Choir

Here is some of what we did last night. There is only sound not picture. Kaila put her camera on her back pack so we could hear. :D

Happy Birthday!

Today is Kaila's birthday, and this is a special note for her!!!
I love you so much Kaila and you are the best younger sister anyone could EVER hope for. Honest to goodness.

Love ya!

P.S. all those wishing to give a happy birthday message leave it here and i'll show her!

Finals! :-P

If you were wondering if i still remembered i had a blog, i did! I just haven't had time to put tlc into it because of school. Finals are here! In fact i'm leaving in less than 1/2 hour to take my first one. yay...not! Well, i remember i just won't have time till the end of the week.

Have a great day!

National Debt anyone?

hehehehe, go check this website out.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Choir

For those of you who don't know, i am in choir :D Most of you probably know that though. However, none of you know that i will not be at choir this week :( See i'm going to go check out Oklahoma (and yes i sang the song from the musical to spell that) Christian. the reason i tell you this is because i'd love some prayers for guidance and wisdom. I'm trying to figure out where i'm to go next year and what i'm supposed to be doing. the college that i was going to go to (and may still) doesn't have the degree i want to do. Therefore, i hope that God either lets me fall in LOVE with Ok. Christian, or that when i get there i know it's not for me.
Well that's the update on my life right now.

Kristen Lindsey

Youth and Government

A BILL

6. TO BE ENTITLED

7.

8. An Act mandating medical facilities and doctors that assist in performing abortions to

9. provide more information to women seeking abortion and declaring an emergency.

10.

11. To be enacted by the YMCA Youth Legislature of the State of Texas.

12.

13. Section 1. Definitions Clause:

14. A. Medical Facility: any location that is offering medical assistance.

15. B. Abortion: Intentional termination of a developing human fetus.

16. C. Touch of Life Fetal Models, 1st Trimester TOL, Item Number 7556FT: Models of 7, 8,

17. 9, and 10 week old human fetuses.

18. D. Touch of Life Fetal Models, Item Number 7550TL: Models of 12, 20, 26 and 30

19. week old human fetuses.

20.

21. Section 2. Purpose Clause:

22. To help women make well informed decisions about having abortions.

23.

24. Section 3. Provisions Clause:

25. Doctors and clinics which perform abortions must provide the following information to

26. women seeking abortions prior to the abortion.

27. A. What the human fetus inside a woman looks like using Touch of Life Fetal Models, 1st

28. Trimester TOL, Item Number 7556FT and Touch of Life Fetal Models, Item Number

29. 7550TL.

30. B. The potential immediate, near, and long term emotional and physical health risks of having an

31. abortion using an informational video to be made by the Texas Health Department and

32. approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the State of Texas.

33.

34. Section 4. Penalty Clause:

35.A doctor and medical facility refusing to comply will have their license suspended until they

36. comply.

37. Section 5. Effective Date Clause:

38. This Act will take effect one (1) year after the passage of this bill.

I'm in a program called youth and government that is associated with the YMCA. I am participating as a Senator of the Texas congress and the above is my bill. Please pray that i have words to speak to the kids that will be there. I will post more as soon as i can.

Thanks,
Kristen

Tagged

1. Do a post about the person who awarded you, and their blog.

2. Give the award to 5 of your favorite blogs, give a reason, and leave a comment telling them they have been awarded.

3. Answer the 10 random questions.

1) Well thank you for tagging me Moriah. I love to talk to her at choir. She's very sweet and her blog is always fun to check because she actually updates hers ;-)

2) I am going to take off the part that you guys have to go back through and tag people. But here are some of the blogs i follow: Leah's blog: wood between the worlds, i just like Leah and checking up on how life is going. Photos by Zac because i like pictures :D Lauren's(shiphramidwife) because it inspires me and she is doing a great work and i got to see her journey begin. then Josh's because it also is inspiring because of what he talks about and it makes me ponder about what i believe. Finally, Morgan's because it also has great pictures.
If you want the name of those blogs let me know, i'll post them

1. Have you ever ridden an elephant?

No, but i've seen them from the comfort of my car :D

2. Have you ever eaten squid?

Sadly, Yes

3. What is something crazy you have done with your friend?

Oh, hard thing. Ummm. well, here's a crazy thing i've done with a friend. On the way home from Colorado, by the way we drove, we waved the whole way home to random people. good times.

