Still failing at

posting more from my laptop! Hahaha :P Reeeeally gotta work on this...

At this moment I am feeling extremely sleepy. And it's not even ten o'clock. I think I've been staying up too late...

Anyway, let's get to the things I wanted to post about! :) I don't plan on going in any particular order...considering that that is not how my mind works, in the least. ;)

But I guess I'll start with the most recent: Tonight in our church's praise gathering, I sang on praise team for the first time ever!!! It was amazing! I absolutely loved it, despite how nervous I was beforehand. :) I felt that I worshiped more...I think because I was able to focus better than when I'm just in the congregation singing along. And I don't think I had ever felt so confident singing before. :)
And then The Tipos sang our TI song! That went very well, also. I did mess up...my throat got all dry  (even though I wasn't nervous) and my voice cut off for a second. But apparently it wasn't noticeable...except for the fact that my hand involuntarily went to my throat when I messed up. But oh well! haha :) The message was still the same, whether we sang it perfectly or not. :) And I hope it was a blessing to people...because that's the important part.
Our practices before the service went VERY poorly, and so we were nervous about it. But then we prayed together, and we felt much better. :)
Oh! This is so terrible...every time we perform our Tipos song this year, even if I'm not nervous, my face starts twitching!! It's awful!! It makes me laugh, but it's super embarrassing WHILE we're singing! Hahaha :)

So, another thing I wanted to post about is our Senior Banquet. Our church hosts a banquet every year for our youth group (well, the Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors), and it was yesterday! This was my first year going, and can I just say that it was one of the most amazing things I've ever been to? It was one of the best days ever... :) We got all dressed up and ate a gourmet meal (and I mean GOURMET). There was a salad bar type of thing first, and that was amazing! A beautiful salad with good toppings, they had shrimp and cocktail sauce, and plates of fruit (my favorite! They had pineapple, blueberries, raspberries, kiwi fruit, and strawberries). The main course - or courses - was lemon and herb chicken, beef brisket, and cucumber salsa salmon (which is what I got...amazing!!). The side dishes were zucchini and yellow squash, green beans and onions, garlic mashed potatoes, and rolls. :) And then there was dessert....my plan was to sample one thing. So much for that. :P There was cheesecake with a mixed berry sauce and a strawberry sauce, mint brownies, two chocolate chip cookies with chocolate between them, and three different types of gourmet brownies. O.O So. Yum.
Anywho, enough about the food. Pastor Kent wrote and read a poem about the Seniors. Apparently he does this every year...it's a poem with about two lines about each of the seniors. It's so sweet and personal...I loved it! Made me tear up... :)
The dads of the seniors did a skit...that was funny! :) Pastor Kent presented a charge to the seniors. His messages are always so good. :)
And there was a video slide show at the end... there was a collection of photos (birth to senior portraits) of each senior, with a message from each of their parents playing in the background. That was so sweet. :)
And then there was an activity afterward that was apparently EPIC, but I didn't go to it. Mrs. B (my DIA  leader) and her son, Anthony, created it. And they always make the best parties and activities. :D It was a Survivor game...it sounded pretty intense! :)
Yep, so...I can't wait until next year when I'm a senior. Just sayin'. :)

So, I started this post over an hour ago. Haha! My parents and Ben got home and they wanted to read, so blog post had to go on hold. :) My mom is reading this epic series out loud to us...it's by the same author  (Suzanne Collins) as The Hunger Games (LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE), and it's called Gregor the Overlander. They're a teensy bit more juvenile, but not drastically. Like, adults can for sure enjoy them. :D

Okay well, I was probably going to write more...but I'm dying to go to bed at the moment. Hopefully I'll have the willpower to get up and work out in the morning *crosses fingers*. haha ;)
Goodnight and ipml! :)


P.S. - Pictures! :)

