Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Vacation Day 7: Need a suggestion for a Title


     Papa came over this morning around 8. I woke up hearing him talk to Grandma, Dave and Mom. I was very happy; I definitely woke up on the right side of the bed. After breakfast, I worked on my schoolwork while the other folks worked on 2 puzzles.   

     We went to Agate Beach for a tailgate lunch. We ate delicious sandwiches and drank pop. Mom and I walked over the sand dunes and I splashed around in the ocean. After lunch, we went over to Nye Beach Sweets where my Aunt Rebecah works and soon will own. We got to enjoy some delicious ice cream. This evening, we had my favorite food, tater-tot casserole! Then, we played Apples to Apples, and now we are watching Dr. Quinn.



Monday, September 16, 2013

Vacation Days 5 & 6: Churches, Travel, and a Partay

Time for Food!
      Yesterday, I went to two churches, Uncle John's and Diana's. It was fun to see the differences between the churches. I finally got to meet Diana's friends and got to see her world. Hooray Diana! (Red Stripe Commercial Voice)

    This morning, Papa, Mom and I drove down to Newport to visit Grandma Becker, Dave, Aunt Rebecah, and Uncle Dale. This afternoon, I went over to Aunt Rebecah to help get ready for the open house for Papa.
Two seriously funny guys

      This evening, we had Papa's open house. We had veggies, cookies, cake, chips, dip, and fruit. It was tasty! It was an evening full of laughter and happiness. There were at least 15 people there, sharing stories and having a good time.

Listening to story-telling Pastor Dave.
     While we are here in Newport, Mom and I are staying at Grandma Becker and Dave's house. Papa is staying at Aunt Rebecah and Uncle Dale. As I said goodbye to Papa, I felt a twinge of sorrow. Especially on this trip, I tuck Papa in and help him get ready for bed, so I was sad knowing that I wouldn't be the one to tuck him in. I know it silly since I'll see him in the morning but it still different from the normal.

Talking around the table
Aunt Rebecah and I trying to take a nice picture but Mom snuck in!



Sunday, September 15, 2013

Emma: Past, Present, Future

    This is Emma. She is one of my very bestest friends. She is beautiful. She has brown not-so-long anymore hair, big brown eyes, and a great big smile! She is kind, patient, a good listener, nice, loving, forgiving, understanding, and just a good person overall! There are so many things I could say about Emma. Instead, I'm going to share something from the past, something from the present, and something that I hope will happen in the future.

     First off, something from the past, one of my favorite memories from our past was actually semi-recent. It was last summer when we went up to Lake Michigan with your grandparents. It was so much fun, swimming in the Lake, putting on gallons of sunscreen, and chasing seagulls! We just don't care, we are gonna be who we gonna be!

     Currently, Emma and I share everything; we tell each other everything.  At least, I tell Her everything. It's really nice to know that there's a person I can rant to and know that they'll understand. Emma, you are wonderful listener! You are my other half.

     Emma, I know that when you see this it won't be your birthday, I am sorry. But since I am in the West and it's 2 hours earlier, I did crank this out on your birthday! I am so glad we are both 15, at least for a little while! Be safe driving, you driver, you! Happy Birthday, you crazy, awesome girl!


Saturday, September 14, 2013

Vacation Day 3 and 4: Planes, Games, and Sushi Time!

Doing Schoolwork! Fun fun.
     Yesterday afternoon, guess who I got to see! My favorite pilot, Diana! Yep, I got to see my sister for the first time, after She moved away to be an adult, over a year ago! The best part about it: I not only got to see her, I got to fly with her! Actually, Papa, Mom, Brendan and I all got to fly with her! We took two trips up, the first one with Papa, Diana, Brendan, and I and the second one with Mom, Papa, and Diana. During the first trip, Diana let Brendan fly, yep, and oh ya, this is His first time riding in a plane. That's not it though, She also let Him do some maneuvers, steep turns and stalling. It was pretty scary, like a roller coaster. The real roller coaster, though, started when Diana showed us negative and positive G forces.
   
     Afterwards, We went to this really good pizza place and had a late dinner! By the time We got home it was late. Instead of going to bed, like regular people, Brendan, Diana and I stayed up and played Pirate's Cove, which is a board game. It was tons of fun!

