Girls just wanna have fun...

...we built this city on Rock and Roll...Footloose, footloose...I guess you're just what I needed...



Man, I love 80's music. It's sad that I still have some of those songs stuck in my head from this past Friday at Clue. It was an awesome night. We had so many characters this year and a bunch of middle schoolers. I think it went fairly well(with the exception of a few individuals in some of the groups) and it was so much fun working out with Shannon. We really burned off the cals. :) Our super sweet clothes were the most radical outfits ever(the mimes weren't half bad either). Too bad there was no murderer. Shannon and I could have worked him to death.

I babysat for the Mahaceks on Saturday. It wasn't a stressful night, but the kids are awesome anyway and I never seem to have a problem with them. They are the greatest kids I could ever babysit for. I feel kind of bad sometimes when I get other jobs and I compare them to the Mahacek kids. I've been babysitting them for a while. There are three kids:MacKenna-4th grade, Mac-2nd grade, and Mason-kindergarden. I started before Mason was even born, Mac was 2 and MacKenna was 4. Wow, it has been a while. I took some pics of MacKenna(M & M) and Mason(Scooby Doo) tonight when they were trick-or-treating: Look at my Flickr pics on the side. Aren't they adorable?

Sunday morning in "Big Church" was incredible! Not only did Dave speak(*tear*), but we sang "Even If I Fall"(I smile every time I hear that song). I love how Dave encompassed the idea of harmony with how we sang that song. At the end of the service we sang that again, but instead of using "I" and "me", we used "we" and "our". It was so awesome to hear the body of Christ as one, lifting our praises to God. It made me think about the lyrics from a different perspective. Not only does our Heavenly Father lift us up and help us through our trials, but we should encourage each other as the body of Christ. We lift each other up as Christ is lifting us up.

College Tours starts tomorrow!! I am overjoyed!! Slim change in schedule: we aren't going to Chicago! I'm bummed out because I really wanted to check out North Park and of course it's in Chicago. Instead we are going to Malone in Ohio. It should still be a nice visit because I don't know too much about Malone other than it's similar to Cornerstone. Please pray that God will open our minds and hearts and that we will trust Him as He leads us on this trip. Pray that we will have a better understanding of what God wants for our future.

Have to go pack! God Bless!

Good Times

This week has been going really well. A lot of the pressures from my activities are gone and I feel more at peace. This week has been pretty easy as far as essays, tests, and quizes. I have my usual math quiz(which I did well on, thank goodness)or two and a Spanish test today.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow! Not only do I have a half day(YES!!), but that night is CLUE! I'm so excited! There are some pretty funny characters this year, so it should be an awesome night. Shannon and I have our costumes figured out and I must say, we look pretty radical. My brother is bringing a friend from school, so I hope he enjoys it. This is going to be so much fun!

This weekend I get to go to guitar lessons, which will be good since I've missed the past three weeks. On Sunday we have Buc's Last Blast for marching band. I'm happy that Maynard cut it short this year because I was worried I wouldn't make it to praise band on time. It should be fun. I'll miss the seniors.

Next week I go to school on Monday and part of Tuesday, then....COLLEGE TOURS!! I'm really ready to go to college! We're going to Cedarville, Taylor, and North Park(yes, Chicago!). I have a lot of work to make up from the time I missed, but my teachers were really nice about everything. I hope God reveals more to me through this. Dave is going too(his last trip with us); bittersweet feeling.

Have to go to class! See Ya'll!

I've Been Thinking...