4. Have you ever held an alligator?
Yes!!!!!

5. Have you ever let a snake slither through your fingers?
Yes, but it was big so it didn't really slither

6. What is your first and foremost dream in life?

???

7. What is your dream vacation?

Being with Friends and Family away from home!

8. What is the funniest movie you have ever seen?

Hahahaha. Rocket Man! Maybe it was just the mood i was in though

9. What is your favorite song?
Oh, uhhhhh, i can't do this!

10. If you could change the world in one way, what would you do?
I would have less tolerance for bad stuff and more tolerance for Christianity!

Superchic[k]

Recently i've started really getting back into Christian music and want to start telling y'all when i find a great song!
Here's a good one. We Live by Superchic[k]. If you are allowed to get on Youtube, go check this link out. Listen to the lyrics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCxZvD_wZ6I
The following are the lyrics that really touch me:

"Waking up to another dark morning
People are mourning
The weather in life outside is storming
But what would it take for the clouds to break
For us to realize each day is a gift somehow, someway
So get our heads up out of the darkness
And spark this new mindset and start to live life cuz it ain't gone yet"

SAT tomorrow!

Please pray for the SAT tomorrow guys, pray that i do well and raise my score and that this is the last time i have to take it!

For all my science geek friends, which i'm included in, HAPPY MOLE DAY!
I was asleep through the time of celebration, but i will still celebrate it.
<-- No i don't mean this I mean this --> 6.0221415×10^{23
So happy mole day (especially those who were up at 6:02 am)}

Post of quotes!

This is the first of many :D

"what time is it?" Neither person can see the clock. "What does your watch say?" . . . *listens to watch* "Tick-Tick-Tick-Tick" --Shall We Dance, with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Makes me laugh!

J-J-J-Joseph

Recently I had the honor of watching several of my friends in the play Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat! This is just a dedication to them to let them know how well they did!
I went last Saturday night to see it for the first time in 10 years! I was blown away! One of my friends choreographed all of the show. She did a fantastic job. Several of my other friends sang and danced. I was in awe of their talent. It was as if they were professional. Hahahah. Actually, i loved it so much, i went back sunday night! Great job guys!

If you think about the story of Joseph, it was actually quite a sad story. First, he was the most loved of all of Jacob's children, but he was hated by his brothers! Also, he was having these weird dreams, which he stupidly shared with his brothers. He told them they bowed down to him. That was the last straw! His brothers then tried to kill him, but instead, they decided to sell him.
He was taken to Egypt and sold once again. Slowly but surely he moved to a high postition in a wealthy captin's house, but the captin's wife took an intrest in him. He tried to stick up for his morals, but she would not relent. Finally she lied to her husband and said Joseph had done a horrific action and was sent to prison... sentenced for life.
However, even in prison he was well loved. The gaurds actually had him work for them because he was so honest. Later he met two men who had worked for pharo. He was asked to interpret their dreams...one dream was great news, the cupbearer would be going back to pharo's side...the other, not such great news. The baker was sentenced to death.
These dreams came true as Joseph had said.
One day, pharo had a startling dream. he called all of his "people" (or witchcraft people) to interpret, but they couldn't. And vwallah! The cupbearer remembered Joseph, so Joseph was promptly brought to the king of Egypt to interpret the dream. Joseph asked God to interpret for him. Then Joseph was put in the 2nd highest postition in Egypt to help with the upcoming famin.
While helping, Joesph's brothers came and asked for food, but didn't realize Joseph was the egyptian helping them. Before he decided to trust them, he decided to see if they were worthy of the trust. To shorten this very long but GREAT story, he planted something to convict the baby brother (who kinda had replaced him). Well, after a while, he finally told them who he was and had them all move to Egypt. It was a happy ending, but it took a really long time.
This is just to say that we WILL have strugles in this life, but we will always be taken care of (even if we don't see the effets till after death). Go look up the story. It's in Genesis. I suggest reading from chapter 37-45. That's the biggest part of the story! Enjoy!

Abilene PART 2!

