Briana Noel

Time.

2011-07-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

I just want to share something that’s been bothering me lately, something I feel I’ve realized just recently. Something that is so important, but that so many people take for granted. This would be the concept of time, or rather, spending time with those we love and are closest to. This is something we don’t do enough of.

I realized this concept majorly this past weekend at my friend’s wedding. Although I always made it a point to see Alina and catch up with her every time I was home from school, I realized it wasn’t enough. As memories of classes, fun times and laughter we had together in high school came flying back and hit me in the face, I realized I never spent as much time with her as I had hoped before she got married. Then suddenly, reality struck as I remembered she is soon leaving to move out to California with her new husband. Though I am super excited for her, for practically the whole wedding however, I couldn’t help but regret not spending more time with her. And now who knows when I will see her again…

Through pondering this basically the whole rest of the day with another close friend, something hit me again. I suddenly remembered that California is not the farthest place in the world my friends can move to before or after they’re married…

And then I just got really sad. It was almost like I wanted to quick gather up all my close friends at that very moment and travel to Never Land together so we wouldn’t grow up anymore. So life could stay the way it is at this very moment. Now, that is a very ridiculous thing of course, but it was an idea.

Thinking more realistically, I decided I need to cherish the time God has given me now to enjoy these blessed friendships. I need to be sure I am making the time to see my friends now and build more memories before it is too late. Now, I’m not saying that once they all get married that’s the end of it and we’ll never see each other again, cause that would totally stink! I’m just saying that it will be much harder to find the time and it definitely won’t be the same. I have also come to remember the words from a book I once read that say: “Time is our most precious gift because you only have a set time of it…when you give someone your time, you are giving them a portion of your life that you’ll never get back. Your time is your life, that’s why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time.”

And how true that is! Not only have I come to realize this from Alina’s wedding, but from my own cousin’s wedding. Again, wishing I would have been able to spend more time with her because even though she still lives 15 minutes away, I see the changes already and I hate it. And not just speaking in wedding terms, but with life in general. It’s still so easy to let time get away from us…something my friend in Georgia recently realized. A few months ago, his life almost ended and through God’s grace, he now realizes how important it is to spend time with his friends, even if they are states away. Just the other night he kept apologizing for not keeping in touch as much as we had hoped and kept promising to stay in touch more because life is so short, and unpredictable.

Okay, enough rambling. My main point of all of this? Basically, I made a promise to myself that I have to spend more time with others before it’s too late and life flies right by. We never know when our life will end, or when one of us will be engaged…haha….and I don’t want to sit back again and ponder at a funeral or wedding celebration and regret not spending enough time with my friend when I had the opportunity to.

More specifically, a few messages to some friends:

Inna, Victor, Taras: we must make it a point every time I am home to see each other and do something fun! No excuses!!

Keith & Anna Lynn: let’s try our best not to be too bogged down with homework in the library this year and go out and do something fun one weekend! (or more than one!!)

And yes, Zach, you too, we all have to be sure to keep hanging out together (even if you guys are no longer brothers) and play wally ball or something!!

Life is too short and time is too precious to not spend enough of it with those good friends. And as a close friend once told me, “friends are a gift from God, and are supposed to be cherished.” Now, I don’t know about you guys, but I need to start cherishing more the blessings God’s poured out on me by spending more time with my friends!! :)

"He has made everything beautiful in its time..." ~Ecclesiastes 3:11

Too much of a good thing can become a bad thing...

2011-06-10T15:27:00.000-07:00

...and it's so true! Even in the bridal world. Sound weird? I know. Let me take this post to explain a little bit:

Obviously, my current job is at David's Bridal so I'm surrounded by wedding planning and bridal shopping ALL DAY. Now don't get me wrong, it's very exciting and I absolutely love what I do, but recently I've caught myself getting a little annoyed with it (maybe because sales have been tough lately...ha) or just because of the fact that I'm constantly surrounded by it. I mean constantly! One hour I will get in a new bride and have to work with her and then the next hour, another bride comes in and I go through the exact same process. Asking about the fiance, what style dress she's interested in, what the budget is, what colors she likes, how many party members she has, where the wedding is at, on & on & on. Although again, I absolutely love to hear this stuff from my brides and it's a different experience and story each time, I think I've become so aquainted with the whole wedding process now and concept of a wedding as a whole. Almost like I'm so familiar with it, it doesn't excite me anymore. It's quite embarrassing to admit actually, but being surrounded by it all the time (and yes, even at home...for example, I'll think to my self: "Oh! I wonder if (insert bride name here) came back to the store today to order her dress!) has made me so immune to the whole "wedding process." So much to the point that I've forgotten what it's all truly about. Too much of this good thing has become a bad thing. Again, let me explain:

Last night I had the wonderful privilege to get to hang out with a good friend who's my age and is getting married this summer. God has blessed me with her friendship in my life these past 5 years and it's been just been truly amazing to encourage each other in Christ as we grow older. Anyways, I spent a couple hours talking with her about her wedding and wonderful, Godly fiance. There was much excitement in our conversation as she was telling me all of the things which they had planned, how they are working toward building their marriage on Biblical foundations, and of course, trying to imagine all the other blessing God has in store for their life together! (I think there is something so different about talking with someone you know personally who's getting married rather than someone you've just met and are trying to encourage them to "buy their dress". At the same time, it's so refreshing when both you and the bride have the same Spiritual foundations and can reflect back and see how God has orchestrated the process and use it for His glory) :)

Anyways, at one point in our conversation I definitely had a big epiphany, if you want to call it that. She was talking to me about how she envisioned the wedding day: beautiful in her dress, good weather, her entire family and loved ones there....and at one point she said "I just want to make sure that everything ...." as to where I finished "...is perfect." She smiled and said, "well yes, but I want to make sure everything brings glory to God." Wow. Stop right there!! Can i say I felt slightly dumb!? Cause I did! Here I am, with this worldview that a wedding must be absolutely perfect from the outside and there she was much more concerned about giving back to God from the blessing and giving Him the glory!

That was a wake up call to myself, realizing that I've downplayed the whole wedding thing and haven't been remembering it for what it's really all about. Now don't get me wrong, I knew what it's all about, it's just that, well, with always being surrounded by it in a worldly way, I kind of forgot... My conversation with my friend last night was a great reminder for me to actually reflect on the true concept of marriage and not just the love filled, romantic stories I hear daily. Also, a reminder for the wedding to not only be glorifying to God on the "big day" but for the entire marriage, obviously! ;)

Now, I don't want to say I know a whole lot about marriage, because I don't. I'm not married, obviously, (despite how many times people at work ask me if I am), and I might not ever be. But from what I do know, marriage is sacred, holy, a reflection of how God calls ourselves to Him. Paul writes in Ephesians 5:31-33: "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you must also love his wife as he loves himself and the wife must respect her husband." Marriage is a gift from God. It's not nearly as simple as people at work make it; it's a reflection of Christ and the church itself. A profound mystery! At the same time, it's also something that so many people take lightly; something they take for granted. Something that people tend to do over and over just because they rushed into it the first time or get bored too quickly. We twist, destroy, and degrade the beautiful blessing God's given us in our lives and make it amount to nothing more than just a day to dress up all pretty and have everything be perfect. We forget our wedding day is not just for us, but first and foremost for our Creator.

With all this remembered and reiterated in my life thanks to my conversation, I can sure say that today, I went into work with a totally different mind set. I wasn't working just for the sale or just to help someone find their perfect dress and wish them the most romantic and perfect day of their life. Now, of course nothings wrong with that but at the same time, I was doing much more. I was working to bring glory to God through helping someone along with their wedding process. Hoping that my actions and attitude about it all would help make people realize that there is a much deeper meaning to marriage than what they may have ever expected. Having this in mind, it totally broke my heart today when I saw a lesbian couple out shopping and trying on a dress. What a distorted view of marriage they had! If only one day they will come to the Biblical knowledge of what it's all about and see the way God truly intended it to be!

So let me just wrap this up by saying that each and every day now, I'm going to be going into work with a new perspective. Well, not necessarily new, because it's not a new concept to me, but just with a clearer vision of what God intended through this beautiful gift of marriage. My vision has been repaired as I remember the beauty of what marriage truly is all about. I thank God for this reminder through my conversation last night.

And although they may never see this blog post, this is a total shout out to Alina and Roman who are incredibly blessed by God and whom I love soo much!! May God bless them forever and always as they are living their life in testimony of Him and are a true reflection of they way God intended marriage to be. A true reflection of how Christ loves the church! He is working in their lifes so together in an incredible way already! Praise Him! <3

"(Love) always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." ~1 Corinthians 13:7-8

Overwhelmed.

2011-05-16T12:48:00.000-07:00

Summer has only just begun and I feel so overwhelmed with everything already. There is so much to get done, so much to prepare for, and so much to learn! I feel like I am still in school. Really.

Recently, I have just been so overwhelmed with getting things ready for Ukraine. Planning the crafts for the kids, thinking ahead and trying to buy everything that I need, preparing myself spiritually, and of course the hardest part, trying to learn the language..ah! I have constantly been reminded however that I cannot do any of this and accomplish it in the best way on my own terms. I have been reminded to live each day this summer with faith and move on to the next day with even more faith. That is the only way to get things done and do it the way God would have us to. A friend gave me a quote the other day which really spoke to me saying: "Faith can move mountains but sometimes God needs to give you a little shove." So true!

I praise God that He never gives us anything that we cannot handle with His help. And in those times when we feel like it is too much to handle, He is there to prove Himself mighty and powerful to help us in all our times of need and give us a shove in the right direction.

This point leads me to another reality which I find overwhelming and have been thinking about a lot lately. The amazing fact that God calls us one of His own, that He delights in us. Psalm 18:19 says: "He brought me forth into a broad place; He rescued me, because He delighted in me." I know it's such a simple truth, and so well known, but I think it's way too easy for us many times to ignore this. We get so overwhelmed and caught up in our own situations and preparations that it becomes so easy to forget that the God of the universe actually delights in us as we delight in Him! When we take time to really meditate on this and praise God for it, I think we will come to find ourselves so overwhelmed by what a great and awesome God we serve despite our sinfulness. He not only helps us in our weakness and those times of feeling overwhelmed to prove Himself to us, but because He delights in us. Being reminded of this recently has just been very awesome! :)

Although currently, this summer doesn't really seem like much a break with work, teaching, church activities, trips, and classes starting up here again in a few short weeks, it has been refreshing to spend more time with God and quiet my heart before Him as I watch and see how He's helping me accomplish all that needs to be done this summer!

"So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." ~Matthew 6:34

What a Blessing!! :)

2011-05-09T18:09:00.000-07:00

Well, that’s it. All finished up with my first year at the wonderful Cedarville University! And it’s truly so hard to believe. I’m not totally sure where exactly the time has gone and how it happened to literally fly by so fast. However, what I do know though is that God has incredibly blessed me this year with an awesome place and an awesome group of friends! Let me just take a second to explain:

When I left for Cedarville, I seemed to be leaving a lot behind at home and didn’t quite know what to expect of things and relationships at Cedarville. To be honest, I think I came here pretty close minded, not really willing to open up and build deep friendships with anyone. I actually didn’t really believe I would even find a good group of close friends whom I enjoyed being around so much. Well, let’s just say that after the first few weeks, God totally proved me wrong…He enabled me to begin some good friendships which would grow throughout the year. Looking back, I’m very undeserving of all the blessed relationships He’s provided for me; I’ve been able to build awesome friendships with some girls from my unit as well as the guys from my brother unit! :) And although not all of us will be together for fall semester, I can only hope and pray that these friendships remain close we can and build many more fun memories!

Reflecting, I’ve come to realize that God has taught me quite a lot and I have grown as an individual. He has taught me a lot about myself, others and how to think and act towards people whom I may differ from. It has been a very neat, humbling and at times challenging experience. I have learned that although it is such a blessing, it can be at times hard to live in an environment where I am constantly surrounded by Christians because when times get busy, I find it easier to push God aside because I feel like I don’t necessarily need Him as much. Continually hungering and thirsting for Him no matter my circumstances and who I’m surrounded by has been another big lesson I’ve learned.

