Wednesday, May 08, 2013

This is a blog post I wrote last Monday, but couldn’t get around to posting until today. So here is last week’s post and then I’ll get into this week’s…

Today I got to talk with some of my favorite people, the little Sexauers. The youngest two are twins and say hello to me in the hallways every Monday, but today I actually got to have a conversation with them. They think I'm crazier at school then when I came over to their house and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not, but they do continue to ask if I can come over again so I think my craziness  is okay. I want to be able to tell them that I can come over, but I think I need to continue asking my parents if I can have them over at our house first. My parents are mostly hesitant to say "yes" because my dad is rarely home and time with him is precious. Also while I'm on the subject of my dad, I just would like to ask for prayer for him as he is going through some stressful things that could result in a variety of different things including moving, change of job title, and much more. Anyways enough about one of the few stressful situations in my life...  They, the youngest Sexauers, also have an older brother and sister who joined in our conversation about all kinds of things. I found out that the twins favorite color is purple and their moms favorite color is green (just like mine). I also learned about a candy shop out in California that they really want to go to and that their older brother was just out in California looking at colleges, which I already knew but loved hearing them explain to me in their own words. We also talked about the tooth fairy and how girls tend to grow taller quicker than boys. My conversation with them just made my day so much brighter.

This school year is about to finish up, but next school year seems to be right around the corner. Next school year I may be taking college classes, but who knows because if I take too many classes I won't get college scholarships, but I only have two more high school classes to take next year and both of them I would take at a college anyways, so now I'm in a predicament about what to do. Should I just take the two classes, should I enroll in college and not receive any scholarships, or should I take the two classes and take some other classes and graduate with extra credits? I'm not sure yet, but time is ticking away before I absolutely have to decide. I am so thankful to be able to pray to God about these things because if I wasn't able to pray I would be stressed beyond the point of even functioning correctly. I get worried and stressed so easily, but after I pray and tell God all of my problems I am able to take a deep breath in and out and just let God take care of what happens because he knows my future and His ways are always better than mine.

 

On Saturday I went to a friend’s wedding shower. It was beautiful! I loved the colors considering they were green and silver, my absolute favorite dream wedding colors. At work I got my first calligraphy set and Tiffany boxes. I have always wanted a calligraphy set and was so excited to sit down and practice using them. I still need a lot of practice, but I am so happy to be able to start working on my calligraphy. (Side note… if you didn’t know this, I do have a job as a personal assistant for a friend of mine.) Saturday night I took a friend out for dinner and then we watched another friends play. It was quite the experience, but those details will have to be told at another time because I have a lot more to say and it is almost midnight.

On Tuesday my English class sang each other’s hymns to start off the class. Then we read our narrative poems. It was quite interesting getting to here everyone’s poem and hymn. Everyone received at least one award for their hymn depending on what it was the best at, for example, I got both the most accurate meter and the most accurate rhyme for my hymn. So you can tell I didn’t spend as much time on the creativity as I did on the mechanics of the hymn. Oh well. I’m just glad that is done. This week for English class I have to write a persuasive paper on what grade I think I deserve to receive in English class for the year. I think it will be fun writing the paper, but it will take a lot of work and there are already hundreds of other English terms I will have to memorize, so this week will be kind of crazy. In history class we have to write a paper about a person we learned about in history class this past year and tell how they had some impact on our lives. I think I might do mine on Ronald Reagan, but I’m not sure.

Today, Wednesday!!!!!!!! It was a most beautiful and glorious day! I got an “A” on my Latin exam which is worth over 400 points!!! Then I sat outside basking in the sun, while I was working on my U.S. History final exam. Thankfully I finished it fairly quickly and will hopefully get an “A” on it as well. Tonight my Impact group girls came over to my house and we learned how we can be motherly to others without actually being biological mothers, considering all of us girls are too young to be thinking about having children of our own.

Well I seriously need some sleep tonight since I have a big day tomorrow.

