For starters, my mom's surgery went fine. It took a little while for her to completely recuperate, but like always, she put on a brave face for the rest of us. She even listened to the doctor's restrictions, mostly! : ) Now, though, she is 100% recovered and as silly, sweet, and amazing as she always has been.
On April 28th, my mother and I attended a Girl Scout awards dinner and both were recognized. She received the Girl Scouts Outstanding Volunteer award and I was acknowledged for a project I had done, collecting backpacks, duffel bags, and suitcases for foster children, for my Silver Award. I was really proud of my mom. She's spent a lot of time helping out with Girl Scout-related events throughout the years, and she undoubtedly deserved it. We both received a fresh flower, which, for me, was the most exciting part of the whole thing!
May 8th was my piano recital. I guess I did ok, although I would have liked to have performed better. My pieces were Hungarian Dance No. 5 and To God be the Glory. I have yet to determine whether or not I'm taking lessons again this year, but I still have a little bit more time to decide.
May 16th was the basketball party. I was visiting my brother throughout the day, so I did not make it in time for the dinner portion of the evening at CiCi's, but I joined the girls later at our coach's church. There, we I hung out for a short period of time and then walked over to the movie theatre and saw Prince Caspian, which I thoroughly enjoyed. After the movie, we walked back over to the church and spent the night there. It was a sweet time, and it was great seeing everyone again.
May 24th-31st was spent on an amazing vacation at Hilton Head, Savannah, and Myrtle Beach. We left home the 24th and picked up my friend, Julia. : ) Then, we headed to Hilton Head and spent Saturday through Thursday morning there. Our days were consumed staying at an absolutely gorgeous condo where we swam, took lots of pictures, played games, shopped, saw Prince Caspian (again for me), and just enjoyed some precious time together.
On one of the days we were in Hilton Head, we decided to travel to Savannah, GA and see some of the sites there. Mom, Dad, Julia, and I ended up taking the Old Town Trolley Tour, allowing us to get off at the stops we wanted to see and skip the ones we weren't interested in. The two highlights were Juliette Gordon Low's birthplace (the founder of Girl Scouts) and The Cathedral of St. John.
Juliette Gordon Low's Birthplace 
The Cathedral of St. John
After some great times in Hilton Head, Thursday we drove to Myrtle Beach. There, we really didn't do much other than a condo tour, a shopping trip, and a day at the beach, collecting shells and reading. Saturday we said goodbye to the ocean and headed home. 
Laura, my cabin's counselor. Let's put it this way, Laura was amazing. Not only did she encourage all of us to grow spiritually, but she also made an incredible role model, for me especially, by being a Godly woman who treated others with kindness, patience, and acceptance. She truly showed Christ's love through her life.
Two other camp counselors. Ryan was my team's group leader and the boys' cabin's counselor. Megan was the other girl cabin's counselor. Although I did not get to know Ryan or Megan as well as I did Laura, they were both very kind to me.
After arriving home from Julia's, I had less than one week to recuperate and get ready for my next adventure. On Sunday, June 15th, I met up with Deaconess Deanna and a girl, Hannah, from her church and the three of us headed to Concordia University Chicago in River Forest to attend the Diakonia Days summer camp. http://www.cuchicago.edu/departments/deaconess/diakonia_days.asp This was a truly incredible week. I felt like I met some of the sweetest, most Christ-like girls in the world and made some friendships that I hope will last a lifetime. We stayed in dorms on the campus, took classes every morning, and every afternoon, we did some sort of service project in the community. Classes included Musings on Matins, Digging into Diakonia, Greek (yes, we attempted to learn Greek. I failed! :] Just kidding, sort of), and the Deaconess Vocation. All of the classes were very interesting, and I felt like I learned a lot. Our service projects included working in a home for people with different disabilities, playing with children at a church located in a poor neighborhood, visiting the elderly in a retirement home, sorting clothes in a thrift shop, playing with kids at the Concordia University Early Childhood Center on campus, and finally, making and passing out sandwiches in downtown Chicago. We also had plenty of devotions time and free time, special parts of our days that we used to get to know each other and develop close relationships. Finally, we ate at some amazing restaurants in the area with real, Chicago-style food (seriously, if you don't visit Chicago for any other reason, go there for the food, particularly the pizza!). The entire week was an extraordinary time in which I feel like I really grew spiritually and strengthened my faith in Christ by being around other teenage girls similar to me, yet still beautifully unique.
Digging into Diakonia, another class we took in the mornings. You're probably wondering, what is diakonia? Basically, diakonia means 'to serve.' We learned all about this concept with Deaconess Waters. Notice the raw spaghetti we're chewing on. It became a regular snack all week. We even convinced the deaconesses to let us buy some more at the grocery store one day! 
Al Capone's house in River Forest. Random fact: we all decided that we were going to buy Al Capone's house when we got older and have sleepovers. Notice how mysterious it looks.. 
