Here With Me

photography blog

2009-10-08T17:27:00.001-07:00

check it out!

http://shainarachellephotography.blogspot.com/

random

2009-09-28T13:01:00.000-07:00

school has gotten a lot better since the last time i posted. i mean, i still don't think high school is all it's cracked up to be but it's still better than middle school so i'm happy. i've finally made some new friends (well, aquaintences) so that makes my days go by much faster which i am very thankful for.

i was sick today so i didn't go to school which means i'm going to have lots of make up work when i go back. yay! i'm just hoping i get better soon. i started feeling bad yesterday and janel texted me and said she had the flu... so now i'm kind of worried. pray it's not the flu.

church is still pretty good. i actually look forward to going and it makes me so happy. :) right now we are going through a series called 40 days of prayer. basically, for the next 7 weeks we are focusing on praying and strengthening our relationship with God. it's really cool. Valarie, the lady that is teaching the girls in the youth group, has encouraged us to do a media fast for these 40 days. i was all about it when she first suggested it but it's a lot harder than you would think. i did well for the first couple days and then it went down hill from there. i think we've been doing it for about 2 weeks now (although it seems like 2 months). i just got on facebook for the first time yesterday. i'm going to start getting back on but only one day a week. i've done well with not watching tv. i think i've only watched it once and that's because i was at someone elses house and i wasn't going to tell them to turn their tv off. anyhow, maybe i have failed in other peoples' minds but in my opinion i have done well. any amount of time of fasting is a success. i wish i could do better but i'm not beating myself up about it. i don't think the point is to make yourself feel bad.

well, i guess that's about it. sorry for the randomness. i always forget to post and when i remember i have nothing interesting to talk about.

oh yeah, i'm working on making a photography blog too so that's kind of exciting... for me at least. i probably won't have anything up till this weekend. caroline is coming over and i think we are going to have a photo shoot! yay for friends that let you take pictures of them!

9th grade sucks - part 1 :)

2009-08-26T19:43:00.000-07:00

i have returned! i am really disappointed in myself for not posting in the last few months but oh well, no time to dwell on it. i should totally be in bed right now. the only reason i am up writing is because i just started high school yesterday and so i have lots of new and interesting stories to tell and my head won't shut up about them.

so, high school. what can i say? it really isn't that great. i mean, not bad, but not that great either. boring would probably be the best word to describe it. or interesting. or both.

yesterday i woke up already dreading the day ahead. i got ready, and headed to the bus stop where there were 2 girls. in my mind i was thinking, thank goodness, i won't have to get on alone. and then they started holding hands.... and not the way i hold hands with my friends when they're going through a hard time or something. oh no. this was like WEIRD holding hands, if you get my drift. awkward...
i asked emily to keep texting me until she got to school so i had something to do besides watch them hold hands. and she did. bless her. i've never been so happy to stare at a phone before.

i made it through the bus ride. luckily i got to sit beside a guy who didn't talk so that was cool.

i managed to make it through 3 classes without getting lost and then it happened. i couldn't find trailer 27. (keep in mind we have like 11 buildings and 4 trailers at east. no joke) i almost had a heart attack but i collected my thoughts and just made myself ask i random person walking by. and guess what? he didn't act like i was stupid or anything. he was actually extremely nice about it. he even walked me to the building!

later on i ran into someone, a giant someone of course, and he didn't kill me. he just kept on walkin'. and i was perfectly ok with that.

nothing too exciting happened the rest of the day.

today was also interesting. Gabe, a 4th grader who lives in our neighborhood, was sitting at my bus stop so i decided to sit with him instead of the girl that had been there the day before. it was much less awkward. then the bus came and i ended up sitting with the same guy as yesterday because of course there are never any seats available, except beside him. then i started wondering WHY the only seats available are beside him and got a little scared...

the rest of the day was extremely boring. i have english for 2 hours. it's terrible. longest 2 hours of my life. what really sucks is i don't have any friends in that class to make it any less boring either. during that time i got called to the office and got lost and had to walk all the way back across campus. i didn't care though. it was taking up time that i could be in english so i was happy. :) when i made it to the office they told me they were switching me to a less crowded bus which was really relieving. now i never have to know why there are available seats next to that guy.

the new bus was wayy better, except for the guy that cussed out the bus driver first thing, but whatever. you learn to ignore those things, and apparently so did the bus driver because he didn't say a word. there were only about 15 people so we pretty much all got a seat to ourselves. it was fantastic. oh yeah, while i was waiting for the bus to leave school i got to see a make-out session. it was pretty freaking gross. really people, keep your tongues to yourselves. nobody wants to see that mess.

sorry if that was really boring. i'm not in the best writing mood but i'm hoping my mind will be quiet and let me rest now.

ugh, i forgot i had to write a positive. why did i even make that rule???
alright, here it is : i have lunch with emily and janel and it is wonderful! definitely my favorite part of the day.

money for debra

2009-06-13T05:48:00.000-07:00

i just read katie's comment on the last post and realized i never told how much money i raised! i thought it would be more than this but i think it was $47 (or somewhere around there). i definitely raised the most though. the person that raised the most after me raised $22. anyhow, i was happy... even if it's not a whole lot of money.

also, i haven't been updating much lately because our computer is kind of freaking out these days. it freezes every time i try to post pictures or sometimes it just does it randomly. i'm gonna try and defrag it though (amy's suggestion) and see if that helps. i just really hate doing post without pictures, but i'll try and get some up soon.

best day

2009-05-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

yesterday was pretty much the best day of school this year. for once i ended the day with a smile instead of a headache. *gasp*

we are having EOGs this week which is making the week better. it means that we spend half the day doing test (which personally i think is better than learning) , go to lunch, and then pretty much goof off the rest of the day. for the first 2 days we also got to stay with homeroom all day which is where lots of my friends are so that was pretty cool.

to explain why my day was so good though i'll have to back up to a few weeks ago. in language arts we had a huge research project on world problems. we could pick whatever topic we wanted as long as we could make it into a thesis. i really wanted to do something that actually affected me in some way so of course the first thing i thought of was jonah and EB. the hard part was turning it into a thesis but i thought of a pretty good one; Most people are unaware of Epidermolysis Bullosa and because of that funding isn't going towards research and that is why there is no cure. i thought it was pretty good because it's true. so true. after doing research and writing my essay i had to make a powerpoint and make a 2-3 minute speech to my class. i would say it went pretty well. i've found that its much easier to make a speech when you actually know what the heck you're talking about. apparently the class thought it was pretty good too because last week they voted for me and 3 others in my class to present it in front of the whole team (that's about 100 kids!). i was scared out of my mind but i wanted to do it. especially when ms. long said that at the end each kid got a "charity buck" and got to choose which charity they wanted to give it to. then the teachers were going to tally up the charity bucks for each charity and donate the real amount of money to each one. i knew i had to do it, for jonah and weston and all the other EB kids.

ok, back to now. well, yesterday. whatever. after lunch we went straight to the media center to listen to everyone's presentations. there were 10 kids in all making presentations (a few from each LA class). i was so nervous but once i got up there it was fine. at first i was stuttering around and a little shaky but i relaxed and it went smoothly. i basically just explained everything on my powerpoint, showed off pictures of jonah and weston, and then told them about my charity (debra). after everyone presented it was time to drop off the charity bucks into whatever shoebox they wanted and head out.

here's the cool part. i needed a bigger shoebox to fit all the charity bucks people were stuffing in there! seriously, my teacher said kids were having trouble fitting them all in there. how cool is that!? i can't wait to find out how much money was raised for debra!

oh yeah, another awesome thing is that after my presentation one of the teachers from my school, ms. tincher, called me over in private. it kinda scared me cause i never talk to her so i wasn't really sure what was going on, but of course it was nothing bad. quite the opposite actually. she handed me a $100 check to give patrice and matt for jonah's medical expenses! "give this to your sister to use for jonah's medical supplies. it's not much but...." um what!? not much? silly silly lady. it was plenty and such a wonderful thing for her to do! i was really amazed and so appreciative. God really shines through some people. after presentations it was time to go home and i had a smile on my face the whole way there.

so there you have it, the best day ever.

gabe's first birthday

2009-04-22T12:06:00.000-07:00

for weeks i have been trying to think of what i was going to write on my blog for gabe's birthday. i wanted to make it something special... something that would honor gabe and show how amazing he is. but i have nothing. i'm not good with words like patrice is. i can't describe my feelings in writing, or at least not the ones i have right now.

all i can really say is that i miss gabe. i miss him like crazy. every day i think about him and long for the day i get to see him again and tell him i love him. i want to tell him how much he means to me and make up for all the hugs we missed out on. that day will come eventually. i just have to be patient. for now i will just hold on to the happy memories i have and try to forget the sad ones.

i wanted to make a post way better than this one but i know that gabe doesn't care. he knows how much i love him and that's all that matters. it doesn't have to be written down to be true.

happy first birthday gabe. i love you.