Miss Overcommitted Crazy Lady

 (Taylor Good)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gherkins=cucumber

Sable= black

Appellation=name

Blithe= care-free, cheerful (this is quite a funny thought when you think about the character Gilbert Blithe from "Anne of Green Gables"

 

 

 

Just some interesting figures of speech we're learning about in English class...

 

Metaphor

            - Time is money

            - Laughter is the music of the soul

          - Strength and dignity are her clothing

Simile

            - Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever

            -It’s fleece as white as snow

            -She appeared to be as delicate as a flower

Metonymy or synecdoche

            -The White House will be announcing the decision around noon today

            -All hands on deck

Personification

            - The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky

                - The bees played hide and seek with the flowers as they buzzed from one to another

                - I can hear California calling my name

Apostrophe

            - Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone

  Without a dream in my heart

  Without a love of my own

-Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

 How I wonder what you are.

 Up above the world so high,

 Like a diamond in the sky

Hyperbole

            - I’ve told you a million times

            -If I can’t buy a new dress, I’m going to die

            -His brain is the size of a pea

Understatement

            -“Dad, I just was in a head on collision with another car, but there is just a scratch or two of paint missing.”

            -The calamari dish made by Bobby Filay was tolerable

Paradox

            - A rich man is no richer than a poor man

            - Drowning in the fountain of eternal life

            - “What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young." - George Bernard Shaw

Oxymoron

            -Virtual reality

            -Definite maybe

            -Liquid gas

Pun

            - An optimists blood type is always B-positive

            - Corduroy pillows are making headlines

            - Energizer Bunny arrested -- charged with battery

 

 

 

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

I typed this up on Monday, so when I say today I actually mean yesterday.

Talk about an adventure. Today was nothing, but one adventure after another. It all started out when I was helping out in a cooking class. I normally help the struggling young gentlemen learn how to correctly read and follow a recipe. I decided to try and let them do it on their own, if only it was that easy. We ended up with rock hard butter in the mixture instead of softened butter, one tablespoon of cinnamon instead of one teaspoon of cinnamon, and cookie dough flung EVERYWHERE from the electric mixer. Needless to say I learned my lesson on just letting them have at it.

So then I was supposed to take my younger brother to track practice at a nearby middle school, but nothing seemed to go as planned. First the laundry machine dryer didn't finish until five minutes before we had to leave and guess who's track practice pants were in the dryer, yes, my younger brothers, of course. Then my mom tells us we need to fold the clothes before she gets home from baseball practice with my other brother, so we rush to fold all the clothes. Even with all the rushing we still left five minutes later then expected. Now I had already set aside an extra ten minutes in case we got lost while driving to track practice, but since the folding took longer then expected  we were down to an extra five minutes instead. I tell my brother it is time to go and then I get in the car. Now we only had an extra three minutes to get lost. Yikes! Finally  we are both in the car. I race off trying to avoid all red stop lights, large trucks, and people who are more concerned about their phone conversation then they are about driving on the road. We finally make it to the road that the school is on and I recall my mom saying something about turning right after a stoplight into a subdivision and following it back to the school, so I  go through a stoplight and have to quick slam on the brakes to turn right after a stoplight and then I realize I'm on some country road. So I quickly turn around and we are down to only two extra minutes. I see another stoplight ahead so I go through this stoplight and turn right into a subdivision. I could tell I was not in the right place. Quickly I pulled out my phone and located the school and my car's location on the phone's GPS app. We were only one minute away from the school. We still had enough time to get their. I pulled out back on to the road only to go through another stoplight and turn right for now the third time. Thankfully we were in the right neighborhood, but of course I missed the turn we were supposed to take once we were in the neighborhood. Thankfully my phone showed me another way to get to the school through the neighborhood. Three minutes late and we finally make it to track practice were I am now sitting and typing this out.

