WARNING: This post is 5-6 pages long (in Microsoft Word)
BEWARE!!!
Hey Everybody!
Ok, I realize that I haven’t truly written since March 7th, and I apologize for that. I do have a good excuse though, but it stops at good. I was grounded for a month (well, I was going to be) and couldn’t talk or even get on the computer. But because I was being such a good sport about it and sticking with it, my parents surprised me one night by un-grounding me. I was so excited! I almost skipped dinner and used the cell phone all evening, but my parents stopped me. Turned out that evening after eating I spent about 45 minutes outside barefoot on the cold side walk in 35F weather with it snowing quite heavily (no jacket either) talking on the phone to my best friend! (and very surprisingly snowing in late March). After it hit me that I wasn’t acting that smart, I hung up and headed indoors to the warmth! Anyway, I was so thankful to my parents for un-grounding me, I don’t know that I could have waited until April 16th to talk to any of you or check e-mails and such. Anyway, that’s why some of you may have not heard from my in a while.
Let’s see what’s happened in the past month. Wow! A lot has! During the month of March my dad was gone most every week, us getting to see him mainly just on the weekends. He traveled for his company, going to solar shows and conventions. One week he went to Denver, the next to Boston, then he was home for a week, and then he went off to Salt Lake City.
Oh, one week some great friend’s of ours got a phone call that her mom wasn’t doing too well and wasn’t expected to live much longer. So they hurriedly packed up and headed to Oklahoma, while we watched they’re dog for them. The following week her mother passed away, and they went down to Roswell for the services.
The one week my dad was home one of my friends had a birthday, Congratulations! We’re all getting old(er) aren’t we!
And that weekend we went up to Taos to celebrate my Grandma’s birthday, the 24th. We had engagements at church for Sabbath School, so we left after Sabbath School, ate lunch, and then headed up north. We only spent one night there, and came back home Sunday evening. Even though it was a very short trip, we all had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! And our friends watched our dog, Risa, so we didn’t have to deal with her in the car either! Thank you guys!
Monday the 26th, my friends from south Texas returned back safely to the USA from their three week trip to Bangladesh! I was so thankful they had a safe and uneventful journey and flight(s). I was grounded when she first got back, but thankfully that weekend I called and she spent 45 minutes explaining all their adventures! I really enjoyed talking to her. Speaking of talking to friends, I really do enjoy talking to everyone of you all! Please any chance you get, (within reasonable times and amounts of course!) call me! Some of you I may not have heard from for a while, and it would be great to talk to you all, even those I talk to more often! Please do so!
That Tuesday was my dad’s birthday! We’ve all got to stop this aging process…
On Wednesday my neighbor (who is my age) had his tonsils taken out, so he was stuck inside for quite a while, but was doing “better” last I heard (a week ago).
And the roofing (red “shingles”) for the church was delivered that day too! After the delivery truck taking forever and ever to get there, they finally arrived and then had to unload it all onto the roof via conveyor belt. If I can get around to it, I’ll put so pictures up on here of the roofing being unloaded, as well as an updated photo of the roof actually laid out on the roof (“installed”). About almost half of the roof (the south side of the roof anyway) is up and it is beginning to look really nice! Thank you to all of those who are dedicating their time and effort to make all this possible! Oh, and while I’m speaking of the church… No, it was not graffiti-ed. Thank you all for your prayers on this matter, but please continue to pray for this since it is still very much possible. [For those of you just joining me… Our church sign and the advertising plumbing sign on our church property were graffiti-ed (more like tagged) and I had asked everybody to pray that our church wouldn’t be “attacked” since it’s still just the plywood (not yet stucco-ed) and a nice big, blank canvas for the tagger artist.]
While I’m on the topic of prayer… I’m praying for everyone of you (specific needs and generally) and would greatly appreciate you doing the same for me and my family. We’ve all got weak spots and needs in our life, as well as a greater need for God and his guidance! So as I pray for each and every one of you all, I ask that you do the same for us. Thanks!
In the afternoons of the weekdays I spent my time playing basketball (mostly by myself, but also with the neighbors), or just hanging out across the street playing golf (game of looking foolish, yeah!). So that’s how I spend my afternoons if it’s not too windy (which, hey it’s a typical NM spring, WINDY, so that’s why I emphasize TOO windy. But then NM is always windy, unfortunately)
That weekend at church there were so family members of a friend visiting for the week, and they had two boys my around my age. The oldest is very talented at the piano! And I had a great time hanging out with them all day Sabbath. It’s nice to be able to spend time with friends/people my age for a change! That was an awesome day!
On Sunday, April Fools, I was allowed back on the internet and checked my thirty some e-mails. Later that afternoon I went over to the church where everyone was working on putting up the fascia (correct spelling for that definition?), and whatnot. In the later afternoon they began putting up the roof, but not much of it was accomplished that day.