8th grade sucks - volume 8

2009-04-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

shortly after jonah was born sarah bought all the girls in our family necklaces from a foundation that makes jewelry and gives ALL of the proceeds to EB research. pretty cool, huh? well, i always always wear mine except for when i take a shower. it makes me feel closer to jonah when i can't be with him.

today in math class a boy that sits at my table told me i should get a new necklace, i guess because he's noticed i wear the same one all the time. i said no, that is was special and it meant a lot to me. then he told me i should get one that was cooler in a disgusted tone that basically meant that my EB necklace was ugly (which it's totally not!). then i told him to shut up ( i don't play when it comes to EB... or jonah... or what i'm wearing). another girl stuck up for me and told him to leave me alone because she actually knew what the necklace was. then he got really mad and said he was tired of females telling him to shut up.

i didn't say anything because i was mad and sad and figured that whatever would come out of my mouth i would later regret saying. if i HAD of said something though, it would gone a little bit like this. I'M tired of insensible, immature jerks like you who don't give a crap about anyone's feelings. then i would have told him to grow up. (and yes, that was actually the nice version of what went through my head).

i could of also gone through the list of other things i'm tired of.

sadness

death

pain

crying

sadness

hospitals

blisters

aquaphor

sadness

bandages

people not understanding

and sadness (did i already mention that one?)

it could keep going but its about time for me to go to bed. and the point of this post is not to name all the things i'm tired of.

i admit, maybe saying shut up wasn't the best way to handle things, but he shouldn't have said what he said either. i guess there is a lot of things we all do that we shouldn't. i have forgiven him. why should i waste my time worrying about what he thinks? him saying that has not affected me in anyway except for making me angry (for that moment) and making me want to show my necklace off even more. i will keep wearing it and i'll keep being proud of it and i'll keep being proud of jonah.

my positive of the day: that same boy got in trouble today for wearing an inappropriate shirt and was embarrassed in front of the whole class about it. so HA!
ok ok, maybe i'm still a little mad... or maybe i'm just glad he got in trouble. either way...

jonah's first easter

2009-04-12T16:07:00.000-07:00

happy easter jonut!

unfortunately jonah is spending his first easter in the hospital. before this happened me and mom had plans of taking eggs to patrice and matt's house and dying easter eggs with jonah and wearing bunny ears and taking pictures and having a fun time celebrating jonah's first easter. its hard to not get sad when you think about it, but i am trying so hard to be positive. jonah could be doing much much worse than he is right now and i am so thankful that he's doing so well. in a way i am glad he's in the hospital where he is safer and in the hands of doctors. and honestly, i wasn't surprised when i found out he was in the hospital. i had been preparing myself for it just in case. i guess its a good thing i did. and now i am preparing myself for lots of (gentle) hugs and (gentle) kisses when he comes home again. pray that this will be soon and that he keeps improving. i am eager to find out what's going on in his little body. hopefully it is nothing too serious. whatever it is, God will give jonah the strength to get through it.

oh, and i WAS going to post a really scary picture that i took yesterday of Patrice attacking a chocolate bunny but i decided not to do that. i figure she sorta has a lot going on and that i should be nice. you can thank jonah for that trice. ;)

back from DC

2009-03-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

i am back from Washington DC. actually, i have been back for 3 days, i just haven't had time to post yet. i've been too busy posting my tons of pictures on facebook. it took part of saturday night and all of yesterday but i'm done!

DC was awesome!!! we arrived there at about 10:30 on tuesday night and got our room assignments. i was with emily, cathy and angela which rocked! i was SO scared i was going to be with someone annoying or mean or someone who might steal my stuff, but not at all.

the rest of the week was pretty much all the same. wake up, eat breakfast, load bus, drive to DC (we weren't actually staying in DC), go to lots of museums and memorials, walk, eat lunch, walk, go to more museums and memorials, eat dinner, walk, go to MORE museums and memorials, load bus, ride to hotel, take shower, and crash. it was very busy but totally worth it.

i don't remember half the places we went or in what order we went to them so i'll just say what i remember. my favorite things we went to were the Arlington cemetery, the holocaust museum, and the world war II memorial. they were all amazing. the Arlington cemetery and holocaust museum were both so cool but in a sad, depressing sort of way.

the Arlington cemetery is just thousands and thousands of graves of former soldiers stretching on and on and on. i was really looking forward to seeing the tomb of the unknown soldier and the changing of the guard but after we walked all the way there they made us turn around. for some reason we couldn't go at the time and we couldn't come back because we had other memorials to see. it was disappointing but at least it gave us more time to look at other graves and things.

the holocaust museum was.... wow. there aren't even really words to explain it. unfortunately we were in a rush when we went and didn't get to read a lot of the things there but we still got the same effect. what was most amazing to me is that there were actually possessions of the holocaust victims in the museum, like shoes. there were so many shoes. there were also hair brushes and tools and clothes and all sorts of other things. another interesting/sad/cool thing there was a model of the process of getting gassed. it was hard to see but it really made you understand more. the whole museum did that.

other things we saw were the Vietnam veterans memorial, the Korean war memorial, the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials, iwo jima, the capitol building, like 5 museums, and a quick walk past the white house. we also saw Obama's car go by which was really cool!

here are some pictures of all those things.

capitol building....

Korean war memorial...

lincoln memorial...

Vietnam veterans memorial...

jefferson memorial...

white house...

world war II memorial...

arlington cemetery...

iwo jima... (this is probably my favorite picture of the week)

pretty cool places, huh? here are some pretty cool people too...

i'm so glad i got to hang out in Washington DC for 3 whole days with these awesome people. it was wonderful. :)

almost time for DC

2009-03-24T04:52:00.000-07:00

today the 8th grade is going on a field trip to Washington DC!!! i am so excited but really dreading being away from jonah and everyone else. we aren't coming back until friday night. last night i told jonah he had to be really good while i was gone so i didn't have to worry about him. lets hope he listened. its gonna kill me to not know what's going on throughout the day. i will call mom to get an update at night when we are in our hotel rooms. that is the only time we are allowed to use our cell phones. i am also going to be worrying about baby stellan while i'm gone. he is having a very rough time so please pray for him. mycharmingkids.net.
i gotta admit.... i'm going to miss the computer while i'm gone. but i'm pretty sure i'll be having too much fun to really care. we are going to see tons of memorials and some museums and things like that. we are also going to have a dance on a ship tomorrow which will be really cool. please pray for our safety to and from DC. its a 5 hour bus ride. kinda dreading that part but i am hoping to sleep the whole time, if my brace allows it.
well...that's pretty much all for now! i just have to get through the school day and then its off to Washington DC!

this is the song i made up when i was little when peyton and amy lived in DC,

on the road again, til we come
to DC Washington.
we will have lots of fun!
when we come to Washintonnnnnn.

