Of Friendship

Friendship is...
Friendship is a pint of ice cream, Fun, sweet and enjoyable.
Friendship is a bonfire, more you put in, the larger it gets.
Friendship is a blanket, a place for comfort and safety.
Friendship is a car ride, it takes awhile, but it is worth it.
Friendship is a photograph; you never know how it will turn out.
Friendship is a football game, Exciting all the time.
Friendship is a night under the stars; it’s beautiful in every way.

I believe in best friends. Best friends are always there for you no matter what. They are always there when you need them and they are always willing to listen. A friend is a person whom someone knows, likes, and trusts; a person who supports you and sympathizes with you. Friendship is so broad, but recently I have learned the true meaning of the word.

When you need a shoulder to cry on, who do you go to? Moving away can be a hard situation. One of my best friends is about to move. Whenever she feels sad, or depressed, I try to always be there for her. Can you imagine, leaving your house, school, friends and sports teams you’re on? That is why friends are always good to have. They support you when you need it.
When you want to tell someone about the “best time of your life”, who do you go to? Going to prom or getting a good grade in a difficult class, you always want to celebrate it. And who is better to celebrate it with, than a friend? Friends will celebrate with you, be excited for you, and congratulate you. Friends build you up.
And when you want someone to talk to about the hard times in life, who do you go to? Fighting with your brothers and sisters or fighting with your parents isn’t fun. Don’t you ever get so mad you want to scream? Or just tell someone so you can let it out? That is a good time to have friends. They care about you; they listen to you; and they will make you feel better.
My best friends are always, always there when I need them. They never gets tired of listening to me ramble and they never stops caring about me. When I need to talk, I know I can turn to my friends. When I just want to hang out, I know I can hang out with my friends. A good friendship is full of trust and respect, and everyone needs a best friend. Yes, conflicts occurred and we all say we hate each other. But really, Friends will always be there for you and for each other. Arguments will happen, tears will be cried, but in the end friends will be friends forever

Of Expectations

1. In my family, it's expected that you will go to college or further your education.
In my family it is pretty much required for you to go to college. My father went to college along with his parents. My mom didn’t go to college because she had bad grades in high school. She later decided to go to college and further an education in the medical field. My dad pushes me all the time to get good grades and to take hard classes. High school may be tough, but college is going to be tougher. Every one in my family is headed down the road that leads to going to one college or another. I am sure that the expectations in my family will not be changing any time soon.
2. Everyone in my family is expected to contribute to chores, cooking, cleaning, and maintaining the house.
I agree with this statement also. Every one in my family has a different responsibility. Nathan, my younger brother, is expected to have the garbage out every Friday morning at 7:00. My chore is the put away the clean dishes whenever necessary. My sisters have less work to do around the house because they have jobs that they are at all the time. Every one in the house tries to split up the work so my mom doesn’t have to do all of it. We all have a responsibility to fulfill. So yes, I would say that everyone is expected to contribute to chores in my house.
3. Sometimes, it's hard for everyone in my family to get along.
Heck yes I agree. Every family has problems. Some problems are bigger than others, and some are stupid to be fighting over. Now that my sisters are eighteen, I amseventeen and my brother is 14, we have all matured and began to get along better and found it more easily solve our differences. When we were younger, we fought about the littlest things. Most of the arguments were over what channel to watch next or who got to sit by my mom at dinner. Now that we are older, we can solve our problems by ourselves, without my parents getting involved.
4. There are goals I have that my parents and/or siblings just don't "get."
Every one has dreams or goals. Some are different and some are wild. I some times have a problems telling my parents and siblings my goals or dreams. Every one is afraid of being rejected or not being understood. I had a goal or dream to make the sophomore, starting volleyball team. That didn’t happen. My summer was horrible. My dreams were crushed July 22, five days before my sixteenth birthday. When I burnt my leg, all I could think about was not being able to play volleyball. I put in so much work over the summer and dedicated half the whole summer to volleyball. When your dreams are crushed or not fulfilled, it is nice to be able to go to somebody who understands. In my case, I turned to my mom. My mom knows how much I love volleyball and it is nice to know some one cares. So next time you think that no one “gets” it, they do, one way or another.

Tug-A-Leah-War

Living one life with two different types of friends is typical, but verry difficult. I have found that I love all my friends, some more than others and then found that I love them in different ways too.The word love can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure to intense interpersonal attraction. This diversity of meanings, combined with the complexity of the feelings involved, makes love unusually difficult to consistently define, even compared to other emotional states.

