Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I woke up and got right to work... baking pies and cookies.

We had Thanksgiving for the first time since I've been alive at our house this year, and it was time for new traditions and old to come together. My mom, Mckenzie and I cooked all day and dropped a lot of things and my mom made a grilled cheese for my dad with no cheese and i iced a lot of cookies. It was great. I love spending time with my family. I love when McKenzie comes over, and I really miss living with her. I love how my mom cares so much about the food she makes and meals for our family and presentation and making everything perfect. I love how I'm learning how to do a Thanksgiving for my own family one day.

At dinner we went around and said what we were thankful for. I was thankful for getting to work at Camp T and all the friends I've met there, and for all my older brothers and sisters. Tom was thankful for his wife and his four healthy children. Carter was thankful for his older brother Griffin. My mom was thankful for all her kids and their families, since she doesn't have much family left on her side. My day was thankful for all 5 of his kids and each of their special traits. Mckenzie was thankful for her new husband, Everett. Reagan was thankful for chocolate. We all just had a lot of thanks.

So much thanks that after having a photo-booth photo shoot, Reagan and I decided to make a video about it.

"Gotta move onwards, the only direction"

After what has been the longest blog slump ever, I had such an inspiring weekend I couldn't put off a new post any longer. Last weekend Mags came to town and with her came a lot of fun, laughter, and love. Thats what happens when best friends get the chance to spend time together in real life. Crazy.

Mags arrived early on Friday, giving us the whole day together, and me a chance to miss a lot of the school day. We split a cinnamon role and headed to Panera to pick up lunch to take and eat with Sar in her classroom. I loved driving around and seeing loudly in the car and joking and story telling with Mags. Being real life friends is so much better than being Facebook, texting, and Skype friends. We arrived at Sarah's school with bread bowls and diet cokes.

I love seeing this part of Sarah's life. You can tell she loves her job and loves her kids and is really good at what she does. 7th graders are really funny. I particularly liked freaking them all out at the beginning of class and when Mags referred to me as "Miss Henry". We told them we were 8th graders. I think they believed it.

The rest of Friday was filled with more time with Sar, fro-yo, a visit to Girls Club president Reagan, my sister shane, Carter and Blake, and a trip to Purdue.

Saturday we rested a lot. And by a lot I really mean a lot. I love Mags and napping with her and just laying around and spending time together. Its great to have friends who you can "just be" with. Those are the best kinds of friends- ones where you have fun even when you're doing nothing at all. Mags is that friend to me. We scratch each others backs and make each other laugh and just lay.

Saturday night we ate Mellow Mushroom with some other really awesome camp girls. I love that Alli Kenney is so honest and caring and excited to see everyone and hear how they are. I love how Emily and Avery are best friends and crazy and have all kinds of stories to tell. I love how Col is hilarious and fun and goes to the bathroom before she comes over to see us because she has to pee so bad. After some more fro-yo we visited the Odle house. Olivia is real great, and we got to spend some quality time with her and her really cousins. I may or may not have made a 6 year old really angry at me and hide in a bathtub. After our visit me, Mags, Col, Gab, Mads, and Hayley went to see Footloose. Naturally it was followed by a parking lot dance party. Possibly the most fun I've had all month.

Sunday Mags and I woke up bright and early to meet Sar for breakfast at Cafe Patachou. Mags was introduced to The Omelet You Can't Refuse and Sar caught us up on her busy day since we'd last seen her. It was great. I love them. After breakfast Mags and I did a little shopping after I set the record for the World's fastest shower. (But seriously, it was SO fast) . All too soon it was time for Mags to head back to Peoria.

This weekend I got to hang out with one of the best friends I could ever imagine. Maggie is constantly present in my life, even when we don't get to be in the same city. But when we are, our time together is all the more special. Mags is hilarious and honest and caring and makes me want to be a better version of myself. She radiates joy and life from the inside out and I love just being around her. I'm so thankful for a weekend full of Maggie and her constant ability to make everyone around her feel special and loved.