(you can't really gut the full effects by just reading it but whatever. just imagine me being little and cute and singing it with much enthusiasm). :)

a not so crappy day

2009-03-19T17:15:00.000-07:00

for once i am going to write about school...but not in an 8th grade sucks post! hooray! i never thought the day would come. but here it is!

all this week we have been having end of quarter test which i actually kind of like because that means we don't have so sit through most of our boring classes and we don't have homework! Monday and Tuesday (we had a field trip Wednesday) we just took our test and then went to 2 of our core classes and did regular work but today we just goofed off the whole day. it was awesome! i stayed with my home base all day and pretty much did nothing. we took our integrated math test which was very hard (now this was a bit crappy) and then played games, watched tom and huck, played more games, and went outside. it was really fun! then we had lunch and went to our encores and pretty much did nothing there too. i had gym but we didn't have to dress out and we went outside. as long as we were being active we could do whatever we wanted so i just walked the track and talked to friends most of the time. i would have been playing soccer but we only had one ball and all the really good people were playing with it and i didn't want to play with them. i would just make myself look like an idiot. so anyhow, gym was kind of boring but i would rather it be boring then be inside playing stupid games that make you collide with stupid boys. refer back to 8th grade sucks-volume 1. jeez...i am STILL embarrassed about that. moving on...
in art we are working on self portraits so our teacher just showed us ways that we could paint them and that was all. then we went home! :) hooray!

i was VERY thankful for a good day. i really needed one. i was very worried about jonah yesterday (it was just one of those days...) and i was afraid today was going to be the same way. thankfully it wasn't though. of course i am always thinking about him and worrying about him to some extent but that is reasonable i think. i am just so stinking proud of him. he's so tough. i am ALWAYS bragging about him. i'm sure it annoys some people but i don't care. they can deal with it. :) i haven't heard any news on how jonah is doing today but i am hoping that God blessed us both with a good day. keep praying.

the power of prayer

2009-03-16T16:20:00.000-07:00

i'm sure everyone has already seen the post on patrice's blog about jonah's perfect day but i just wanted to do one too and say how perfect it was for me too. there are no words to express how wonderful it feels to look at your sweet little nephew and know that prayers are being sent out for him all around the world and even more wonderful to know that God is actually answering them. there aren't enough thank yous in the world to show how thankful i am for everyone's prayers. i think yesterday gave so much hope to all of us that jonah may be okay. i have tried to keep an open mind throughout all of this and tell myself that he WILL be okay and that he is going to live for a very very long time just to keep myself from going crazy but it really helps to actually SEE that. i hope every day is as good as yesterday but if not, at least we know for sure that one day jonah was pain free and happy. every day like that is such a huge blessing for us and jonah. it was so much easier going to school today knowing that days like yesterday are possible. please pray for more days like yesterday (i know, i didn't even have to say that).

this morning i printed out a couple pictures of jonah and took them to school to brag about jonah and how i got to hold him. i showed them to one of the ladies that helps out in my science class and explained to her jonah's situation.

"this is my nephew jonah. he has a skin disease called EB."

"oh. i've never heard of the before. is it rare?"

"yes, very rare".

"well i'll be praying for him. does your sister believe in the power of prayer?"

(i laugh to myself) "OH YEAH." then i tell her how there has been this huge prayer movement for jonah and how awesome it is.

"is there a cure?"

"no"

"well, God can do anything."

and that was the last thing she said. i'm glad too. it was a good thought to be left with.

in love

2009-03-14T20:04:00.000-07:00

i have to admit. i'm totally in love with this little guy named jonah. he is SO cute. he didn't really know i existed before....

but now he does!

he'll always hold a special place in my heart. forever and ever. i love you jonah.

a very tacky aunt

2009-03-11T17:41:00.001-07:00

i saw jonah yesterday and he looks so good! his face is looking awesome except for the blister left by the tape but still... he looks so much better then when i last saw him. it amazes me the differences that happen in between my visits. i see him about every 3 or 4 days, although it feels like 3 or 4 weeks to me. when i first came in he kind of opened his eyes. it made me happy because it was the first time i had seen them open at all. it was really just a flutter but i'm pretty sure he saw me which is good. i don't want him to wake up when he's 2 months old and not recognize his aunt....even though i'm pretty sure babies don't really recognize anyone at that age. but maybe. i don't really know. i got to see patrice hold him and saw him suck on his bottle for about 30 seconds. it was really cute.

please keep praying for matt while he's dealing with a virus. he is not getting to visit jonah and i know that has to be hard. so yeah... just pray that he gets better very very quickly and that he gets to see jonah soon.

on a totally different note, yesterday was tacky day at school, and i was actually brave enough to dress up for it! and i mean REALLY dress up for it. this is really big for me. i'm not really the out going type. it was kind of scary because when i first walked into school i didn't see ANYONE dressed up and all the horrors of "what if i got my days mixed up?!" went through my mind. but it was all good. it WAS tacky day, just not many people dressed up. this surprised me. i thought everyone would dress up for tacky day, but apparently middle schoolers have to look perfect and popular and can never have any fun. i didn't get the memo.

at least there were a few other girls that looked worse than i did. it made me feel a little less stupid....

my hair was my favorite part. i have the perfect tacky day hair.

i didn't want to scare jonah so i unbraided my hair, took off my ugly blue orchestra shirt, my plaid pants, and removed my different colored eye shadows. i thought this look was much more fitting for an aunt.

hope you enjoy this post being that it took me 2 days to get it up here.
so much to do, so little time.

an awesome hospital party

2009-03-08T14:43:00.000-07:00

i was right, i AM exhausted. i don't even really feel like blogging right now but i'm trying to avoid homework and this is the best way to do it since it takes forever. plus...i have to tell about my birthday party.

well, first off i would just like to say that it was the coolest hospital birthday party ever! i seriously wanna have my birthday there next year too, but i DO NOT want anyone to be in the hospital. i just wanna go back for fun.

it was supposed to be a joint party for me and ainsley but her and asher and peyton were all sick so they didn't get to come. :( i am sooo tired of everyone being sick. julia was supposed to come over this weekend too but didn't because she got sick. but i'm getting off topic here....

the party was really fun! sarah decorated and amy made a cake and mom bought pizza and it was just awesome. some of our family and some of matt's family and some friends were all there. we just ate and talked and stuff but it was good. i got some very good presents too! i got a backpack camera case so now i can ride my bike and take my camera with me! i also got a jason mraz cd, a taylor swift karaoke cd, an itunes gift card, a shirt, and lots of money! it was very exciting.

here i am with winston-salem behind me...

jonah also had a good day yesterday which was fabulous. patrice and matt got to hold him! it was a very happy moment, as you can see by the pictures on patrice's blog. i can't wait til i see him again. i should really be thankful (which i am) but it is still aggravating to only be able to see him twice a week. i am lucky for that though.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AINSLEY (aka...cutest/silliest/prettiest/awesomest 2 year old ever)!!!

you make me smile :)

night night

2009-03-07T20:24:00.000-08:00

you know what i hate? ...time change and stupid computers. i am going to be exhausted in the morning and our computer is being majorly slow so I'm just gonna post about my birthday-ness tomorrow. goodnight.

weeks and years

2009-03-06T21:08:00.000-08:00

well, today was my first day of being 14. its pretty much the same as being 13...not that exciting. it mostly just makes me feel old, which im not really sure how i feel about. honestly, im really not concerned with how old i am right now. it makes me happy that jonah is 1 week old today more than it does that im 14 today. i am grateful for every hour, every day, and every week he is here with us. i just hope that one day jonah will be celebrating his 14th birthday too and that i will be right there celebrating it with him. it makes me very sad when i think about gabe not having that. he was supposed to have lots of birthdays and spend lots of birthdays with me. it always feels like there is someone missing and i guess it will be like that until i see him in heaven one day. i am glad he is in a happy place where there are no tears or sorrow, cause it really gets old after a while.

i got to see jonah today!!! i went during feeding time hoping to see him down 15 ccs or maybe see some open eyes but neither happened. he seemed VERY tired, but that's pretty understandable. he's been through a whole lot in this past week. even with closed eyes he is as cute as ever.

other than getting to see jonah, nothing too exciting really happened today. i went to school...if you consider that exciting. it was just a normal day except for i got sung to a lot which made my face turn red. i got cards from mom and dad and amy which were all filled with some much needed money (thanks guys!). julia was supposed to come over tonight and spend the night but today she called and said she had a runny nose and cough so i asked her not to come, that we should just hang out another weekend. i am trying desperately not to get sick. when you only get to see your nephew 2 times a week, you do whatever you can to fulfill the opportunity.

