Currently Reading Vienna Prelude (Zion Covenant) By Bodie Thoene, Brock Thoene see related

Wow has it been a long time since I have updated my site.  I'm sorry about that.  I've been extremely busy this entire time.  It has been a little over a month since Jess left and I still am not used to it and wish that she would just come home.  My great Aunt Marguerite passed away the week of exams and I ended up missing the Thursday exams to go to her funeral.  Of course, exams were quite stressful and a lot harder than I thought they would be.  Anyway, I passed them all and it is now a new semester.  My friend Robyn left for Wisconsin what felt like forever ago.  She is going to be staying with her aunt and uncle for the rest of the semester and I am once again feeling kind of lonely.  Let's see, I am now busy with the school play Cheaper by the Dozen as the third oldest daughter, Martha, who happens to be a snobby person... I always get that kind of role.  I just got back from the district solo and ensemble at Mason High School.  The Morning Gals got a 1 as did the Select 9/10 girls.  Congrats to both Lisa and Catherine for also getting 1s on their solos.  They sounded amazing.  I am not sure how I did with my solo and probably won't find out until Monday unless I call Sco before then.  My cousin Seth had emergency surgery this past week after finally discovering that he had chipped his jaw back on New Years' Eve while playing football.  I guess he's doing fine now, but still keep him in your prayers.  Anyway, aside from all of these, I have been doing a lot of homework... and yes, I know it is my own fault.  Speaking of which, I need to go so that I can do my homework for this weekend finished today so I can go to Casey's house tomorrow to watch the Superbowl. ttyl.

Andrea

Jessica is officially gone for a year and I want nothing more than to cry.  I know that this internship will be great for her, but I will miss her so much.  I think it is rare when a person really does not want to see her sister go away, so I suppose that I am rare.  I already miss her and she has not been away for a week yet.  The next time I will see her is going to be in April for Easter.  She acted like she was so happy to finally be away from me and everyone else... that really hurt.  The only good thing is that I finally get my own room.  It doesn't even feel like it though, because all of her stuff is still in there.  Well I have a lot of homework, like usual, so I will talk to you all later.

Andrea

Currently Watching The Mask of Zorro (Superbit Deluxe Collection) see related

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2006!!!

I realize that it has been an extremely long time since I have updated, but I have been extremely busy getting ready for the holidays and for the mission trip to New Orleans.  Let me fill you in on a few things that I have done.

I finally got my Christmas shopping done thanks to my wonderful aunt.  Christmas was great and I am thrilled that a new year is here.  We have been on Christmas break for a week and a half, but it feels as if it has never even come yet.  I do not know what has happened to the vacation.  Before I left, it was rather stressful around my house and I just didn't even think it should be Christmas quite yet.  We celebrated Christmas with my mom's side of the family on Saturday in the early afternoon, went to Christmas eve service and then celebrated Christmas as a family that night instead of in the morning.  We went to church the next day, came home then went to my Grandpa and Grandma Tippin's house for my dad's side's Christmas celebration.  We got home in the evening some time, packed up, and then headed toward the church to leave for New Orleans.  We left at 12:18 a.m. Monday morning. 

1098 miles is the distance from Jackson to New Orleans.  The experience I had down there has to be the best one ever possible.  I worked super hard Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at two different homes being part of the "Demolition Diva's" group.  Friday we finally got a tour of the entire city and saw the worst part of the flooded area where the levies broke.  There is no way to explain what I saw except for saying it was completely devistating.  There were houses that were nearly 100 yards away from where their foundation was, houses in the middle of the road, and there was even a house that was literally being held up by a car that was parked (or moved) near the house.  In the ninth ward, there was absolutely nothing except rubbish and cars that had been flipped and crashed together.  I met a person whose brother, aunt, and an uncle had all lived in the area where the levies broke (9 miles long with water coming out at 180 miles per hour) and he showed us where the brother's house was and where the car parked in his house had landed.  It was unbelievable what happened to those people.  There were large X's that were on each and every house in spray paint when teams came in to search the houses.  On the left side of the X, there was the crew who inspected the house, the top had the date inspected, the right had any comments that needed to be mentioned, adn the bottom showed what was found dead and how many of each.  The one building that stands out in my mind was a car dealership that had a large, profound 8 written where the number of deaths were to be told.  My stomache went up into my throat at that point and it was quite hard for me to swallow.  While we were touring on Friday, they found two more bodies right near where we were.  There were some people who still have not returned to their homes.  The man, Dave, that we helped gut out his house, had just come back this past week to find a house completely devistated.  The work we got done was amazing and I cannot wait to go back to continue helping, trying to do whatever it is that I can.  Wayne and Paula, the two people who organize everything and do these mission trips since they have retired, told Kyle and me that they would love to take us with them to another country and anytime we want to go we just have to let them know ahead of time so we can get everything organized.  By the way, those darn news people are idiots who don't know what they are talking about by saying it is only poor black people who were effected and had it the worst.  A lot of those people who had their houses flooded were quite well off, some black, some white, some hispanic, some Asian,... not a single one was alike.  In one area the poorest house went for over a quarter of a million dollars.  Now, don't even try telling me that the poor black people had it the worst.  It is hard to say what exactly we should be believing about what is going on down there since the mayor said his house also flooded and a parishioner of the church we were at was his next door neighbor and did not get a drop of water inside their house.  If the mayor's house had flooded, at least the next-door-neighbor's house should have some water in or even around it to make his story plausable.  We are going to be making a video, a scrap book, and t-shirts for the event which will be totally awesome.  If there is anyone else who wants to hear more or wants to help out in anyway I will be more than happy to talk to you and fill you in on how you can make a difference in people's lives and have your own changed.

