I don't really have a title for this so. . .

ummm yeah. On Friday of last week the stupid spastisity thing from last spring came back. I've been taking medicine for it since May. But it stopped working. That's bad in case nobody could tell;) So I went about my day with the nice feeling of a dead weight being pressed on my left side all of last Friday. Then on Saturday on my way to Shopko to get refills of Keppra & Baclofen, it happened again. Since then it's kind of a 24/7 thing. I told my mom Saturday and we talked about my options. First off, I don't like any of them. And the options are . . . drop one or more classes this quarter, take next quarter off, take this quarter off. And the winner is. . . drum roll please. . . drop one class this quarter! (cheering) All kidding aside, this totally sucks! I wanted more than anything to be done with YVC by the end of spring quarter. Now I'll be lucky if I'm done by the time summer quarter's over. The reason for all this is because last May my doctor said if this medicine didn't work the best next option would be for me to be stuck in a room for 2-5 days while they monitor my brain activity to see what's actually causing this. It also sucks because now I get to play a rousing game of phone tag with Dr. Vlcek's secretary and evenually get to go to Seattle to see him. (The testing would be at a different date/time after he sees me.) Another option is that he'll put me back on Tegretol which causes ostioprosis in women. So Saturday I was majoring pissed at God. I got over it during the service at church on Sunday. How ironic;) Right about now I wish I could see the reasoning behind his plan. That'd sure be swell. On the upside, the class I dropped had a boy in it that likes me. Don't like him. Enough said. There's always an upside;) So today I told my boss somewhere in the future I'm going to need some time off to go to Seattle and that works out great 'cause she's in the final process of hiring a new daycare attendant that could take my hours. Anyways, prayer would be nice. I was REALLY upset Saturday. All I want is a normal life. I guess I can give it up if God has something better planned :)
PS-if anyone is a little lost about last May and junk go read my post from May 21, 2005 called A History on Me.

Shock

I just got off the phone with Molly Morano. She called to tell me there's a really good chance she might have brain cancer. She goes in for a CAT scan next week which is just to be extra sure. The doctor has already told her about the different treatments she'll be going through. Now I feel bad for always saying and thinking the worst about her. She may be annoying most of the time, but she already had enough medical and family problems. I told her God has a plan. God never gives you more than you can handle is what I should have told her. Anyway, I'm asking for prayer for her. (For those that might not know Molly has been trying to be just like me for the last two years 'cause apparently my life is easier/better than hers. Who knew?)

Hey Anna . . .

This morning I was on my way out of the house to go buy books for class when the phone rang. It was Darren who's an Army recruiter. He asked me to come on down and have an appointment with him to talk over my options with the army. Riiiight. I told him I was NOT interested in being in the army in any way, shape or form. I nicely mentioned that popularity for joining is down 'cause ummmm . . . lets see here. . . how 'bout 'cause there's a war going on?! And he went on to tell me that the media plays it up and makes it worse than it really is. I bit my tongue to stop from pointing out that dead body counts don't lie. It's not like the reporters count the bodies. So he gave me his number to give to all my friends that might want to join up . . . anybody care to take me up on the offer? And then he wished me luck in college and said goodbye. Two seconds later, the phone rang again. Guess who it was? Darren calling to speak to Valerie. After I told him that Val has no interest in joining the army either, he told me to wish her luck and then he asked who was speaking. So he then realized he'd called the same house when I told him Val is my older twin sister. So then I went to school to buy books, find where my speech class is going to be and check to make sure they recieved my transcript from UW. Actually the books didn't cost too much. I got five books for a little over a hundred bucks.
On a different subject, does anyone else think Josh should get a blog? He says computers hate him, but they hate me too. Maybe someone who actually sees him could talk him into it-hint hint Anna, Bonnie.

The Joys of Working with Kids

Yesterday I got to work just in time to help get lunch ready. After lunch I took two year old Devin to go potty before naptime. (We're working on potty trainning him.) Anyway, as he was going potty, he informed me that boys are different than girls. He didn't go into much detail, but I had to bit my lip to keep from laughing! Of course he was being very serious just in case I didn't know that boys are different than girls. I almost told his mom, but I bet he's already told her.

