St. Patrick

Since I am doing a research paper on Ireland, I thought that i might  do a blog on  some of the life of Saint Patrick.

Patrick was born in Britain and when he was about sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken into slavery. He was a slave-shepherd and worked with the sheep. His life as a slave was not easy. He would of had to learn the customs of the Irish and their language. He also was very much alone and secluded from society. It was then that he came to know God. Several years later, Patrick escaped and made it back to his homeland. He had a dream one night and in it there was an Irishman saying something along the lines of: "We beg you to come and walk among us once more." And that is just what Patrick did. He became a minister and went as a missionary to the people that had held him captive. The British looked down on him and his work and said that the Irish Christians were not true Christians. Patrick said, "It is a crime that we are born Irish?" (Cahill 164). In saying this he was saying that he was fully Irish and not British. This was no small thing.
Patrick ministered in Ireland until he did. And just so you know...he didn't drive the snakes out of Ireland...there never were snakes in Ireland.

My 2 favorite Irish Groups

1. Celtic Thunder
         I have always been a fan of Celtic Thunder. They are so energetic and loads of fun. They bring life
 to the traditional Irish music. I guess also the fact that they are all guys helps too.They have some beautifu lsongs that they sing and it's simply stunning when they sing in the Irish language.  This group too has changed but is still great. The lads are Neil, Ryan, Keith, Emmet, George and Daniel (who is not in the photo below).

2. Celtic Woman
        They are a group of all Irish girls and I enjoy them too! I love the songs that they sing and the excitment
 that each of them bring to the show. I also saw them live and the atmosphere was wonderful, fun  music is just phenomenal. The group has changed quite a bit over the years but with each member going or new members coming, t still has the same appeal. The girls are Lisa Kelly, Chloe, Mairead and Lisa Lambe.

LED Light Tree AD

Looking for a way to make your neighbors jealous this year? Then this LED light tree is the answer ot your problem. It lights up and has many different light patterns that are sure to dazzle up your lawn. You can set them up in the front yard. Assembely may take a little bit of time, but you will be pleased with the end result. The colors of the lights of the trees are rainbow and synch with the pattern of the blinking lights.
It's sure to make the neighbors wish they had one.

Someone I'd like to correspond with

I think it would be really fun to correspond with C.S Lewis. He wrote the Narnia books which are some of my favorite books. He was a Christian too. I would ask him all about how he came up with all the Narnian characters and places. I would ask him all about living in Oxford University, England.
I would want to write to him because I love his books and he has such a wise mind. He wrote many good books and you can find good advise in them.
I got to do a report on him in eight grade and loved learning about him and all he wrote about. I think it would be fun to write to him because is one of my favorite authors too. Some of his books are The Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity, and The Screwtape Letters. So the person i would want to correspond with is Mr. C.S Lewis.
 

One of the best things is watching America's Funniest Home Videos. If you ever need a laugh, just look up clips on YouTube. As I write this blog, my mom, sister, cat and I are watching the Christmas special. I have decided that Americans like to laugh at people when they get hurt or do stupid stuff and i am happy to laugh along.
The host is very funny too. They have clips of animals doing silly things, babies being cute and teenage boys doing dumb things. Not to mention scary Santa Clauses...
All in all, it is good way to get a good laugh.

Winter Time and Musings

I love winter time. It seems like an especially cheery time because of Christmas and celebrating Christ's birth. I do have to say that I don't enjoy the cold though. I love the snow and looking at it but just not the frigid temperatures that come along with it.
I think that it is amazing how God makes each snowflake different. They never have the same design or pattern. Each is special, just like we are. God has made each of us unique and different in a special way. Snow also reminds me of how Christ wipes away our sins through his death on the cross and makes us as white as snow.
Another fun thing about winter is getting to make snow forts or snowmen. I made a pretty cool for the other winter and was actually able to hide down inside it and not be seen. At our old house when we got that big snow storm a few years ago. I dug a deep snow pit on the edge of our yard and was able to sit down in it and not be seen at all! It was so fun making it.
Winter means cozy times with family, Christmas time, snow and so much more.

