Abortion, Such an over talked about topic...yet here it is!

I saw this video of a 12 year old speaking out on the issue of abortion. She sounds way older than 12. I was really impressed. She has a lot of good points/quotes.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOR1wUqvJS4

Contrast this with what Barak Obama says on the issue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSsFzue-V-I&feature=related

Of course, to contrast Obama and a 12 year old seems upsurd.
The thing that scares me about Obama is that he can take something like abortion and make it sound like it is ok. The clip I put above is not an entire speech. IT is simply snippets of different speeches. But, he can give a good speech. And it definitely has the power to persuade. My room mate said that she heard a speech of his on abortion and it honestly made her reevaluate why it was wrong. If christians are even hearing him talk about such things and it's making them wonder why they ever thought it was wrong, there is something seriously scary. No worries, my room mate is still against abortion. But, she said his speech was THAT good.

I don't like that.

There Rather Than Here

On a day like this what does one do with themselves? I love Saturdays. I woke up today and I could go back to sleep for however long I wanted. The annoyance comes in when I can't go back to sleep for some reason but I really want to! I have decided my body functions on 12 hours sleep the best. I decided it a long time ago but it keeps getting proven to be true!! I also decided it is best to go to bed at like 11 at night. Because then I will sleep in till 11 the next day. IF I go to bed around one or two in the morning, I end up waking up at eleven anyways and not going back to bed.

Today it is beautiful outside. But, it's too cold to enjoy it! what a horrible combination! lol. I am going to have dinner with my sister and Andrew tonight and then we are going out for dessert at some restaurant. I am excited. My room mate is gone this weekend so I really have nothing to do. Actually, I could be doing plenty of homework. I have to research more of the strategies used to evangelize the Ainu people of Japan. However, since the people are already marginalized into society I have no idea how to research this topic. There is no information out there on them. Anyone know of anything written on the Ainu? lol. I mean, I have called like 15 mission agencies, none of which can help me. Sad!

I really miss the Philippines today. I guess it didn't help that I bought Mary Jane the CUTEST pony tail holders, barrets, hair brush and tooth brushes yesterday!!! And, it definitely doesn't help with all those pictures of her right above my bed. Her cute little face is just staring down at me this morning. Man, I miss that girl! Too bad we can't just snap our fingers and be in another place! I would definitely choose the Philippines today if it were up to me.

This week has been rather exhausting. I have been really tired. I have also been sick all week. WHich hasn't been fun! There were countless hours of studying, only to make bad grades. That really frustrated me. I have come away with the fact that some professors will just always word their tests in the most confusing way possible. Jonathan tells me I should stop studying like I do and just learn how to take multiple choice tests. I guess that was never something I really did until I came to college. And, when I took them in highschool they were straight forward, not something to confuse the person taking them! I will always be annoyed when I know information inside and out and still fail to do well! I have had a lot of things to get done this week as well! I am doing my senior portraits next week. I also ordered my cap and gown. It's kind of weird that all of that is happening.

Anyways...I know I am just rambling. There really isn't much for me to say, I spend most of my time doing homework these days!

Valentine's Day

This Valentine's Day was a really good one for me. I hope it was for everyone else as well. It was nice to finally have it on a weekend. That hasn't happened in a long time.

This past week on Wednesday Jonathan spelled out "I love you" on my lawn with bricks that were piled up by our house.

On Saturday he gave me three peach colored roses. They were really pretty. We went to a cute little park named Little Mulberry Park to open presents. I gave him a shirt and some shoes and candy. He made me turn around so I wasn't looking to give me my present. When I turned around to see what it was he had hung a heart-shaped pinata in a tree nearby. Luckily, he didn't blind fold me, he just let me wack at it with a hiking stick. Which was really dangerous for him, by the way, because it was like six feet long. He should've known better after hearing the story of me knocking out Ben's cheek growing up. lol. All of my presents were inside of the pinata. I got a poem, some candy, a little stuffed bear and heart, a pen, and some more random items (nothing breakable though).

After that he took me out to eat at Buckaboo Steakhouse. We went around 4:30 so we could beat the crowd. It was REALLY good! After that we went to see the Gladiators hockey game. Because of Valentine's day the ice was colored pink and they had hearts where the puck was supposed to be dropped. It was fun! I had a good time. We also tried to get desert ravioli at Macaroni Grill afterwards, but because of the salmanila scare they weren't selling it at the time. IT was disappointing but, oh well! It was a good day.

