Things I Learned Today

The average income of someone in Luxembourg is $55,100.
There is such a thing as "Feminist Geography".
There are 269 billionaires in the U.S. (240 more than any other country...).
Mrs. Becky was the coolest person ever.
I hate Bill's Bookstore with a passion.
The loudness of my cellphone is proportional to my need for it not to ring.
FSU is like a foreign country.
Techo Serbian music is pretty cool.
Do not rely on busses to get you anywhere.
Brandon Myrick does a great impression of Justin Timberlake as Ashton Kutcher.
I miss Lori.

Meh

"Meh".
From the Kenley/Gaby/Justin Dictionary of Eloquence.
Meh (also Beh)
interj., slang, adj.
1. an expression of rejection or strong distgust; a negative response.
2. an exclamation of dismay, exasperation, doubt, or disbelief (or anything else you would like to use it for).
ex. When told there was garlic on her mashed potatoes, Calyn replied, "Meh."

From the Old English word "Mihe" meaning, "that sucks", "you've got to be kidding me", or "I'm not down wit' dis". Such as, a response to the question "Do you like my mom's potato salad?" "Mihe".

That one word describes how I feel about school right now. Say it with me, "Meh". (Jenna, I realize the quotations are supposed to go on the outside of the punctuation, and I know it's gonna drive you nuts, but it just looks stupid. I'm rewriting grammar rules right now as we speak.) School is just overrated. I mean, seriously, I'm probably only gonna remember about 2.4735704% of what I learn in school anyway, so what's the point? I have much better things to do with my time, like, go to taco bell with James, hang out with Mrs. Karen at northwoods, write Lori emails, plan road trips with Carli, you know, important things. Speaking of important things, FSU plays Miami on Monday night football next week, and we need to have a party. Parties are good. Much better than school. (Again, Jenna, "much better than school" is not a complete sentence. But it is my complete thought. Just thought I'd let you know. Don't stress yourself out.)
Okay, well, I'm going to bed now because I decided, like, a week ago that I would try to go to bed before 1 every night, but I've only suceeded... well, actually, I haven't suceeded at all, but, like Benjamin Franklin said, "If at first you don't suceed, just don't tell anybody you tried and destroy all the evidence." Or maybe that was sombody else. You know that's really not all that encouraging.
Here's one more last one for you: "If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you." I don't know who said that, but they were very wise.
Arrivederci!

Quiz for the Day

Okay, peoples. What is this? Me, Kenley, Lori and Diane had this conversation a long time ago, and I was thinking about it tonight. It is definitely amphibian/bird looking, but yet, it also has hair...and paws...
This was Lori's grandmother's and it's been in Lori's room for a while now. I think it's a bank or something. Personally, it freaks me out. Not as much as the deer head and turkey on the wall in the spare bedroom ("I see dead deer..."), but it's creepy nonetheless.

So, is it:

a) a frog?
b) a duck?
c) a sesame street character? (or muppet. Take your pick.)
d) an alien?
e) a dinosaur? or
f) an abstract sculpture of Kenley?

I'll be awaiting your answers. Arrivederci!

We like to move it, move it

So, one of the best afternoons ever. The Collinsworths are having 3 Russian orphans stay with them for 3 weeks and so Mrs. Toma asked if I wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese (for those of you who don't live here, that's this kid's place with an arcade and a playground and pizza and stuff) and hang out with her and the boys. Their names are Yura (he's 9), Maxim (he's 8), and Oleg (he's 4). They were so awesome!
It's at times like this I'm reminded of how bad my Russian really is, but it was still fun to try to talk to them and play translator for a little bit. They didn't speak any English except for "no", "yes" and "windshield wipers" (oddly enough, Mrs. Toma had taught them that and they had remembered...), so that was fun.
After that, we went to the 50-cent theater and saw Madagascar, which I think they liked. I sat with Maxim, because there weren't enough seats and we had to split up, but he was laughing and stuff, so that was good. I hadn't seen Madagascar in English yet, so some things got cleared up in my second viewing of it. (However, "we like to move it, move it" was still the same.) I still don't understand how Ben Stiller can play a character and it not be funny at all. I mean, it's Ben Stiller. But he was not funny.
So, I had a great time with them and they'll be at church tomorrow, so I get to see them again. And I fully plan on hanging out with them more next week. If anybody's interested in adopting 3 little Russian boys, call Mrs. Toma. (Preferably be from Tallahassee, so I can still play with them. :0)
Arrivederci!

Since It Seems To Be The Hot Topic and All...

...I'd thought I'd write a few thoughts. It's come up in conversation a lot, and I've kinda been thinking about it more. I think people are forgetting a very important point in all of this. Pat Robertson apologized for the things he said. I've had to apologize for some statements in my life, and that is not a fun thing. Here's what he said:

Pat Robertson Clarifies His Statement Regarding Hugo Chavez

CBN.com – VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., August 24, 2005--

"I want to take this opportunity to clarify remarks made on the Monday, August 22nd edition of The 700 Club where I adlibbed a comment following a very brilliant analysis by Dale Hurd of the danger that the United States faces from the out-of-control dictator of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez. In this story, Col. Chavez repeatedly claimed that Americans were “trying to assassinate him.”
In my frustration that the U.S. and the world community are ignoring this threat, I said the following:
'Thanks, Dale. If you look back just a few years, there was a popular coup that overthrew him; and what did the United States State Department do about it? Virtually nothing; and as a result, within about 48 hours, that coup was broken, Chavez was back in power. But we had a chance to move in. He has destroyed the Venezuelan economy, and he’s going to make that a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent. I don’t know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it. It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war, and I don’t think any oil shipments will stop. But this man is a terrific danger, and this is in our sphere of influence, so we can’t let this happen...We don’t need another 200-billion-dollar war to get rid of one strong-arm dictator. It’s a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.'

Is it right to call for assassination? No, and I apologize for that statement. I spoke in frustration that we should accommodate the man who thinks the U.S. is out to kill him. "

*For the whole article, read here

Okay, I'm not really talking about the interview anymore. He's apologized.
I'm not a huge 700 Club watcher, nor do I agree with everything Pat Robertson says. In fact, sometimes I disagree a lot. But I also do not agree with everything Dave Reber says, Jenna Myrick says, Todd Sapp says, Bobby Bowden says, John Eldridge says, or James Dobson says either. The chances of me agreeing 100% with any Christian person in this world all the time is very unlikely. However, all the people I just named are Christian people who I believe are trying their best to make a difference and live the way Jesus wants them to. Who am I to bash their ministry? Maybe Bob Smith thinks that everyone should recite the Lord's prayer every night and he teaches that to all the people he's discipling. Maybe Joe Schmo thinks that speaking in tongues is a great way to praise God and does it in church every Sunday. Who am I to say mean stuff just because that the way they worship God isn't the same way I do on Sunday? People sure are quick to bash Pat Robertson's ministry now that he's said something wrong, making fun of his television program and all. The couple of times I've watched the 700 Club I've been so encouraged by all the good they do for people in Christ's name. (I don't agree with everything on that show, but I also don't agree with everything at my own church.) Here's just some of the ministries that CBN has:

World Reach
CBN WorldReach is CBN’s most ambitious global evangelistic outreach to date and is designed to take the Gospel to 500 million people through mass media and personal outreach.

CBN Animation
In 1977, an idea to reach children with the Gospel message through animated characters was born at the fledgling CBN. Now, more than 25 years later, CBN is the world leader in Bible-theme animation programs for TV.