The PilotS!
     This morning, Mom and Diana got up, and I didn't have a clock so I thought, it was around 9, but I wanted to sleep in because it's Saturday. A couple minutes later, Mom says "Time to get up, Nancy." So like a good little girl, I turn over and sleep for five more minutes and then got up. So, I go inside and check the time, it is 7:55 a.m.! That's earlier than I get up on a school day, my mom forgot that it was Saturday. That's okay, though, breakfast was almost ready. It consisted of homemade waffles with blackberry syrup and bacon! Yum! I do love me some food!
 
Failed attempt at a picture of the two of us.
     The rest of the day was filled with game playing; Diana, Brendan, and I played Pirate's Cove at least 10 times through out the day. We watched some sports, but We mainly played Pirate's Cove. Between games, I took a wonderful nap. It was total bliss. This evening though, We paused our game playing, and went out to a Japanese restaurant! It was a cute little restaurant with nice employees! Brendan also got to try sushi for the first time ever! So many new things, as far as I can tell He liked both! Anyway, after dinner we played 2 more rounds of Pirate Cove.  






Playing Pirate's Cove!
Delicious Pizza!

 Now, here I am sitting at the computer typing up a blog post, so anyone who wants to know about my life can. Goodnight, I am headed for bed!

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Vacation Day 2: Goodbye Seattle, Hello Portland

   

The Foggy Seattle Skyline




     Today We left Seattle and headed south down to Portland. Along the way, We stopped at my Great Aunt Norma and Uncle Don's and had cake and tea. We spent 2 hours talking, laughing and eating.

Aunt Norma played a lovely piece for us on the piano
    After our short visit, We drove the rest of the way to Portland. We arrived at my Aunt Kathy and Uncle John, around 3. After unpacking our luggage, We sat around and caught up on things. Then, Brendan and I played Egyptian Rat Trap, which He promptly beat me at. Marissa, Darren, and Madeline came for dinner! So, I got to meet Madeline finally! She is the cutest little angel that's ever been related to me. I love her so much and can't wait to get to know her better!

Uncle Don and Papa had a fun time talking, this afternoon.
Mama and Madeline! Aren't they the cutest ever?!


Papa meeting his great granddaughter for the first time!
Father and Daughter, nothing more I can say here, their perfect!

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Vacation Day 1

     Hey Ya'll, I'm on vacation! I have mixed feeling about this vacation. On one hand, I am uber excited to visit my family, and to be in the wonderfully cool weather of the west coast. On the other hand, I love hanging out with my friends at home. I also will be missing one of my best friends birthday, which quite possibly could be the last birthday She has while I am still here in the States. Anyway, we left last night at 6:30 and got here at my Uncle Steve's and Aunt Kelly last night at around 10:00.

     Since, my dad is in Congo, it just Mom, Papa, and I. So in order to get to the airport my mom dropped off Papa and I off and took the bus to the airport. My job: to get Papa a wheel chair, and get through security. Just to clarify, I also have to carry our luggage which consists of 4 bags: a roller, a backpack that weighs about 25 lbs, a purse, and a C-PAP machine. So, this airport worker comes over and gives us our wheelchair and walks away. So here I am with four bags, and I have to push Papa's wheelchair. I help Papa sit down into the wheelchair and struggle to push him toward the elevator. Suddenly, the airport worker comes back and says "Where are we headed?" I was so relieved. We headed to security and unloaded all of our stuff, or so I thought.

       Apparently, Papa is a very dangerous man, because he is so sneaky. After walking through the metal detector, they had to pat down Papa. First, they found his baseball cap, which was neatly tucked under his shirt. Second, they found his handkerchief in back pocket. Then, they decided since He looked so dangerous, they were going to take some chemical swabs, from not only his hand but also his shoes, and his baseball cap. Anyway, they decided he wasn't going to harm anyone and let us go on to the gate.
 
