her soul have faded away.

In their place are the whiteness and shimmering horizon which are so wonderfully familiar. She cannot hold back a laugh. The beauty of mercy penetrates her heart.

I did this for you.

The words are spoken no louder than the chime of a bell, but they pound at her body.

“I’m sorry,” she cries passionately. “I’m so, so sorry.”

I forgive you.

The simple, unconditional love behind the words hits her. Tears slip from her eyes.

I’m with you. I made you. I love you.

She nods again, unable to speak. A dumb grin nudges the corners of her mouth. What words can suffice to express gratitude for the ultimate sacrifice?

Suddenly, it’s gone. She is back on the hill, tearstained, muddy, damp. But this is inconsequential compared to the love she has found.

She stands and brushes herself off. She looks at the sky and smiles.

“I love you, too.”

If you guys like it, or want to read more, let me know - I'll be happy to post more of my writings! :-)

Get This Party Started

2009-02-07T15:23:00.000-08:00

Timmy and his cake!

Everyone eating their chicken nuggets on strings. :-)

Timothy opening presents! (And getting a big hug from Big Tim after opening his!)

These were all parts of a team relay game that I set up before the party. There were two teams, and they had to split up and race to finish challenges, like playing a game of ping-pong or doing cool moves on the trampoline. My team won. :-)

We played for awhile at the Shire, ziplining and swinging and all sorts of stuff!

Then we came home and played a water balloon game, where you had to throw water balloons at the targets on the wall.

Everyone got a "Bug Juice" flavored snow-cone! Not even kidding, that's the flavor name on the bottle! I think that it's really some kind of berry flavor.

Last, we had an all-out, every-man-for-himself Nerf war! Everyone had a gun except me, who taped a large target to my chest and went around getting shot and being as goofy as possible. :-) That's what I'm good at.

Birthday Set-up

2009-02-07T14:49:00.000-08:00

Hmm, now out of these four pictures, which one do you think is the REAL Bakugade? (That's what we called the punch that Mom made - a combo of "Bakugan" and "Gatorade". And that stuff is GOOOOD!!!!)

This was the first game we played - "eat lunch from the strings hanging from the balcony." It turned out unique. :)
My mom's brilliant idea - "let's spear cheese and fruits on toothpicks and stick them into styrofoam balls!" No one knew why. ;)
Each of the kids got a little bag and a little cup. Each bag has a hand-drawn Bakugan on it. Courtesy of me (considering I'm the one with any artistic talent whatsoever. ;) )

Some close-ups of our fruity styrofoam buddies. ;)

So now you've seen the set-up, and you've seen my magnificent Bakugan cake. Now it's time to see the party!

Baku-Cake

2009-02-07T14:40:00.000-08:00

Bakugans are these little marble-like toys made out of plastic with a small magnet in them. When you touch them to anything magnetic, they sort of pop out of their little ball form and into a small animal or monster - they're kind of like mini-Transformers, that transform for you when you touch them to a magnet.

Anyway, my brothers are obsessed with them. So guess what kinda cake I got to make for Timmy's birthday party this year?

The top picture is the real Bakugan on a magnet card, the second picture is the cake replica that I made of it. Yes, I know. It looks like a warthog. :-) More birthday pictures to come...

Lazer Tag and Laminin

2009-01-29T13:32:00.000-08:00

Wednesday was youth group, and we had a party at Strikz! It's a really cool bowling place with bowling, lazer tag, arcade games, pizza, and billiards. Anyway, Pastor Chris' message was so good that I decided to share it with my blog readers.

He talked about garage sales, first off, and how it's funny the kinds of junk that you can find there. Then he talked about a woman who found a baseball card in her attic, and decided to sell it on eBay for $10. She got so much interest in the card that she took it off eBay, and took it down to a shop to see what the retail value was.
It turned out to be worth $60,000.
He told us about how things are worth what someone is willing to pay for them.

Then he went on a different note. There's a substance called "Laminin", it's a really cool substance. It's a protein in your body, and there are basically gazillions of little laminins in you. What laminin does, it's basically the glue that holds all your little cells together. Without laminin, your cells would fall apart, you would crumble to pieces.
And this is a picture of laminin.

Then he showed us Colossians 1:15-17 "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."

So really, the scientifical thing which is holding your body together, which keeps you from falling apart, which sustains life...is a cross. How cool is that?

Pastor Chris finished by going back to what he'd said earlier. "Something is worth what someone is willing to pay for it."
You are worth what Someone was willing to pay for you. And that Someone died for you. He thinks you're that valuable.
Don't you just love God! :)

Greater Things Have Yet To Come...

2009-01-11T16:53:00.000-08:00

Pastor Blaine preached a mini-sermon to us...

There were lots and lots of balloons everywhere!

Mom and Dad
The silver shovels!
The silver shovels in front of the bulldozer!
Dad working with a balloon...
Pastor Blaine and Mrs. Cathy breaking ground

Pastor Steven and Mrs. Julie breaking ground

The balloons released!
Pastor Steven and Julie's little girl Eva breaking ground
Mom and Dad breaking ground

Chris breaking his neck (just kidding)

Tim, Chris, and Chris' friend Caleb
My friend Tyler and I breaking ground

Chris is king of the bulldozer!

