Monday, July 29, 2013

I’m not sure how many of you watch the news or have heard about the terrible bus crash of Colonial Hills Baptist Church killing four people, including the baby inside the youth pastor’s wife’s stomach, but if you could keep that whole incident in your prayers. The church’s bus had malfunctioning brakes which killed a youth pastor, his wife, the wife’s baby, and a mom. There were over thirty teenagers rushed to the hospital that day and although I do not know all of them I am friends with a good number of them and many of my friends, who go to my church, were even closer friends to these people. This past weekend was one of great mourning and grief. Please keep them in all of your prayers!

So my dear friends, I have far too much information to share with you and so little time to type this all out. July has been quite busy, in fact, up until this point I’ve only slept at my house one night this whole month. Now you may be curious as to what could possibly have taken up so much time well here it goes.

The first week in July I spent at Worldview Academy. Let me just say it was such an amazing experience that I’m already signed up for next year. Of course they give you so much information that I was on information overload. Thankfully I took thorough notes so I can continue looking back through them as time goes on. My camera wouldn’t work the whole week so I don’t have any pictures, but they gave us a special code to download the professional camp pictures took by the staff members. Each day we had multiple sessions on different topics, played team building games, reflected on that day’s activities, grew closer as small groups and made so many memories. I was a part of the oldest girl’s small group because I’m going to be a senior this next year. It is so much fun to meet other girls just like you who are going through the same situations and dealing with the same problems as you. One day we had a whole conversation about how “attractive” school uniforms are and another day we were talking about what our dream dress would look like. Obviously we did not primarily focus on outward appearance especially since we only had half an hour in the morning and fifteen minutes at night to take a shower, put on make-up, style your hair, and get ready for the day.  On Wednesday we got to go downtown Indy and evangelize to people. The hardest person for me to evangelize to was a Mormon. She wanted to try and explain to me that Mormons believe the same thing as Christians. She also told me that she had went out and evangelized in West Virginia just like I was doing in Indianapolis. I realized that sometimes the best thing that you can do for a person is to try and make them really think about why they believe what they believe. We used a new method for sharing the gospel. It was a checkbook with a list of questions on one side and answers to the questions on the other side. Not only did we have these questions as a great conversation starter, but we also had the four killer questions. Now it would talk quite some time to go into great detail about all of these things so I will save that for another blog because I still have to write about two more weeks in July.

Now onto week number two. This week my sister and I stayed at my aunt and uncles house to watch their little flat hair retriever puppy, two cats, two gerbils, a bunch of fish, and some sea monkeys. On Monday we took Remington, the little puppy, to our house to celebrate Autumn’s birthday a day early. She got a new aquarium for her pet turtle, who is growing big really quickly. She also got some new decorations and plants for her tank along with some decorations for her bedroom and some new toys that she really likes to have fun with. A big part of her present along with a big part of my brothers and my present is our new trampoline! I was probably the most excited for this present considering I’ve wanted one for a very long time. When I was five years old I asked for a puppy dog, a trampoline, and a trip to Disney World. When I was fourteen we got a golden doodle puppy. When I am eighteen I have trampoline. All I need is a trip to Disney. J On Tuesday my cousins from New York came and visited. We went swimming, ate and talked together. The rest of the week I had to work on a lot of other things, so that was pretty much how that week went.

