Appalachiaa

HELLOO DARLINGSS.

Okaaayy so last weekend VI went to Appalachia, Kentucky (Chavies to be specific). This was my third year going, and every year I find myself feeling super-excited, but also kind of nervous. I know that the conditions in Chavies are pretty bad sometimes, and I never really know what to expect .

So we met at the church at 4:00, loaded up the cars got on the road. My car consisted of my dad, LFD, James, Grace, my sister Julia, and myself. We talked for a little bit, but then everybody sort of fell asleep/started to read or listen to their iPods. Lauren was reading this book that must've been 500 pages long, it was crazy. However, James read this one Sports Illustrated magazine over and over...and over, it was funny =). We stopped for dinner (though not at the desired Chipotle), and my dad went trooping up and down the highway, looking for it in vain, haha. So we finally settled for KFC. After a few more hours of driving (and some Hoho incidents involving my sister and Grace...the sugar from their dinner started to kick in. Grace stuffed and entire Hoho in her mouth, while Julia proceeded to take pictures). Finally, we arrived at the Chavies center around 10:00ish. We went to an orientation, where we learned that we were split into 2 crews, with codenames Meredith and McVet (from Grey's Anatomy, I was so excited, haha). McVet actually is my crew, I know I said Meredith, but it's not, haha. I must've just been having a brain cramp, it happens a lot to me =) Katie K informed me of my incorrectness this morning in gym class, lol. Anywhoo, my crew would be tiling, siding, flooring, painting, etc. Meredith got the lovely job of digging a 20 x 4 inch trench...that was 500 feet long...up a moutain. After this, we went to bed, because it was going to be an early morning.

Ok, so I could blog about every detail that I experienced while working at the house, but I really don't want to type all that, and I'm sure you don't want to read it all, so I'll just summarize briefly.

--We had at least 12 dogs at our worksite. They were absolutely adorable. Right when we got there, this tan dog with these huge amber eyes proceeded to pee right on the tire of my dad's car, haha. There was also a dog named Beauty, who became extremely attached to Katie. Another favorite was this dog that we nickenamed Roly, because whenever we came up to him, he would promptly fall on his back and beg us to stratch his stomach. Not to mention the 6+ chihuahuas that were there. So cute.
--There was also an adorable little 2 year old named Samantha. She had this super long hair and the cutest little voice. She liked to watch the siding crew nail boards to her house. She also informed us that she liked rocks. I absolutely adored her!
--We had a constant theme for cutting the wooden floorboards. Normally, it's measure twice, cut once. For us, it was measure seventeen times, cut twenty. I swear, this one piece took me and Mackenzie at least an hour to do. What can I say, we're not meant for careers of construction =).
--The mom, Sandy, was probably the nicest lady you'll ever meet. She showed us around, invited us to use the bathroom if we needed to, and constantly said thank you for the work we were doing. She even commented that our tiling job looked professional! When we were sticky from floor adhesive, she searched all over for turpentine.
--Speaking of floor adhesive...I personally hope you don't EVER have to deal with it. It sticks to absolutely everything. After multiple showers, I still have some on my arm and on my foot (we had to walk around the hall barefoot, our shoes were too muddy, and our socks got sticky after awhile). Thank goodness for turnpentine!
--Overall, I'm extremely proud of all that everyone accomplished. Meredith stayed 2 extra hours to finish our hallway, and McVet dug to their goal of the boat. I know that they were ultra sunburnt, sore, and tired, and yes, their work was probably more strenuous than ours. But all that matters is that both crews really helped someone out, and that's wonderful.

So, feeling very tired, we all got in our cars and drove back to Cincinnati. We got Chipotle on the way back, and seeing Drew and Sam jump out of their cars and run full speed up to Chipotle (only to find that it wasn't open yet), was absolutely hilarious =). I basically fell asleep for the vast majority of the car ride, and don't have any funny stories from our car to report. Overall, ASP was absolutely amazing, and I cannot WAIT for next year!

BTW, if any of you watched American Idol on Wednesday, they filmed Appalachia, interviewed some of the families, and told us that they were donating money to their schools. I was so excited!

Ok, this blog is soo long. I'll see all you dorks at small groups!