Brian & Laura's Wedding

My cousin Brian and his girlfriend of 4 years and change. The wedding was just like all outdoor weddings. Too much breeze, beautiful view of the Yakima Valley 'cause it was up on Scenic and the cake was Costco cheesecake. Willy Jamieson played in the band along with Ron from my church and Jeff Smith who student taught at WVHS our junior year with Mr. Rees. Yeah, Mr. Smith didn't really remember me. Oh well, his loss. The best parts were seeing Val and Barbie who came home for the wedding and planning our cousin Katie's bridal shower for October 8th. We decided that we're going to do American Idol type entertainment with three judges and of course the participants. As of right now Barbie, Val, Aunt Lucy and myself are the participants and possibly Julie if we can talk her into it. Aunt Nancy will be one of the judges-the slutty one. (I can't remember her name.) Anyway, that'll be fun! Oh and we voted on who's getting married next on my mom's side of the family. (We decided it's a toss up between Val and our cousin Molly. Val says she hasn't been asked and Molly said a forceful no. *shrug*)
Now I'm off to email Anna on the matter of Old Boy so talk to ya all later.

Accidental Discovery

Yesterday on the way home from work I bumped my keys once with my knee and once with my hand and the key slipped out of the ignition! Miracles of miracles, the car kept driving along the rest of the way home without the key. So apparently once I start the car it can drive without keys. Weird. I guess it's pretty handy in a way. *shrug*
Oh and I went to the eye doctor earlier this morning. I'm getting new glasses frames instead of new contacts. I like contacts but sadly they don't like my eyes. *sniff* When I have money to spend I think I'll get laser eye surgery. Maybe by that time it'll be cheaper. I can always hope.

I think this is funny so enjoy!

COWBOY WISDOM-author unknown
Country fences need to be horse high, pig tight, and bull strong.
Life is not about how fast you run, or how high you climb, but how well you bounce. (AMEM)
Keep skunks, lawyers and bankers at a distance.
Life is simpler when you plough around a stump.
A bumblebee is faster than a John Deere tractor.
Words that soak into your ears are wispered, not yelled.
Meanness don't happen overnight.
Forgive your enemies. It messes with their heads.
Don't sell your mule to buy a plough.
Don't corner something meaner than you.
It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.
You can't unsay a cruel thing.
Every path has some puddles.
When you wallow in pigs, expect to get dirty.
The best sermons are lived, not preached.
Most of the stuff people worry about never happens.
Don't squat with your spurs on.
Don't judge people by their relatives.
Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time.
Don't interfere with something that ain't botherin' you none.
Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
It's better to have been a has-been than a never-was.
The easiest way to eat a crow is while it's still warm. The colder it gets, the harder it is to swallow.
If you find yourself in a whole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.
If it don't seem like it's worth the effert, it probably isn't.
It don't take a genius to spot a goat in a flock of sheep.
Sometimes you get and sometimes you get got.
If you get to thinkin' you're a person of influence, try orderin' someone else's dog around.
Don't worry about bitin' off more'n you can chew; your mouth is probably a lot bigger'n you think.
Only cows know why they stampede.
Always drink upstream from a herd.
If you're ridin' ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there with ya.
Good judgement comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgement.
Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in.
You can't tell how good a watermelon is 'till they get thumped.

The Best News in the Entire World!!!!!

I got a job!!!!! I got hired to work at the Chalet Dental Clinic's daycare. Oh yes! I'm soooooooo excited!!!!!! My new employer Roberta said 69 people applied, she interviewed at least a dozen , if not more and she chose me!!!!!! Hahahaha. Can you tell I'm happier than happy? I have trainning next Tuesday morning. *sigh of contentment* It's doubly awesome 'cause I got this job all on my own. The only other job I've ever had was working for my aunt so I didn't even have to be interviewed or anything. As soon as Roberta hung up I tried to call Anna, but her line was busy, so I called Cherize and told her. Heheh. And when I hung up with her and came to post I saw my Grandma walking to my aunt & uncle's house so I ran out and told her. Now I don't have to look for a job anymore! Do you know how happy that makes me? *sigh of relief* I sure hope Julie & Laura get here soon so I can be happy with them. I feel like I'm on cloud nine. Serwiously. Heh.
Happily & Excitedly Sally
PS- VBS is trying my patience this week. I have a group of five Trailseekers (they've been to Orcas) and I have no help. Three six year olds, one 8 year old, and a ten year old. So please pray. I want to show them God, give them love, attention etc, but it's hard with so many at once. Plus the three six year olds are hard to handle.