Well, so much for

blogging more once I got a laptop! Yes, I did get a laptop! ^_^ I got it a couple weeks ago, and I LOVE it!! :) But I am ashamed of myself, considering that I was all like, "Oh, if I get a laptop, I'll blog more!" Aaaand...this is the first post since I got it. lol :P
Anyway, not much has been happening in my life lately. (I feel like I say that every time! Goodness. My life must be boring!) ;)
I still LOVE my job :) I mean, of course I have the normal feelings of "ugh...I don't want to go to work!!" and "C'mon...can 2:00 get here any more slowly???" But whenever I think of my job, it is only with fondness. So that must be a good sign! :)
Lately I've been greatly enjoying my amazing camera! I've gotten to do some fun photo shoots with some awesome people! And I have another one coming up this weekend! I'm lovin' it... :)
Speaking of which, I have yet another new blog! It's a photography blog so I have somewhere other than Facebook to post my pictures. Lol :) Check it out if ya like! It's called "Through the Lens of the Beholder" (I know, I know...it sounds extremely cliche, but it's the best I could come up with :P ) And I know I'm no professional, by any means. But I love practicing and I appreciate all the opportunities people are giving me. :)
So, for a while I was thinking that this coming summer was going to be extremely boring. (Well, except for going to GBC.) I'm not going on any missions trips; GBC coincides with WOL camp, so I can't do that; I'm not going to the beach or anything; we're not joining a pool; and just basically...nothing is happening. And compared to last summer...it just seemed pretty pathetic. But then I realized that this summer will be RELAXING! :D And I've been super tired lately, so ya know...what's so awful about having a slow-paced summer? :) I'll get to read SO MUCH MORE (booyah!), work on my quilt (finally!), journal, practice my photography skills, exercise more, and maybe hang out with some of my friends a little more frequently! :) So, it won't be too bad after all. :) And I still get to enjoy the highlight of my summer...working at my favorite camp ever! :):)
Speaking of which...it will be vastly different this year! The camp director called me a couple weeks to ask if I could work at teen weeks because the weeks I had requested were filled up. I said yes (somewhat reluctantly, I'll admit). The difference here is that the age group I usually work with at camp is 2nd-7th grade. This year I'll be with 7th-12th grade! So...some of the campers will be my age! O.o (I'll be with one of the youngest cabins, though.) But even though I'm extremely nervous...that's usually a sure sign that God will use this in my life to help me grow. And I need some growing this year. I'm actually getting to the point where I like it when God gets me out of my comfort zone, though! How weird is that? :D So basically, the bottom line is: I'm freaking out and excited at the same time. :)
Okay well, I wasn't sure if I should write about this or not...but all day I've been feeling like I should, so maybe God wants me to? I don't know...but I'll just do it! lol :)
Lately, I've been dieting and exercising (okay...put the emphasis more on the dieting part, not so much on the exercising part....I'm lazy :P ) But anyway, I've lost some weight (yay! ^_^) and I just feel healthier in a way....I guess cutting out unhealthy foods can do that to a person! :)
So, this is a good thing! But the thing that isn't so good is that it can so easily become an obsession. And I'll admit...that's pretty much what happened. For a while, I was really feeling down all the time. I wasn't satisfied with my body. I felt lonely. I was sick of having to watch everything I ate, but definitely didn't want to give it up. And I just felt...unhappy.
But then a couple of days ago, I realized the problem. I was definitely putting more emphasis on this diet (my physical appearance) than on my relationship with God (my inward appearance). And which one is more important? My inward appearance. I already knew that...but I just needed to shift my focus. So, I got it straight with God, and I've been trying to work on focusing on my relationship with Him more. But I'm still struggling with it SO much!! Because here's the thing: the easy answer would be to forget the diet and whatnot, and just not think about that stuff. But I can't do that, because I still want to be healthy! And that's biblical, too! But I need to prioritize. I can't be idolizing the diet and pushing Him to the side! HE needs to come first. Above all else.
Another thing I need to remind myself of: Will I be more useful to God if I'm thin and "pretty", but all messed-up and self-absorbed on the inside? Or if I'm not "perfect" on the outside, but I'm striving for holiness and to be more like Jesus? I'm going to go with the latter. :)
It may sound like I've got it all figured out...but to be honest, I'm partially figuring this out as I'm typing it! This is going to continue to be a constant battle for me. But now that I've realized the problem, I think I'm on the right path. :)
Well, it certainly felt nice to get that off my chest! :P And now I need to go to bed...(that's another thing I need to work on...getting more sleep! lol)
Thanks for reading my ramblings! :) ipml! (especially this summer when I have "nothing to do"!) ;)

