I PASSED!

So This year I began taking Drivers Ed. I was determined to get my license. In Iowa you are allowed to get your permit at the age of 14 years old. I waited till I was 16 because I was lazy. So when I turned 16 I decided it was probably time to get my permit and not to mention that everyone wanted me to. So I got it and I took Drivers Ed. Today was my last day of that class. I had to come today because I had a test I had to make up. Now This scared me alot because This test would tell me if I was going to pass this class or not. And If I didnt pass then I was going to have to take the class again. And that is someting I defienly did not want to do. So I just took the test again like 20 minutes ago. Mrs. Lamb called me about 10 minutes ago to ask me a question about it, then she counted all my little marks up and said I missed 7, yea my knees were shaking. She then figured everything out and told me that I passed!!! So Now I can finally go and get my lisence! I am so pumped I had to blog about it!

The Dark Stranger...................

Last year I was having alot of trouble with the boy thing. My sister Amber was always dating guys, where I never had a boyfriend. And this Really bothered me alot because I wanted a boyfriend to. SO one night I had an interesting dream and i thought I would share it with everyone This is how it went:

I was in our church. I was actully in the bright green sunday school room. I heard voices out side in the hall way so I poked my head out to see. Pastor Dave, and PB were talking with my mom and dad. And every one was dressed really nicly! SO I shut the door and looked around. And there was a beautiful white wedding dress in the corner. So In my head I was like ok whos getting married and why am I wearing sweats?? My mom and Amber came in. Amber was wearing a nice bridesmaid dress and mom mom was wearing a beautiful dress too. So I asked them what they were doing. Amber replied " we are helping you get dressed" I asked her for what. She then told me" For your wedding..Duh." I just sort of stared at her for a minute while took my shoes off. It was finally time to put the dress on. Amber fixed my vail and my mom handed me flowers. I walked out of the room, And my dad was standing there. He told me I looked beautiful and off we went to the sectuary. The doors opened and The theme was apperantly a toyland theamed one. (OK to be completly honest with you some day I want to have a winter wonderland wedding, So this was a toyland winter wonderland wedding) So I walked down the isle, and everyone I knew was there. I finally looked up to see the man I was about to marry and spend the rest of my life with. He turned around and his face was blackend out. But I continued to walk up to the isle and I smiled at him and got married. The girl that got married in the dream knew who she was marrying.

To me It felt like God saying to me, "Don't worry Samantha, I have the perfect guy for you to marry and I will bring him to you, just wait." That is a dream that happend a year ago and still I can remember it. I am excited to see who the faceless stranger is. And I will wait for him..........

Soap???.............

So two weeks ago at work I started to face like I was told to. So I'm facing in the soap isle. I'm in the laundry soaps now And I'm facing tide. So As I was pulling up the third thing of Tide My arm hit another thing of soap. I didn't bother to look down because I always bump in to things and they tend to fall. So when I got done with the Tide I looked down and Blue laundry soap was EVERYWHERE! I was like "OH No!" Not only did I have to clean that up but I got of in like 3 minutes and this was going to take forever to clean. So I go in the back and I asked Andy the produce guy what I should do! I was about to grab a mop and a bucket because honestly I wasn't thinking right! lol! Next thing I know Andy was like NO! And me not thinking that if I clean up soap with a mop and water..I'm going to have a bigger mess! So Andy explained this to me. So here was my next obvious question. " What do I use?' So what does Andy do? He hands me a roll of paper towels and says have fun. SO I grab the "caution wet" sign and head out towards the My soapy mess. And while I'm walking I'm thinking " Omygoodness...My coworkers aren't going to let this one go for a while!" Sure enough Aaron Black walks past then steps back to look. He looks at me and the floor. Starts to laugh while im explaining this. SO he walks off. Then some more kids walk by. Yea it wasnt so bad. I finally got it cleaned up then off home i went.