I also got some nice cards from my family and some beautiful roses from my daddy. IT was a really good valentine's day.

Here are some pictures from the day:















At this point in the semester, I am really missing Meredith. I have a wonderful room mate, and the fact that I miss meredith has nothing to do with her. I just do! I told Jonathan the other day that I need some girls in my life. He just doesn't cut it. I could coach him on how to be more like a girl. But, why would I want to do that? lol. ;) My room mate is not home during the day, the girls in my house are always gone and most of my close girlfriends have already graduated. But, I have been trying to do things with the girls that are still here that I know. Everyone is just really busy!

Doing my devotions last week, I read Psalm 63. I don't know if you have ever read something that was EXACTLY what you needed for that moment. But, this was for me. I can't really say it in words. But, I will just put it up here and maybe it will speak to you as well! I wish that I would earnestly seek God and that my soul would constantly yearn for Him!!!

1O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;
My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,
In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.
3Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips will praise You.
4So I will bless You as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
5My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.
6When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches,
7For You have been my help,
And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.
8My soul clings to You;
Your right hand upholds me.
9But those who seek my life to destroy it,
Will go into the depths of the earth.
10They will be delivered over to the power of the sword;
They will be a prey for foxes.
11But the king will rejoice in God;
Everyone who swears by Him will glory,
For the mouths of those who speak lies will be stopped

It's a boy/girl thing!

This weekend I took a road trip to Oxford, MS. It was weird to go to Mississippi without my family and without seeing my grandparents and cousins! I took this road trip so that I could see the two girls I worked with in the Philippines this summer: Cameron and Sarah.

Cameron is from Raleigh, North Carolina. She is the one that is 5 ft 2 inches tall (like me) with short brown hair. She is definitely one of those excited about life kind of people. I decided after this summer and weekend that I need to be around those kinds of people more! It is good for me! It helps me get more excited about life! Cameron arrived in Toccoa on Thursday night. Her coming here was definitely wonderful! I got more excited to see her and Sarah than I have been in a long time about anything!

We left at 10 the next morning and headed to Oxford. Thank goodness for my Garmin Nuvi that I got for my birthday. It definitely helped us get there! It was a funny trip down there. Cameron had never been to Alabama or Mississippi. In my mind, she might as well have been on her way back to the Philippines with as much excitement as this brought on. I didn't know Alabama could inspire such excitement. It was really entertaining. Mississippi of course, is warm to my heart but most people find it repulsive, not Cameron. She thought it was "so beautiful". ha.

We got to Sarah's house around 4:15 that evening. She lives in a little red house off of 334 in Oxford. That night she took us on a tour of the Ole Miss campus (it looked a little different to me than I had remmebered from growing up going to the football games there). We also got a tour of the square, which is apparently the big thing in Oxford. They modeled the town after Oxford, England and so they have red telephone booths and a double decker bus downtown. It was kind of neat. It is definitely a cute little town. Lizzy Gray (a girl I got to know this summer) was coming down to meet us. So, we ended up killing time by taking a bunch of pictures, eating a snack at a cute little coffee shop, and looking in the little shops on the square.

We got the recipe for chicken adobo (a very good Filipino dish) and decided we would make it together. Sarah has all these cute little aprons so we put them on and cooked our dinner together. It was a lot of fun. Lizzy finally got there around 8:45 and we ate dinner. It was very good! The rest of the night we watched a ridiculous movie we saw together in the PHilippines again and then went to bed.

On Saturday we got up early and went to eat breakfast at the Bottletree Bakery. Sarah said we couldn't come stay with her without eating there. They did have really good food and coffee. We enjoyed talking to each other and stuff. Lizzy's friend and boyfriend came up to help her look for an apartment, so after breakfast they left. We went to three different places looking for kites (it was a really windy day and we wanted to fly some). We finally found some at Wal-Mart. Cameron also found a bubble wand. haha. It looked like a lite sabre. I had never seen one of those things before. We took the kites over to Lake Patsy (which is more like a bigger pond than it is a lake). We took our blanket with us and put it on the ground in between these three hills. It was like 70 degrees so it wad definitely warm enough to be hanging out outside. We flew our kites for a while and ran up and down the hills with them. Later I saw two eight year old boys doing the exact same thing...ha. We also played around with the bubbles and took lots of pictures.