There has been so much more that went on and I’ve learned this first year and I definitely don’t have time to talk about it all now….maybe in some other posts. But for now, it’s sure exciting to have a break from school, although I miss everyone and wish everyone just lived here in Cleveland with me. ;) Imagine all the fun we’d have!!haha. Anyways, this summer will be good to just relax (though that is far from what I’m doing) and just focus on God and my future. I can tell already, summer is just going to fly by, but that may be alright because I’m looking forward to going back to Cedarville in August! God bless everyone this summer! :)

“He has made everything beautiful in its time…”Ecclesiastes 3:11

Inspiration

2011-04-29T20:36:00.001-07:00

So since I am just now finding out that a few of my friends have been creating blogs which is totally awesome, I have been inspired to keep up to date with posts and what not. Looking at my blog now, I realize that a lot of it is silly stuff and I think now it's time to get a bit more serious...maybe...and talk about some real things and what God has been doing in my life and what not. So here's to me being back and blogging again with what will be much more than just pictures and silly stories!! :) Yeayy!

"Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." ~Romans 12:1

Cedarville Part 1: My Dorm Room!

2010-10-01T14:18:00.000-07:00

Cedarville...ahh....there is soo much that i can blog about this place, but truly it's too much to put into one post, and it would be a very long post so I'm gonna do this in parts. Hopefully at least once a week, permitting I have time, and get feedback and comments that is! Where are all my blogging buddies anyways!? Especially Joy, where have you been cousin!?!?

Anyways, this section will be my dorm room, how exciting! :) Ok, the top pic. is my room on the first day after about 45 minutes of thinking of a way the TINY room can be arranged w/ all the furniture while still having room to walk around. Finally, after so long of trying to figure out a set up, we found something that worked!

And ok, the picture here is what my room looks like now. Pretty amazing, right!? I love it! :) Please take notice of how super clean it is...some rooms aren't. And if ya'll were here in person, you'd be able to notice the nice scent of room spray my room always smells like: "Carmel Apple" from Bath & Body Works. A very delicious, fragrant fall scent. (No, they did not pay me to make that advertisement, though it would sure help for my tuition...)ha.

And here you may be thinking to yourself: "wait, what happened to her room mate? Why does the room look kinda empty, and clean!?" Well, as I'm sure you guys know by now, it just so happened that my roommate left b/c she didn't feel like it was God's will for her to be here at the moment. And now I'm sure you're thinking to yourself: "well I'm sure you love it Bri, but don't you get lonely?" Actually, no. You see, the empty bed (and corner of my bed) is a lovely place for my unit girls to just plop right down and chill. Actually, this happens all the time. When I'm in my room (which isn't very much actually) Kerith and Anna Lynn are usually sprawled out on the bed and we're telling each other stories or listening to songs that apply to our daily lives. It's quite fun and I'm never lonely or hardly in my room all by my self...except for now of course...haha. Wait.............oh haha! I take it back! They just came in!!lol :-P

Alrighty, and this is the one corner of my room
right next to my window. I just recently added the colorful Bible verses b/c the wall was just soo plain. Now that I think about it, I'm actually waiting to pick up some Cedarville pictures from wal*mart to put on this wall as well! But notice my lovely two plants, (I have another one on my desk)...but i love them! They just add life to my room! I was actually hoping to get some nice tall flowers too....so if anyone wants to send some to me my address is:

251 N. Main St. #2666

Cedarville, OH 45314.

Hahaha! And I'm debating on whether or not to get a fish...hmmm....maybe a Beta??

Ok, and for this last picture, this is the view I see right now when I look up from sitting on my bed. My closet is straight ahead obviously with the sweet zebra curtain. And I know you are all just jealous of my sword and princess crown hanging up on my wall from our bro&sis volley ball game...lol Pictures of that will come later, maybe. And speaking of, that wall could use some more pictures too I guess! Actually, now that I see this part of my room in a picture, I realize I should probably get some pillows for the bed to make it a bit more cozy, not to mention it'll look better! Well, that's it for now!

"And my God will supply ALL your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." ~Philippians 4:19

Hot in Cleveland!

2010-07-19T19:39:00.000-07:00

Have you heard of that new TV series called "Hot in Cleveland?" Well, if so....don't you agree that the main actresses should be the Conrad Sisters instead of whoever it is that plays the roles now?lol

Haha. Anyways, the title of that TV show inspired us girls to attempt to take some cute (or should I say "hot") pictures while down in Cleveland these past few times...

So here's what we came up w/...

lol

Ok, honestly, I don't like the word "hot..." it just sounds bad... so we'll stick w/ "cute" pictures.

(AHHH!! Formatting is stupid!)grr!

My attempt at taking a "Hot in Cleveland" picture.

It didn't really work....and never does...other than smiling for pictures, i can't really make a good face...

Ok, technically, this isn't really Cleveland, it's Sandusky, but we'll just pretend.
When Aunt Gloria was in town, us & the Jankes went down to the lighthouse one Sunday afternoon and did what we cousins like to do best-take pictures!! :)

We were having a lot of fun...until we saw a huuuge snake over by the rocks while posing for a picture!! It was the biggest, fattest snake any of us had ever seen....totally sick!! And no, we didn't take a picture of it, it moved way too quick. Sorry.haha.

Another confession: this isn't Cleveland either, it's our backyard. But once again, we'll pretend.

I'm having fun w/ little cousins Lydia and Julius. They are sooo cute, and photogenic!! :) However, the picture would have been all the more cuter if I had another little cousin in here....one named Dawson...(ahem! We miss you guys Joy!!)

Ok, and now back to being "Hot in Cleveland!" Wait... I mean "cute."lol

Three hot blonde cousins!! :) We've been waiting to take a blonde picture for awhile....sorry Kels.

(whoops!! I said "hot" again!)lol

And now a shot of the whole family "Hot in Cleveland"...with the exception of Uncle Gil, whose taking the picture.

Me, mom, the cutest family ever: Steve, Jenessa & baby Mia, Aunt Colleen, Ragelle, Karah, Kelsey and Kirsten.

That was a good, fun day! Tower City, Army thing for Steve, Jack Frost doughnuts, the works! But to everyone's disappointment, not West Side Market...who knew it wasn't open every day of the week!?lol

Despite that fact, it was great to have family up here once again.....we've missed it...and we can't wait until next time...till everyone else comes up here and we can be "Hot in Cleveland" once again!!lol (yea, i know, i keep using that word)lol

"The pride of man will be humbled and the loftiness of men will be abased; and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day." ~Isaiah 2:22

Pink Tux to the Prom

2010-07-12T19:33:00.000-07:00

Prom....ha. I didn't really want to go to prom...not at all actually. Then I decided I'd go on one condition, if my friend Alina wanted to go and seeing as how we both don't dance, that was seriously the one and only way I'd attend this important right of passage (or so it's called.)lol

The week of prom ticket sale, I was still not planning on going...until... Alina called me about 2 days before tickets were done being sold and decided she wanted to go...and I didn't want to disappoint her.

We both already had dresses so thankfully there was no need for a crash prom dress shopping day! (Joy, do you recognize this dress at all!?) ;)

Prom was okay...the food was alright, and I'm sure the dancing was bad, except I didn't see much of it b/c me and Alina were outside the whole time catching up w/ each other's lives, giving advice, and having a great God conversation.

We took pictures before hand and everyone was being boring and taking the same old standard "put your arm around each other and smile" pose until i decided to jazz it up by attempting to work in something a little bit "cuter."

And I'm not putting up too many pictures here b/c i looked soooo gross!!

(my newly cut short hair might have had something to do w/ it...)ha.

But now, here's the big question.....although I said I wouldn't dance at prom, did I?? The answer: yes, I did. Both me and Alina actually. After talking out side for quite a while, to avoid getting bit by bugs, me and Alina went inside in this cute little living room area (away from the dance floor,) took some more pictures, sat on the couch and continued to chat away. But seeing as how we were the only ones in there, Alina decided we should at least pop out one dance move....I agreed. So, we both stood up, she twirled in a circle, and I twirled in a circle. Then we sat down, happy we "danced" at our prom. Yup...and that was it. (On a technical level, can you even call that dancing!?!)lol

Another attempt at a cute pose...how'd we do??haha.

And just for giggles, look at how mad I look here...it looks like I'm taking prom way too seriously!!lol

Yup, and that's my senior prom...which I never quite expected to go to....but I'm glad I did. It wasn't how I pictured prom, but was much, much better and blessed because I had Alina there with me and enjoyed our conversations very much!! :)

"Charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord shall be greatly praised." ~Proverbs 31:30

(ps: I hate blog formatting...it never turns out how I want....) :( lol

Time is Ticking Away...

2010-06-17T18:18:00.000-07:00

So, I decided it was finally time to blog about graduation. But then, once all my pictures were loaded, i realized that i forgot to blog about prom...so my blog will be a little bit out of order, but that's ok, right?

Anyways, this is me, obviously on commencement day! Woo!! I'm done! It feels normal, except for the part when i remember that i won't ever see a lot of the people i knew ever again, that is weird....but for most of the kids, i don't mind at all!! :-P ha.

Let's get started, shall we?

Me and my proud parents (oh! Notice the cold tassle and chord, that means National Honors Society. Inna, you will have this!!)

This is when i actually received my diploma....i look sooo silly and happy!

A closer up shot of me....kinda....

(Useless Information: the guy behind me was super, super, super annoying!)

Me and my friend Erin...together, we suffered in three years of band with a crazy director but great percussion instructor!!lol

Me and my happy family!

Ramune, me and Ernesta. It's crazy & sad to see how much they both have changed since the 8th grade.

Happy sisters!

Alina, me & Lesya

All looking gooooood!! :) lol

Ernesta, (some guy Robert), Alina, Ramune, Patricia, me & Lesya. Looking excited and a bit awkward.

Ok, and now to end this, i can't help but remanance for a minute....

It seems like just yesterday i was in band, playing for Oksana's commencement....looking back though, it's hard to think that was 2 short years ago!

What's even harder to think is that the very next year it was me playing at Taras' commencement! It seems like just yesterday....

But the weirdest thing of all is that this year, it was my turn....how crazy! I cannot believe that time flies by sooo quickly! Inna, get ready because this will be you next year!

And just as quickly as my high school graduation came, even more quickly will everything else in my life come. It makes me think, am i spending my time wisely, on things and with the people that matter the most to me? Am i doing all I can to glorify God? Are you???

(Above paragraph inspired by one of Victor's blog posts, thanks!)

As I think we're all coming to find out, time flies by wayyy too quickly, we don't have time to be messing around...and so, as one wise young man once told me, "live life to the fullest, God's way." Because that's the only way to be living!! :)

" 'For I know the plans that I have for you, 'declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.' " ~Jeremiah 29:11-23