~Beth

Proverbs 31:30
Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

I'm pretty sure it's time

for a blog post! I haven't acknowledged the fact that I have a blog in quite some time now... O.o

I was about to say that, as usual, I don't actually have anything of value to say. But then I remembered something! (and I still wouldn't expect it to be of value..but at least it's something significant!) You know that missions trip I was planning on going on to Romania? Well...turns out I'm not going. Honestly, I had been feeling uneasy about the whole thing from the get-go. But after praying about it for a while, I assumed that God wanted me to go, and I was just naturally nervous. But as time went on, and I continued to pray about the trip, I realized that I was not going for the right reasons. The only part of the trip that I felt even remotely excited about was the traveling and the fact that I would be in anther country. And I should have also been excited about the ministry aspect of it! But instead, I was actually dreading the vast majority of the trip! I still don't know why, but I decided that it was a pretty sure sign that God didn't want me to go.
I also realized that if I went on the trip, I may not be able to go to camp! Which would be really sad. I realized that, for me, working at camp IS a missions trip! I'm serving God through serving the camp and the kids! And it's something that I'm passionate about, and I would like to do for a long time to come! So, I got my JC application in the mail yesterday, and it turns out that the best weeks for me to go were during the missions trip. :)
Since "backing out" of the trip, I have become even more certain that it was the right decision. There have been many neat things that have come to my attention since then that happened as a result of my not going on the trip. So, I feel pretty good about all of this. It was a very difficult decision, but I think it's what God wanted me to do. :)
Aaand, that's my story. Haha :)

Speaking of camp and being a JC and such.......I have some pretty exciting news! I have wanted to be a JC with my church since 6th or 7th grade, and Mr. Tony asked me a couple of weeks ago if I would like to do it this year! :D I'm so excited!!! :) This means I could potentially be at GBC for three weeks total this summer! ^_^

Anywho...hm...well, obviously the Superbowl was on Sunday night. Yeah, unfortunately I don't really get into football. But, I had a special friend over, and we had a lot of fun hanging out and talking ;) Although now I feel bad that he totally didn't get to watch the game... O.o

Teens Involved is in two weeks!!!!! Oh. My. Goodness. O.O I feel pretty unprepared. Although, I do feel better about the Tipos' song after this weekend. Until Saturday, we had only had one practice! But then we practiced for like, two hours on Saturday night, and I feel much better about it....but we have to perform in a Sunday School class this Sunday! Hopefully we're ready... :) This year we are singing "You Raise Me Up". (thank you, Jacob, for recommending the song!!) :)
And drama...well, I haven't even had one practice with what I'm doing, yet. So I feel EXTREMELY nervous about that. I mean...I'm only doing the "tech" aspect of it, so I'll probably just be operating a cd player, but I'm not good with short notice...haha :P But even if I fail epicly, it won't be the end of the world, right? I have already failed basically as much as it is possible to fail at TI (by laughing through half of our song), so it can't get any worse! ;)

One more thing real quick: my church showed this AMAZING video on Sunday night, and I think you guys should watch it! Yes, it is 33 minutes long, but it is SO worth the time! And it honestly doesn't even feel like it's that long. So here is a link to the website, and I hope you will take the time to watch it! :)
http://180movie.com/

Well, that's my post for today! I'm sure I will be posting more at some point in my life! But for now, I bid you farewell! :)

~Beth

I had a pretty fun

weekend! My uncle, aunt, and great aunt came to visit for a few days. It was nice getting to see them! :) My mamaw and great aunt are staying at the beach for a couple of months, so they were meeting here before leaving. I miss Mamaw, but I'm sure she's having a great time! :) I can't imagine going to the beach for two whole months, though...haha :)

So, my Christmas was pretty nice! I enjoyed all the time I got to spend with my family! On Christmas Eve, my grandparents and Ant Janet came over to hang out and play games and such. That was fun :) And then on Christmas, we went to church in the morning. That was so nice! I loved it! :) And then we opened gifts when we got home -- lots of fun! :D AND I GOT A PILLOW PET! haha, just sayin'. BEST invention ever. :P :)  So, the rest of Christmas day was spent just hanging out and playing games and stuff like that. :) It was nice!
Then, on the day after Christmas, my grandparents, Mamaw, Ant Janet, and Jessica came over and we played Dirty Santa! That's always one of the most fun traditions we have at Christmas :):) LOVE it. :)
I hope all of you had nice Christmases, as well! :D