Also it rained a lot during that next week, cooling things down quite a bit. We had been enjoying weather in the 80s and then that sudden snow and rain. Weather is very unpredictable, as I will mention more about it later on…
And you think I’ve already written a bunch! Well now comes the biggest story of all, which I am slightly not looking forward to writing, even though it’s the best part yet! I’m guessing I’m only 1/3 of the way through writing about my past month’s experiences and travels! Beware/prepared!
On Monday we were off of school, yes! Our neighbors [APS (Albuquerque Public Schools) for that matter] were all off of school the week prior for spring break, but we got last week of instead. So though we were a week behind (not really, just with our break) we enjoyed ours more than anybody else could ever have. You see on Tuesday we left for a family camp meeting in Oklahoma, held by Restoration International. So Monday was very hectic, which was one reason I was so glad I had the day/week off from school. We had to get a ton of food for my sister and I for the meals during the camp meeting, go to our chiropractor appointment, run errands, return library books, and just a bunch of other things. We were running around quite a bit that day.
But by Tuesday morning I was all packed up, had most everything loaded into the van, and ready to go. My dad had to work half a day, so he got home afternoon sometime and we headed out on the road at 2 p.m. It was 9 hours to where we were going, but because we only had half a day to drive, we broke it up into two days, stopped in Amarillo, Texas for the night. We ate a Olive Garden for dinner and then checked in at the wrong hotel. There were two hotels of the same chain/franchise in Amarillo and we had made reservations at one and accidentally “checked in” at the other, but it worked out just fine!
The next morning we loaded the van back up with our few things and headed out on the freeway again. We got to Wewoka, Oklahoma (Wewoka Woods Adventist Camp) around 1 p.m., I think. My parents ate at the cafeteria first thing and my sister and I headed down to where we saw our friends’ vehicle. It was great seeing our old friends once again and of course meeting all the new ones was just as much enjoyable. I made about a dozen new friends (my age and my parent’s age included), which are all totally awesome! I even have a new friend with the same name as I do. Speaking of her, her family (dad, mom, and older brother) will be passing through here in late July on their way to California where her brother will be attending the Amazing Facts College of Evangelism. So we get to see them again, which I am looking forward to very much!
I could go on and on about OKFCM (Oklahoma Family Camp Meeting), but I’ve limited myself to the main items of fun and interest. Infact I’ve made a whole 300 word outline of this update (before I began to write) of the topics I wanted to mention, and I’m not even half way through yet.
We unloaded our van and organized our stuff into our cabin, which would be our home away from home for the next five days. There were four individual rooms in the cabin (2 rooms slept 6, and 2 slept 8; we had a 6 sleeper). Our room had three sets of bunk-beds. And in the middle of the four rooms was a general living area, with a couch, several folding chairs, a couple tables, a nice stone fireplace, a refrigerator, microwave, toaster, stove, sink, counters, etc. and then two bathrooms (men and women). It was very nice, but a bit rustic as the cabins are log cabins, and not like your cozy/comfy home!
Before the first/only meeting on Wednesday evening, my family and our old friend’s family went canoeing. Our moms didn’t go; they sat on a bench and talked. But the five of us kids went in a single canoe onto the lake (Lake Wewoka?). It was great! The lake there is fairly nice sized (no where near huge though), and we paddled to the adjacent side, where I had noticed an old rusted up truck. We docked, got out, climbed under a barbed wire fence, and found an old cab (only the cab, with no hood or engine area whatsoever, and no bed, with not windows, seats, but springs for the seats, the original windshield wipers) of an old International truck. It was completely orange with rust and well corroded. It was very neat! But then it was time to head back to shore, so we loaded up and docked back at the bank. My dad and my friend’s dad went canoeing and kayaking too!
That first evening there we went to the evening meeting, the topic was “What?” by: Paul Rayne. It was very great and hit the spot head on. I would consider this one of the top best (of 16) messages during the whole five days. It was about what our thoughts are about, how to control them at thought level, such as stopping/dealing with evil/bad/wrong thoughts at that level before they develop into feelings and then actions.
My mom had a sore throat/cold when we first left the house and unfortunately I began to have a pretty bad sore throat by the late evening on Wednesday.
On Thursday I ate breakfast (by myself, besides our friends) in the cabin; my parents and sister ate at the cafeteria. Then went to the auditorium for the 9 am meeting, then the 11 am meeting, lunch at 1:30 (with my sis) in the cabin, and another meeting at 2:30. After “all” the afternoon meetings they play freeze tag (everyone, parents, whole families, etc.), but by then I was feeling quite not well and wasn’t up for playing, especially since it wasn’t all that warm (at all) outside. So I sat inside the lobby of the auditorium watching through the windows.
