Pictures - Part I

Natan has the right idea.

Random church in Budapest I thought was pretty. Taken while riding in a van.

"Happy Gum"......just had to get a picture of that.

Waterfall inside the mall.

Ditto

Ditto again.

Train Station in Budapest.

Ukraine Trip 2007 - Part I

A lot of people have asked me about my trip and there is just so much that it is hard to say it all in one conversation or to even know where to begin. So, I'm going to try to post something about everyday of the trip over the next week or so. We left Thursday, February 22 and returned Saturday, March 3.

Day 1: Making it to Logan Airport was the easy part. Leaving...well, that was a bit harder. We made it through security all right, but we found out that they had some room on a 3:00 flight so they were going to move some of us to that one an hour earlier. However, our regular 4:00 flight got delayed to five and that would have made us miss our flight to Budapest. So, suddenly they were faced with trying to get all of us onto that three o'clock flight. Then we find out that the three o' clock flight is delayed until four. At first they only managed to get all of the boys on the flight. Then they added me, then Catey, and then Mrs. Urban. That was all they had on there when it was time to board. We were all sitting in the plane waiting and waiting when slowly one by one the rest of the girls got on. Finally, Mr. and Mrs. Whissel were at the front of the plane waiting to see if they could get on because it might be too heavy. Everyone made it on except Slavic and Natan. We spent less than ten minutes in the JFK airport so I never actually caught a glimpse of New York City. Oh well, that'll have to wait for another day. Needless to say we were relieved to see Slavic and Natan make the connecting flight to Budapest. It took a while just to get off the ground. We had to wait in line for the runway! One lady on the plane got sick and had to leave so we were forced to wait while they unloaded the luggage to find hers. On international flights it is the law that if you get off your luggage must go with you. Other than uncomfortable chairs and a sketchy tv show, the flight was pretty unevetful. Unfortunately there wasn't much sleep to be had, for the girls anyway. From what I saw the boys had the shut-eye factor pretty under control.

Day 2: Our first sight on waking up was us flying into the sunrise...not a bad way to start the day. We arrived in Budapest around 10:30 in the morning to discover that several people had missing luggage. Catey, Jen, Tiana, and Mr. Kempe were all missing at least their clothes if not their donation suitcase as well. There wasn't much we could do, so when Pastor Paul met up with us we headed out to find Peter. Right next to the train station is supposedly the largest mall in Europe (never expected that to be in Hungary). You had to go underground to enter it and outside the glass doors didn't feel so safe. Inside was incredible. There was a waterfall three stories high with hanging plants and a pool at the bottom right as you enter. We ate lunch there. Not being able to speak a word of Hungarian, Katharine and I went for nice safe Burger King. To order you just point and hand over your money. Just as a side note - Hungarian is about the second hardest language to learn in the world and is related to no other language except perhaps distantly to Finnish. Makes me want to learn it. :) After two hours of wandering around we had only seen about 1/3 of this mall. It was huuuuuge. Funny thing is most of the stores in it were really, really small. The train stations was attatched to the mall so we didn't have far to go. We discovered that in Hungary you have to pay to use the bathrooms and grab your toilet paper BEFORE you go in. Just what you wanted to know, right? We established a guard over our pile of luggage. Alan Cook and Marlow had joined us by now. We had Sam Crook, fresh out of boot camp, and Slavic on each end. Other than one blunt "who are you people?" we were pretty much left alone. Hungary is the most likely place to have things stolen so we have to watch at all times. Everyone had made it onto the train safely and were all settled in when we found out that they had double booked every seat in our car. There were random Ukrainian men coming up to us and letting us know that we were in their seats. Then we found out that the car we were in would be dropped at the border so we had to switch all of our luggage and ourselves while the train was in motion. That was an experience. I actually got about three hours sleep on the train in the oddest position. Getting through the security at the CSOP train station was nearly so nerve racking this time. In fact I wasn't nervous at all. It was more like routine. On the bus ride to Nehemiah House we saw a rather interesting sight. There was a truck on the side of the road and farther up a cow lay on it's side. Not something you see every day. Around 10:30 Friday night we arrived at our destination. There was warm dinner waiting for us and comfortable room. However, we five girls discovered something interesting about the water. It turns off every night between 11 and 1 because of the filter system. Makes brushing your teeth a little difficult. This year our room was on the third floor so it was a hall to get up there. All five of the girls shared one suite of rooms and the boys along with Mr. Kempe were right next to us. Also on our floor were the Whissels and Alan Ross.

New Political Blog

I have started a new "political" blog in light of the recent developments in a certain Canadian town. If you would like to check it out you can go to my profile or www.mypersonalpolitics.blogspot.com.