I took a walk down "The Path" today. I've been wanting to do more things outside lately because I'm in love with fall. I love seeing the orange, yellow, and red bursting from the branches. I love feeling the cool autumn breeze as it brushes across my face and fills me with a sense of peace. I walk slowly over the dried leaves so I can soak in the sound of every crunch, wishing to freeze that moment and hold on to it more before the snow comes and covers the colors of autumn. As I walked futher down the path, I really thought about why I love fall so much. Is it being able to see the way God works in nature? Is it the perfect temperature? While these ARE some of the reasons, I think the reason I love fall so much is because it's a season of change. Everything is changing, I can see that physically. I think this is the season that I change the most. I'm beginning the school year and adjusting to my new schedule. I'm trying to fit in all my activities and keep my priorities straight. In most situations I find myself to be more concerned about serving people and pleasing them(doing everything I can not to let them down)and in the process putting the things that are important to me on hold. While this can be good, I drive myself crazy trying to find ways to please other people. I know not everyone is going to like me, but I hope to atleast make people happy, which means I need to have a more positive attitude(especially at school). By having a positive attitude, I will also be benefitting myself(having more self-confidence). Okay, I really didn't mean to talk about the later stuff but this is my journal so I guess it's okay.

Anyway...
It was really nice to have some alone time today, walk The Path and really focus on my spiritual walk. I haven't been able to spend that much time outside lately. Speaking of time, I wasn't even able to go to a pumpkin patch or even get a pumpkin this year! That is really sad. My fall doesn't really feel complete without a pumpkin. Oh well.

I read a really neat verse today: Psalm 118:24. I've read this before but it was cool that I read it again today as I was in the woods and enjoying my day. It also made me think about how I live each day. The saying "live as if you were dying" popped into my head. I don't need to go sky-diving or travel to London tomorrow, but I need to be motivated to live my life to the fullest everyday. This also means taking things and people in my life for granted. I've been doing this lately. Sometimes I DO put myself above others and don't show others how important they are in my life. I just accept them right now because they are there. I know God has placed each person in my life at this time for a particular reason and I need to take advantage of that. I need to spend more time with my loved ones and continue to tell them how much I care for them. This includes God. I've put Him even farther behind my friends and family. He's always been there, so what? He's given me my life and salvation! He works in my life in awesome ways and gives me reason to have a positive attitude! He is the colorful leaves that I press in my journal. He is that crunching noise that I would love to hold on to. He is the cool breeze that brings me life and peace. He is my fall- He remains constant and continues to change my life.

"You're not short, everyone's just tall"

This is a quote from my wise brother. It's official-he is taller than me. He is 5'5" while I stand at a mere 5'4". It is sad really. I always joked with my mom about me being taller than her, but now I find that all my cousins and my "little" brother are towering over me(and making jokes in the process). I've come to the realization that I'm destined to be short because nobody, especially my mom's side, is really tall. It's all downhill from here.

This has been one of the better weeks since school started. As usual, I've been busy(maybe even more so) and I've beaten my own record of least hours of sleep(went to bed at 3 a.m. on Sunday and 1 the rest of the nights), but I still think this week went well. Cheerleading practice was canceled on Monday because my coach said we deserved a break(major shock), so it was nice to have some extra time before band practice. My assignments were more spaced out this week, so I had time to organize my homework. I didn't have any major tests this week which is definitely a plus!

Tuesday night was the First Priority Dinner at Spring Lake Wesleyan. It was awesome! I met some incredible students from Fruitport, Spring Lake, and GHHS Freshman. We served a delicious dinner and helped with the dishes. Randy White played a presentation of First Priority activities and interviews with students. I, along with some other students, went on stage and Randy asked us each a question that referred to First Priority. He asked me to talk about the mission trips I've been on and how I relate that to school and First Priority. That was an awesome opportunity to share my experiences and express the need to share Christ's love in a public school. The night was really uplifting and it was nice to meet other Christians who are experiencing similar things in their schools.