tomorrow we are having a little party at the hospital on the 12th floor to celebrate me and ainsley's birthdays. her 2nd birthday is on sunday! i cant believe she is getting that old. *sniff sniff* anyhow...i am excited about the party. the 12th floor is really cool. its on the very top of the hospital and its outside but there are glass walls surrounding it so you don't fall off you know. and there is also a playground which im sure asher and ainsley will enjoy, and maybe me too. :) sarah came up with the idea of having it up there since patrice and matt are sticking close to the hospital. plus, that way jonah can kind of be there. kind of.

okay, i should probably go to bed now being that its not really my birthday anymore. i should have never gotten a blog. it keeps me up too late at nights...

blessed

2009-03-04T19:25:00.000-08:00

well, i made it through the school day. it wasn't as bad as i was afraid it was gonna be. pretty much the only people that know about jonah's condition are my friends on facebook because they have joined his prayer group and i got to talk to them while sitting in the waiting room after everything happened (thank you for wireless Internet). i talked to them about it today but not many other people. i am SO proud of him and want to brag about him but maybe just not now. i mean, i don't even know what to say to people when i tell them about his case of EB because we really don't know much about it yet. it makes it hard when you don't know what kind he has or anything. every time i explain what jonah has, people bombard me with questions that i cant answer. is he going to be okay? how's he doing? will he live? well, i don't know if he will be okay. what exactly does okay mean? i don't really know how he's doing either. he's a tiny little baby fighting for his life and in that way, he's not doing well at all. but on the other hand, he is a STRONG little butterfly baby doing a very GOOD job of fighting for his life....so, yes, he is doing well. and i have no clue if he will live. i wish i could say yes, but i cant. that's not my decision. that's God's. maybe that is what i should say to people. but knowing kids at school, that wont stop the questions. its so hard going from being surrounded by your family who are all Christians and KNOW that God is making the decisions to being surrounded by many non-Christians who don't even believe in God. i would try and explain to them how God is in control but that is such a hard thing to explain. i don't know why God does the things he does, or what he has planned next. trust me...I've tried to figure it out, but its not something you realize all of a sudden, and when saying that to someone who doesn't believe in God you're gonna get some very puzzled looks and more questions. one thing i DO know is that God will get me through this and provide the right words for me to say to other people, and for that i am thankful. one thing i have recently learned is that you have to give your worries to God and let him handle things. it's a lot harder than it sounds but I'm getting better at it. knowing that God has his arms wrapped around our little jonah is the only thing that gets me through the days at school...and everywhere else. everything will be fine. i just gotta keep telling myself that. on the post before this one someone gave me some very good advice; no one who hasn't dealt with EB before is never gonna understand. that's why you have to tell them about the person and their personality and get people to see past the bandages and blisters. i am determined to do that with jonah. i can already tell he is going to have a wonderful personality and he's already just so darn cute. i will make people see that, even people who don't understand. that same person who gave me that advice also told me about their son who is also in 8th grade AND has EB. like 8th grade isn't torture enough. i have so much respect for that boy. he has to deal with weird questions all the time and i know it has to be hard. it makes me realize how blessed i am. i have never really had to deal with anything like that. the closest thing is having this back brace and that can't even compare. my goal is to start focusing on the good things in my life and not so much the bad. i gotta count my blessings.

...blessing number 1 - jonah.

the most wonderful sight to see

2009-03-03T20:58:00.000-08:00

guess who i got to see today?! JONAH!!! he is SO cute. there's not even words to describe it. the manager nurse person (I'm not really sure who it was) made an exception for me (bless her) and is letting me see Jonah 2 times a week now. i am so very happy. i didn't think i was gonna survive one more day without seeing him. i am going to use my second time on Friday so i can see him on my birthday. i finally got pictures of him! some of them are a bit blurry though because we had to keep the camera on no flash or there would be reflections off of his incubator. and i was so excited i was shaking. but in my opinion, any picture showing Jonah is a good picture. so i would say i got some good ones.

man, i could just stare at that little face forever. notice his exposed tummy! it was looking so good that the doctors decided to just leave it unwrapped. its the cutest tummy ever. i know i know....he's cute, we get it. but I'm his aunt. I'm supposed to go on and on about how cute he is. it's my job. I'd say I'm doing a pretty good job of it.

on a less happy note i have to go to school tomorrow. i am dreading it sooo badly. i just don't feel like having to explain to everyone what happened to Jonah. the explaining isn't even that bad, i just don't like the reactions. people my age just don't understand how serious this is. they try but they just don't. and it's okay i guess. it's definitely not their faults they don't understand. but it's just hard, you know. please just pray my day is good and goes by quickly so i get to be back at the hospital ASAP. and of course keep praying for Jonah's progress. i am gonna be missing him like crazy...

love you buddy!

jonah's first snow day

2009-03-02T09:39:00.000-08:00

it's jonah's first snow day! this morning i looked out the window to see tons of snow. there is probably about 4 inches....just what they predicted. the weather man was actually right for once! i wouldn't be surprised if we have school off for like a week. the school system is probably freaking out. here are some pictures of my walk with chuck and leeann and the puppies. i don't have my camera which is sad but leeann let me use hers. it was so pretty!

a break

2009-03-01T19:30:00.000-08:00

today i took a break away from the hospital. i felt useless just sitting in the waiting room doing nothing, not even being able to see Jonah. i just needed to be somewhere else for a while. i felt bad not being with the family but i think they all agreed a break would be good for me. so after visiting The Journey for church this morning i went to LeeAnn and Chuck's house to hang out and haven't left yet. it started snowing earlier today so i had to decide whether i wanted to come back to the hospital or just stay here. i decided to stay here. i think Jonah would understand. i miss him a lot but i would be missing him at the hospital too. i am just looking forward to seeing his sweet face again in real life. i have seen recent pictures but its just not the same. guess i just gotta be patient. what makes my heart break is that Jonah is in pain. so please pray that he feels better. i can deal with me being in pain more than someone else.
it is snowing like crazy here. I'm amazed. i didn't really believe the weather forecast when it said 4-6 inches of snow but i believe it now. i haven't seen it snow this hard in forever. its really pretty but VERY cold. school got canceled tomorrow and i am very happy about it. i wasn't planning on going anyhow but this way i wont be so behind when i go back. i really wish we would have tomorrow off too. i just don't feel like being at school right now. i really cant deal with stupid middle school drama.

Jonah Alexander

2009-02-28T16:29:00.000-08:00

a ton has happened since i last posted. Jonah Alexander Williams was born yesterday with a skin disease called Epidermolysis Bullosa. i kind of know what it is but not enough to write on my blog. so my suggestion is to just go over to Patrice's blog and read about it there...

http://patriceandmattwilliams.blogspot.com/

these last 2 days have been rough but things will be okay. i am trying to just hand my worries over to God and let Him take care of everything, as i know He will do. i just really hope His will is for sweet Jonah to be healed and live a full life with his mommy and daddy and family. for now we are just sitting and waiting. its aggravating not being able to do anything or know anything but we are all together which helps. for now i am not allowed to see Jonah because i am under the age of 16 (lame) but i think Patrice is working towards changing that. she asked the lady working at the NICU counter i if i could possibly come in and she said she would have to ask the manager. they better say yes. Jonah is going to be here for 2 months AT LEAST. i can't wait that long to see my nephew. i have only seen him once, very briefly, but it was wonderful. he is SO cute. i cant wait to spend some more time with him.

I'm pretty sure everyone who reads my blog is already praying for Jonah but please keep on doing it. its the only thing we can do to help him right now.

love you Jonah! keep on fighting.

waiting for squishy

2009-02-27T10:25:00.000-08:00

right now i am sitting in the hospital listening to squishy's heart beat. i am getting very impatient. i want him to be here! soon enough though. we are actually having fun in the waiting room killing time. we have played spades and nertz and eaten and taken pictures and just talked lots. its nice that we can all be together for a happy event. thank you SO much to everyone who prayed and thought about Patrice and Matt and the baby. things are looking good. hopefully we don't have to wait too long and i will soon have pictures of the new arrival! check patriceandmattwilliams.blogspot.com for updates!