Last Thursday I went clothes shopping with my grandma. When we got back in town we stopped by Kmart, and went to look for stuff for my secret pal. On our way out of the store I got a phone call from Jordan. " Sam, I loaded the dishwasher, how do I run it?" I started to explain to her how to but she just wasn't getting it so I told her I was on my way home, I'll do it when i get there. Just don't touch anything. So I got home set the bags down and went to the dishwasher. I said wheres the soap tablet. She told me it was in the thing already. I said OK good. So I showed her how to run it. My cousin Mo and his wife and son came upstairs and we were talking when Jordan says " Sam! I think something is wrong with the dishwasher!' I turn around and soap is coming out everywhere! So I'm thinking OK what did i do wrong. Then I looked at Jordan.." Jordan what did u do?" She proceeded to tell me she put DAWN Dish soap in the thingy and the electoral tablet. I was like WHAT! She thought I had told her to do that. When in reality I told her to just wait till I got home. So I stop the dishwasher, and its filled with water! So I grab a cup, and start taking water out. Now its like 4:30 p.m. and in my head I was thinking moms going to freak. She gets home at 5. So I was like " this is going to take forever!" So I thought for a minute and a Idea hit my head. I called PB and asked him if he had a mop I could borrow. So Of course I had to tell him! So he started laughing, and sent Kaleb over with a mop. So Kaleb comes over with the mop. Starts laughing. ( by the way Mo and Jen left)So I tell Kaleb to help He takes towles and soaks the water up and then I take the mop and suck it up. So we got all the water cleared out at 4:56 p.m. YES! So Kaleb went home and took his mop and Jordan and I sat at the dinning room table pretending to be busy. 5:00 hits. Mom comes home and says. " wow the floor looks really clean did u mop it?" we tell her no. she talks with us for a minute then says "wow it does really look clean." OK so at this point I can't hold it in any longer. So I let the whole story spill out and she starts laughing. And tells me PB he called her and told her the story. She knew the whole time!!!!!!!!!!! So anyway I thought I would share about my soapy time with you guys...........

A.C.O.R.N.

So A.C.O.R.N Finally preformed last month. We started on Wednesday night for youth group and then we were able to do so on that Sunday! It was AMAZING!!!!! Julie Showalter actually wants us to lead worship every 5th sunday after the adult worship team! I am so excited! We are learning new songs alot and its all coming together well. And of course like all bands we have our days were we just want to rip each others heads off! Take for instance Saturday night. We all decided to have practice Saturday at 4:00 p.m. We then changed it because Caleb had to work so we moved it to 5:00p.m. Well then Brandon our bass guitarist decided that he may not be able to go because he wanted to go golfing! He finally decided that this was just a little more important since we were learning 3 new songs and really need him there since he has the guitars! Well that day Brandon, Miles, Travis, Caleb, and Josh ( basically the band except Victoria and I) Had marching band in Clarinda. It was a All day event, they got up at 5:00 a.m. and went to the school then went to Clarinda,then they got back, relaxed a little except for Caleb who had to go to work, then at 5:00 they came to the church. So they are all a little grumpy. And not to mention Victoria couldn't come because she lives about 45 minutes away! Oh and just to put the icing on the cake Caleb couldn't play the jimbae because it was locked in the office and no one had keys! So we decided to get started. Have I mentioned how much I love Travis and Josh?? I do! But on Saturday I was ready to smack both of them, I understand they were both tired but trying to get them to play was like pulling teeth! Then I started to get really irritated because They had time to relax, Unlike Caleb who had to be at work at 2:00 p.m. so he went straight from Clarinda, to work, to Band practice. No breaks. And believe it or not Caleb was fine with it. he didn't complain he just did his thing.by 6:00 everyone was getting on each others nerves. so my mom decided to feed us. especially the boys. At this time I really missed Victoria because being around a bunch of tired, hungry boys isn't fun! So my mom ordered pizza. so we went and got that came back and fed everyone. then it was time for practice. Then you could feel everything going wrong. I was getting irritated because Miles wasn't using his manners very well in fact if thought he was being bossy. I was also irritated because Travis and Josh were being irritating. Miles was irritated because Josh was playing his guitar when Miles was trying to give out instructions. And because Caleb and Josh wouldn't stop talking and Caleb wouldn't stop playing piano. Brandon was irritated because he wanted to Just get everything done so he could go home. Caleb was irritated because Miles was getting mad at him. Josh was getting mad because everyone else was yelling at him to stop the guitar playing. Miles and I were both irritated because we were trying how to figure out how to sing one of the songs and it wasn't going well. And Travis was just sitting at the drums watching us all lol. At the end of practice and I was driving home I started to think , I had to reason to be irritated at Miles. He is the leader of our band, and he was tired, and he was getting sick of trying to talk and having people play there instruments or talk over him so he couldn't give out proper instructions. Now could he use his please and thank yous? yes! And I will tell him that next time in a calm tone. Because snapping at each other isn't helping us out at all. Now Josh and Travis..I had a reason to be irritated with. Because it was getting annoying with all the complaining. And Josh needs to learn that when one of us is talking NO INSTRUMENTS NEED TO BE PLAYING! Yea we tell him this every time we practice. I hope next practice will go way better. One way I can contribute is by no getting snappy, and try to work things out in a calm matter.... other then that our band rocks! :)

Here is a song called "Hosanna" Its by Hillsong United. We want to play this song soon! If you get a chance to listen to it I recommend it!