   Here some pictures through our window through out the flight:




     This morning I woke up at 8:30, which ya'll maybe thinking , wow that's early, remember there's a time change. I had breakfast and coffee, which was amazing. Then, I did school, which I didn't realize I had to do on this vacation til yesterday. Then, We went out to lunch with my Uncle Steve, downtown. I have never had such a good salad, it was delicious. My afternoon was pretty lazy, I finished up school and watch The Dick Van Dike Show with Papa. This evening, I went to youth group with my cousin, Elizabeth. It was a lot like my small group, back in STL. It was really laid-back and fun, I am really glad I went. Before this evening, I had decided that I didn't want to go. It's always awkward, you know, when you only know one person, well not always! Tonight, it was fun and relaxed and I felt very welcome. 



     And right now, I am hanging out with Elizabeth, playing "Would You Rather?", laughing so hard, I was crying Well, that's all for now. Enjoy the pictures, I have taken so far.
















 


Monday, August 19, 2013

Respected and Needed

      Today is my mom's birthday! What did I do to celebrate? Well, I was in a different city then her. Susan and my mom spent the day in Chicago. Susan was trying to get her visa to go study in Spain and Mom went with her. I was going to join them but I volunteered to stay with Papa, so he didn't have to be home alone while my dad worked.
      Today, I tried to be my mom, tried to do what she normally does. I cleaned, cooked and did the things that are done by my mom. And now sitting here at the computer, I am totally, utterly exhausted. As I was making dinner, I realized how thankful I am to have my mom. Some people have mom's that have walked out on them, abused them, or just totally ignored them. I am so thankful for my mom, for putting up with all my complaining, whining, and fighting. I can't believe how much she does. She cleans the house, cooks us really, really tasty food, homeschooles us, manages rental properties and so much more. And the most amazing thing is She never complains.
      I did half of the things she usually does for one day, and I am totally ready for her to come back and take over. I can't imagine having to do all that she does. I respect her. From now on, I am going to try and help out around house more. Do chores without being asked and tell her everyday how much I love, respect and need her. I love you, Mom! Happy Birthday! Can't wait til you come home!

Sunday, August 11, 2013

The Funnest Saturday and Sunday Ever and More of My Favorite

"It's double stuffed," Austen tells Marie as they discuss Oreo eating techniques. Michal turns to inspect the Oreo in question and says, "Actually, that's quadruple stuffed, originally the Oreos are double stuffed, I know." That's my favorite thing said at Susan's going away party, today.

Why did I throw Susan a going away party? Because she is leaving in 8 days! 8 days, guys! I am crying on the insides. I am going to miss her so much. We played games, ate chips and salsa, and went crazy in a photobooth! Enjoy some of favorite pictures.


So on Saturday I went to my friend Tania's Baby Shower! I love babies they are just so cute! It was a lot of fun, especially because we got to eat Pakistani food, which is very tasty. Guess who showed up to the Shower? Guess. MOLLIE!!! She has been gone for 10,000 years! I missed her so much. She most definitely one of my favorite. She been at Swedish Camp, learning Swedish and loads of fun. After the shower, Sariah, Mollie and I spent the night at Mollie's house. We got to catch up and love on each other. I love you guys so much!











This is Mollie. She IS homeschooled. She is a freshman. She growing up, sniff sniff. She is my sister. My favorite thing about Mollie is her sense of fashion. Mollie is so cute. She has the cutest clothes! I love her!

One of my favorite memories of Mollie is before she moved to U City, when we were little kidos. We loaded into her wagon and rode to the pool and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I don't know why but that has had a lasting impression on me. We have been friends for a LONG time!

Today, I got to see my friend Megan, who I hadn't seen a while she's one of my favorites so here's here favorite friend profile.

This is Megan. It is spelled the correct way not with an h or extra vowels. She IS homeschooled. She is a Junior. Man, kid, you are old. I forgot we aren't friends, right now, we aren't the same age. She is my sister. My favorite thing about Megan is she always helps me keep in shape and she tells me truthfully how I look so I never have to worry if I have something on my face or a bad outfit.

My favorite memory of Megan, wow, that's hard, I have know her for my whole life. One of my favorite memories of Megan is when they lived in their Rosemar Lane house and we were playing dress-up in the garage attic and Susan and Melody came over and shut the door to the attic. Now you have to realize this is literally an attic door, a pull-down ladder door. They wanted to see if we could down by ourselves without help. At first, we didn't really care we finished playing dress up and then we decided we wanted to get down. We ended taking a pole and pushing the door down, pretty easily. I was so proud of us, we had gotten down without any help. Take that bullies.