Bless Israel
Israel is in the middle of what's being called the worst recession in its 55-year history. For a nation that boomed through most of the 1990s due to mass immigration, foreign investment and its high-tech industry, the fall has been fast and steep. The closure of thousands of businesses has been jarring. With a total of 1.2 million Israelis (almost a fifth of the population) now living in poverty, Israel is in desperate need of assistance.

Regent University
The nation's preeminent Christian university dedicated to combining quality education with biblical truths

The American Center for Law and Justice
Based in Washington, D.C., the American Center for Law and Justice specializes in constitutional law. Through work in the courts and the legislative arena, the ACLJ is dedicated to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms.

Operation Blessing
Operation Blessing International Relief and Development Corporation (OBI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, humanitarian organization that provides short-term medical, hunger and disaster relief and development assistance to people in need in the United States and around the world.

Plus, they have a 24 hour prayer line, free devotionals and a news program from a Christian standpoint. Let's look at the good, here. I don't know Pat Robertson personally, and most likely never will. I don't know his true motives in what he does. I'll never truely know what his heart is until we get to heaven. The only heart I can really know if my own. But, maybe the best thing to do in all of this is sit back and accept the guy's apology. He said himself that he said it in frustration. There are countless times that I've said things in frustration that I wish I could take back (but fortunately, I've never said them on national television). This is a fellow Christian who may have different political views than you, or a different denomination than you, or a different calling than you, but he is our brother in Christ whether we like it or not. I didn't hear the interview; I've only read it. I've heard plenty about it by the media. However, you can see the fruit of Pat Robertson's ministries every night at 11:00 on ABC Family along with some other T.V. stations at various times during the day.
When I'm leading ministries that are leading thousands of people to Christ every year and I'm doing all of the stuff CBN is doing and more, then I'll start criticizing Pat Robertson.

This One's For Nicole! (and Derek, and Carli, and Veronica, and Trisha...)

So So Dicee!!!!! :0)

I Hate Money

I really do hate money. It becomes the main point of so many issues. It seems like there's so much stress in my life about money (or lack of it, rather) . Lately I've found myself really wanting to give to people and do "good" stuff, but it always requires money. I mean, Lori needs money, Shannon needs money, Miss Cindy needs money, Radooga needs money, Voice of the Martyrs, Wycliffe Bible Translators, people going to Peru, people going to Romania, and I really wish I had money to give to them. But whenever you're making like, less than $100 a week, it really doesn't go very far. I wish I had a billion dollars that I could just disperse to everyone. But, I don't. And it's sad, because I really want to go to Ukraine in January, but it seems like it always comes back to "Do I have enough money?" And I know God owns the "cattle on a thousand hills", and it's really all His money anyway, but it's like pulling teeth to get enough money to go on mission trips and it makes things so stressful. I mean, none of the 7 of us who went to Ukraine this summer raised enough support to go. And it's always interesting when 2 of the most generous people who gave me money for mission trips weren't even Christians. And they're not rich either. I struggle between saying, "God, I know you're going to work it all out and the money will come" and "Let's be realistic here..." If you can't get support to win people to Jesus from Christians, who are you going to turn to? And there are very generous Christian people in our church, but it seems like it's the same 20-or-so families that support everyone for everything. You know, the ones that get, like, 50 support letters a year. And they can only give so much.
Anyway, all that to say I wish that the people who were going on mission trips could spend the majority of their time and energy focusing on the actual trip instead of where money was going to come from. Imagine if Christian organizations could spend all their time on their ministry instead of most of it begging other Christians for support. What if the church body really was like a family?
Solomon said "money is the answer for everything." (Ecc. 10:19) And he was the wisest guy on earth. I wish it wasn't like that.
Anybody else ever feel this way?
Arrivederci

Happy Independence Day, Ukraine!

It's Ukrainian Independence Day, people! Eat some Ukrainian food, speak some Russian, listen to the national anthem, wear your Shevchenko jersies and remember, freedom is an awesome thing!
Пока!!!

Happy Birthday, Oleg!!!

The Spice of Life

I am definitely without creative energy tonight... Maybe it's because I'm listening to really boring music and everyone's in bed at my house. I need to spice things up. Hmmm, spice. That's an idea. That reminds me of some of my friends.



Lori is like Cinnamon Sugar. She's really sweet, but not so much like sugar, because cinnamon is better than sugar, because it's not just sweet. There's substance to it. And it blends in well with other foods.



James is kinda like nutmeg. Cause, well, he's a little nutty. And nutmeg is highly fashionable. I mean, what does nutmeg go in? Eggnog. I have no idea what else it's for. And they always serve eggnog at nice Christmas parties and stuff. So, James is like nutmeg.



Tamara reminds me of Paprika. For no reason other than we call her Tamarika and that sounds a lot like paprika. Okay, well, maybe not a lot, but as soon as I saw paprika I thought of Tamara.



Todd reminds me of Jamaican curry powder. One, because he's been to Jamaica, (Rasta Todd!) and also because he likes spicy stuff. Like tabasco sauce. yuck. And all those sauces at Firehouse subs. I used to wonder who ate those, cause there's like, a gazillion of them. Apparently Todd does.



Nicole reminds me of this steak seasoning that my mom buys. It's so good. it's really colorful and flavorful.. And that reminded me of Nicole. :0)



Jenshka reminds me of thyme. Because "thyme" sounds like "time" and Jenna is always late. I really couldn't tell you what thyme tastes like. All I know is it's in the Simon and Garfunkel song "Scarbourough Fair". "Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme..."



I can think of some people who remind me of garlic salt... but I won't name any names...

I could name some more friends, but I can't find anymore spices. My Dad and I don't like garlic, so that kinda limits your season salts and stuff. They all have garlic. Yuck! I'd rather eat soap. Maybe I'm part vampire.
Well, apparently Sanctus Real did the trick, because now I'm really wired.

Oh, happy news! Donnie Davis called me today and said that he'd like to support Lori every month. That made my day.

For those of you whose Sunday school classes me, Trisha and Jenna did not visit Sunday, if you'd like to help support Lori while she's in Ukraine that would be so awesome! She needs about $700 a month for an apartment and everything. So, it comes out to about $25 a day. So, I have this giant calendar with pictures and cool marker colors and stuff and you can sign up to support her for a day. I'm trying to get people to commit to a day every month, but if you can't do that, then that's okay. Please email or call me if you're interested or if you want more info. :0)

Alright, well, I'm gonna try to go to bed. I'm putting my boring music back on. I think I'm gonna drink some tea. And read. I haven't read a good book in forever...
Arrivederci!

For Lori :0)

Okay, here's a very, very special interview for Lori. This is Calyn, Jenna, Carli, Trisha and... da da da, JAKE live on speaker phone from Texas!