Egg Drop Contest

Today in physics class we had an egg drop contest. Our goal was to create an 3"x 3"x 3" container that could be dropped from various heights while holding an egg and not have the egg break. We were allowed to use any material that wasn't thicker than the cardboard of a cereal box for the outside and anything we could think of for the filler. Many thanks to the guys for their creative and sometimes crazy ideas.

Idea #1

Testing

Strike two!

Building from the bottom up.

The nest.

Almost there.

Closing the hatch.

Tada!!! Finally!! The finished product!


The Competition


Tom's....uh....thing?

Mrs. Harvell's 30 minute creation (even the teacher was getting in on it)

Kevin's foam cushion

Jarin's rocket

And finally there is Kyle's. Look familiar? Must run in the family.

Slight modification to Tom's. His design was a bit...last minute.


Jarin adds a little extra padding.

Will it survive a fall off the balcony?


The Winner.....congratulations Kyle!

The secret is revealed.

Cottonballs and Playdough?

Sad to say, mine was the first to go. It had a test run from the ceiling and so when we did several smaller falls in the competition it was not made for it and bounced too much. The block of foam worked suprisingly well. The rocket was doing ok until Mrs. Harvell's box landed on it. Then they were both done. We aren't exactly sure when Tom's broke. If it wasn't broken before he pulled off the tape then the accidental stab with a knife did it in. Amazingly enough one of Kyle's wacked ideas actually worked. We'll never hear the end of it.....

All the Above
Mercyme


Stuck in a day
Like a runner with no race
Are you afraind
Your joy has been misplaced
It's been a while
Since I've seen you smile
How easy you forget
So roll back the time
And there you will find
What never left

The day heaven found you
The day the angels sang
Praises to the father
Who called you by name
The moment you surrendered
The moment you were saved
Life as you knew it forever was changed
And all the above rejoiced

Remember the day
When God forgot your sin
Remember the way
That joy came tumbling in
There will be times
When you cannot find
A reason to stand and sing
But let this remind
You time after time
You're a child of the king

See them dancing
See them singing
All of heaven is rejoicing over you

Quotes

I'm a big fan of quotes and here are a few of the recent ones I found -

How strange that we cannot love time. It spoils our loveliest moments. Nothing quite comes up to expectations because of it. We alone: animals, so far as we can see, are unaware of time, untroubled. Time is their natural environment. Why do we sense that it is not ours? C. S. Lewis…asked how it was that I, as a product of a materialistic universe, was not at home there. “Do fish complain of the sea for being wet? Or if they did, would that fact itself not strongly suggest that they had not always been, or would not always be, purely aquatic creatures?” Then, if we complain of time and take such joy in the seemingly timeless moment, what does that suggest? It suggests that we have not always been or will not always be purely temporal creatures. It suggest that we were created for eternity. Not only are we harried by time, we seem unable, despite a thousand generations, even to get used to it. We are always amazed at it - how fast it goes, how slowly it goes, how much of it is gone. Where, we cry, has the time gone? We aren’t adapted to it, not at home in it. If that is so, it may appear as a proof, or at least a powerful suggestion, that eternity exists and is our home. ~ Sheldon Vanauken in A Severe Mercy

“Women see things in a man that men aren’t able to see themselves. They know what to look for. It’s more than just facial characteristics themselves. It’s the way a man carries himself, how he behaves, the way he treats people, the way he speaks, whether his eyes have a fire of purpose in them or are vacant, how he walks–and especially how he treats women. Everything mingles together. A woman responds to the whole man, not merely his face. When I say that you are handsome, it’s everything about the man you are. And now, with all that’s happened to you since, all you’ve become, how can I not think it all the more?” ~Sabina in A Rose Remembered by Michael Phillips

Real friends are those who, when you’ve made a fool of yourself, don’t feel you’ve done a permanent job. ~ God’s Little Instuction Book, based on 1 Corinthians 13:7-8

You don't know a woman until you have had a letter from her. - Ada Leverson

New Blog

If anyone is interested in reading some of my writing then you can check out my new blog - Come Write This Way.

The Meaning of a Rose

I found a chart that gives the meanings of the different colored roses. Those of you who like flowers might find this interesting. All roses symbolize love, but their colors have special meanings.

Red - love, passion, respect, courage
Yellow - joy, friendship, freedom
Pink - happiness, gratitude, appreciation, admiration
Cream - thoughtfulness, charm, graciousness
Orange - admiration, fascination, enthusiasim, desire
White - innocence, purity, secrecy, reverence

Happy New Year!

New Year's faired about as well as Christmas. What IS the matter with me? Never mind....I probably don't want to hear the answer to that.