All of us from left to right: Cayleigh, Ellen, Hannah, Esther, Amy, me, Olivia, and Katey. The matching shirts were actually from some event that took place at the University of Illinois. We got them while we were doing a service project. We were going through boxes of clothing and the pastor who was supervising had boxes of these shirts, so he said we could each have one. At the end of the week, we signed each other's. Another random fact: This picture was taken after we had played on a park playground and screamed the "Jesus Loves Me" chant that we created.
This is Sarah at her "birthday party." She was the Deaconess Intern that got to hang out with us all week. She graciously took us everywhere we needed to go and made sure we didn't get into too much trouble. Tuesday afternoon we were at the Concordia University cafeteria, standing in a very long line for ice cream. We were bored, so we started singing random songs, "Happy Birthday" being one of them. Specifically, we sung "Happy Birthday" to Sarah, whose birthday had been four or five months earlier. We "celebrated" Sarah's birthday for the rest of the week by singing "Happy Birthday" to her in public places, getting strangers to wish her a happy birthday and restaurants to announce her birthday over the loudspeaker, lighting candles in a Rice Krispies Treat, and giving her a birthday party with decorations and all. She did a lot of blushing that week.
Oprah Winfrey's studio, although honestly, I could care less. I'm not an Oprah fan.
After we passed out sandwiches in downtown Chicago, we spent the rest of the evening seeing the sights. This included the Loyola University Museum of Art, the Hershey Factory, the LEGO store, "The Bean" in Millennium Park, the "Human Gargoyle," and finally, Navy Pier, where we ate dinner and shopped before we headed back to the dorms for our final night.
It's a guy made completely of LEGOs. How cool is that?!
"The Bean"
Me inside "The Bean"
"The Human Gargoyle"
Navy Pier
This was our waiter, John, at the restaurant we ate at on Navy Pier, Capi's Italian Kitchen. http://www.eatatcapis.com/ He and our other server were both hilarious. They were busy, but several times they took a moment to joke around with us. One of the girls gave John a Hershey's Factory hat. I also ate the most amazing thing at Capi's and I have to tell you about it, because, well, I love food! It was called Capi's Famous Caesar Salad, and it was a caesar salad in a bowl made out of pizza bread. What more can I say?!
Saturday, June 21st, Mom picked me up at Concordia and we spent the afternoon at the Museum of Science and Industry with Deaconess Deanna and Hannah. I had never been to the museum, so it was very exciting for me. Not to mention, the place was huge. After seeing some of the exhibits, Deanna and Hannah headed home and mom and I did a few more exhibits before driving to Aunt GiGi's. We spent the rest of the week seeing family in Chicagoland. The highlights were my second cousin, Jimmy's, eighth grade graduation, driving the golf cart at my Aunt Mare's, taking three of my aunt's out for lunch, seeing my grandparents, spending time with Aunt Alice and her kids/grandkids, and going to Lincoln Park Zoo with Mom, my cousin, Michelle, and her nephew, Trevor. I fell in love with Lincoln Park Zoo. It's definitely my favorite zoo ever!
A beautiful rainbow on our way to Aunt Mare's, reminding us that God keeps his promises : )
Lincoln Park Zoo.. known for it's gorilla exhibit. Have you ever seen Return to Me?
Trevor feeding the cows.
Michelle and Trevor in a John Deere Tractor.
Trevor petting the softest goat I have ever touched. It was pretty, too!
Pumba!
Isn't he, without a doubt, the cutest thing you have ever seen?! Don't you just want to cuddle with him?!?! I do!!!! He even has a tennis ball in his mouth! Can you honestly ask for more?!
So, Friday, the 27th, we headed home, but not without an extra little somebody who decided to join us. Yup, that's right, my nephew, Joshua, chose to come stay with us for two weeks! We all had a great time. It was definitely different having a six year old in the house, but it was great taking him places and getting to know him at a more personal level. The day after we got home, Laura took Josh and I to feed the carp. It was a lot of fun and Joshua really got a kick out of it. Sissy, my sister's black lab, also enjoyed herself. Later in the week, Mom and I took Josh to see Wall-e, which I think I enjoyed just as much as he did! June 3rd I started volunteering at the hospital again. This year I worked two days in Central Stores (the shipping and receiving department), one in Transport Services, where I transported patients from one area of the hospital to the other, and one in the Main Lab. On the 4th, Josh, Mom, my friend, Amy, and I went and saw a baseball game, Joshua's first baseball game. That weekend, the whole family got a chance to get to know Mike, my sister's, well, boyfriend at the time. He took a bus from New York and camped out, spending time getting to know my sister in person. They met online and, at this point, had only talked via email and phone. Saturday, the 5th, Amy, Josh, and I swam with him and Laura, ate dinner together, and then all made s'mores over the fire. Sunday, he had dinner at the house and met my dad, who had been away visiting my grandmother for a couple of days. Because my dad was out of town for my parent's anniversary, we celebrated that on Sunday also. I even made my very first carrot cake for the occasion! So, we enjoyed a nice evening together filled with great food and lots of laughs. Everyone really liked Mike, particularly Josh, Amy, and I because we had spent the most time with him, but my parents wondered how serious it was going to get... Anyway, here are a few pics of the time Josh spent with us.
