Life is SO Beautiful

Really it is. I just remembered that I had this blog and I thought I would give my thousands of readers (chuckle chuckle) a little window into my life!
Right now I am a SMT at Camp Shamineau. Now for those of you who aren't living in my little camp bubble: I am a junior counselor at a Christian summer camp. I am working on the camp's island so I am living without technology, time, real toilets, and electricity. I cook all of my meals over a fire that my campers and I build. I spend my days canoeing, swimming, bushwacking through the brush during night games, teaching kids about JESUS and growing closer to the Lord myself. It is amazing.
Every single week I get a new batch of campers, and just seeing their faces for the first time makes me want to scream with joy. Why? Because Shamineau changes lives. Maybe you don't believe it, but take a look at me. I'm a giant Jesus freak, and I owe it all to my counselor I had my first year as a camper in 2008. This camp is like a big bubble of awesomeness-- there is nowhere I have ever felt closer to Him, and campers feel it too. Every camper leaves changed in some way or another, and it is SO cool to watch them grow during the 6 short days we have together.

So yeah. I just wanted to blog a bit about that. Its almost August, I cannot believe it! This summer has flown by!

oh my goodness #nohashtagnecessary

Okay, Ruth is beyond stressed right now. So stressed that she is writing in third person and cannot type functional sentences so a list will follow. Be prepared for a dumping of all the stressful-ness.
1. Synchro music and suit designs need to be done now. Im not done.
2. I need to write my whole duet during spring break. Choreography can make or break the success of the whole season.
3. APUSH final
4. Im sitting at 93.8% in math right now, with one test yet to be entered and 2 more assignments.
5. I still need to pack for a 2 week vacation
6. I've hardly looked at college stuff
7. On top of all of this I have 5 or 6 hours of practice every single night.

But on the bright side, I chopped off all of my hair and The Hunger Games definitely did a wonderful job reflecting the book, AND I guess I am going to an island for 2 weeks of surfing and beaching and doing whatever I please, so life isn't terrible. Its just really hard.

Snow Day #Leapdaymiracle

I woke up this morning with 10 minutes to spare before I had to pick my neighbor up for late start. I proceeded to roll out of bed and put on an outfit  a sorry excuse for presentable school clothing. Basically I looked like a pile, and no, if you were wondering, my hair did not make me look any better, because generally, a frizzy poof doesn't look attractive. At least in my world. So I sleepy-eyed-squint my way down the hallway and all of a sudden my brother pops up from the stairs and goes, "Don't get ready for school, we have a snow day!"
YESSSSS. Straight back to bed I went (after putting on sweats first).

The rest of my snow day went as follows:
1. wake up and eat pancakes
2. Have a fort building contest with the entire neighborhood
3. Proceed to ruin these forts in the middle of a giant snowball fight (the girls lost, but who's surprised?)
4. Curl up in front of the fire with a home made vanilla latte and the Hunger Games
5. Spend the afternoon reading Mockingjay cover to cover
5.5 Have a mini freak out over just how smashingly amazing it was and steal my brother's copy of Catching Fire.
6. Blog about just how amazing this whole day really was

... and now it is approximately 8:04 pm and I have to study for a huge APUSH test, my chem test, and do my APUSH project. Typical. To make things worse, the Top Chef Finale is going live in 56 minutes. Time to get prioritizing.

God is Good #Hereallyis

Lately I have been really inspired by music. These songs especially:

Love Never Fails (Brandon Heath)
Times (Tenth Avenue North)
You're Beautiful (Phil Wickman)

They are so wonderful; every worship song seems to be a blessing, because music+worship is such a powerful combination. It absolutely breaks my heart to see people living without the Lord's deep, all-enveloping love, and joy. Life is so much more bearable with Him to lean on, and so much easier with His son as a perfect role-model.
My phone interview with Shamineau is on Thursday, and I am praying that I get hired back, because teaching kids and teens about God is the most rewarding job ever. I know I've already blogged about this, but its true. A letter from one of my campers is hanging on my bulletin board, and her words "You really helped me to grow in my faith," are there, screaming out encouragement every day, they are there pushing me to shoot some random stranger a smile, help an annoying person, or stand up for someone when they are being trashed behind their back.

Don't be afraid of living your life for God. He's got your back. Always. 

Who I Want to Be #eyestothefuture

WOAH. Okay, realization. My blog is my blog now, and there aren't ever going to be assignments on here again. Which means that only people who care are going to be reading this (well, aside from random creeps on the internet). So, I guess I'm going to start blogging about whats on my mind, which is a lot lately.

First things first, college. Wait, no. The future in general. My life. What in the world am I going to do? Here's the problemo: I kind of want to do everything. Unless it involves sitting behind a cubicle and doing mathematical calculation, which, I am convinced, would be Hell on earth. What I want to do is make a change, somehow, some way. Now back it up before you assume too much-- I don't want to be rich and famous and living a glamour-filled life; I want to impact the lives of others, whether it be one person or 500, I don't really care.
I want to be a teacher, study the history of the world, be a photo journalist, save whales in New Zealand, be a member of the Peace Corps, work in the advertising field, and be a missionary or youth pastor. 
Got any major suggestions?
Yeah, neither did my counselor. To wrap my mind around things here, I'm going to start posting on why I want to do some of these things. Maybe that will help!

At the end of the day, you just can't do it all.. #2013

Ok so signing up for senior classes. [insert semi-spazz here because its senior year already]
So much for the whole "senior slide" thing... the way my schedule is shaping up I am going to be pulling a "Senior Climb."
That sounded better in my head.
But honestly. I was planning on taking all of these fun classes next year, and now journalism is my only spare elective. hmpf, whatever.
I'm a tad bit bummed because I have to drop concert band. Right when I was actually starting to like playing the french horn. I just started this etude book called Kopprasch, and its getting difficult but the perfectionist side of me is SO addicted to practicing and getting them right. Plus, playing music for and hour and a half every day/ every other day is so refreshing. If you haven't done it, I would highly recommend it.
On the flip side, I'm taking the internship class, which I am pumped for. Three cheers for freedom and doing something that you like with people that are similar to you!

Block One: A Compare and Contrast Post #rewind

HELLLLO SEMESTER TWO.
I hate you already.
But really, you just can't blame me. All of my first semester classes not only had stellar teachers, but also amazingly bonded students. We were little families, and school was the most enjoyable it had ever been.
Until I walked into block one on January 30th. It was a cold, unfamiliar room with no cozy touches, witty posters, and definitely no awesome floor lamp. I sat at a desk with a nasty periodic table printed on it and my heart sank as we took notes on how to measure. The class was dead quiet, not even a whisper. I never thought I would admit to this but I found myself missing Max and Abrams showboating. I even miss the little 50 Essays book that I drudged around everywhere. To sum it up, I have post-semester depression.
If any of you are feeling the same (and I'm SURE you are), here are some pictures to nostalgia over.... if you don't mind the fact that I just turned nostalgia into a verb.

Cards and Graham creep hard. 

that ostrich...