What God Sees Fit

2010-05-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, God sees fit to place things in our lives which we cannot explain. We will never quite understand why He brings friendships to us at a time when our life seems fully devoted and surrendered to Him. These may, overtime, become a distraction for our relationship with God and He knows it, so, He orchestrates things in a way as to where He is the center and things begin to work our perfectly. It may even work out so perfectly as to where we look at the situation through our eyes only and forget God is mighty and powerful to arrange what may seem impossible. This mind set effects us because we look at our situations from only our worldly standpoint and think our hopes and dreams for the future are hopeless due to one minor difference. We forget too, who God is and how He loves to bless our lives in ways which we would never expect or even deserve. This sin and doubt eventually builds up so much that God has to do what He can to pull us out. This is usually where He sees fit to jazz up our lives a bit. :0 Too many times, God sees fit to do this through drama in order to bring Him back to the center and remind us that He's in control. Yes, of course it is painful, it always is. However, once we realize we can get through it with God, we notice our fights, jealousy, and intentions are getting us nowhere. In turn, they eventually begin to ruin a beautiful blessing God saw fit to give us. After a handful of stressful days and sleepless nights, we come to a conclusion that we've been causing more unnecessary drama and need to trust each others words without being so quick to judge and assume things. In this way, God shows us to forgive and forget, but not forget that this is His blessing to us and to trust Him through all the situations. When this first lesson is finally learned, one season of drama passes, God sees fit to bring the friendship back. Things go great and everything is perfect once again. The friendship bond is strong, filled with fun and laughter...but of course, honoring and glorifying God, remembering He is the center of this amazing gift. But unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world anymore, and no matter how good things can seems to be going, they always get hard again, and God sees fit to add drama again to strengthen and teach us. Once again, pain is caused, and even sometimes unintentionally. We try to act wise in our own eyes, and it may work for awhile. It's almost like we cover up feelings and emotions by hiding them under a bandage. Yes, it makes things better for awhile, but too soon, God sees fit to remove that bandage, letting out the thoughts which were rushing through us. By that time however, it is too late and people change and move on...and God knew this would happen all along. To some, this may be a huge lesson and a way for God to strengthen us, but for other people though, it is simply more drama. Fights and arguments begin to run nonstop, painful words and actions are said and done to each other, and very, very deep feelings of hurt and regret are causing people to cry like never before. Through it all though, God doesn't leave us. He sees fit to cause this, but not just to leave us hanging there in pain. His promise to "finish what He began" and "work everything out for the good for those who love Him" keep us striving to seek Him through patience and endurance. God sees fit to challenge us in this situation in order to strengthen us and draw us closer to Him. Finally, after months of God's aching heart watching us in this drama filled hurt and pain, He sees fit to put an end to it and begins to restore the beauty He once made. Yes, of course things never turn out how they were, but restoration alone is enough to show God is All Mighty and ultimately in control. He makes things what He wants them to be. Since we are all human, many of us have a hard time accepting God's timing and what He's orchestrating in our lives, we forget that "God makes everything beautiful in its time" and that "there is a proper time and procedure for every delight, though a man's trouble is heavy upon him." We often fight to have things go our way, upset at how they are turning out and dwelling on the past. We forget though, that we shouldn't say "why is it that the former days were better than these?" We need to realize that this is "not of wisdom" to be asking this, because in a way, it's almost like challenging God and assuming our position is higher than His and that we should be in control to make things how they once were. This is all wrong because we end up living in the past and don't always realize the gifts God saw fit to bless us with in that day. Sometimes too, for reasons we cannot explain just as God saw fit to give us friendships, He too sees fit to begin to take them away. Of course this is an extremely hard fact to accept, and so many times be look back at situations that didn't work out how we had truly hoped or planned and we get confused. Because of all this, we constantly ask ourselves "what was the purpose of God putting them in my life?" This question is often left unanswered and as a result, we see ourselves unsatisfied. Yea, sure you guys both played an important role in one another's life, but maybe it wasn't for the purpose of them in your life as much as it was the purpose of you in their life. The biggest challenge here in this though, is continuing to show love to them. Real, true, Biblical love. Agape love, self sacrificing. Putting your friend's desires and dreams before that of your own. Realizing that you may have to do something you don't want to or watch them through a situation you'd rather not because it's what they want and you realize you cannot be selfish and want to fulfill only your own desires. It's loving them so much that you begin to want what it is they want for themselves because it may be best for them and you love them enough to let go and let them move forward. In this way, you have lived out true love; love like that from Christ with His people. This is the kind of love God saw fit for us. The kind of love we are suppose to have for one another, the kind of love that is suppose to surround our friendships....whether or not we feel like self sacrificing, that is no excuse. This is what our First Love demands. When people realize this, it can often lead to the point of total surrender. We come to the realization that not everything in life is about us and to make us happy. We need to be looking out and caring for others just as we do ourselves, in fact, more than ourselves. In this way, when we become wholly surrendered to God and His plan, although we may never understand it and be disappointed for some time...it pleases Him. It reminds us that God is greater than us, that He is in Heaven while we are down here on earth, that once He is involved and the center, He is always involved, even if it means in the tough times. And too, just think, when we reach this point of total surrender again, who knows? God may, in time, see fit to bless us with another friendship once again.... "Consider the work of God, for who is able to straighten what He has bent? In the day of prosperity be happy, but in the day of adversity consider-God has made the one as well as the other so that man will not discover anything that will be after him." ~Ecclesiastes 7:13-14

To Be or Not to Be?

2010-05-09T15:00:00.000-07:00

Cedarville or Cleveland State?
(idk!??!?!)

Myself or others?

(others)

Missions or music?
(both!?)

Band or Orchestra?

(symphonic band)

Be patient, or hunt?

(patience...)

Stop eating sweets, or gain weight?

(no sweets!)

No facebook, or facebook?

(idk!?!)

Weekly phone calls, or emails?

(both!!)

Texting or no texting?

(idk!?)

1 year, or 3 years?

(God's will....)

Survive, or hardly make it through?

(.........)

To be or not to be?

(idk!?!)

I could go on and on.....but i sound crazy! Just felt like sharing a few tough college choices.....

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." ~Romans 8:28

2010-04-06T12:54:00.000-07:00

So this past Easter, I had the pleasure of making some pretty sweet eggs...Ukrainian style!! :) And i'm not even Ukrainian, how cool is that!?

Yup! And thanks to Inna, i had the opportunity be able to do this!! :) It was great!

It was actually really, really sweet. And i know all the Ukrainians already know how to do this, so i'll expalin for the Americans!lol Ok, here goes a bad explanation:

There was like this plastic wrap thing that you put around the egg, carefully set it in the boiling water (what i found out after my first 2!) and watch it quickly, faster than lightening, shrink onto the egg. It was amazing!! :O

My first one turned out perfectly, then the 2 after that not as good b/c i kinda dropped them into the water. (Which Inna told me later not to do, but i shold have guessed!)haha. So the next two were kinda messed up as you can tell, the plastic isn't on there evenly. :( But they still looked great!! :)

And actually, i think the best part about it was watching Kelsey's face!! She was in total shock when she saw me put the egg into the water....she was almost yelling at me: "How did you do that? Where did you get that?" Well, that's my little secret!! ;)

"My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?"
~Psalm 42:2

Change.

2010-03-26T16:27:00.000-07:00

Ok. Well, seeing the update on Inna's blog bucket list made me think that i really need to update mine. (Thanks for the inspiration!) Plus, this update matches my blog's format/background update, so there we go!

~Memorize more Bible verses
*Still need to work on this!
~Get through my last year of high school w/o getting senioritious
*I seriously forgot there was such a thing!
~Find a good job (and actually get hired)
*I have 2 jobs now; David's Bridal & Old Time Pottery
~Survive Tri-C during my senior year
*I totally am!!
~Meet many new people who i can be a wittness to
* I have talked to ppl from work & college
~Become a better Godly example to ALL those around me
*Hopefully I have been
~Focus more & more on God each day
*I fail in this all the time, sadly. But with God, I can do it!
~Gain wisdom & insight on God and understand how to get through all situations i am presented with
*Have recently been learning to trust in God's wisdom even though I still mess up
~Get a new cool phone w/ texting!
*I have a newer phone, had texting for about a month...not anymore tho :(
~Take ballroom dancing lessons avec mon petit chou! ;)
*Still waiting
~Sky dive....haha-not really; not ever!!
*No comment.
~Get accepted in a good (christian) college while having a car there w/ me
*Cedarville baby!! (God willing...now it's just a huge $$$ issue!) No car.
~Finding a car!
*My dad's old camry
~Work as a Disney princess (Sleeping Beauty!) at Disney World in Florida!!! :)
*I'm getting Disney employee emails...& waiting a couple yrs for an audition! maybe.
~Learn to improvise on the piano!! (this will take some prayer!!)
*Kinda improving, slowly. :)
~Learn to sing w/ a lovely voice(...ahhh...if only)
*I'm taking voice lessons!!
~Finding God's will for my life and living it out
*Seeking it in confusion daily
~Marry that man who God has in store pour moa
*What's so bad about being single?
~Get married and have a beautiful outdoor wedding
*See above.
~Be the best wife i can be for my hubby!!
*See above, again.
~Travel to Europe avec mon amies et mon petit chou! ;)
*Maybe not w/ mon petit chou, but deff w/ my besties!! :)
~Be in (or at least be invited to) several other weddings!!! :) :)
*I'll give this one a couple of years.
~Buy a wonderful, (big) maison pour moa et mon petit chou (w/o going into debt!!)
*Big or small, it doesn't matter too much anymore. I'll sore up my for my mansion above instead.
~Take a couple road trips...(in college too!)
*Yup! Still on the list!!
~Find a good job being an elementary teacher
*Hopefully in about 4 years I can say this has been accomplished successfully.
~Go on countless missions trips during my summer off, avec mom petit chou
*Ukraine next summer!!! :) (God willing!)
~Have some kids...and stay home to raise them in a Godly manner
*God willing, my missions kids will be my life!!
~Be a wonderful, fun, funny, cute old grandma to my darling grandkids (God willing)
*Hmmm....see prior comments.
~Try my best to do everything else God wants me to b/c i can't think anymore...
*I'll aim for this forever and always!
~After a (long???), blessed life, start the never-ending one w/ my Lord
*I'm becoming sooo impatient for this!!

That's the latest for now. I'm sure I'll have to update it again in the winter or smthing....but for now, i know what i need to improve on and keep shooting for!

"Make me know Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day." ~Psalm 25:4-5

Have You Ever Hit a Snowbank?

2010-03-17T18:57:00.000-07:00

I have! And it's about time that i share this funny/embarrassing experience!

Obviously, this happened on a very icy day b/c i'm not that bad of a driver as to where i'm always running into snow banks! I mean, i may be a bad parker, (but still better than Taras!lol) but not a bad driver. Seriously.

Ok, so here's what happened: I was happily on my way to my gym class (hence my silly outfit!) and i took a turn down a street that i never turn on, but decided to on this particular day. Not realizing how icy it was, i found my turn going a bit further than i expected. I figured it'd be fine, i tried turning the wheel out of my skid, but it was no help. I was heading straight towards the snow bank! Ohhh nooo! I figured it'd be fine, that i'd just hit the front of it and my car wouldn't go anywhere b/c of my slow speed. Boy! Was i wrong or what!? The next second i find myself IN the snowbank and very embarrassed! I tried to reverse out of there but it was hopeless. I got out of the car to see how far in i was, almost falling on the cement b/c of how slippery it was, and i realized i was good and stuck. At the very end of the street, i saw a car coming and figured i should stand outside and wait until the car passed just to see if they'd offer to help. I was also planning on having a nervous, shocked look my face just for dramatic effects!ha. But as the car drove closer, i realized God couldn't have planned it any better b/c it was Inna & Julia!! :) They were on their way to pick up Kelsey but were coming to rescue me first!!

And i didn't even call them!! What sweethearts!
We laughed a little, actually, a lot. And i explained how everything happened & that their timing was perfect. Surely they couldn't leave me abandoned in the snow bank, so they made a very hard decision...they decided to sacrifice school in order to help me!lol Me and Julia attempted to remove some snow out from under my tires w/ mine and Inna's snow scraper. I don't know what Inna was trying to use in this picture. We did quite a lot of work out there in the freezing cold...but sadly, it wasn't good enough b/c when i tried to back out again, it was still good and stuck. (but our efforts weren't in vain!)

Anyways, to make a long story short, I had to call my dad and nervously explain what happened, Inna, Julia, & Kelsey went to school, and when my dad came to help me dig out more (this time w/ a shovel!) it was still impossible and we had to call the tow truck! :( Thankfully we have AAA so everything was free! :)

Looking back though, it was just neat to see how God worked it all out. How i ran into the bank literally 1 minute before Inna & Julia came down the street, and how it was even on that street that i was stuck on! If it was where i normally turn, one street down, Inna & Julia wouldn't have driven past me!! :O And also, it was neat that everything was FREE!!lol But my lesson is sure learned. Now i know to be extremely, extremely more cautious on an icy road! :)

"Brothers, i do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." ~Philippians 3:13-14

My sweet job! :)

2010-03-08T10:53:00.000-08:00

So as ya'll should know, I work at David's Bridal as a CSR (customer service representative) which includes things such as answering the phone, welcoming people who come in, ringing them out, assigning a consultant, etc. However, I just recently promoted to be a consultant myself!! yeayyy me!! Lately, i have been training like crazy and praying that i remember every single detail about the dresses, styles, undergarments, shoes, jewelry, veils, bridesmaid dresses, etc. It's a whole lot of info and i'm not sure if i can remember it. :( But basically, i have to persuade my brides to buy stuff otherwise i don't get paid good; cause this is on commission now...ahh! It should be fun though! And the good thing about working here is that, when the store empties out, i get to try on some dresses myself!! :) It is really fun and I love doing it. Of course i take pictures too so i can share my excitement with my blogging buddies!!

Ok, let me begin by explaining the gowns. This one is the very first i tried on. I was in love with it for a good couple weeks before i actually got to see it on me. Then when i did, i continued to love it, except for the band that goes across the waist.