Scavenger Hunt

An angry exchange
"Where's my pencil?" my sister asked.
"I don't know," I replied. "Ask the cat. He was playing with it earlier."
"It's behind your chair," my sister informed me.
"Well, I didnt know that," I told her.

An out of place object
The cross-stitch projects I have completed for people for Christmas are lying in the box that my friend in Ireland sent my Christmas present in last year. The one has a bagpipe stitched onto it and is for my friend Gabby. The second one is for my grandpa and has a cross on it.

A Well-loved Object
One of my well loved objects in my stuffed animal Bo.Bo. who is a rabbit. I have had him since I was a year old and he has no fur left on him. He has a little blue jacket and is supposed to be like Peter Rabbit. I can't sleep without Bo and he hasn't been washed for a few years now. If we wash him, his stuffing falls out.


Something well used
My copy of the book Inkheart is well used. You can tell so by the rough look it has on the out side and how the spine seems to be giving way. I also love to underline in my books and there are a lot of underlinings in Inkheart. I love the book so much and have read it at least five times.


Something Unpleasant
I find my cat's litter box to be unpleasent. Sure, the litter has something in it to take away the aroma of what goes into the box, but still. I think it's gross but you gotta go when you gotta go. I will not dwell on this subject any longer.


Something fresh, new, or unused
Tonight, my momma just bought us new ponytail holders for my sister and I. They are different colors and stretchy. It feels nice to have a ponytail holder in your hair that you know isnt gonna snag your hair because of how stretched out it is.



A Lost or forgotten object
My momma lost her orignial engagement ring that my daddy gave to her. It slipped off into one of my drawers and we never saw it again. It had one single diamond with a gold band and the diamond was sparkly. Since then Daddy got her another ring to replace the one that was lost. And then she found her old one...so...yeah.




A home-made or hand-made object
I have a bookmark that I cross-stitched. It had a bunny stitched onto it and a letter "L" for Lindsay. Surround the bunny are colorful flowers that remind me of Spring time. Home-made objects are the best.


An act of kindness
I don't know if it counts, but my friends took me Swing Dancing with them last Saturday night. It was kinda hard at first, I learned as the evening went on. The only strange part was when guys would come up to you  and ask you to dance. I did get to dance with my friends too. It was really nice of them to invite me to go with them.

Something Borrowed
I borrowed my friend's copy of the movie The Secret Garden. It is a VHS tape and one of my favorite movies. We are actually doing The Secret Garden for dinner theater so it was nice to be able to watch it again. I actually need to return it to Gabby...

The Tricycle

The is the story of a tricycle that was abandoned in the autumn breeze. A little boy had been riding it when he suddenly became hungry for candy corn and left his beloved tricycle out in the cold autumn weather. He was compleltey unaware of this, seeing that it was too advanced for his young mind and candy corn was not.
You may be wondering what came of this abandoned tricycle. A very strong wind suddenly came, blowing it down the hill and into the fast moving creek. It was swept away and the little boy never saw it again for a very long time.
He had returned to his parents house after college with his fiance and was taking a walk with her by the creek. As they walked, the young man saw something caught in the branches of a fallen tree by the creek's edge. He walked over and pulled it out. "What is it?" his fiance asked.
"I do believe that it is my old tricycle," he replied, setting it on the ground. "I lost it when I was four years old!"
He and his fiance made their way back to the house and in his hand was the tricycle he had lost those many years ago.

The End. 

