Vacation !!!!!

The gorgeous pool !!!!!
Mom and Johnny bowling !
Graci Hood lol !
In may John gave me and my family some moola to go on vacation,and last week,we finally went!We went to center parc ,the greatest vacaction spot in the world (in my mind anyway!)!While we were there I got to do some archery ,bowling ,and lots of SWIMMING!My grandparents (my dad's parents) we also able to go with us !It was way cool!Enjoy the pics!

Picnic in the park

This are some pictures of a picnic my family and I had in the park while we were on summer break.If I look mad /depressed it 'cause we just got home from camp ,and I was a little out of "my groove".

More News

Last night ,I got to talk to John via MSN;it was cool.Josh ,Johnny ,and I really miss our older brother!(He's not really our bro,we just pretend he is!)I completed my second day of school ,minus the homework,and after that I get to clean my room ,oh joy!I am going to put a line of french ,because a certain friend of mine keeps complaining that there is no french on my blog:TU DEVRAIS LIRE TOUT L'ARTICLE ET NON SEULEMENT CE LIGNE!Oh here's a picture of that awful sandune that I had to climb on the discovery trip.I know the girls with the red hair ,and the long black hair. I met them at camp.They are both really nice!Last week I backed 2 cakes and a batch of cookie bars.And they all turned out fine for those of you who were doubting my culinary savoir faire.(I didn't burn anything ,John).Well I can't think of anything else to say.

Back to School

Afunny picture of me before I got my hair cut and before I got my braces colored.
When I was awakened by my little brother Johnny this morning,the last thing that I thought I'd be doing today was school.Apparently ,I was wrong,on so many levals.As of today,I am a official member of the 11th grade.That is way cooler than the 10th grade!I can't believe that I am already a junior in High School!!!Only 2 more years to college!I can hardly wait!!!!!I am taking 6 classes in addition to my music classes at the conservatory.I am taking Life Management,American History,Biology,English(which in cludes American Literature,English,Composition,and Spelling/Vocab.),Consumer Mathematics,and Typeing.It is cool,but I don't appreciate the increase in my homework load!It is good to be back to school ,and have something to do!The whole vacation ,lounge around and do nothing ,was depressing me,and I am feeling better than I have in 2 weeks.My mom says that now I have a purpose,I am doing better.Personally,I think that I was depressed due to the fact that I was thinking way too much!Well anyway,I went to the orthodontist for another torture session ,lol,and he says that on September 28 he is going to but the bottom braces on.I am so not lookingforward to that .I had my braces put on in BRIGHT GREEN!It's really neat,and cooler than the blue.When hockey season starts ,I am going to get them put on Blue and Yellow to support les Taurreaux de Feu(Limoges team).Their name in English for the people out there that don't speak french is the Bulls of Fire.My question is ,why did the hockey team ,have to name themselves something with fire in it ,because ,after all ,if they were really fiery bull,they would A) die or B) melt the ice.Wow ,is my mind all over the place today !

POLL

I cannot decide ,for the life of me,what color to get my braces done next time I have them done .So ,leave me a comment ,and tell me what you think!Thanks a lot .
COLOR LIST
pink
blue
purple
yellow
forest green
I'll update with more colors if I see more

I have the Force!!!

This picture was taken by Josh .Ev,Josh and I were all alking under a tree ,when all of the sudden Josh popped a picture.All of my friends think that my habit of gesturing with gusto at improptu moments is a little weird ,but funny(Isn't that true, Eric?).Of cousre I never realized how it looked ,until I saw this picture.Not that it will change anything,oh no.If you gesture wildly for years ,it isn't something that you can changr in the space of a few weeks!Anyway, when my Mom saw this picture she immediately titled it th "I have the Force" picture.If you look at it ,I can see where you get the idea.

Camp in August

The whole camp
My Mom and I before the annual camp banquet
Well 2 weeks after I got home from camp,we headed back to camp.It was not a pleasure trip,mind you,we were workers this time.We didn't go for the full 2 weeks ,we just went for the last week.But ,before I went bak to camp,I had to finish my 10 th grade year.I did about a months worth of work in a week,and I finished on midnight friday night.It was such a relief to be done!!!Thankfully ,I passed in every subject,even Algebra 2 and Chemistry!Thank the Lord!Well ,we went back to camp.Of course,it was not as much fun to be staff as it was to be a camper ,but we had fun anyway.We got to spend more time with Evan and made more friends like JO and Anita.Anyway ,it was neat!!It was hard to say good bye to everyone again,and no I didn't cry in front of everyone,but I did cry for a while in the car.It's a lot of fun to make new freinds ,but it is always hard to say good bye.I have an especially hard time with that as anyone who knows me can testify.What I like to think of is that I am going to spend eternity with my friends in heaven,and I'll never have to say good bye to them again.