And this one, it is a Oleg Cassini signature dress. Ha! I bet you don't even know what that means! (it's ok, neither do i...i should look at my training book again!)lol Anywho, being a smaller store and all, we don't get all the dresses in. Like this one, we weren't suppose to get it in, but magically one day, (by God's awesome power, because i kno He just wanted me to try it on!lol) it came in!! :) It is completely stunning and i felt almost like a Disney Princess when i put it on. Until i looked at hips. They were HUGE!!! I was shocked at couldn't believe all the weight i was gaining and realized that maybe i wasn't done with growing yet.haha.

I mean look at those monsters!! I look crazy!! Then i realized that i have never noticed my giant hips before and started wondering if it was just the dress. I showed some of the people i work with and complained. They said that every bride who tried it on loved it but hated how huge it made them look in that area. Ok good! So i wasn't the only one! And of course, in the magazine, the model who is wearing this dress is sitting on a big comfy chair, turning to the side. A genius way to cover up the flaw!! So this dress...ehhh....i still love it, but on me...not so much.

Alright, then there's this one. This was a size 0 and was still big on me. A reassurance that my hips aren't as big as the other dress made me think they were. This dress though, is a little more simple, and very pretty, but not as "Ow ow" as the others i guess you could say.

And there was one more dress that i tried on. All lace. But sadly, those pictures are on my phone b/c my camera ran out of battery. :( It's funny though. I never was into lace wedding dresses. But after working at David's, i come to see that most of the dresses that i'm falling for have lace. I never thought it'd be my style, but it doesn't look old fashioned or gawky or anything!! It's great. Then again, i don't even know if it looks good on me so if i ever get married....i'm gonna need to be taking some ppl with me for their opinions!!

Inna-get ready!! Second thought....maybe not. :(

"The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." ~1 Samuel 16:7

I kinda like this...

2010-02-06T18:17:00.000-08:00

Regret Today

By Catherine Pulsifer

How many times do we say something that we immediately realized was not the right thing to say?

How many times do we look back on an event and think, if only I had.... How many times do we do something that we wish hadn't done?
You can't change what has been said. You can't change a past event. You can't change what has been done.
Do you call it regret, sorrow, repentance? Do you think about what might have been? Do you relive an event the way it should have been?
Forget about regret, and focus. Focus on today, not on the past. Focus on what you can do, not what you didn't do.
The only thing to regret is living in the past The only thing to feel sorrow for is not living each day to the fullest.

The only thing to do to repent is to sincerely say, I'm sorry. Don't live your life regretting yesterday.

Live your life so tomorrow you won't regret today

My loves!! :)

2009-11-02T18:28:00.000-08:00

So these are countless more pictures of the Foxy Fearsome Foursome!! :)

Julia, me, Kels, and Inna practicing our yoga poses! :) How do you think they are coming?!

After skool one day, like always...looking pretty cute! Julia-you must have not gotten the memo here- we are all wearing scarves except you! :( OHOH!!! speaking of!! Let's have more matching days! :)

Ohhhhhh!!! a change in the scenery!! FINALLY!! we are not in the parking lot....but over on the field next to the retirement center one day!! :) Wanting to get the pretty colorful trees in the back....but as you can see....there's only a limited amount of color because it was hard to grasp all of God's beauty in a camera's lenses. :)

Me and my dearest best friend!! :) Whom i will miss soooo much when i go off to college next year!! A college hopefully called CEDARVILLE UNIVERSITY!!! Seeing as how I got accepted for admissions there today!!ahhhh!!!! That's right!! :-) I am truly sooo happy!! Praise God!! Now lets just hope that He continues to provide scholarships and a job and a 27 on my next ACT and stuff of that sort!! :) Willing that's where He's leading me to go!

Kelsey and Julia are always cracking up!! But me and Inna look pretty hot here i must say!! :P

And then the whole group!! All of us who participated in going to the retirement center this lovely afternoon. Kels, me, Taras, Victor, Julia, and Inna.

Actually, I kinda think we all look awkward in this picture....like it was awkward for us to take a picture together or something. Idk....Kels is standing weird, my hair is blowing kinda crazy, Taras looks embarrassed or something, Victor is kinda leaning into Taras....and Julia and Inna....you guys can criticize yourselves here. I cannot find a flaw!! :)

Right after we pushed the camera timer on, Victor gets a phone call. I decide to point to him and give a weird face....Taras is kinda catching my drift which Julia finds amusing. Inna and Kels are just happy to be taking another picture as Kels decides to show off her but and make it look big! :) lol

What nerds!! :) but cute nerds we are!! Ok, the "cuteness" is just a given by now!! ;)

Looking beautiful after a long orchestra concert at a church one Sunday. (Inna-i love that coat!! can i borrow it one day?!)lol I'm kinda serious!! :)

Looking hot in black and white after yet another orchestra concert! Ohhh!! Speaking of black and white.....has anyone ever heard of the store White House Black Market!? It's super cute, but also super expensive!! (note to my girls- we have to go there one time; save up!!)

This set of pictures was hard to get us all looking good in. Our eyes were either closed, looking away, or laughing!! But it looks like after some time we finally got a decent one!

This one too!! :)

Yea...this is just evidence that it took us awhile! Look at me and Inna!!lol

Ok. Now i had to find a super cute picture to close the post with. Here, after the retirement center one day again we have me and Julia, Victor, Inna and Kels. And the tree climbers....Taras and Andy! I'm not sure why...but i really like this picture!! Victor looks like a pimp with four lovely girls around him....and it looks like he is enjoying every moment of it!!lol Taras looks kinda disappointed he isn't in Victor's place and Andy just doesn't care much! :) lol

Well, many more to come! That's for sure! :)

"Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth." ~Psalm 73:25

(what a powerful verse...think about it!)

Game ON!!!

2009-10-22T15:07:00.001-07:00

These pictures are from quite a few weeks ago already. It was the first Forge football game i have been to during my high school years that i wasn't playing in band for. And man, it was truly great to be there-band free-not having to worry about the stress of unloading and loading the trailer or leaving 7 minutes before half time to practice or getting those butterflies in your stomach the moment your on the field and play the down beat of the music (& the list goes on!!) I did miss Will and Jon incredibly though; I'm not gonna lie.

Anyways....yes. It was weird to be there and not be in band; it brought back countless of good memories. But during this game we made some more memories.....Me, Kelsey, Karah, and Kevin. We all had some fun taking some silly pictures....

(Yes, this post is in reverse order again-feel free to read from the bottom up-i dnnt feel like fussing to get the pictures in order!)

These pictures were where we tried to pose so you can't see a double chin on us!! :) I must say, i think it did work!! Am i right or what!?lol Yup, we set the camera on timer mode on the bleacher seat in front of us. A very interesting way to take pictures i must say! :)

Then, during half time, several of us decided to take group pictures. Yes, involving jumping!! But it was hard to time it so it was Justin's idea to just kinda jump whenever....someone was bound to be in the air when the picture actually took!!

Chris, me, Kelsey, Justin, Kevin, Karah, Sam and Andy

I think we were getting ready for jumping pictures here......we were truly all set and ready to go!! :)

Taking after the pose of our "Foxy Fearsome Foursome" with the whole leg kicking thing. (But dnnt worry guys; ours is the original b/c in this picture, only every one's right leg is kicking!! (except Sam) Our FFF is much more advanced; using both legs to make it look symmetrical!) :)

Wanting to take pictures w/ the Tenors like in the good ole day when me and Kels used to compete to see who could get more pictures w/ them!! (haha-funny, but true!!) :)

I'm not gonna lie (once again!! yeayyy!! Please be sure to congratulate me for my honesty!lol) but it was horribly awkward taking these pictures w/ Nick in them b/c i'm pretty positive that he hates me and Kelsey for not doing band. I mean, he always glares at us in the hall or looks the opposite way or just totally ignores us all together when at one point we used to be friends and give hugs, complement each other, and (Nick would) even pick us up and spin us around w/ hugs!! (yea; if you can believe that!!) In this moment though, we all kinda played it cool. Below is our "ZOMBIE" pose; since all night we were talking about zombies and vampires!!ha

A family portrait with Mr. Brown. hahha-doesn't it look like that; i mean, i dnnt kno why Kels put her hand on Kirsten's shoulder like that!!?!?!haha

Then Karah was telling me to take a picture w/ Justin. I dnnt want it to just be us so i yelled for Kelsey...but it was me that he put his arm around!!!hehe. ;) lol Actually, please excuse me in this picture..i look absolutely horrible!! :( ewww!! i look sooo fat!! :(

Then trying to get Patrick to take a picture w/ us...apparently, he wasn't too thrilled about the idea as you can see my trying to urge him to pose!

This night was also "Future Patriot" night when the middle school band gets to go out onto the field and play w/ the high school kids during pre-game. (wow, i remember doing this-i was always out there playing drums/cymbals w/ Ragelle and Karah; years, years ago!) Anyways, Kirsten was paired up w/ Justin, as it only made sense to have the 2 best saxophone players paired together as the band assistant Mr. Morran said. But i love this picture!! I think it is totally cute how Justin put his arm around Kirsten!! I tell ya, if he would have done that to me when we were in the 7th grade, i would have probably passed our and never washed my shirt again!!lol Ok, that sounds really really weird!! :) lol

me and Amanda!! :)

haha-look at her dorky band uniform!!lol Truthfully, i love those band uniforms!! well, the design of them anyways...i must say, they are the nicest looking band uniforms i can think of....for being band uniforms!!

Had to snap a picture of her in the stands!! :)

Here, Preston wanted us to take a picture together so i invited Justin in it also.

Coming off the field after a success during pre-game

Look at how happy they both look!! :D

Sorry, couldn't resist taking a picture of Taras' brother Zack...he is just sooo cute!! :)

(But he looks very concentrated here!)

Kirsten & Justin having fun on the field!! :) It is blurry b/c they were hoping from side to side!! :)

Them actually playing this time!! The real reason for the game!! Kirsten did soooo good and i know she had a blast!! I also know that she will in the future, as long as never joins band in high school!! :-P hehe. lol

Well, i kno i have literally countless more pictures to post. But i have to get back to studying so leave me some comments on this one and in a few days i'll be back to upload more pictures. Only this time of the FFF!!! :) :) :) yeayyyy!! ;)

"Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self control, and in your self control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." ~2Peter 5-8

Four Princesses....(and our Princes!) ;)

2009-09-23T14:34:00.000-07:00

We'll get to the princes part in a little bit. Let me explain all these pictures first.

Sooo...seeing as how it is my senior year, i decided that i want lots of pictures of our "Fearsome Foursome" to take to college with me!! And what better way to get pictures than to take them every day of school!? haha-yep, believe it or not, that's what were doing.

These pictures were from our first day back....see us "raising the bar!?"lol Pretty cool huh? :) And not even planned!!haha

We try to come up w/ new poses every day...but that usually doesn't work too well b/c me and Kels are always in a rush to get home. (mom's orders!)lol So we just end up setting the camera timer on w/ the camera on the back of the car and smile pretty and run! :O

Here we attempted to be creative....i think they were pointing at me b/c i'm a senior (credits from our picture w/ Taras last year!) but i think they were pointing at Inna too b/c she is now an upper class man!! But what did your parents always tell you when you were younger; "it's not nice to point at someone b/c they can point back!" So that's what me and Inna are doing in return i guess!! :)

Attempting more cute poses.....kinda. :P

Yea.....this one's great-not really centered tho. Remember, we always set the camera on the car so it is kinda hard to center it perfectly all the time...:( But hey, what ever works, right?! And it is still super super cute!! :)

These days we decided to do a tribute to Taras-well, maybe everyone else didn't decide, but i did!!lol And here you see us by and IN Taras' old locker. haha-no, none of us have a weird obsession w/ him to where we have to take pictures by his old locker!!! It is just a memory b/c countless stories can be told involving it!!lol ;)

Man, i will never forget this day.....the day when i talked to Ukoo!!! ahhhh!!! :) :) :) hahaha-in case your wondering and don't already know, it didn't go as well as i had hoped!! :( lol

Ok, and here's where our princes come in!! :) But there are only three in these pictures-we'll add a fourth one in a sec. We have Taras, Victor, and in the second picture, Mark. Yep, those are our Prince Charmings!!! Hahaha-no!! ....They are prince charmings, but i'm not sure yet if they're ours...well...with the exception of a certain princess who shall remain nameless....INNA...any guesses!??!lol ;)

Soooo....at first when we began to take pictures, i had a plan to save them on my computer and re-name them w/ the school day number it was...but....that didn't work too well, seeing as how i never started and i surely don't remember what pictures were what days; way too many, even now!!haha :)

Ok, and here's our 4th "Prince"-Andy Rew!! :) lol.