Oh....HAPPY NEW YEAR, by the way!!! :D I mean...it's a little late...but hey, better late than never? :)

My New Year's Eve was SO fun!!! Usually, my family, Jacob's family, and Erin's family (the avoidance of using last names sounds quite cumbersome) all hang out together, but it didn't work out this year :( But it ended up being an AMAZING evening, anyway! I had a blast! :D
Like I said, Uncle Bob, Aunt Debbie, and Aunt Alberta were visiting, so we got to hang out with them :) And then Grandma, Grandpa, and Ant Janet came over, too! And also, my awesome friend, Alek spent the evening with us ;) So, that epic. :D
We played some games (including PIT!! [best game ever, just so ya know]), talked, ate (duh!), listened to music a little, goofed off, and watched the ball drop at midnight! :) Funnn stuff :):)

And then over the course of Sunday and Monday, my family watched all six Star Wars movies!!!! SOOO AWESOME! :D I've been waiting for this since LAST winter...haha :)

So...yep, this is a short post (for me), but I think I'ma go do something else now. lol :) I need to practice guitar (haven't done that in a couple weeks...heh), and maybe create something artsy with the new Bic markers I got for Christmas! :D And it might just involve aluminum foil...cause I'm cool like that.

Anywhosies, I'll be posting more later! ttyl! :)

~Beth

Today I have a lot of

random stuff to post about! Now...allow me to remember what these things are...haha

Okay, so...you may have noticed (or maybe it's just me?) that Christmas is coming up!!! I'm pretty excited! But, it really doesn't feel like Christmastime, this year! :( Maybe it's because it's so warm? Or possibly just because this time of year has seemed to sneak up on me so quickly. It literally feels like I was JUST getting ready for my busy summer! Wasn't I just filling out an application for JCing at camp? And just finding out that Laura invited me to go to the beach with her? Goodness...now it's December!!
Anyway, I'm very excited that Christmas is on a Sunday this year. I really think that will help me to refocus on Christmas day -- the fact that we as believers get to celebrate our Savior's birth with one another in our place of worship ON His birthday. That should be pretty cool. :) Also, my family is waiting to open gifts and such until after church, so I think it will be good for the focus to be JESUS first, and then presents. :)
Speaking of presents, I've felt very scatterbrained when it comes to getting gifts for people this year. I'm only doing gifts for my family this Christmas because of the missions trip I'm going to in July. But still! For some reason, I just have felt like I have no idea what to get for people!! But I have finally obtained all the gifts I needed for my family, so I feel better now. :)

Okay, random happy thing: So, on Monday, my mom and I were having a pretty lame day. Like, we were both in a bad mood, and we just felt like blah. And we knew we had to go shopping, too (I had to get a couple gifts). So we were both kinda like "Ugh...this is not a good day for this...but there's no other day to do it, so let's just get it over with." So then we went out and guess what? It ended up being exactly what we needed, and we had a lot of fun together :) We hung out at the mall and other stores for a while, and got mocha frappuccinos at Joe Bean's -- mine had a shot of butterscotch flavor, and her's had a shot of german chocolate flavor. Best. Frappuccino. Ever. :) (I know...I work at a cafe that serves Starbucks, and I like Joe Bean's better. Whatever.) :P :)
But anyway, we had a lot of fun. I love doing stuff like that with my mom :)

Oh, hehe, so on Tuesday, something funny happened. A couple weeks ago, Ben and I were like "Oh! I want to watch 'Voyage of the Dawn Treader'!!" But then we looked for it, and we were like "Wait...we don't own that movie! Ha! Psh...why did we think we had it???" So then, we thought it was pretty funny and we told our parents about it. :) But then on Tuesday, Ben all of a sudden comes into the living room like "Guess what! I just found Voyage of the Dawn Treader!! We DO have it!" And then my mom groaned and looked at the presents under the tree..."That movie is wrapped and under the tree!!" Hahaha! So, now we have two of them! :P Hopefully we'll be able to return it...lol

So, Tuesday was Alek's birthday! :) His family invited us over to their house for his birthday dinner. That was SO much fun! :) Alek has three younger sisters, and two of them played with my hair for a looong time. Hehe, it was so fun :) And we all played a board game about sharing memories, and that was fun. :) So yeah, it was a blast. I love that family :):)

Random fact: May I just say that my mom makes THE BEST tomato soup in the world???!!!! :D And you know what is really good with it? Salami and Swiss on Rye sandwiches ^_^ Okay, that is all.