Of Fog Machines and Backstage

One of my favorite things about Dinner Theater thus far has been working backstage and behind the scenes. Last year when we did Ruby Red (a Wizard of Oz spoof) I got help with the fog machines and learn all about how to run them and set them up. I got to work with an Alumni from Shalom, Chris Berkey. There were four fog machines we used and had to mess around with different ideas to get them set up just right for the scene they had to be used in. You may think that one person could run the fog machines, but with what we were doing, we needed to people since sometimes there had to be two machines running at the same time that were at opposite ends of the stage from each other. Doing fog was really fun and I really enjoyed working with Chris. One of the other cool things about working backstage is getting to use the radio walkie talkies that you wear and earbud in your ear and the part where you speak clips onto your shirt. We use them so the whole crew can communicate to each other and know what to do. Although it does hurt your ear from where the ear bud in it all day.
I have really enjoyed working backstage and am looking forward to in the future again.

                                Test running the machines (sorry for the bad picture quality)

Thanksgiving Memories

I do have some fond Thanksgiving Memories from the past. One of them was when we went to my uncle's big house is Philadelphia. Some of my older cousins would play hide and seek with us younger cousins and it was always loads of fun. My uncle's house has plenty of places to hide in which always made the game interesting. Sometimes it took a good while to find everybody. I learned you had to stick to the boundaries Allen set or else he'd make you count next. I did leave the boundries once and hid in the ground level bathroom. Eventually I came out of hiding only to be caught by Allen. STICK TO THE BOUNDARIES!
These past few years we have been going to my cousin Laura's house because it's closer. Laura and I like to play music together and hangout before dinner. We eat a later dinner because my Uncle Russ is a doctor and has to work. This year we won't be eating until 7pm!!!!
I am so thankful for my family and the memories I have from Thanksgiving days gone by.

                                                        My cousin Laura and I.

The Ride Home

The week at my uncle's beach house had come to a close. It had been a fun filled week and I think I was ready to go home to my own bed. I must confess that I HATE long car rides and here are a few reasons why: my seat belt always seems to constrict my waist, my dad cranks the air-conditioning up really high and I get bored. This year we had a solution to help time pass quickly: a portable DVD player. We borrowed it from some close friends of ours along with some movies. I decided that on the way home I would watch the fourth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. On the way down I had watched one of my favorite ones: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Watching movies in the car did help time go by quickly. Much to my annoyance I feel asleep and woke up in the middle of the movie and missed the first part. Oh well. We got to go over this really cool bridge that was very long. You could say that was one of the highlights of the entire four hour car ride. Another highlight for me was going past Sight and Sound Theaters in Lancaster. It was nice to finally be home.

                                       
                 

Be it God's Will

I think it can be quite hard when you lose a loved one. In my case, I am not talking about someone dying. I mean losing them spiritually. I had a really good friend who seemed to be on fire for God. Then one day he stopped believing in God and he was an atheist for a while.  I don't understand what cause him to change. He stopped coming to church and maybe he even had stopped reading his Bible. My dad said that he was even excommunicated from his church. I pray for my friend everday and I know that if he really was a Christian before, he will come back to God. Josh used to call me his little sister and we used to exchange stories and poems. Josh even lent me his books the Kingdom Series two time. He used to come visit our church a lot too. I remember that Josh loved to study God's word and I would say he taught me somethings from what he read. Through all of this I have learned something I think is valuable and important. God will bring people into your life for a time and when you have learned all he wants you to learn from them , he may take them out of your life it that is his will.

     Goodbye, Josh. Thank you for all the fun times talking on Facebook and seeing you at church. You are forever in my prayers.