Carli: what should our subject be?
Jake: Listen, I don't care. It doesn't matter, I'm the famous person who gets interviewed. Hold on, I'm gonna hit a truck. Whoa, that was close.
Calyn: Hold on! You gotta talk slower.
Carli: So just talk r-e-a-l s-l-o-w.
Jake: O-k-a-y. Ask me a question.
Carli: How was the wedding?
Jake: It was good, okay, listen. It was happy. I've never been to a wedding before and it was happy. So good. It makes me wanna get married now. It's a huge bucket of hope.
Calyn: Any prospects on getting married?
Jake: Well, there's Anna Kournakova. But she hasn't called me back.
Trisha: Who else?
Jake: I'm not givin' any names. Listen, I'm not getting married. God's wrath. The wedding was good. I drank some punch. I made roast beef hash. It was good.
Carli: We went to Applebees and made the most noise in a restaurant ever.
Jake: Could the restaurant hear me on the phone?
Carli: Yes.
Jake: Good. Good. Okay, so you know I work with horses?
All: yes.
Jake: Well, I'm freakin' scared of them now.
Carli: Why?
Jake: Cause I got freakin' nailed by one in UUUkraine. The horses are not normal in UUUkraine. "Did you go to Russia for your mission trip?" "NO! I went to UUUkraine!" "The Yukon?" "No, not the Yukon. UUUkraine."
Calyn: I'm getting eating alive by mosquitoes.
Jake: Why?
Carli: We're in the car becaus we were charging the phone, but now we don't need to charge it anymore, but we're still sitting out here beause we're lazy.
Trisha: We're eating stale crackers.
Jake: Man, stale crackers were a hot item at camp.
Carli: We were talking about how you wouldn't put cheeseits in your soup.
Jake: But then I changed my ways.
Carli: That's right.
Jake: I'm pretty much never giving Justin pringles again. I'm pretty much gonna crack his skull.
Carli: I'm gonna choke on my stale crackers now.
Jenna: They're not stale.
Carli: They're just off-brand. Okay, Jake, Trisha was trying to tell you about crackers and she spewed crackers everywhere. It was awesome.
Jake: This is the interview. Ready?
Carli: Okay, go.
Jake: Wait, I forgot. I had something but I forgot it. Oh yeah. Hey, I'm gonna dye my hair black.
Carli: NO!
Jake: I'm not gonna dye it. I'm gonna highlight it black.
Calyn: How do you highlight black?
Trisha: You would look like Liza.
Jake: you remember when she drew that tatoo fish on me and put her name inside it?
Carli: yeah, who DOES that?
Jake: She said she couldn't resist.
Jake: tell Lori about my sweet pants I bought.
Carli: Okay, so Jake bought these pants, he was going to play at a kid jail, and he didn't have pants to wear so he had shorts and the guard was like, "You need to have some pants to wear."
Jake: And I was like, "do you want me to crap some?" and they were like, "no, go to walmart."
Carli: And then you got those pants that were brown and butt tight.
jake: they were so tight.
Carli: they're brown and like, polyester.
Jake: Do you remember the peach crate that I had? I have one in my room and it's awesome. I'm touching it now. It's like two shelves. It's like killing two birds with one stone. Like a 2 for 1 sale. 100% profit.
Jenna: I think we get it.
Jake: Hold on, I'm watching a video.
All: WHAT?
Jake: Hey are you there? Okay, I'm gonna watch a video. And it's like a music video. Like, one song long. Do you know Taking Back Sunday?
Carli: YES! I love them.
Jake: Apparently it's pretty good. There's this guy with a moustache and it's 100% fake.
Carli: Tonight we were talking about Little Jake's molestache.
Jake: You were talking about Little Jake?
Carli: Yeah, and how he shaved it off.
Jake: Yeah, he did have a molestache. watching movie- Hey, is that a girl or a boy?
Jenna: That's not good if you can't tell.
Jake: This is pretty stupid. Let me give you the lowdown. There's this stage and a girl dancing on stage and there's this coreographer directoring them and he's got a killer molestache and now they're all eating peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches. And now this guy walks in and he's got somethin' stuck to his molestache. Oh, it's great now. Okay, what's up with the interview?
Carli: Calyn's been typing everything you said.
Jake: Oh, that's really good. Oh, it's like, you know that game on your computer where Mario teaches typing? I used to play, but only for like five minutes cause I would get [mad]. (filter)
Carli: I think Calyn played for like, hours.
Jake: Mario filters my filter.
Carli: Did you take your filter off? because you were doing real good at camp.
Jake: Yeah, I still have it. It's a good one. I was talking to Chaim and he was like, "you have a kidney disease. " Do you know what kidneys are? They're like a filter. He said it was cause my filter wasn't working.
Carli: Yes, we know.
Jake: Do you know what I did today? I worked for 8 hours in the sun welding and cutting and grinding.
Carli: That's hot.
Trisha: That's why you have such big muscles.
Jake: It's not the same sun that it is in Ukraine.
Carli: Cause we're closer to the equator.
Jake: Shto tee skazal?
Carli: I said, "Let me see your funky chicken!"
Jake: Shto tee skazal?
Carli: I said, "Let me see your funky chicken!"
All: I said, mmmch, ah, ah, ah, mmmch, ah, ah, ah,...
Jake: I wore my Radooga jacket today.
Carli: How is that possible, it's so hot?
Jenna: Would you rather sweat and look good or be cool and not?
Jake: I went to the wedding in it with my polyester pants.
Calyn: i really want a jacket.
Carli: I think she needs an orange one because the missing orange one is hers.
Jake: Listen, you can have mine.
Calyn: No, that's okay.
Jake: It doesn't have my name on it.
Calyn: wait, does everyone have their names on it?
Carli: No, it just says "Radooga '05"
Trisha: No, that's why you can have it. Cause it doesn't have his name on it.
Calyn: i'll borrow it in December.
Jake: Yes. December. I need everyone's attention. "Something September".
All: What are you talking about?
Jake: "Something September." [pause.] For a band name.
All: Ohhhh.
Carli: Is it for your new band? Is it pretty much gonna happen?
Jake: yeah, it's gonna be good. We're gonna be recording pretty soon. I think we should have our CD for next summer. We've already come up with some songs. But I don't really know any of them.
Carli: You're just the drummer.
Calyn: Oooh, I want a CD.
All: Ya tozhye.
Carli: I wont that.
Calyn: Do you have anything to say to Lori?
Jake: Lori, stay away from horses, jellyfish and hedgehogs. Stay away from the mean three and you'll do fine. Oh, and something else. I love you. Can I say that?
All: yes.
Jake: I love you. And I'll text message you if you have a phone. I mean, I'll give you the "TM". "TM" stands for "text message" in case you didn't know.
Carli: Yeah, we know.
all: we love you jake.
Jake: Da svidaniya. Slatkeekh snov. Tee mayee boobitchkee.
All: We love you, Lori!!!!!!


Lori, you're the best! We love you!
Arrivederci!

Anticipation!

Heck, yes! Trisha and Carli are coming to Tallahassee tomorrow!!! We're so excited!



Glasha: So, Jenshka, how excited are you about Proscovia and Trishka coming?
Jenshka: I'm очень, очень excited about them coming. How about you?
Glasha: Well, Jenshka, I'm so excited I feel like jumping!
Jenshka: You know what, Glasha, I feel that urge too!




Jenshka: Well, now that we got that out of our systems.
Glasha: I think we need to take Carli and Trisha to our favorite place in the western hemisphere tomorrow.
Jenshka: Heck, yes, we do.
Glasha: Wakulla Springs is the best.
Jenshka: I'm so excited. Waaaahhhh!
Glasha: Okay, use your imagination on that sound, people. It was funny.
Jenshka: Well, we're gonna go watch Back to the Future, cause it's an awesome movie.
Glasha: Yeah, and I love Deloreans.
Jenshka: And I love Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. It doesn't get much cooler than that.
Glasha: Great Scott! That's what I said! (see post: суббота, Август 06, 2005) Well, we'll talk to you two tomorrow.
Jenshka: We are SO pumped!




Arrivederci!

"Good afternoon, this is Shandra. How may I help you?"

Those 10 little words. 10 little words that I heard nearly every week for 6 years. At 5:21 p.m. on August 19, 2005, I heard those words for the last time. (Or at least until I get Shandra's work number in West Virginia.) Yes, people. Shandra Beaver's last day at Northwoods was today. She's moving to West Virginia. Shandra, I love you so much! You were the best "boss" ever and if gas wasn't so expensive then I'd just keep working for you in West Virginia. (See, this is where my Delorean would come in handy...)

Okay, so, did you know?