OH MY GOSH!!!!!

I've never been more scared in my ENTIRE life! First off, I was alone in the house 'cause my parents left on a trip yeserday morning and Julie comes back from a trip this afternoon or night. Last night I went to sleep between 10:45-11PM. I was woken up by the smoke alarm in my room at 3AM. It went of just once so I rolled over to go back to sleep. (The smoke alarm beeps when the batteries need to be replaced and that's what I thought it was.) But as I was trying to go back to sleep I thought about the noise it made and as I realized that it wasn't the same as when the batteries needed to be replaced, it went off again for probably no longer than 30 seconds to a minute, but it felt like a lifetime. So I grabbed my bear George, walked slowly to my bedroom door, felt it-it wasn't hot so I opened it and then promply ran through the house to see if there was any smoke, therefore I was really stupid had there actually been a fire. There was no smoke any where in the house thank God! I stopped in the dinning room and realized my heart was pounding hard enough to beat itself right out of my chest. I was soooo scared! Then I started to cry. I looked out the sliding glass door and saw that my Grandma's bathroom light was on so I called her crying. She answered almost immediatly 'cause who calls at three AM unless it's an emergency? So I put on socks and shoes, grabbed a flashlight and walked over to Grandma's house to spend the night. I don't know if any of you all have been in a real fire, but a fake one is just as scarey!
Gotta go get ready for VBS. Talk to ya later, Sally

Choices to be made

While watching Dr. Phil today I was researching different colleges. It was kinda fun 'cause I can now do it with the knowledge that I'll get to go to one of them in the fall of 2006. Anyways, I discovered that the only public university in Washington that has a good social work program is Eastern. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.) So then I looked at private. PLU has an incredible social work program. Too bad my dad said Val and I can only choose from public schools. If I were him I wouldn't have let Barbie go to Whitworth knowing he had two more daughters to get through college also, but that's another story. . . anyways, they're really expensive, but they said that most students are able to cut the tuition down to $11,000 per year because of the financial aid and scholarships the bulk of students are able to get. Eastern is still my first choice, but I thought that was food for thought. I also was thinking it would be fun to study different religions. That's been on my mind since last Sunday when Anna, Cherize, Kim and I went to Four Square's second service. By the way, where are we going this coming Sunday? How 'bout the Central Luthern next to Four Square? Or a Penecostal(sp) Church? Anyone? If we could get into an LDS church that would be WAY interesting, but my mom said it's probably not a good idea.
PS-Jenn if you read this and wonder what happened to the last post you read, I deleted it 'cause I decided that didn't want the whole world to see that. I was really upset at the time so posted without thinking about the consequences. What if my dad, mom or sisters read it? That would've been horrible. Anyways, I feel much better now and don't really want to talk about it. Now that everyone else is throughly confused, I'll sign off. Talk to ya later.

Anna's Wedding

My cousin Anna. Her wedding dress was beautiful! (Except the strapples part 'cause I'd worry it was going to fall down and not be able to have a good time.) To each their own *shrug* I got to see my Uncle Lee & Aunt Nancy, Jason & his wife Jenny. Jason is way super cute now! He was really interesting looking as a teenager and young adult. He also now has a sense of humor! Who knew? Barbie and I had a good time talking with him. That is a first. No kidding. He made a point of asking me if I had a boyfriend. *shake head at bluntness of family members* And then he told me that some girl told him boys are like parking spaces- all the good ones are taken. You know, I don't necesarily agree; sometimes I can find good parking spots like at Shopko and church. Anyways, it was rather hot at Hieght(sp) Vienyards. Anna & Richard had a woman pastor officate the wedding which was cool except she mispronounced Anna's mom's name. There was dancing which I did none of except the chicken dance. That was fun. I might have had to dance with Cahnen except we ran out of time. Drat the luck! (Sarcasm) The wedding cake was cheesecake. . . .mmmmm. I love cheesecake. Costco makes the best just so everybody knows. (Unless it's homemade of course.)
I started plant sitting on Friday and will be done on Wednesday. She has a nice house. She also has a loud neighbor. This guy stands on his balcony and shouts into his cell. I'm glad he's not my neighbor.
I guess that's all that's been goin' on.

