A. Age: 17 and 3/4 years

B. Bed size: Twin because I have no need for a bigger on quite yet

C. Chore that you hate: Ummm...cleaning my room? It's not a specific chore, just a specific room that I hate.

D. Dogs: I like big dogs...I kind of DESPISE yappy, small dogs though. 

E. Essential start to your day: Brushing my teeth, drinking a cup of coffee

F. Favorite color: RED!

G. Gold or Silver: Probably silver 

H. Height: 5’4

I. Instruments you play: Piano and organ. I can semi-play the drums...very, VERY basic :)

J. Job title: Student, novice Ebay seller

K. Kids: ARE ADORABLE!! And I don't have any yet.

L. Live: Northwestern PA, soon moving to Midwestern, PA

M. Mother’s name: Josanne (isn't it lovely???)

N. Nicknames: Hun (pretty much all family members) Amberello (kid at school), Pin-head (another kid at school) Heather, (Don't ask why!!!) and Jamal.

O. Overnight hospital stays: Never, thankfully!

P. Pet peeves: Biggest pet peeve is people who make pretty much ANY noise while they're eating. Any repetitive noises. Teenagers that feel entitled to be treated a certain way

Q. Quote from a movie: Ummm....no but I have quotes that I say all the time and I don't know exactly where I picked them up. The first is when someone is slightly hyper I'll say "Alright, you need to calm down, sir. You're gettin a little outta-hand." There other is when someone makes a statement I don't agree with or generally says anything I'll say "LIES!"

R. Right or left handed: Normal-handed?? Just kidding! ;-) Right.

S. Siblings: Older sister, Elissa, younger brother, Dakota.

U. Underwear: Are good to wear!! Especially clean ones in case you get in an accident ;-)

V. Vegetable you hate: Not a fan of pickles. Which are technically a vegetable, but are considered a condiment in this crazy, modern day society. 

W. What makes you run late: Being ready to leave but waiting on my parents to leave because I can't drive without one of them yet.

X. X-Rays you’ve had: Teeth and lungs. They thought I had pneumonia. 

Y. Yummy food that you make: I make lots of yummy foods!! :) Apple crisp, apple pie, coffee cheesecake squares, homemade chocolate cake, mashed potatoes....the list goes on :)

Z. Zoo animal: Polar bears, penguinos and sea lions!

Weight loss encouragement

Hello world! Hello! Just a little quick update on life before I write what this post is about. Some of you knew, and I don't remember if I posted or not, that my father was starting a church in Butler. That is the area God has called us to, and we were just waiting on God's timing to get a building etc. Well, April 14th, 2012, the first service at Power of God Pentecostal Church was held. God has blessed us so much in the past month! We've had over 50, I believe almost 60, folks from the Butler area visit church. We've had quite a few that are return visitors and we can't count on them being in service. The Lord has blessed the work so much! We will be moving down there this summer and beginning the school year in the Butler district. God is good! :)

Well now to what this post is really about. I've always struggled with my weight. I've never had a problem with obesity or being extremely overweight, but exercise and healthy eating just don't really get along well with me AT ALL! I know that I am not "fat" as some people say, but I also know that my body is a temple of the Holy Ghost and that I could be a lot better. So, if you hear me talking about losing weight or exercising, it is not because I feel overweight. It's because I know I could be so much better, and it's laziness that is keeping me from achieving my goals.

As of late there are a couple of things that have inspired me to lose weight. So I finally decided that this summer is going to be the summer I do it. I'm going to stop making excuses, get out in the great weather and work towards a better body. Pinterest (Lord we thank you for the inventors!!!) has been a source of great inspiration. Little says and quick workouts that burn a lot of calories have caught my attention. So I decided that I would use Pinterest as my motivation and make myself a 21 day "calendar" of sorts to use to exercise. I've seen that it takes 21 days to form a habit, so I did this little system for that many days. I'm going to post pictures to help as a "walk through."

This is the front of the card. As you can see, there's a countdown with the days completed and days to go. I then added an encouraging saying. I didn't add the date until after I exercised. 