West Virginia has the world's largest sycamore tree. (Zacheaus would have been thrilled.)
The first federal prison exclusively for women in the United States was opened in 1926 in West Virginia. (um, okay...)
Nearly 75% of West Virginia is covered by forests. (That's beautiful.)
According to the crime index for 1997, West Virginia had the lowest crime rate in the country. (this fact thing needs to be updated...)
Outdoor advertising had its origin in Wheeling in 1908 when the Block Brothers Tobacco Company painted bridges and barns with the wording: "Treat Yourself to the Best, Chew Mail Pouch." (Wow, someone put a lot of time and effort into that one. That really doesn't want to make me go buy Tobacco, but maybe things were different back then.)

And one more that I know on my own- West Virginia has the world's largest teapot. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that's right, from my Dad's hometown of Chester (pop. 2,500) comes the world's largest teapot. I even have a T-shirt of it.



Okay, but more about Shandra. Here are just a few of the reasons I love her:

• She has gorgeous hair, and she can do that pretty, twisty, no-effort bun thingy
• Her name is Shandra and her husband's name is Sean. That's like the coolest thing ever.
• She has cool music playing on her computer
• She gives GREAT advice
• She loves her husband so much and that is so awesome.
• She taught me how to use the copy machine, the paper folder, the ris(z?)ograph, the funky printer and the giant paper cutter
• She has kept Northwoods going for 6 years
• She has a magic stapler (unlike mine, uh-hum, I mean, Todd's)
• She keeps goodies in her secret cabinet
• She gave me an envelope-licky bottle with my name on it, which I will treasure forever.
• She has the cutest dog ever. (except for Bailey, of course. )
• She can fix anything
• She took me to lunch before I went to Ukraine
• She remembers everything
• She loves Taco Bell
• She can do more in one day than anyone else could do in three
• She laughs at all my stupid jokes
• She can use all the complicated computer programs that Northwoods has
• She lets me "borrow" diet cokes
• She is wonderful, and sweet, and devoted, and dedicated, and helpful, and encouraging, and beautiful all rolled into one.

I love you Shandra and I will miss you soooo much! Me and Mrs. Karen will be so bored without you. But, I'm so excited for you! You get to start a new adventure! In West Virginia! I know you will love West Virginia because it is absolutely beautiful. As John Denver says:

Almost heaven, West Virginia
Blue Ridge Mountains
Shenandoah River -
Life is old there
Older than the trees
Younger than the mountains
Growin like a breeze

Country Roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads

All my memories gathered round her
Miners lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine
Teardrops in my eye

Country Roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads

I hear her voice
In the mornin hour she calls me
The radio reminds me of my home far away
And drivin down the road I get a feelin
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday

Country Roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads

And so, to you, Shandra- Arrivederci!

You Say "Potato", I Say "BONSAI!"

With my Zen Garden safely reclining on my dresser, my feng shei has been relatively balenced as of late. However, one can never have too much Zen, as I always say. Actually... I never say that and I just have a zen garden because they're freakin' awesome, but if zen means I get to play with rocks and seashells and rakes and sand all from the convenience of my room, by all means, Sensei, give me zen. You can imagine my utter delight when my mom introduced me to a new form of zen- the Bonsai Potato.


I'm pretty sure that's the Sponge Bob Square Pants font, wouldn't you say? This is what they say about their potato:

Our Bonsai Potato takes 4 to 6 weeks to grow, versus a lifetime for a traditional bonsai tree-and the potato does all the work, since it requires no sun, water, or fertilizer. This tongue-in-cheek kit is a humorous poke at Western culture's desire for inner peace and tranquility coupled with our hunger for instant gratification and chronic lack of time. Now, at least a semblance of inner harmony can be achieved in a fraction of the time it takes to nurture a real bonsai. Potato not included.

I'm pretty pumped about this. I think I'm going to send one to Lori. I don't think we had much luck with Kenley's bonsai. Whatever happened to that thing, anyway? Maybe it's best I don't know. Anyway, "Innerpeace to you all- and to all a good night!" - Zen Santa
Arrivederci!

Just to Clarify...

Okay, so I feel that I must elaborate on the whole TCC self-portrait thing... for Lauren's sake at least.
Well, you see, 2 years ago I took "Beginning Painting" at Tallahassee Community College. I hadn't ever painted before, but I used to watch the Happy Painter all the time on PBS (Bob Ross one of my heroes. "We'll just put a happy little tree here...")

so I really wanted to learn to paint. I thought it would be relaxing. A nice thing to do with free time. Boy, was I ever wrong. That was the most stressful, difficult class I took at TCC. (Which isn't saying a whole lot, but it still gets the title.) Almost everyone else in the BEGINNING painting class had painted for forever and were art majors. Go figure. We had to paint still-lifes (lifes, or lives?) of apples and random geometric shapes and get the shadows right and then we had to "copy" a real painting and I did this Georgia O'Keefe picture of this cross and I almost cried during every class, and then we had to go to Lake Ella and paint a landscape and there were ducks everywhere and the wind kept blowing my papers away and my hair kept getting in the paint and my painting turned out horrible. You can't even tell it's Lake Ella. (Except maybe cause of the fountain.) But that was not the worst of it. Then came the time to do the self-portrait. Who the heck wants to see my face enlarged and stuck on a 17 X 24 canvas anyway? Who thought that was a good idea? Well, I worked and worked and worked at that stupid thing and I despised it by the end. It's probably not a good thing to despise your face, but, whatever.
Near the end of the semester I had to go to the Enrollment Services building to try to figure out dual-enrollment stuff, and I picked up my self-portrait from art class. (I think I got an A-. I know she just felt sorry for me, though. ) Well, I sorta accidentally left the painting in the enrollment services building and forgot about it. About 3 weeks later, I realized I'd left it there, but I certainly didn't care. Believe me, I was glad to see that thing go. No use sitting around my house haunting me. 'Cause I know my mom would have tried to stick it up somewhere. Moms love to do things like that. So I said goodbye to the painting and proceeded never to think about it again... until next semester came around. I walked into enrollment services and poof! there it was displayed on top of a bookcase. I was like, "um, okay..." but I didn't want to ask for it, A) because that's just retarded, B) because the people in enrollment services aren't usually very nice and C) because I didn't want it anyway. I thought for sure they'd take it down soon, but, no. Fall semester comes. Still there. Spring semester and graduation. Still there. And apparently, when Christina went to register this semester- still there. I guess I've left my mark at TCC. A hideous picture of my face. What a legacy.
So to respond to your comment, Lauren, "I didn't know you were a painter" the answer is most definitely "I'm not." If there's one thing I learned from ART2000 it's that I am not a painter. I'm sure glad Bob Ross was happy because I'd rather try to get gum out of my hair than pick up another paint brush.
So for those of you privileged people who get to go to TCC this fall, look for me in the enrollment services building. Or don't - and save yourself the heartache. Arrivederci!

I know I'm copying Nicole...

...but this blog kinda serves as my memory, so even though Nicole already posted these pictures, for my sake and the sake of my poor, pathetic memory, I'm going to post them on my blog too, so that a year down the road (or next week, depending on how much sleep I get) I can look back and see what an awesome night Ukrainian food night was. :0)



Me making salad. Salad's something I can do. No oven, no hot surfaces, no fire. Just knives...but I still have nine fingers....



Jenna and Nicole. Two of my favorite people.



Jenna, the expert potato cutter. Just look at that skill.



Me, Nicole and Jenshka. They're working on the Borshch, I'm working on the pelmeni.



Nicole and me, very tired, but very full. It was definitely 11:30 at night before we got to eat dinner... but hey, it was worth it.



How beautiful is that? All the essential extras- shishkabob ketchup, pepper ketchup and sour cream. What else could you possibly want?



