20 Years Later...An Update

So much has happened, in the past week but basically I will be covering January 17th. I woke up that day, a year older. I woke up as a twenty year old...a new era of life now that I am out of those weird teenage years that never seemed like they would end. I was able to celebrate my birthday in the most mature way possible by going to Great Skate with good friends. I believe I may have spent many birthday parties there when I was eight years old but no matter, this was a proper thing to do to bid my childhood ways farewell and welcome adulthood.

One thing that ushered me into maturitydom was having an amazing song dedicated to me from Kevin. I had no idea that a song talking about one man singlehandley bringing back a very conceited adjective leaving other men not knowing what to do with themselves, could describe me, a sweet innocent new adult but alas, it was dedicated to me in my honor leaving the other souls at the rink to look at me with wonder and jealously of how I was chosen for this song and they weren't. I remained a humble disposition as I skated past them as the song rambled on. Truly before this day, I had never heard more then the first line of the song and after hearing it all I was not expecting such a song to be chosen in my honor. Kevin, I graciously thank you for dedicating this song to me, I love your guts (platonically of course) for it! ; )

After this, a couple of us headed over to American Pie (another attempt at maturity) to break bread together. Of course, I had to remain dignity that I may have lost at Great Skate so I entered the restaurant to fall on my bottom due to a wet floor. I knew the floor was wet but I figured maybe the sign was just kidding. Nope, not this time. After composing myself we indulged in some pizza. I was spoiled with having my favorite dessert being specially made followed by the restaurant singing me happy birthday. Of course, in my humble attitude, I had no idea it was going to happen, neither did I expect it, and even more I received it well and thanked everyone for their sweet singing and applauding.

Following dinner, the group grew smaller and headed over to the Niffenegger's home where we spent the duration of the evening. As a twenty year old, I received a $20 gift card to Toys R Us, the most awesome gift ever. I will relapse in my anti immaturity days and splurge on Walle items. We proceeded to keep the theme of the day alive by playing Disney Scene It and other random games that allowed us to laugh hard.

It truly was a wonderful day! I was truly blessed to have so many friends to celebrate my day with! Some other things happened in the day that will mature me in the aspects of new changes but that's part of growing up. Things happen to us where we look up to Heaven with our tears streaming down our cheeks, and bless His beautiful name. : )

Some things written about in the entry may or may not have been truly the way they were reflected. : )

Answers...

Boop Beep- where's your sheep?

Highly attractive picture of me with braces and dressed up for the play Pride and Prejudice.

Alrighty, since the overwhelming results have poured in and there is a lot of threats against my life if I do not post the answers soon, here they are...

1. Yes...I do sleep with a retainer every night and it will stay there till the day I die. It not only keeps my teeth straight, but there's a splint in it to fix problems linked with my ears and jaw. (kind of TMJ problems)

2. I LOVE Soundtrack scores...speaking of which, I need to get some playing right about now. Ahh...pure beauty!

3. This is sooo false. It pained me to write that lie. Yuuucckkk!

4. Yes, I tend to walk and talk in my sleep when I am really tired. It's really more complicated then that but it's the simple way to explain what is happening.

5. Braces, yes, but four years...not three- Got them on in eighth grade and had them finally removed my senior year. Is that four years...

6. Scrap booking, I love it dearly. I acknowledge that it is a time consuming hobby but I love it!

7. I did go to New Jersey this summer with my girls.

8. Nope, I haven't always loved the idea of being a girl and dressing up. I was a tomboy for the longest time. I loved sports. Dressing up was torture. Forget about make up. Attempting to look beautiful has been a new thing in the last few years.

9. I am deeply fascinated with Hitler and Stalin's lives. I find it thrilling to read about their lives and what exactly triggered their sick minds. The Holocaust is also another thing I find intriguing. I was able to see a former concentration camp while I was in Germany and it was very fascinating.

10. This statement is half true- I want my wedding at Cornerstone but I want Patrick to do my wedding is the real other must. Hopefully these two items can be made possible.

11. Nope, I can stand the sight of blood or surgery. I think that kind of stuff is rather cool.

12. This summer I do plan on working at Children's. : ) But I say that every summer, this one I am going to try hard to make it happen.

13. My first job other babysitting was at Cold Stone. Oh joy...

14. I have donated blood three times! Hehee...I have saved lives.

15. Ha...this is the biggest lie of a lifetime. Enough said. : )

Let's Play a Game

So I have a good hour before I have to go to work and I need to update this thing. Since I have nothing really to write home about, I am going to play a game and want you to play too. I am going to list things about me. Some of them are lies and some are actual truth. See if you know enough about me to discern which is which. I will post answers in a couple of days...ready? : )

1. Every night I sleep with a retainer.

2. My favorite kind of music is soundtrack scores.

3. I absolutely love country music with all my heart.

4. When I am reallllllyyy tired I talk and walk in my sleep.

5. I had braces for three years.

6. I think scrapbooking is the biggest waste of time ever.

7. I went on a road trip this past summer to New Jersey.

8. I have always loved dressing up and being a girl.

9. I love studying about Hilter, Stalin, and the Holocaust.

10. There are two absolute musts for my wedding- It has to be at Cornerstone and there is going to be dancing.

11. I cannot stand the sight of surgery or blood.

12. This summer I plan on volunteering at Children's Hospital.

13. My first job was at Cold Stone Creamery.

14. I have donated blood three times.

15. I really can't stand little kids, too many of them freak me out.

Sweet Relief of Contact

Today was a long day at work...a verryyy long day. I had a nine hour shift, which most of you are like "Sooo...that is my regular day at work or that is a short shift for me" but for working at a daycare, that is one heck of a long day with only a half an hour break. Most people get the luxary in their jobs to sit and relax for their lunches...I am usaully just about to take my first bite of my lunch when a child decides to knock their lunch over to spill all over the ground. Anywhoo, I should not really complain, I love my job very much.