(Inna, i love this picture!!) ;) hehe.

haha-I was not totally paying attention in this pic, my foot was suppose to be going the other way....whoops!!

Cute stuff!! :) But this picture kinda has a story i guess....there was a spider crawling towards me...and ha-me w/ spiders; bad combination!! So as the timer was flashing i was trying to smile and look happy but also go as far away from the spider as possible by backing up...then remembered someone was behind me....so there went my escape from the spider, i could no longer back up!! :( But thankfully the camera took the picture just before it crawled any further!! :) lol

Showing off "my" sweet ride in the back!! haha.

Love this picture-it's kinda ironic actually, i have a picture on my camera of just Taras waving, Inna has a pic on her camera of just Victor waving, and Kels' camera captured them both waving!! weird....lol :)

Oh, and by the way, this was the first day of Crossfire!!! :) :) :) (keep praying!!) :/

Well, there will be many more posts to come w/ our "FOXY fearsome foursome!!" (ha-had to add that first part..but it's soo true, right!?)hehe.

"My soul waits in silence for God only; from Him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken." ~Psalm 62:1-2

"A goodbye isn't painful unless you know you're not going to see eachother again."

2009-09-17T16:37:00.000-07:00

And that's just the thing; we don't know when we will see each other again. Hopefully next summer, God willing. But sometimes the hardest thing to do is to say "goodbye." Especially if you aren't quite sure when you'll see each other again.

That's just how it was for me and my kids at the end of my missions trip. My two favorite boys, Simon and Elijah were having the most trouble with this. Well, Simon in particular.

First thing you should know was that these kids were the most loveable kids. Whenever i saw them they would always come up to me and give me hugs.

But on this night for example, after the service which ended our week, Simon came up to me and just wouldn't let go! Literally, he was glued to me for 10 minutes, if not more!! No lie!! :) He also wanted to keep taking pictures of us. After awhile, i was getting tired of it b/c i looked oh so silly (Inna, Julia, Kels, forgive me...) so i just started making it all the worse, by making weird faces! :P (actually, they are pretty scary- you can see my nose hairs!!)lol

Simon would, at some points even have his head buried in me, and i now wonder if he was crying b/c that's what he did when i walked past him in the car. But in the midst of our hugging other kids had to come up to me and give me hugs too....they ended up hugging part of Simon as well b/c he just refused to let go. Then, Elijah joined in on our hug and he was doing that for quite some time too as well as this other little boy(who's name i hate to say i forget...) and this little girl named Faith.

It was truly sooo priceless...and made me feel like crying, but i held myself in...not for too long though.

On my way walking to the bus, i saw Simon and Elijah in their van, waiting for their foster mom to come. Holding my breath i walk past them, deciding it would be best not to go over there and make them all sad and have to go through saying "goodbye" again. I couldn't help but look back as i walked by and i realize some other kids from the youth group go over to them to say their goodbyes. Realizing how silly i was being, i stopped, turned around and decided to back there b/c these kids knew me more than they knew the other youth kids who were saying goodbye. I walk over there and Elijah shouts out to me "Miss Briana, you'd better come give Simon a hug..." I peek in the van and i see Simon in tears. Face beat red, rubbing his eyes. I just wrapped my arms around him!! But to make it all the worse, as i'm hugging him i look to the back seat and see the little boy Clay crying as well as the girl Faith; Elijah with the saddest, most sincere look on his face.

I lost it....

I started bawling. And still, up to this day i can picture in my head each and every one of their sad, precious faces.....heartbroken, with the words goodbye on the tips of their tongues. I reassured them that i would be back next year...

I just hope that i can keep that promise-once again, God willing.

I miss all my kids sooo much and i think i would give about anything to be around them and see their bright smiling faces.

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." ~Psalm 37:4

!!!MISSIONS TRIP!!!

2009-09-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

Finally, now since i'm done w/ my vacation pictures, i'm getting a chance to post about the missions trip. Well, not rly about it b/c i'm not gonna say much other than about the kids in my pic....detail about the trip is what Kelsey's blog is for b/c i believe she went into a tremendous amount of detail. It only took her like 2 weeks to make the post....but hey, she still got it up before me, so what am i complaining about!?lol

Let's begin, shall we??? :)

me and Kelsey w/ the 3 Soto sisters, Ariana, Brianna, and Kayla. They were sooo cute! (as were all the other kids!)

Simon, me, Elijah

Not to sound conceded (as usual...lol), but these 2 little boys had crushes on me along w/ 3 other of their friends!! I was surprised b/c the whole week i was truly a mess, (evidence lies w/in the pictures; just take a look!) But maybe they justified their likeness of me just b/c i was blonde...;) haha. Or maybe they just took a wise piece of advise from a very wise cousin who once said "beauty is w/in the eye of the beholder." Ahhh...soooo true!!haha.

me, Simon, Terell, & Clay.

I'm not sure how to spell the boy's name in the middle, but is pronounced (b/c i kno ur dying to know!) "TER-ELLLLL"
All these boys along w/ 1 other and a girl had the same foster mom who apparently had 5 other kids at home!! Man, God bless that lady!! And they all were in tears when i said "goodbye" to them for the last time! :( And seeing as how these kids were crying b/c i was leaving them, i, in return, began to cry!! :/ But it was still sooo precious!!

Selena and me-she was sooo cute too!!

Melissa, Ariana, Selena, me and some boy who decided to join the picture!! Oh, and since i taught the Bible story one day, i got to know kids from all age groups so after it was hard for me to choose one age group over the other to help out in the rest of the week. But, there was no reason to fear!! Being the smart, intelligent, blonde girl i am, i decided to stay in the Bible story room the whole rest of the week. That way, i was happy and so were the kids since in each of the 4 different age group classes there were several who would just cling to me!! Literally!! :)

Me and Kels once again w/ the Soto sisters, but this time beautiful Daniella decided to join in! :)

I kinda felt bad for the other leader sitting to the far right here, this was her class and all the girls were surrounding me and even fighting for my lap....:( :)

Eunelise, me, Terell, & Jacob.

Ryan, me, Eunelise

Me and Daniella

Me and Eunelise. This girl was totally adorable!!! She loved me, and i loved her!! Everyday she would sit on my lap, and follow me around, wanting to hold my hand and just always be by me. One day, while sitting on my lap she asked me "can i come home w/ you???" In just the sweetest, cutest, voice!! I wanted to cry. I told her i didn't think that was possible, but that she can come visit me. Naturally, she loved that idea!!
Then another time, while walking around, she looked up to me and said "I wish you were my mommy!!" My heart just sank...and i began to look forward even more to having kids; i just hope they like me as much as she did!! :)

Silly group pose here. I remember here, this day i was leaving the class just as this group was coming in. They were all upset until i told them i'd be right back and to save me a seat. A minute later, i come back in and i had 4 kids telling me "Miss Briana, sit here!! sit here!!" I maneged a way to sit by them all, with Selena on my lap as you can see. But she said my lap was super comfy....so that shot up my self esteem!!lol

Daniella, Eunelise, and some other random girl who wanted to be in the picture.....and can you guess.....yep; once again, fighting for my lap!!

They loved to jump rope during their hour of recreation first thing in the morning. They would form endless lines....and even get sooo upset if someone was jumping for too long....or someone they weren't too fond of was jumping w/ them!! :/ But it was cute seeing them over the week improve quite a lot on their skills!!:) haha.

Eunelise and Daniella and me during lunch one day.

Super super cute!!! One day during rec. some of the girls were feeling very happy and decided to go around hugging different ppl while Mrs. Haden would take pictures. All i heard was them screaming "MISS BRIANA!!!" and the next thing i knew, i was being flooded by this group of girls....trapped in a loving hug!! :) Soooo precious too!! :)

We did not plan to dance; but it soon became hard to watch everyone else have a ball w/ the kids while we were just sitting there!! We couldn't help but to join in! :)

Me and Simon...don't ask how we were dancing, we just were!! Silly stuff-yet fun- while spinning in a circle, and spinning each other in and out!!

Me and Kelsey had fun dancing together....ahhhh!! And holding hands....haha-don't ask!

I like seriously had to bribe Elijah to dance. Now remember, he is one of the little boys who had a crush on me. Brennan (the guy i'm holding hands w/)came over and told me i should dance w/ him (meaning Elijah!) but every time i would go over to him he just dashed away!! It finally took some convincing, and he saw how much fun me and Simon were having dancing.....Elijah soon felt like he didn't want to be missing out anymore!! :)

Still dancing...

Here we were just catching our breath from all that hard core dancing....it only looks like we were posing for a picture....really, we weren't!!lol :)

I love this one!! It was still at the point when Elijah wasn't too crazy about dancing. Once he realized how much fun he was having, he couldn't help it!! Then later in the night he actually told me that he had such a blast dancing and thanked me for it!! Sooo cute!! :)

According to Simon here, he had the "best spot for the picture!!" yea, leaning against my shoulder!!haha. Elijah behind him, (a boy i can't remember! :( ) Melissa, and Ariana to my right.

Eunelise enjoying sitting on my lap at the end of the day.

And this little boy int he red, he was making "worms" come out of his plum!! He got the biggest kick out of it and i just had to capture the moment!! :)

Check out our sweet dancing movie!!:) :) :)

Ok, one more post to go for the missions trip!! :)

"Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received. ~Ephesians 4:1

Vacation movies! :)

2009-08-28T11:21:00.000-07:00

Watch them all!! i did not upload them ALL for nothing!!!lol And trust me, you will want to, there is smthing interesting in each one!! Not to mention you get a little taste of what Yellowstone was really like!!! I mean, come on!! How much better can you get?! :)

Black Opal Springs....beautiful in this whole area! :)

Beautiful HOT HOT HOT water chemical stuff!

Amazing water thing

Old Faithful!! :) (listen to everyone's reaction int he background!!)haha.
I'm pretty sure we were all mad at each other here...hence, the silence! :P

Cool...yet crazy

Even more crazier...listen to that horrible sound it was making!! I'm not gonna lie, this thing was kind of scary....:/ haha.

Another weird, creepy thing...spouting out redness!!

Listen to my mad chemistry terminology!! :) lol

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." ~Matthew 7:7-8

But remember...

"You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures." ~James 4:3

Grand Tetons!

2009-08-27T17:34:00.000-07:00

Ohhh....soooo lovely. Even more lovely than Yellowstone. It reminded me of the Swiss Alps in Europe; a mini Swiss Alps. Man, if this sight alone was breath taking, imagine what the Alps will be like!! (Inna, Julia, Kelsey, are you ready for that!?) :) :) :)

Here, (ABOVE) we were not quite ready for this jumping picture, we weren't suppose to jump yet actually, but Kelsey messed it up...and then down me and Kirsten started....:(

This one worked out much better! :)

Me and Kirsten bought a new car for both of us to drive! Now, of course i'll be driving it for quite many years before she even gets her temps but i could not afford this nice, cool, sporty, amazing, wonderful, little, red Ferrari by myself so she was totally willing to chip in as long as she got her share!! :)

While walking around me and Kels saw this sign of this guy who was apparently "Father Elk" and we just started cracking up! How weird, right!? I mean, i've heard of "Father of the Country", or even "Mother Nature" but "Father Elk"...you've got to be kidding!! But if he truly was the "Father Elk" then me and Kesley must be his daughters..i mean, look! We fit right in!! ;)lol

And yes!! There were even little prairie dogs around!! As i'm sure you can tell from the picture they were sooooo cute!! :) There were like literally 12 running around, jumping in and out of their holes in the ground! We had a blast cracking up and watching them. I take it from Jasper's whining he enjoyed it too!! :)

Well, this was actually my quickest vacation post i think!! (yeayyy!! Be sure to leave me a note of congratulations!!)lol And there is one more to come.....and then a post w/ some movies!! Then the rest of summer pictures which mainly includes my missions trip and NYC then off to another (and final!) :( year of skool pictures!! yeayy!! :) :) :)

"You are my wittness" declares the LORD, "and my servant whom i have chosen, so that you may know and believe in me, and understand that i am He. Before me no god was formed nor will there be one after me." ~Isaiah 43:10

YELLOWSTONE!! :)

2009-08-21T18:24:00.000-07:00

Ahhh!! sooo many pictures from this place, and i am going to try to make this a short blog post, like i always say...so, we'll see how that works. Wow, i am trying to copy some pictures on here now and i am realizing that they are just endless. I mean, there are too many pictures i'm not even sure if this post will be organized and formatted; yea, it's that bad!! :0 (but then again, when are my any of my posts ever organized and formatted!?)lol

Ok, enough stalling, let's begin, shall we?