The Hair Ribbon

  "How strange,"Angus thought to himself out loud. "Emma's left her hair ribbon out in the pasture. She must have dropped it."
  Angus went to fetch it and as he walked, he could hear the laughter of a small child as he grew closer. He thought he must be hearing things, but he was only seventeen and it was too early for him to be going deaf. It wasn't Emma, but he didn't see anyone else around. As Angus bent down to pick up the ribbon, he noticed a small girl watching him from a few feet away. She had a dirty dress on and Angus thought she might be one of the travelers that went around their farm (which was located in Cork, Ireland). The little girl seemed to have a strange glow about her and almost looked transparent. "Hello there," he said.
  The little girl grinned.
  "What's your name?" Angus asked, picking up the hair ribbon.
  "Sara," she replied.
  "What are you doing in our pasture?" Angus asked her.
  Sara just grinned again and vanished into thin air. Angus gasped and ran for his life towards the farmhouse.   "What's wrong?" Emma asked him as she walked up to him. "Oh! There's my other hair ribbon!"
   He handed her the pale blue ribbon and replied, " I do think it is quite possible that I have seen and talked with a ghost."
   Emma just laughed, "You're older then me by six years and you believe you saw a ghost?"
  Angus nodded and said, "Yes I did see one. It was a little girl in a dirty dress. She looked like one of the gypsies that come to our farm to camp."
  "You're seeing things, Angus," she said before skipping away.
   Angus knew what he and seen and would never forget it. He looked back at the pasture one last time and saw the little girl again, picking daisies among the tall grass.
 
                                                                           The End

My epic new pajama pants.

This blog had to be about something you bought or someone bought for you. So...here it goes. 
My mother just bought me new pajama pants. I needed new ones because the knees of my old plaid one got worn through from many times of playing with my precious cat. I am very particular about my pajama pants. First of all, as weird as it may be (forgive me), I in fact prefer boy pajama pants. Don't ask me why, but I do. They just seem more comfortable then girls' PJ pants because they don't get twisted around my legs when I sleep.
These pants are pretty cool looking in my opinion. They are bright green with some other green on it and say Mt.Dew all over them. I LOVE MOUNTAIN DEW. Once for my birthday my friend Margaret got me a 24 can pack of Mountain dew :).
I had looked around for pajama pants the other week and couldn't find any so my mom went for groceries and got me the Mountain Dew ones.
So tonight I will not sleep with holes in my knees and will sleep in warm Mountain Dew pants.

My dear friend Margaret

God has blessed me with many wonderful friends and one of them is my dear sister-in-Christ, Margaret Pasztor.
Margaret and I grew up going to Sunday school together when we were just young wee tikes. We didn't really become good friends until about the fourth grade. Our families used to always sit in the same row at Prayer Meeting and Margaret and I were always early to Sunday school and that is when we really got to know one another. She lives in Carlisle, which is where I used to live, and we still get to get together quite often.

Margaret is a beautiful girl who loves God with all her heart and it can be plainly seen in her life. She is a very talented artist, singer and piano player. She has very long blonde hair and blue eyes and very pale skin. She and I are very much like sisters and consider ourselves as sisters.
Margaret and I both like Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean and many other things. One of the things we do when we hang out is color with colored pencils and watch a movie. We have enjoyed this while watching Jurassic Park and other films. We also enjoy paintball, water tubing (which we got to do together this past summer at Family Conference) and archery.
When ever we hang out we do some pretty cool stuff. One thing is walking downtown in Carlisle to the Library or various other locations. Sometimes we even pack a lunch and eat it on the library steps. I have fond memories of late night talks at sleepovers, Dorney Park, youth group and the list goeth on.
Margaret has a gentle spirit and a heart full of kindness and love for Christ which she willing shares with others.
I thank God for blessing me with a "sister" like Margaret and look forward to many good times (including paintball on the 22nd).