We've got one word to say: Yum. (Except for Ian, who was thinking, "Oh my gosh. I'm supposed to be home at 11:30 and I live 45 minutes away from here, and it's 11:35 right now, my parents are gonna kill me...)

Ukrainian food night was awesome. Thank you, James, our photographer. I can't wait to do it again! Arrivederci!

Wakulla Springs Tomorrow!!!! Wakulla Springs Tomorrow!!!

Okay, so me and Jenna just did this awesome interview on her blog. www.jenshka.blogspot.com. You should read it. Right now. I mean it. I'm watching you. Arrivederci!

Don't Cry For Me Ookrayina!!!

Ukrainian food night! Happy Day! Okay, so at about 7:00 tonight (Jenna says I have to do a short post because it's 1:45, but I don't know if I'm capable of that. My last post was short. We'll see...) Nicole, Jenna, Ian and James (how Ian and James ended up at my house I really don't know. But that's cool.) showed up and we went to Walmart and bought a bunch of stuff to make Ukrainian food (pelmeni, borshch, vareniky, and salad. Salad doesn't sound very ethnic. Maybe if I spell it like Sarah. Saled. Yes, that looks better.) So, now I'm going to do an interview with Jenshka to talk about Ukrainian food night.

*Cool music playing. Da da duh... This is: Lifestyles of the Rich and Allergenic. I'm your host, Calyn Reber joined tonight (or this morning, rather) by Miss Jenshka Myriskaya. Let's begin.*

Calyn: So, Jenna, how did you hear about Ukrainian food night?
Jenna: Well, word on the street was, um, I don't know, I'm not funny.
Calyn: It's okay, you've got puffy eyes. That's pretty darn funny.
Jenna: Shut up. THis isn't as easy as it sounds when you've read these interviews with Jake and stuff. I mean, Jake's a lot funnier than I am. Plus, we're not in Ukraine. It's way cooler to picture you and Jake sitting in the Am. office doing in this than to picture you and me...
Calyn: No one'd want a picture of you right now, Jenna. Your eyes would take up the whole freaking picture.
Jenna: cough/sneeze/lung-destroying thing. Ow, my eyes hurt. Right, so, where was I?
Calyn: Ukrainian food night.
Jenna: Yes. Ukrainian food night.
CAlyn: Did you find a yozhek?
Jenna: Did I find a yozhek? No. Except for the one that Christian won at the 50 cent claw machine at walmart. It's green.
Calyn: I really want that. (Hey, Carli, "I wont that"...)
Jenna: yeah, me too. I also wanted that giraffe, you don't have to type this, but, it was in the corner of the machine at walmart and I really wanted it, but there was no way to get it.
Calyn: So, have you noticed anything new about our dishwasher?
Jenna: Why, in fact, yes I have. Calyn, in all her genius finally decided to replace the one, well, you tell it better than I do. Go ahead.
Calyn: Well, I don't like to brag or anything, but my smartness meter just went up, like, ten points.
Jenna: I would give you twenty.
Calyn: Thank you. Well, you see, my dishwasher has a lot of buttons on it, but we only use one of those buttons. NORMAL WASH. That's it. No, "slightly hot, but for delicate items wash",
Jenna: or no, "it will bust the dried up macaroni off your grandma's finest china wash"
Calyn: Yes, I'll log that away. Anyway, who really needs any other buttons except "NORMAL WASH"? But, about 2 years ago, our "NORMAL WASH" button fell off, leaving a pokey-out thingy that would cut your finger when you tried to push it. I dreaded pressing that button. But then, the other day, I thought to myself, "Hey, why not steal one of the buttons off one of the other buttons and stick it onto NORMAL WASH"? So, I did. And then I thought to myself, "I'm a genius." So now, CANCEL DRAIN is without a button.
Jenna: Who uses that?
Calyn: Someone with way too much free time.



Calyn: Wow, that's an awesome picture.
Jenna: Thank you, it only took me like, 6 minutes playing around with your camera to figure it out.
Calyn: Notice NORMAL WASH. Cancel Drain's pokey-out thingy.
Well, Jenna's about to keel over because her throat's closing up cause of her allergies. We'd better wrap this up.
Ooh, do you know the origin of the phrase to "keel over"?
Jenna: Why, no, I dont. Why don't you enlighten me?
Calyn: Okay, since you asked. Well, back in the days of the British Navy, soldiers were not treated very well. Pay was terrible, conditions were awful (pause for Michael W. Smith moment... "As we live, moving side by side, may we learn to give, learn to sacrifice..." Okay, we're good now.) and no one wanted to be in the British Navy. So, they used to sail into ports and the sailors would run away, and because ships had to have a quota of crew members, they would go to bars and wait until after curfew and take guys and take them on the boats and then sail out with them in the morning. Not a very good way to join the navy. Well, once those guys were on the boats, there was nothing they could do to get off until they landed in like, Timbuktu or whatever, and a lot of times those guys weren't very good at being sailors.
Jenna: can we get to the point, cause my eyes are kinda closing. Involuntarily, of course.
Calyn: Yes. Okay, point. Guys were punished for breaking the rules. Like, if you were late, they'd beat you and if you insulted a captain or something, they'd just hang you. Right there on the boat. But, the worst punishment of all, if you did something really bad, was they'd tie you to a rope that ran under the boat (under the keel) and drown you by pulling the rope from the back therefore pulling you under the boat. But, because those big boats had been in the water for so long, they had barnicles and stuff all growing on the bottom. So you'd die from getting cut up by barnacles before you drowned. Not very nice. So, that is where the phrase "to keel over" comes from.
Jenna: Thanks, that was beautiful.
Calyn: No, actually probably not. But, thankfully, the British navy is much nicer to their volunteers now.
Jenna: That's so gross.
Calyn: Yes. All this to say, Ukrainian food night was awesome.
Jenna: That's about it.

*This has been "Lifestyles of the Rich and Allergenic". For a transcript, please visit our website at www.karosheeyoshek.blogspot.com. Goodnight everyone. Copyright XXMCCLQRS12&*

Arrivederci!

I miss Lori...and Oleg...and Carli...and Lena...and Roma...and Oleg...and Sergey...and Veronica...and Jake...

How Long Can the Dollar Store Last?