Yellowstone was beautiful. If you are looking for a nice vacation spot, away from the beach, and palm trees, (like away from Florida for example) i highly suggest going to Yellowstone National Park. (haha-how do you like that, i was staying away from "Florida" this summer before i even knew the whole of it!!)lol If you're catching my drift (Inna&Kelsey!)... :0 haha. But anyways, Yellowstone was just an amazing place to see God's wonderful creation and His variety of taste in nature i guess you could say. Seriously, not a day passed by that i was not in awe of my Heavenly Father. :) He is amazing, and seeing His creation brings a little more perspective of what heaven might look like! (emphasis on the little!)

Here we are, the very first day driving through and we just had to stop by the gorgeous Yellowstone Lake to take pictures!! :) Lovely, lovely, lovely!

The water was freezing though! :0

FEET!! Hey, actually, i think i might make a whole blog post on feet/shoes!! I think i did that on my old blog, but obviously we can't see that anymore...but we can replace the old w/ new, right?! ;)

And here, Kelsey decided to take a surprise picture for me...not realizing that the camera was upside down!!haha! That is just like our Kelsey!! :)

Pretty view driving by

Even manged to get a picture of my parents...awww!! How sweet!! :)

Yes, there was much wildlife!! It was really neat to see, as long as it wasn't blocking the road! :)

But Yellowstone had one major downer, it smelled horrible!! Now, only certain parts of it did...like the parts where the volcano was at it's strongest and where it would be most likely to explode i'm guessing!!lol Actually, i'm not totally sure what made it smell sooo bad,(smthing to do w/ the steam!) but there is a chemical explanation to this, so rest assured! But, remember how much i payed attention in my chemistry class!? Yea, me neither!!lol ;) To tell you the truth, if you don't know much about Yellowstone i suggest googling it up or smthing, (i think i have said that before) it is quite fascinating and extraordinary to learn all the details about the park. But if you are the Tiraks, don't even bother googling it b/c you guys are the ones who informed us of some important, life changing information before our trip! :) (ex: like how the whole park lays on a massive volcano, the largest in the WORLD!!)ahhh!!

Although it smelled we are a tough bunch of Conrads. We endured it, no matter how much our noses were burning!

It was also pretty cold at times b/c of the altitude, but all the views were worth it, are they not?!

Check out some of this color!! Sooo pretty, and breath taking! :) Who would have ever thought that God can make a massive volcano look this good!?huh!?

And check this out!! This was what they call a saphire pool i believe. It was totally amazing b/c it was flat, grey ground, then all of a sudden it dropped off into this cray hole in the the earth, filled w/ water in the most beautiful blue color i have ever seen!

It was a windy day, and hair was not cooperation w/ us! :(

It was really neat going to see Old Fatithful, although, some ppl in the crowd thought it was being UNfaithful b/c it took awhile for it to start spouting water high. In all the days spent in Yellowstone, we were at Old Faithful 3 times when it erupted but saw it go off only twice.

Loving this cute pose w/ the dog!And this, a "candid shot" haha-not too candid actually, i posed us! :) But aren't i good, it looks candid doesn't it!?lol Ok, now these pictures were from our last day at Yellowstone. And it may have been the loudest day due to what is behind us in the picture below. I have sooo many movies of Yellowstone and the loud mud puddles but i won't post them on this post...i'll make a whole other blog post....so be waiting! :)

"For the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God." ~James 1:20

♫♪You're the Devil in Disguise♪♫

2009-08-12T17:11:00.000-07:00

Another Elvis song. And i'm pretty sure he dedicated it the the Devil's Tower National Park big rock thing in Wyoming.....on the contary, i'm actually pretty sure he didn't. But it doesn't hurt to pretend, right?

It was beautiful here though. And i was really excited to see it too b/c i had heard how neat it was from my friend Justin who took an out west trip just like us a couple summers ago. But i'm telling you....he is my man!! Well, not like that, but if i ever have any questions about things such as out west to survival tips in the bare wilderness (thankyou government class!) he would be the one i'd trust the most and ask!! :) Ha-really,he is such a handy man and just super smart w/ all those guyish manly things!! One time for example, when my dad was out of town i needed to get gas in the car and i only did it once a really long time ago...but my dad was actually helping me out alot. This is where Justin comes in....i asked him if he wouldn't mind helping me (a poor, weak, fragile girl, whose completely uneducated when it comes to cars) get gas with me. And sure enough, he was all for it!! (actually, i first asked Taras to help me...but he refused; seriously!) So one day before Jazz Band practice we had to quick rush up to the station and he expalined to me how to get the gas....and he was sooo good at it!! I mean, he even made me go in alone to the station to give the $ and say the pump number! :O He talked me through all the steps and made me feel sooo accomplished at the end!! :) And at the end, we both got a little giggle on how i gasped when the plug things popped back into it's place. :P What a girl i am!!lol But i tell you, when i find a guy to marry....i want him to be just like Justin in those areas!! ;)

Ok, enough about Justin...and NO!! I'm not crushing over him! I just felt like reminising of some good old memories.

And while were back to the vacation topic, check out this marvelous view of Devils' Tower. This is actually the first national monument. It was pushed up from the earth years ago and i want to say it has something to do w/ a volcano or something but i just can't remember.

I believe this was across from the monument. Splendid sight on both sides! :)

We were on our way driving to the monument when we saw this beatufil sight. And seeing as how i want a white horse one day...this was lovely. (inspired by LOTR!) :)

And to make it cuter, there were 2 deer right by it, a mom and it's baby.

We took a picture of this kid b/c we thought he looked Ukrainian!! :O And i'm pretty sure he saw us taking these!! ahhh! lol

Thought the above picture was funny b/c in this my mom was looking through the binocualrs (as you can tell) and it was kinda a cute pose. Then after i took the picture i realized her purple wrapped up finger sticking up and i thought it would be a good memory for future days when we look back on this trip. :)Then this one, we were just stoped in the parking lot for like 10 minutes. No body said anything, and no music was playing...it was just dead silent. It was like our parents fell asleep or something. I was pretty positive that's what happened until i spoke up and they told me they were writing out postcards.

More to come!! :)

"We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor." ~1 Corinthians 4:10

My Bad...

2009-08-10T17:13:00.000-07:00

I forgot to blog about the Bad Lands, which we were actually at before Mt. Rushmore. So here's the post now.

Now, when we first got there it was quite rainy and extremely windy...if you can't tell by the look of our hair and faces in the picture.

But yet, it was a lovely sight...almost like being at the Grand Canyon, just with a little more variety of color.

Here, i think the wind was too strong for Kelsey so she had to stay turned around. (when we smiled for the picture we had to face the wind...it was actually pretty hard!)

It eventually began to clear up soon and was becoming a nice day. Actually, we were all (i think) praying quite hard for it to become nice in order to see fireworks at Mt. Rushmore this night, but we didn't realize what other plans God had in store for us that afternoon....

He wanted us to see His lovely creation of reptiles. (you can tell where this is going...) And let me tell you, it scared us to death!! :O literally. We were walking up this small path way and we turn to out left and see a gardinish area. Kelsey sees a snake in it but her first reaction is to think of it as a rubber snake. "But wait......." she realized. We were out in the wide open west, in the Bad Lands for crying out loud!! Surely people won't purposely put a rubber snake into a garden just to scare tourists out of their mind...or worse, the Bad Lands park itself!! Moments later we realized it. My first and gut reaction was to RUN AWAY but then i realized that it's not everyday i see snakes. I go a step closer (still like 6 feet away), snap a picture and then turn around running down the pathway back to where we came from. Yes, of course there was some screaming involved and Kirsten had a fall down the stairs....ha! But the real crazy and unexpected thing was what happened to my mom. We think she turned around too fast and hit/bent her finger on the railing...it was crooked and hurt badly. Scared for any more future encounters w/ reptiles or weird animals during the rest of the tour around the Bad Lands, we decided we needed to go back to the hotel and go get my mom to the ER b/c the finger looked like it could be broken. They dropped us back at the hotel and my dad took her to the hospital which they were there for a good 3 hours. But, that left us girls happy watching Disney Channel and on the internet. Sooo....there you have it. Our story why fireworks didn't work out. But truth be told, we heard they were a dud b/c it began to get cloudy & foggy out and all you could see was faintly lit up clouds. Ha- God ended up giving us a better day at Mt. Rushmore anyways and we ended up seeing fireworks in town the next night (4th of July) which you could actually see! :) Thankyou God!!

Me...showing off God's glory....actually, i'm not showing it off...that wouldn't be right. I'm just adding to it!!! ;) (there's a little bit of bugeyes mind set in every post!!)lol
Jump for joy at the Bad Lands!! :)

Lovely, lovely.

Look!! i could actually touch the top!! :O wooo..... i guess my arms felt super stretchy that afternoon!!ha. (ok, that was lame!) But notice my parents in the background...it looks like they are in a very intense discussion...if you know what i mean!!lol

"For by Him all things were created, both in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or power, or rulers, or authorities-all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things and through Him all things hold together" ~Colossians 1:16-17

Vacation Time!!

2009-08-05T10:10:00.000-07:00

Actually, i think i'm vacationed out!! If that is even a word. Anyways...it's about time that i get to upload some Vah-K pictures....but since there's sooo many, i will try to do at least a post a day (if i ever have time to get on here!) and i will do them in order of the states we were in.

So...let's begin, shall we!?

<---i was not picking Kirsten's nose here, i swear!! :O

Cute rock pose --->

Jumping for joy at our first attraction of many here on our journey west. --->

Ok, so this is my South Dakota post, Mt. Rushmore to be specific if you can't tell!! :) yeayy!! And i dnnt feel like doing much explaining b/c i hardly have any time...plus, i want to go try to improve on my summer tan,and i'm still pretty white and summer is almost done! :(

Well, seeing as how it was the 4th of July we just had to have family matching day!! hahaha-yea, kind of embarrassing...but i was the one who stressed the idea. Surprised!?lol But it turned out that quite a lot of other families had the same idea! :)

And here me and Kels decided to take a picture and dedicate it to all our Ukrainian friends...b/c there are sooo many!!haha. Don't we look oh sooo "fly?" lol. But the cashier lady over near us thought we were Ukrainian...b/c she was also!! :)

Me and Kirsten after our looonngggg hike up to the top!! Great view up there by the way!!

Beautiful views from quite a closer look!!! :) Man, i loved going here....but i must admit...the next time i think i'm gonna see this is w/ my husband and kids!!! (God willing!) ;) So...we'll see who shows up in Mt. Rushmore pictures next time....:)

Thought i'd end this post w/ the best picture on the camera!!! (Sry, bugeye's conceitedness has somehow slipped into me!!)lol!!! :-)

"But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it." ~Romans 8:25

♫♪"Put On Your Red Dress Baby"♪♫

2009-07-21T10:19:00.000-07:00

No...that's not what Karah sang to me when she told me i was to wear her red prom dress for these fancy pictures she wanted to take of us. But it was what my mom sang to me as we walked out the door!! Haha-not really, it's an Elvis song. But isn't this exciting?! I'm finally posting these pictures; Joy, you should be happier than anyone else!!lol And right now, i'm a little to lazy to format the pictures in the correct order b/c it's getting late and i have to fix my crazy looking hair before leaving for the retirement center in like an hour...so....this is going to be a messy post, short and simple, and to the point. Which there really isn't any point...but let's just pretend, ok?

Here i'm having a ball spinning. And hey, speaking of...anybody know a place where i can take ball room dancing and actually learn how to spin better for pictures next time!?lol :)

Here, i realized that the dress was getting lower and lower as i was spinning....and a little of my bra was showing....ahhh!!! As you can see, i was in SHOCK!! lol

I soon got tired of spinning.

model pose!! ;)

cute; then serious...for certain reasons involving a certain someone... which i'd rather not talk about...and maybe not even talk about ever again!!

haha-laugh much!?

owww owww!! :) :) lol

Now, walking down the stairs...we weren't quite sure how to pose. Karah said she wanted it to look natural...but that was hard b/c we were laughing so much!!