This is the back of the first card. I wrote the "Goals for workout" on the back of all the cards and filled it in, and wrote the "Workout done:" but left it blank. After I completed my workout I filled in the bottom section. 

The front of the second card. Notice there isn't a date because I haven't completed it yet.

The back of the second card, which isn't filled out yet because this is only day one.

And the last step :-) I filled out the card for day one, but I'm obviously not posting it because I don't want the world to see my weight, measurements, or what I ate today! But anyways. Again, I add the date when I'm actually filling it out. Just a quick note...I'm also doing picture documentation to see the difference in what I look like after I'm done. In the picture section I write what I was wearing so when I go back through the pictures I'll be able to tell when each one was taken. 

If you can't tell from the pictures above, I hole punched all of the cards and put them on a key ring. I hope this might be helpful to someone! Good luck in all your weight loss journeys! :)

Discipline = Love

Hey everyone! First off, I would like to start this post by talking about something I've noticed since starting public school. I've known it for a long time, but I REALLY noticed it at the beginning of the year. Kids these days are soooooo disrespectful. I KNOW I'm not perfect, but I am in NO WAY that deliberately disrespectful. I will be the first to admit that I have a slight *ahem* temper, and that sometimes my mouth gets the better of me. And that is a flaw I have worked on, and continue to work on. But anyways, the disrespect just gets on my nerves SO BAD!!! Kids feel like they have some sort of RIGHT in this world. Honey, you have the rights that are given to you by the government, but after that it's all open. If your teacher gives you a little "extra" homework assignment, SHUT UP ABOUT IT AND DO IT! Yes, I know how it feels to get overwhelmed and have a million things going on at once, but there's no need to run down your teacher. If you have an issue with what's going on, GO TO THE TEACHER!!! I hate, hate, HATE, how kids back bite and constantly disrespect the teachers in our school! There is such a PRIDE in my generation. They feel like if a teacher disciplines them or gives them something to do that they've been wronged in some way. Not so! Grow up and do what you're supposed to do, people!!

But now I'm gonna get to what this blog post is really about. I heard on the radio this morning a clip of a dad talking about his disrespectful 15 year old daughter that was posting statuses about him and her step-mother on facebook. He took the laptop that he had just worked on for 6 hours and spent $130 on upgrading and everything to have it running at top performance, and shut it 8 times with his .45. There is a big controversy over whether or not he did the right thing. I say, "KUDOS!!!!!!" I won't post the link to it because of the language used by the daughter (he reads the letter) and he lets a swear word slip out one or two times, but if you aren't convicted about it, I would suggest looking up the clip. I was reading through the comments, and it constantly showed up and bothered me when people said "oh she's just a teenager, you shouldn't have done that." I'm sorry, but I would NEVER EVER EVER EVER speak to my parents like she did, and I never have. And I'm a teenager. And the fact of the matter is, he BOUGHT her that computer. That father had every right in the world to shoot it. She was using a PRIVILEGE given to her by her parents to disrespect them. And I don't care WHO you are or how old you are, you NEVER tell your parents that someday when they're too old to wipe their own behinds you're not gonna be there. Ugh! And the other thing is she had just been ungrounded from a 3 month grounding for something similar!

Another comment that kept reoccurring was saying that she'll never forgive him and people saying "Good job, you ruined what little relationship you had with her." Honey, if you can't grow up a little when you're 15 years old and realize that Dad is doing what's best, you have issues. There comes a point when kids have to realize that their parents aren't trying to hurt them, and that they are doing the best they can to raise spoiled children. My parents have embarrassed me and yelled at me. I've been mad at them. That's normal. But I've gotten OVER MYSELF and apologized and changed because my parents were doing it for my benefit. Parents do things out of love, and out of not wanting to see their children grow up and be leaches on society, but be productive contributors.

There's another rant for ya. Seems like I'm stacking them up ;-) What do you think? was it right for him to shoot the laptop and post the video of him reading the letter and talking about it to her facebook wall?? Input desired! :-)

Venting

As a disclaimer, I do not intend for my blog to become a place to vent. But for this moment, and because I think it's an important topic, I'm going to vent a little.