Besides looking much like a chili pepper/boiled lobster at the moment, the beach was awesome and we had a great leadership planning retreat time. I think the best parts were:
Wearing Christian's bright pink hat
When Drew finally realized my name was "Calyn" and not "Allen".
Drinking, like, five diet vanilla cokes in one day. (Or Diet Coke Vanilla. Whatever the heck they changed the name to. Gosh, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.)
Watching Fox News...just kidding. Wanted to see if Todd caught that one.
Eating cookies for breakfast because no one was there to give us disapproving looks.
Talking to Mrs. Rachel on the phone.
Being Jenshka's roomie. :0) I love Jenna.
Playing "Nerts" and almost winning. (I never win card games. I never even come close, so that was exciting even though I didn't win. )
Finding awesome conch shells with James.
Watching Todd fall off the skateboard after standing on it for 2 hours straight. (Since it was 3:45 a.m., that made it even funnier.)
And the very best thing:
Not being in the water when Christian and Brandon came to tell me they saw a five-foot shark. Because with my luck I would have gotten eaten and become some statistic. And then Lori would have had to come home from Ukraine to come to my funeral and that would have been sad because I want her to get to stay in Ukraine. At least Oleg Jr. would have had a nice eulogy written for my name-tag, so that wouldn't be so hard to adapt. (By the way, did you know that more people die from donkeys than sharks? I suppose if I was eaten by a shark that statistic wouldn't offer much condolence to my family, but, hey.)
Okay, that's getting a little morbid. Let's change subjects.
While we were in Panama City, we went to this Dollar Store, mostly because Christian and Brandon are big fans of Dollar stores and the things in those stores are generally in their price range. They got a bunch of really cool stuff like hot pink hats and hot pink sunglasses and cool pooka shell necklaces. All for a dollar. It got me thinking. Panama City's "Everything's a Dollar" store has been around for quite some time, and there's been a lot of inflation going on since it opened. I mean, 10 years ago, $1 was worth a lot more than it is today. So, how the heck do they stay in business? I decided to do some research. Of course, any research that I do can be found on google.com, so it didn't take too much effort. I found out that
$1.21 in the year 2003 had the same "purchase power" as $1 in the year 1995.
$1.41 in the year 2003 had the same "purchase power" as $1 in the year 1990.
$2.23 in the year 2003 had the same "purchase power" as $1.00 in the year 1980.
This means that when Panama City's "Everything's a dollar" store opened in 1980, your dollar was worth a whole lot more. So, had you hopped in your Delorean in 1980 and brought a dollar with you, that dollar would only be worth about 0.45 cents right now. How sad is that? But on the other hand, you could come to the year 2003 and get a job at McDonald's and take your minimum wage back with you to 1983 and be a pretty well-off individual. I knew my Dad shoulda bought that Delorean.
All this to say I have no idea how $1 stores stay in business. No other store has kept the same price. McDonalds no longer has their 39-cent hamburgers and gas certainly isn't 89-cents a gallon anymore. Maybe the Dollar Store's stuff is just junkier now-a-days. Although, I find that hard to believe. How much junkier can you get than broken Christmas snowglobes that say "Welcome to the Sunshine State" and have Santa on a speed boat being pulled by dolphins that kinda resemble small grey cucumbers? I think my favorite are the ugly Florida magnets. They're already ugly enough with the fluorescent pink flamingos, but no Florida Dollar Store magnet is complete without your name written on it in big, black, block letters. Because "Kimberly" can only remember her name if it's stuck on her refrigerator. And her keychain. And her shotglass. And her bookmark. I think Kimberly might have bigger problems to deal with if that's the case. Maybe I'm just jealous because my name's never been on a magnet...Or those license plates that you can buy at Walmart that go on the back of your bicycle... Even though all my friends them... Oh well. I can take pride in the fact that, somewhere out there, there's a Japanese rock singer with my name. I don't even know how that works, though, because they definitely don't have the same alphabet. But she definitely spells it C-a-l-y-n, because her website is www.calyn.com. Except, it's under construction right now, so nothing happens when you go to it. It still counts, though.
Well, I'm gonna go try to do something productive. I get to sleep in tomorrow, which is very awesome. This is my exciting life for you all. The Dollar Store and sleeping in. Meanwhile, Lori is off learning Russian, going to Christian rock concerts and getting to meet Delirious?.
But, she didn't get to watch Todd fall off the skateboard, now did she? Arrivederci!

Tongue Twisters?

Okay, so in Russian there's a ton of tongue twisters and over the summer I had people ask me about tongue twisters in English, but all I could think of was "She sells seashells by the seashore" and "Peter Piper". So I decided to see if I could find some more. Cause tongue-twisters in Russian are really fun, and I was sure there were some cool ones in English. So I found some:

Betty Botter bought a bit of butter. "But," she said, "this butter's bitter!
If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter!"
So she bought a bit of butter better than her bitter butter,
And she put it in her batter, and her batter was not bitter.
So 'twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter.

A mother to her son did utter
"Go, my son, and shut the shutter"
"The shutter's shut" the son did utter
"I cannot shut it any shutter!"

Which witch winds white weasel wool well?

Three free throws. (Say that three times fast)

Which wristwatches are Swiss wristwatches?

Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better.

Which witch wished which wicked wish?

If Stu chews shoes, should Stu choose the shoes he chews?

I think this one's my favorite:

Mr. See owned a saw.
And Mr. Soar owned a seesaw.
Now See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw before Soar saw See,which made Soar sore.
Had Soar seen See's saw before See sawed Soar's seesaw,
See's saw would not have sawed Soar's seesaw.
So See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw.
But it was sad to see Soar so sore just because See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw!

That one is awesome.
So there are a bunch of English tongue twisters. I just never knew them. I found whole webpages devoted to this stuff. Anyway, here are a few of my favorite Russian скороговорки-

Шла Саша по шоссе и сосала сушку. (Shla Sasha po shossye sosala sushku)
На дворе трава, на траве дрова. Не руби дрова на траве двора. Na dvorye trava, na travye drova. Nye rubi drova na travye dvora. (In the yard there is grass and on the grass there is firewood. Don't chop firewood on the grass of the yard.)
Карл у Клары украл кораллы, а Клара у Карла украла кларнет. (Karl oo Klary ukral korally, a Klara oo Karla ukrala klarnyet.)
Ехал Грека через реку, видит Грека — в реке рак. Сунул Грека руку в реку, рак за руку Греку цап.
Yekhal Greka cheryez ryeku, vidit Greka v ryeke rak. Soonool Greka ruku v ryeku, rak za ruku Greku tsap.
(Greka (a Greek dude) was riding across a river, and saw that there was a lobster in the river. Greka put his hand in the river and the lobster bit his hand. )

Okay, so I'm not so good at tongue twisters. But, as most of you know, I'm at a slight disadvantage because my tongue does not twist nearly as well as most of yours... It's horizontally challenged. :0) Don't hate. Anyway, have a great day, ya'll. I'm off to a youth leader's retreat in Panama City! Be back Wednesday. Arrivederci!

Just To Prove To Ya'll People Who Think I Write Too Much That I Can Indeed Have Short Posts...

Here they are:



Just look how short those posts are. Arrivederci!

So, I saw a delorean today...

After a great lunch with Mrs. Cheryl, Lori's grandma and my my mom at Crystal River, we were driving back home on Old Bainbridge and a delorean drove by. That was pretty exciting. My Dad almost bought a delorean instead of his Toyota Celica, and even though I loved my car dearly, if I would have had a delorean, that would have been awesome.



I mean, check out those doors. Can you imagine me hopping out at church in that thing? Do you have to worry about a car side-swiping you when you parallel park? Heck no. Those doors definitely go up and not to the side. And if you're late, you can just reset the time. Plus, Back to the Future is one of the best movies of all time.



You don't get much cooler than Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. Even if it was the 80's. I haven't watched that in a while. If Lori were here I would call her and we'd watch it tonight, but she's not. Great Scott! What am I supposed to do now? Hmm, this has never really happened. I mean, normally, I would call her up and she would say, "Why yes, Calyn. I am doing absolutely nothing because I have nothing better to do than what you want to do, so even though I was supposed to do something to do with real estate for Kenley, I would be happy to come over and watch Back to the Future with you. I love that movie. What time?"
But since she's 6,000 miles away... this makes things rather difficult. 'Cause she's sort of, like, here:



and I'm kinda, like, here:



Gosh, what am I supposed to do now? CRISIS!!! What was I thinking letting her stay in Ukraine???!!! Gosh, I didn't think this through. Sad day.
Okay, well, while I try to figure out how I'm going to make it without Lori for the next five months, here's a Back to the Future Quiz to keep ya'll guys busy. I got them all right, by the way. :0) See how many you can get. I'll put the answers at the bottom. Don't peek!