And here, we just look like were sneaking down the stairs!!

awwwwww.......

Super cute i must say!!!
Loving the dresses!! Sooo beautiful!! :) (wait, i forgot to say, the dress Kelsey is wearing is the one i wore for (my cousins) Kathy and Jeremy's wedding!! Look familiar Joy!?

Random guy walking in the background....lol

Kelsey looking at me w/ envy....and i'm not quite sure why. I mean, there are tons of reasons.....my beauty, my hair, my dress, my makeup, my..my...my....wait. I ran out of reasons!!llol Actually, the truth is that Karah told her to do that...why??? Again, i'm not sure!!

Silly looks.... :p

Beauty looks....lol

Thought this pose was kind of cool...and how i'm at a distance. Yep, that's Karah and her crazy but sweet photography skills!! :)

And what better way to end a post w/ a classic jumping picture!?!?! :) :) :)

"The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked" ~Psalm 11:5

We HATE Chemistry!!! :P

2009-06-30T13:12:00.000-07:00

This picture was for Will...(not that he'll ever see it...) :(

Once upon a time there lived 2 friends named Amanda and Briana.

And they were totally rockstars...(taking after Taras' pose!!)lol

But they hated chemistry!!!
ALOT!!!!!!

And it was super super hard for them (maybe b/c all they did was talk to eachother during class)...and they became sooo stressed out!!! Sometimes they would even give up on it!!! (or in Amanda's case...chew on it!!) :O

So...once chemisty class ended, they had a party. But this wasn' t just any old party....it was a burning chemistry party!!! :) :) yeaayyy!!! :) :)
They began by the throwing of papers.....and then to the burning!!! Thankgoodness!!! :) :)And they lived happily ever after!!! Relieved that chemisty was burned!!! THE END!!! hehe.

"The one who says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same manner as He walked." ~1 John 2:6

Something just wasn't right....

2009-06-29T12:39:00.000-07:00

And it's sooo true; something just wasn't right. But we'll get to that later. These are a few pictures from the retirement center when we went last week. And guess what we did again!? Yep. Plan to match! ;) Over that weekend i bought this sweet new orange top and i sooo badly wanted to wear it so i figured, "why not have everyone else dress in orange too!?!" Right?

Since there wasn't a fifth person to take these pictures we had to set the phone and camera up on a car and put the timer on in order to get the pictures...but the pictures weren't just for us....we all missed a couple friends dearly....:) (a hint of what wasn't right!!)

In this one, me and Taras were walking back over to the car to get the camera and we realized that it somehow started flashing to take yet another picture! I didn't want to be in it sooo close so i turn away, and i'm not sure what Taras and Victor are doing. But it kinda looks like Taras is chasing me i guess...and it looks like Victor is urging him on, laughing at my situation!!lo But that really wasn't what was happening i'll tell ya!!!

We tried to take a jumping picture, but it was kind of hard to time our jump w/ the camera timer....we weren't quite sure when it'd go off so we began to get prepared. In this one we were a bit too slow and look pretty funny!!haha.

Ok, then this one actually worked. Well, sort of. Don't ask me how Taras got up sooo high!! And Kelsey looks like she is having the time of her life. Me....i had a jump coming there sooner or later. But Victor.....haha-either he is a little slow, or he thought we were taking a dancing picture!! Don't it look like he is doing some dance moves!?!?hahaha-i think it would look more like it if i could personally immmmmmma-tate(spelled how!?!) the dance i'm imagining in my head....kind of like the Oksana dance i guess you could say.lol

Well, and here....we got tired of God's beautiful nature background and decided to go under the man made plastic canopy. (The guy's idea, obviously.)

Ok, and now these...Taras had to stop over my house to give me something....and in the midst of our talking, Karah decides to take pictures of us!! That's soo like Karah!! :) haha. And notice all my makeup....this was right before i changed into Karah's big prom dress to go out and take pictures. l

ps: Oh, and did you ever figure out what wasn't right about these pictures!?! Here, let me help ya out....the Tirak's were missing; enjoying their vacation!!! :( :(

"Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good...." ~Titus 2:3

(great church service yesterday on Titus 2)

We're Not Street Performers, We're Dancers!! ;)

2009-06-27T19:03:00.000-07:00

Yea, it's true....we are dancers. But pretty lame ones!!lol haha-i only do the "Oksana dance." It's super cute, and remind me to show everyone who reads this...Don't ask....but (my friend) Oksana is the originator of it!!haha.

Anyways, these pictures are kind of old...some of the last good memories from band; thought we'd make it fun/funny. This was at the elementary school, Parma Park. We were confused, what is a number 2 talking level anyways??? Feel free to explain if you are that highly educated...i am not.

And if you haven't noticed, we always like to match. But when i think about it, i guess it's kinda weird. I mean, we're all in high school and here we are planning to dress alike!! haha-who else do you know that does that!?!?! :) I must say tho, i think it is pretty cute!!

These pictures were from Commencement a couple weeks ago. Me and Amanda were having quite a ball taking mirror pictures in the bathroom! Then again, what's new!?lol But man, the bathroom was totally sweet!! It was a bathroom in the high school...but oh sooo nice. You walked into this nice, big, waiting type like room that had couches and several mirrors, and even a water fountain!! Then you'd go into the next room which was actually the rest area, and it was still super big!! Soooo many toilets, (unlike Forge; ha!) And some sweet sinks with a counter and mirror behind and in fornt!!! I mean, this bathroom was totally amazing!!! Actually, it had like 2 counters for makeup and hair...i walked in there and i was furious!! "Why can't Forge have bathrooms like these!?!" I screamed on my inside!!! Oh, yea...i forgot we live in Parma. :(

Oh, and in the one picture, don't ask what i'm doing...i'm not sure why i had my hand on my stomach...maybe i enjoyed feeling my tight abs at the moment....idk. ha-just kidding (But i do have some pretty tight abs...really, i do!!)lol :)

It wasn't me messing up!!! It was Laura. :(

"For in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of you own poets have said, 'For we also are His children'." ~Acts 17:28

A Day at the Zoo!! woo-hoo!! :-)

2009-06-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

Last Monday me and Kels had a chance to go to the zoo w/ our friends, the Tiraks. I was totally excited b/c i hadn't been to the zoo since last summer and i was ready for more camel farts!!lol (haha-long story & awkward experience w/ us and Karah last year!) But now that i'm laughing, i might as well tell it!! :)

Ok, so last year me, Kels, and Karah all took a trip to the zoo. We stopped over by the camels and saw one that was laying down on it's side and the other i think was still standing, or about to lay on it's side. Actually, maybe it was already laying on it's side. Whatever, i dnnt remember. But anyways...the point was, we were looking at them and the one laying down let out a huge fart!! Me, Kels and Karah all just kinda stopped and stared at each other, wondering if what we heard was true. Karah asked me "did that camel just...." and i replied "yea, i think it just did....." hahahaha. We started cracking up-big time!! It was disgusting!!! :P This year we weren't as lucky though.lol

But we had a great time anyways. Taking pictures by cute flowers, seeing the wolves run around (for like the first time ever!!) getting wet by dinosaurs, trying on animal masks, doing our best to send photo text messages that correctly matched a specific criteria, making plans for the next visit....and so on and so on. And speaking of, i really can't wait till our next visit!! :) :) ps: i dnnt kno why all these pictures turned out sooo tiny....:( :( sry!!! :(

Check out the sweet movie of the wolves!! :) It may be the only one i ever get too!!

"God made the beast of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after is kins; and God saw that it was good." ~ Genesis 1:25

Trying to Catch Up; Like Always...

2009-06-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

Just trying to post quite a few great pictures before heading off out west next Wed. Wooo!! So when i leave, Inna, you can always look at my blog and remember the good times we had before this crazy, busy summer and get all excited to see us again!! :) (although i think you have all these pictures anyways!)lol

Anyways, heres some picutes from Renissance, and the last few days of school! :)

me, Alina, Inna, Julia, Kelsey--->

Taras, Inna, Kels, Julia, me---this was Taras' very last day of high school and we just had to take a picture to make it memoriable!! (there were other reasons too!!)lol :)

We tried to come up w/ a cute pose here...do you think it worked!? ;)

Taras, me-looking silly, Andy (loving his hair!!)lol
Crossfire leaders!!

me and Alina--->
(i look gross again!!)

Graduation
me, Taras, and Amanda---funny story about this actually...this was the picture where i was looking at that kid's dad's camera....and i have absolutly NO idea why he took a picture of us...his son isn't even standing w/ us....but i did ask his other son to take this picture for us....man, my heart was beating sooo fast, i swear!!lol Then a picture of me and Andy, then me and Taras. I dnnt kno why, but it's not letting me write that next to the pictures....it sends the text back up here....hmph!!

me and Bonnie (above)

me and Laura--->

<---me and Andy; loving the hair, once again!! And oh!! look at the rose!! It was sooo lovely!! Blue w/ glitter...awwww...can't wait until mine next year!! Actually, Inna, i have a story about a rose and a certain someone...Amanda, remember what i'm talking about?!!?lol

And now....the best part of all; the CROSSFIRE PARTY!!!! :) :) :)

We went out for a walk over by Tri-C and saw these 2 benches. What a perfect picture place right?!?! And it gets better.....

here we decided to jump off the bench...Joy, you got us into taking jumping pictures!! (even butter boy-look!!)lol Seriously!! We do it quite allot now!! Then notice the guys (Victor & Taras) in the background...i think they were trying to jump; obviously not as skilled as us girls tho!!!

And this is the one that has a story to it. You see, us girls thought that it'd be cute for both groups to jump off the bench at the same time. Good idea?? I know!! Well, for some reason, and i'm not sure who planned it, but the other bench decided it'd be funny not to jump and make fun of us jumping. So that's what's going on in this picture. But i think we all kinda felt stupid b/c we look over and see them all still standing on the bench...what the heck!? To get them back, we decided to trick them and pretend to jump, but not really do it. I guess they had the same idea going on again b/c on the count of 3 everyone just stood there, looking at the other group!!hahaha. Very amusing!!

Taras had a trampoline in his yard and so we decided to once again, take a few jumping pictures. But in this one it was more like a laughing picture...i'm not quite sure what happened! Inna, any thoughts??

<---Kelsey and Julia got pretty high here!!

Inna got high too, but me on the other hand...not quite as experienced! :( -->

<--- and here, even tho we're looking away i still think this picture is just too cute!! :) (but ignore my big thigh!!)

whoops!! Almost forgot to upload this one....i like it alot tho! hehe. But there were certain things which could have made it better....anyways....lol Victor, Inna, Kathy(Taras' sister-if you can't tell), me, Julia, Kels, Taras

--->

There were ceratin reasons for this shoe picutre.... ;) Just be glad the picture doesn't smell like it did in person!!lol ewww!! :p

Part of our group.

loving this one!! :) And just if you guys haven't noticed...Taras is always (trying to) flex!!lol --->

(Inna, i have a funny story dealing w/ flexing....)hehe

Went for a walk and though it'd be cool to take a picture here in the long grass...Alina, Kels, Julia, me, Inna

<---

we decided to actually pose for this one! :)

Picture time in the middle of the woods!! :) It's blurry, i kno. :(

<--- Inna, Alina, me Julia, Kels, Taras, Victor, Eva, Amanda

Inna, Alina, me, Julia --->

<---we thought Andy looked like Moses or smthing!!lol But doesn't he?!?

And lastly, me and Inna, (well, actually more like just Inna) decided to have a race to the trash can (in the far distance!) But she didn't tell me we were racing until she had allready gotten quite some feet ahead. I dnnt kno why i dnnt catch on sooner...ha. But love this picture, how we are running the exact same...and where Taras is looking!!lol

Check out these few videos....in the first, listen closely....we were all sighing from such a tireding walk. Then in the second we were jumping, obviously...but too bad you can't see the guys in this one; Taras was jumping over Victor!!haha.

Many many more pictures to come!! :)

"The beginning of strife is like letting out water, so abandon the quarrel before it breaks out"~Proverbs 17:14

A family filled weekend!

2009-06-10T17:44:00.000-07:00

This "family filled weekend" actually happened about 3 weeks ago, or something like that. But i have cute pictures and movies i need to blog about anyways. Better late than never, right!?