Friday, August 9, 2013

Some of my Favorite

"A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself" -Jim Morrison

I agree.
A friend should want you to be yourself. I used to think that if I liked and agreed with my friends, they would like me. But one day, I stop and found out that people like it when you are truly yourself. Everyone is special in there own way. My friends and I just happen to be more on the insane side of things.

In this blog post I am going to talk about 3 of my favorite friends that I got to see recently. Gloria, Emma and Sariah. Pleas read on, they are some of my favorites for a reason.

This is Gloria. She is 11 years old. She homeschools with us. She is in the 5th grade. She is my sister. My favorite thing about Gloria is her laugh. It's a full body laugh, she literately quakes when she laughs, which is quite a bit. I love her.

NO!
This a great picture of Gloria because it captures the personality of Gloria. Happy.
One of my favorite memories of Gloria happened just recently. We had just finish taking pictures in our backyard and she turns to me and says "Nancy, Can I pick this flower?" She was pointing at this great big purple flower in my garden. After some consideration, I agreed. She promptly plucked it, smelt it, and then started pick off the petals. Immediately, I was disgusted, that was a flower I had worked hard in planting, watering and growing, how dare she destroy it! Then, I realized that it was no big deal and she looked so happy, I couldn't stop her. She looked up from flower and saw my face, "What!?" she asked defensively. I had forgotten to wipe my face of disgust and smile. "Nothing, I was just thinking." I reply swinging her in to a hug.

This is Emma. She isn't homeschooled. She is a sophomore. She is my sister. My favorite thing about Emma is that she completely and totally accepts me for who I am. I love her.

Emma and I acting cool several years ago
One of my favorite memories of Emma happened ages ago. It was when she still lived in Edwardsville. We went over to her house after church, this is when I still didn't know her very well and thought she was weird. We ended up watching Fairytopia. For those of you who don't what Fairytopia is Google it, then you'll understand how little we were. Afterward, we somehow convinced her dad to make us fairy wings. So we spent the rest of the day flying around her house, giggling and placing magic potions of her family.

This is Sariah. She isn't homeschooled. She is a freshman. She is my sister. My favorite thing about Sariah is how crazy she is, because I can let out all my crazy and not feel bad. I love her.

One of my favorite memories of Sariah happened a bit ago. It was at Emma and Sariah bowling birthday. For some reason, we decided we could no longer have normal hair-dos, we had to have crazy hair-dos. We just went a little crazy, which happens quite a lot. We are cray-cray. Not only are Sariah a wee bit crazy, she is also so thoughtful. She really listens and loves through what your going through. I can't go more then a few days without seeing her.

I got to see these Emma and Sariah today, I guess now yesterday. We met up at Forest Park and had a picnic. We talked, listened to music, put our feet in the streams, and loved on each other. I am so close to these girls it didn't matter if we talked or not. We belted out songs, talked to strangers (just like our parents told us not to), and ate chocolate chip cookies. It was an overall fun day. I love you girls!











Sunday, July 14, 2013

I don't think were in Missouri anymore

My roomies, this picture is totally accurate on how we were during the Mission Trip
     Hey Ya'll! As some of you may know, I went on a missions trip to Kansas City. I never got a change to write a blog post about it, because the day after I got home I headed off to camp. So here's what happened:
Two new friends, Ashish and CharLEE. 
     Two weeks ago, a group of high schoolers from our church got together on a sunny Saturday morning and headed toward Kansas City. During the week, we got to participate in many ministries including tutoring, backyard club, and helping out the Nepali refugee's in the area.
     On Sunday, we got to participate in the Nepali Fellowship, it was a great new experience. When we got there, the kids taught us a game that was played with rocks and is a lot like jacks. It was such a neat way to connect to the kids. After that, we went inside and joined in worshiping God in Nepali as well as English. It was such  a clear example of how our God is omniscient. He knows and understands us, no matter what language.
     We also got to participate in backyard bible club in which I got to meet so many kidos. One night after we had set up and kids were starting to arrive when it started pouring. But instead of leaving, we continued to play in the rain and had a good time. A little weather wasn't going to stop us!
     Not only did I get to meet new people, but I also got to get closer with the group I came with. My favorite thing I got to with our group was every night, a group of us would go out and look at the stars and share what our day was like. It was a time of relaxation and sharing.
     Overall, it was good week, now enjoy some photos (Photo credit: Sariah Henning, and Claire Middeke)
Photo: Playing with the kids before bible club... In the rain
Playing baseball in the rain.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Day 1 of the Mission Trip