Orcas Island Encampment Project '05

That's the offical name. No one really calls it that. I am tired, sore, bruised, and sick from my week at Orcas. I had an AWESOME time! Jeffrey is such a sweetheart! He's also stubborn as all get out and obstinate at times. So what else is new, right? (All the boys are like that.) On to my adventures on Orcas. On Tuesday we take speed boats to another smaller island near Orcas called Matia Island. The speed boat I was in along with two other mentor/child groups and Greg broke down and we were stranded in the ocean for 20 minutes. It was sooo fun! On Matia we have to go down a cliff via a rope. I HATE that part! I always slide down the cliff. ALWAYS! I was wearing jeans so all I got was dirty and bruised. Then we have to go up a bunch of rocks to get to the tide pools. That was fun. Not. To get out of the tide pool place and back to the trail, you have to climb up the rocks. I got almost to the top and slid back down. Thank God Sam caught me and lowered me to the rocks beneath me. (Sam is Greg's son and was on support staff. Greg is the camp director.) *spacing for a few minutes due to being extremely tired* Anyways, the Yakima charter bus broke down Tuesday night on Orcas and wasn't up and running until Thursday morning when we had to leave Orcas. (Praise the Lord!) Tuesday night it rained cats and dogs so we moved all our outdoor stuff inside.Wednesday we hike around Cascade Lake which is right next to the camp where we stay. Wednesday night all the mentors dress up like clowns for dinner for our clown night. That is my absolute favorite part of camp! This year I looked adorable if I do say so myself. And we have speakers come and talk to the boys around the camp fire after dinner. This year they were two firefighters (indoor & outdoor), a retired Navy Lt, and a Washington State Patrolman. The firefighter let all the boys try on her suit. It was sooo cute! Thursday we went to the zoo. By dinner time most of us mentors were at our breaking point. Good thing Thursday night is mentor's night out. We go to Funtasia for like 4-5 hours. On the way there the Kennewick bus (which all 42 mentors and support staff were in), broke down and started rolling backwards on a hill in the middle of Seattle! *laugh* So we backed into a parking lot and waited for the Yakima bus to come get us. Friday we got dropped off at the monorail which we road to the space needle and then walked to the science center. It's pretty funny that I'd never been to any of those places including the zoo until I became a mentor 4 years ago. On way back to Yakima Jeffrey slept 'cause he was tired and he gets bus sick, so I got to sleep too. (That's good 'cause my voice was almost gone.) When we got back to 1st Pres Julie was there to pick me up and Jeffrey's dad was there to pick him up. (He actually wanted to take Jeffrey before the closing ceremony, but Greg said no although Jeffrey's dad told me Greg said he could.)
So today I'm going to do nothing except call the lady I'm going to be plant sitting for and wait for my parents to come home from Vermont. I know you called while I was on Orcas Bonnie. I'll call you when I have more of a voice. Or perhaps tomorrow since that's your 20th birthday and all. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Talk to yall later. (When I have a voice, ya know?)

What, no STOP sign?

This morning as Val and I were on our way to the gym to workout, we noticed a severe lacking of a STOP sign at the intersection of Meadowbrook and 79th. We saw it in the ditch. The metal was bent so that it looked as if it were in lots of pain and the actual sign was mangled and had black sploches on it. Who runs into a STOP sign? I mean, really? (Taking out the drunk people of course.)
In other more interesting news, this afternoon I went to go see Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Good movie! Action and comedy. I'm not usually an action kinda girl 'cause it brings on hand cluching and nail biting. But it was good. I recomend it. Granted it does have lots of people getting shot and dying, but they're all bad guys just like in the disney movies. (That makes it okay in my book.) There's car chases, which are always entertaining, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith try to kill each other at one point and in the process demolish their house. (And it was such a nice house too!)

Summer is Offically Here!!!!!