OH OH OH! Guess what?! Okay, so I was selling coupon books to raise money for the missions trip, and I sold 22!! :D I'm pretty excited because that's $220 going toward the trip! :) Yay! :):)
I really am excited for the trip. But I'm still super nervous about it. I even keep wanting to chicken out and not go. But then I remind myself that it will be good for me to get out of my comfort zone again. This is going to be WAY out of my comfort zone... But I think that's when God teaches me the most. So, hopefully I will be learning A LOT on this trip!! :) But if you think of it, please pray that I will get more excited about it. :) I don't mind being nervous, but I really don't want to be dreading it...

Okay, well, this post is probably long enough by now, and I need to eat dinner. So, I'll post more later! Adios! :)

~Beth

The past couple of days

have been pretty epic! :)
On Saturday, Ben and I had a birthday party. Both of our birthdays are in November, so we just had a combined party :) It was a dance in the gym at our old church. And it was pretty cool because that was the most room we've ever had at a dance! :D Yeah...it was SO FUN!!! :):) My friends are the best. Oh! And we had this Cotton Eyed Joe contest (see who could last the longest doing the dance with the song on a continual loop). I only lasted for three repetitions of the song, but I am proud to say that Erin, Laura, Bri, and two of Ben's friends lasted for FIVE! :O And then it was apparent that they would not give up, and we had to call it a tie, and then draw a name for the prize. ;) But it was exhausting! haha :) So yeah, that was a VERY fun day!! Oh, and also, Laura spent the night, and that made it even BETTER! :D we had a lot of fun talking and stuff :):):)
And then yesterday was my birthday. It was amazing!! First, I had a guitar lesson. Then we met my dad at my FAVORITE restaurant (Hibachi Buffet) for lunch :) (SUSHI AND STIR FRY!!! :D ) And then we went home and did school. Lol :) And then Mamaw, Grandma, and Grandpa came over for dinner (tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches!) :) I opened Ben's presents after dinner. He gave me two bottles of crackle nail polish (black and silver) (yay!!) and "Ocean Eyes" by Owl City (awesome band!!!!!! And Morgan gave me "All Things Bright and Beautiful" by them, too!! yay!!! :D ). I was soooo happy! ^_^ And then! My parents gave me this big box wrapped in gold wrapping paper, and it had a card on top. And they said to open the box first (unusual....). So...I did, and I was SHOCKED to discover the contents of this box!!!! It. Was. A. DSLR. Camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY WORD!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah. How bout *EXCITEMENT!!!* :D I had been wanting this camera for quite some time, but then Symon was sick ($500), and now I'm going on a missions trip ($2,500) and so I was like "Yep...this camera will have to wait, I guess!" But then my awesome parents and grandparents all chipped in and got it for me!! :) Plus, they got me an additional zoom lens and a case!! :):):) I was so happy!!! :) And I cried. haha :) And then, after the battery charged, I took pictures!!! :D That's what I did this afternoon after school...I actually took my Barbies out to do a photoshoot with them. hahaha! I had brought them up from the basement for my six year old cousin to play with, so I still had them up here, and then I was like "I COULD TAKE PICTURES OF THEM!!!" HAHA :):) Yep, it was pretty fun :):)
Okay, I know my grammar is horrific, and I was totally rambling and I started most of my sentences with "AND THEN!" But, oh well! I just had to write out my excitement in the excitement form it takes in my mind.  :P :)
Well, that is all for now. :) Ipml!! :) Maybe some pictures later! :):) adios!