Little Things

Today Col posted a link on the Day Camp Facebook group to a really great website with "a list of little things we should appreciate". This is for sure one of my favorite new sites. Thank goodness for people like Col who like to share new, great things! Here were some of my faves:

You Were Made For This

After a rough couple of days, I couldn't have been more happy with my decision to go to Young Life club tonight. I've been feeling the stresses of senior year, and not been very good about making time for YL- but tonight I went. I missed it.

I missed jumping up and down and screaming the lyrics to songs like "Tonight Tonight", "Firework", "You Belong with Me" and "I Want It That Way".

I missed having soda chugging races.

I missed watching people do rediculous things like eat a chicken sandwhich inside a BigMac with chocolate syrup on it or find a piece of bubble gum in a pan full of whipped cream without using your hands.

I missed everyone joining together in one room to share a love for Christ and worship in fun ways.

I missed being a student leader and helping others to find the joy in Christ that I've found.

Tonight we sang the words to the song "Your Love Is Deep".

Your love is deep.

Your love is high.

Your love is long.

Your love is wide.

Deeper than my view of grace

Higher than this worldly place

Longer than this road I've traveled

Wider than the gap You filled

As I sang the song sitting on the floor in a room full of kids who go to my high school and want so badly to have a relationship with Christ and make time for Him, I realized a way to make my last couple bad days better. Sometimes I get so caught up in bad things that I forget about one really great thing in my life- my relationship and love for God. Sometimes its really easy for me to get sidetracked. I stress about thing after thing. I add more on my plate than I can handle. I find myself constantly running out of time and losing focus. Insignificant things become important. Little things consume my thoughts. But while  I may not always have time to blog or get organized or run or finish my homework or sit down -  its worth it to make time for God in my life every single day. 

Tonight I'm so glad I got back to Young Life and back to perspective.

Blog Hoppin' x3 (with some new friends)

10 snapshots from my everyday life:

10 Things on my bucket list:
1. Go to Harry Potter World... yes, this is serious.
2. Help build a school and/or teach kids in Africa
3. Study abroad in Europe
4. Visit every state in the US
5. Live in an old, big house in Meridian Kessler (or the equivalent somewhere else)
6. Join Teach For America
7. Attend a New Year's celebration in Times Square
8.Learn to ski (water and snow)
9. Become a parent
10. Meet Taylor Swift

10 of the most important things I've learned so far:
1. Its okay to be over-whemled and stressed and need help. People want to help you. Even if that means just listen to you vent about everything you have to do or that is going on in your life.
2. Family is really important. Sometimes its worth it to skip out on whatever your friends are doing that night and hang out with your mom.
3. When people say its important to be yourself- its not corny, its true.
4. Not everything is a big deal, even when it feels like it.
5. Prayer is incredible. You should do it often.
6. Its important to show up.
7. Sometimes you have to go out of your way to show people you care. Its worth it.
8. Really honest, genuine, good friends are rare- so when you find them, work to keep them.
9. There is such thing as Heaven on Earth- its called camp.
10. Sometimes you just have to let things go.

Check these other fun blogs out!
http://mylife-inlists.blogspot.com/ My Life (In Lists), Michelle
http://livesoverlap.blogspot.com/ Overlap, Sarah Wright
http://yourlifeunfolding.blogspot.com/ As Life Unfolds, Maggie
http://swappedmayforlang.blogspot.com/ A Year Of Joy- Project 365, Mel
http://unwrittendefinition.blogspot.com/ defining life, Sarah Mooney
http://findingjoy.blogspot.com/ finding joy, Alli
http://livelifeincolors.blogspot.com/ Life In Color, Annie
http://joythings.blogspot.com/ Little Things, Big Joy, Soaps
http://jocelec.blogspot.com is Imperfections (jocele)
http://baxfran.blogspot.com is Good Causes (ellie)
http://howuptoday.blogspot.com is Show Up Today (colleen)

