ski trip 07

first off-this year's ski trip was amazing! the slopes were definitely better that where we went last year but nothing can beat staying at lake j. this year i designed the shirts so im glad everyone liked them.
friday night we picked up matt bell, our summer intern, on the way up to higher grounds retreat center. it snowed all day saturday and it was so pretty. sunday was the better of the two days just because the sun was out. coming home monday, i slept pretty much the whole way.
yesterday i went to school late so i could sleep in and i know of some people who just stayed home the whole day. i know that i'm still not fully recovered from the lack of sleep.
i love how it feels outside right now. its supposed to be like this the rest of the week so i'm pretty excited.


-em

lets go skiing!

i'm leaving for perfect north slopes in indiana tomorrow and from what i've heard, they have been having some major snow up there. yesterday they had a level 3 snow storm and the slopes were closed until noon. i just hope all goes well this weekend and we all stay safe, especially on the bus ride up when we have to go across about a 2ft. wide bridge!

s-s-stressed

lately i've been feeling really stressed. warmth in winter had me worried. the chili cook-off had me worried. and now school has me worried.
warmth in winter wasnt as great as i thought it would be this year. maybe i've just been so many times that it's getting old. my committee for design team didnt really have everything we needed so sunday morning, we kinda went with the flow. thats how it seemed to me anyway.
[[random story: so at warmth, after dinner, i was walking out to go find somebody and i ran into my cousins! the thing is i havent seen them in like 5 or 6 years. i knew they what they looked like because im friends with them on myspace, their mom was there too. i've seen her at funerals and once recently my mom and i saw her and her husband at barnes and noble. so when i saw them as i was walking out i was like "hey, yall are my cousins or something, right?" ( i dont really know for sure how i'm related to them. they are so far extended). but yeah, it was random.]]
the chili cook-off was today and why we had it the wednesday right after warmth? i do not know. but we did and i guess it went well. i know we made a lot of money! i have to say i liked it more last year than this year. i wasnt sure if we had everything pulled together for it to run smoothly but it did and it was ok.
this week at school is coming-home week. the coming home rep. for the sophomore class decided he isnt going to go so now we have an even worse rep., in my opinion, going. my grades and school work have kinda been falling behind and we have progress reports going out next week. i just hope my grades arent too far down. (pray for no school tomorrow due to snow!!)
act's are coming up in a week and a half and my mom is making me study for them. i have no idea when im going to do that considering all the other things i have going on.
i know i probably shouldnt be worrying about all these things but i feel like if i dont do something, it wont get done. i really want everything to go the way it needs to and i know there are people there to take care of it, but i just want to make sure that's how it is. maybe after ski trip and easter and a few other things, i'll be a lot more stress-free. if i seem like im really not being myself, and im being really sarcastic (like more than usual), then i apologize in advance. it might be a while before i post again with all i have going on, so ttyl.

warmth in winter

warmth in winter is finally here. our committee still has some work to do. at least we're only sunday worship so we have all day tomorrow to pull everything together. an update on how it all went will be up sunday or monday. hope to see some of you there!

fire!!!!!

yesterday there was this fire in mt. juliet. it was this building behind the nashville star train-station. it was a fiber-glass warehouse. the firemen had a hard time putting out the fire because the mt juliet firedepartment didnt have any ladders. they had to call some of the fire fighters from lebanon to come and help out. those are the facts.

my story is... yesterday i was getting ready for school and my mom was watching the news. i was too busy to sit down and watch but the words "fire, mt. juliet, and wilson county" kept coming up. i finally went to ask what happened. then like 30 minutes later when i got to school, i could smell this stench like something was burning. i had forgot about the building but then i soon remembered. thats all anyone was talking about yesterday. i dont think anyone was killed but i do know that the building is definitely unusable so no one who worked there has their jobs.



keep my mom in your prayers. she's having some problems again but it isnt as bad this time. we havent had to go into the emergency room... yet.

what's been going on

so last week school started and i didnt have any friends in any of my classes. well i got changed out of physical science to go straight to chemistry. now sallie is in that class and cara is still in my first class so i guess having my two best friends in my classes makes up for no one else in the other two.