~Hosanna~


I see the king of glory
Coming on the clouds with fire
The whole earth shakes
The whole earth shakes

Yeeeah

I see his love and mercy
Washing over all our sin
The people sing
The people sing

[Chorus]
Hosanna
Hosanna
Hosanna in the highest [x2]

I see a generation
Rising up to take their place
With selfless faith
With selfless faith

I see a near revival
Stirring as we pray and seek
We're on our knees
We're on our knees

[Chorus]

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me

Break my heart from what breaks yours
Everything I am for your kingdoms cause
As I go from nothing to
Eternity

[Chorus x2]

Hosanna in the highest

ELEVENTYSEVEN!

So last night around 5:50 I got a call from my mom saying "Brandon is looking for you, I think they want to have band practice tonight." My first thought was like NO! I really don't want to tonight! So I called Brandon and was like " I heard your looking for me!" Brandon was like Are you coming to the concert? I said Yes! so they came and Picked me up. A couple of days ago Brandon asked us if we wanted to go the the EleventySeven Concert. We saw these guys at LIFE 2007, and we were hooked. I said I wanted to go, but I never heard anything about it or what time we were going or anything. So I got in to Connie's van and looked around. I was the only girl! That seems to be happening alot lately lol. It was Brandon,Aaron,Mark,and Miles. So we were pumped up! We have been waiting for these guys to come somewhere FOREVER! So we got the the place called The Foundry. And its a little church out reach! Its really neat. So we watched this one band, Then EleventySeven came on, and we were pretty much front row! The concert was amazing! so they finally got done with the last song, and then the Switch kids came on. We all decided to go shop at The EleventySeven booth where the drummer was selling things. I got a CD which he signed. Then I went outside. And sitting on the step was Matt the singer! HE signed it to. We told him we saw them at LIFE 2007, he was shocked because that was far away from home! Then he asked us a question about Omaha, and we told him we don't live here, we live in Iowa. His mouth dropped and his eyes got big! and he sat there for like 5 minutes like that. Then he asked us how long it took us to get here, we told him an hour. He was like Oh Good! lol. But we sat there talking to him and just having fun. Then the Bass Guitarist Caleb came over. He like Matt asked us something about Omaha, We again told him we were from Iowa. He looked at us and gave us each a hug! ha ha it truly was an amazing night. we got autographs, and hugs and hand shakes from ElventySeven! one of our favorite bands! Yes this truly is a night I will never forget!.......

My 17th Birthday.........

So Aug. 12th I turned 17! YAY! Closer to 18! lol. This year we were camping at Lake Iceria. We rented a cabin thats right by the water. I woke up to boats, going by to find the perfect fishing spot. And the smell of fresh air. I mean it was absoulutly beautiful. Im sorry we had to come back! So the day of my birthday finally arrives ( YES) My mom and Grandma went back to Red Oak to check on the animals, and to change the cat box and so on and so forth. I got up at 8:30a.m. and my grandpa had already been up due to the fact that there was a lake with fish calling his name. :) I got dressed in a tank top and capri. Now normally I wont wear tanktops, but the day before my shoulders got really sunburnt! I walked out side with my new Twilight book that Josh got me for my birthday, I sat in a chair and started to read. I then realized it was chilly so I grabbed my sweater. My grandpa came back we talked at and watched boats, and people fishing. It was nice. around 9:20 I was wondering where my mom and gma were. my grandpa and I started joking, saying that mom and gma were eating eggs and bacon, while watching HGTV. They finally arrived with Donuts, That got Josh out of bed pretty fast! :) Mom then asked me if I wanted to eat donuts or open my presents. Well because they decided to take so long I had already ate. My grandpa and I ate Cheeseits! lol. So I said presents. So My mom took out a little jewlry box. I opened it and that was a note. I read it and it lead me to another note..It kept doing this till I found one that said go up top and look in the boat. So on we marched to the boat. I got in there and looked in the glove box to my amazement...................another note. At the end of this note it said something like look for something that i lack and look for something black. I was like omgsh! you know how many black things are on this boat. So I got out of the boat, and started looking...Possibly It could have been a new laptop that I wanted! So I was looking and looking til I came across a 2000 Black Olds Alero. Now that car hasnt been there all week. So I looked at it, and I decided well I will just ask, the worse they can do is laugh at me and I will be wrong. So I pointed to the car. And My mom was like I dont know is it? So I walked over there and on the winshild there was a big bow. I just looked at it. You know how most people scream! No not me I CRIED! I kid you not! I just Cried and said at the same time " You bought me a car???" I was so happy!!!!! So my 17th birthday goes up there with my 16th. It was one of the best birthdays ever!..........