Ten

...Places you wouldn't want to be caught without a spoon
1. An ice-cream party
2.  A soup eating contest
3. The cafeteria with a yogurt in your lunch (I know from experience)
4.A picnic with apple sauce and pudding
5. A spoon convention
6. A really nice dinner with the president when the soup course comes out
7. On chili night
8. A bake-off on Cupcake Wars
9. A first date where there's ice cream (not in a cone)
10. Huddles

...Reasons you really should look both ways before crossing the street
1. So you don't end up like Regina in Mean Girls
2. So you don't cause a car to break too quickly and potentially cause a whole series of accidents
3. In case a giant bear or monster or dragon or spider is coming
4. So you can live & go to college & get married & have kids.
5. So you can sing that song "stop look and listen" and really mean it
6. So you don't get injured & end up not being able to be a counselor the next summer
7. To avoid a potentially embarrassing story on the news
8. What is a car ran you over and a really mean person was driving and they just kept going... thatd be awful.
9.So Mindy doesn't get mad
10. So you don't end up in hospital not allowed to eat things like Chipotle burritos & Mellow Mushroom pizza

...Ways today was great
1. Chad and I became friends
2. We learned about limits in calculus and I got to say the Mean Girls line- "the limit does not exist!"
3. I had a Chipotle burrito that I've been wanting for like a week!
4. I got to eat it with Sar and talk and make lists
5. I made cupcakes for 4 hours for Indianapolis's only treat truck!
6. People at school liked my dress
7. I got to skype Mags while she was still at school
8. For the first day in a long time I was done with all my college application stuff
9. I had practically no homework
10. I left my phone in my car while I was at school and at the end of the day I had 9 texts!

"Momo why do you have two names?"

I love that my family is unconventional. Some people are always wishing for normalcy, I love that we're crazy and non-traditional and dysfunctional and loud and different. In fact, my family is maybe the only thing I missed while I was gone this summer. Today I had the opportunity to spend some time with family.

This morning I picked up Carter from my sister's house. Carter is loud and hilarious and three. Since my sister just had baby #4, and the older 2 started school last week, I decided Carter needed to get out of the house for awhile. When I rang the door bell the kid was so excited for this day he sprinted to my car with no shoes on and his car seat still in the garage. I loved it. A few minutes later we said bye to my sister and baby Blake and made our way to Build-A-Bear. After the being completely overwhelmed by the giant wall of stuffed animal possibilities Carter decided on a Camouflaged bear he would later name "Camouflage". We have it a heart and a bath and picked out a super cool Lightning McQueen outfit for it to wear. Its really a process, making stuffed animals.

As we walked through the mall to the car, Bear box in hand (Carter's hand that is) he just couldn't contain his excitement. He would tell about his new bear to anyone who would listen while I just laughed and stood there amazed at how funny and outgoing my nephew its. Even though I love spending time with all my nieces and nephews, its really cool when I get to hang out with them one on one. They're all turning into real little people with such different personalities and unique interests. Its crazy to think their are 4 of them now. I wouldn't mind having 4 more.

Later in the day, I met up with my sister McKenzie to go with her to her first wedding dress fitting. She hadn't seen the dress for 5 months, and was feeling really nervous. I still can't even believe their is a wedding happening at all, so things like this are so crazy to me. We met my mom and a family friend at the bridal salon and she went in the dressing room to put it on. It was perfect. She was beautiful. I can not wait to see her on her day, and stand up with her as part of the wedding party (even if it does make me really sad).

In my last year living at home full-time (that is so weird to say) I really want to embrace my family. Embrace our flaws and different ways of doing things and out of the ordinary everythings. I can't wait for the weddings and baptisms and birthday dinners and Christmas time when we are all together. I cant wait to babysit four great kids. I can't wait to help McKenzie decorate a new house. I can't wait to spend time with my mom and tell her everything and go to breakfast on weekends with my dad. I can't wait to see my sister-in-law Traci when she visits with my brother from Alabama and eat Blondie's cookies with her and watch re-runs of Real Housewives. We might be unconventional, but we really really love each other and when it comes to families, there isn't another one I'd rather be apart of.