Paintball

There is nothing more fun then paintball. First of all, they hand you a gun loaded with paintballs and then let you shoot people...what could be better. (I do have a non-violent side...just not when I am playing paintball). Paintball is one of the things I ended up being very good at. I had my first chance to go paint-balling this summer at Family Conference. Let me tell you, I WAS TERRIFIED. Okay, I was only terrified right after lunch but still.
We went to a course that was near the Conference center and got suited up. We actually ended up being given camouflage cover-ups which added padding and we also had to wear masks to protect our eyes. My team defended the fort first and I was stationed towards the front on the left side where I could fire at those who tried to come around the back. The round started and I used the technique of snap-shooting (when you peek out from the barrier hiding you, fire twice and then duck back down), which proved to be very helpful. I lasted the whole round and ended up being the last stander until I was hit in the neck. (We were playing elimination). The second round our team assaulted the fort and I hunkered down behind a barrel toward the back of the field and ended up being the last one left again. My team yelled for me to surrender and I did or else it would have been messy :). We had not planned on playing a third round but those who didn't want to play gave their paintballs to others who did and I ended up receiving quite a bit in addition to the ammo I still had left. It was back to the fort and I stationed myself at the front middle of the fort and returned to the tactic of snap-shooting. I shot some guy in the back and got him out. I once again was last but I had ran out of ammo before a fellow teammate was shot and swapped me guns so I could hold down the fort. It ended up being that I was in a corner and an enemy was waiting so that when I jumped out he could get me. I stuck my gun out and shot and then gave it my all and jumped out to meet him. We exchanged point bank fire and I was down. The round was over and I had survived all three rounds. I had not expected this and was quite shocked. Even though it was only paintball, I gave the glory of that victory to God.
A week from this Saturday, I will have another opportunity to go paintballing again in Dillsburg with my friends youth group and am very excited.
Paintball is awesome.

My attempt at evesdropping.

I was sitting with my mom while she did admissions for the soccer game tonight. Nothing interesting occurred and i apologize for the shortness of this blog.

"Hello, how are you?"
"Inst the weather nice? Better then what we have been having."
"Have a good time at the game!"


And guess you could also count this as eavesdropping:
Some lady said this to another: "Did you get volleyball pictures?" which the other lady said, "Yes."

And yet again:

" So is Lexy with her dad?" asked my mom
"Yeah," my sister replied.

In Memory of the Crocodile Hunter

When I was little I can remember watching the show The Crocodile Hunter. He was a hero of mine and really did so much to help animals. Many may remember Steve for his daring feeding of the crocodiles and wrestling with poison snakes, but I remember him for his love on animals.
Steve ran the Australia Zoo and family still does today. He loved feeding the crocs and most importantly teaching others about the beauty of animals. He taught people this through his TV show: The Crocodile Hunter.
Steve died on September 4th 2006 while filming his own documentary called Ocean's Deadliest. He was swimming with some stingrays and recived a fatal blow to the chest as a result from the barb on the end of the stingray's tale. He pulled it out his chest and some medical folk say that this may have hastened his death.
Steve was a hero of mine and when I heard he died I was very very sad. My sister came over to me and told me that he was dead and I thought he was joking, but when I saw it on the computer downstairs, I knew it was true. It was a sad day that day and world lost a man of courage and someone who cared about all creatures.
I think he's one of the people that I got my love of animals from. I would watch his show all the time at my grandmother's (we only got Animal Planet and my house until I was like 7) and really learned to care about animals...even crocs and snakes.
 

In loving memory.

Playing Guitar

  One of my hobbies is playing guitar. I took piano for six years and was very glad to move onto another instrument. It's not that I didn't enjoy piano, if fact I enjoy it still. I guess I just wanted to do something new and different. Guitar was not easy when I first started taking lessons for it and was definitely a challenge. I took lessons from Mrs. Dottie Klein for two to three years (I can't remember exactly). I then stopped and have just been playing on my own. I even have started writing my own music since last summer. I love writing and so to be able to combine that with my love of guitar playing makes it even better. I have written a variety of songs from ones in support of the military to Ireland and the sea.
I own a blue Indiana Guitar (that's the brand name) and it is a really nice acoustic electric guitar. Acoustic electric just means that it can be plugged into an amp, although I do not own an amp. I would really like to own a McPherson guitar some day since they are very nice guitars.
Keith Harkin of Celtic Thunder plays guitar really well and also composes his own music. I guess you can he's my inspiration to keep up with guitar and write songs. But God is the true inspiration in everything! I have written songs about Christ and His saving mercies.
I think guitar is something I don’t want to put down ever because I love to play and sing so much.

