Recital and graduation

I’ll get to my graduation in a minute.

I realized I totally forgot to post about Robbie’s birthday earlier this month, and I want to say a very belated “Happy Birthday” to him now. We now have three teenagers in the house. Yikes! Just kidding! I love you Robbie!!

Also, my parents celebrated their 22nd wedding anniversary on the 23rd, and instead of going out and having a day to themselves, they spent the day getting ready for my recital. THANK YOU, and I love you both!

Okay, as for my recital. It went really well, all things considered. I love performing (bet you didn’t know that!), and all my songs were ones I loved, so that was really fun for me. I played duets with both of my brothers, all of which went superbly. It was Robbie’s first duet, and his first time performing, and he was awesome! He was really nervous going into it, but he played SOOOO well! About halfway through the program I got up and gave a very impromptu speech (and I do mean very impromptu!), and then I read a poem a dear friend of mine wrote a few years ago (thank you Audra, for letting me share it!). The graduation part was great, too. My parents shared some of their memories of me growing up, and then presented me with my diploma. YEA!! The reception was fun, of course. It was great to get a chance to talk to everyone who came, especially since I don’t see some of them very often.

I know, I know. Enough with the talk, let’s see some pictures! I've had to break them into several posts; my computer's acting weird and won't let me post them all at once. But anyway, here they are! And a huge THANK YOU to Stacia for taking all of them!

Family

Talking with friends

As you can probably guess, we weren't home five minutes before I was back in jeans and a t-shirt. I don't mind dressing up for special occasions, but I was ready to be myself again!

Writing

As my mom and I have gone through a lot of "stuff" for my graduation, I've stumbled across a lot of old essays of mine. It's been fun to look back on them and see how I've changed. My writing style has changed somewhat (and I certainly hope my grammar and punctuation have improved!), but the one thing that remains unchanged is my passion for writing. I've always loved writing essays, stories, reports, debates, etc. Carl and I even wrote a "family newspaper" for a while, and I enjoy writing our family Christmas letters.

With that in mind, here are a couple of essays I've written. This first one is one I don't even remember doing, but I think I was probably around ten—so PLEASE forgive the poor grammar!

Jeff the Giraffe

My name is Jeff. I live in Noah's ark. How did I get there? Good question! One day my mom said that we were going to move away from home. So we started walking, and walking, and walking. Finally we came to this HUGE thing that looked like an upside down house. There was a man named Noah that kept talking about a flood. Then he herded us on to the boat, and here I am now.

Let me tell you, it is not fun being on this boat. Why? Because it feels like there is a non-stop earthquake going on. PLUS, there is water falling from the sky. It is noisy in the ark, because there is 2 of every kind of animal in here. It is so shaky in here I can barely keep my food down.

The water is so high that there is no ground outside, and it is so dark I cannot see very well.

Wait, I think I hear the boat hitting land. At last, after almost a year I can get off the ark.

3 months later

I am finally getting off the boat. Everything looks really different. Oh, well, I guess I will get used to it. I even have a new brother to explore with.

The Highest Mountain

This is an essay I wrote just a couple of months ago. During one of the blizzards in March, a friend challenged me to write an essay on what I would be doing if it wasn't snowing, and I could do anything I wanted. This is what I came up with. It isn't a conventional answer by any means, but it's what was (and is) on my heart.

