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