Soda Sucks!

So most of you know I work at one of the local grocery stores in Red Oak. The store I work at is Fareway. I love my job, because I get to see many people, and My boss is really good at letting me take time off when I need it. The down side to my job is when people have had a bad day, and they go grocery shopping, they can really let out their anger on the cashier. I always seem to get the people that like to buy cigarettes. Well guess what! I don't smoke, so I have no Idea what they are talking about most of the time. Another thing I hate, is the cleaning and Facing! That's what this post is about tonight.

Tonight we seemed to be really busy. So Facing was pretty much out of the question. We started but we never got finished in the time we needed to be. at 7:00 two girls left. So I was 2ND checker. So that meant I was pretty much up front the WHOLE Night and I still needed to face. at 8:45 p.m. I was like OK I need to help Whitney clean, because she left at 9 which meant I would then be first checker, and I would have to clean the front then go face! So Whitney and I cleaned like crazy! 9:00 comes, Becca leaves. So guess what! I'm the only girl at that moment that can face because the boys we stocking! great! I had pretty much a whole store to face! How lucky am I? So Whitney asks tonight's manager if she can stay and help he tells her NO! So I start facing. Then Jill comes out from the office and helps me. 10:05 we are finally done! ya. Well Ben ( to nights manager) tells us we need to face the soda that's in the front. Ahhh I just wanted to go home! 10:10 Jill and I are facing soda. Well guess what! I drop a 12 pack of Dr.Pepper. And guess what happens when you drop soda! It EXPLODES! So now I need to go get the mop. So I go to the back and get the mop and the mop bucket. Well guess what! I'm rolling the bucket and it tips over! So mop water is every where and even better the mop is stuck in the medal thingy! so Wyatt comes over and helps me clean that mess then I go over and clean up the Soda mess. I didn't leave the store till about 10:20.....So I thought I would share my awesome night at the store!...........

My Birthday............

So my Birthday is in exactly 10 ( Aug. 12Th) It's funny, because I was just telling my mom it feels like I just had my 16Th birthday not that long ago! So I'm going to tell you the story of my FABULOUS 16TH birthday party! Here it goes!

Last summer I went to LIFE 2007, LIFE is a big youth conference, that lasts about a week and it every 3 years! So I'm lucky because I went my 9th grade year and I get to go my senior year! Ok I will write about LIFE later. But anyway we left July 3rd. went for a week then I flew to California to see my dad. Now pretty much the whole time I was at my dad's house I was talking to Amber about my Sweet 16! Cause hello its my 16TH birthday! I told Amber and my mom who I wanted to come, and so on so forth. I also told Amber I wanted a big happy birthday banner in the ally way. That connects to our house and to the pole across. She said she would see what she could do. So I left California Aug. 11th and I was supposed to arrive to Iowa at 12:00 Midnight so pretty much my birthday! which I was pumped up for! So my mom and grandma came to the airport to pick me up, and my mom had flowers for me for my birthday, yes I felt special! :) So anyway we are just about home and my mom calls Amber to tell her to unlock the door. So we get to the allyway and that is something Big and Black in the ally. I was like what the heck, so I go out and investigate. I lifted it up and it was my happy birthday sign. It had black ducktape on it so it could connect to the house and pole but it didn't hold. And seeing the ducktape, I automaticly knew that Miles had helped Amber with it lol. ( Miles is a Ducktape Fanatic!) So I get my bags and get to the door. And the door is locked. I got just a little irritated because my bags were really heavy and my mom had just called and told her to unlock the door! So Amber unlocks the door, and its dark in the kitchen, and I noticed she was holding the camera. And I was like ok, because Amber likes to take pictures of herself so I thought nothing of it. We said hi. I put one foot in the door and all of my friends jump out and start screaming surpirse! And I screamed because I was scared to death! But then I got really excited because I missed them so much! I found out that Miles and Michael had helped decorate my house my dinning room was full of streamers. It was so RADICAL! Most of my friends stayed the night that night. Then the next day we went to church then it was party time! PB grilled, my friend came and we talked and hung out. We had SO MUCH FUN! My mom got me an awesome cake! And the whole party was just amazing! Then that night us teens went to the church and played Gargoyles. Which is a REALLY fun Game! So to me I had the best Sweet 16 In the whole world! I wouldn't ever change it!