Evan Gildersleeve

Ev and I and half of my Mom
Ev ,Josh ,and I
While I was at camp,I met Evan.He is an American from Greenville SCand he just finishe dhigh school.What people notice the most about him is his height.He is 6 feet and 7 inches tall.He makes me feel really really short ( I am 5 feet tall),but I tell him that I not short,I am fun sized(right ,Em !).He is going to join the U.S. MARINES .He is heading out to boot campin exactlly 2 weeks(September 6),and he is very excited to serve his country!Please pray for God's protection on Evan!!!!!!!!!!!

Camp in July

The boyz
everybody
the girlz
One week after I got home from the dicovery trip,I headed off to camp.Josh also went to camp for the first time.It was a lot of fun.Katherine from the trip was my monitor ,which took a little adjusting ;) .We did lots and lots of fun stuff like canoeing,playing games till midnight,rosting marshmellows,sleeping under the stars,and having a banquet.We went on a really big hike(11 KM to be precise).It wasn't supposed to be that long ,but the person with the compass got us a little lost.Oh well,everyone makes mistakes! That night,we slept in the forest.Apparentlly ,wild boars came to our camp site that night ,but I slept thru it.When w got back to camp the next day,I noticed that my legs were covered in red itchy bumps.When I counted ,I ahd over a hundred.I am told that I now have established a new record at the nursing station for something called aootas.They are little bugs that burry in your skin and stay there.It was sooooo gross.Ross and Evan(I am going to write an article on him) thought that it was really funny.But they were nice about it anyway.After passing a few miserable days ,they felt better and went away.The aootas ,that is ,not Ross and Evan!Camp was a real blast!!!!

Pictures of the conference

Singing special music

Us giving ur testimonies

POST 6:Friday-Sunday

It was very hard to say good bye to my family.They live far away ,so we don't see each other very often.We spent along time in the van going to the conference in Chalon sur Sonne.We stayed in a house that would have made a perfect haunted house .It was creepy.And another thing,the showers were freezing cold!!!!!!That night at the service we each had to give a testimony and present a town that we had visited.It was scary to be in front of so many people.Then our group had to sing together.It went pretty well.The day afterAmelie's mother ,who was also at the conference,took us into the city and let Eric,Ross ,Amelie,and I walk aroubd for an hour by ourselves.It was really cool.Of course,it wasn't like we were in danger because Amelie was watching out for all of us teen-agers(she is 24).It was very very neat.That Evening,I had to sing for special music.I was terrified!!!!I was releaved when it was over!The day after ,every one went their seperate ways.It was very very very sad.I didn't cry(ok well maybe a little in the car ).It was such an awesome trip, that I wished that it was much longer!I hope that I'll get to go aain next year!!!

Pictures from Wednesday

Smoking nuns!
Our Group!!!!!

Post 5 :Thurday

We went to the Musée du Désert.I found out that I could have had an ancestor that was imprisonned on a galley for his faith.His name was Moise Broc.It was very interesting.After that w' drove to Nime where we were able to walk in the coty.It was very cool.There was a Roman Arena that we wanted to visit ,but it cost too much $.Then we went to stay at my Aunt and Uncle's house in St. Martin de Crau.It was nice to see my family again.

POST 4: WEDNESDAY

Wednesday,We traveled to Lourdes.It was very very sad to see so many people putting their faith in statues.The church over at the site of the cave makes 18,OOO,OOO euros and keeps 90%of its profits.We were able to hand out hand out some tracks ,but then Ross and I handed a tract to a security guard ,and in the long run ,we had to leave quickly.I was terrified that we'd be put into jail,or arrested ,or kicked out of town.That would have been really scary!!!Later on that day we visited a giant castle /fortification thingy.It was neat.Unfortunately ,we were rained on again.While in the castle we visited an inquisition museum.Eric and Ross (in a rare moment of kindness lol!)censured all the exhibits and told me which ones that I could read without getting all freaked out!Needless to say,I didn't see many!Then everybody sang Disney movie songs.Among the favorites were hakuna matata(Ross's favorite!)and can you feel the love tonight?(which Eric really liked!).I wanted to singI'll make a man out of you ,but Eric and Ross said that was weird for me to sing that one. Then we arrived at a church in Bezeirs.We met the pastor and Eric scared all the girls by creeping out of the window of the boys room,throwing a green alien bunny into the girls room ,and running back to his room to jump back in the window before anybody could catch him.Only problem was thatI yelled "I'm sure that it was Eric "so my Dad opened the boys door in time to see Eric try to climb back in the window.It was really funny.After that we always called that church the green alien bunny church.