God Bless everyone of you and remember to keep those people in New Orleans and all other places who are helping out and who are trying to accept what has happened to them to keep them in your prayers.  Talk to you all very soon.

Andrea

Currently Watching Spy Kids see related

I can hardly believe that there are only nine more days until we leave for our youth group's mission trip to New Orleans.   I am very excited about it and have been talking about it non-stop.  I hope that Seth goes with us... he will have a great time and I will have someone to hang with who will not drive me out of my mind.  LOL.  Of course, if he doesn't go with us, I will just have to stay with Grandpa Tippin. 

Christmas is next Sunday and I just started shopping Wednesday.  I have a feeling it is going to be quite difficult for me to get everything done in time for Christmas.  I don't know when I am going to be able to finish my shopping.  I was hoping to get it done today, but I have chores to do and I am in charge of Mark.  Dad decided to once again ditch us and go on a body removal, taking Jessica along with him.   Whatever.  I have decided that I will no longer bother with caring about him leaving us at every opportunity.  It is just a fact that I have come to realize.  That's all for now.

Andrea

Currently Reading Pride and Prejudice By Jane Austen see related

I cannot believe how long it has been since I have last updated.  Our new pastor has made a smooth transitions and his entire family fits in very well with our church.  There are a couple things about Pastor Jerry that irritate me to death, but I suppose that is because it reminds me the tinniest bit of myself.  Needless to say, I am very pleased to have them around. 

There is a certain person in my life that has gotten on my nerves lately.  I am not going to say who in case this person finds out about my site, but the person is very obsessed and doesn't know how to move on with their life.  I know person's life has not been easy, but there is a point when you have to suck it up and move on with your life, learning from the past, but not living in the past.  It is no way to live your life in self-pity, thinking that your life has to be the worst ever.  No one's life is easy... it's just the way God made it.  The sooner people realize this, the sooner they will finally be able to get a real life.  Enough of that...

I was so very upset when I found out that we had a snow day today.  It had to be the one day that I actually wanted to go the entire week.  Our trig class was supposed to have a party, it was warm-fuzzy day, and we were going to have a PAL sponsored dance after the basketball game.  I cannot believe that we were so unfortunate as to having to miss all of this.  I was hoping for a two-hour delay, but a snow day was too much for me.  At least we will be able to make up the warm fuzzies next week sometime and the cake I made was stuck in the freezer so it will still be pretty fresh for my trig class on Monday.  I was so excited that the basketball game was not cancelled... and we totally kicked Dansville's butt.  I had a blast and cannot wait until next Tuesday's game. 

I strongly believe that something needs to be done about our school board not compromising  on the contract.  It is not fair that we, the students, should have to pay the consequences for adults who cannot agree on anything.  No matter what we do though, we will not be able to have any effect on the dense board.  Our teachers work extra hard and deserve to have a contract to work off of and give them some kind of comfort.  If the board memebers cannot see that their low paid teachers deserve to have a contract, then they need to be removed from the position they hold immediately.  Not everyone is lucky enough to have a great job and a lot of money by screwing the poorer perople out of the majority of their income.  If they actually cared about the students and the success of the school district, they would put forth a greater effort at solving the conflict over the contract and get us a set calendar.  If the problem (Mr. Howe) was illeminated, all would go much more smoothly. 

I am going to go hunting in the morning so I suppose I should be getting ready for bed so I can stay awake in the morning.

Andrea