One thing I absolutely, positively HATE, is RUDE people!!! I can't stand it! It drives me absolutely crazy! Especially rude teenagers. Who gave you the right to be mean to me?? Who gave you the right to get an attitude with your teacher just because she's doing her job?? And who gave people (mostly girls) to sit in their high pedestals and tear other girls to pieces verbally??

Yesterday I was on the bus and I wrote a message on the window. A girl in the back of the bus asked what I said, so I told her, and this girl sitting diagonal and a seat back goes, "Oh, you're cool." This isn't the first time she's done this. She sits and listens to my conversations, then she talks to her sister about them, and really doesn't care if I hear her mocking me. I'm not a stuck up person. I don't care if people listen to me, but I HATE it when people are rude. The only time I've ever spoken to EITHER of them is when I wished them a happy birthday, and the one day like half the bus was having the same conversation, including them. So yeah. Example 1 of a rude person.

Example Number 2. I was walking to my locker today and this....*ahem* small child, aka FRESHMAN, ran into me. This wasn't the first time this child has done this. And it makes me upset. I know that accidents happen and people bump into each other, eSPEcially in a crowded hall, but with him it's just carelessness. He walks without looking where he's going and pretty much just goofs off and expects everyone to make way for him. And it really bothers me. Today my temper got the best of me a little. He ran into me, than stood there like pushing on me, WHILE STILL FACING BACKWARDS, and expected me to move. I *shifty, ashamed eyes* shoved him with my arm and was like "Watch out, Kid!" He's like "YOU watch out." that's all I said, and I'm ashamed to say I did get angry. I got to my locker and my adrenaline was rushing....it was an interesting experience.

But I just told you about those two kinds of people to tell you not to be rude. It makes people around you upset. Some of the nicest people at school are the people I like most. People that smile and are really friendly and happy and sweet are my very favorite people in the whole world. Just do something nice---Smile, and be polite. If you're a rude person, you have no clue how many people would like to give you a piece of their mind. So be nice!!! :)

Stay Strong

Well everyone, I started a new blog! It's called "Stay Strong" and it's pretty much for all of us Apostolic/Pentecostal young people. Of course ANYONE is welcome to visit, but my posts will be aimed towards people my age. Whether it be modesty, witnessing, or experiences, I hope that it will be an encouragement. So, please stop over and show some love! The web address for it is www.unchangedinachangingworld.blogspot.com And I know that's like SO long but I couldn't think of anything else, and it's easy to remember.

Hey I'm back!

....Ahem.....hey! Over here. Yeah.....I"m that blogger that you forgot has a blog. I'm also the blogger that forgot I have a blog....Sorry!!! It seems to be a reoccuring trend with me. Blog faithfully for a while, big event happens, I stop blogging for a few months. I'm not even going to apologize though! I have been busy being 17....school!!!

I have started public school, and honestly, I love it!!! It has been somewhat of an adjustment for me. Not really a culture shock, but I have been introduced to the "real world" in the sense that I have discovered what people really are. They backbite, the spread rumors, they are two-faced. They act like they're your friend, than talk about you right in front of your face to someone else about how much they don't like you. BUT-It's life, and I realize that. No, it's not something I WANT to happen, but guess what---IT DOES! I have discovered this, and now I just live with it. In the worlds of my father, "I live a life where the only thing they can say bad about me is 'that girls thinks she's better than everyone----she won't talk bad about other people.'" That has been my goal since that conversation. I want the only "fuel for their fire" to be that I'm "that Jesusfreak" (YES! someone said that about me, and I LOVE IT!) or that I'm that girl that is friends with all the weird people.

It's now the new year, and a few of my "Resolutions" are quite simple. I'm actually not much of a "resolution" or "goal" kind of person. But, my resolutions for this new year are very straightforward. 1-Faithfully invite, and bring people to church. 2. Keep my GPA at 3.5 AT LEAST. 3. Get IN SHAPE!! Yes, round is a shape, but I'd rather not be round;-)

Do you have any resolutions?

FLORIDA!!!