Discovery Trip :Post 3 MONDAY and TUESDAY

On Monday we visited Larochelle.We met the replacement Pastorthere who gave us the tour of the town.We learned much about the history of the hugonautsthere.He also treated us to fancy icecreamon the port .Night life in the big city is a little scary.Of course,It's not every night that wander around at 11 at night either.Tuesday we went to Bordeau and ate lunch with Matthieu and Janine.I tried sushi for the first time ,and it was half as bad as I thought that it would be.Then we climbed the largest sand dune in France.It was awful!!!!!Then we went to a church where I was attacked an petted by an old lady who kept cackleing about the fact that I was only 15.Due to these unfortunate events (plus others on which I won't elaborate!) we nick-named this day BLACK TUESDAY.And it was certaintely "a day that will live in infamy!"as Ross so aptly put it!I also tried paté for the first time in 6 years.I was not thrilled.To recap I tried Sushi ,climbed the biggest sand dune in France ,and ate paté for the first time all in one day!Quelle horreur! Pictures left to right:Nadine ,Amelie,and Eric
Second Row:Ross ,me ,and Eric

Discovery Trip :Post 2 SUNDAY

Where the Massacre started.
On the tour.Nathaniel Sermons is standing behind Pastor Bozzi in the black sweater.

E.B. usthe Reformation tour,and it finished at the very place that the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre began.All in all ,it was a very depressing tour.We picked up Amelie Coste ,who is a French girl who went to BJU for 2 years.She was lots of fun.Then we all headed tothe Eiffel Tower.By the time we arrived at the Eiffel Tower it had started to rain.When we got to the top,it was pouring!I was at one of the most ROMANTIC spots in the world with my best-friends older brother and a guy that I had only know for 3 days at this point.What a cruel irony!!!We wanted to order crepes at a street side stand ,but the crepe guy took too long so we went to go eat Kebabs which are called GIROS in English.I almost gouged out Eric's eyes twice with my umbrella ,and I don't know how many time I jabbed Ross in the shoulder.While we waited in the rain I sang "I'm Singin' In The Rain !" and dully impressed Eric and Ross.Ross and Nathaniel Sermon's who happened to meat us in Paris had lots of fun pouring the water that had accumulated in their umbrella's onto me.I don't know why ,but I seem to produce that kind of reaction in people.All in all ,it was a very interesting yet very tiring day!!!

The Discovery Trip :Post 1

Emmanuel Bozzi teaching us church history.
Oldest baptist church in Western Europe.
On Friday ,June 23, I set out on a voyage of discovery,of learning ,of adventure,and of surprises.OK,well maybe it wasn't quite that dramatic .Actually ,it was not dramatic at all.I mean when you spend the majority of your time in a 9 passenger van,it is not that much of an adventure,but I am getting a head of myself.As I was saying ,we left aroubd 2 o'clock from Limoges.I sat next to a scary old lady on the train who kept eating cherries.When we arrived in Paris ,we picked up Eric Bell ,who was suppossed to go with us on the trip.The 5 of us (My dad,Ross ,Me ,Eric and Rousseau,who is a man from our church,) set out on the RER.Do not ask me what that stands for,I have no clue.We arrived at the Bible institute in Chelles around 8.We met Katherine Frost,who was to be the ladies chaperone.She made a good ladies monitor since half of the guys on the trip were afraid of her.We were all exhausted and went to bed at 11ish.I thought that that was really late at night but I sound found out that 11 was extremely early!When we got up the next morning,we ate an early breakfast ,had a history class with Emmanuel Bozzi,discussed the Bible Institute with a young man named Hugo,and set out for the Calvinn Museum in Noyon.Later that day we went to Lille and saw the oldest baptist church in Western Europe.We sang and prayed there ,and it was very touching.Later on that night we ate dinner with Olivier Bourrel's family and then drove 45 minute(approx.) to spend the night with the sermons family ,who are missionaries.Eric ,Ross ,and I always sat together and had lots of fun.Of course ,when we were slap-happy ,you can imagine that it got kinda wild back there!

Who is Ross Hyslop?

Working Hard!
Ross Hyslop Arrived May 12 ,2006.He is my Dad's new intern.He is ,incidentally,Emily's older brother,too.He is 19 and goes to Ambassador Baptist Bible college.He is going to become a missionary to somewhere.In the mean time,we have lots of fun doing various games ,watching corny movies ,and working on LOGARITHIMS !YUCK!!!!!

The visit of Emmy-Poo !!!

Windy day at the Louvre!
Inside the Louvre.

Note :The fat lady was not part of our group!

At Sacré Coeur!!
My picture of Emily Taking A Picture of Me Taking A Picture
On May 31 ,Emily Hyslop and her familyarrived in France.We spent 2 days in Paris site-seeing ,and saw lots of cool things.Unfortunately ,it was really cold there so we were all frozen!We walked miles and miles across Paris.It was exhausting.The Eiffel tower was really neat. Then we saw the Mona Lisa.It is very small.One of my favorite things in Paris was the metro.It goes really really fast!It is awesome .I have heard that the metro in Vienna is much cooler,yet as I haven't gone to Vienna,I will have to stick to what I know.Anyway ,Emily and I had a nice visit.