It's amazing to see how much God is working in my life right now. I was talking(more like venting) to the girls in small group last night about how I feel "alone". I'm going through the same spiritual dryness that usually occurs during this time of year when I'm consumed with my own desires and too busy to spend time with God. I had some thoughts last night while Sandy was leading the discussion(randomness starts here): 1) I don't completely rely on God. Instead of going to Him with my struggles and accomplishments, I try to find comfort in people because I am constantly around people due to my busy schedule. 2) I keep too much inside. Going with point 1, a lot of times I don't tell people what I'm struggling with(or even what makes me happy for that matter). Everything keeps building up inside because I either feel I don't have enough to time to have a real conversation with a person or I don't think that they will understand my struggles. Instead, I should be bringing those thoughts to God. He is my omni-present friend. He wants me to come to Him because He wants to comfort me and show me how much He loves me. I will say that I've really been noticing the God moments recently. Since we've been talking about Evangelism on Sunday mornings, I've been looking out for times when I get to talk to people at school. There have been numerous times this week when I've been able to talk about my beliefs and mission trips to people. God has been so gracious to open up those doors for me as an encouragement that He is still working in my life. My new favorite song is "Even If I Fall". I just learned this in praise band and I play it everyday on my guitar and sing it as a prayer to God:
Though my way seems uncertain/In You I'll put my trust/Even if I fall/I'll rise again/for You are my God/Even if I fall/You lift me up/I may go through some trials/But I will not fear, for You are with me. Those are my favorite lines. I could go on about my spiritual growth this week, but I should wrap this up.

I would like to thank the guys responsible for putting the bomb on my vehicle last night. Good one, guys. Next time you try bombing a car, don't tell the person about it BEFORE they get to the car. Be mysterious; Surprise them; make them fear you.

Here is a picture of my soon-to-be cousin:




My Aunt Paula and Uncle Paul are adopting this little girl from China. Isn't she cute? Her name is going to be Danielle. She had surgery on her lip which is a praise because my aunt and uncle were worried about doing the surgery after they get her. They aren't sure when they'll get her exactly because all the adoption details are still being worked out, but please pray that the entire process and travel goes well.

Busy weekend: last home football game, band competition, SUNDAY ACTIVITIES, and homework. Good news is that cheerleading practice is canceled on Tuesday so I get a little break. Please pray for me as I wrap up this upcoming week of football season.

God Bless!

BATMAN!!

I finally have time to post!! Blogs make you feel guilty when you go on day after day and see the same entry everytime. It gets really bad when you see that your comment number hasn't increased in over a week!

My life has been so crazy lately! With cheerleading, school, church, friends, and tons of homework, I've had very little time to have "Sarah Time". Last week was pretty bad. It wasn't just school. I was sick and stayed home last Monday-BAD IDEA!! I had so much inclass work that I missed, so I had to do all of it at home. I stayed up til 1/1:30 everynight finishing up homework. I did really bad on three major tests and quizes that I was pretty prepared for but lack of sleep effected my performance. I was pretty much exhausted that entire week and still had to cheer at the game on that Friday. That was an AWESOME game!!! It was good that the game was so suspenseful or I would have been completely out of it by halftime.

Saturday was the TFK/Hawk Nelson concert!! That was so awesome! I think I'll wear shorts next time I go to a concert though because everyone was dripping in sweat. I really worked my leg muscles from jumping. Who needs exercise when you can go to a concert and have fun while firming up your muscles. I really liked the location of the concert. It was nice going to a different type of venue. Both bands were so AWESOME!! It was a great ending to a bad week.

This week is homecoming, so naturally I'm busy. The theme for this year is Super Heroes. I think it's pretty good considering last year's was Nursery Rhymes. The Juniors have Batman and the float is going to be so cool! I'm really excited to see the final result. At cheerleading, we have been practicing with the Freshman and JV teams because they will be cheering with us at the varsity game for the first half. I'm really excited because some of the stunts and chants we are doing together are looking really good. I think cheerleaders are more recognized at homecoming, too, because we look like this big "cheer army" on the track. The band has been working on some new things for the show, so I hope everything goes well for that since there will be more people watching us at the game.

That's pretty much it. My life will hopefully get back to "normal" after this week. Wait, I take that back. My life will hopefully get back to "normal" when the football season is over. The last week of the season is going to be crazy with 3 band compititions and the last football game in Rockford. I was going to have some pics from Dune Overnight on here, but my computer is really slow and I have to go to practice, so I'll post them next time.

Later Days!