He is Risen Indeed!

Easter. It brings up many different pictures in my mind. There's the cute little bunnies and chicks hopping around brightly colored eggs; chocolate candies and jelly beans, and Easter egg hunts as a kid. But also in my mind is a Cross, a cross that is empty yet so full. A tomb, a tomb that no longer keeps my Saviour captive. There really are no words to express my praise and love for the God who took my place, and surrendered His life for me.

Every Easter I am reminded of a song, one of my favorites. Surprisingly, it comes from a Veggie Tales movie. It is called "Hope's Song" and was sung by Rebecca St. James for the movie "An Easter Carol". Please enjoy the video and beautiful song. I challenge you to take the time today (and everyday for that matter) to spend some time praising and thanking Jesus Christ for His unending love. He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

Megan's 9th Birthday

Megan's 9th birthday was on Monday, so we took our family and 3 of her friends to Incredible Pizza. The girls had a lot of fun, and they all came home with some "special prizes". Lol, one of the little girls remarked, "I love Incredible Pizza, because it feels like everyone's birthday!"

The older girls played a game of putt-putt for our golf/PE class. I won with a -2! :D I think I'm going to become a professional putt-putt golfer. :D

Madalyn making friends with the ugly dinosaur on the putt putt green.

Gabe played a "Jackpot" type game and won 800+ tickets! Being the sweet brother, he used them to get Megan a stuffed dog.

The Little Girls LtoR: Mallory, Kate, Megan, & Paige

Luke whacking some hippos!

Megan & Mallory with "the cake" LtoR: Megan, Mallory, Becca, Gabe, Paige, & Kate
Megan received a bat and ball, a sparkly ball, some lip gloss, as well as assorted other things.
Dad getting some work in.

The older girls put all their tickets together, 800+ of them, and got this cute frog we named Mr. Bingley, after the Jane Austen Character.

"My Sunday Kids"

On Sunday nights I babysit for a home group at our church. It is so much fun to play with the kids and hear what they have to say. This Sunday we were playing Hide-&-Seek and Taylor was "helping" me count. I would say the number and she would echo, it was so cute! We got up to "23!...23!, 24!...24!, 25!....Are we done yet?!?" Lol I burst out laughing, it was so funny! Enjoy!

Ellen and Miss Judy(yes I know you love me now...)

The boys LtoR: Eben, River, Cael, Jake

Beautiful little Maddie

The Siamese Twins Ashton & Kennedy

Owen & Taylor (Aren't they precious!!!)

Recital 2009

Saturday April 4th, was our family's music recital. Everyone except Luke performed, and all played piano except Emily who played viola. We all did pretty well! This was probably my last piano recital so it was a semi-sweet moment. Below are pictures with our teachers and a list of what we performed.

Kara: Rachmaninoff Op. 23 #5

Abby: Mozart Fantasia I

Madalyn: "Big Sky"-Jim Brickman & own composition "Ruhrung"

Emily: "Greensleeves"

Gabe: Jurassic Park Theme

Becca & Megan: Piano Duet "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"

The Phantom of the Opera

Yesterday Mom, Abby, Kara P, Becca, Megan, my grandma, great grandma, aunt, and I went to KC to see the Phantom of the Opera. IT WAS SOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!!!! EXCELLENT! SUPERB! PHENOMENAL! OUTSTANDING! I could gush on it forever... We attended the 2:00 matinee, I was ready to go see the 8:00 show! The actor who played the Phantom was breathtaking, he WAS the Phantom! Christine was great, and Raoul was ok, but he seemed a little snobbish. Patrick Wilson is still my favorite Raoul. Needless to say, I'm going to do everything in my power to go see it again!

We did have meet an interesting person at the show though. :S I came out of the bathroom and saw my grandma talking to a guy. I didn't recognize him but I figured he must have known her since he kept putting his hand on her back...When we finally got away from the extremely extroverted person, I discovered, she had never met him before in her life! I was a little creeped out, but thought nothing of it as we went into the Theater. Sitting in the Theater with hundreds of seats, I realize that the person sitting directly NEXT to us is...yep you guessed it...Mr. Social-Freak. I was getting very worried and just started praying...:D He asked Abby( who had the unfortunate task of sitting next to the guy) a zillion questions and was getting very personal and was very controlling of the conversation. Finally Kara, being the brilliant mastermind she is, steered him to other topics. LOL!!! When she found out he didn't know what an oboe was, she promptly started discussing classical music. :D It shut him up a little bit. Thankfully he didn't talk during the show...I probably would have done something not so kind...ANYWAY! The moral of this story is, always stay in a group...and always ask nosy people their opinion on Bach's Brandenburg Concerto #4...