Love you lots and lots,
<3 Gaburraay

Little Kids

I don't understand little kids.

They have this endless source of energy.

They just keep going and going and going.

So as you can see, I've spent the last 4 or so hours with lots of little first and second graders. My cheerleading squad does this mini-camp for elementary aged kids. It goes from around 830-12ish. Now you might think...oh, hey, that's not that long! But trust me, it is. I had gotten 5 hours of sleep the night before, and you can imagine how excited I was to get up and go to cheer camp in the pouring rain. But it's so funny how a bunch of excited little girls can totally cheer you up. They look at you like you're some kind of god...this all-powerful and mighty high school cheerleader, squealing when anyone of us did a jump, backhandspring, or the splits. I must say, it really has a way of boosting your self-esteem =). They're all so tiny, when I was spotting them for jumps, I thought I was going to break them, haha. We taught them stretches, motions, and cheers, but the thing they wanted to do the best was play games...hahaha. Typical. The favorites were Duck-Duck Goose, cheerleader style (so instead of saying duck you said "cheer", and instead of goose you said "cheerleader". And if you get tagged, you have to go to the center of the circle and stretch as "punishment". Ok, it's lame, but they liked it), and another popular game was Cheerleaders & Minnows (like Sharks and Minnows, but with cheerleaders instead =D)

The thing I find so interesting about younger kids is their ability to latch on and make friends so fast. I mean, we were only together for a few hours, but near the end, all the girls were all talking and playing like they had known each other for years. Not to mention they were holding our hands, linking arms with us, and giving all of us hugs. I mean, personally, I don't hug someone when I've only known them for three hours. Maybe thats just me. I don't really know what happens as you grow up, but its just gets harder and harder to make friends in new situations as you get older. It's strange, when you think about it. You'd think that we'd be better at making friends and being outgoing, because we're older. But nope, little first graders are so much better at it. It's ironic, really. In my opinion, we should all try and be more like them. Imagine what the world would be like! Anywhoo, I just thought it was so adorable. I don't get to interact with little kids often, and I had so much fun =)

Ok this blog is uber long, and I don't really have anymore to say. Appalachia's in 5 days! WHOOO!

Comment por favor. Love you all tons.

<3 Hold-That-Line

Lots To Tell Everyone!

Hey darlings! How is everybodyy?

Personally, I'm great. I just got back from Florida, and I must say, it's way too cold here. Oh well, I hope it gets warm soon.

Wellll, Florida was lovely. I went to my grandparents house, and basically slept through the whole break. Despite getting a cough and spending the majority of the vacation hacking up a lung, it was still so much fun. And I even managed to get a little tan!

On a different note, Guys and Dolls was basically amazingg! If you don't mind me saying it, the Hot Box Girls were AWESOME. The stripping part wasn't all that bad, by the time opening night came around, we had all practiced it so much that it wasn't even embarrassing anymore. I suppose that's a bad thing...oh well. And yes, I even got used to our horriffic costumes. In fact, the yellow leotards were even starting to grow on me. Again...I don't suppose that's good either, haha. Oh yeah, everyone else did great too, and I can't wait until next year =) I'm sad that it's over, because now I actually have free time until cheerleading starts up again in a few weeks. I like always having something to do, free time is boring to me.

Even though the date on the posting may be wrong, today is Easter. I started this blog on Saturday night and am finishing it now. I went to the 9:40 and 11:11, and both services were very good. The choir in the 9:40 service is absolutely amazing, some of the female singers hit these notes that were unthinkably high, it was so awesome =) While I do love the 9:40, I always can relate to the 11:11 service more. Maybe it's because it's more modern...I don't know. Anywhoo, they're introducing this new thing called Faith Infusion, and it's quite interesting. You can visit their website at www.faithinfusion.org , it's very cool=)

Allright, that's all I can think of to report. Oh yeah, Appalachia Service Project is less than two weeks away, and I'm SOO excited! If you haven't signed up, I'd do it soon. You definitely don't want to miss this experience, it's so much fun, and really life-changing. Okay that's it, I'm done. COMMENT PLEASEE. Love you all lotsss =)

<3 Annie