Well, i know it's been a while since my first Abilene post, but here's what happened the rest of the time.
Friday we got up "early" and went to the campus of ACU. I met a lot of nice people, and talked to a counselor. then the preview day started. They gave us a baggie of goodies, and then the president, Dr. Royce Money, talked to us and gave us their promises, which included, being exceptional, real and one other thing that escapes my mind at this time.
then we went to chapel, which was fun because we sat on the floor and everyone was glad that we were checking out their school. After that, i talked to a physics proffessor, and he had a ton of great information that is really making me ponder what i should do with my life. It's confusing. I have a couple of options, but i don't know which one God wants me to go for.
After that we rushed to lunch and i gobbled it down as fast as possible because i needed to get to my ACT! Ahhh!!!! And i was running late. . .
Thankfully i made it there on time and took the test, and did pretty well on it for my first pass.

here is what i've been really excited to share! I went to dinner with a friend and then she told us of Abilene's balloon fest (airballoon that is). When we got there we realized that there was one family who was giving tethered airballoon rides!!!!! So we hoped in and up up up we went, about 40 ft or so later we felt like we were on top of the world... that is until they pulled us down so others could experience the same feeling. It was a blast!

The rest of the weekend was spent at the mall and a football game, which was intense (both the mall and the football game). We won the football game, but only barely. It was an exctiting weekend, and i am seriously considering my options for schools. Other schools are going to have to really work to defeat ACU!

Abilene--Prettiest Town I've Ever Seen!

It was a stormy day, I grabbed my suit case and threw it in the car preparing for a long trip. First, I had to go to classes, but soon i hopped in the car with my mother, unsure of what this day or weekend would bring. Seven hours later, we arrived in the beautiful west Texas town of Abilene. The sunset was gorgeous. We pulled into the hotel and started our college tour!
It is exciting, planning your life, but at times it can be scary. I'm trying to decide if i should go through the business department, do a science, go to ACU, go to OCU, or do something completely different!
However, lets get back to our trip! So we arrived at the hotel and to our dismay our room smelled smokey. BLUCK! So we asked to move rooms. We already had half our luggage in our room so i just decided to hang out there until till mom checked out our new room. Well, we transfered our luggage into the new room. . . A few minutes later we realized how much smaller the room was and how much it smelled like chlorine.
So once again we changed rooms, and finally we were home. :-)
Hence ended our first day.

Be looking for a post on today, tomorrow. Things to look forward to: how visiting a counseler went, what ACU preivew day is, how the ACT is a VERY long test, and how a AIR BALLOON FESTIVAL IS A BLAST!!!!!!!

Ron Stowe's Fight

In June i posted several things about a man named Ron Stowe; well, within a month, Mr. Stowe passed away. It was very sad and i am still deeply affected by it, but i thought that you guys should know. Please continue to pray for his family.

In a flash

In a flash your world can change. You can think that life will always be the same, but it's not true. I experienced it first hand and for a second saw my life flash before my eyes.
My family went to the beach recently to burn all of our wood, and we had a cardboard tube that we thought would be fun to burn too. So, we sprayed lighter fluid and used some gel stuff that you put under serving dishes at buffets and threw it in the fire. Well, it was kind of boring, so we got it out with a shovel. Since there was a little bit of wind blowing towards the ocean, the flame only sat on one end of the open tube, but when the wind died down, a vacuum was created and the flame shot to the other side till the wind picked up again. Watch and enjoy :D
Oh, no one was seriously injured during the creation of this film, my hands and camera and face were just a little warm for a second ;-)

Wonders if anyone actually checks my blog anymore

Hey guys, does anyone even get on here anymore?

Look into the heart

Have you ever been lost? alone?
Maybe confused? or experienced Déjà vu?

Or have you felt happy? glad? sad? mad? bad? or like the fad has just passed over you?

Feelings, feelings... aren't they strange? You never get used to them, which i think is good. If you got used to feelings, you'd get used to love. You'd get used to feeling like the world is going your way for once. Used to feeling embraced and used to feeling alive; you'd get used to when people suddenly died. You couldn't mourn or laugh and feel truly good. While discarding feelings maybe more convenient than having them, it's still worth it to have them right?

remember that for a while... i'm going to refer back to it in a future post, i just have to get all my thoughts together on that post.