youth started back up sunday night and we're going back to the whole splitting up jr. high and sr. high. i must say thats the way to do it. we did it like that a while back when we had two youth ministers but then we had none so we were all together and now we have one with adult helpers. so i think it all works out.

we finally got around to taking down our christmas decorations. nobody wanted to do it so it was kind of something we just kept putting off longer and longer.
i cant believe it snowed today! i didnt even know it was supposed to so it was pretty exciting!

well i guess that pretty much sums up my week. hope everyone has a good rest of the week!!

peace

first day

cara = first block
nobody = second block
freshman = third block
all girls = fourth block



this semester = bad

nuf said.

happy new year!

happy double oh seven everyone!!

hope last year was great for ya.

all in a week

hey all! last week our computer's motherbord got all screwed up because i had so many pictures and music files and was running them and the internet and blah blah blah... so bottom line, i screwed up the computer and we had to go get it fixed the day after christmas. we got it back yesterday and today i spent hours getting everything loaded back on and re-arranging files and what not. but now its better and working faster so all is good... and then i found five dollars.

warmth in winter is coming up so thats pretty exciting. our design team committee is having a hard time finding a time to meet concidering the time we had was the same time and day as the big meeting.

hope everyone had a good christmas. stay safe celebrating that last day of 2006 tomorrow.

peace

xmas eve

merry christmas eve!!

-em

we are methodists

kinda long, but funny and true!

Garrison Keillor on Methodists

(Adapted from an essay by Garrison Keillor)

We make fun of Methodists for their blandness, their excessive calm,their fear of giving offense, their lack of speed and also for theirsecret fondness for macaroni and cheese. But nobody sings like them.

If you were to ask an audience in New York City , a relativelyMethodistless place, to sing along on the chorus of "Michael Row theBoat Ashore," they will look daggers at you as if you had asked them tostrip to their underwear. But if you do this among Methodists, they'd smile and row that boat ashore and up on the beach! And down the road!

Many Methodists are bred from childhood to sing in four-part harmony,a talent that comes from sitting on the lap of someone singing alto ortenor or bass and hearing the harmonic intervals by putting your littlehead against that person's rib cage. It's natural for Methodists tosing in harmony. We are too modest to be soloists, too worldly to singin unison. When you're singing in the key of C and you slide into theA7th and D7th chords, all two hundred of you, it's an emotionally fulfilling moment. By our joining in harmony, we somehow promise that we will not forsake each other.

I do believe this: People, these Methodists, who love to sing infour-part harmony are the sort of people you could call up when you'rein deep distress. If you are dying, they will comfort you. If you are lonely,they'll talk to you. And if you are hungry, they'll give you tuna salad!

Methodists believe in prayer, but would practically die if asked to pray out loud.

Methodists like to sing, except when confronted with a new hymn or a hymn with more than four stanzas.

Methodists believe their pastors will visit them in the hospital,even if they don't notify them that they are there.

Methodists usually follow the official liturgy and will feel it is their way of suffering for their sins.

Methodists believe in miracles and even expect miracles, especially during their stewardship visitation programs or when passing the plate.

Methodists think that the Bible forbids them from crossing the aisle while passing the peace.

Methodists drink coffee as if it were the Third Sacrament.

Methodists feel guilty for not staying to clean up after their own wedding reception in the Fellowship Hall.

Methodists are willing to pay up to one dollar for a meal at church.

Methodists still serve Jell-O in the proper liturgical color of the season and think that peas in a tuna noodle casserole adds too much color.

Methodists believe that it is OK to poke fun at themselves and never take themselves too seriously.

