Life is hectic so I just wanted to take a few minutes and reflect.
In a little over four months I will be at the University of Northwestern - St. Paul. Four months 'till I start my plan to major in English-Writing and minor in Bible and Theatre. Four months 'till I start living in the dorm. Four months 'till I won't see my family every single day. Four months. Only four months. Wow.
Time has flown by.
Looking back I realize a lot of different things helped me get to where I am. But the two (besides my faith and family :) ) that really stand out are my school and my AHG troop.
My school. Well, my second school really. My first school is also my home (I have been homeschooled since kindergarten) but my second school is Owatonna Christian School. I starting playing basketball for them five years ago and my relationship with the students as well as the staff has just blossomed. If you were to ask me who my friends are, I would name every single person in the senior class of OCS. I have gotten to know them really well and they really are my best friends. We have played basketball together, been involved in volleyball, sang in the choir, been in plays, gone to banquets and even just hung out as a class. I love them all. Some I have known for years, and some I have only gotten to know in the past few months, but you really won't find a better group of kids. OCS really has opened their arms to me. I wasn't sure how I was going to fit in (as a homeschooler coming in) but everyone just treated me as one of their own. I have been given so many opportunities through OCS; so many that I couldn't begin to tell them all to you. Being involved with the school helped me grow as a person. It gave me confidence, helped me know my likes and dislikes, showed me what a "classroom setting" looks like, given me lifelong friends, and some of the best memories of my life. So, to Janae, Jenessa, Jessica, Rachael, Alex, Kendrick, Wesley, Daniel and Ben: Thank you for the many years of memories. I love you all with all my heart and we will have to hang out a lot this summer so that we can make up for time we will lose when we all go our separate ways next fall :) Pool parties at our house!!
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| The seniors! (Minus Alex) |
My AHG troop. I have been involved with AHG for ten years now. I really don't remember life without it. My mom started the troop in Owatonna ten years ago, so because I was always the "leader's daughter" I was thrust into leadership positions starting at the age of eight! But I wouldn't change it for the world. AHG is a wonderful program and I have the confidence and poise I have today because of AHG. In the past ten years I have basically done everything: Planned tea parties, bingo nights, spa nights, father/daughter dances, movie nights and end of the year ceremonies, I have done the slideshow for the end of the year ceremony, helped plan the troop scrapbook, set up and cleaned up after nearly every meeting, been the first to show up to things and the last to leave, done badges and gotten level awards, gone on fieldtrips, put flags on veterans graves for memorial day, marched in parades, gotten a lifelong friend through the pen-pal program (shout out to Bethany :) ), and much, much more. AHG, just like OCS, has given me so many opportunities that I never would have dreamed of. Like being the National Girl Guest Blogger! Never in a million years would I have dreamed that would have happened! But it did. AHG is such an amazing program. If you don't believe it, you should have been at one of the last meetings we had. A girl in our troop, Alyssa, had been crowned Miss South Central's Outstanding Teen. The next weekend she would be competing for Miss Minnesota's Outstanding Teen. So, she wore her crown and sash to AHG and we all gathered around her and prayed for her and her testimony at this competition. She ended up getting Second Runner up and did an amazing job! But that's really what AHG is all about: Building women of integrity who have confidence in themselves and who aren't afraid to ask others to come around them and pray with them when they are scared. AHG is a program that every girl should be in, because through it a girl will learn to lean on Christ, be confident in herself, learn her strengths and weaknesses, be given amazing opportunities and come out with amazing friendships. A special thanks to Alyssa and Marta for being my co-patriots for the last few years, as well as sticking with me since the start of the troop. Love you both!
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| Marta, Alyssa and I |
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| Praying for Alyssa |