Anyways...it was a blast having Jason & Joy, and (newly married) Steve & Jenessa up here for a visit. Me and Kels had never met Steve before, so that was interesting; he fits right into the family. Not to mention that me and him had a tough time together, trying to figure out how to cut my baklava into triangles like the professionals do it. After about 10 minutes of staring at it, Kelsey figured it out. So, now i am a professional baklava maker since i can cut it into triangles!!ha :)

Although everybody was up here for not even one full day, we still had some good times, with some everlasting memories. At first we went to Gilbert School to watch our cousin Ragelle and her husband Joey's band film this movie w/ this guy who came up here all the way from California to do it! (it's a professional thing; no joke!) And as soon as we walked in the school, the producer, seeing what beauties me, Kels, Kirsten, and Karah were, asked us to be in a "short" scene. Not realizing what we were getting ourselves into, we agreed. He needed us outside, by the door and we were suppose to just have like a normal little chat and after a few seconds of chatting we needed to watch this ToTaLlY pUnK girl walk into the building. The producer told us to be loud, and dramatic, lots of movement or someting...yet while remaining normal.ha. Soo....we were in the process of filming and i hear a noise coming from my purse. My phone was ringing. Guess who?? Taras was calling! I answer and start explaining my situation, but realized that was stupid of me b/c i was on film at that very moment. When the camera guy shot the camera in our direction, we all started acting a little more "outgoing" or whatever. Then somehow, me and Taras got on the conversation of cookies; snicker doodles to be exact, and i was talking about it; outloud. After the scene was filmed, the camera guy turns off the camera and looks at me and was like "snicker doodles?!?! Really!?!?!" I think he was upset b/c it sounded dumb in the film or smting, idk....but i couldn't help it. After all, he did say to pretend it was a normal conversation....i can't help that Taras' call was "not normal" or ruined the normality of our acting.(if that's even a word!) ha. But to sum it all up...i felt really stupid!! :( Let's just hope that this doesn't go on MTV like i heard him saying...auuggghhh!!

Another fond memory is from the West Side Market. (Note to Joy...(if you ever read my new blog) these few upcoming sentences are for you, since i told you i'd be blogging about "Butter Boy")haha

Yea, that's right, we went to the West Side Market. And it was crazy, like usual; but to make it worse, it was the weekend before Memorial Day. We walked around, had an awkward encounter with my friend's brother (who works there also) while on the way to the bathroom, and got some "black market butter!" Let me 'splain.

Ok, if you don't know it already, this guy that me and my friends are friends with works there at the cheese stand. Victor is the name. When we went over to his stand at first we dnnt see him there, and i assumed he was on break, which i think he was....or he had to make a long stop in the restroom. (Inna, we know what that's like...right?!! ahem: crossfire party!)lol Anyways, i made Jason & Joy wait until he got back to get their butter. So that's what we did, we waited. When we went back over to his stand he was there, we said "hello" and i turn around to introduce my family that wanted the butter but, Jason and Joy had disappeared. I swear, we had a search party going through that Market for at least a half and hour before we found them!!lol Not really; we met them outside, right up against the wall of the market...across from the fruit stands. I told them i'd go w/ them to get the butter but just as we were talking about it, Victor comes outside over to us and asked if we needed anything. How polite! "yes! they need your butter" I said as i (finally) introduced J&J and they told him they were coming in for butter. Victor, not wanting to put them through more trouble by walking through that crazy place offered to bring it out to them...he was on break. They refused; he insisted. He walked back in and there we were....patiently awaiting that "salty butter." A minute later he comes out w/ the butter and hands it to Jason, who, in return while paying him says " i feel like were doing a drug deal back here!" To what Victor replied "Yea, this is black market butter." (or smting of that sort; Joy, help me out?!) But w/ Victor's dry sense of humor, he wasn't laughing, or even smiling....and J&J looked a little concerned and serious too!! It made me smile. Then they wanted to pay him a tip for bringing it out to them. This time it was Victor's turn to refuse. But they insited and Joy grabbed the part of his apron by his chest and dropped it in there. Boy, i hope he didn't feel too awkward or anything then...lol That was pretty funny. So my family got to meet Victor, and have a nice little chat w/ him on where they were from and how long they were staying and if they were enjoying their visit or not. (actually, i told Victor he had to ask them that that last part b/c if they said "no, i'm not enjoying my visit" Victor had a punch in the face awaiting them!)lol

Then the rest of the day (or so it felt like) J&J kept talking about him and their "black market butter" Then somehow Joy came up w/ the nickname "Butter Boy" for him...(Joy, can you please expalin why& how that came about!?) That is now how he is remembered in the family; the "butter boy" w/ the "black market" butter. ha!

And finally, now for the last few good memories, when we went back home. Dawson and Lydia had fun hiding under the desk during hide & seek. But the good part comes when I was chewing gum while washing my hands...then the youngins came along. Lydia told me "pop bubble!!" i did. And she cracked up!! She loved it and wanted to pop it on her own. I let her do it, and she went all out....cracking up and everything. Dawson, not wanting to miss any of the fun came along by her to see what the big deal was. Turns out he thought it was completely hilarious too!!! As Lydia(then Dawson) would pop the bubble, they would both get all excited and scream and clap. But it wasn't your normal clap, it was a clap w/ the knuckles...sooo cute!! A couple minutes later, Julius joined the party, and began smiling away w/ everyone else. I felt so popular and loved by the little ones!! :) It was just sooo cute and and funny to watch. Check it out, i think you'll know what i mean. (Oh, and this was going on for at least 15 minutes straight; at least. )

All in all, it was a great weekend and i'm excited for the next family visit! And everyone better be staying longer next time!! :) :)

"Consider the work of God, for who is able to straighten what He has bent"? ~Ecclesiastes 7:13

I'm sooo behind!! :(

2009-06-07T14:18:00.000-07:00

Yea, it's true; i am very behind w/ blogging pictures. I just have had too much to blog about lately and not enough time...tyring to manage out my time between studing for ACT this weekend (auggh!!), learn new songs on piano, finish scrapblogs, read my Bible, and whatever else a normal teenager does!! Man, sometimes i wish there was more than 24 hours in a day, then again, maybe not!! ;)

In my midst of studing for ACT on this cloudy Sunday afternoon, i decided to take a break and start up a new post. (I was practicing the science part of the test anyways...some chemistry popped up so i just had to stop b/c everyone knows that i hate chemistry..right Amanda!?!)haha.

Anywho, these pictures are from a couple of weeks ago already; Senior reconigation. Me and Amanda and our "so called friend" Dan are student ambassators and we were able to help out and ambassator at the recongiation. It wasn't anyting great...me and Dan had to sit up front for like 2 hours, infornt of everybody...looking pretty stupid i'm sure. His job was to help the girls walk down the stairs in their high heels (if they needed help). Me, not wanting help in this manner by holding a girl's hand, just sat there and pretended to "spot" them...incase of a fall or smthing. It was boring, and embaressing...i felt like the whole time all eyes were on us. But hey, it was a good reason to get out of classes i suppose!! :)

After the assembly ended, a few of my senior friends came up over by me....can you guess what time it was!?!?!

Yep!! Picture time!!! ;)

me and Laura --->

<---me and Andy

me and Taras --->

<---me, Dan, Amanda, Taras

(Notice how me and Amanda kind of match, and then notice the guys shirts and tie....cute, huh? they dnnt even plan it!!)

Just to make it a little more fun...everybody who sees this post, please tell me which picture you like the best....please!! ;) I am just curious to other ppl's opinions!!lol Just kidding. Keep updated b/c i still got at least 4 more posts coming....

*family visit

*Renaissance and other funness

*end of skool year (including to be taken crossfire party pictures!!) ;)

*graduation

Let's just hope i have time for it all!! Once ACT is done, everything should be going much smoother. And hey, can i make a prayer request to all who read this??? Please pray that my ACT goes good this Saturday and that i get a good and nice high score which will make me able to be accepted by some good christian colleges!!! (praying that my scores are good enough for scholarships won't hurt either!!) ;) haha. Thanks!

"Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, i desire nothing, on earth." ~Psalm 73:25

ps: i cnnt figure out why the pictures are over lapping....weird!

♫♪So long, farewell....♪♫

2009-06-02T12:55:00.000-07:00

Yep. That is what i am saying to band. Unfortunately, i will not be doing band at all next year, due to certain situations which only certain ppl know why...haha. Actually, it's really no big secret. Due to the way we have been treated by the director, and other students....due to my favorite percussion instructor leaving...due to my schedule for next year....and then the obvious one....due to me being a SENIOR next school year, i have to carry on the tradition that my heroes have done. (HA! just kidding, they are not really my heroes...maybe they come close, but not quite...lol) ;)

The tradition all started Karah's senior year of high school; when she quit band. She told me i must to that too, but i just didn't have the heart for it, i enjoyed it ohhh sooo much!! Seriously. But it wasn't until this past school year when i realized that it was getting bad and it was all down hill from there. Not to mention..no more competition band and the percussion instructor left. :( Well, that's not all the reasons...and nether is this: Then Taras quit his senior year, (folling in Karah's footsteps w/o realizing it!) and joined orchestra. I then, followed in both Karah and Taras' footsteps by quitting, and then i realized that not doing any music would be quite boring. So i decided that "Orchestra is the new band" and therefore, i am signed up for orchestra.

Now you are prob. curious about these pictures.....let me splain. I was sooo happy (but sad at the same time!) that i'm no longer doing band that i just had to take a picture w/ all the ppl who quit band. And yes, Kelsey did too, (orchestra!) Actually, i was planning this picture w/ Karah for the loooongest time, and it finally came into reality at the last concert of the year! Please dont' laugh, we do look kind of silly, and maybe even scary....but we were jumping for joy and it was still sweet and i just had to post these! Enjoy!! ;)

"And i pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ's sake." ~Philemon 1:6

Welcome to my new blog... :(

2009-05-21T15:16:00.000-07:00

So stuff ended up happening to my old blog as to where it wouldn't let me in on my password anymore...and there was absolutely no way to fix it. And it kinda stinks b/c i had some new recent posts...grrr. :( Quite sad. :( So for a while there i was thinking about giving up on this wonderful world of blogging....then i realized that it truly was wonderful and that i was just thinking crazy in the moment. So although it will take me quite some time to get this blog to what i want it to be...i think it's worth a shot. But like they say...nothing can ever beat the original....but hey, why not try. Right?

And since i was tagged awhile ago by both Joy and Kelsey i figured it was wise to start this new blog w/ this post about myself....here goes....

8 things i'm looking froward to:
1) School to end!
2) Summer hang outs....if ya kno what i mean!!(hehe.) ;)
3) Learning all those piano songs i need to learn!
4) Getting closer to God!
5) Family hang out w/ out of town relatives this weekend!
6) Going off to college! woo!
7) Going to Europe w/ my best friend, Inna and her sister Julia, and Kelsey! ahhh!(start saving!)
8) Finding my future husband...getting married, and starting my own family!!

8 things i did yesterday:
1) Tried to figure out song lyrics w/ Wayne to "We've only just begun" by the Carpenters
2) Laughed
3) Vented about band
4) Played piano
5) Took pictures dressed up w/ Amanda
6) Laied in the sun
7) Read my Bible
8) Started freaking out about my dr. appointment i had today

8 things i wish i could do:
1) Say i have a job (been looking for ages!! seriously!)
2) SING!!! (w/ a pretty pretty voice, nice and high...like Inna and Julia!) ;)
3) Improv on the piano like Taras!!
4) Say i have a sweet car of my OWN
5) Talk fluently in another language (i try....)lol
6) Have the power to stop all the things in the world that are making people suffer
7) Go overseas and be a missionary right now
8) Succeed in being more like Jesus everyday, no matter what the situation!

8 shows i watch:
1) Arthur
2) Word Girl
3) Hannah Montana
4) Clifford....(haven't seen it in awhile tho!)
5) The Sweet Life of Zach and Cody
6) The Sweet Life of Briana
7) Living life...Briana Style
8) Teaching Briana to Sing

8 people i want to tag:
1) Inna!! (it's time for another post!!)
2) Amanda...you too!!
3) Joy (but you already did this...)
4) Kelsey....but you too
5) Julia!! (you need a blog!) ;)
6) Karah...you too!!
7) ummm....
8) i ran out of friends.... :(

Well, that's it for now....i'm gonna attempt to make my blog a little more pleasant now.....it's gonna take some time i think....maybe like a year!!HA! But please just encourage me as i go....please!!haha.

"I am the Good Shepherd and I know my own and my own know me" ~John 10:14