And finally, you know you are a Methodist when: It's 100 degrees,with 90% humidity, and you still have coffee after the service. You hear something really funny during the sermon and smile as loudly as you can. Donuts are a line item in the church budget, just like coffee.
When you watch a Star Wars movie and they say, "May the Force be with you," and you respond, "and also with you."
And lastly, it takes ten minutes to say good-bye!

random quote

"life moves pretty fast. if you dont stop to look around for a while, you could miss it"

-ferris bueller's day off

coffee house

last night, hendersonville first umc had a coffee house to benefit the homeless. to get in you brought either a clothing or cash donation. the music was great and even quinton parker preformed! he did a great job. jonas, jonathon's 5 yr. old, was crushing on johnathan jones' little sister, that was as entertaining as the music! i thought the whole thing was pulled together great.
now hermitage is doing one and i think we might make ours a benefit for darfur. we'll probably do it in march. if you dont know about darfur and the genocide, then i go to darfur.com to get more information about it.
i've heard rumors about this "outdoor laser-tag" and i think i might be going to one next week. jonathon was tellin me that in like a week and a half, we might be going to one. guess we'll find out..

some snow

yes! it finally snowed. i consider it snow anyways. i think that if you live in middle tennessee, then whatever went on friday morning was snow. im just surprised that it actually did anything with how warm it had been.
so today is jonathon norman's one year anniversary with being at hermitage. (<--random)
and also, one of my friends went to the preds game yesterday and when they got back to their car, it had been broken into! her mom's laptop and xm radio had been stolen. they had to call the police and file a report so just keep them in your prayers.
also finals are coming up so i dont know how much blogging time i'll have. so this might be all for a while! ttyl

em

birds are amazing

this has nothing to do with anything, but i think its really funny

today, i was in my kitchen. and i there is a window above our sink. well, as i turned around to wash my hands, a blue bird came flying at the window and hit it! it was loud, too! then it just flew away. when it hit i screamed (and i never scream at anything) my mom was behind me and asked me if screamed because i saw my reflection. if you dont think this is funny, i guess you just had to be there. but it was really funny to me. so yeah


-peace

happy thanksgiving!

happy thanksgiving everyone! i love getting ready for this day... makin soo much food! i love to cook and this year we have a lot more people coming over than usuall so that means more food. almost everyone we have comin over is bringing someone and that person bringin someone else. this year my grandpa is also coming. lets just say my family doesnt really get along with him. i dont have a problem with him but my aunts and some of my cousins do. but we'll get through it. this "black friday" i'm planning on going shopping. yay for everything on sale!

happy thanksgiving!!

bonfire!

ahhhhh! the bonfire was sooooooo much fun! we had a bunch of people show up and even with the little bit of sprinkling it was amazing! we were talkin this morning after sunday school and we were like, hey we should invite gavin and hendersonville to come. then we were all like ohh yeah! then jonathon was like, thats too short of a notice but that could be fun some other time...... and then i found 5 dollars. so anyways, tonight we got through all the hoopla and actually sang some songs (which was great because we never sing at youth), everybody had a great time and i cant wait to do it again!!

-peace

2 days of school left!

bleh..

i was sick all last week and still pushed going to school. that was a bad idea... today i just chillaxed and didnt really do anything. tomorrow we will be having youth at my house! can you say bonfire? i've been looking forward to this for so long so its pretty exciting. its supposed to rain so im praying that it doesn't. we've already pushed it a few weekends. any longer and we'll be watching for snow.
i decided i have a new favorite band - the fray. they are amazing! all their songs are good.
for our ski trip we're having a t-shirt design contest. this could be interesting. i figure if you want a shirt you'll like, design it yourself. so thats what i did.
only two days of school this week! yessss. happy thanksgiving!


-peace

fall retreat!!

the jr.'sr. high retreat was amazing! we didnt have as many people this year but i think it almost worked out for the best. we all split up into workshops and each workshop planned something for the evening or morning worship. mine was the video workshop. we made a video. go figure. the only bad thing was i was sick all day yesterday and today. i also had a charliehorse the whole weekend. over all, this weekend was fun. i got some good pictures from worship, too.

up next - warmth in winter!! = )

-peace.

nothing to do

this past week has been so laid back for me. 3 things i had going on all got cancelled and now im packing for the jr./sr. high retreat at paris landing state park. thats the most exciting thing thats happened in a while. im on design team so thats pretty good.

since the bears made it to the play-offs, we get a full spirit day tomorrow!! if you dont have a strict dress code at your school then you dont know how exciting it is to have a full dress down day. those rock the school. ttyl

peace. = )