In my free time

I like to take pictures, listen to music, or read books in my free time. It depends on how the weather is and whether or not I have a good book on hand. Sometimes I can do two of them at the same time. But if it is a really good book I can not listen to music at the same time because then I can not stay focused as well on the music and I wind up with a headache. So normally I just do one at time. I take pictures as well in my free time. I love to go outside and take pictures of the sunsets or make Courtney and Bobby pose for pictures. They are good models. They could probably make a living at it with all the times I have made them pose. ha ha.


I also spend a lot of time on the computer. But it is not really a hobby. It is just something I do if I do not have a good book and can not take pictures. I am also on a lot for school. Obviously I have to post blogs once a day. I also check my email daily. So that is what I do in my free time

If I could fly

If I could fly whenever I wanted, I think my secret would soon be out. Because I'd probably be flying all the time. I would fly to events so that I could be on time, instead of always late. That seems to be a plague in our family, always being late. I would fly to Aunt Laura's for school so I wouldn't have to worry about when my parents were leaving for the plant. I would use it to fly down and see my relatives in the Dallas/Fort Worth area whenever I felt like it and had the time. It would definitely save money on gas and buying a car. I'd travel the world, go see Paris and London and Ireland. Although to get across the ocean I'd have to follow a boat. I might even fly to Hawaii. Although it might be easier to take a plane instead of actually flying there myself. Plus in order to bring back souviners and to take changes of clothes, I'd need to bring luggage. Maybe I could desgin a special lightweight backpack.

I'm not sure if I would use my ability to fly to save people. It would depend on if I could fly holding on to people or things. If I could then I would try to save people. Although we might have to move to a bigger city because I don't think were we live now has many crime problems that could be solved with flying. Maybe getting a couple of cats out of trees. But those are the things I would do if I could fly.

Something I do well

The only thing that I can think of that I do well is take pictures. I love to take pictures. I've been taking pictures since I was old enough to handle a camera. I'm a lot better at taking them now than I was then. :) I got a new camera for Christmas. It is a Kodak easy share. I have been using it a lot. I like to take pictures because I think it's my way of showing my appreciation for God's handiwork. It's amazing all the things that God created. I especially like taking landscape pictures. There is just something about nature that is so intriguing. I'm not as good as I want to be but my dad is teaching me and I have some friends who are going to show my some tips. Sometimes when I'm looking at something or someone, I picture them as a picture, if that makes any sense. I think about the lighting and the angle I would use. I think about what it would look like on my computer and the special effects I could add or the editing I would need to do, like cropping. Here are some pictures that I've taken recently:

Ally way Evil Glow Sticks
Christmas tree

Abbie and Daniel
Daniel

The Christmas play

So we performed the Christmas play for our church this weekend. It went very well. Some people did forget some of their lines but they ad-libed very well. We performed it 3 times. A lot of people didn't recognized me in my costume. I played a goth. the rest of my family was in it too. My mom played my grandma, my dad played my uncle, and my brother played my cousin. It was a lot of fun. The director, Liz, played my ditsy aunt, it was hilarious. Here are some pictures of the play.

Letter to friend

Dear Friend, How are you doing? I'm sorry I haven't written for a while. It has been extremely busy here. How are things there? Is your family well? I hope to hear from you soon.
Your Friend,
Elisabeth

Basketball game

On Saturday we played in the Claude tournament. We played against the Nazareth Swiftetts. They have won the State championship 6 or 7 times. Before our game we watched our guys team play Sunray. They won it by one. So that kind of got us pumped up for our game. The game started pretty well. I forget exactly why, but we had to redo the jump. We played pretty well in the first 2 quarters. I think we held them pretty close score wise. We were having trouble with our offense though. We are strongest in defense. Another problem we had was hustle. Poor Candace was out there working her tail off and most of the rest of us were just out there watching. She was not very happy and neither were our coaches.134. In the second half things got worse because most of us ( except Candace) are out of shape. So we were out sucking air while running up and down the court. The other team was very fast. So in the last quarter, in order to get us to start trying, my dad gave us goals to aim for. He wanted us to make 30 points and to keep them from scoring 70. We managed to keep them from scoring 70 but we only made 20 points. The final score was 68 to 20. So now we get to run a whole lot more in practice.