So, as you all know, my family and I took a much needed vacation to Florida. It was absolutely AMAZING!!! I had a blast just traveling! The vast difference in terrain along the East Coast is just amazing!! I have to say, I think my favorite state is Virginia. It's absolutely AMAZING!!!!!!! I can't even describe the majest of the mountains and the beauty of the rivers and valleys. I have a friend there that told me "It's God's country" and I have to agree, although it's ALL God's country. Just beautiful! Part of Virginia being my favorite state is the fact that I didn't see South Carolina or Georgia in the day time;-) I won't bore you with all the boring details of my trip, I'll just share a few pictures :-)

Oh! I'll share these details because they're NOT boring!!!! The Archer's and the Johns' are AMAZING people!!!! God has surely blessed their churches with caring pastor's and pastors' families! Both families were so incredibly hospitable to us, and I can't thank them enough for the kindness and for welcoming us with open arms. The chuch families of thetwo preachers are AWESOME and the good teaching they've had over the years shows BRIGHTLY. At both churches we were hugged and told how much they appreciated us. I even got the Hispanic kiss on the cheek from one sister. Love you, Becca;-) Just AMAZING!!!

BEAUTIFUL mountains in Virginia!

*Gag* I ate Gator tail!!!! It actually tasted pretty good, but the batter they fried it in was really salty, almost as salt as the ocean, but it made me nauseous thinking about what I was actually eating.

They're gonna just love me for this pic, but my family at Busch Gardens.

This might possibly be the cutest thing I've ever seen!! A baby cheetah was out playing with it's doggie friend, and it was sooooo cute!!! Believe or not, that cheetah was as big, or bigger, than a full grown lab or retriever/hound mix, and the cheetah is 6 months! omw! So cute!!!!

Really cool wall somewhere in one of the Virginias

*Ugh* Dinner from the night before.

Riding down the big hill on the Log Flume. We. Got. DRENCHED!! I was NOT Happy!!!!! lol My hair looked like I stuck my finger in a light socket for the rest of the day. Ugh!=/
He looks so cute and innocent when he's sleeping. Aww!! :-)

The one sleeping looks cute--the one standing by me, however, is VICIOUS looking! They're just UGLY and mean! That one was stalking back and forth just itching to get out and eat the little children that were walking back and forth in front of him.

Bad pic of me, BEAUTIFUL pic of my cousin, Melissa:-) She's 8 months pregnant and absolutely adorable, and so sweet!!! :-) Her and her husband gave us a wonderful breakfast!

Ya'll have no clue how hard it was to get the pic. First we had to get the lighting right, then we had to get the poses right, then we had to get the aim right....oh my! It was a hassle! Did I mention that I had to jump up and push the button, then run back to the couch and act like I'd been sitting there?

Melissa, Jason, and Lucy, and Baby Baldwin :-)

The lighting in this picture is kind of off, but I LOVE it!! These girls are just wonderful! It's Rebecca (the Hispanic who kissed me;]), Jamie Johns, me (duh!) Lucia, and Stephanie Johns, the Johns' daughter-in-law.
Jonathan, Tommy, and Joshua.

Tommy. The guy that's like the gentle giant. That guy is SOOO tall!! Se where my shoulder is?? I had on FOUR INCH HEELS!!! And then the hair is like another 4-5 inches and I'm still shorter!!! lol The average sized guy looks like a midget when I'm in high heels with tall hair;-)

Tommy and Elder Bro. Johns, the "grandpa" of the church. Such a SWEET elder!!! :-)





Stephanie and me---I love her!!!!!

Stephanie and her husband, Bro. Jesse Johns.

Bro. Johns and Daddy after some good food and fellowship!

My mom and Sis. Johns. We learned something neat when we were in Miami. Sis. Johns' sister, Becky, is the one who witnessed to my mom, helped her pray through to the Holy Ghost, and gave her her first Bible study!

Sis. Johns and me! She is easily one of the sweetest people I've ever met! I fell in love with her very quickly. She is a true lady :)

Daddy in Bro. Archer's church. He preached a GREAT message!!!!

Dakota and his new-found friend, Jonathan. I'm glad he had fun!