Anyway, as the new year rolled in I was curled up with Lee, drinking sparkling cider on the Fenton's couch. We had a Star Wars (episodes 4,5,6) marathon until the early morning hours. As you get older the magic of staying up until midnight loses it's sparkle. My, I am getting cynical, aren't I? :)

As for the traditional resolutions, I think I'll keep it simple this year. I'm just doing one. Don't think I'll post it on my blog for the whole world to see, but if you really want to know you can ask me in person. I will let you know how it's going from time to time though. So, what about everyone else? Any New Year's resolutions you would care to share?

Christmas

I'm sorry to say that Christmas this year just did not feel quite like Christmas for any number of reason. The major one being NO SNOW!!! But it was still a nice day.

Scott gave me the craziest present I've ever received. He got me a certificate for a one hour lesson and two minutes of flying time at the indoor skydiving building in Nashua. Insane isn't it? If you are afraid of missing your opportunity to laugh at me, don't worry, it will all be captured on dvd.

Here are a few of my "favorites" around Christmas time......

Favorite Movies:

White Christmas, Holiday Inn, Christmas in Connecticut, The Bishop's Wife,
The Gift of Love, A Muppet Christmas Carol, Mrs. Santa Claus

Favorite Cds:

It's The Thought by Twila Paris, A Christmas Story by Point of Grace,
These Are Special Times by Celine Dion, A Christmas Celebration by Celtic Woman,
Good News by Kathy Matthea

Did you know?

I'm pretty. Yep. And not just because someone left some random comment on my blog. If you don't know me then how much weight can that really hold. But, the truth is that I am tired of putting myself down and having other people agree with me. It's really just holding out hope that someone will deny what I fear is the truth. Whether we will admit it or not, the truth is that it is important for us girls to feel pretty. More important than most guys know. Thinking we are not leads to extreme things like suicide thoughts, anorexia, and just plain hating yourself. But even if it doesn't take you that far most of the time it just results in a wounded heart and a painful cry. But, you see, I'm not just pretty, I'm beautiful. You know how I know? My brother, who sees the good, the bad, and well....the ugly, told me so. If he sees all of me, my personality and what I look like getting out of bed in the morning, and still thinks I'm drop dead gorgeous, then he must be right. He said never to think differently and I think it's time I started listening to him. And you know what else? I look like a supermodel. This is someone else's idea not my own. And they aren't even related to me. So, any of you who don't think I quite measure up to your standards, your just....wrong. Don't believe me? Take another look, you might've just missed something. I did.

And just for the record, I know some of the most beautiful people walking the planet. Even if I don't always have the courage to say it, I truly believe that.

Interview with a Christmas Tree

Here is a weird assignment that I had to do for Drama class. It's an interview with a Christmas tree. We were supposed to have partners but mine is a freshman and not over inclined to...well, work. So, here is twenty minutes of hurried brainstorming....

Christmas Tree Interview:

Katherine as Sally with Save the Trees, Save the World

Q: What does it feel like to be 57 and just now starting your life's work?

A: I have to admit that is pretty old, even for a tree, and it was extremely frustrating to wait so long. But, of course, now that it is here I don't even think about all that. Being someone's Christmas tree is all I've ever dreamed of.

Q: How does it feel to watch your friends and neighbors being chopped down?

A: It's maddening! What makes them better than me? I mean, just because I have a few holes from the woodpeckers....

Q: Can you tell us what it's like to see someone with an ax walking toward you?

Most people have the wrong idea. They think it's terrifying to see that ax coming your way, but it's more of a relief. It means you've finally been picked!

Q: How did living in your particular forest affect your life?

Well, we're kind of out in the middle of no where so that makes it harder for a family to find you. Only the die hard Christmas celebrators come out to the real forests to get a tree instead of just going to the tree farms.

Q: How do you feel about ornaments?

That's the only part I'm slightly nervous about. There are so many shapes, sizes, and colors and it all depends on the family's taste. Some of those children's ornaments I wouldn't be caught dead in. I'm really worried they won't match my coloring. Oh, for my family out there - I'm partial to blues.

Q: What plans do you have for your future, after the Christmas season is over?

There aren't too many options for Christmas trees after the season is over. Most of us are simply thrown out or cut up for fire wood. A few of the more lucky ones are used for carving or made into something useful. Me, I hope to be planted outside in the yard. It' not a common fate for us trees, but it does happen occassionally.

Q: What is your favorite season and why?

Winter, of course! There isn't much to do the rest of year round. Plus, there's always the hope that this will be my lucky year!

Q: How do you get along with deciduous trees?