Playing with H20 and Reflections--All while eating cake!

The title pretty much sums it up. Hope you like!
Oh one little note, reflections are my favorite to play with!!! If you are even an amateur-like me- photographer, you can still get awesome pics w/ reflections and macro (little flower) mode! (THE LAST ONE IS MY FAV)

Putting my science into practice. Using the stickiness of water to my advantage.

This one beats all!!! Ok, if you look really closely, and i mean REALLY, you can see Kaila upside down. AHHH!!!! Water is so cool, reflections are so cool, life is so cool!!!! REHANGA NEMURENGE (spelling is wrong): GOD IS SO GOOD!

Life Wouldn’t Be The Same

Have you ever stopped to think about things that have changed your life? Little moments that seemed so big then, but are so small now; or maybe vice-versa, they were so small then, but huge now. Maybe talking to one person, or having a sunny day instead of rain, or maybe having a kind word spoken has completely changed your life. Looking back on my life I see many of those moments. Some make my heart have warm fuzzies, others make me want to cry, but each have developed my outlook on life. I kinda wish that I could jump from parallel universe to parallel universe (not that I particularly believe in parallel universes, I just like the idea of seeing different ways my life would have turned out), but I think that this is the most perfect life I could have if I were to not change anything but my actions. Think, I have a mom, dad, two beautiful sisters, a whole bunch of relatives, friends upon friends upon friends that each have a place in my heart…I’ve lived overseas, I’ve lived in the grand ol’ state of Texas in the great country of the U.S. of A! I’ve had good times and bad. I’ve had a great life. I dedicate this post to being thankful for everything, even the hard times that have happened. Thank You oh Lord!

Our Monthaversiary Already Passed???

Weird title aye? You may be wondering who I shared this blessed "Monthaversiary" with. Well, I shared it with more than 183 people. That's right. My Monthaversiary (by the way, that word is credited to Mandy, thanks ;-D) is with Summit Ministries' very own session 4 group (which you can check out at summit.org. Go check it out!).
If any of you have hung out with me since I’ve been home, then you know how much this camp means to me. Although I try not to overwhelm you with all my fun stories and lessons learned, I can't help but talk about them. They have forever changed my life and I will never be able to repay them.
I don't know where to start or how to end, nor do I know if I will ever fully disclose the wonderful tales of our adventure, but I am determined to try. As this year progresses, I hope to have many a post that mentions or is dedicated to The SUMMIT.
We will start with day one:
The first day, I got up at before light graced the world to arrive to the airport on time. I showered and didn't believe it was already time for Summit. Life had seemed to fly by for the last three months when I first signed up. Well, needless to say, I was so exhausted from getting up early to catch my plane, then driving two hours from my airport to Summit. When my friend, Debbs, and I arrived, we were greeted by the girls at the front desk who kindly told us we were on the 4th floor. I was about ready to leave right then. You see, both Debbs and I had brought over 50 lbs in luggage, in fact, we probably brought 140 lbs combined... AHHH! Well, on our way out to get it we met three nice gentlemen who kindly offered to take ALL of our bags up all four flights of stairs. They literally saved our lives. *SIDE NOTE* for those of you who have never flown to Colorado from a flat, humid, hot... place: They actually have elevation! And it hurts. Your lungs fill like they are going to explode!
Continue.
We got to our room and realized we were in a suite with 8 other girls (excluding us two). That was exciting! More exciting than I can put into words.
Well, Debbs and I took a few minutes in town (Manitou Springs--Said like Man-i-tou Springs, Colo-rado BY DOC) to transition our minds into this new wonderful place. Also, to get ready for the swarms of people we'd meet in the next few hours. Little did we realize that to get back to Summit, you must trek up a very steep hill!!! After we survived the trek, I thought I could take on world! So we did. We went and introduced ourselves to probably 80 something people. Several of them that were to be my best friends in less than two weeks.
Here are some of the names of those people and a short word or phrase that described how we met:

Caitlin: room. First camper I met
Ellen: "hey, I have that shirt!"
Nathan: cards, under the table ;-)
Bradley and Dustin: that stupid random fact game
Cortney, Staci, and Kaylene: Suite mates.
Aysia and Joelle: Roommates, best EVER!
Mallory: playing a game

The list goes on. Well, there is a small glimpse into our first day. There will be many more as I remember things, but for now if you want to see other's perspectives on the days at summit go to http://www.summit.org/blogs/conferences/student/colorado/2009/06/ and look at Session four day 1. By the way, I wrote day four! I'll post it here too.
I love and miss you guys at Summit.