So what do you do when you love all your friends, but are being pulled each way to choose? On one side I have my long, true best friends. They have been there for as long as I can remember. Through the past year they have put up with alot from me...and still are. I know they care about me, and always will. Sometimes I feel like they are the only ones who understand me or that they are the only ones that will listen to me. Other times, it feels like they either judge me or the situation.

On my other side I have my first love, my first real boyfriend. He represents not only himself, but my other friends who I have bonded with throughout the three years I have been in highschool.They care, they love me ; just not with the same love as my best friends have loved me with for many years. My friends are there for me to vent and there to listen and help. I believe that they really do love me too.

So when I have people pulling on me, telling me to "Do this" and "Do that", it is hard for me to listen. I want to make my own decisions. I don't want to hurt anyone, but I also dont want to be judged. I care dearly for all my friends. Some people dont understand my friendships. I get hurt alot, yes, but should that stop me from caring for the person who hurt me?

I'm sure alot of people have experienced this "pulling" from friends, this is just my first experience. I'm trying my hardest not to hurt anyone, but I am just doing what I think is right, and doing what I want to do.

The Inspiration

I ran through the empty hallways of a clean, vacant church. As I turned the corner I entered into the sanctuary. There I saw my grandpa, the pastor of the church I had been playing in, standing at the podium, preaching away. He looked so serious, so believable and so comfortable.
My grandpa had been a pastor from before I can remember. He started his own church on his own money, believing my grandma and he could survive on the little money they had. My grandpa is a strong believer and also my inspiration.
My grandpa inspires me to be more like him. He is always trustworthy, honest and truthful. I strive a little more every day to be more like him. When situations are ruff I know I can turn to him, and when I need comfort or a “father figure”, I know he is always there.
Every time I am around him, I can’t help but smile. He is so encouraging and uplifting. I love how he knows I am having a bad day, and when I do, he turns it around for me by cheering me up and taking me shopping. I love my grandpa so much. He is everything I want to be. So whenever some one asks me who I admire most, it doesn’t even take me a second to think. My face lights up and I will grin a little and reply, “My grandpa”.

Flashback to the Past!

The summer of my freshman year at Kennedy High School, I met many new people. One of the people I met is now one of my good friends. Laura had gone to Harding Middle School, where almost half of the other freshman at Kennedy went. Laura knew many people and soon introduced me to all of them. She led me to meet many of my friends and my first “love”.
Dallas had seen me that summer, hanging around Laura and the weight room for volleyball, and he had hoped to meet me. He was a foster child because when he was young his parents died. For the past 5 years or so, Dallas had been living with a foster family.

As a freshman, I was only 15 years old. And according to my parents, I was not old enough to date. So of course, soon Dallas asked me out. I had to tell him the “rules of my house” and explain to him why I couldn’t date him. But we still hung out and liked each other more every day.
We had our ups and we had our downs through freshman year. Things started getting better until the beginning of the 3rd trimester of that year. Dallas’ foster family decided to kick him out. Dallas called me the day it happened and tried to explain to me what was going to happen.
The next day at school, he came up to me, telling me it was his last day at Kennedy. I couldn’t stand the thought of not seeing him again. I cried all day, and was late to almost all my classes because he was talking to me.
I remember that day too well. I didn’t eat anything all day, and I especially didn’t rush to class. After every class, Dallas was waiting for me outside the door, just waiting to walk me to my next class.
The end of the day arrived and my friend, who was my ride, wanted to leave. She walked slowly in front of us, leaving me and Dallas behind. We stood in-between the doors to the school and outside, getting ready to say goodbye. Of course I cried while he hugged me one last time. It was one of the worse days of my life. And if I could go back and change that day I would. I would have done anything to stop him from leaving.