I just finished my last final!!!!! (*victory dance*) I'm sooo happy! No more something, no more books, no more teachers dirty looks! Okay that's so 5th grade and I don't even know all of it, but that's okay 'cause I'm done until next September! I'm kind of mad at my self 'cause it was a math final and I forgot a few important items that messed up like three-five of the questions for sure. Then you have to add in the stupid mistakes everyone ALWAYS makes. *sigh*
But it's okay 'cause now I get to look forward to 10:30 this morning! I'm meeting a fellow mentor & friend at Craft Warehouse where we will be getting paints, iron ons etc to put on tshirts for the opening ceremony for Orcas! It'll be tons of fun 'cause we're going to my house to put them together so we'll get to hang out!
And there's more to look forward to! On Thursday night Anna, Kimmie and Cherizey are coming to my house so we can make dinner like we did a few weeks ago at Anna's house. (This time I WILL NOT be embarrassed by Anna's mom!) So ha! I forget exactly what main dish we're making, but it's Italian so yeah! And I've never had homemade cream puffs, so we're making those too! Cherize you need to bring your musica 'cause you have better and more stuff than me and someone could bring Anastsia for me to borrow if they felt so inclined.
On the down side, I still am looking for a job. I HATE job hunting! It really sucks! But if I have no job I will be bored out of my mind this summer! Plus I won't make any money. But really it's just the bored part. Id like to work at a daycare 'cause I have experience with kids and I have the CPR cards etc that you need plus I'm pretty sure I'd suck at anything retail so they'd fire me IF I got the job in the first place. (I think I called the daycare near your house yesterday Anna and they aren't hiring.) I'll look tonight or tomorrow. I think I've called about half the daycares in Yakima as of now. So prayer that I could find a job would be totally awesome.

Summer is almost here!

Okay, today I started the day out right by my mom getting mad at me! It was sooo dumb! My sis Julie took her car to get fixed at our mechanic Cam's place yesterday. So she needed a ride to and from work today. I learned all of this a half hour before I needed to leave for school. Oh and did I mention I was suppose to give her a ride? Yeah. My parents are just great like that. So I told my dad I was NOT going to take Julie to work 'cause we had seminar in history and I wanted to be early to go over the notes with my fellow classmates. My dad was okay with this since I'd just found out, but my mom was pissed. Like it was my fault that she now had to take Julie to work therefore disrupting her morning schedule. (Julie messes up everyone's schedule 'cause she DOES NOT know how to be on time!) Whatever.
Anyways, I turned in a job app at La Petite Childcare Center this morning. They are hiring sooo cross your fingers!
In other news we have a psych test tomorrow. Our last until our final on Tuesday. So Anna I don't have a final on Monday. Do you? If not we could study for psych huh? We could invite Stover too. Your house, my house. I don't really care Banana girl.
Oh and my cousin Ellie mgot engaged on Moday night!!!! It was sooo cute. Her boyfriend Corey took her on a picinic and asked her to stand up. She asked him if there was a bug on her. You might think that was a strange reaction, but about a year ago he took her on a picinic and she thought he was going to propose, but alas, she had a bug on her. This time he proposed. So as her sis Anna said "They've come full circle." (Anna's getting married next month.) As all the aunts and uncles said Monday night, they're dropping like flies, they're all getting married-remember when we got married?, they grow up so fast etc etc.
Hungry for lunch so see ya slater!

Sweet Freedom

You are reading the blog of a girl who got to start driving again as of this past Monday! It was two months exactly since I last drove. How crazy is that? I got to be early to class for the first time in two months all this week! (Okay, I have a werid need to be early/on time every where I go.) In my personal opinion if you're always late it's because you think you're more important than anything/anybody else that you hold up by being late.
In other news, I had my history final this morning even though we still have another week of class before finals. We have a few things left to do, so I have two more days of history next week. Yea! (I've decided that 7:30 is too early for a class unless you absolutley need one to fill a requirement that's only offered that early.) I really like the teacher for this class, but I hate hate hate his tests! If it weren't for his dumb tests I'd have an A. Oh well.
Lets see. . . tomorrow I'm going shopping for toys to entertain Jeff for the 7 hour bus ride to Anacortas. That's always fun. . . dollar tree here I come! I also need to get a plain white tshirt for the opening ceremony to put a spidercrab on with Kim.
My class schedule for next year is algebra at 8:30, history 9:30, speech 10:30 and choir at 11:30. (Don't worry Anna it's only MWF so I'll be able to go to intervarsity worship.)
Yep, that's all folks. Talk to ya later.