Josh feeding the carp with Laura, Sissy, and I.
Joshua with my baby, Pepper. She's the most adorable Miniature Pinscher you will ever meet. She was abused as a puppy and has something mentally wrong with her, so she still acts like a puppy, even though she will be two years old this fall.
You probably know how much I love to cook/bake. This is the first carrot cake I've ever created, in celebration of my parent's 33rd anniversary. It was a little bit lopsided, but other than that, I think it turned out pretty well.
Saturday, the 12th, the day before Joshua went home, we enjoyed a church retreat. It was a really nice time, filled with food, crafts, fun and games, and fellowship. Amy was able to join us for this outing too, which was great! We adored her and she was beginning to feel like part of the family!! In fact, she's now my parent's unofficially adopted daughter, at least according to my mom (unofficially because her parents are both alive and well and would kill us if we tried to make it official!). : )
My days for the next week after that were spent mostly volunteering. I met some amazing friends this year. I had a great time getting to know, hanging out, and eating lunch with Raven, Kellee, Hannah, and Michelle, along with some other sweet teens and adults I worked with. I love you guys!!
July 19th I spent the afternoon with Amy, her mom, and two of her mom's friends. The five of us went and saw Mamma Mia!, ate dinner at Uno's, and finally, later in the evening, Amy and I split from the group and saw Romeo & Juliet. The production was awesome, and we both really enjoyed it.
After another two weeks of volunteering, Amy and I embarked on yet another amazing adventure. Namely, the Breaking Dawn release party. It was really exciting, for this was my first 'release party' experience. The evening of August 1 consisted of refreshments, an arm wrestling contest, a scavenger hunt, fellowship with other Twilight fans, and finally, the releasing of Breaking Dawn at midnight. It was a thrilling experience!
Amy arm wrestling her way to victory against all her female opponents. Go Amy!!
They had a really awesome scavenger hunt. Amy and I went around together and found all of the papers hung throughout the bookstore with quotes from Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. We also had to document the speaker of the quotes and which book they were from. Guess what?! We won! They only had one prize, though, so Amy and I battled against each other, answering a trivia question to determine the winner. Yay Amy!! She beat me, which was no surprise, because she has been a Twilight fan much longer than I and had freshened up on her trivia before the party. I was so proud of her! So, here are a few of my favorite quotes from the amazing night and the incredible series of books.
Last Friday, the 8th of August, was a bittersweet day. Sweet because it was the birthday of my very special brother, Michael. Bittersweet because it was the volunteer awards dinner at the hospital and the official last day of volunteering, although my final day had been the afternoon before. Finally, my friend's grandfather passed away that day and the viewing was that evening. My friend and her entire family were very strong, and I hope that the days following this melancholy event will become easier for them.
The next day, my mom and I spent the day celebrating my brother's 28th birthday. Yup, he was born 8/8/80, isn't that cool?! He and I played a board game, then the three of us headed to Culver's and had a butterburger and frozen custard (yum!). After that, we did presents and had some of the Thwonk Cake I created just for him. I love you, Michael, and I hope your birthday was as special to you as it was to me!!
Mom wanted a picture of Mike looking at his watch, waiting for Laura. Unfortunately, he didn't have a watch, so they settled for this. Isn't he adorable!
The service with Pastor Terry
The girls
Uh-oh.. This can't be good!
A sweet, sweet addition to our family! 
Right after the wedding, I headed to Amy's house to spend the night with her (I wasn't exactly excited about sleeping in the same house as the newlyweds!). : ) Actually, I just really want to sleep over at Amy's before school started. We had a great time! She and I ate dinner, played video games, listened to tons of music, danced around to said music like crazy people, talked about insane, erratic things (like always), and stayed up until almost three (which is really good for me because I'm an early-to-bed type of girl), watching the meteor shower. It was great, like always, to spend some extra time with Amy!
So, thus far, that's been my summer. It's been filled with good times and bad. In fact, I still haven't quite contemplated everything that occurred. I haven't had time! What's life, though, if it isn't filled to the brim with happenings and encounters, both positive and negative, and learning experiences? I keep on thinking that once this happens or once I'm done with that, my life will finally settle down. However, no matter how many times I say that, I continue to prove myself wrong. I'm not complaining; I thrive on staying busy. So, hopefully my life will continue with its crazy occurrences and opportunities to learn and grow both personally and spiritually, with a few moments here and there to catch my breath. If I could only be so lucky!
1 comment:
wow that was a very busy summer. I'm glad you had a good summer. Hopefully you liked volleyball practice. I'll see you Monday :)
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