Opera :My Life as A Spice Cake

Note:That is not a hat in the back.It is a piece of the costume the my Mom was holding up!
On June 14,I began my life as a spice cake.It was the first and last time that I will ever do a thing like that!!!!!It was very weird to be a spice cake especially since the costume was made of foam and was very very warm! As you can see ,we were all covered in brown face paint with multi- coloredspots on our faces.When you were on stage it was ok,but when you weren't you basically looked hideous!Anyway,Iam glad that the whole Opera thingy is over!On the positive side ,I got to keep my costume!

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Computer Animated fight scene!
Aslan alias.Qui Kon Gin
Susan
The terrifying trio .Lol !
I can't wait to see the Chronicles of Narnia!I have read allseaven books (in French ,I might add!) and simply loved the story!My favorite girl character is Susan,and Peter is my favorite boy character.Aslan is my favorite animal ,since Qui Kon Gin does the voice.Other than Aslan ,I really like Mr.Tumus,but I thought that it would be weird to put up a picture of a half naked goat man on my blog ,so no Tumus pictures! I can't wait to see this awesome movie !!!!!!

My Star Wars Photos !

Copy righted Carrie Fisher material!Please don't do anything to get me sued !
Teke !He is cute!
Han Solo ,in a typical bad mood!
My Favorite Anakin/ Padmé picture!
I like Yoda ,because we are both short !LOL !
Love this picture !

OK ,Here are the Star Wars pictures that I promised Sunday evening.To continue my article ,my favorite badguy is BOba Fett ,'cause he has those neat blasters and can fly ! I also like the alien TEKE from the ewok movie,and I think he is really cute!I think that Noghgri are the ugliest things in the galaxy ,besides hutts! My favorite extended universe character is Mara Jade,she is gorgeous!

I want to talk about Star Wars!

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What I want to see in Paris ,if I ever get there!

The first thing that I want to see in Paris is the Eiffel Tower!John brought me back a bronze (I think) Eiffel Tower,and I drove by it once,but I want to climb to the top!It would ne amazing to finally be there!I also want to visit the Louvre and see the Mona Lisanad the Egyptian exposition!Il really like the whole Egyptian thing!It is cool.Then I want to see the Arche de Triomphe(I hope that is spelled right!)and walk under it!That sounds so cool !Last of all ,I want to see the Catédrale de Notre Dame!It would be very neat to see ,because I like Victor Hugo's story of the Hunch Back ,Quasimodo!I never read the book ,but I have seen the cartoon.I would like to see the old movie with Lon Chaney as Quasimodo. I got all these pictures off of John's blog ,and if you look closely ,you can see him in front the Louvre,in a gray sweater.I hope that I will see all of these things in Paris ,when I goto get Emily at the Airport,NEXT WEDNESDAY !!!

Update

This is a picture of my family ,including my "older brother " John.John took it on Easterday.Of course ,now that I have seen that picture ,I ma never going to wear that awful outfit again!Nothing much new happening here.Only 10 more days 'till E.A.day!I can hardiy wait!Sorry for not keeping better updates ,but I have been really busy with school and music!We had Club Ado Friday ,but I didn't get any pictures,just video clips .I talked to John on the phone today.It was fun ,but it made me a little depresse d ,because we miss him a lot!Ross arrived last Saterday ,and I will put up a picture of him soon.We are having fun.He helped me study for three hours for an Algebra test!I hate Algebra and Chemistry.I am sick of school!It is such a pain!My family is doing well.We are all tired ,and I think I am getting sick!On that happy note,I end this blog article.Graci,over and out!Lol !

Club Ado

Club Ado Friday was lots of fun.It was rather depressing knowing that our friend John would not be back with us for a long time ,and Slimane came up with some crazy plans to keep John from leaving.Unfortunately none of them were workable.We played Taboo ,and listened to my Dad give a lesson.If you want to see another article on Club Ado, visit Hien's blog http//:cubi87.skyblog.com . It is a neat blog but it only comes in French ( sorry to all the English speakers out there !).

A bientot ,et non Au revoir !

The first picture is of Joh at club Ado.In the second he is on my parents bed watching a movie.John left Limoges today after church.It was very sad.I cried for 20 minutes ,but then I ate some chocolate ,and I felt better.He was like an older brother to me ,and I will miss him.I'll never forget some of the crazy things we did (gummy eating contest for example!)or the mistakes that we made (burning the pizza) .Life is full of parting .Doesn't that sound profound?We all hope that John will come back for a visit very soon !