In my opinion, we could do absolutely nothing together and still have an amazing time. That's probably because we got to know each other in the Philippines where there is nothing to do! If you can have fun with someone when there is absolutely nothing to do, then you can have fun with them anywhere doing anything! That is the good thing about our friendship. we genuinely know each other. When we get together it feels like we never left and we can talk to one another about anything, not just the Philippines.

After the lake, we went over to William Faukner's house (Sarah said we had to do all the main things in Oxford while we were there). It was really pretty. We ended up taking even more pictures, which was fun.

We ate lunch at 3:30 at this place called Catfish One. It is a little shack on the side of the road, the typical Mississippi place to eat. There wasn't an inside, just outside picnic benches. They had stuffed crab, catfish, fried pickles, chicken strips, etc.. I was really excited about the fried pickles! The catfish was really good too!I was a little bit surprised!

AFter that we headed back to Sarah's house to hang out. Apparently there is a room in the attic with a window to the roof. So, we went out on the roof and looked out over the land near her house. We also had our own little dance party up there. It was kind of fun.

That night we watched a movie and then Sarah invited a bunch of people from Nehemiah teams this summer to come hang out. most of them live around Oxford. So, we played some Play Station 2 and caught up on their lives. It was fun! I was exhausted though by the time we went to bed because I am still sick with whatever is going around. "The killer cold" lasts like ten days or longer! It's ridiculous!

It was sad to say goodbye yesterday morning. Me and Cameron left around 8:00 so that She could get back at a reasonable hour. We ate breakfast in Tupelo at the world's slowest McDonalds, so it took us a little bit longer to get back than we had imagined.

I had a lot of fun hanging out with them though! WE always have a lot of fun together. I wish we didn't live so far apart. But, we are planning our next outing for this summer! Sarah is trying to talk me into going to seminary in New Orleans so I can live with her and Cameron is trying to talk me into going to Southeastern so I will be near her! Lol. It'd be fun if we could all live in the same place!

Here are some pictures from our roadtrip:

This last week passed by pretty fast. I was glad. I am definitely ready to graduate! This next week I am hoping will go by fast. Although, I have kind of a short week. Tuesday there are no classes. They called them off for a day of prayer. Thursday Cameron is coming to spend the night and Friday morning we are getting up and leaving. We are going on a road trip to Oxford, MS to see Sarah and Lizzy! I haven't seen the girls I worked with in the Philippines since I got back. It's been six months and I miss them a LOT! I can't even describe the excitement I have to get to spend some time with them!!! It should be fun!

This past Thursday me and Jonathan went on a date to Franklin, NC. It sounds like a long way away, but it's only 50 miles from us. We went to the Fun Factory. The Fun Factory is a place with Go-Carts, bowling, laser tag, putt-putt and tons of arcade games. All of it, except the go-carts are inside, so you don't have to worry about being cold. For $20.00 we got to play arcade games for an hour and a half and we got to play a game of bowling, laser tag and putt putt. I thought that was really good for having paid only $20. It was nice. The workers kept giving us things for free though (I am still not sure why). I beat Jonathan in Laser Tag, basketball, and skee ball. I don't think he liked that very much! Lol. He did beat me in golf and bowling though. They had this massive cow that you could pay to milk. I was SO EXCITED when I saw it! I have always wanted to milk a cow! I definitely took my turn at it! It was fun! We had a good time.

Friday night was the concert. It went really well. I enjoyed listening to jonathan's band but got a little bored listening to everyone else. We ended up leaving early. Yesterday I hung out with my sister. We went to the gym to work out and then went to eat lunch together. I also got to spend time at their church watching Andrew coach the Upward's basketball team. It was hilarious. All the little kids do crazy things while they are playing. I was laughing a lot!

Today I woke up feeling sick. There is some type of sore throat and runny nose thing going around. I don't have the runny nose yet, but I do have an incredible sore throat! Everytime I swallow it KILLS me! I hate that feeling! It isn't fun. I hoping it will go away quickly!

Well, I have a lot of homework to get done...