Whats Up Homie?.......

So as I wrote in my last blog I spend a lot of time at the White's house. So that means I get to hear really funny things! Now all of us teenagers at the church always try to get the White Girls to say things like 'Wud up Dog?, Wud up homie?, Peace out,' Madison and Megan just look at us like we are all crazy and they won't do it. But Sammy now thats a whole diffrent situation! She's 4 so we can still get her sometimes.

I remember being over at their house one night last year. And I finally got Sammy to say " whats up Homie?" I was very proud at this! I was like Score! I have one mini me!!!! Her parents will be so Proud!

SO PB comes home and all the kids run to him and say hi. He picks up Sammy, and it gets really quiet and she goes " Whats up Homo?"
I was like OH NO! lol I did NOT teach her that. I mean honestly! It was funny though and PB didn't get mad. we just laughed about it and told her not to say that!
Though I would share that with you guys!

The White Family...................

So about a 2 years ago, My Church got a new associate Pastor. Which was cool and all. Pastor Dave told us that the new pastor's name was Brett, and he has a wife named Heather and that they have 4 kids. I was like right on. Our church had been looking for a new associate pastor for a while now. So Pastor Brett and his family moved to Red Oak. And to make it even better ( Not jkjk)They lived on the next street over from us. So from our house you can see theirs. So Halloween Rolls around.( YAY) We decided to Tee-P our then youth Pastor Trevor's house and Pastor Dave's house. SO we Tee-peed both houses. But Unfortunately Pastor Dave caught us! But what he didn't catch is us stuffing his car with toilet paper! :)

ATTENTION ALL ADULTS: WHEN HALLOWEEN ROLLS AROUND, PLEASE LOCK YOUR CARS IF YOU KNOW A GROUP OF TEENAGERS!THANK YOU :)

Then my friends and I got an AWESOME Idea! WE wanted to properly welcome Brett and Heather to Red Oak! OK not really we just wanted to Tee-P their house because we think its funny. At first my mom wasn't sure, because we didn't know them well, and well Pastor Brett or PB looks like a serious person ( hes not if you get to know him) But you know, when we kids had our mind set on it we were gonna do it. So we arrived to the house, and noticed that they were still up, in fact they were in their living room! Did that stop us??? NO! so we just started draping the trees and everything we could with toilet paper. what made it so fun? the fact that we could get caught and this pastor that we don't know will start yelling at us :) So 2 of my friends were throwing toilet paper back and forth on a tree right by the living room window. Well my friend missed the throw and it actually hit the window. We all froze! in my mind I was like CRAP! We are so dead! They didn't even move from their seats! so we just continued, and left.

The next day we all planned to go over and help clean up. When we got to the house the yard was already cleaned! So my mom called PB and he told us that he wasn't mad, he had his son Kaleb who was 13 at the time clean it up. Poor Kaleb! I felt so bad! I mean there was a lot of toilet paper in the trees and everything! To this day PB and PD ( pastor Dave) still say they are going to get all of us back. But we have yet to see anything.