8th grade sucks - volume 7

2009-02-13T12:16:00.000-08:00

this is what happens when you play indoor soccer without shin guards with a bunch of screaming girls who don't know how to kick a ball.

ow.

other than the ankle, gym class was actually fun! (nope...not kidding). we played indoor soccer which i was way excited about because we NEVER play soccer. i don't understand why but we don't. i love soccer. what's amazing is i actually made a goal all by myself! it was awesome. guess those couple years of playing soccer when i was little paid off. or maybe the other girls were just too busy kicking people to realize what was going on. could be....

perfect weather

2009-02-08T09:50:00.000-08:00

the weather here was perfect yesterday. it wasn't too cold or too hot or anything. just perfect. isn't it weird how 3 days after it snows it's 70 degrees? the world is just all confused these days. but I'm okay with it. i wish it would stay warm forever. i spent all day outside yesterday with all the kids from the apartments. it was really fun. the boys skateboarded while the little kids ran around and screamed at bees and i took pictures. i loved it.

now i am just waiting for summer. i can't wait for the pool to open!

what's with all the white stuff?

2009-02-06T17:39:00.000-08:00

Tuesday morning we got a 2 hour delay for some reason. supposedly the rodes were icy. then on Tuesday night it actually snowed! and I'm talking like REAL snow. it came down hard for around 30 minutes (maybe a little more)....

....and then it stopped. but it was at least enough to cover the ground. we didn't have any more during the night or anything but it kind of stuck and there was still some on the ground in the morning.

i wanted to play in it so Emily came over but by the time she got there is was pretty much gone. i was determined to make a snowman though. so, with a little snow and some left over Christmas candy...

ta da! i know...kind of pitiful. but hey, its still a snowman. a very very little snowman. but a snowman all the same.

thanks to Emily for freezing her butt off just to make me happy. :)

what happens when i'm bored

2009-02-04T14:50:00.000-08:00

aren't they cool? i got these wooden letters and paint for Christmas in 2007 and just now got around to painting them. i am planning on hanging them up on my wall. they turned out really well.

a best friend filled weekend

2009-01-29T16:41:00.000-08:00

this weekend i hung out with Emily and Julia. not at the same time...but that would be cool. i should really introduce them. well anyhow...me and Emily mostly just jumped on her trampoline and me and Julia did the usual, walked around the woods taking cool pictures. we got so many good ones. it was awesome. here are some of my favorites.

i don't even know if these are my favorites. i love them all.

8th grade sucks - volume 6

2009-01-23T18:58:00.000-08:00

middle school drama is so stupid.....
that's all.

we have Monday off though! i need an extra day to be away from some certain people.

snow day...but not really

2009-01-21T14:23:00.001-08:00

it snowed 2 nights ago!!!

it snowed this hard for about 2 minutes and then stopped. I'm not even kidding. i walked outside to take a picture and it stopped right after i took it. i think I'm just bad luck. or maybe it just never snows here. yeah....that's probably why. due to that tiny bit of snow we got the whole next day off! i was VERY happy. but kinda disappointed when i looked outside and saw lots of grass. i really really wanted real snow. the kind you can actually play in and make snowmen with and have snowball fights in. no such luck though. oh well...maybe another time. (it's okay to dream).
i managed to put together one snowball at least...

Mulanathon

2009-01-20T11:30:00.000-08:00

the weekend before last mom, janel, emily and i went to stone mountain to see deer. in case you haven't been there before, there are lots of "wild" deer that come really close to the road and even sometimes eat out of your hand. it's pretty awesome. janel and emily had never been before so they were pretty pumped when the deer actually did come up to our car and eat out of our hands. well....their hands. i was too busy taking pictures.

this deer had some issues....

i was just pumped about the sky. it was AMAZING.

after going to stone mountain we went to barnes&noble and hung out there a bit. since there's a starbucks in our barnes&noble me and em got hot chocolate and janel got some other thing that was delicious. mine wasn't hot chocolate though. it smelled and tasted like coffee and it was really disgusting. i thought i might be imagining it so i told emily to taste it. it was definitely coffee. i was kinda scared of the lady who made them so emily being the awesome friend she is took it back and told her it was coffee. she told emily she didn't know what to say to her and started making a new one with a very angry look on her face. it kind of annoyed me because im sure if it had of been an adult she wouldn't have minded at all making a new one. guess we're not old enough to tell the difference between coffee and hot chocolate. but whatever. i got a new one and it was scrumpcious. :)

--------------------------------------------------

this past weekend me and emily and janel hung out again but at janel's house this time. we had a Mulan marathon. it's our favorite. and because we're dorks we got out a bunch of janel's make up and made ourselves look like Mulan does at the beginning of the 1st one.

don't we look fabulous?

my favorite little people

2009-01-15T17:53:00.000-08:00

Christmas times 3 + Emily + Julia + New Years = a very eventful break

2009-01-05T17:43:00.000-08:00

look at that long equation. i'm good at math. :) by the way, anyone know how to make a multiplication symbol? i know there's a way, i'm just not sure what that way is...
anyhow...math is not what this post is about. how boring would that be?
this post is about my very very eventful Christmas break. let me first just say that it was awesome! i had 3 Christmases, Emily AND Julia came over, New Years, and like 3 trips to the movie theatre. oh yeah, and we went to Virginia, but i already posted about that.
all of my Chrsitmases were great. my first one was Christmas day of course and i immensly enjoyed that as you already know. my second Christmas was in Chapel Hill the weekend after Christmas. it was so nice getting to hang out with the siblings and the kiddos. we opened presents, played cards, played outside, and laughed a lot. it was nice.

(this is patrice and Sarah line dancing while Peyton is freestyling. it was quite entertaining.)

my third Chrsitmas was just this past Saturday with dad and maw maw and everyone else. it was also fun. the weather was beautiful so we stayed outside a lot of the time. dad bought Peyton and Patrice both a chiminea so we roasted marshmallows. and by we i mean dad, asher, and ainsley. i'm not a big fan of marshmallows. i tried one to see if i had changed my mind but nope. i think they are just gross.

i can't even remember the exact days but emily and julia came over sometime during break. they are such great friends. everytime i'm around julia i get a stomach ache from laughing so hard. but it's worth it.

for New Years me and Sarah went to the Gobey's and hung out with them and some other friends. we played cards, frisbee golf, and other games. these pictures are from a bike race where chuck and leeann had food for the hard working bikers.

well...i think i covered everything. but who knows. it was so busy that now everyhting is all jumbled up in my mind. its just one big blob of fun. so sorry if i left something out.
whew....that post took forever.

(spell check isn't working AGAIN. lovely.)

so happy and a bit frustrated

2008-12-30T15:46:00.000-08:00

my camera rocks! i have already taken over 700 pictures with it. (i know what your thinking, that's ridiculous Shaina! and i agree. i don't even know how it happened. i think I'm taking a couple pictures and then BAM! there's 700. crazy, i know).
i have taken so many good pictures and i would LOVE to post them but I'm having trouble figuring out exactly how to get them on the computer. i uploaded the software but cant figure out how the heck you use it. i tried and the pictures just showed up under "my documents". i could still post them but yesterday they mysteriously disappeared. i don't know where they went. I've looked everywhere but nope. no new camera pictures. thank goodness i didn't delete them off my camera. Sarah is gonna help me this week figure out how to use the software.
so hopefully i will have pictures soon. but until then i don't want to post about anything. and trust me...a lot is happening! i love Christmas break. and i love my new camera. i DON'T love cleaning my room which is what im supposed to be doing right now....
ahem. bye.

Christmas 08

2008-12-26T12:33:00.000-08:00

I LOVE CHRISTMAS. not just because i got an amazing new camera but its a plus.
Christmas was really fun. so was Christmas Eve. on Christmas Eve we went and saw Nothing Like the Holidays and then on Christmas we saw Marley&Me. They were both good but Marley&Me was sad.
and of course we also opened presents on Christmas. my camera really is amazing. i absolutely love it already. i have been taking so many pictures and I'm running out of things to photograph. tomorrow we are going to Peyton and Amy's to celebrate Christmas with them and the other siblings so that will give me something to take pictures of.
in addition to my camera i got a $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble (woot woot!), the new Taylor Swift CD, a robe sort of thing, and butt loads of candy. oh, and socks too. :) there might have been something else but i can't remember right now. i was just so happy with all i got. especially the camera.
i was really glad Sarah was able to be with us for Christmas. it would have been really cool with everyone else too but at least we are all getting together this weekend. its kind of fun to have 2 Christmases.
here are some pictures with my new camera! i didn't get very many of us on Christmas day but the ones i did get are really good.

here are some of our decorations. i think they are so cute this year.

in case you didn't notice, mom has a whole snowman theme going on. i like it.

heres another one from yesterday i took when we went to go visit Raya. its one of my favorites. shes such a cute kitty.

hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! i did.

twas the days before Christmas...