If you ask me, I think they're rather jealous of us. I mean, can you imagine being stuck in the woods for your entire life. The only thing they have to look forward to is maybe getting struck my lightening. Not to mention, they lose all of their leaves every autumn! It's positively embarrassing to watch!

Q: How do you feel about Global Warming?

Global warming....what's that?

Big News!!

Yesterday at church, Pastor Paul told me that I could go back to Ukraine in February. In October, I had expressed my desire to go again and he said that he would make an exception since I didn't go to NCA and wasn't going with the dance team.

For several months I hadn't heard anything and was about to send him an email, but apparently he didn't forget! It sounds like I will be going especially work with my girl from last year who has had some life changes. I can't wait!

I have the sweetest brother

Since August, Brandon has been teasing me about the present he got me for my birthday. He's told practically everyone but me. So, I finally got to open it tonight because I will be gone by the time he wakes up tomorrow. And...he got me an exact silver replica of the Evenstar from LOTR!!!! It's so beautiful!! I've been wanting it ever since we watched the movies. I have the best brother ever!!

Here They Are....

Here are a few of my senior pictures. Let me know what you think....

Senior Pics

My senior pictures are in! Mrs. Berube was the photographer and she was amazing. She makes you feel so good about yourself and you have fun doing it. Most of the shots turned out pretty good. In some I got that western cowgirl thing going and surprisingly Mom likes those best! So, I had my chance at modeling.....there goes my 5 minutes of fame.

Bad Movies

You know how when you watch a bad movie everything horrible in it just seems to stick in your head and the only cure is to immediately follow it with something good and wholesome? That happened tonight and thankfully the sweet has overcome the bitter. The story of Little Women is timeless and if ever I was forced to pick a favorite book I would have to choose that. There is something about it that still touches my heart even after I've read it for the tenth time. When a book can make you cry every time you read it then it has done its job.


P.S. I finished my first ever short story. More amazing is that it was to my satisfaction. I've only shown it to three people but their response was well worth the risk. It is only a small accomplishment, but there is hope I may be a writer yet.

GOIAM

This was my fourth year of GOIAM. It was just Jess and I for the most part with some help from Catey on Wednesday. Although Jess had to go it alone today, but I really wish I could have been there. Alan Ross was there once again and blessed me like he always does. It's so uncanny to have some look inside you like that, but on the other hand it gives you some hope too. Helping out at GOIAM is one of my favorite things of the year and it always brings back memories. It's not sadness exactly...I guess you would call it nostalgia though it can feel sad. I'm going to miss doing this conference and if there is anyway I can possibley do it next year I'm going to.

R. T. Kendall was the main speaker this year. He was head of Westminster Chapel for 25 years. I was disappointed that Graham Cooke wasn't there this year, but R. T. could be just as funny sometimes. Strangely enough, he had no accent. His wife, however, can do nearly every accent you can imagine. He made her get up and give us a sample. Pastor Paul brought in a Jewish Comedian who managed to drag at least two dozen people WAY out of their comfort zone and send the rest of us rolling on the floor in laughter. I'm sorry it's over.....

Braces and Backpacks

Hmm....that sounds like the name of a weird story. Actually those are the two things that have made me miserable today. I went to the orthodontist and had a whole manner of things ripped out, put back in, and tightened. That never makes for a pleasant day. The only interesting thing was that I had a British lady named Sarah working on me and she told me all about the candy called "rock" that they make by the sea side in England. Evidently the pink stripes on my shirt reminded her of it.

As for the backpack, well, the one I hall around co-op two days a week turns out to weigh around 30 pounds and it is hurting my back. I've had the most horrible headache all day from tension in my shoulders and my back aches all the time. This is the second time this week. Suppose I'll have to do something about that or I'll be permanently bent by the end of the year.

Ok, I've done my complaining so I'd better get back to work or there will be no sleep tonight.

Dream.....

Dream
Michelle Tumes

I believe there is diving imagination
Give it wings for it created aviation
Every little hope you're holding inside
Every little gleam you keep in your eyes
A dream, yeah, a dream

Before a seed became a flower there was a vision
The dream is planted deep, He'll shower it with wisdom
Flowing with the love that's making you smile
You've waited and you've prayed, you've dreamed your whole life
Your soul begin to fly

There's a dream in your heart
And His heart is your prayer
You can move mountains with your life in His hands
He'll tear down the walls and He'll walk where you can't
Have faith in the power to believe
He's given you a dream

I pray your dream will leap beyond your expectations
You'll see miracles He has no limitations
Listen to His voice a spark will ignite
Let Him be the strength to carry your life
He'll raise your spirit high

You will find the bloom beneath the sunshine
Reach inside and saild to His horizon

Faith in the power to believe
He has given you a dream