~Bethie

November is a pretty cool

month, huh? I mean...my dad's birthday is the sixth, my mamaw's birthday is the eleventh, my brother's birthday is the thirteenth, Thanksgiving is the twenty-fourth, and my birthday is the twenty-eighth! It doesn't get much better than that! ^_^ Haha :P I know, I know...the world does not revolve around me and my family, does it? :)

Anyway, November really is going to be a pretty fun month for me! Besides all the birthdays and Thanksgiving, my family is going to Myrtle Beach on the 11th! :D I'm so excited! My dad hasn't been able to go with us in FOREVER, so I'm really happy that he gets to go this time! :D
Also, Ben and I are going to have a combined birthday party, and it shall be EPIC! ^_^ We're having a dance at the gym at our old church :) I'm SO pumped! Except that Matt and Elizabeth can't come...this makes me quite sad... :'(

So, last Saturday, we went to a dance that was...well...amazing!!! :D I think I mentioned it in my last post...but that was BEFORE and this is AFTER! yeah...it was sooooooooooo fun!!!!! My all-time favorite dance is the Virginia Reel, and we got to do it TWICE! ^_^ My second favorite is the Postees Jig. That one is so cool because it LOOKS epicly confusing and complicated and amazing, but once you learn it, it's actually pretty easy :) I got to dance that one with Matt, the VA Reel with Alek (both times), and the Spanish Waltz (which is probably my third favorite) with Jacob! Aaaand, I got to Swing Dance with the BEST swing dance partner ever: Laura!! xD And I tried to teach Alek and Matt how to swing dance, but it didn't work that well...although, we really didn't have that much time... :)
I dressed up as a pirate. OH YEAH!! I can tell y'all now what Messrs. Alekzandr and Matthew wore to the party!!! They both wore kilts! It was sooooooooo awesome!!! Hahaha :D And then Alek, Matt, Erin, and I went to Sheetz after the party (they were giving away free coffee) and paraded our costumes. But it was mainly so Erin and I could be seen with a couple of cute guys in kilts :P ;) I might be able to post a picture of us..I'll see if it works :)
Anywhosies, we had an absolute blast at that party...I have decided that dancing (as long as it's appropriate) is my favorite activity to do with friends (besides talking ;) ). It's so wholesome and healthy and social and FUN!!!! :):):):):)

Okay, I shall now cease my raving about how AWESOME dancing is. ;) (Except perhaps to say that if any of y'all ever get the opportunity to go to a country dance or something, and you're thinking "Oh...I wouldn't be good at it and I wouldn't like it...blah blah blah", I thought the exact same thing at first. And now i LOVE it. So...TRY IT!) :)

Alrighty then. Well, I think I also mentioned that last Saturday morning we were going to go to GROW club. That went really well!!! It was so fun! And the kids were adorable, and I think they enjoyed it :) We played a game first (after going door to door to invite the kids). It was musical chairs. :) Thank heaven they had an iPod docking station! I thought my iPod speaker would be loud enough...heh. NOT! And then Alek had to LaLaLa for a while before we got the docking station set up. That was funny! :P
And then Josh gave his lesson and it went really well! :) It was about having courage, and he told the story of Joshua (haha) and the Israelites marching around Jericho. We even acted it out! (the teens were the 'wall' and the kids were the Israelites ;) ).
After that, we played hot potato for a while, and then two of the girls wanted to have a dance competition. That was pretty funny. haha :) So, yeah. It went really well, and I SO hope I can go again this month! :)

So, I worked today. It was my first day having to be there at 7. (EARLY!!). lol :P I'm not a morning person. But that's okay! My manager lives really close, so she'll just pick me up on Fridays and take me to work (which is very nice for my dad so he doesn't have to go to work early :) ).
But anyway, I had a great day! I LOOOOVE my job!!! God has blessed me so much! I was trying really hard to be thankful for my last job (and I was/am). But I just really didn't like it. (after I started working there this year. I loved it before the management changed) It was so hard because I would be feeling like "man...I just really don't want to be here! I want to work somewhere else!" But then I would mentally slap myself "Beth! What is wrong with you! God blessed you with this job and the company had to fit you in to be able to hire you. You're earning money, so be THANKFUL!!! Stop complaining!!" But then when my former boss offered to hire me at one of his other cafes, and I took the job, it was so much easier to be thankful because I love it! :) Still, though, I'm thankful for the opportunity to work at that other place. It just shows me how God provides. This whole process has been amazing...God is awesome. He provided a job, even if I didn't enjoy it at the time. But then he provided me with an even better job! He is just so gracious... :)
So...my favorite thing about my new job is my coworkers :) :) I get to work with a couple girls from my church (Misty and Elizabeth) and another awesome girl named Annie. We always have a blast together! :)
I also like the fact that we're so busy. I would get so bored when I was working at Daisy's. A "rush" there was like...five people at a time. lol! A rush at Brewed Awakenings  (cute name, huh?? :) is...I don't even know how many people, but it is crazy! :) I love it!!!
There are basically three stations to work at: the "bagel bar" (where we make all the sandwiches and such), the coffee, and the cash register. My favorite is either the bagel bar or the register. I'm not sure which. I love making coffee, but not during a rush because I'm not fast enough at it. And then I get paranoid and freaked out. haha :P
Anyway, so yeah. I love my job. :)

