Wow. Here I am, another Friday night before another college-preparation test. I was feeling nervous and worried about taking the ACT tomorrow when I realized I needed to make sure I was spiritually ready for the test. I've studied, sure, but it's essentially God who's taking the test, not me. If I don't give it to Him, I will fail. But first, I must catch you up on another eventful week as a senior.

On Monday night, my dad answered the phone to find it was Mrs. Weinberg inviting me to go out to Kim's birthday dinner on Tuesday and then spend the night. I had to pack for 2 soccer practices, a nice dinner, and Wednesday outfit. It was a crazy flurry of clothes and bags, but I loaded up the car ready to go. Each day of the week, Es and I gave Kim a little envelope with a different gift, but that was nothing compared to the amazing night we were about to enjoy on Tuesday! After soccer, I drove Esther and I (duh!) to the Weinbergs to get ready. We had a great time talking and fixing ourselves up :D. We looked very nice I must say... :) As we walked down the stairs, Mr. & Mrs. Weinberg were ready to snap a shot of us and we looked outside... there, sitting in the driveway, was a beautiful white limo! Needless to say, we were very excited. After taking more buddy shots (now with Ian), the four of us loaded in and took off. As we chatted away, we got to see a beautiful sunset. We even made a stop at Starbucks. Next was Daniel's Broiler. It was amazing! That was the fanciest restaurant I'd ever been to, that's for sure. I felt so out of place! :D Es and I split filet mignon (I've ALWAYS wanted to try that just because of the fun name!) and strawberry daquiri (non-alcoholic, don't worry!) and Mr. Weinberg ordered great appetizers. When the meat arrived, people came with little pen lights and shined it on the meat. I was very confused... but apparently, I was supposed to cut a slice and give my "OK" about the cooking. (We asked for medium well.) We were quite stuffed, but still had room for a delicious berry tart with caramel and an amazing chocolate cake with "molten chocolate". That was GOOD! Ian even had some... When we got back to the Weinbergs, Kim, Es, and I crashed in her room. Wednesday was a long sleepy day, but Tuesday was oh-so-worth it!

Then, on Thursday, most of the day was spent in travelling to the soccer game on Lopez. It was a very fun time just "hangin'" and "killing time". The game was ridiculous, though! You wouldn't believe how much poop was on the field. Pretty comical if it wasn't so disgusting at the same time. We never did decide what animal it was from. Gross! Anyway back to the actual game... At first, everyone was playing as if they were dead (well... don't go into the logistics of that comparison... it really makes no sense...). Then, everyone was just angry and frustrated at how the team was playing. Finally, Coach decided to adopt a different strategy to wake us up and help us find our fire for playing. He sent Danners to the front line. After we finally got over the "Danny" vs. "Annie" confusion, Danny's speed brought the team back to life! He scored a goal for us... wow... if you had been standing on the sidelines... instant deafness... thanks to Megan and I especially. You'd think our team had just won the World Cup! :D Oh, by the way, we won 3-2 finally breaking the Lopez Island curse of losing (usually in sudden death or shoot-outs). Our first and last goals were thanks to the other team. So, their mistakes allowed them to score more than us, but lose. Gotta love the irony. It was ugly, but we'll take it! The volleyball girls did a little tunnel at the end... that was a blast! After the game, we waited at a park-ish area for a half hour then in the ferry line for another hour before stopping in Anacortes for McDonalds. I killed some time studying and I used Es' new pink razor cell to catch-up with Dave. Later, Es and I wanted to change out of soccer stuff and the only place were these port-a-poties with the unfortunate name of "Wizards of Ooze". Ha! We actually sang songs at the top of our lungs as we waited for the other person. I guess you had to be there. It was hilarious! Moving on... I decided to have a dessert fast for a week because it was getting... outta hand! I had 2 pieces of Mr.Goodwin cake on Wednesday to celebrate Kim's b-day... 2 pieces of Mr.Goodwin cake on Thursday for Angela's b-day... 2 pieces of cake while waiting for the ferry ride back (because I had no dinner and the volleball team had extra)...and a HUGE waffle cone with strawberry & cookie dough ice cream at McDonalds (but I had an Asian salad too... ;)). Anyway, I decided I was showing little or no self-control and that's probably part of why I've been so tired lately. So, I had water when Ian took Kim, Es, and I to Starbucks after pictures and tomorrow, I'm not eatin' any cake! You guys can hold me to that... :D

Ok, finally, I must speak to senior pictures from today. At the beginning of the day, our plan was to head to Legion Park in Everett after the individual pics were done in the gym. But, 23 students just do not = a fast photo shoot. So, we sat in the classroom doing homework and talking for quite a few hours. It was fun and it gave me time to study ACT more. What's nice is at this point, I will probably never have to study for another college prep test again! All done with CLEP and SAT, just tomorrow morning... Anyway, we decided we were quite hungry and wanted pizza, so we sent Andy and Stu to go to Little Caesar's after getting $2 from everyone. That was tasty! I just had an apple for breakfast, so yum! I'm sure you are all so excited to hear about what I ate... good grief... I'm ridiculous! So, after Sherri finished the individual, (Kim, Esther, and I were "shot" -in Mrs. Frisk's words- last and so we were able to do a buddy picture with the fancy background.) we carpooled over to Mrs. Frisk's house since we were running out of time. It was a beautiful backyard and we all had such a blast getting shot. :) We did everything from funny to serious to ridiculous to cute to... oh it was wonderful! Circle on the ground, guys with popped collars, funny face class pics, tough guys, cute girls, back-to-back, buddy pics, guys heads on picket fence stakes, Andy with a rose and all the girls around him, original DC trip crew... man it was so memorable! We even did a hear-no-evil, see-no-evil, speak-no-evil thing. And the guys did shots together depending on their shirt color. The black shirts had to pick up James to get his cooperation. Ha! I can't wait to see the proofs from all of them! Right as we finished the last thing, we felt raindrops and headed back into the cars. Perfect timing... thank you God! I LOVE being a senior!

I'm listening to good 'ol Third Day right now... I think my theme for tomorrow is... "Cry out to Jesus..there's a light at the end of this tunnel for [me]..." I can't wait to give it to Him and watch the amazing results. No matter the score, I know I will end up loving Him more, just as I had to remind myself by reading my SAT post. It's always encouraging to remember God's faithfulness. How easily we forget...

See most of you at the weddin'...
"I will extol Thee, my God, O King, and I will bless Thy name forever and ever."