My favorite Christmas Gift

My favorite Christmas present was..... I don't really remember what my favorite Christmas present was. Ha HA. I can remember what my favorite birthday present was and what I got for Easter at the house on pierce street but I can't think of my favorite Christmas present. I can think of I Christmas present that I liked that we gave to my mom and that I kind of stole. Two years ago we gave her the complete books of the Chronicles of Narnia in one book. I read all the books while we were there because none of the cousins had been able to come. I loved reading them though. C.S Lewis was such a God Gifted writer.

Does that count?

I honestly can't think of a Christmas gift that I got that was my favorite. I like this years but since you wanted me to post this before then it would look kind of weird :D

how to make a bed

You take all the pillows and blankets off. Then you put the blanket ( or blankets) on and make sure it is nice and straight. Then you arrange the pillows how you want them. Then you can out stuffed animals or decorative pillows on the bed if you like. And that is how you make a bed.

Meet me at Luigi's

I never did write about how our dinner theater went, so I guess I'll do that now.
It went very well. Nobody messed up too badly on their lines, though a few people did get theirs cut out by accident ( including me) but I don't think anyone in the audience noticed except Liz. Bobby completely stole the show. He was so good as Albert, all the ladies just loved him. He was definitely the favorite. I guess I did good because everyone kept asking me if I was really that stupid. Which is kind of annoying, but at least I know I played the part well. Roland got everyone dvds of the performance so my mom got to watch it last night. She liked it. Here are some pictures of the cast and perfomance.

We gave Liz flowers

The funniest part of the whole play

"Nancy" & "Sarah" hanging out
"Maria","Betsy" & " Gloria
"Nancy"
"Maria" & " Uncle Gino"
"Josh"
"Maria", "Luigi", & "Bubba"
"Dave" & " Rusty"

"Luigi" & " Gino" the brothers
"Jerry" & "Buffy"
"Darlene" & " Colleen"
The Staff at Luigi's
"Albert"
"Maria"
"Nancy"

Funeral

We went to my grandpa's funeral last week. It was nice for a funeral. There were a lot of people there that love my family. And of course my family cried but I think everyone is ok. My grandma is handling it pretty well. I think she handled it better than some of my aunts. We went down there the day of the viewing and got there in time to eat and then go to the viewing. The next day was the graveside and then the memorial. We had the graveside first because my grandpa didn't really want a service, so we buried him first. My mom said (jokingly) that he wasn't invited to his own funeral. Which isn't exactly the case but it is kind of true. I think it's kind of funny. We all know that now he is in heaven with Jesus and that he is a whole lot happier there then he was here.

To Auntie:
This is my 50 word one for last week if that's ok.

Something about me

So I'm supposed to write 5 paragraphs on something about me. Here it goes.

One of my favorite things to do is play basketball. I have been playing for 8 seasons or since I was 10. I was not very good. My dad has always been my coach.

In my middle school years I played very poorly. I was kind of awkward. I hadn't grown into my legs yet so I tripped and sprained my ankle a lot. It got very annoying.

As I got older I stopped being so awkward and was able to play a little better. I still couldn't play as well as I would have liked too though. I played as hard as I could though.

Then when I moved up to high school I started playing well enough to be a starter, or maybe it was just that we didn't have that many girls. A normal number of girls on the team was 7 or 8.

The summer between my freshman and sophomore years I was at a shoot around and I dislocated my knee cap. I was out for around 6 weeks. Then I did it again that November. That time i was out for 3 weeks. Then I did it again this season at the 2nd basketball practice. It has taken it about 6 weeks to heal again. This time we went to a doctor and found out that if I do it again, I have to have surgery. So I'm exercising it and trying to keep it healthy.