The Highest Mountain

Have you ever looked at a mountain and felt a shiver of awe and fear race through you as you considered how much bigger God must be to have created something so magnificent? Or been on some high place looking down a cliff into the valley below, and felt that somehow that might be how God feels when He looks out from His throne to watch us? It fills you with a sense of insignificance when you realize just how mighty God is; but it also makes you feel chosen and honored when you see how much He loves you. He created the heavens and the earth, not only for His enjoyment, but for ours. Every time I look out at His creation, I'm filled with an intense desire to explore and discover it all. In this life, I may never get much further than exploring the forests in our state parks; but someday, when the heavens and earth are made new, I want to spend every single day investigating and discovering new things. As someone once said, "If I can't learn in heaven, I don't want to go there." Or, as Martin Luther said, "If God had all the right answers in His right hand, and the struggle to reach those answers in His left, I would choose God's left hand." As humans, we are filled with intense curiosity, and a deep longing to learn. Because of the Fall, sometimes this longing is for sinful things; but one day it will be returned to the pure love of learning that God intended it to be, and we will be able to discover new things forever. Someday, I want to climb the mountains and see if I can capture the feeling of power that God knows when He looks down at us. I want to explore the outermost galaxies and find out why the stars burn so brightly. I want to travel to the depths of the ocean to see the creatures that are only known by their Creator. I want to climb trees, go white-water rafting, cross the ocean, run through fields full of flowers, and listen to the birds sing their songs of praise. I want to explore secret passages in castles, investigate caves to see what sorts of creatures live there, and see the kinds of underground mazes moles and gophers make. I want to see ancient civilizations resurrected; to see how the Phoenicians came up with their language; to live in ancient Rome, in all of its beauty and without the corruption, and learn from some of the early Christians; to stroll by the Sea of Galilee; and to visit Jerusalem and walk where Jesus walked. I want to talk with some of the greatest scientists, politicians, and theologians of all time. I imagine discussing gravity with Isaac Newton; conferring with George Washington about the U.S. Constitution; and talking with Derek Prince about the state of the apathetic church in America during the 20^th and 21^st centuries. I can envision talking about missions with William Carey, Amy Carmichael, and David Brainerd. I could ask the apostle John to explain Revelation to me. I would love to talk theology with C.S. Lewis, Jonathan Edwards, and Martin Luther. Any disagreements that would come up could easily be solved simply by asking Jesus Himself.

Even more than any of this, I long for the day I will reunite with those who have gone before me. I dream of running into my grandpa's arms, and hearing of all the things he did while he was waiting for us. I can almost hear Grandpa Jackson's laugh as he teaches Carl how to fly fish. I can't wait to see the young man Joshua Mphosi may have become, and the lovely woman Margaret still is. I want to get to know Rachel, the cousin I never met, and walk on the streets of gold with some of my best friends.

In the meantime, I will press on. I still dream of the day when sin and corruption will finally be destroyed, but until then, I will continue to explore right here where God has placed me. I love biking through the trails at state parks, hiking through mud and weeds to get a better look at the river, and throwing baseballs hard enough to sprain fingers. Some of my favorite activities are wrestling and racing my brothers. We have water fights in thunderstorms until we're laughing too hard to stand up. We'll throw a football as hard as we can and see if one of us can run fast enough to catch it. Don't get me wrong; I love the quiet times when I can sit and study God's word. Searching the Scripture and reading theology books are a favorite pastime during the winter. But as long as there's a world to explore and a life to be lived, why should I always be sitting inside? If the heavens declare the glory of God, I want to know what they're saying.

Piano and other random stuff

This could turn out to be a pretty long post. Oh well, here goes.

Our piano teacher had her annual spring recital on Sunday. It went really well; I love listening to the little kids who have just started playing—they're so CUTE! And some of them have some major talent, too. Carl and I ended the recital with one of our favorite duets. Wait a second. I guess I can't really say that, 'cause I love all of our duets! But we had a lot of fun, even if I did blank out on one part . . . :-) Still, Carl kept together and I was able to pick back up. Something you learn to do after years of playing, I guess. Our individual songs went well, too.

Yesterday, Carl and I competed in the National Guild Auditions. Basically, you go in and play in front of a judge who gives you a report card. And believe me, there's a place to rate everything!!! It's crazy how detailed the report card gets. Carl and I both had a ten-piece program (all memorized), which is considered the National level (last year I had a seven-piece program, which was State level). Last year, I got a perfect score. I didn't expect something even close to that this year, for several reasons: 1) it's a different judge, who has a different personality and different standards; 2) I was playing at a higher level, and with more pieces; 3) I wasn't as prepared as last year. Sure, I had all my pieces memorized, but some of them weren't "picture-perfect," so to speak (sound-perfect?). There are a few of the pieces I can play absolutely flawlessly most of the time (one or two in particular), and I absolutely love them. But a few of the pieces I didn't like, and therefore didn't spend as much time practicing them. Sound familiar? But, I wasn't playing to get a "good" score. I got to the National level of competition in my senior year; most never make it there because they don't want to work hard enough. I am satisfied with just making it to that level.