A History on Me

As some of you know I went to my doctor in Seattle yesterday afternoon. In order for what he told me to make sense to you, lets go back more than nineteen years. My mom was pregnant with one baby; or so she thought. I was a suprise. Anyways, the baby my parents didn't know they were having had a stroke. Now we all know what strokes do to old people right? You got the trouble with talking, walking and moving usually only one side of their body. Well, if you have one as a baby they call it cerebral palsy. I have a mild form. There are some people that I've met who have CP who can't walk, talk etc. My left hand and arm are pretty much useless. They just hang around. Heh. That sounds funny. I walked with a really bad limp in my left leg until I was nine and had surgery. (My left arm and leg didn't grow as much as they should've so I was lopsided.) I still walk a little funny, but not enough so that people make fun of. (That's a plus.) Heh. About the end of fifth grade I started having what I would learn in about a year to be seizures. I went to every freaking doctor in Yakima and nobody knew anything. (My mom evenually asked a doctor from West Pres if he could recommend someone. The guy he recommened didn't have room for another patient so he recommended me to Dr. Vlcek.) Dr. Vlcek is a neuraligist. He told my parents I was having seizures. Then he told us the bad news: most people with CP get these seizures when they're three and they go away by the time you enter kindergarden. If you get them after age three, you'll most likely have seizures for the rest of your life. He put me on Tegretol. I was on that until July between junior and senior year of high school except for a brief time sophomore year of high school, but that came to a screeching halt when I had a seizure three days before my sixteenth birthday. (Margarete & Stover were with me. We were walking dogs for the Humane Society. The one time I've ever been in an ambulance and I couldn't even enjoy it. Sad.) Anyways, Dr. V. told us that Tegretol causes a loss of bone density in women. Joy. So he switched me to Keppra which does not cause bone density loss. Everything was fine until this past March when I had a mini seizure while running errands during spring break. So I said goodbye to driving and hello to increased Keppra. Alas, the seizures were still hangin' around. That brings us to the present. I told Dr. V. about the seizures I was having, but he doesn't think they're seizures. He thinks I'm having spasticicity so say hello to Baclofen. Yes folks I get to add another medication. Joy. Just what I always wanted. Spasticicity is this tightness in my left leg and arm that come around in my arm especially 'cause it doesn't get used. Most people or all people? don't know they whole story. I enjoy that fact 'cause if people know somethings different about you, they tend to treat you different. The old saying "make fun of what you're scared of or don't understand." Or maybe that's just my saying. *shrug*
All I have to say is God must have an awesome plan for my life 'cause what teenager would like any of the above?
PS- who comes up with these names of medications? Where do you get tegretol, keppra and baclofen? I mean, come on.

I'm getting excited!

Last night was the meeting with the whole Yakima team for Orcas. My pod (pod 'cause that's what orcas travel in), is made up of two women teachers, five girl mentors and two guy mentors. None of you guys know then except Anna and Cherize know two of them. Molly and Kim. Yes, you read right, Molly is in my pod. But it's okay 'cause the purpose of my going to Orcas has nothing to do with Molly. Maybe if I keep telling myself that. . . no it really is okay. It's just that as I discovered last summer, she pays more attention to me and my boy than her boy. That's bad. Plus she talks about her past boys in front of her new boy. She's talking to me or someone else, but he's right there so he hears which is not good. I need to talk to her about that. . . and now I'm ranbling. Anyways, my little boy for this summer is Jeffrey Martinez. I know his dad is white, his mom is mexican, he goes to Adams Elementary and he always looks like he lost his best friend. I will need to call the teachers of my pod to find out more so I can get age appropriate toys. The good news is that in comparing Jeff to last summer's Sergio, he'll be easier. *heave sigh of relief* We leave on June 20th and come back on the 24th. It's almost a month away! If only we could skip to the 17th of June. Then school would be over. (That's an added bonus.) But the 17th is when we puffy paint the blue sweatshirts for the boys. It's really fun! That's on Friday. The following Sunday we have commitioning at 1st Pres at 9:30AM instead of the usual 8:ooAM! Hooray for sleeping in! Then it's back to 1st Pres by 2:30PM to meet the 21 mentors, six teachers, the other director and assorted suppost staff from Kennewick. This year we're going to have a clown's communion. Does anyone know how that is different from a regular communion? I guess I'll find out in a month, but I'm curious. Then we get blabbed at for a while, eat dinner and have the opening ceremony where we get to meet our boys!!! My pod is the spider crab so we need to have a spider crab on us somewhere. Kim and I are going to make shirts. (That way we can wear them after Orcas is over.)
On a side note today I reread a book I'm going to recommend to all girls that read my blog. It's called forsuchatimeisthis by Lisa Ryan. I will lend it to anyone. It's a book about how to be a modern day Esther. (That's why no boys will be interested unless you want to be a modern day Esther too.)