Hey, guess what y'all! I'm watching Captain America!! With TVGuardian! Yay! This makes up for not getting to watch it on the JC outing.. :) Except that my darling Laura is not with me... :'(

Although I feel as though there is something else I wanted to share...I can't remember it and this post is super long, anyway. Okay, well...I will go now. Thanks for reading my ramblings! I love rambling to you guys...you're awesome :)
Ttyl! Ipml! ;)

~Beth :)

This weekend

is very exciting for me!! I have so much going on and...it's all super duper fun! :)

Okay, so Friday night is an event at our church called FunForAll. It's a kids program as an alternative to Halloween. :) The kids dress up and come to the church for games, candy, bounce houses, and a Bible story time. :) It's a lot of fun for the kids AND the helpers! ^_^ Last year I dressed up as a superhero, and I did facepainting. (Which was cool because that's one of the things I ended up helping with at the carnivals we hosted on our missions trip this summer) :)
This year, I don't have a costume. :( I am quite saddened by this fact. But hey, I'll still have fun! :) I think I'm doing face painting again this year!! Yay! ^_^

And then on Saturday, Ben and I are going to help with GROW club. It's a program that some people from our church started a few years ago downtown as an outreach to children there. It's so neat, and I got to interact with a lot of these kids during our missions trip. I've been wanting to go to GROW club, but haven't been able to until this Saturday. So yeah...I'm pretty excited about it. :) You could be praying for the kids to listen to the lesson, and pray for the guy who is giving it (Josh), and that we will all be good examples to the kids. That would be greatly appreciated! :)

On Saturday evening (GROW club ends at 4ish), beginning at 4 (!), there is a medieval dance that I am going to! I cannot wait!! I'm dressing up as a pirate. It's going to be so much fun! I have a couple of friends whose costumes are going to be so epic...but it's a secret, so I'll have to tell y'all about it later... ;)

I'm also really looking forward to Sunday because I get to be in the service! Yay! :) I work in a children's class every other Sunday, and lately we seem to have been gone on all the Sundays when I'm NOT working in a class, so I feel like I haven't been in the service in a long time... So, I'm happy about that. And also, I'm looking forward to an entire afternoon in which I have nothing to do! ^_^ I think I shall either take a nap or read a book... :)

Last Sunday was really really fun. I was at Jacob's birthday party (he is 18 now!!! O.O ) and a song from The Lion King was playing (I just can't WAIT to be kiiiiing! ;) ), and then Me, Erin, and Matt (and I think Alek?) were discussing how Matt had never seen that movie (*gasp!!*). So...long story short, I invited Erin, Matt, and Alek to come over to watch The Lion King at my house on Sunday afternoon. Erin, sadly, could not come :(((( But Alek and Matt did, and we had a blast :) We ate pizza, listened to random music, watched the movie, unloaded my family's van from camping, and then played video games. :) It was so fun. :) My guy friends are THE BEST! Just saying...like....y'all might have guy friends, too...but mine are better. haha ;) I'm a little prejudiced, I suppose, though... :P

Anywhosies...I should probably end this and go read or something :) OH! I finished Wuthering Heights (by Emily Bronte) today!! It was really good! And incredibly weird...but still good! :) And tomorrow I'm starting 1984 by George Orwell. This is my favorite thing about being homeschooled: I get to pick out the classics I read for school! :)