1. What has Marty got tucked in his belt when he pretends to be "Darth Vader"?
a) Hairdryer
b) Gun
c) Book

2. What brand name of boxers does Marty wear?
a) Hanes
b) Fruit of the Loom
c) Calvin Klein

3. What are the two names used for the Mall?
a) Lone Pine & Twin Pine
b) Lone Pine & Twin Pines
c) Lone Pines & Twin Pines

4. What is the name of the dance where Marty's parents first kiss?
a) The Enchantment Under The Water Dance
b) The Fish Under The Sea Dance
c) The Enchantment Under The Sea Dance

5. Why is Doc so embarrassed about his model of the courtyard?
a) He didn't have time to paint it or make it to scale.
b) He didn't have time to paint it or make it work.
c) He didn't have time to make it to scale or work.

6. Who says "I'm afraid you're just too darn loud"?
a) Huey Lou
b) Huey Lewin
c) Huey Lewis

7. What do the Baines family have for dinner?
a) Meatloaf
b) Steak
c) Pot Roast

8. Who had a thing about growing pine trees?
a) Old Man Peaboy
b) Old Man Peabody
c) Old Man Jones

9. What kind of car is Doc's time machine?
a) DeLorean
b) Chevy
c) Dodge


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



Okay, so here's the answers:

1. A
2. C
3. B
4. C
5. A
6. C
7. A
8. B
9. A

How'd ya do? Less than 5 and you need to go watch Back to the Future. That's my challenge for you this weekend. (And if you watch it, call me.) Arrivederci!

Chili and Turkey

Hey guys! I hope you're all having a great Friday. I was fairly unproductive. I did take Cam to football practice, but that was about it. Yesterday I went to the Wallers house to hang out with Alec before he left (this morning) and that was a lot of fun. The Wallers are hilarious people. And Mrs. Eileen has the best chili recipe ever. She just had a bunch of cans of random beans lying around so she threw them in a pot and it was awesome.
I wanted to share a story with you guys. My friend Sasha Bychkov is a former youth pastor who I met last year at Radooga. He'd been taking his youth group to Radooga camps for a really long time, and I got to know him and two of his counselors, Pasha, and Ruslan last year. Well, this year, even though Sasha didn't come to a week of camp, he would stop by randomly to visit the Vasilevskys and stuff, and so I still got to see him and Ruslan and Pasha. One night we ate in the cafeteria together and he told me about how he was taking the youth group from his church to Turkey to do Russian language camps! It's kinda the same thing as Radooga, but instead of English language stuff, it's Russian language stuff. I thought that was awesome and he told me the dates and everything and put me on his update list so I could pray for them.
Anyway, their group left about a week ago and they'll be in Turkey until the 14th. Obviously, being in Turkey is a whole lot more dangerous than being in Ukraine and they haven't been without problems. But God is awesome, and here's a story I received from Sasha a couple nights ago. (They have English classes and they're trying to add to their numbers. They call the students "readers". )

"Hello prayer support,

Slowly we have people adding. Normaly during the day we solve
organizational problems and then have classes from 6 till...late night 11-12 PM.
Readers are different people- engineers, teachers, news reporters, shop sellers,
shop owners.
We are doing ok.
Although we had one trouble with Bogdan which I think you should know so that you can give thanks to our Father.
Yesterday, while walking on the street alone (despite my rules not go anywhere
alone) Bogdan had a guy approch him and ask what time it was in Russian. Bogdan
with a sincire heart told that man the time. The guy asked what was he doing here
and where was he from. Bogdan said that he was from Kiev and he was here for
Russian practice. The guy said that he knows Kiev very well and that his brother married a Ukrainian and lives in Kiev and proposed that he go to this cafe to give Bogdan the telefone number of his brother in Kiev. Bogdan went with him... downtown to Aksaray (a gang region) to an underground cafe. When arrived to the cafe, they had thier table surrounded with prostitutes. Bogdan been offered a coke, drugs and
other stuff...he understood that he was defnitely in the wrong place and this guy didn't have a brother in Kyiv or a Ukrainian wife. The men asked why he was here [in Turkey] and Bogdan told them that he was here because of Jesus and to preach His word. They said it was not nessesory to come here and absolutelly useless to preach in here.
Bogdan told tham that he must go. The men said that before leaving he would have to talk to the manager, and took him to small room. Manager gave him a bill where the food that Bogdan and the men were eating was listed. The sum of
bill was equal to 500 USD....
Bogdan said he have no money. They did not belive him and turned his pockets inside out. All they were able to find there was 50 turkish lira (45 USD). At the same time
it came to Bogdan's mind that he had a New testament in his bag. The situation went
like this... He says, "guys I have something worth much more than money. This
is the WORD OF LIVING GOD. ...pause."
Few minutes later he is on the street again with all his money in his pocket and
alive and well.
I have no clue how this could happened, but let us give thanks to our Father.
Prayer request:
Please pray for our safety.
Please pray for our readers.
Pray for new readers.
We still need more.

-Sasha and the team"

Wow, God is so awesome. He's doing all sorts of amazing things- in Tennessee, Ukraine, Turkey, in space...it's great.
Okay, well, I'm gonna get ready to go hang out with Tamara and some other peoples. Ya'll have a great Friday! Do something exciting! Arrivederci!

Camp was Awesome Part 2

Okay, guys. Camp was awesome. I already told you that. But here's some highlights. 8 Reasons Why This Year of Student Life Camp was the Best:

1. "My personal favorite, the funky chickens", was definitely the best family group (and certainly had the best name) and we did deserve to get Family Group of the week, but we know that our Rec leader had to pick a different group because he'd already picked us for Family Group of the day. It's okay, Todd Haymans, we sort of understand. Rebekah, Kyle, Ian, John, Leah, Jessica, Lerah, Anna and Jenna are awesome. At recreation, we decided we would be the "funky chickens" and so we started screaming the funky chicken dance during Rec and even though we didn't win many games, our FG was really awesome and we were so enthusiastic.

2. After church group time, all the family group leaders, student leaders and Paul (of course! Nobody even thought twice about the fact that Paul was there. It was like, duh!) prayed for a long time about the youth group and stuff, and that was good. It just got us in praying mode, and the whole rest of the week we were all praying all the time and that was really cool. Paul would just come up to me randomly and say, "Calyn, we need to pray for ____." and that was neat.

3. Louie Giglio is the most incredible speaker, EVER. Except for maybe Erwin McMannus. I think they tie. He amazed me the whole week. At morning celebration we had astronomy lessons with Louie. (Jake, I thought of you so much. You would have LOVED it.) He showed us all these pictures from the Voyager and the Hubble space telescope. Honestly, space has never really been my thing, but Louie had me hooked. He showed us pictures of nebulas and galaxies that were 31 million lightyears away. I mean, a lightyear is 5.8 TRILLION miles away. I don't even know what kind of number that makes. How the heck do we have pictures of these things??? Then, we got to listen to sounds that starts and nebulas and things make. Did you know they make sounds? We got to listen to the recording of some nebula. It made this clicky noise constantly. And they all make different sounds. So it's like this chorus of the universe. LIke, God has a freakin' star choir. All the time. 24/7. Or I guess they don't really have days there. So, like, infinity/infinity. yeah. Anyway, it just reminded me of how big God is, and how incredibly miraculous it was that he came to earth, our insignificant, meaningless little planet, to die for us. It didn't make sense that He did that before, but it certainly makes even less sense now. I mean, why would God even give us the time of day, you know? If we could shrink our solar system into the size of a U.S. quarter, the Milky Way galaxy would be the size of North America. And astronomers think that there are at least several billion galaxies in the universe. The same God who made all of this stuff is the same God who came to our tiny planet to die for us. Isn't that mind-boggling?



Check this out. This is the whirlpool galaxy. It's 31 million light years away. Can you believe we can get pictures of this stuff????