 

Keith Harkin

The Soldier Down the Road

A father comes to the bus stop to get his little girl who was in kindergarten. His shaved head and muscular body shows that he is a soldier who is in the military. Shaun has three daughters and is married to a beautiful wife who he met at their school's banquet. He grew up on a farm in a family of ten children of whom he was the youngest.  He wanted to do something brave and heroic and decided to join the army as soon as he got out of high school. When he got to boot camp, Shaun realized that it was not more then just doing something great or living a dream...he realized it was more important and a whole lot harder then he imagined. Whenever someone looked at him, he would seem older then his thirty-five years due to the war he had fought in when he was younger.
That day as he was getting five year old Colleen from the bus, he knew that he wouldn't be getting her from the bus for a whole year. His sergeant had called that day and told him that he would be deployed to Afghanistan in a few weeks. He had been on two deployments already and even though he was sad about leaving his family, he still managed to have a smile on when Colleen stumbled off the bus into his arms.

Moving on to Larger Pets

Hamsters are not very reliable pets. They are vulnerable to death too easily. My family has gone through eleven hamsters because they all ended up getting sick and dying. Hamsters are prone to a disease called wet-tail which basically, apologies for being blunt, diarrhea. So, if one has it in the cage at the pet store, they all have it because they share the same waterbottle.
I am not saying I hate hamsters, but after awhile and after they keep dying, it should be clear it is time for a new pet. I can remember that one of our hamsters ran on its wheel ALL night and was dead the next morning. They didn't have one in the pen at the store, and he was obviously very exctied to have one....although the excitement cost him his little life.
Eventually we did get a cat and love having one. His name is Pooter and he is very adorable. He gets into trouble often, but he is just a young wee lad. Pooter loves to sleep on Mama's lap in the evenings and to play. He has toy that is a fish on a string and we play for a good while with it.
All in all, cats are definitely able a more reliable pet.

One of my Heros

One of my heroes is Bethany Hamilton. She lives in Kauai, Hawaii and has been surfing since she was very little When she was thirteen a shark bit her arm off while she was surfing, leaving her without much of an arm left. She lost about 60% of her blood and made a miraculous recovery. After her arm was healed, she went back and started surfing again. She had to learn how to do somethings differently with having only one arm. That's a reason she is my hero, because she returned to surfing and is very brave.
One of the reasons she is my hero is that she is a Christian too. She saw the TV interviews and publicity as a way to be a witness for Christ. Bethany said that her faith in Christ helped her through one of the most trying times of her life. People have asked her if she would take her arm back if she had the choice and she said no because she has been able to be such a big big witness for Christ in the media and surfing world. I look up to Bethany for this reason.
A movie was just recently done called Soul Surfer which is based off her story and the book she wrote. They knew that they could use this movie to share the Gospel and reach out to many unsaved people. The movie is excellent, not to mention all the surfing in it. :)
Bethany Hamilton is someone all girls can look up to as a good role model. Someday I want to surf just like her.

Something I fear

I think something I fear is being left out by others. when i first came to Shalom, people didnt seem very welcoming and i was very left out. I felt like Joseph amongst his brothers. The other kids knew i was different and didnt want to except me into their group. I ate lunch alone sometimes. I think, though, i leg myself be left out. It was my own choice and I could have interacted with people...i was just to scared.

Apples.