Okay, well, ttyl! Ipml! ;) Hope you all have a wonderest, spectacumous, fabular, awezing, amasome, perfect weekend! ^_^

~Beth

I haven't posted in a while,

have I? :(
Okay, well, I just wanted to share what has been going on in my life lately. :) 
I'm not sure if I've posted about this before or not, but practically all my life I have been afraid of growing up. I mean, there are certain things I've always looked forward to (having a boyfriend, getting married, having kids, decorating my own home). But even with those things, there was always this nagging feeling in the back of my mind: "What if I never get married?! What if God wants me to be a missionary and I have to live in Africa by myself? What if, what if, what if?!?!". And also, I've been TERRIFIED of going to college. I had NO idea what I was going to major in, and therefore no idea what I was going to do after I graduated, either! I mean...I like making coffee and sandwiches and all, but that's not exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life! ;) 
Well, a week or two ago, my mom and I were talking about different occupations I could possibly have. My mom has mentioned to me several times that she thinks I would be good at cosmetology, but I didn't believe her. I was like "but...I don't know how to cut people's hair!" And then she pointed out to me that that's why you go to cosmetology school and they TEACH you how to cut hair! (duh! *facepalm*) So then, I was like "Ooooh....that would be really neat!!! I think I would enjoy that!" Okay, so then all kinds of possibilities presented themselves in my mind: Go to cosmetology school, work in a hair salon, get married, have kids, cut people's hair at my house, not have to send my husband or children to hair dressers (save money! ^_^), have occupation after kids move out, etc. So then I'm like...WHOA! This is soooo cool!!!! 
But wait! It gets better!
On Sunday, a lady spoke to my parents' Sunday school class, and she shared about a missions trip she had recently gone on to Mexico (awwww...I miss it...). And one of the things she shared about was how this group of hair dressers went to a migrant camp and worked on the people's hair. They cleaned it (which included removing the lice) and then cut it and everything. When my mom told me about this, I was like, "Wow!! I would LOVE to do something like that!!" I just think it would be about the coolest thing ever! I mean, imagine how incredibly uncomfortable it must be to have such dirty hair and to constantly have lice in it. And then to have someone just out of the blue come and clean it for you? And even make it look pretty? That would be so neat! I mean, just because these people are living in such poor conditions doesn't mean they don't WANT to feel and look nice. It makes me so sad thinking about how they have to live. 
And another thing, think about how much one-on-one time that would provide to be able to witness to people! 
I totally need to be working on my Spanish. :)
So, after thinking about all of this for a while (Oh yeah, and I found out that I already have enough money in my college funds and stuff to be able to go to cosmetology school!), I realized that all of a sudden, I wasn't scared of my future anymore! I've always reminded myself that God has a plan for me, and He knows what it is, even if I am totally in the dark! And now I really see that. I also know that, this may not even be His plan for me. But if it isn't then He has something else! I really, honestly don't have to be so worried about it all. I'm not even scared of the possibility of not getting married, anymore! If I get married, that would be AWESOME! But if I don't, that would be awesome, too, because I would have more freedom to travel and go on missions trips and maybe even be a missionary! I'll just keep praying about it and see what happens. :)
So, lately, God has really given me a peace to trust Him with His plan for my life. And now, instead of being scared of the future, I'm so excited for it! :D 

~Jeremiah 29:11~
"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future."

GBC Diaries 2011: Entry 10

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Well, I never actually got around to writing any more journal entries about camp...I left on Saturday and then didn't write more.
I don't have a whole lot more to say than what I said in the journal entries...but that last one didn't seem a fitting end to this saga. lol :)
Oshie had a few family issues she wanted to talk to us about, but for the most part, I think she may have just wanted to talk to us. :) But...11:00 at night is not the time to do it. Haha :P
Just last night, I was thinking about how much God has blessed me in allowing me to be involved with this camp. It always teaches me so much...I feel closer to God while I'm there, I gain lots of experience in many different areas, I get to meet plenty of new people, I am forced out of my comfort zone, and hey, I even get to mention it on job applications! :) I am so thankful for the two weeks of my summer which are reserved for GBC :) <3
May I just say...I can't wait till I'm old enough to be a Senior Counselor? :) All summer, baby.... ^_^
Thanks for reading my camp-oriented ramblings! :)