A Memory Memoir

“Why me!” I yelled, asking in fear. I was on my way to the top of the Wild Thing, which happened to be the tallest, longest and steepest dropping roller coaster in Valley Fair. “Come on, show some spirit, this is our 8th grade trip, it’ll be fun!” my sister who is also my best friend insisted. “Yeah,” I said sarcastically, “Fun!”
Thinking more and more about my 8th grade trip and how fun it had been so far, kept my mind off of other things, other things like the roller coaster I was on! I had never been on a roller coaster this big before. It was lime green and tall. This had to be one of my first roller coasters. The name of this tall roller coaster was nothing else but the Wild Thing. Yes, indeed you had to be a wild thing to ride this. And right now it looked like I was going to be the wild one.
Still chugging up the hill, my close friends, who were also one the 8th grade trip with me, were sitting behind Stephanie and me. Stephanie and my friends knew I was afraid of heights and not to mention roller coasters but that didn’t stop them from dragging me onto this ride. Besides I didn’t want to look like a baby in front of my classmates. But the one thing that did start to scare me was all the scary things my friends said to me on the way to the top. They said many things like, “Hey, Leah have you looked down recently?” and of course I looked down. This freaked me out.
When this first cart finally reached the top of the hill, I started to see carts disappear one by one. People were screaming their heads off. “3…2…1,” my friends who were sitting behind me screamed. We were off, down the biggest drop of the ride. I couldn’t breath. Not because I was sick or anything, but because the drop took my breath away.
Surviving the first drop, I was on my way through the rest of the roller coaster. There were hills and corkscrews and loops through the whole thing. This was in fact the longest, best roller coaster ever.
Going up and down small and large hills made my stomach turn. But going into the tunnel was the best part. Water sprayed our faces unexpectedly and a camera flashed. Many pictures were taken; there was a picture of every cart. There were pictures of screaming people, people wiping their face from the unexpected water, little kids crying and of course Stephanie and I striking a pose!
This roller coaster was, yes, very scary, but was most defanetly the best ride ever. I will never forget my 8th grade trip or the Wild Thing.

The Spottless Family

As my sister wrote in her recent blog, 1115, she talks about how our family and others always try to give of the apperence of being "normal". If any family is abnormal, it is mine.

For some reason, it is so important to my parents to make sure everyone in the world knows we are okay. People see us as the large, white, Christian family; who attends chuch multiple times a week, participates in countless church activities and lead groups at our church. Some know some of our history, including the messy devorce my parents went through, causing my mom to leave the church; taking Steve ( my step-dad, and previously married to another member of our church) with her. Some believe God help us through it and brought Amy ( my step-mom) "into our lives". By adding Amy and Steve to my family; the number of siblings I had increased too. From 2 to 6 siblings, my life changed.

I decided a while ago that I was tired of living a life according to other people. Of course I make mistakes and some of them I really don't want people to find out about. But now I think people know I am not a perfect, Christian teenage girl; NO ONE IS! Everyone says teenagers make mistakes, or " You're a kid, of course you will mistakes!" The choices are not mistakes! I'll live the way I want to live and make the choices I want to. Some may be stupid or the wrong choice, but that is how you learn. Many say that my parents or audults have gone through the situations that teens are faced with today. So what! Let me learn for myself how heartbreak feels or the dissappointment of the consequeses of my actions.

Drama Queen or King...

Drama Queens

So Saturday, I had to wake up early! I woke up, took my daily shower, did my daily routine-as always. My family had to get up early to drive to Cedar Falls Saturday morning. My older sister, attending UNI, had to move out of her dorm room by 12 0'clock. We left our house in Anamosa about 9 to get there around 10:30.
Why so early? Well let me tell you. Apparently my father, who is no longer married to my mom was being a drama queen! He had felt it was time that my sister could "understand" that she needed to not only scedual him into her scedual, but make sure he DIDNT see my mother! After 17 years of my life and 19 of hers- he has never had a problem co-operating with my mom if it involves us kids.
Regardless, we went up to UNI to help my sister move. As we drew close to her new dorm room...my mother pointed out that something smelled like bleach. So up in the room, my sister, frantically, dumped all her clothes out onto the floor and searched them for bleach spots. She was a nervous wreck. After seeing her clothes have bleach on them- she went crazy. "EVERYTHING" was going wrong for her.

Cheaper By The Dozen...And Then Some

Some people don't have kids, they have litters....and
we celebrate them for some reason.
-LEAH-

"LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — Mother's Day draws a crowd in the home of an Arkansas woman — she is pregnant with her 18th child.This weekend, Duggar will join her husband and their 17 children to celebrate Mother's Day with brunch at a hotel in downtown Little Rock. Their youngest child, Jennifer, is 9 months old. Their oldest, Josh, is 20.The Duggar children include 10 boys and seven girls. Within the group are two sets of twins."We've had three in January, three in December. Those two months are a busy time for us," Michelle Duggar said, laughing.The fast-growing family lives in Tontitown in northwest Arkansas in a 7,000-square-foot home. All the children — whose names start with the letter J — are home-schooled.Michelle Duggar, who has been pregnant for 11 years of her life, said she and her husband will continue to have children as long as God wills it.