Apples. What do you think about when you bite into an apple? I love the fresh crisp taste I get when I take a bite out of my all time favorite kind of apple...a Granny Smith apple. One of the best ways to enjoy my Granny Smith apple is with peanut butter. I have my mama cut my apple if she is available and then enjoy apple slices dipped in peanut butter. There is no better snack, not to mention a healthy one. I also enjoy a granny smith apple in caramel apple dip to the fullest.
It seems that apples get a bad reputation in fairy tales. For example, Snow White. Her evil stepmother poisoned an apple and told Snow white to eat it. And wouldn’t you know, SHE TOOK A BITE. I like apples but if some gnarly old woman where a cape told me to take a bite of an apple, I would run the other way. I would run really really fast.
All in all, I love Granny Smith apples and really don't eat any other kind unless I have to. Pink Lady apples are quite scrumptious too but Granny Smith is my number one pick.
And now I am going to go eat a Granny Smith apple and peanut butter. I do not lie.
 
 

                               .

Tangled-one of the best Disney movie EVER

One of my all time favorite movies is Tangled. It is a spin off of the Rapunzel story and guarantees a load of laughs. We meet up with the spunky and compassionate Rapunzel who has been locked in a tower for her entire life. An evil lady, Mother Gothel, kidnapped Rapunzel when she was a wee babe so that she could still look young. You may wonder what locking a princess in a tower would do to keep an old witch young, well, Rapunzel's hair has the ability to heal.
Along with her chameleon friend Pascal, Rapunzel is quite satisfied living in her tower until the outlaw Flynn Rider shows up. She asks him to take her to the castle to see the lights that appear in the sky each year on her birthday in exchange for the knapsack he was carrying. Flynn agrees and the two begin their thrilling adventure. They....wait....if i tell you anything else, you'll know to much. You should watch the movie. It's the best and is very cute.

                     Flynn Ride while being held hostage. Pascal woke him up with a wet willy.

The Phantom of the Opera- a message behind it

When you first think of the Phantom of the Opera, what jumps out at you? A beautiful soprano? A love story? An unknown figure that lurks around the Paris Opera house? Not only do these things stand out, but I also think there is a lesson that can be learned about judging others.
The Phantom, who wears a mask on the right side of his face, has never known anything of love. All of his life he has hidden behind a mask because of the way people treated him. They mocked him, jeered at him, and hunted him down just because his face is distorted and looks different.
Matthew 7:1 it says:
                       “Do not judge or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (NIV)

In the story, the Phantom is judged by his outward appearance alone and that is where problems begin arise. He only wants to be love and his music be appreciated. Underneath the mask and the disfiguration, is a man who has a passion for music and theater. After all the years of torment and hatred towards him, the Phantom begins to act in violent and rash ways. He falls in love with Christine Daae, a young soprano at the opera house, and when he finds out she loves Raoul, the patron of the opera house, he tries to kill Raoul. In the end, Christine is the only one, other then some others, who doesn't judge him by how he looks.
We must be careful about the way we judge other people. We are ALL made in God's image and must come to treat others like so.

Celtic Thunder Concert

On October 13th, 2011, I went to the Hershey Theater to see my favorite music group of all time, Celtic Thunder. Celtic Thunder is an Irish group that consists of five male vocalists. Since then the group has lost two members and gained a new one, but when I saw it they had all the original singers.
I was so very excited when I got home from school and discovered that there was an extra ticket because the Wingerts, who we were going with, had a stink bug infestation (I DO NOT LIE) and Mr. Wingert was not able to go. My mom asked me who we could bring with us and I instantly thought of my fellow Celtic Thunder fan, Abigail Koontz. After arrangements were made, Abigail came with us to show which made it even more wonderful. Our seats were in the Lodge section and we had a pretty good view of the stage, not to mention comfortable theater seats. We waited in silent, okay maybe not that silent, anticipation. The whole night was full of fun, laughter and music. It was such a blessing to be able to go see the lads live and I would like to again someday!

The blonde one in the middle is my favorite.

I wish I had a Million...

