Summer '09

Where do I start... I finished up school around the first week of June and spent the rest of that month doing a whole lot of swimming. =D Thanks to that, I now have stark tan lines that I need to get rid of before I have to wear my bridesmaid's dress at my brother, Michael's, wedding at the beginning of August. What fun... other happenings in June included the homeschool group's awards night (where all the parents get to brag about their kids), a youth group pool party (where I mastered a front flip on the trampoline, YAY!), a sleepover with my best friend (during which we saw the the breaking news on TV that Michael Jackson died; I will always remember that, hehe!), a very fun Father's day weekend where Michael came down for a visit and we went on a hike with some family, and some unsuccessful kite-flying attempts. We ended up breaking the kite... yeah.

The biggest event of June (in my mind, at least!) was my purchase of a new Canon EOS 50D Digital SLR camera w/ 28-135 mm lens. It has 15.1 megapixels and takes stunning photos. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it, despite the fact that I'm now pretty much bankrupt! It was totally worth it, though, and I know it will last me for a long time.

Now we're only halfway through July, but I think I've had enough fun to last me the whole summer! We had the BEST 4th of July party we've ever had. We had a bunch of friends over, and all the food everyone brought was amazing, including this awesome patriotic cake:

Besides the delicious snacks, there was lots of fun volleyball, fellowship, sparklers, watermelon, ice cream, and fireworks. I got to experiment with my new camera taking fireworks photos and this one was my best result, and I must say I think it's pretty spectacular. =D

Then, on July 6-10, my church held its VBS, which turned out to be a very interesting but nonetheless fun event. This year was the Rome: Paul and the Underground Church theme. The first night was really chaotic and stressful because our VBS director hadn't made up the schedule yet, so no one knew where they were supposed to go or what to do. So everything that night got a late start, but surprisingly there was sufficient time for everything to happen anyway. Tuesday and Wednesday went WAY smoother; we had a schedule and all the kids were organized into their proper classes. Each night I took pictures (with my giant of a new camera) and put them in a slideshow that I played at the closing time. I got a bunch of adorable shots of the little children! Unfortunately (not really, hehe, as you'll soon find out why), I had to miss Thursday and Friday night of VBS, but our church's secretary (who had been helping me take pictures all week anyway) took over making the slideshows for those nights. In the end, our church's "adventure in Rome" turned out to be a great week and I know all the kids loved it!

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Kingsfest

The reason I missed Thursday and Friday night of VBS was because my church youth group left at noon on Thursday for Kingsfest: three days (July 9-11) of amazing concerts by Christian bands held at the big ampitheater at Kings Dominion, an amusement park. So we camped at the KD campground for two nights, took in Thursday and Friday's concerts but headed home Saturday morning. It was an awesome trip!

There were three adult chaperones and eleven kids, nine girls and only two guys, lol. They were utterly outnumbered. Here is a pic of our campsite:

I slept in the blue tent on the left with my buddy, Nellie. I was so thankful I got her for a tentmate because we both aren't really ones to stay up late chatting. Despite that, I still got minimum amounts of sleep after the concert on Thursday night, mainly due to our noisy neighbors at the campsite that practically were up all hours of the night. Oh, and I forgot to mention this was my first time ever, and I mean EVER, camping, so it was quite the experience! Especially interesting (and aggravating) was the girls' restroom. There was a constant line for the showers in the morning and evening, and there were all these girls hogging the sinks in front of the mirror doing their makeup and hair and what-not.

So some of the girls in our group decided we were gonna get up at 7 am on Friday morning to try and beat the crowds to the showers. Well, Nellie and I, for some strange reason, were both already awake at 6, so we just decided not to wait for the others and go on to the showers by ourselves. And, wouldn't you believe it... there were already people in the showers! Thankfully, it was still early enough there wasn't a line, so Nellie got a shower right off and I went after her. Interesting thing was, we got to use the handicapped shower stall, so the showerhead was at wheelchair level... you had to crouch down to get under the water. A little uncomfortable, to be sure, but it wasn't terrible. It took us less than a half-hour to get in and out of there, and when we left there was a decent-size line accumulating. Nellie and I reported this to the the other girls in our group when they got up and some of them decided not to go but some opted to wait in line anyway... they were there quite a while!

We had a fantastic breakfast that morning: pancakes, sausage, bacon, and fruit. I ate a lot, which I was very thankful for later when I had to buy lunch in Kings Dominion (talk about EXPENSIVE). Right after breakfast and clean-up, we caught the shuttle bus from the campground and headed over to the park. We spent the day there riding all the rides (mainly the roller coasters, of course =D) until suppertime. I got a cool shot of the Eiffel Tower:

That day in the park I rode three rides I'd never ridden before:  1. Flight of Fear, which is a SUPER FUN roller coaster with a power launch at the beginning... I love boosts. =D  2. The Hurler, which is a rather painful wooden coaster, but still fun to ride every now and then. And 3. The Crypt. I never thought I would get on this thrill ride that flips you over and over, but everyone in my group was going on it and I decided to face my fear! In the end it turned out to be not that bad at all; I actually rode it twice. People think it upsets your stomach the most, but for me it was just a lot of pressure on my head from flipping so much. I have not yet ridden a ride that has made me feel sick to my stomach! YES! Even the DropZone doesn't faze me one bit!

