A week in Paradise

Aloha!
  Two weeks ago, I went on a band trip to Hawii for the International Music Festival. It was awesome. We toured the U.S.S Arizona, and we played a tribute concert at the U.S.S Missouri. It was amazing seeing the battleships and the memorials dedicated to them.
  Our hotel was at Jimmey Buffet's Beachcomer. We were just by the beautiful ocean. The weather was perfect to go surfing and swimming. I went paddleboarding twice and fell off MANY TIMES! There is no better place to spend a band trip.
  On our little adventure, we went to two plantations. One was a pineapple plantation, and the other was a macedamia nut plantation. At the pineapple plantation, we got to see mant different types of pineapple. I didn't know there were more than one types of pineapples!!!! The locals said that they were so sick of pineapples, that they just fed them all to the tourists! They had everything pineapple! Ice cream, gum, even mazes! We had so much fun. At the macedamia nut plantation, we got to crack our own nuts and we got to see this little comedy act that talked about cocanuts. After we had our fun there, we took a boat ride to a "secret island". We spent a few hours there doing recreational activities.
  The luau was great. there were so many different types of food there, and many different dances. We took a group picture in front of a sunset before the luau.
  That was one of the best weeks ever. I can't wait to do that again (although we probably never will)! All in all, we had an amazing time!!! Aloha!
 ~Jjam

EMILY'S WORDS OF AWESOMENESS-

    
       WHEN EVERYBODY IS DOWN DON'T GET UPSET. LIGHT UP THE ROOM WITH YOUR SMILE, THINK OF A HAPPY THOUGHT,AND STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD.


                         -EMILY :D

youth group

ATTENTION ALL TEENS IN MOBILE,AL. FAITHWORD CHURCH NOW HAS THE BEST YOUTH GROUP EVER INVENTED CALLED THE SOURCE.I WENT TONIGHT IT WAS THE BEST THE PASTOR WAS TOTALLY NOT BORING AND COOL. WE PLAYED TWO AWESOME GAMES.I TOTALLY RECOMMEND IT FOR ALL TEENS,LOOK UP DIRECTIONS ON GOOGLE MAP TYPE IN FAITHWORD CHURCH.TIMES FOR THE YOUTH GROUP IS AT 6:00 AND IT LASTS AT LEAST AN HOUR.NOW I KNOW THAT SOUNDS LONG BUT IT DOES NOT FEEL LIKE AN HOUR TRUST ME.


                                                                                        -EMILY XD

TOP 5 WIERDEST THINGS TO SAY

1-HURRY UP YOU SISIFIED PIECE OF LADY SNOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2-I DIDN'T KNOW PEOPLE GOT DARKER WHEN THEY THE GET A TAN!
3-................PUPPIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4-OMG!DID YOU SEE THAT FLYING TURKEY
5-WHAT THE FIRE TRUCK!?!?!?!?


                                                                                   -EMILY =D

EMILY'S WORDS OF AWESOMENESS-

   NEVER WISH YOU ARE SOMEBODY ELSE BECAUSE WHEN YOU DO YOU ARE DENYING WHO YOU ARE, YOUR VALUES, AND YOUR PURPOSE.I KNOW SOMETIMES PEOPLE WISH THEY WERE SOMEBODY ELSE BUT JUST THINK TO YOURSELF ''MY VALUES AND MY PURPOSE ARE TO GREAT TO DENY.'' SO NEVER WISH YOU WERE SOMEBODY ELSE.




                                                 -EMILY :D

 EMILY'S WORDS OF AWESOMENESS-
     

       WHEN SOMETHING HORRIBLE HAPPENS TO YOU OR IN YOUR LIFE, DON'T THINK ABOUT IT TO MUCH BECAUSE IT'LL JUST MAKE YOU JUST MORE UPSET ABOUT WHAT JUST HAPPENED.I BELIEVE THAT SOME PEOPLE JUST GOTTA LEARN YO LET IT GO AND FIGURE OUT WHAT TO ABOUT THE SITUATION.LIKE I'LL JUST TELL THE PERSON THAT SOMETHING HORRIBLE JUST HAPPENED TO, ''DONT LET IT LINGER, THE MORE YOU THINK ABOUT IT THE MORE IT'LL HURT!'' AND I THINK THATS THE PROBLEM WITH SOME PEOPLE IN SOCIETY TODAY. THEY JUST LET IT LINGER INSIDE SO MUCH THAT THEY MISS BEYOND IMAGINED OPPORTUNITIES.SO NEVER EVER LET IT LINGER