Christmas story

Once upon a time... just kidding! Actually to write the Christmas story in your own words is a bit daunting. I'm not sure exactly what auntie had in mind when she told me to do this so I'm just going to wing it.

An angel visited Mary and told that she would have a son, even though she was a virgin. She didn't understand and the angel explained that God would make it possible. She believed him. He also told her name the baby Jesus. Joseph ( who was her fiancee) wasn't sure what to do. But God told him in a dream that he should stay with Mary. When it was almost time for Mary to have the baby, she and Joseph had to go to Bethlehem to register for the census. When they got there, there was no room in the inns, but one of the innkeepers let them stay in his stable. So Jesus was born in a stable and was laid in the manger.
Meanwhile some shepherds were out watching their flocks and suddenly there was angel. They were afraid but the angel told them not to fear. He told them about Jesus being born in Bethlehem and that he was the Lord. He told them were to find him and suddenly there was a host of angels singing praise to God. Needless to say, the shepherds were excited. They went and found Jesus and worshiped him. Then they went and told everyone they could about these events.

Do you want me to add the wise men too? because technically they were a couple of years later.

Going to the funeral

We are going down to the Dallas/Fort Worth area today. My grandpa's funeral is on Thursday and the viewing is tomorrow. So we'll go down this afternoon and come back late Thursday after the funeral. We have to come back so soon because of basketball. We have a tournament in Claude this weekend. I am going to miss the game on Thursday (which stinks since we are playing Claude) but will be back in time for the game on Friday. Please pray that we have a safe trip and that Courtney doesn't get too lonesome by herself.

Favorite Holiday

My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the time of year when we reflect on our blessings. We should reflect on our blessings everyday, but Thanksgiving is a special time to reflect.
Thanksgiving was first celebrated by the pilgrims after they had survived the winter. They were giving thanks to God for getting them through the rough winter.
We celebrate Thanksgiving to give God thanks for getting us through another year, and for the many blessings he has given us. We go visit family and eat good food. We laugh and play. These are blessings also. And that's why I like Thanksgiving.

Describing God

I'm supposed to describe something in 50 words for school so here it goes:
God is love. Love is indescribable, so is God. We know love because we know God. God is light. He has no darkness in Him. God is compassionate. He gives us second chances when we don't deserve them. Just read the story of Jonah. To put it simply, God is amazing.

Grandpa

My grandpa passed away this morning. Please be praying for my mom's family. It is a very hard time for us.

Support our Troops

Chaos in my life

So we found out yesterday that Grandpa has Merca ( i think that's how it's spelled) which is a blood infection that is very hard to get over. He also has pneumonia and his lungs still have liquid in them. It will take another 24 hours to know whether or not the antibiotics are working.

This week is just complete chaos. We have had basketball and play practice almost every night. Tonight I have a bball game and then right after the game we have to book it to dress rehearsal for the dinner theater. We had to do the same thing on Tuesday only we missed half the game. I was not very happy. But Nicole and I talked to Liz because we both have games today and got her to move dress rehearsal to 7:30 instead of 7. And yesterday I just kind of broke down at church. I guess I needed to. I talked to Dyane and that helped some what, but mostly what I need to do is get things straightend out with God.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was good this year. We have definitely been blessed this year. We are living in a house and not a trailer, we have an awesome church family who is always there for us, and so many other things. Also we are able to come down here and see my mom's side of the family. So Thanksgiving was ok. On Saturday my mom went to go see my grandpa and he was in a lot of pain, so they took him to the hospital. The doctors don't know what's wrong with him and he can't talk. My mom drove back down last night. The doctors give 3 to 10 days to live. Please be praying for our family.

crazy

Wow it's been a while since I've posted. Things have been so crazy lately it seems like I haven't had time to breathe! Maybe after being able to rest some this week I'll feel better. And next week is the Dinner theater so that means that I won't have that play practice after next week. We are going down to see my mom's family for Thanksgiving. I'll try to write sometime next week