After track practice I was to bring him home. When he stepped into the car, he pointed out to me that I had illegally parked in the handicap only parking spot. You would have thought that by now not much else could have gone wrong until I had the brilliant idea to take a different way home then the way I came. As I began driving I quickly realized I had no idea which way I was going and I started to slightly panic when I realized I was headed in the wrong direction. So I turned around and knew I was now going in the right direction, but I still had no idea were in the world I was. If you haven’t figured it out already, I have NO sense of direction whatsoever. I looked over at my younger brother and sweetly asked him if I could tell him the truth and when he said yes I said, “I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE WE ARE GOING!” I just kept driving straight. Thank the Lord I finally came to an intersection that looked familiar. I quickly turned onto it and we were back on track. At that point I was laughing and crying from both happiness and shock. Finally we made it home safe and sound. Who would have known driving to track practice with your older sister could have been so eventful? J

(Tuesday) Thankfully today has not been anywhere near as eventful as Monday was. Today I learned about hymns, took four tests, and wrote an in class essay. I also wished my gorgeous friend, Anna, a Happy Birthday! Other than that today has just been a rainy thunderstorm kind of day. I’m not a big fan of lightning and thunder; it is a little scary for my liking. My favorite kind of rain is when the sun is still shining bright, but it is pouring down rain and of course I like it when there is a beautiful rainbow that follows. Well that is about all that has happened. Until next time…

Taylor Good

A quote that I really like...

"The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian. But the fact that I am a Christian does make me a different kind of woman." ~Elisabeth Elliot





A narrative poem that I am begining to write...

My Lost Hiding Place

Quiet, peaceful, tranquil, serene,

A four cornered room

Filled up with my dreams.

A place to think,

A place to pray

A place to find hope on those gloomy days.

Showered with green and pink and blue hues

To bring life and happiness to all who pass through.

A window so big to let sunshine flow in

With malachite curtains made of satin.

A frame full of pictures reflecting my past

With joyous memories that left way too fast

The walls know my story.

The walls know the truth.

The walls know that

I will be leaving soon.

No more late night talks with my mom,

 Or humorous stories with my sister Autumn.

No more space all to my self

Nor parents to run to for comfort and help

This grandeur place will be mine no more,

But rather left for a little boy.

To think, to pray, and to find hope,

But until that day I shall treasure my room.

Saturday, April 06, 2013

TAYLOR UNIVERSITY here I come!!!!! I spent this past Thursday and Friday at Taylor University in Upland, IN. The campus houses just over 2,000 students and is made up of a fairly diverse group of people.

I toured two of the girls’ dorms, Olson and English (those are the dorm names). Olson has a downstairs lobby area complete with chairs, couches, a large flat screen TV, a standard sized kitchen complete with a toaster, refrigerator, microwave, oven, and cabinet space. There is also a laundry room on the main floor where you can do your laundry free of charge, except you must bring your own detergents. On the floors above the lobby, there are the girls’ dorm rooms. The floor plan of Olson is T-shaped. There are dorm rooms all along the edges and they house anywhere from 2-4 girls. The bathroom is shared by all the girls on your wing. So there are two bathrooms on each floor. In each bathroom there are multiple sinks, toilets, and showers with side walls and curtains in front of them. Each dorm room is pre-stocked with two stackable beds, two stackable shelves, two stackable desks, and two free standing closets. Olson is known for being a bit louder and more sociable. Then there is English. I personally liked English better, but my friend liked Olson better, so I think it really depends on your personality. The rooms in English appeared a bit bigger and are set up differently. The English floor plan looked more like a tree. There was the main “trunk” with “branches” coming off. At the end of each “branch” there were little circles. In the little circles girls would put couches, chairs, tables, refrigerators, or anything that would take up a lot of space in their dorm rooms. The dorm rooms were attached to the little circles. Guys are not allowed in girls rooms except one day a week for a certain number of hours, but guys are allowed in the downstairs lobby area until 1 am. The same goes for girls in guys’ rooms.