Beautiful, Beautiful

Happy Spring my friends! I have been loving this weather, I spent almost the entire day outside! Let's see here is a summary of my life as of March 2009.

School
As you know, this is my last year of high school. I actually only have about 7 weeks left of school, which is a terrifying yet exhilarating thought. I have to take the last test in Chemistry and Economics and I will be done with them. Then I just have Advanced Biology, Geometry, and American History left. I am also doing a Speech class, we are working on a type of persuasive speech at the moment. Kara P., Mom, and I are also doing a Jane Austen literature study, we are currently reading "Emma" our 3rd book.

Graduation
I will be graduating in a homeschool graduation on April 24th. It will be interesting, I'm just praying now that I won't start crying...raccoon eyes are not very fashionable. :D I will be sending out more info soon.

College
I have yet to send in a college application which is really starting to get me worried, but I am trying to remain calm and hopefully we can get it in this week.

Music
My last piano recital is in 2 weeks, and I have about 8 measures remaining that I cannot seem to get memorized, it is driving me insane! The other bad thing is my song wears me out after playing it about 2-3 times, so its hard to practice repetitiously. More practice needed...

Spring Break...or rather lack thereof
This week is somewhat of a Spring Break for me as I don't have several of my babysitting obligations. On Tuesday we are going up to my grandparents house to watch Mom's old home videos we had but on DVD for Christmas. Due to crazy work schedules this is the soonest we could get together. Then on Thursday, we are heading back up there to go see "The Phantom of the Opera"!!!! I am so excited! Friday is back to Orchestra.

Learning
What God has been teaching me now is sometimes your dreams and plans just aren't what God has for you, at least right now. To surrender my dreams and aspirations is very hard, but I am reminded by the verse, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will make your paths straight." I am so thankful for a patient loving God who gently teaches me and doesn't give up on me. One of my recent discoveries has a gift for writing beautiful lyrics and music. Please take time to listen to this song called "Beautiful, Beautiful" by Francesca Battistelli. "Forever Love" is another favorite.

A picture Becca and I took today

Nursing, Phantom, & Cups That Turn Blue!

Well I am back to writing blog entries. Facebook has completely wreaked my Blogger life. :D Here goes...

Last Saturday I went to the local nursing school that I am thinking about attending this fall as they were having a special Nursing Fair. Mom, Kara P, and I went and it was great! I learned that taking the same basic general ed and pre-reqs at the nursing school rather than the mother campus is way less than half the price! Also I got to see the books that they use for their science classes, the Anatomy 1 class book is basically the same thing I am studying now, and I knew 2/3 of the chemistry book! That made me feel a lot better knowing that I wasn't going to be so much in over my head. We got a lot of great information about the school and nursing in particular so I am really excited. I also got to meet several of the professors/teachers and they were all really nice and informative.

The Pediatric teacher also commented on I believe you Jessie! Lol, she found out we were homeschooled and told us about one of her homeschooled students who graduated last year whom she absolutely loved. Mom and I instantly thought of you. :D On a side note we also got these awesome cups that turn purple when cold and blue when warm! Isn't that exciting! Ok that was my little girl moment. :D If you know me, you know I have a lot of those, let's just say I'm easily amused.

Let's see the rest of the week is pretty much normal, I have piano and speech tomorrow. 2 rounds of babysitting on Wednesday, and nothing Thursday. On Friday however we have a crazy schedule with extra rehearsal times. I'm hoping to have a chance to eat sometime throughout the 8 1/2 hour day. :D

On March 26, I get to go see the Broadway production of "The Phantom of the Opera" in KC. I am SO EXCITED!!! That has always been one of my favorites so when I found out it was in KC, I had to go. Well I think that is about it, have a great week!

Kara

P.S. Here is a sweet quote I found today, had to share!

"Don't marry the person you think you can live with; marry only the individual you think you can't live without.”- Dr. James Dobson