That didn't, however, keep me from trying my best. Most of the songs went pretty well. There was one that I totally blanked out on in a spot that's never been a problem, but I still got through the song. Another one had botched notes throughout the piece. My favorites, though, went (as far as I know) perfectly. One of the songs I wasn't as confident in memorization, but it went almost flawlessly. I'll get my report card at my next lesson, but it doesn't really matter how I did. I performed as best I could, and I'm content just to say I did it. I thank God for the absolute passion for music that He has instilled in me, and I praise Him for the ability He's given me. He alone deserves the praise and the honor.

I think Carl did a lot better than I did, so hats off to him!!!! It was his first year in Guild; way to go in doing so well, and against a tough judge!

Yesterday was also the last skating day of the year. Twice a month, we get together with some other homeschoolers and go to the local roller-skating place. They play Christian music during the time, and it's a good time to hang out with friends (though my mom insists that it's more for the moms than the kids!). This was not only the last one of the year, but my last one ever. ;-( Afterwards, we went to the mall and had lunch and played cards. Yes, that's what we do when we're together—play cards; our Phase 10 deck is getting pretty banged up. :-) Sometimes we'll walk to the pet store or RadioShack, but mostly we just sit around and talk . . . and play cards. What can I say? Anyway, we spent the entire afternoon with our friends, so it was a great day. Then last night we went to a picnic for my dad's department at the university, and while we were there, a surprising announcement was made: my dad had been nominated for the Teacher of the Year award. I guess my mom already knew that, but the rest of us didn't. The real surprise was . . . HE WON!! AND HE DIDN'T EVEN TELL US! He said he wanted it to be a surprise; it sure was, since we heard it from his boss!! WAY TO GO DAD!! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!! He and Mom are both Teachers of the Year every year in my book, but it's awesome that Dad's being recognized for it!

Wow, I guess this post is long enough. Now it's back to work. But I did post some pictures below.

See?

We really DO play cards! :-)

My two best friends!

Piano pics

No, I didn't forget about my promise to post a picture of Carl's medium-sized gold cup; it's just that he didn't get it until the recital on Sunday. Anyway, here's a picture of him with is small and medium trophies--notice the difference?

While you were sleeping

Oh little town of Bethlehem
Looks like another silent night
Above your deep and dreamless sleep
A giant star lights up the sky
And while you're lying in the dark
There shines an everlasting light
For the King has left His throne
And is sleeping in a manger tonight

Oh Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
For God became a man
And stepped into your world today
Oh Bethlehem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping

Oh little town of Jerusalem
Looks like another silent night
The Father gave His only Son
The Way, the Truth, the Life had come
But there was no room for Him
In the world He came to save

Jerusalem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
The Savior of the world
Is dying on your cross today
Jerusalem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping

United States of America
Looks like another silent night
As we're sung to sleep by philosophies
That save the trees and kill the children
And while we're lying in the dark
There's a shout heard 'cross the eastern sky
For the Bridegroom has returned
And has carried His bride away in the night

America, what will we miss while we are sleeping
Will Jesus come again
And leave us slumbering where we lay
America, will we go down in history
As a nation with no room for its King
Will we be sleeping
Will we be sleeping

United States of America
Looks like another silent night

~Casting Crowns

Still alive

We've been pretty busy with finishing up school and recovering from the flood, so I haven't had time to write an update, but I wanted to let y'all know we're fine and praising God for the way He carried us through the '09 Flood trauma. The second crest of the river didn't even get up to 36 feet, so no damage was done there. We thank God that He held the dikes together throughout most of the city; we sustained no damage to our house, though our sump pump still runs fairly often.
Carl and I have a piano recital on Sunday, and a piano competition next Wednesday, but if I don't get an update on those put up, I'll try to give full details after my graduation. It's getting to be a bit crazy around here preparing for my recital/graduation, so don't be surprised if you don't hear from me too often in the next few weeks.