2008-12-23T15:07:00.000-08:00

wow. i haven't blogged in over a week. that's a first for me. i think...
a lot has happened since last weekend. i made it through my last stressful week of school (cough cough....prison) and was released on friday to be free for 2 whole weeks. it was a very happy moment.
on saturday morning mom and i huridly packed and headed for Virginia. yep, we went again. told ya we'd be going a lot while gas is cheap. the only part i don't like about going is the 4 hour drive. not fun. i usually don't mind that bad but i don't sleep very well in the car these days. it was alright though. we got to Kathy's at about 2:00 or 2:30 and didn't spend much time at the house before going to the Zuni Christmas parade. Kathy brought Ryan and Jake along so i could spend some more time with them which made me happy. anyhow...the parade was fun. there were some very strange things in it but my camera was being stupid and i lost my pictures of the weird things. i am so ready for that new camera. the pictures i got from the parade aren't that interesting and i am feeling kinda lazy so i'll just not post them.
the parade lasted a whole 15 minutes and then we left to go see lights in Richmond. they were amazing. not as amazing as the lights from the next night but i'll get to that. for now....

Ryan said i look like the spiders in the morning. it didn't really bother me cause i think the spiders are way cool but i acted like it made me mad so i had a reason to beat him up. :)
also where these lights were, there were a couple buildings you could go in that had mini train tracks and trains and stuff. it was awesome. here was one that had this really cool fairy-looking village. i would totally live there. you know, if i was a fairy...

on sunday we just hung around the house and then after the boys went home me and mom and Kathy and Charlie went to see more lights in Norfolk. these were SO amazing. my pictures arent as good though cause here you were in a car so everyones tail lights were making the lighting bad. and some i didnt get because i wouldve had to crawl over mom and lean out the window. oh wait, i did do that. i still didnt get some of the pictures though but it doesn't matter. i got some cool ones. and i guess its the memories that count.

hmm...well maybe i did get some good pictures. cause i sure posted a lot if i didnt.
on to monday. monday me and mom and Kathy went shopping some and then we met Traci and had lunch and went to see Four Christmases. it was good but not a favorite. i dont remember what we did for the rest of the day...
this morning me and mom got up really early and headed home. i slept some but not as much as i wanted to. the whole way here we listened to Christmas music. i mean seriously, the WHOLE way here. oh the joys of being in a car for 4 hours 2 days before Christmas. it will be a miracle if i ever get Christmas songs out of my head.
after we got home mom cooked and we both cleaned and Peyton, Amy and the kiddos came to visit. it was nice getting to spend some time with them. we are going to eat breakfast with them again in the morning. i guess Sarah is coming too. she is on her way home from Nashville right now.
i guess that is pretty much it for this weekend/week's happenings. but dont worry. i am sure i will be blogging about Christmas. 2 more days!!!! i cant believe it. oh yeah....and guess what im getting for Christmas? ;)

(sorry if there are lots of misspellings. spell check isn't working. and i can't spell worth a flip. so hopefully this is readable...)

cousins and stuff

2008-12-15T16:03:00.000-08:00

this weekend Patrice, Matt, mom and i went to Kathy's house for a family get together. it was really fun. i love hanging out with my cousins. they are so wonderful.
me, Ryan, Kaley, Jake, Amber, Emily and Matt threw a football some and played soccer and just hung out.
i am going to pretend that 30 minutes of throwing a football is not why i am aching all over. that would just be sad...
mostly everyone left Saturday night and after that those who were left played the wii. those things are seriously amazing. i want one so badly.
we left Sunday morning so we didn't get to do much more. but i am just glad we all got to hang out some.
me and mom are going back next week to see the Zuni parade. I'm pretty excited. it is much easier to leave when you know you are coming back the next week. mom said we are gonna go visit a lot while gas prices are low. i think that's a good idea.

overly excited

2008-12-10T15:10:00.000-08:00

isn't it beautiful? yes, yes it is.

it is possible to be overly excited about something? cause if it is, i totally am. there are few things i have been so excited about. when it comes to material things at least. Peyton ordered it on Monday so it should be on its way. it is going to be torture when it gets here because mom will NOT let me open if before Christmas. i am actually okay with that though. if i opened it before, there would be nothing to be excited about Christmas morning. I'm pretty sure i wont be able to sleep Christmas eve. i have actually already had 2 dreams about getting it...

yep, there is definitely such a thing as getting overly excited.

8th grade sucks - volume 5

2008-12-08T15:57:00.000-08:00

i was about to start this post and thought to myself....8th grade sucks - volume 4. here we go. but then i looked back and realized this is actually volume 5. that's pretty impressive.

i don't even really know if there are specific things i can write on this post. i mean, I'm sure there are small things i could write about but that would be boring. there haven't been any scar me for life embarrassing gym moments lately. oh wait, that's because we are having sex ed. now there are some embarrassing moments from that but i think you could live without knowing. i know i sure could have. anyhow, i have just really been hating school these days. and i don't even know why. i think it is just hard because we are over that whole having a break every week stage. that's right. we are now going to school 5 days a week. its torture. haha. okay, not really. but i don't enjoy it, that's for sure. Mondays are the worst. this morning i practically begged mom not to go to school but i guess she would be a bad mom if she let me lay out for no good reason. not to me of course, but to other people. note to self: while trying to get out of school, don't say "can i pretend to be sick?" its more effective if you throw up and cough and sneeze and say you feel reeeeally bad. my day wasn't that awful though. nothing real bad happened. just nothing good either. i am so sick of chorus though. no wonder i don't like Christmas music. i blame it on chorus. i am so tired of singing the same bad songs over and over and over again. at least it will be over after our concert which is Tuesday. ugh. i am really dreading that. but its either going to the concert or recording yourself singing the really hard and high pitched songs we have to sing. yeah, i pick concert. i cant even sing some of the high notes but...shhh. that's the joy of singing with other people. you can fake it. I've been practicing. I'm getting pretty good. :)

positive: Christmas break is only 11 days away!

thanksgivings

2008-12-02T17:19:00.000-08:00

i have been meaning to blog about my thanksgiving break for a while now but haven't got around to it. but now i am.

Thursday was actual thanksgiving and me and the siblings and Asher and Ainsley spent some of that with mom. she left around 3:30 though to go to my aunts house. so after that me and the siblings just hung out and played cards and watched football and all that good stuff.

then on Friday we went to maw maw's house to have another thanksgiving with her and paw paw and dad. that was also fun. we played outside a lot. for the past couple years we have been very lucky to have good weather at maw maws. i am so glad because they have fun places to play outside. like the barn. sadly i did not take any pictures that day but Sarah took lots with her camera. we got some really good ones of all of us.

i went home with Peyton and Amy and the kids and on Saturday we had another thanksgiving meal with 2 of Peyton and Amy's friends, Mike and Claudia. then me and the kids played outside some while Peyton did yard work. that same day some of their other friends came over. but we didn't have a fourth thanksgiving. instead we had some very good turkey noodle soup. :)

then on Sunday we went to church and then Amy's mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law and nephew came to visit. then mom picked me up later that day and we headed home.

then there was school of course, but lets not ruin this post.

so, all that is to say i had some very busy thanksgivings. but i enjoyed it. and i have definitely eaten enough turkey to last for a while.

guess what?!