Photographer-style Pictures

2009-01-11T13:52:00.000-08:00

These are just a couple of the pictures that I took when I was messing around with my camera, trying to get unusual shots and perspectives.

(Late) Christmas

2009-01-11T13:13:00.000-08:00

Bobby the parrot!

Our incredible gingerbread house, which REFUSED to stay together, and fell apart 30 seconds after the picture was taken.

The very cute new cousin Katelyn...

Everybody! (Almost)

Uncle Glenn...sometimes known by the acronym Uncle Glenn Loves You, or UGLY... ;-) He made it up, don't worry. We aren't insulting him behind his back.

Some present-opening pictures...

Some of the beautiful scenery!

Anyway, this is pretty much the finale of our Christmas vacation...

I didn't get any pictures of Illinois (aside from some cool photographer-type pics of stormclouds, and one of a peanut), because I spent the entire second day being sick as a dog. :-(

Esquiar

2009-01-06T18:44:00.001-08:00

I tried to get a family picture up here, but for some reason Blogger doesn't wanna cooperate. I'll try to work it out later, and then get that posted for y'all.

Dad and Timmy riding up the ski lift.

I'm still getting the hang of using my poles, here.

It's a PopSicle! (get it?)

That's me up there in the ski lift. Look realllly close.

Cool-as-a-cucumber Chris.

"Lean on me..."

"Oooh! Looks like he's about to wipe out...but he recovers! Christopher has done it again!"

Chris, skiing like a pro with his poles...

Timmy, still getting the hang of the "balance" stuff!

And at the end of an exhilarating day (which Dad found pleasing, apparently), we were more than ready to head for bed. :-)

If you don't know the difficulty ratings of skiing, it goes like this - this is how the ski lodge signs put it: Yellow Circle - I don't know how to do anything. Green Circle - I can get on the lift by myself but need help going down the mountain. Blue Square - I can ski reasonably well. Black Diamond - the mountain is my playground.

Well, the first day we had a couple hours of lessons, then a few runs down the bunny hill (which is a Green/Yellow rating.) Then Dad decided to take Chris and me on a Blue hill, just to see what we could do. However, instead of pulling out a map and reading it, he directed us toward the hill which he THOUGHT he had memorized as a Blue hill.

Only after tumbling down that mountain and heading back to the lodge, did we discover that it was actually the largest Black Diamond in the park...

Oh, and for those of you wondering, the title of this post means "To Ski" in Spanish! :-)

We skiied for two days before heading on to our next destination...

For The Tough Times

2009-01-06T13:59:00.000-08:00

I just recently joined a program where I get free books mailed to me, and all I have to do is review them on my blog and on a retail website!

So here I go with my first review...

The book is called For The Tough Times by Max Lucado. Mr. Lucado completely lived up to all that I expected from him. I love the way he writes. It's very poetic, almost...the way that he manages to put thoughts into words is simply amazing.

For The Tough Times is a very encouraging short book which explains and answers some of the toughest questions that people come up with when they're in hard times. Why me? Why is God allowing this? Isn't God stronger than Satan? If He is, then why can any of this even go on?

Mr. Lucado manages to give very good answers to these questions and a lot more. Some of these questions had even come to me. I've asked them just as a lot of others have, and I never seemed to find a suitable answer until now.

Anyway, to sum it all up... this is a great book to read if anything hard is going on in your life. Problems at work, at school, at home...whether someone died, someone left you, or you just feel alone and depressed...Mr. Lucado will show you what the Bible says about what you're going through, and how to turn to God to heal you and give you a new hope in Him.

(To find this book, click here)

Secret Message

2009-01-02T13:14:00.001-08:00

See if you can find the secret message hidden in these M&M's!'

Now, with the aid of a cool option on my new digital camera, see if it's a bit easier...

(Thanks to Megan and Joshua, and Dad for coming up with this idea. :-) )

"Beautiful Ohio"

2009-01-02T12:59:00.000-08:00

And our epic Christmas vacation of a lifetime begins!

Some of the gazillions of migrating birds we saw on our way heading north...

Megan, Joshua, and Timmy playing a board game in Ohio...

Megan and Joshua pondering their next move...

Michael, Megan, Joshua, Timmy, Chris, and me...

...and THIS was the thermometer reading as we pulled out of their driveway!! AAAH!

Uhh...

2009-01-01T15:15:00.000-08:00

Does this confuse anyone else?!

"Professional" Photographs

2008-11-29T09:38:00.000-08:00

Well, the whole way there and the whole way back, my friends and I had a lot of fun messing with my camera - especially one feature called "Color Accent" where you pick one color and the rest of the picture is black-and-white, except that one color. Those are just some of the pictures I got. But I thought you might enjoy seeing all these fun little pictures made by "photographers in training."