That afternoon, after resting all day, I went on a hayride with my family and friends. Well, there was only one bale of hay, but it was pulled by two Clydesdales! It was fun! And I really enjoyed it, especially since I wasn’t able to play freeze tag and do other things that were planned.
Also that afternoon my sister and two friends went horseback riding (30 min/$5). They had a blast and enjoyed themselves as well! Now I wish I would have gone, but maybe it was better that I didn’t, so I didn’t overdue and wear myself out. Maybe next year, as I plan to not be sick that time!
We also went to another meeting at 7 pm.
Friday the schedule was the same, but this time I sat and talked to a friend for a few hours, which was very nice of him, since I was feeling a bit left out, not being able to play freeze tag (again) or enjoy the day outdoors where my friend’s were.
On Sabbath it was the same as well, but I ate lunch at the cafeteria this time. And went canoeing with another set of four other great friends (different from the four on Wednesday), all in the same canoe once again. And then come to find out the capacity label says Maximum: 3 Persons and/or 570 lbs. When I calculated it out, we had more like 650 pounds and five people, oops! We were four-six inches from the water, but it was fun anyway!
Sabbath evening we had the free complimentary meal from the cafeteria (fruit salad, popcorn, leftovers from the other past meals, etc.), which was very good! The cooks and staff there were excellent, very friendly, and helpful.
And my parents bought a bunch of new books from the local ABC [Adventist Book Center] there on the campus. Which I can’t wait to read all of them, they all sound so great! That night after the meeting/sundown, I bought three new cds/mp3s/messages (12 sermons/messages), which I need to work on changing the mp3s to cds after I’m done here. And speaking of the messages, they are so good, awesome and excellent cant’ begin to describe/explain them! And if I get my way next year, all of you, every single one will go, and if you’re not willing, dragging you guys is possible too! This is something that everyone needs to experience first hand. The fellowship, meetings/sermons/messages, food, people/unmet friends, they’re all great and really nice!
Sunday was the last day and time to say goodbye to your old friends and new. Everybody had nametags on throughout the whole week, and on Sunday all the “kids” sign each others and exchange e-mails addresses and such, to keep in contact through the rest of the year/until next year! After the only meeting on Sunday morning it was camp breakdown time; where everyone helped stack up the chairs in the auditorium, pack and load up, and clean up/out the cabins.
After all that work, we played a few games of freeze tag out in the field. Now one thing I forgot to mention earlier is that there are 100+ people that get out there chasing each other; ages ranging from 2-80 (I’m guessing/I bet). Since I was feeling much better and practically over my cold, I decided to join in on the fun of the game. I played 2-3 games and then was so tired from running and was gasping for breath.
Then came the hardest part of the camp, saying goodbye to my friends… But you know what now I’m looking forward to seeing all of you even more than before and can’t wait to spend time together with all of you again. Hopefully though, I don’t have to wait until next year for that to happen. And of course lots of my friends weren’t there at the camp meeting, and for those of you who weren’t, I can’t wait to see you all either! We managed the goodbyes and then went to the cafeteria where we ate lunch. I wasn’t going to eat, since I didn’t have a meal ticket, but my friends “forced” me to eat. And the food was just great!
Then I helped my friend clean the women’s restroom in the cafeteria and then we stood around talking for a while and finally headed out around 2:45 p.m. All in all: It was a great, awesome, fantastic time! It was so wonderful! I enjoyed every moment of it, except the leaving part! You’ve all got to come and join us there next year! Be sure to check out their website for more information if you’ve never heard of this ministry before! I’ll try and get photos of the hayride, freezetag, horses, lake, and other stuff up on here soon. If I do get some pictures up this time, I doubt it will be all of the ones I’m planning on doing (with dial-up it takes a while to get things done, especially uploading pictures), so be sure to check back here within the next couple days for more updates!
We stopped in Amarillo again that evening for the night. At 5:30 the next morning the alarm goes off in our room. Ahh! The maid forgot to turn it off from the last person. Oh well, I went right back to sleep and woke up two hours later. Anyway, on the way home we called some friends who were watching our dog, Risa for us (she’s a four year old German shepherd, and in fact it was her birthday yesterday!), and found out that it had snowed a couple inches in our area (in early April, that’s almost unheard of), and was currently pouring rain! As soon as we neared our home (about ten miles away) it began to heavily sprinkle. But after we had been home a while (our dog was so excited and happy to see us) you couldn’t even tell that it had rained (typical of NM), except for the fact that Risa had tracked mud in on the carpets. The sun had dried up the ground so quickly it wasn’t noticeable that it had poured the last night and day.
After we had unloaded and put most everything away, it was time to do seven loads of laundry! I worked on my computer, checking e-mail, and doing stuff online, and making mp3s into cds. And my dad went over to the church property to help on the roof, putting up more shingles. It’s coming along quite nicely now! My sister’s best friend was over most of the day and then their whole family (mom, dad, sis, and my sister’s best friend) came over for Chinese food/dinner! It was very good!