2008-11-24T14:01:00.000-08:00

guess what?!

i am getting a new camera for Christmas!!! and it is going to be a cool one too! i haven't decided on a specific camera yet but I'm searching for one. i really want a Canon. i found one i really like but it takes AA batteries which is gonna drive me crazy because AA battery life kind of sucks. that is what my camera now takes. it takes ALL night to charge 4 batteries and then i use them up in like 30 minutes. so I'm gonna go with a no on the AA batteries. but i am so so SO excited. i cant wait! only one more month till Christmas! :) i wish photography businesses would hire 13 year olds. that would be awesome! because i really need money and that would be way cooler than babysitting. not that i really even mind babysitting but i have no one to babysit for. this post is really kind of pointless but i was so excited and just wanted to write about it. i am going to have a hard time waiting for Christmas. I'm really not that patient at all. but its not too far away. i know no one really reads my blog but does anyone have camera suggestions?

p.s. - I'm excited, in case no one got that. :)

8th grade sucks - volume 4

2008-11-24T13:59:00.000-08:00

some people are idiots.

(1 more day til thanksgiving break).

fighting and dress up

2008-11-22T06:01:00.000-08:00

last night i went over to Delaney's house to hang out with a bunch of crazy girls. :) it was fun. we were supposed to watch movies but we totally didn't. i don't even know how to explain what we did. maybe the pictures can help...

i guess you could call it watching Delaney beat the crap out of people and playing dress up. i don't even know whats happening in the first picture but i love it. they wanted me to spend the night but i was really tired and just didn't feel like staying up all night. and i would not go to sleep while they were still awake. nope. i don't trust them. haha. so i only stayed about 3 hours. but it was still really fun. here are some actual good pictures...

haha...i forgot i had the hat on. oh well. :)

let it snow

2008-11-21T12:09:00.001-08:00

it snowed this morning!!! not much but enough that we got a 2 hour delay. i don't think it was necessary but whatever. I'm totally fine with it. i like how forsyth county thinks the world is ending when it snows. :) it always gets us out of school. i am really glad we didn't get the whole day off though because if we had of we would have to go to school a day during thanksgiving break and that would suck. i am just so happy it snowed! it gives me hope that maybe it will actually snow some this year. we usually never really get snow. or not enough to have any fun with at least. i really hope we do get some. snow is the only thing that i like about winter. and it would be sad if we didn't have any. anyhow...that was basically all i had to say for this post. i was just excited about snow. and the 2 hour delay of course. :) ill leave you with a picture of our centimeter of snow we had today...

hooray! :)

baby :)

2008-11-20T11:36:00.000-08:00

on the post before this Patrice commented and said i forgot to mention only 14 more weeks till the new baby arrives!!! that is definitely something to be happy about but i didn't want to put it on my 8th grade sucks post. its too special. new baby deserves a whole post of his own. i cannot believe its only 14 more weeks! its crazy. i am so very happy though. i cant wait to snuggle with him and give him hugs and kisses! i don't even mind changing his diaper (which I'm sure i will be doing.) i don't mind doing anything as long as he is here with me. i would've done anything for Gabe too. he taught me a good lesson. you have to treasure the time you have with the people you love and make it count. because life doesn't go on forever. now i know we couldn't really spend time with Gabe in the way most people think about it but i do have memories which means something. and those memories will last forever and ever. my favorite was when i went with Patrice to and ultrasound and got to hear Gabe's heartbeat. it was the most wonderful sound in the world and i wont forget it. anyhow...i don't think Gabe will mind if i give extra hugs and kisses to his little brother. i think he'd like that. new baby is going to be SO spoiled. but its okay. i cant wait to see both of their sweet faces! what happy days they will be. :)

8th grade sucks - volume 3

2008-11-19T18:29:00.000-08:00

I'm really not trying to be negative with all these 8th grade sucks post but i know it looks that way. i am just venting which i guess you could also consider being negative. but whatever.

okay...so science fair projects are stupid. i have never done one because of switching schools so much but i cannot think of a good reason for them. how will doing these pointless projects help us in life? how will it help me become a photographer? because that is all I'm really worried about. what makes me really mad is that they are only making the AG students do a science fair project and i really don't think that is fair. everyone is just as capable as we are to do one. we are not AG students because we are necessarily smarter than everyone else. we are AG students because we work our butts off to complete our work and study and do the best job we can. basically being an AG student means loading lots more stress on yourself. and what is our reward for all this hard work? even harder work and longer tests and stupid projects, that's what. some reward, huh? i don't even want to be an AG student anymore. it sucks. but anyhow...i am considering writing a letter to our principle about these science fair projects. i would really love if i could convince lots of people to write one too so I'm not all alone. I'm not really sure if my one letter would make a difference. and i don't want to just seem like a whiny student who doesn't want to do their work because that is not at all how i am. i will do my work but i have a problem with doing pointless work that only 1/4 of the 8th grade has to do. oh, and did i mention that we are supposed to conduct our experiments during Christmas break? umm....yeah right. this is what i meant by school is consuming my life. you cant even have a break or be at home or anything without having to worry about school. now i am not usually like this about school. i usually just keep my mouth shut and do my work but it is getting ridiculous. they expect too much from us and they expect everything to be perfect. and i am not blaming all of this on the teachers because i know they have no control over some things. but still. i just cannot handle all this. i am usually really good about getting work done and stuff. i don't know what to do. if i can convince myself writing a letter would actually do some good i might do it but i don't know. i wish Patrice would do it for me. :) shes a good writer. me, not so much. i just need a break! and not a break with projects or anything school related. a real break. i am hoping thanksgiving break will at least be relaxing. one more week...

oh yeah...i almost forgot the positive. 1 more week till thanksgiving break, 1 more month till Christmas break, 1 more year till high school and 4 more years till college! (well, nevermind about the 4 years till college. that's kind of depressing.)

8th grade sucks - volume 2

2008-11-17T12:01:00.000-08:00

i am SO ready to be out of school. it is consuming my life and i don't like it one bit. one of Sarah's friends told me not to wish away life but i don't wish away life. i wish away school. but i guess i shouldn't do that either because I'm sure once i am grown and have some job i hate i will wish i was back in school. maybe...
my Sunday pretty much sucked. we went to church (which was not part of the suckiness) and then the whole entire day i worked on a children's book we had to write for language arts. and i still didn't get it done!!! that was the sucky part. silly me got all creative with my imagination and wrote a pretty decent sized story that i had to make into a book with illustrations and everything. silly silly me. so i worked on it until about 10:00 last night and then got too tired to care whether it was done or not. i worked on it a LOT today and still didn't get it done. i even had a friend helping me on it up to literally the last minute of the day and we still didn't get it done. ugh. i could have just turned it in late but the whole point of doing a children's book was so i could enter it in some competition that Ms. Long wanted us to participate in. i was on my way to turn it in when Janel said she was staying after school and would finish it for me. oh how wonderful she is. the only thing left to do was go over one page with an ink pen so i am hoping she got it finished. i was going to make the cover all pretty with ribbons and stuff but oh well. i am just thankful that i got most of it done and that Janel is so wonderful to help. stressing over the book was really the only bad part of my day. except for the bus of course. its always bad. especially because there is this really annoying guy with the most obnoxious voice i think i have ever heard who yells across the bus ALL the time. and i don't even know what he is yelling because it is all in Spanish! it is so annoying. today he screamed in my ear to try and scare me and it totally didn't work. it just gave me a headache. and it made me want to hit him. now i am home with a butt load of homework sitting there waiting to be done. hip hip freaking hooray.

my positive of the day: i have friends like Janel that are always there to help me. and i am so very thankful.

my crazy cousin

2008-11-15T18:59:00.000-08:00

last night i went to Kaley's house and spent the night. then we hung out all day today. it was so fun! it is awesome having a cousin your age who is actually really cool. i feel like we would be friends even if we were not cousins. shes crazy but its okay. she makes me laugh a lot. it was really great getting to spend some time with her. we didnt do much last night but today we went to where she gets her hair done and she got a perm. it was very pretty! then we went back home and rode the four wheeler and swung on a rope they have hooked to a tree and played the wii and all that fun stuff.

i am hoping we can start hanging out more often. i will see her again on December 13th i think for a family Christmas party Kathy is having at her house. i am really looking forward to it. we have a pretty cool family :)

