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! :)