My family and I have had a lot of fun with the White Family. I baby-sit for them whenever they need it. I Love the little girls! Their oldest daughter Madison is 7, the middle is Megan who is 5, the second youngest Sammy is 4 and they now have a baby girl names Alexia who is 5 months. I have fun with these girls. They say the funniest things sometimes that get me to laugh! For instance I was over at their house the other day and I have no idea how we got into this but the conversation was about marriage. Madison looked at me and was like How old are you going to be when you get married? Well I don't know I'm not God! so I looked at her and said " well maybe in college.??" Well PB is in the other room playing video games and of course he hears that and is like " After College!" then I looked at Madison " or in College :)
How old will you be when You get married?" she looked at me and thought for a minute " I'M GOING TO BE 20!" ha ha so you know I had to say that loud enough for the father to hear! Madison walks in the room where PB is playing video games, she comes back out and she goes " actually I'm going to be 28" I asked her who told her to say that and what does she do? She points to her dad. lol. Now Megan is sitting behind me on the back of the couch just being quiet. " You know what Sam?"
" What Megan?" "When I get married I want to be 80!" That made me laugh, that actually made my day!

Their second youngest daughter Sammy is potty-training right now. Her birthday party was on saturday. PB was in the other room changing her pull-up so I went in to talk to her. I told her that if she went potty in the potty I will take her to go get Ice cream and go get big girl undies! This made her excited she looked at me and was like " Big girl undies like Madison and Megan?" I told her yes. And after that I reassured her that Madison and Megan can go get ice cream if she wanted them to go. She assured me that she did but then she made sure to tell me that Alexia can't go becuse she is to little. :) So I came over yesterday, and Heather tells me that Sammy is going potty in the potty and that she is excited because I said we would go for ice cream and go get undies. So next thing I know is Sammy comes in the living room and her eyes got big and she was like " SAM I went potty on the potty! Are we going to get Ice cream and big girl unides yet?" I told her we would but she has to be fully potty-trained! SO she is now working hard!

The White Family is like another family. PB is almost like a father figure in way, I know it sounds weird, I can't even believe I'm saying! cause I can't stand him! jkjk. My actual dad lives in california, he doesn't believe in God, he think I should have sex before I'm married, and that I should live with my boy friend, before I get married, so on so forth. PB is there telling me the opposite ( I would hope seeing how hes a pastor) But hes there if we need anything, hes encourageing ( unlike my dad). So hes like pretty much my christian Dad -oo new nick name! CD! just kiddin! I just want to thank him for that, because even though I have a dad, I don't. Great now Im crying. See I hate it when I blog! lol. Brett has had a huge inpact on my life And so has Heather. Heather is like a mom, Not that my mom isn't bad! My moms a great mom. But I can go to Heather with anything like I can go to my mom about anything. She's like Brett, helping me with choices, encouraging me, being their if I need them! So yea they rock my socks! I love you guys! Thank you for being there!..............

Worship Team...??

So this year I am once again on my youth group's worship team band. Which is exciting, because I love to sing, and I like to worship through singing. I left for my dad's house at the end of may and stayed till june 26th. By then the rest of the band had already started. When I got back I went to practice, and it did NOT go well. The band was completely off, us singers had no idea what were doing, especially when the band was going to fast, or going way to slow. Nobody had heard from our drummer in a month. So we had to fill him in with Caleb who is good, but not as good as Travis. Travis can listen to the song once and pretty much get it. And none of us were really taking the lead. So we were a mess!

I came to church last sunday and Miles, Brandon, Victoria and Michael were in the hall way. Miles asked me straight out, what do you think of the band? How do you think its going? I looked at him and everyone else and told them " Not very well..We pretty much SUCK!" So we all decided to talk to the adults which are Connie- youth pastor, Pastor Dave, My mom Heather who is in charge of vocals, and Randi who is supposed to be in charge with the band. SO today we all went in there and we told them how we felt. In return they told us how they felt.

So after I asked if we could practice. My mom said she was willing to stay at the church so we could practice, since thats wear all the equipment is. So we went in the sanctuary, Brandon, Miles,Caleb, and Travis got their instuments hooked up. Victoia put on the sound system, and got our mics ready. We decide to play " Tell The World" By Hillsong United. This scared me because, 2 weeks ago we were HORRIBLE!
So Travis listend to the song first before we started. Then it was our turns to play. Travis started on the drumms, then Brandon on the bass, then Miles on electic guitar. Then Caleb was on the jimbae, then Vicotria, Miles, and I started to sing. And I couldn't believe it. We sounded like a real band! Miles and Brandon had practiced in Brandon's basement. I was just amazed. Miles took awesome Leadership! He stopped us, when we were off. He told Victoria and I where we were supposed to come in at. It was amazing. At first my mom said she could'nt hear us. But when we did it a second time she said we sounded really good! I was like Omgosh! This is absoulutly AMAZING!We hope to practice more then we are. But we always need to remember the God is the reason we are doing this. We are worshiping him.