8th grade sucks - volume 1

2008-11-12T17:35:00.000-08:00

welcome to 8th grade sucks. this is the portion of my blog where i talk about how crappy school is. feel free to just skip over these (yes, there will be more). it is mostly just for me so i can vent. i am starting this because today was a bad day and i wanted to write about it. but then i was like...i have a lot of bad days. so why not just start a whole volume of 8th grade sucks posts? so, here is goes.

first of all, it is cold outside. i absolutely hate cold weather. especially at 7:00 in the morning. but that's really not a big deal. just though I'd add it. okay, so first period i have gym which totally sucks because me and gym just don't go well together. here's an example why: you play stupid games that cause you to collide with a much bigger person than you that happens to be a stupid boy with stupid boy friends. and the colliding totally makes you slam into the hard gym floor. the stupid boys get a lot of joy out of that. or at least the stupid boys at my school do. thank goodness you are okay and only like 8 people saw you. shwew. but enough of gym class. it could have a whole post for itself but i have other things to complain about so ill continue. the next bad thing was math. we had a substitute so of course everyone was doing whatever they wanted and not caring if the substitute was watching. especially the girls in my group. we only got like 8 problems done the whole class period if that explains anything. i am really hoping that substitute didn't know our names or was either too nice to let ms. day know who was misbehaving. i am on ms. days good side and would love to stay there. and then science. oh science...how i hate you. there are lots of reasons why i hate science. its just one of those classes i dread every single day. so nothing new there. lunch was not wonderful either. the whole time i got to listen to my 3 friends talk about someone one of them likes. "he is hot!" "no hes not!" "yes he is!" "have you ever looked at him?!" yeah...you get the point. well...being a normal, curious person i ask who it is and they wont tell me. that wouldn't bother me if they hadn't been talking about it the WHOLE lunch period and acting like me and my other friend didn't exist. i kind of overreacted but it really annoyed me so i decided to pretend they didn't exist either. then when they did decide i existed again, they wondered why i was mad. hmm...i wonder why. but anyhow. that was partly me just being annoyed and overreacting but it still wasn't good for my already bad day. nothing much happened the rest of the school day. i started my homework and didn't finish until about 8:30. i missed church because of it and that made me mad. why of all days did they give us so much homework on a Wednesday? i just don't understand. and on top of that i am just majorly exhausted by the sleeping issue last night. i took a sleep tab tonight so hopefully i will rest good.

so i am not totally negative, for each 8th grade sucks post i will add something positive about my day. so here is today's: the bruise on my behind from slamming into the hard gym floor isn't that big.

if only i could sleep...

2008-11-11T19:29:00.000-08:00

i am so tired right now and should totally be in bed but of course as soon as i laid down i couldn't go to sleep. i just don't understand. i never sleep good anymore. and it pretty much sucks. i don't know what is wrong with me. every night i lay down and cant go to sleep and then once i do go to sleep i wake up all the time. it is very annoying. and it just makes me extra tired during the day. i seriously don't know what is wrong. maybe it is this stupid brace. that could definitely be part of the problem. or maybe my bed is just not comfortable at all. that's a good possibility too. or maybe i have a lot on my mind. hmm.... but that's nothing new. i always have a lot on my mind. and no, its not necessarily bad things. sometimes, but not always. a lot of times it is just something totally random. like last night i knew i would have to write a children's book today for my LA homework so all last night i was thinking about what i would write about. it was SO annoying. or sometimes i have a song stuck in my head. that is even more annoying. but tonight i don't know whats wrong. i just cant sleep. i just don't think nights are good for me. now sleep is a very good thing. its just night. i hate it. I'm sure if it was the middle of the day i could fall right to sleep. isn't that weird? i think so. well...i am so not looking forward to school because of course i will be exhausted. but i am getting used to it. sometimes i just wish i was a bad kid who didn't care about my grades so i could just sleep during class. ahh....wouldn't that be nice? it wont happen though. i am not bad and don't plan on ever being bad. so i guess i will just be tired. oh well.

pictures from my fun filled weekend

2008-11-10T11:39:00.000-08:00

sorry again about there being so many. i just have so many favorites! :)

a fun filled weekend

2008-11-10T05:04:00.000-08:00

i had a very good weekend! on Saturday we cleaned and then Emily came over and we went to the town square to listen to music. by the time we got there it was almost over though. we only got to hear one song but oh well. it was still fun to walk around and take pictures. then we went to Gaye's house to visit. after that we went to Barnes and Noble and the dollar store and Wal Mart and then took Emily home. yesterday Amy and Peyton and Sarah and the kids came over to eat for Peyton's birthday. I asked Emily to come back so she could meet everyone. she had never met the kids so i thought she might want to. they are cuter than ever! especially Ainsley. they stayed pretty much all day which was awesome. we ate, played frisbee and baseball and monopoly. Amy killed everyone in monopoly. it was just luck though. :) i took lots of pictures this weekend but i am at school so they are not on this computer. i will post some of them when i get home. they are also on facebook for those of you who are friends with me.

tomorrow is Veterans day and we have no school. hooray! i am so excited. it was much easier starting my Monday knowing i only had one day to get through before another break. we are getting spoiled with all these breaks. not that I'm complaining. i just know after Christmas it is going to be hard because we are going to have no breaks. i guess i better enjoy it while it last. well...i am done for now. but i will post pictures later. happy Monday!

happy birthday Peyton!

2008-11-07T11:43:00.001-08:00

today is my big brother's 33rd birthday. i cant believe it. hes growin up. sniff sniff. hopefully i get to see him this weekend. i think we are planning on eating out with him and Amy and the kids but i am not sure of the exact plan yet. but anyhow....happy birthday brother! you're the best.

:) love you!

rewind

2008-11-05T11:50:00.000-08:00

I am bored so i am going to rewind time and blog about the beach. We went to Corolla, NC the weekend of October 10th. it was really really fun! it was awesome getting to hang out with the family some! a lot of our family lives in Virginia so we don't get to see them a whole lot. my aunt and uncle were there, quite a few cousins, mom, the siblings, and Asher and Ainsley. i think that was everyone. oh, and the new baby of course. :) unfortunately Amy didn't come because of Shakori Hills which stunk. we missed her! it was a lot of fun though. we spent most of our time at the beach and at the beach house playing games and relaxing. it was nice. i really hope we do it again next year. here are some pictures from the trip...

(sorry there are so many. i really did try to limit how many i put on here.)

i have no clue what was so funny but they were trying really hard not to laugh

this is my cousin kaley. shes pretty awesome.

Sarah and Asher

they loved this

these are my cousins Amber and Emily

me and Sarah

Ainsley! isn't she adorable?

baby bump!

so fun... :)

back at school

2008-11-05T11:40:00.000-08:00

today was the first day back at school after fall break. it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. a part of me was glad to go back so i wasn't stuck alone at home bored. we didn't even really do anything at school today which rocked! we have parent/student conferences tomorrow so we just prepared for those all day. i do not even need to do one because i make good grades and mom knows it but i am doing one anyways. they "strongly recommend" it. besides doing nothing, we got report cards today! i got all As! its awesome. i was sure i was going to get Bs in at least 2 of my classes but i didn't. hooray! i am trying really hard to keep my grades up because i know high school is going to be hard and i want to make sure i get off to a good start next year. wow, i cant believe i am going to be in high school next year. that's crazy. and kind of scary. but i am excited. Julia says that high school is way better than middle school which is a relief. middle school kind of sucks. i only have to survive one more year. i think i can do it. maybe...

happy election day/ hang out with julia day!

2008-11-04T16:55:00.000-08:00

okay, so i don't have anything to say about politics. i just wasn't sure what to name this post. :) Julia spent the night last night so we hung out last night and today. it was really fun! a nice ending to fall break. ugh. that's sad that fall break is over. i am trying not to think about it. anyhow....we didn't do much today. just ate lots of junk food and played in the woods. the leaves are finally changing behind our townhouses and they look so pretty! we mostly just goofed off and took pictures. LOTS of pictures. i love having a friend who doesn't care if i take a million pictures of her. its nice. she knows how much i love photography so she just lets me do whatever. i got quite a few good pictures today. here are some of my favorites...

they are kind of random but i like them. i hope i am a photographer one day. that would be awesome! well, that's about all for now. happy election day!