Good Times in SpokaVegas

Today was Barbie's graduation from Whitworth. Dad, Julie, Laura and myself drove down this morning. Mom and Grandma went on Friday afternoon. We met at a restaurant across the street from Shari's 'cause it was packed. (I don't remember the name of it.) Anyways, I finally got to meet Barbie's boyfriend Jordan! He is sooo nice! Not to mention a Christian, super cute, very intelligent, with an awesome sense of humor! He was totally making major fun of Laura! It was only the second time he'd met her. During lunch I got to talk to Jordan 'cause he sat across from me. (I had to make sure he's good enough for my sister.) And before the graduation ceremony I got to talk with him some more. He's a werido! He enjoys disecting human cadavers. He does evenually want to be a surgeon, but still. . .Yuck!!! *shudder* So I'm not going to go to another graduation ever unless Valerie begs me 'cause they are seriously borrrring! But Whitworth does do something cool. They decorate their hats with something that relates to their major. Barbie had a double helix 'cause she majored in biology. The psych majors had fake rats on the hats, one religion major had a bobble head Jesus glued to the top, and the nursing majors all had those nurse hats made from paper.
Off to bed, Sally

The Best Five Days of the Year Hands Down

As I was laying awake last night from 10PM-12ishAM, I thought about what I'm going to post about now. As most of you all know, for the past three summers I've been a mentor at Orcas Island Encampment. This is a camp for underprivileged boys age six through nine.This camp is what made my decision to go into social work. The boys that come to this camp come from really crappy homes. If they have a dad, he's not the ideal role model. Their moms usually work more than one job so these boys fend for themselves and their siblings most of the time. These boys have been let down by the people who are suppose to love, provide and protect them. By the time I meet the little boy who I'll be a mentor to, he doesn't trust or love easily. You spend the first two and a half to three days of camp earning their trust. But it is sooo worth it! When you see them smile at you, when they grab your hand to drag you to see something "cool", in their laughter, in the way they beg for a piggyback ride. When you first meet them you having an overwhelming desire to take them home with you. They for the most part have big brown eyes, miscevious smiles that show a missing tooth or two, soft black hair, more energy than you thought could be in one boy, and a stubborn disposition. Most will do whatever it takes to push you away or make you cry. They've been hurt, therefore they will hurt you before you can hurt them. By the end of the five days they won't let you out of their sight. They cry when they find out we're going home. They tell you they hate you. But it's only because they've had an awesome time in "heaven" and now have to go home to "hell". (Not my words. My second summer, Pablo told me that.) My three boy are Chris age 11 now, Pablo age 10 now, and Sergio age 7 now. I get to see Pablo every once in a while. He still greets me with a hug hard enough to knock me over. I saw Chris last summer. His smile got extra wide and his words tripped over each other as he told me about school, his friends, his mom, sister and everything else under the sun. Sergio I got to see on a regular basis until his family moved. He is a very stubborn and willful boy, but he listened to me. My point is that I made an impact on their lives in some small way and changed it for the better. The best part is that this camp is funded through 1st Pres and West Pres so we get the joy of telling them about Jesus. As the directors say, we plant the seed. Someday they'll remember and want to know more. My dream is to start a camp just like this for little girls. Someday it'll happen.