                                                                                                -EMILY :D

EMILY'S WORDS OF AWESOMENESS-


     HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED THAT IF YOU DIDN'T DO THAT ONE SOMETHING THAT YOU MIGHT NOT BE WHERE YOU ARE NOW? LIKE IF YOU HAD NEVER TAKEN THAT RISKY MOVE OR IF YOU HADN'T HAVE HELPED THAT SOMEBODY, THEN YOU MIGHT NOT BE WHERE YOU ARE AT NOW? WHENEVER YOU MIGHT THINK THAT JUST REMEMBER THAT YOU CAN'T CHANGE YOUR PAST. BUT MAKE SURE YOU THINK BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING. THINK, ''WILL YOU HELP THAT PERSON OR MAKE IT WORSE'',OR ''WILL ANYBODY GET EMOTIONALLY,PHYSICALLY, OR MENTALLY HURT''?.BECAUSE THE ACTIONS YOU DO NOW EFFECTS YOU'RE FUTURE. BUT THE ONLY WAY TO A SUCCESSFUL FUTURE IS IF YOU FOLLOW GOD, AND BELIEVE IN HIM FOR ALL YOU'RE NEEDS. HE WILL GUIDE YOU THROUGH EVERYTHING THAT LIFE THROWS AT YOU.AND SOMETIMES IT FEELS LIKE GOD ISN'T THERE OR HE'S TURNED HIS BACK ON YOU, BUT JUST KEEP BELIEVING,PRAYING, AND PRAISING HIM,AND HE WILL GIVE YOU SOMETHING GREATER THEN YOU EVER IMAGINED.





                                                                                           -EMILY =D

EMILY'S WORDS OF AWESOMENESS-

   NEVER DENY OUR HERITAGE,SINCE IT'S WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU ARE.IT DOESN'T MATTER IF IT'S GOOD OR BAD THE BEST OR THE WORST, BE PROUD OF IT AND NEVER EVER 4-GET IT.


                                                                 
                                                                           -EMILY =D

EMILY'S WORDS OF AWESOMENESS-
   
     YOU MIGHT AS WELL LIKE YOURSELF SINCE YOU'RE WITH YOUR SELF 24/7,  AND NOBODY KNOWS YOURSELF BETTER THEN YOURSELF.
                                     


                                                                                  -EMILY =D

My Semi-Sad Day

   Today, January 28, I had Allstate tryouts up in Troy Alabama. I play oboe so of course everybody else got to try out two weeks before me. Just to tell you now, I failed miserably. Not kidding. I murdered my tryout (in my opinion). I got really scared and like, hyperventilated or something. Oh well, can't have everything. I mourned for like, three hours. I was certain I would die from embarressment. But I lived!!!
   It was kind of okay though because we took a trip to Montgomery, Alabama where we got to go to the Eastdale Mall. That is the coolest mall I have ever seen!!!! Why can't we have a skating rink in our mall? I don't really know. There was this super cute little boy with a dinosaur protective helmet, skating with his dad. The father was trying to persuade the little boy to skate the length of the rink. The kid just pouted and the dad let him sit on his foot while he skated! That kid was laughing his head off. This happened more than once.
   We had to travel back to Mobile, Alabama. Naturally, I slept the whole way (three and a half hours) so I won't be tired for a very long time. I can still hear the three peices of music and my scales playing over and over in my head. I will regret this in the morning, I know.
 -Jessica <3

Blakeley State Park

This is our first blog and we are very excited to begin this online "journey" with you. We hope you enjoy what we have to say and show you. Thanks again for reading. -Jessica


Today, for our out of school/Martin Luther King Jr. Day, my church youth group took a trip to Blakeley State Park where we went hiking for a couple of hours. I have NEVER been that challenged by walking before. We had a bunch of laughs watching each other fall and trip. We walked across sketchy little bridges, and nearly took out seven people by falling down some supposedly "hidden" steps.

Blakeley State Park is one of the last battlegrounds of the Civil War. The battle was named The Battle of Blakeley and it took place on April 9, 1865 at 5:30 p.m. This place is huge! We just kind of stood for a minute and thought about what it would be like to be in the war, running through the trees fighting for our lives. It opened my eyes and made me grateful that we didn't live back then and that we weren't called to fight or one of our loved ones were called. The Battle of Blakeley was one of the last battles fought in the Civil War.

 At lunch time, we sat in an open feild where the soldiers fought. It made me wonder who fought here. Had anyone died or been injured where I was sitting, eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? I found it unnerving to think about. I now respect what soldiers do and have done to protect us even more than i ever have.

When we were all tuckered out, our youth minister told us to sit in a beautiful gazebo surrounded with towering Oak Trees garbed in Spanish Moss. It was very beautiful there. We played the devo game. A game where we make spiritual applications to what we experienced. One of my favorites was when someone compared the different trails. They talked about how some of the trails were wide and you could see the path, along with some that had narrow paths that were covered with leaves. that reminds me of the bible verse, Matthew 7:13-14, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction,and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

This was a great day. I encourage everyone to visit this state park. To try out the trails or to view history, this is a great place to go.
-Jessica <3