The weekend

This weekend my mom went with our church to Women of Faith.
She had a good time I think. Courtney and I are going to go to the teen girls version in January
called Revolve. It will be fun. While mom was at that, at home we were pretty busy. On Friday night we went with Melanie to see her school play, which was good. Then afterwards we went to her house and hung out. The doughtery's were there. We played mad gab, it was funny. We stayed there until around midnight then we we went home.
On Saturday we had play practice and it turns out that Courtney does get to be in it. One of the girls had to drop out so she is going to play Nancy. Then yesterday we had church, then play practice from 2-4, then Daniel's birthday party. It was a pretty good day in all. I cannot wait for the dinner theater! It's going to be so much fun performing it.

Church and Plays

So today is Wednesday which means that I have church tonight. It should be interesting to hear what Robbie talks about. He always gives good messages. Hopefully this week all of the worship band is there because for the last 2 weeks somebody has been missing and it hasn't sounded the same. The first week was actually pretty good. Alex, the drummer, wasn't there so it was acoustic which sounded kind of cool. But last week Brandon, the main singer, wasn't there and it just sounded weird. Maybe today everybody will be there.

Practices for both of the plays are going well. We are blocking for both of them, we just haven't blocked on the actual stage for the Dinner Theater one yet. The youth room is always being used whenever we have practice. So whenever we finally get to block on stage it will be interesting to see how it all works. Yesterday we blocked for the Christmas play and that went OK. It just took forever. My lines and blocking are easy for the Christmas play. I have 4 lines in the whole thing and one of them is "Ahem!". I got to play a goth. Nobody can see me playing as one, but I think I'll pull it off. :)

I do very well however, playing as Maria, the ditsy waitress. Some times I think I play the part too well. Ha ha. I'm excited. It's going to be fun.

Snow

I really don't know what to write today. My mind is blank about what to write.
I hope it snows this winter. I would love if we got like a foot of snow. That would be awesome! As long as it doesn't snow over Thanksgiving. We are going out of town for Thanksgiving and that would stink if it were to snow while we were gone. I would feel gypped.

Bball

My verse for this week is 1 John 2:17 " The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." Hopefully I'll remember it next Sunday.

So this week is pretty much like last week except all the bball games got canceled because we couldn't find a gym to play in. Apprently WT's volleyball team is doing better than expected. If the games keep getting pushed back I just might be able to play in most of them. That would be cool, for me anyway.

More thoughts...

So I've been thinking about what I wrote on Tuesday and I think that maybe God let me go through that stuff so I could learn humility. I am not very good at humility. I haven't made a lot of mistakes that other people have so I tend to look down on them. I know I've made mistakes, I need to learn that just because other people's mistakes seem worse than mine, doesn't mean that they are worse than mine. In fact I'm pretty sure most of them are equal. I thought when I was younger that I was above other teenagers because I thought I knew more. WRONG! I really didn't know as much as I thought I did.
I've definitely learned that the hard way. I pretty much learn everything the hard way. It's like I don't pay attention when God's trying to teach me using the easy way. It seems only the hard way gets my attention. Why is that? Is it because I'm a fallen human? Is it because I'm stubborn and hardheaded when I want to be? Is it because I hate being wrong? It's probably all of those.

Right now it seems I'm learning to wait. Waiting on my knee to heal, waiting to learn what God wants me to do, and waiting for that special one. I can normally handle waiting. But long term waiting drives me crazy. A week before Christmas I start feeling antsy. Then two days before I'm ready to get it over with. Then on Christmas Eve I'm ready to explode. Watching the basketball game last night I so wished I was out there playing. It was making me crazy. Especially since we weren't playing that well. And then I had to leave early to go to play practice. And it turns out that I could've stayed and finished watching the scrimmage because we didn't even start practice till 8. And half of the cast wasn't even there. I was not happy.

I guess I'm just frustrated because I don't know what's going to happen with all these things. If I'm going to get to play bball when I want to, if I'm going to graduate on time, if I'm ever going to make all the changes I need to, if I'm ever going to make close friends at church, if I'm ever going to be the person I need to be and if I am ever going to find out what my purpose is. I know I have one, I just don't know what it is yet. And that drives me crazy. I just wish I knew where I am supposed to be going and what I'm supposedto be doing. Because right now I feel like I'm just stumbling around in the dark.