So I need help from all of you! My mom told us we should come up with a band name. So Miles wants us to think of some names by next Sunday and we will Vote. The name I like is Undignified. But if anyone as any other names let me know so I can share them with the rest of the band! Thanks!!!!!!!!

~BAND~

Brandon Updegrove- Bass guitar
Miles Manchester- Electric Guitar/Vocals
Travis Kester- Drums
Caleb Gould- anything(piano, drums,jimbae, ect.)
Michael Manchester- Vocals
Victoria Showalter- Violin/Vocals
Randi Kelley- Accoustic Guitar/Vocals
Samantha Hansen- Vocals

School.........Youth group.....Judging

So I just found out from friends not that long ago that school pretty much starts in like 3 weeks. EWWWWWWWWWW......I'm not a school fan. Now if I could sit in History, or choir all day then I will be fine. I'm excited because this year I made Minnisingers.. which is pretty much show choir! I'm very involved with music. Last year I went to small group contest and got a 3 which is pretty cool! I take voice lessons from our Choir teacher Mr. Eldridge. Hes the coolest teacher! I'm very excited to see some of my friends at school that I haven't seen all summer. I'm also excited because when school starts that means one thing! YOUTH GROUP! I am so pumped up for that! I love my youth group! We get kids who are Christians, but the cool part is we get a lot of kids from my school who aren't Christians. So its cool so see them come. Even if they aren't accepting Christ at that moment its cool to see them still coming every week.

There was this one girl named Brittney. And she has a history at our school. well with religions. She was a witch, Mormon,catholic,christian..etc. So kids kind of made her an outcast because she was weird. she would try to do spells on people. I remember the one time my friend Kathrine told me she sent her demons after Miles and I. And Miles was like " Well it didn't work you know why? Because we have the shield of God!" I kind of chuckled cause he was right. I remember last year Brittney started going to our youth group. And I was thinking, why is she here? she doesn't want God! And I mean every week it was drama with her. all the time. But I started to get to know Brittney..and I realized she to is trying to seek him. How quick was I to judge! Today Brittney attends church, Sunday school, and our bible study. She accepted Jesus as her savior. And everyday its a struggle for her, But when it gets hard she talks to me about it. We are friends now.

Watching Brittney made me realize that I can't judge people. This year at XtremeFaith instead of judging kids, on what they do at school, and stuff I'm going to be friends with them. Because like Brittney most of them are seeking God. They may not know it, but by me not ignoring them or judging them I can help them....XtremeFaith should be fun this year.....................

Boys.......?

OK. Here's the scoop. I'm almost 17 years old and I have never had a boyfriend. I could probably have a boyfriend if I really wanted to, but I believe that the guy should ask the girl out not the girl asking the boy. So I'm sure if I asked one out I probably would have one. I have been asked out but I really didn't like him like that and his walk with God wasn't the greatest. So I turned it down. Now my sister Amber on the other hand ALWAYS has a boyfriend. And I mean ALWAYS. You see Amber can be dating someone but she has a back up. We always know when she has a back up. She will call/text and talk about them all the time. Amber is a flirt. big time. Me not so much.

Another thing with Amber is that she will change who she is for them to like her. I remember when she wanted to date this boy named Andy, she came to me about football. I know a lot about football well because my dad watches it and I enjoy going to the games. same with baseball. Andy liked the Patriots. and the quarter back is Tom Brady. So I helped her with that. But then her next boyfriend liked the NE Huskers. So all of the sudden she was a huskers fan...so on so forth I think you get the idea. Now Me I don't change for people, unless its for the good lol. I like the SF 49er's. And I'm not going to change that cause some boy doesn't like them . I like the Oakland A's baseball team. I Hate playing sports. I love to read and sing, and etc. I'm not going to change for someone :)

Another thing is Amber likes to date right away. I would rather be friends for a while. Like I have really liked a boy for 3 years. I know thats a long time. He is currently dating someone right now. But he is my best friend. If we were to date I know him. I'm not going to date him and try to get to know him at the same time. Thats hard work lol. I've watched Amber and her many men. its usally at least 3 months until they break up. I've watched her have to be a diffrent person around him. And just watching her dating expierences has made me be a little happy with being single :)

I know God will bring the right guy to me, who won't care what my favorite baseball or football team is. Won't care seeing me with out make-up and being in sweats. He will think I am still beautiful. So I'm still waiting here for him. I know God will bring him to me someday.