Today I (for some reason) got up before seven (which is really rare, but maybe it’s because it was 8 in OK). Then I finished putting away the few things that I hadn’t gotten around to doing the day before. I did some school today and have been on the computer ever since, about three hours now, working on this update the entire time! And I am so ready to get off of this mind numbing machine!
Oh and this afternoon my dad left for two-three days in Houston at another solar convention. He’ll be back Thursday evening.
You know I would really like to call this done, but I have a few more things I’ve been wanting to mention and now’s a good time as any, since I’m at it and why not make this update another few paragraphs longer.
Back a few weeks ago we had gotten the RI [Restoration International] spring newsletter and noticed that they were asking for ideas and suggestions on their upcoming 2008 calendar/catalog. Me being a “photographer” I thought maybe they would like to use some of my photos for it. So I talked with Mr. Rayne about it and he told me to go and get my CDs which my photos are all on. I did that and then patiently waited for him to be free to view them. After much waiting I finally got to discuss it, and after examining the size needed and the size of my pics, they are just shy of the requirements. I was totally bummer and a bit discouraged. But oh well, he did say that they could possibly use some of them for CD cases, DVD covers, etc. So I’m going to put my best pictures onto a CD and mail it to them. Anyway, at least it’s not all down the drain (yet!).
Also, last night a friend told me some bad news too! I had wanted to help out in the Primary department for the Texico camp meeting and she said she would talk to the lady in charge of children’s ministry for me. Well she did and they are tightening security this year and already have all the needed people, so no, I am not wanted/needed for my help. So I was really bummer and still am truly really disappointed. That is what I’ve wanted to do for the past ten months or so (after my awful experience at the youth meetings there… they were awful, maybe I’ll mention that another time in more depth). So now, it looks like I’ll be only going for Sabbath to camp meeting and then attending the adult meetings while I’m there! Oh well, I guess it’s the Lord’s will, but I don’t really see how at this point.
Also, I wanted to mention what our plans are for vacations this year. Right now (and I think this is final), it looks like we won’t be going anywhere significant like last year (like going up to AZ, UT, WY, ID, MT, and CO for two weeks). Instead we’ll be going to Florida sometime to visit my Nana and Papa, and to Utah (Moab area) in October or late September (when the 113F heat has died down; that’s what it was when we went there last summer!) with friends of ours, (hopefully we’ll be taking our bikes!) and to go take pictures and enjoy Canyon Lands, Arches National Park, etc. And then if I can convince my parents (which I don’t think will take much, just time and money of course!) I would really like to go to the Grand Canyon (as I’ve never been there), White Sands National Monument, Carlsbad Caverns, and many other places such as old Indian ruins down south of here and Chaco Canyon too! And then the trip I’m really looking forward to at this point! GYC in Minneapolis, Minnesota the week before Christmas. I’ve heard so much about it and watched parts of it on TV, read a lot about it too! And it sounds so excellent and uplifting, I’m really looking forward to it and can’t wait.
Ok, so that’s the main points of our upcoming summer. Oh, also we’ll hopefully be going up to my cousins house to spend time with them and go to a Colorado Rockies (baseball, my favorite!) and then hopefully they’ll come down and watch an Albuquerque Isotopes game!
Anyway, I think that concludes my outline from up above, so I think I need to go for now!
It was great writing up this five page update, but my head hurts from sitting here for four hours typing it all up. I hope you all enjoyed it and had enough patience to read through all of this mumble jumble.
Hope you all had a wonderful past month, I sure did!
God’s Blessings to you all, ~Butterfly~
P.S. That's all my pictures! Yes! And also the lake there was so beautiful, the last picture is of it. Everything is so green there, compared to NM; it's really brown and dry here! But it was awesome! Oh and my sister wants me to mention that the picture of the horse was taken by her. And also, I sold another picture on LuckyOliver. The same one I sold before, of the sunrise over the St. John's River! Let's hope I sell a bunch more too! Also, I forgot to put pictures up of the church, but I will put it up as well as with an updated picture of it in the next post. Which should be within this week sometime. Have a great day! God Bless, ~Butterfly~
1. Everyone running around chasing each other during a game of family freeze tag.
2. Everyone gathered around the flag pole for the instructions on freeze tag. This is only the diameter of the people gathered there. It was quite a group!
3. Nugget, a camp horse!
4. (All/Only) Men/Dads singing up front as they do every Friday evening at the camp meeting. (and if you know who my dad is, you can spot him out of the crowd in the left hand side)
5. All the kids and youth on stage singing for song service as they do before every meeting
6. The choir singing (99% kids and youth)
7. A gazebo overlooking the lake on the campus. It was very green and beautiful. This is one of my favorite pictures! It was gorgeous!