Update On My Knee

Yesterday I went to the doctor and he said I could get off my crutch and get rid of the knee immobilizer!! So now all I have is a knee brace with really big hinges. But it's so much better than the knee immobilizer. They have me doing exercises to build my knee muscles back up on the inside of my leg. It's just on the inside because the muscles are weaker on that side. They don't want me to strengthen the muscles on the outside because they are too strong as it is and that's why they are pulling the knee cap out.

The exercises are ok. I can feel the muscles being stretched out and worked, it's a weird feeling. I have to back in 2 weeks so they can check and see how I'm doing. Hopefully I'll be able to play in 5 weeks. Cause that's when we play Nicole's team and I really want to play against her! It would be so cool. I'll keep praying that my knee heals quickly.

Wordless Wednesday Cool Pics

Thoughts

I've been thinking about a lot of stuff recently. Today I have been 17 for a month but I still don't feel any different than when I was 16. It's kind of funny because I remember thinking when I was 13 or 14 that I was so much smarter than other teenagers. That I knew more about life and what I was going to do. That I wasn't going to have the same problems as other teenagers. Now that I'm 17 I've discovered that I've pretty much gone through the same temptations and had the same problems as other teen girls, even with guys.
When I was younger I always told myself that I wasn't going to be boy crazy like all those other teenage girls. I wasn't going to waste my time thinking about a dumb boy. And for the most part I wasn't boy crazy. I mean I would like someone every now and then but I wouldn't ever talk to them or acknowledge that I liked them.
But It's like as soon as I turned 16 BAM! I started noticing guys more. I started thinking about them excessively. And I'm still doing that. It's annoying. I want to go back to the attitude I had before. Which was that I wouldn't even think about guys until college. I know I need to spend more time thinking about God and not guys. It's hard to control our thoughts though. My verse for the week is 2 Corinthians 10:5 " We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." I want to be able to live that out. I want people to be able to look and me and know that I'm not all caught up in drama or realationships. But for now that's not true. I may not be caught up like other girls are, but I still struggle with my thoughts. Having to memeorize a verse every week is starting to help though. I think that I am changing, it's just taking longer than I want it to.

This week

The next two weeks we are going to busier than usual. I have school everyday from 9 to either 4 or 5. Then from 5 to 6:15 I have bball practice. I have to leave bball practice early because I have to go to play practice on Monday,Tuesday, and Thursday from 7 to 9. Monday and Thursday is practice for the Dinner Theater practice. Tuesday is practice for the Christmas play. Oh also on Thursday this week we have two bball games. But I only get to see the first one because of play practice. It's crazy!

It's almost as crazy next week. Especially with them moving practice to 5 to 7. I don't see what was wrong with 4 to 6. I guess that was the only time we could use the gym. It will be interesting to see how the games go on Thursday. Hopefully the team will do well.

Shopping and Snow

So yesterday I went shopping with Aunt Laura and Courtney. It was awesome. I got a new book and new CD at Family Christian book store. Then we went to Target and I got a new shirt, a new jacket, and two calendars, oh and also a patch that's says "free hugs". Courtney wanted it so I got it for her.

The book I got is very interesting. Courtney and I are reading it out loud. It's called "Guys like Girls who..." by Chad Eastham. It definitely makes you think about the way you act. The CD I bought is the new Barlowgirl Christmas CD. It's cool. I love the way their voices harmonize in the songs. I wish I could learn to harmonize like that.


The new shirt I got is a blue teal color. And my new jacket is black. I like it. It's warm and cozy. Hopefully it will start getting cold soon. Cause this 80 degree weather in November is just weird, even for the Panhandle. I hope it snows! I love snow! It's so pure and white. It makes me think of what Jesus did for us on the cross, and what our hearts are supposed to look like.