On Thursday night we went to a “Reject Show”. It is a talent show that was hilarious. Then we went out for a sweet treat.  There is only one restaurant in town called “Ivanhoe’s”. They have 100 ice cream flavors! I had their Strawberry Flip Shake and Strawberry Shortcake. I would highly recommend both, but specifically the shortcake. It was absolutely delicious. Then we stayed the night with Katie Beadle. Thank you Katie for an awesome 24 hours! The next morning we had breakfast in the school cafeteria. The cafeteria has a normal variety of foods, but what really made this cafeteria stand out was its gluten free bread and soy milk. Since I try to avoid eating gluten and dairy, these food options would be quite a blessing. On Friday I sat through a meeting and two classes. Both of the classes I sat in on had less than twenty people in the class. I greatly appreciate this aspect of the school because that way the students and professors are able to connect with one another better. Speaking of connecting better, the president and his wife, “the first lady”J, live on campus and invite all the students on campus to come over to their house. All the students I had talked with had been invited over to the president’s home either to watch a ball game, have dinner, or just talk about life. The president seems to love his job and do well at it. Another thing I love about Taylor is their focus on chapel. There is no requirement to go to chapel, but everything closes down on campus and the students are encouraged to attend chapel. On Friday I went and sat in on chapel and was greatly encouraged to see the chapel filled up with people even though chapel is not required. I also appreciate how the school professors direct students to the Bible instead of telling the students their personal opinions because the professors know that only the Bible is the only truth. I know that I’m not even scratching the surface with everything that I like about Taylor University, but I’m going to end my enthusiasm here and let you go and visit Taylor yourself. Now the biggest problem with Taylor University is the cost. It costs approximately $36,000 a year! That is going to kill me financially, so I am looking into scholarships. I’ve been saving for college since I was little, but babysitting kids does not make enough money to pay for college.

        On another note thank you for your prayers. They are greatly appreciated.

Taylor Good

 

 

 

 

 

EXTRA PICTURES!!!

 

 ~Eric Metaxas field trip with friends

 Anne of Green Gables

 Weekend with grandparents

 

 

 

 

 

 Easter Sunday Morning   

 

 

 

Daddy daughters date

 

 

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Today is Easter! He is risen! He is risen indeed! Today we put on our Easter dresses and headed to our church for Easter morning breakfast. I was so excited for this morning that I kept waking up last night hoping that it was morning. We haven’t done anything extraordinary today, but just knowing that my Savior has risen from the dead is enough to make me overflow with joy and exuberance.

     I wish I could say that today has been one of those most perfect days that you remember forever, but that wouldn’t be the whole truth. Just because the day started out sort of how I had planned, doesn’t mean it is ending well. I wanted to be one hundred percent focused on God today, but have ended up selfishly mourning the loss of a dear friend of mine. Even though I foresaw this friendship coming to an end, there was nothing that could have prepared me for the pain and tears that followed. I want to be confident that this was the best decision, but I have this feeling deep down that just doesn’t feel right. I need to remember that God has a plan for this and if he wants us to be friends, he will bring us back together again otherwise I need to focus on becoming more like Christ. I don’t normally ask for prayer about things like this publicly, but right now it would be most appreciated. Thank you!

I hope that this Easter day finds you in good spirits and praise the Lord that He is risen!

Taylor Good

Monday, March 25, 2013 (Tuesday, March 26, 2013)

 

Today we had no school! It has snowed so much that school was canceled today. Of course Friday will be a rough day because that is the day we are going to use to make up for the snow day, but oh well. I am just thankful to not have had to wake up early.

So much has happened in so little time. I performed in a musical “Anne of Green Gables” a little over a week ago. Thankfully with God’s help we made it through three nights of performance all alive and well. I want to say thank you to all of you who came and supported us. It means a lot to have people come and watch us after we spend countless hours working on memorization, singing, lighting, stage crew, piano playing and so much more. God answered many of our prayers just in time for the play. First of all we didn’t have a pianist, that wasn’t on bed rest, until the week before the play and the microphones worked only half of the time, so everyone continued to pray and by God’s grace we made it through. It is terribly saddening to think that I won’t see most of these wonderful people until next year. Of course there will be a cast party next Monday so I will have one more chance to see my dear friends.