The other Duggar children, in between Joshua and Jennifer, are Jana, 18; John-David, 18; Jill, 16; Jessa, 15; Jinger, 14; Joseph, 13; Josiah, 11; Joy-Anna, 10; Jeremiah, 9; Jedidiah, 9; Jason, 7; James, 6; Justin, 5; Jackson, 3; and Johannah, 2."


We all heard this story or read it in the papers this weekend. 18 children!?! We hear the nation is overpopulated and now I can see why. What if EVERY couple in America did this? What if every family believed they should have as many kids as long as "God will's it"? I am sure that taking care of 18 children is very stressfull and time consuming, meaning that the Duggar's must really have a passion for children! I know that I would never have enough patients for 18 kids, let alone 1. Congradulation Duggars for the "accomplishment" or whatever, props to you! I could never raise 18 children and still want more!

'Juno' about Juno?

Won Oscar. Another 38 wins & 25 nominations. What movie is it?
-LEAH-

Sixteen year-old Juno MacGuff is the type of girl that doesn't really care what others may think of her. She learns that she's pregnant from a one-time sexual encounter with her best friend, Paulie Bleeker. Juno and Paulie like each other, but don't consider themselves to be exclusive boyfriend/girlfriend let alone be ready to be a family complete with child. Although she would rather not be pregnant, Juno is fairly pragmatic about her situation.Paulie really leaves all the decisions about the baby to Juno. She first chooses abortion, and when a weird encounter occurs with a protester she changes her mind. Juno decides on having the child, not getting attached and giving it to an adoptive family.

Many people have had an issue with this movie. They believe it is promoting the idea of teen pregnancy or abortion. Well, if you have a problem with the movie...DONT SEE IT! I personally think it is a good movie. Juno uses so much humor and sarcasm; it makes the movie!

Back to Normal?

""Oh my God!" Paula wailed. "I thought you - thought you sang twice!"
Double vision is a troubling thing. Double hearing is a cry for exorcism"

-LEAH-

It'S time to equip the TV with a Breathalyzer; or an IQ test. I don't know what Paula Abdul is or isn't drinking, smoking or snorting, or with what or whom she is or isn't spending her lonely days and nights. But with Paula either stuck on the heavily traveled road to rehab - or in need of a refresher course in English as a second language.

We have all heard the rumors (or facts) about Paula. No she is not getting kicked off the show. No she does not have schizophrenia. But yes, she has a problem. She never admits if she is on drugs or drinks, yet it is proven that she does through her actions. So when Paula goes crazy, what is everyone else thinking?

Ratings seem do drop drasticle. The ratings are great, just not "Idol" great. The night after Paula went psychic, 22.8 million viewers watched Seacrest endorse Paula and Brooke go home. That's the singing competition's smallest regular Wednesday show audience in two years, and down 21 percent from the nearly 29 million who watched on the same night last year. Among 18-to-34-year-old viewers, the show clocked the smallest in-TV-season performance for a Wednesday in more than five years.

Who wants to watch Idol, when there is a drunk, high or hung-over judge sitting at the judges table? Not me!

Baskets of Joy

DING-DONG. ITS MAY DAY! Check your door and check your steps,

you may have a small basket of joy.

-LEAH-

May Day occurs on May 1 and refers to any of several public holidays. In many countries, May Day is synonymous with International Workers' Day or Labour Day, which celebrates the social and economic achievements of the Labour Movement As a day of celebration, however, the holiday has ancient origins and can relate to many customs that have survived into modern times. May Day marks the end of the uncomfortable winterhalf of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, and it has traditionally been an occasion for popular and often raucous celebrations, regardless of the locally prevalent political or religious establishmen.

Today May Day is celebrated by the typical backet on the front porch and the annoying door bell ringing. When you arrive at the door, finding no one standing there, you do find a small present! Sometimes these baskets consist of food, money or candy.

May Day, being today, is the only reason I woke up this morning! I personally do not participate in this holiday because I am not creative enough to make a "May Day Basket". But I work at a day-care where all the kids have been counting down to today. Today at work will be a treat itselve. We will proboly be working on making baskets and even make basket for the kids. I love seeing them excited over little things, it reminds me to look for joy in everything.