SOME MEMORIES FROM THAT DAY:

Here we come Summit!

Room with a view??? I think so!

Manitou Springs..."Home of the hippies"

All in a weeks work!

So, i thought i'd let you get a little glimpse into my summer.
Here is my week so far:
Sunday, pretty peaceful. I made blueberry pancakes for dad for father's day. Then we went swimming. Just a fun summer day. We ended by watching bed time stories! cute movie.

Monday: I got my license!!!! AHHH!!!! Then i just kinda chilaxed, oh and helped someone with their pool!

Tuesday: I started packing for Summit, which doesn't start till the 28th. I also started shopping for that. Got some nice stuff.

Wednesday (i hate spelling that word!): Kept packing...and packing...and laundry...watched a movie...and packed...and that's it.

Thursday: Packed, laundry, shopped with Deborah!!!!!! It was a blast! I got a pink scarf and a cute shirt with blue in it (yes, i'm obsessed with ONE color! ).

What's in store for the rest of the week?
Friday: Hanging with my family!
Saturday: Kaila leaves for camp :'( I'll miss her terribly!
Sunday: I'M LEAVING!!! WOOT! I'll be really sad about leaving my family, but i'm so stoaked!!!

There is an average week, well not so average, but still a week in my life :D

STOP AND PRAY!

PLEASE STOP WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING AND PRAY FOR RON STOWE! HE NEEDS IT RIGHT NOW! PLEASE! PLEASE. please.
!!!!

Ron Stowe's Fight

Please pray for Ron Stowe. He needs our prayers. He is a very sick man. He is fighting, but he needs prayers. Thank you my friends.

Blueberry Festival

BLUEBERRY FEST! That's right, I said BLUEBERRY FEST!
You may be wondering, what is a blueberry fest??? Well, here is what went down for us!
First, we woke up early. O.K. early as in I think we got up at 7:30.
We arrived at the festival around 8:00. We jumped in the line for blueberry pancakes, and an hour and five minutes later, we ate pancakes! Let’s just say they were really good pancakes. I heard that Bill White was even in the line, but I didn't realize it.

After our great pancakes, we walked around looking at little tents with cutsie shops in them. I bought a pair of GREEN sunglasses!

My mom and sister bought parasols, which they brilliantly used to protect them from the sun. I stupidly didn't. I have a striking sunburn now. It's pretty intense and hurt (actually hurts) an awful lot.

Cowboy Max was one of the best parts! He was a COWBOY and he had a lasso AND a bullwhip! He showed us some sweet lasso moves while we stood in our hour and five minute pancake line. He had young children jump into it while he was twirling it. Then he also twirled the lasso around himself at one point. However, my ultimate favorite trick he did was he gave my family a mini show! We missed his regular show, but he said he would give us a sneak peak. He said "I’ll be right back, I’m going to go get my bullwhip and whip something outa your (dad's) mouth." He came running back and handed my dad a carnation that was as long as my arm! He asked us "ladies, how brave would you say he is, on a scale from 1 to 10?" Of course we all said 10!!!!!! Well, poor dad. Cowboy Max slowly but surely stripped the carnation's stem down to only about a little longer than my hand. Then he carefully positioned my dad to hold the flower (although, he put it in his hand not his mouth). He took a couple cracks (meaning he whipped his whip and made a few jokes!), then he whipped it out of my dad's hand. It was quite impressive.

See the carnation?

Next, we walked into air-conditioning (which was quite a treat since I believe the temperature had been in the late 90s). We listened to some jazz and I really wanted to swing dance all of a sudden!
It was a really fun day filled with many other fun events (including me winning bingo, my family playing dominos at the hotel, and many other things).

Well, I hope you enjoyed seeing a peak into blueberry fest. Hope to see you in Nachegdoches Texas for blueberry fest next year.