As some of you may know my cousin’s grandfather passed away this week, so our family went to pay our respects. Hopefully we were able to be of some comfort and consolation to them and their grieving family members. I seem to never know what to say to family members who have just lost a loved one, so I give them a hug and pray for them. Honestly sometimes it is hard to know the right words to say and so occasionally I share all the emotions and feelings I cannot express in words by simply giving a hug.

After the funeral our grandparents took us up to their house for the weekend. My parents needed the weekend alone to plan and prepare for this upcoming year. We had a lot of fun up at grandpa and grandma’s house and as usual we were spoiled to death with sweet treats, eating out at restaurants, going to the movie theatre, and having a lot of TV/I-pod/computer/Wii time. Thank you grandpa and grandma for a wonderful weekend. I absolutely loved playing Boogle and those crab cake things were undeniably delicious. I love you both and can’t wait to see you again!

Tonight our family went to a Pacer’s game. They won 100 to 9?. I can’t remember the exact score of the other team. I’m not a big basketball fan, so I wasn’t excited to go to the game tonight, but getting to spend time with my family and getting to eat Dippin’ Dots made up for it. Some friends of ours were seating next to us, which also made it a little bit more enjoyable. When we came home tonight I wanted to quickly get ready for school tomorrow and then get ready to go to bed, but God had different plans. The water heater was not working at all. Go figure. I got my school books together and then had to figure out how in the world I was going to take a shower because I cannot fall asleep without at least a clean face and hair. I went downstairs and boiled some water on the stove to shave with and the rest of my shower was FREEZING COLD. My head got so cold I had a headache. It felt like the worst brain freeze ever. Thankfully I have a very warm hairdryer, which I used all over myself after the icy shower. It took twice as long to get ready for bed tonight because of this set back, but it was nothing I couldn’t work with. All I can say is thank the Lord for water, stoves, hairdryers, and most importantly a new water heater that my dad is installing right now at 1:00a.m. My dad probably won’t get much sleep tonight if any because his flight leaves really early this morning. Well it is far past my bedtime and is now Tuesday rather than Monday so I shall say goodnight to you or to some of you good morning.

Taylor Good

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Art- something I am not good at. I like to sit and doodle, but sitting down to draw a realistic picture is a whole other story. The right side of my brain does not work as efficiently as the left side of my brain. My brain does well with math, science, and things that use the left side of my brain, but art, writing, and things that use the left side of my brain do not come naturally to me. I’m getting better at using both sides of my brain, but it does take work. Yesterday at the end of art class my art teacher, Mr. Branch, asked me to write about a usual day in art class. So I’ve been thinking about how to approach this task. Well here it goes… Everyone takes there good ole time moseying their way into art class and then they find a seat. Now you must remember that there cannot be two people seating right beside each other. There has to always be an empty seat in between each person. Then Mr. Branch takes attendance while we pull out a number 2 lead pencil, special drawing paper, and our notebooks. After inspecting who all has remembered their proper art materials, Mr. Branch gives a brief speech on whatever we are supposed to learn that day and then we start. Some people are in a race of time to try and complete their art projects as quickly as possible, while others meticulously sketch each line and then critique it trying to make it perfect. I happen to be the meticulous one and each art project takes me FOREVER!  About halfway through the class our teacher comes around to make sure we are doing okay. During that time he looks for anything that might be wrong. Usually Brooke and/or Daisy are completely done with the project; Eric and I are still on the first step; Jeremy brings us all some good comic relief; and everyone else is somewhere in between. Jeremy, Mr. Branch, I and whoever is sitting beside us usually join in conversations of the most absurd things. If only there was a little camera on the wall so I could play back for you the happenings in that little art class of mine. By this point in time art class is pretty much over with. We all bid one another farewell before heading off to our next class. I think that is a fairly reasonable overview of a normal art class with Mr. Branch.