Sometimes I wish i had a million cats because it wrenches my heart to think of all the unwanted cats there are. I would by a big house and keep them all there, so they wouldn't be out in the cold or rain. You may be wondering ,firstly, where would you keep all those cats? I would purchase an ancient castle on the coast of Ireland and then would bring in all the homeless cats. I think it would be a fun thing to do. I would think up a whole bunch of names and name all the felines according to their personalities. It would be a nice big place for them to roam around in and I would block off any small niches that they could get stuck in.
I guess the downside to having a million cats would be trying to keep up with the messes they would make. I would need a lot of cat litter and maybe even a sandbox so they wouldn't mess on the floor. I also would spend a very large amount of money on cat food and the other things they need. Need I mention vet bills?
Maybe having a million cats is not such a good idea after all...

                                                                        My cat Pooter

Want I want to do

I love animals and hopefully, the Lord willing, would like to be a veterinarian assistant (Vet Tech). I can remember since I was little, i was facinated by the show Emergency Vets on Animal Planet. I can remember sitting glued to the television, watching the vets untwist a dog's stomach and remove a wallaby's eye that had an infection in it. I think it was then i decided i wanted to be a veterinarian, although when i got older i decided to be a veterinarian assitant.
This past summer my family started watching the BBC show All Creatures Great and Small. The series is based off the books by James Herriot who was a vet in Yorkshire, England in the 1930's. After watching the show, it renewed my desire to be a vet tech.
My uncle is a vet and each year at the beach he lets me help him when he gives Uncle Russ' dogs their shots. I fill up the syringes and this year got to help him when he drew blood from one of the dogs. I learn something each summer from him and am looking forward to the opportunity to shadow at his practice sometime next summer.
The road to being a vet tech will be hard for me because math isnt my best subject, but I know God can help me do well. I am getting better at science and am determined to do a very good job this year.
God willing, i would love to be a vet assistant and care for God's creatures.

Gymnastics

 There is nothing like accomplishing something hard or challenging. In fact, I enjoy a good challenge! I did gymnastics for roughly three years at the Wilson School of Gymnastics and Dance. A good friend of mine, Abi Van Kampen, told me about it and my mom and I looked into it. I was super excited because two of my cousins were gymnasts at Penn State and I wanted to be just like them!
I started out in the fifty minute class, but soon discovered that it was too easy and the kids in it were a lot younger then I. Mom switched me to the two hour class and I stay in that one for most of my gymnastics career. I didn’t compete but had intensive training and let me tell you, I definitely got a good workout. The coaches worked us hard on flexibility and I can still do a split!
My favorite thing about gymnastics was whenever I accomplished a really difficult skill such as a tuck jump or a handstand flat back. I would go home and email my cousin Allen, telling him what I did that night. I think he enjoyed hearing about how my gymnastics was going.
Like any sport, injuries can happen. I sprained my wrist doing a skill and then re-injured it three times because I kept going back to practice. The recovery took awhile and I absolutely hated wearing a brace on my wrist for a few months. I was able to return to gymnastics the following season and got right back into it. I still have some trouble with that hand and even got tendonitis, which thankfully went away.
I miss gymnastics a lot but am thankful for the opportunity to do the sport and to be a gymnast for three short years
.

Collections

            As long as I can remember, I have gotten a new Christmas ornament each year. It is kind of a tradition here at our house and I have many different ornaments that are each hold a special memory. One of my favorite ones is the one we got in Maine when my family went to Bar Harbor. It is a little lighthouse and reminds me of the sea. I also have the ornaments from my first Christmas. It has my baby picture in it and I put it on the tree every year. There was another one that was building blocks with a toddler holding a star that is one of my absolute favorite ones. I think it is neat to see how we have grown and the different ornaments we have collected and received from Mom and Dad. I think it is cool how even my momma has ornaments since she and Daddy got married. They have the one they got on their first Christmas which takes its place in the center of the tree. Mom also has the ornaments that her students gave her when she was a teacher many years ago.

            I look forward one day to putting the ornaments I have received from my mom and day, on my own tree and reminiscing of the days gone by. Who knows? Maybe I will even do the same for my kids so that when they have their own home, they too can put up the ornaments on their tree.