I came home today verrrrryyyy tired. I fell asleep on the living room floor at seven o'clock, that is how tired I was. However, the day proved worth it when I recieved a phone call of a lifetime. My mom had mentioned that someone had called the house just before I pulled up the driveway and she told them to call me back later. The phone rang, I answered it having no idea who I was talking to for five minutes. Then she said, I hope you would know what your new jersey twin sounds like by now.

Good gollie gracious gee wilkers, I was sooooooo excited! I have not heard from my beautiful twin from new jersey since I went there (New Jersey) in July. Okay let me explain the two of us. Heidi Elizabeth Mayo and Rachel Louise Moen met up at Semp 2004 (students equipped to minister to peers) in Toronto. She is in Johnnie Norbeck's church for clarification. Anywhoo, we met and kind of didnt think much of each other. Then Semp 2005, we remembered each other, and maybe talked once or twice. However, we exchanged email addresses and thats when the magic happen.

We very quickly found out that we had everything in common. The really only main difference between us is the fact she has blonde hair and I have brown hair. I am not even blowing this out of proportion but everytime we talk, we both will share what God is teaching us, and not even kidding the other one will have already experienced it. But even better, the other one will just have experienced it so the lessons learned are fresh or we both go through the same thing at the same time.

At Merge 2006 (Semp totally revamped everything) Heidi and I could not wait to see each other. I was showing the girls from our youth group around the hotel and she was too. She apparently saw some of our luggage on the floor in one of the hallways and got very excited. We both left our groups and started running for each other. We turned this corner and crashed into each with this huge hug. We fell into everyone's luggage. It was truly romantic. ; )

We used to only see each other once a year but now it's every few years. She attends Word of Life in Argentina to pursue missions work so we barely even talk now. So, we made a road trip to New Jersey and I didnt even tell her about it till a month before hand. She somehow still forgot about our trip out so I surprised her. I love her soooooooooooooooooo dearly. But yeah we were able to talk a good half an hour tonight and hopefully more will come. : )

Big Update...

Forgive me my friends for not updating this in awhile. This entry may go on forever as it covers the last week and a half. Ready or not, here we go...

Christmas with my family was an absolute delight. I was able to see pretty much every member of my extended family. After opening presents at home, we ventured over to my Grandma Nader's (my mommy's mommy) and hung around there for a couple hours. We ate a little lunch to hold us over till dinner with the other side's family. Once done eating, us girls played Scattogories. Things you find of the beach with H- my fourteen year old cousin Kristy claims "Hotties" It was sooo hilarious...We then headed over to my dad's older brother's house and ate the big feast...YUMMM!!!! My cousin Kristina had the chance to catch up on our lives. Kris was like my best friend growing up as she is older then me by two years. We have a lot in common, you can tell we are related. (even though we are not legally cousins) We possess so much in common that in fact, without contact previously, we wore the same outfit to Uncle Scott's. We are just that awesome.

Two days after Christmas, I was able to sleep over one of my good friend Emily Horadoko's house. The night was so warm, so we went out and took a walk around her subdivision. It was the end of December, in Michigan, and I took a walk with only a hoodie and sweats! It was pure amazingness. Sure, it was crazy windy and my pant bottoms were soaked from all the puddles, but it was great. We came back and played Karoke on her playstation. I attempted to pull a Whitney Houston and sing "I'll Always Love You" and her sister came down, thinking it was Emily singing said "Who's killing the cat down here?" only to find it was me attempting such a crazy song. Whitney, I'll just let you sing that song from now on.

For New Years (December 31- January 2) I had the awesome chance to go up to Lake Ann Baptist Camp for an phenomenal retreat for college students. We had a small group of ten students represent Cornerstone, with four girls and six boys. Ohhh my word, it was stinking incredible! The worship team was absolutely encouraging as well as very talented. I would not be shocked to see them go far with what their gifts.

The speakers Tony Tice and Ken Rudolph, though two different teaching styles, were wonderful. God used them to speak right to my heart. I am not going to lie, I am overwhelmed with conviction right now in what I need to work on in my life. I had a breakdown about it leaving me un able to tell my friends what was bothering me without crying more. It's going to take a lot of work and I think it is all too much, but He would never give me more then I can handle. A lot of things in my life are going to be turned around and fixed. I am so grateful I had the chance to get away and just experience such great things. We had a party on New Year's eve. We had a worship session and then later Audio Adreadline came in and we had a mini concert. They ended minutes before the ball dropped. We watched it with noise makers ready to explode. It was a veryyyy fun trip, I already look forward to next year.

That is it for now...I hope everyone had a beauitful Christmas and an incredible New Years! Much love : )