My third week’s schedule changed so many times. I was going to go on a lake trip with some girlfriends, but my parents needed me to change the lake trip to sometime in August, but of course that isn’t going to work for some of my friends, so that idea had to get canceled. Also I had to make about thirty phone calls to rearrange my schedule for this week and so this is my final schedule. On Monday I made homemade applesauce with my grandma and family. Grayson ended up in the ER with fifteen stitches in his left hand because he didn’t listen to my mom’s instructions on how to properly cut up the apples. Everyone needed a break after that because it was so gross. I just wanted to pass out and be unconscious of the blood gushing from his hand. Anyways before I become nauseous again let’s just move onto Tuesday. Tuesday I spent on the 4-h fairgrounds working on helping judges get whatever they need to finish up judging as quickly as possible. I also helped set-up the fairgrounds with my 4-h leader. On Wednesday I packed up for my grandparents’ house and went to youth group. On Thursday I worked at the fairgrounds selling food and drinks and then we went up to my grandparents’ house. On Friday we went to the Elkhart county fair, which is the second largest county fair in the U.S.. Friday was spent mosly riding rides and eating as much junk food as we possibly could. We also watched my grandma participate in the senior queen pageant. On Saturday we went swimming and did other things with my grandma and grandpa around town. On Sunday we went back to the fairgrounds for their vesper service and then watched the parade and then ate more junk food before finally heading home.

Onto week four, VBS!!! For all of you who are confused VBS stands for Vacation Bible School. You know when you really think about it the whole concept of going to a Bible school on vacation is not really what most kids would want to do, but when they hear VBS there are screams and shouts of excitement because VBS is so much more fun than a Bible school while on vacation. I get to work in fifth grade with my younger brother who is in fifth grade. Well isn’t that a novel concept- a fifth grader in fifth grade. J  Yes I know I make brilliant statements of truth. Okay back to what I was saying… I’m helping in fifth grade, but on Tuesday I had to work at the fair again so I couldn’t help then. Also I almost forgot, but on Monday I got to go bowling and miniature golfing with a group of friends. I had so much fun talking and laughing with these friends especially since my friend Lindsay was there. I hadn’t seen her or talked with her since the middle of June because we both have had busy schedules. Whenever I’d leave she’d come home and vice versa. On Wednesday I went to McAlister’s Deli to visit a friend who works there. He made my day by giving me a free cookie. J On Thursday I went back to McAlister’s because it was free tea day. I drank at least four sweet palmer’s with a pump of peach teas. They were soooo delicious! I also got my mom a piece of cheesecake with a glass of sweet tea just because I love her. On Friday I went to work for the last time this summer. I’m going to miss working there. I had the BEST BOSS EVERRRRRRRR!! On Saturday we worked on putting in the new hard wood floors in our living room, but they weren’t finished until Sunday.

Today is Monday and I am just getting ready for tomorrow because tomorrow I get my senior pictures taken. I truly wish I didn’t need to get senior pictures taken because I cry almost every time I professionally get my pictures taken. I absolutely hate it. Even if I like the pictures I still cry because I know that I have to hand these pictures out to EVERYONE I know. I mean who comes up with this stuff. Now that I’m a senior I’m going to give you a picture of me. This sounds like self-centeredness and pride. I’d rather drive to everyone’s house and personally invite them because no one needs a picture of me to be invited to my graduation open house. Why do we have to do this and why after you graduate highschool? I just don’t understand sometimes. Oh well my life will go on even though I’m not sold on this whole graduating picture thing.

Sometime during this month I was accepted to Cedarville and Ivy Tech to take dual credit classes. I have to send in one more form and then I will hopefully be taking dual credit classes this next school year at college. I also have a couple of extra classes that I will be taking at Highlands Latin School, so I just ordered my uniforms for those classes. Finally I think I may be able to relax and not have to worry about this next school year. Of course I will be applying to colleges in a couple months because this is my last year of high school. Wow time really does fly by. It is hard to think that this is what I’ve been waiting for. I used to always look at seniors in high school and think that they were so much older and smarter than me, but now I realize that I don’t feel any older. I also know I have gained some knowledge over the years, but the more I learn about life and the way things work the more I realize I don’t know very much at all.

Okay so now that you all have read more than you probably ever wanted to, I am going to sign off. This is Taylor Good wishing you all the best of summers! Goodbye

I do have a lot of pictures, but I am just putting them into a video because that is easier than trying to put them all up on the blog. It will be finished shortly!