Scary things.........

You know living in a small town, it has its good points and its bad points. One of the most popular quotes people use when they want to move to a small town is " Its a safe place to raise my children" well yes and no. Sure you move here have kids, you are able to let them go outside and play, and ect. But what happends when they start highschool? Is it safe anymore? I look around all the time and the kids I knew in elementry school aren't the kids I know anymore. The kids that used to play tetherball, hopscotch, jumprope, ect..are gone. Now they are doing drugs and sleeping around. you know in about 3 years about 9 kids died. Crazy? I know right! We had drug over doese, and car crashes due to speeding. one kid died of natural causes and one kid died by a train accident. I went to the fair this weekend. and they have a thing called the babycontest. So I got my pastor's wife Heather , to enter their 5 month daughter Alexia in to it. She won the cutest onezie and diper--yes ladies and gentalman we have our new underware model! :) But the baby who got 3rd place scared me. Not that the baby was scary it was the mother. The mother is my age. I never really talked to her, but I remember she was in my class in elementry school. And now here she was holding her daughter at the cutest baby contest. So many girls in my school drop out cause they got pregant. I hear so many girls talking about who they slept with over the weekend. I look at the way they are dressed, and Im like PUT SOMETHING ON PLEASE! I hear about how they got stoned this weekend. not just girls but guys too. I used to wonder why I never really fit in with my highschool. But I understand now. For fun these Kids drink, smoke, have sex, ect. It makes me sad to know that most of these kids will be stuck in Red Oak for the rest of their lives.

BFF

I started homeschooling my 9th grade year. Before that I went to Stanton High school which is 10 minutes away from RO. I was sad that I had to leave Stanton to be homeschooled and to go to ROHS part time. I was going to miss the amazing friends I had made in the 3 years I had been there. I thought I may never talk to them again. I still talk to some of them..and I go to Stanton for some events so I get to see them. But there is one person in perticular that I have kept in contact. Her name is Lauren. Now Lauren and I became really close in 7th grade when I invited her to ATF, with my youth group. She said yea she wanted to go. So her and I went and I felt like I could talk to her about anything. So When I moved she was bummed and I was really bummed! But the good thing was that we were only 10 minutes away. So I got my first Cellular device and of course I called Lauren. We didnt get to see each other alot. then I finally got texting and so we are constently texting. Lauren finally got her license, and I don't. Why you ask? well because I was lazy and did'nt study for my test! I remember not that long ago I told Lauren that I wanted my license well my permit. So over the phone she did the best she could to help me study. I passed! Now that Lauren has her license we are able to hang out a little more. I stayed at her house last night and Now im sitting here on her couch, writing this, while she is yelling at our phones cause they wont bluetooth. its kind of funny in a way. But no matter how crazy she is I still love her! she is my bff. And I ust want say thank you Lauren for always being there when I needed a friend. I can always count on you to be there when I need someone the most!. Love you sis!

Me

Hello
My name is Samantha, but most people call me Sam or Sammie. This is my first time blogging. I've never been much of a blogger. My mom is the one who told me I should do, so I thought what the heck? Why not try it? So I guess I will just make this first entry about me.

Im 16 years old. I will be 17 August 12th. I live in Red Oak, IA, and I have been living here for about 12/13 years. I live with my mom, Her name is Heather. I have 2 sisters and 1 brother. My sister Amber is 16 years old. And no she is not my twin. She is adopted. My younger sister is Jordan and she is 11 years old. Even though I call her 10 sometimes. I forget and I get yelled at by her :). My brothers name is Josh. he is 15 years old, and live in California with my dad who is Edward. Im Homeschooled, and I am dule-enrolled in ROHS ( Red Oak High School) I will be a junior this year. I have the GREATEST Friends in the whole world.I can count on them for pretty much anything. Im very involved in my youth group. I love to sing, and I can play a little piano ( currently learning) I absolutly love to read. Its my favorite thing to do. and I love to be with my family and friends. I want to go to Timberline Bible College after highschool then go to Crown College. I want to Major in music and be a missionary. Um thats pretty much me so if you have any questions to ask just ask me and I will happily respond back! :)