As a little ten year I won a cd from Moody Radio. The cd was by Jill Phillips. It’s called “Writing on the Wall.” About two days ago I pulled out some of my old cds and decided to sit down and listen to my music in one of those “old fashioned” cd players. As I began listening to the Jill Philips cd I noticed that the words are full of Scripture and speak of God’s truths. The songs’ lyrics are all quite encouraging to me, but her song “Sacred” really stood out to me. The lyrics are as follows…

It’s the clichéd writing on the wall

Funny how it’s been there all along

And all the while you’ve listened to

Anyone who had a point of view on what you should do

 

The liars in your head are growing loud

They say you’re in too deep to turn back now

And answers seem so hard to find

You wonder if you still can change your mind… change your mind

 

There’s something to be said for patience

So hold on to what you know is sacred

Don’t let your only dream be taken

And cashed in for everything you’ve hated

 

You have something there that can’t be sold

A lifetime full of secrets to be told

And it is not too late to choose

The narrow winding way that few men do… so few men do

 

I obviously do not take any credit for these lyrics and did not come up with them, but I do own a copy of her cd. They are just absolutely beautiful lyrics and are hopefully somewhat encouraging to you as they are to me. If you have never heard her music I would recommend looking up her album “Writing on the Wall”. I have listened to her cd over and over again for four hours straight now. I really like it!

 

Please pray for me because tomorrow I will be taking the National Latin Exam. I am just a little bit nervous, but I have been getting A+’s in Latin so I’m not exceedingly worried.

 

So long for now!

Miss Good

 

I don’t want to make this super long, but I want to thank all of you who have kept up with my blog. I have had over 4,000 views! This is extremely exciting and appreciated, since that wouldn’t be possible without all of you who read my posts. I know I only started this to keep in touch with my family members and friends while I was living in Canada, but it has reached so many others. Thank you for your continued reading as I love to share with you what has been going on in my everyday life. Hope you have a blessed day,

 Taylor Good

Friday, February 22, 2013

Between life and school I have been keeping quite busy. Right now I am touring colleges and have decided to major in organizational leadership and supervision, which is essentially business management. I really liked the idea of majoring in bio-med. Engineering, but I believe something business related would suit me better.

        As some of you may know my grandfather passed away in September of 2008 because of pancreatic cancer. Because of his passing away right now I’m looking into the details of organizing a group together to walk with me on May 11-12 for Relay for Life. Relay for Life is an organization that supports the American Cancer Society and raises both money and awareness to help save people’s lives. I want to help give others with cancer a chance at life. All I am asking is that you give up an hour or so of your day to support this noble cause. If you would like more information, their website is definitely a helpful resource. Here are some details you may like to know…

Relay for Life website: http://www.relayforlife.org/index

Date: May 11- May 12

Time: 10 a.m. - 10 a.m.

Place: Forest Park in Noblesville, Indiana

Relay for Life Phone #: 1-800-227-2345

I would love it if you all could come and walk with me as we support our loved ones who are both fighting against cancer and have already passed on because of cancer. Help the ones you love and take this challenge to spend one hour on a walk that may save a person’s life.

        I am also working on a project called “Sister’s in Christ.” Essentially my theme comes from Titus 2: 3-5 where it talks about older women encouraging younger women in the ways of the Lord. I am getting a group of devoted high school girls together to help me with this. We will be Christ-like examples to a group of 1^st- 4^th grade girls. Please pray for wisdom in the planning and preparation of both of these endeavors.

        Tomorrow is my first dress rehearsal!! Nerves and excitement are flying high as I frantically gather everything together. Tomorrow we will practice the whole play together for the first time. Can’t wait to see how it ends up going!

So long for now… Miss Taylor Good

 

 

Some things I’m learning…

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. Galatians 6: 7-8

        -The choices you make today have an effect on your future

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. 1 Corinthians 3: 18-19a

        -Being like people of this world will get me nowhere

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation. And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Psalm 51:12

       -SIN STEALS JOY!!!