Today, my youth group left on our mission trip to Kansas City! It took us 5ish hours to get here. After we got here we got situated and had dinner. After that we went to Backyard
Bible Club. I mean the cutest kid, he name is Della. She is 7 years old and loves to run down hills. Well, it's lights out more later

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

A Day I Will Never Ever Forget

     As she peddled into the intersection, the car started rolling forward, the driver looked up just in time to see Gloria tumble down as she made contact with the car. I yell, as the driver slams on the brakes and gets out of her car. I run over, mind racing, is Gloria okay, why did this happen, what do I need to do, what did Susan say I should always do when I am in an accident. I run over to Gloria, shocked, confused, stunned. "Gloria, are you alright, Gloria!?" Gloria got up and assures me shakily, she gets up from under her bike and looks around, confused. The lady comes over and asks Gloria if she wants band-aid as the driver searches around in her car. I remember finally what Susan said to always do when you get in a car accident, get the other drivers information. I search around in my backpack for a pen and paper. I found a notebook of Susan's but no pen. I look her over, ask her again if she was okay. She only had a few scrapes and cuts. The driver gave me her card because neither of us had a writing utensil.
 
      I tell her she can go and as she pulls off another car pulls over beside us. A man got out a told us to stay put because the police were on there way. I hadn't even thought about calling the police, I just figured once we got to the pool I would call Mom to let her know what had happened. I was so emotional I was crying, the man said, "Calm down, pull it together." I remember looking over at while we waited and think "Who does he think he is? His little sister and friend just get hit my car?"
 
        An officer took my statement. She looked over my shoulder and asked "Is that your mom?" nodding over my shoulder. I turned around, confused, Katy Stern, a deacon in our church gets out of her car. "No, she a lady from my church" I reply. She came over to asked me if I was okay. She rubbed my back as I finish my statement. Then I looked around searching for Gloria. Where was she? Where had she been taken? Then a man came over and told me that Gloria was okay and that she was in the ambulance if I wanted to see her. He lead me over there, assuring me that I was okay. How did he know? Maybe I was physically but emotionally I wasn't. 
   
        When I got in the ambulance, they said they were taking Gloria to the hospital.  I went out to check out what was happening outside. I walked over to Katy and told her what was going on as a medic came over and told me that Gloria wanted me to ride with her. Katy prayed as she gave me a hug before I went into the ambulance with Gloria. That was exactly what I needed, at the precise moment. It's awesome how God gives you exactly what you need, when you need it.
   
     When we got to the hospital, her mom arrived and they got her checked out after a while, she got an x-ray but there were no broken bones just some scrapes. After a while, my mom came and picked me up.      

      Gloria and I are both okay. Gloria main complaint was not being able to eat. So, I know she's okay. Today, I was supposed to be making my parents anniversary dinner but we postponed it til later this week. It been a very nerve racking day. I would like to thank Katy Stern for being there for me, even though she didn't have to be. She was very helpful to me and it meant a lot to me that she came over to help. I think today God was trying to show me how much I need and love Gloria because recently I have been very short with her, just over all more annoyed at her. Today God made me realize that if Gloria had died today, I would be tremendously sad and regretful. God works in strange ways, please pray for both Gloria and I.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

A Blogger Writing About A Blog

     Hey Ya'll! Just want to let you guys in on something I really enjoy doing. It's reading this blog called Oh My Disney! It has funny blog posts about Disney Movies for example, the one I just read was called: Disney Facts You Haven't Fully Processed. It is hilarious. You should check it out. Here's the link: http://blogs.disney.com/oh-my-disney/ That's all for now, enjoy. My favorite as of now is: Disney Villain Face Swap. It great. kronk and yzma face swap