Wednesday, June 26

Relay for Life went really good! I ended up staying up until 5:00am and I walked 16 miles and a quarter! I walked a mile more than last year. This summer has been great so far, we've all been keeping busy. We have a couple camping trips coming up that we're really looking forward to.

I'll Walk for You

Tomorrow there is an event called Relay for Life. I blogged about it last year too, so it might sound familiar. It's where a lot of people gather at a high school track and walk around the track/raise money to find a cure for cancer. This is a poem that I wrote that relates a little bit to this event.

I'll walk for you

The last time we talked
I made a promise to you
I said that I'll walk to find a cure
if it's the last thing I do.
So this year; I'm going to walk
more than I ever have before
I wish you could walk with me though
There's nothing I'd want more.
I remember the last lap we walked together
your hand was in mine
I looked over at you
and everything was fine.
I miss you so much
sometimes I don't know what to do
even though you won't be with me this year
I'll walk for you.

summer!

Well, we made it! It's summer!  It went so fast! Next year Nathan (my brother) will be in 7th grade and Emily (my sister) will be in 3rd.
I hope everyone has a great summer and I'll try to update more often now that I have more free time.

Dutch Dance

Last week for Tulip Time, I dutch danced. I dutch danced a total of 17 times! It was a crazy week. I was going to update this blog last week but I could barely find the time to do my homework, so I didn't end up getting to it. I also do softball. I actually injured my ankle pretty badly a couple weeks ago. I was up to bat and the pitcher pitched the ball to me and it hit my ankle. Then, again in the next inning, I went up to bat again and I got hit in the same spot with the ball.  My ankle was so swollen, it was crazy! I had to wear this air cast for a while. I was out for a couple weeks but I just got to start playing again today! I'm not very good at softball but it's been a good experience playing on the team and I'm glad I did it!
Here are some pictures from dutch dancing.

Poems

Something new that I am going to start doing is posting one of my poems and one of my moms poems.
I won't do this very often, though. I'll probably do it once a month.


This is my moms poem:
Empty 

There's a  hole inside my heart
that some day God will fill.
There are many days I really wish
that time could just stand still.
Part of me doesn't want to live,
it only wants to die.
I get so very frustrated
and all I can do is cry.
It's not that I want to 'die'
I know that isn't the key;
life on earth can be so frustrating;
heaven is where I long to be.
We were made to live on earth
for just a little while.
The thought of entering heaven
always makes me smile
I'll keep going with this hole in my heart
and god's grace will see me through
I'll listen carefully for His voice
that will tell me what to do.

This is my poem.

Broken

Why is there so much pain in this world? 

How can we make it go away? 

Why does it feel like God is so distant?

God, please don’t let us fall astray 

We all need to recognize

that God is here

He will never let us go

He is always near

This pain in our life 

could be a sign

This pain could be telling us

That God wants us to shine

We need to use our pain

and turn it around 

God wants us to let people know

that good can be found. 

Even though there is brokenness in this world 

God has everything planned

He will hold us all up

In his majestic mighty hand. 

Spring Break

I went to Florida over spring break with my friend and her family, so here are some pictures!

I wanted to prove that I could have a little bit of energy at 4:30 in the morning :)

My dad got our family a new car when I was in Florida, and now I am able to drive this smaller car instead of our old van that is so big!

God is so good.

God is so good. I can't even handle it! Today I met with someone who I haven't seen in a long time.... and I seriously have a new perspective on everything now. I watched a video a couple days ago, and it seriously changed my life and how I look at everything. Here's kind of what I took out of the video.
Our lives are full of pain. It's the truth. But God isn't giving us this pain just to watch us suffer! I seriously have yelled at God so much just because it feels good. I feel like I need to get my anger out somewhere, and God seems like the perfect target. But I was so wrong to do that!
The Bible tells us that every good and perfect gift comes from above. Nothing bad comes from God. The reason there is so much pain in this world is because of us. When God was in control of the world, the world was perfect. But when he gave control over to us, that's where it all went wrong! The devil got a hold of this power and that is why there is pain in the world today. God doesn't always win, and that's why my mom went to Heaven. I've heard this phrase many times: "Everything happens for a reason." But the person who I was with today put it in better words: "God makes a reason out of everything." It's so perfect! Anyway, 1 John 5:19 says this: "We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one."  God admits here that the devil has control of the world, so it is written here that God will not always win, but there really can be a shining light in all darkness!  Anyway, just thought I'd share what I learned today and hopefully it can impact everyone who reads this as much as it impacted me.