Look at this. This image is the core of a nearby spiral galaxy. The cross marks the position of a black hole that is thought to be 100 lightyears in diameter. The core is 1,100 light years across. That's 6,380,000,000,000,000 miles. That is insane. So, even before God created us (well, only a couple of days, but it's still before) He already had a cross in the sky. That's so cool.

4. Jenna is the best student leader in the whole world. When she taught Family Group, it was definitely the best day. We talked about the prodigal son, and a lot of the people in my group could really relate to that story, so there was more discussion.

5.Louie talked about our lives and he really gave me a new perspective on what it was like to be in God's will. He got some matches out and lit one and using Donald Trump as an example (louie is always so in tune with pop culture and that makes him really fun to listen to) talked about all the stuff donald trump has and all the famous people he knows and blah, blah, blah. And then, as they tend to do, the match went out. And Louie just kinda stared at it for a minute and then he tossed it, and was like, "Well, that's it. There's his life. It's gone now." Then he asked us to imagine a raging, eternal inferno. And he lit a match and he said, "Now, what happens when I throw this match into the inferno? It stays lit for forever." He described God's "will" not necessary as something that is all about us, but that God has this story already going and he wants us to put out lives into it. It's not always about our little lives and thinking it's all about us. God's already doing stuff, so we just need to join him. Kinda sounds like Experiencing God.

6. Then he starts talking and he's saying, "have you ever been in that situation where you're with a group of christians, and they all start talking about what they're going to do with their lives and the first one starts and says, 'well, I want to be a pastor and I want to lead hundreds of people to christ. God's given me this great gift of teaching and I can't wait to use it.' Then the next person says, 'well, I want to develop sunday school curriculum and teach sunday school' and then the next one says, 'I want to be a missionary to nepal and preach to unreached people groups and lead them to the lord and put the bible in their language.' Then it gets to you. And you have a dream too. And it's burning just as much as that pastor, teacher and missionary. But for the life of you, you can't say it. Because your dream is.... to open your own hair salon. And you know that the moment you say that, the other three will say, "oh....that's....nice. okay...." But you love hair! I mean, you're passionate about shampoo! You love to make people look their best and curling irons give you goosebumps. You've already got a name picked out for your salon: A Cut Above. You love to converse with people as they're sitting in the styling chair and talk about anything and everything and you love giving highlights and trim-ups and everything to do with hair. Your dream from childhood is to have the best hair salon in your city. I mean, you'll charge an arm and a leg, but its only because you're the best. And your staff will be awesome. And you know with that money you make, you can use it for good. You fully intend on giving a much bigger percent than 10 to God and with the money you make in tips you can send that missionary to nepal. And while people are getting their hair shampooed and they're under the water, you're gonna be praying for them." Anyway, he started talking about Colossians 3:17 and how Paul said, "Whatever you do, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ..." And it was like God just stopped me and was like, "Calyn, just because you're passionate about something doesn't mean I don't want you to do that. I gave you those passions. And I may not spell out for you exactly what you need to do with your life. I mean, maybe I'll give you options. Maybe I'll let you choose. As long as you're doing it for my glory, that's what I've commanded." I felt like Louie was talking right to me.

Before worship on the last night, Nicole and Paul came up to me and were like, "Hey guys, we're gonna meet in the lobby and spend some serious prayer time for some people." So, I went and we prayed for about 30 minutes for all the people in our group that we were really burdened for, and I prayed for the people in my family group and everybody took turns praying for stuff. Most of us were sitting in the back of the auditorium for worship that night. Well, Paul and James and Nicole all have their heads bowed and I think everybody else was silently praying too, and Louie gets up there and he starts talking and then all the sudden he stops and just says, "You know, I really feel like there are people praying in this place. Like, I just feel like there are people in this room right now who are fervently praying for specific people. " We were like, "whoa."
In his sermon that night, he started sharing this story about how he likes golf and so when the movie "Bobby Jones" came out, him and his wife went to go see it. And when they got to the theatre, there was 2 couples behind them and this one, lone guy up in the very front with his neck cocked back just staring at the screen. Louie thought that was kinda weird, because there were 50 gazillion other seats in the theatre, but he chose to sit right in the front. Then the guy turns around and he just starts staring at Louie and his wife. Well, Louie started to get a little uncomfortable after a couple minutes of this guy staring at them. Then, the guy gets up, walks down the aisle, and sits down right next to Louie's wife. Things were starting to get a little tense, because the guy just continues to stare at his wife. Finally, the guys opens his mouth and says in an excited voice, "Are you in the movie?" Louie's trying to figure out, like, "am I in this theatre, or am I in the movie?" he finally realizes what the guy's talking about when he says hurriedly, "I'm in the movie! There's a part in the bar scene and Will Smith and Jim Caveziel come in and I"m sitting at a table in the back, and it's so cool, cause i"m in the movie and you'll see me and...." (You get the idea. Louie's much more entertaining than a blog. He was saying it in this excited voice and went on, and on, and on, and on.) Anyway, he eventually gets up and moves to the next couple and starts telling them how he's in the movie. Louie said he tried really hard to find the guy in the bar scene, but he never did see him. However, the guy turned around after the 30 second scene and smiled and had a big thumbs up and asked, "Did you see me!?" Louie said, "Great job!"
The next day, Louie was driving in his car and had this huge revelation (i wish I would get revelations like louie giglio... :0) and he started telling us about what we think about heaven. He said "You know, I know in heaven there's gonna be streets of gold, and mansions and elders and people singing halleluia and all of that, but we don't really know what heaven's gonna be like. I think when John was writing Revelation he probably thought his final writing on it was such a poor substitution for what he really saw. He was probably just like a teenager and said, 'It was like, like, ____, like _____ like uh, ____" because he didn't have words for the things he saw. But, I think, maybe when we get to heaven we're going to see a premier. A premier of a movie of "God's Story". And we're all going to be sitting there watching the movie. And it's gonna start with creation and Eden, and the fall, and God giving an animal skin to adam and eve and we're going to watch the dominoes of God's grace lead to a cross and then we're gonna see angels rejoice in a resurrection and then we're gonna see the church and martyrs and history and the 18th century and 19th, and 20th, and then, then when it gets to the 21st century, we're going to see ourselves in scenes of the movie. And all of the sudden, you're gonna say, "Hey! I'm in the movie! Wow, I'm in that scene!" And you're gonna see yourselves in scenes you had no idea you were in. You're going to see yourself in a scene in India where that lunch money you gave up went to send a missionary there who lead someone to Christ. And you're gonna see yourself in scenes where a kid in your gym class decides not to commit suicide because he remembers a kind word you said to him. And you're going to see yourself in scenes all over the world and you're gonna realize that you were in the movie. God's movie. "
I thought that was an incredible message. I'd never really thought about God's story being one big thing, you know?

7. Covenant College has a soft-serve ice cream machine. 'Nough said.

8. So many people in our youth group were really affected and changed by God this week at camp. It was so cool to be a part of it. Thanks guys for letting me come this week! It was awesome!

Pictures from Camp

My family group the Funky Chickens!



Awww, look at Jenna's funky chicken t-shirt



Leah and Bekah



Wow, Ian. It's a masterpiece. I've never seen anything like it.



Kyle wearing my hair.



The guys demonstrating that they can't do 100 pushups in a minute. Valient effort, boys.



The whole gang



Me and James



Me and NIcole



Me, Jenshka and Pauls.

Camp Was AWESOME!!!

Hey guys! Sorry it's been a while. I just got back tonight from Student Life Camp, and I can't wait to tell you guys about it! I was planning on doing so tonight, but I just wrote Lori a book of an email, and so I will wait until tomorrow. Have a GREAT day!
Arrivederci!