We walked back to the campground for supper (a very TIRING walk) at around 4 pm, and were back in the park riding rides after that. Pretty soon everyone went over to the concerts to see Hawk Nelson perform, whom I am not particularly fond of... so I opted to go ride some more rides with my buddy, Megan. We had a great time running around together! After that, we headed over to join everybody at the concerts and spent the rest of the evening there.

The concerts were terrific, and I can't decide which band I liked seeing the most. I bought an awesome Kingsfest T-shirt with the names of all the bands on it. The ones I saw were Family Force 5 (they scream WAY too much), Jeremy Camp (his worship service was wonderful!), and Relient K. On Friday, I saw a little of Fireflight's concert, some of Skillet's (which was pretty awesome), and I saw the whole Switchfoot concert. I have to say, I wasn't expecting to enjoy Switchfoot that much, but they ended up playing most of their songs that I actually knew, so I was really thrilled! So I think Switchfoot was my favorite concert, but Jeremy Camp definitely comes in a VERY close second.

Here's a random picture of Skillet performing:

After the concerts Friday night, we walked (again...) back to the campground at about 11:30 pm. All the kids in our group stayed up late and watched Iron Man together and then we all headed to our tents. Due to extreme exhaustion from a long day and from lack of sleep the night before, I conked out immediately and slept all night. We had a light breakfast Saturday morning, then we packed up and headed home. My feet felt like they were about to fall off, they were so sore from soo much walking. Then I also discovered about ten-million bug bites I got on my feet (ONLY my feet... it was so weird!). Upon arriving home extremely tired that afternoon, I ate lunch, unpacked, checked my Facebook, and then promptly took a nap. I got to drag myself around church the next day telling everyone what an awesome time I had at Kingsfest... hehe.

No, I really did have a SUPER time, I can't think of enough words to describe it, and boy, I sure want to do it all again next year!!

Contacts!

It took two endless hours in the eye doctor office yesterday, but we finally got out of there and I now have contacts! I was so worried I would have trouble putting them in, but amazingly I got them in first try in each eye. I was so surprised! Taking them out was more difficult, and I still think that's the worst part. I know I'll get used to it here soon, though, so I'm not worried about it.

More importantly, though... my family is getting a pool for the summer! Now, it's just an above-ground one, but it will be WAY better than the other little air-ring Intex pools we've had before. This one is rectangular (12' by 24', I think), deeper than my little 6-year-old sister is tall, and even comes with a volleyball net, hehe! It's supposed to be delivered on Monday, but we can't put it up until we get our a section of ground big enough leveled out for it. So my brothers and I will probably spend a good portion of tomorrow (if it doesn't rain) hauling dirt, raking, and picking out rocks. A very dull, long, exhausting job, but the results will be well worth it, we all agree. I'm just gonna layer on the bug spray and sunscreen, keep about a gallon of drinking water nearby, and get it done.

Other than that, not much has been happening. I did have my standardized tests last week which I finished and feel pretty good about, except for the science and social studies sections; I hate those. My aunt had a birthday party over at her son's condo at UVA, which was TONS of fun. We got to meet my cousin Jake's girlfriend, Kristen, for the first time; she is so friendly and wonderful! Somehow we ended up bringing home the balloons and most of the leftovers (due to my aunt, lol). We're still trying to eat up all the chicken, macaroni & potato salad, and rolls... I'm not sure I will eat fried chicken ever again in my life!

The sky outside is looking a little stormy right now, as it has been pretty much all week. *sighs* It's going to rain again, I know it. Oh, well. I'm off to go put together a few pizzas for supper!

I love Friday nights.

 Easter Joy

Jesus came to earth,
To show us how to live,
How to put others first,
How to love and how to give.

Then He set about His work,
That God sent Him to do;
He took our punishment on Himself;
He made us clean and new.

He could have saved Himself,
Calling angels from above,
But He chose to pay our price for sin;
He paid it out of love.

Our Lord died on Good Friday,
But the cross did not destroy
His resurrection on Easter morn
That fills our hearts with joy.

Now we know our earthly death,
Like His, is just a rest.
We'll be forever with Him
In heaven, where life is best.

So we live our lives for Jesus,
Think of Him in all we do.
Thank you Savior; Thank you Lord.
Help us love like you!

By Joanna Fuchs

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