Healing Our Country

Since I won't be here tomorrow, think of this post as my post for tomorrow.
Today was the big God & Country Day at church and it was a blast! Anyone who had the opportunity to come and didn't sure missed out! You all surely know that I'm in the choir at church and we did a mini patriotic cantata. During the "Salute to the Armed Forces" I tried to pay attention to Brother Barry (the director) but it was literally impossible. There was so much cheering and clapping and whistling and someone even brought a air-horn!!! And at the end all the balloons dropped and it was amazing! I wish I could have taken some pictures.
After all the excitement, we sang the last song.. and if anything could touch me, it was that song. Here are some of the words.

"Turn the Tide"
Though the waves of immorality may beat upon the shore, and it seems that all ungodliness is knocking at our door. We must never give up hope; we must not let them win the war. We must plead with him who has the power to cleanse and to restore. Turn the tide, Lord, turn the tide! Open wide the flood gates of your power. Stem the flood of wickedness. Restore, revive, and bless. Turn the tide.           
        (From "This Is My America" by Bible Truth Music)

It makes me think how this country has gone downhill so fast. I heard that on the news they beeped out "One nation under God" in the "Pledge of Allegiance"! How sad can it get? I'd like to ask everyone who's reading this post to pray. Pray for the country. Pray for the president, the congress and all those in the government. Pray for the city mayor, your pastor.

The Bible says in 2 Choronicles 7:14 KJV
"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

Macy pops a balloon

I took this video today. It's so funny! You can hear the balloon pop at the end. :)

Seeing old friends

On Saturday, the 25th of June (the day I posted last), I went to see the "Toy Box" put on by the Volusia Academy of Ballet. I've seen it every single year ever since I was five. Only this time, I was in the audience and not back stage. I danced under Ms. Nobuko's instruction for 9 years till I quit last year. It was nice seeing all my friends again. Learning about the things that have happened during my absence. One friend is moving to California; another one had a tumor in her head and is recovering well from surgery. I had a lot of fun watching and talking. LOL

L to R: Me, Joyclen, Sarah, Sydney, and Shannon.

Joyclen was the only one who actually performed in this picture. :D Sarah and Shannon switched schools last year and Syd quit. I didn't get a picture with Stephi but I will because I'm spending Independence Day with her.

G.L.A.M

 There's a new teen girls Bible study taught by Ms. Jesica (Bro. Adam's wife) every Monday at 10am. It's called GLAM which stands for Girls Learning And Ministering. Last Monday was the second time we met and so far, it has been very serious while still being fun and casual. Anyway, we went to Chili's. :D

My friend Haley and I split a Classic Turkey Toasted Sandwich. Mmmm! Then for dessert, I had a Brownie Sunday. :P Yum!! I sat next to Olivia. She's so cute and fun to play tag with after church. :) 

Thank you Bro. Adam!

Do you know what the average stay of a pastor is at a church?   Guess then highlight the answer (because I wrote it in white).                      → 2 years

 How about the youth pastor?   → 6 months!
At the end of July, it's going to be my youth pastor's 10th year at VCBC! And I'd like to thank him for all he's done in this one year I've attended Volusia County Baptist Church. I appreciate it very much and hope he stays a lot longer! :)

The begining of summer

Wow! Do you guys realize that it's already summer? My piano recital was on the 5th and thankfully, I did my piece note-perfect! You don't know how many times I prayed "Please God, help me get this right!" and after-wards "Thank you, Lord!!!" I also started the Wilton Flowers and Gumpaste cake class (course 2) last Friday.

I found out recently that in August, my mom's cousin and his family are coming over from Japan. I suppose it will be like when Miyuu was here but not as near as long. Hopefully we will get them to come to church with us!

Father's day and God and Country day (July 4th) are just around the corner! We have a present for Daddy hidden in my closet! LOL On the 3rd, VCBC is having a mini patriotic cantata called "This Is My America". I like it actually. And after service, we are having dinner on the grounds with hot dogs and lots of apple pie! Hooray! One year ago on July 4th (Sunday) I was in Japan. Good memories at Yokosuka Baptist Church (YBC). :)

The best news!             (which I'm going to announce again and again till it actually happens!)
I'm getting my braces off on July 14th!!!!!!!!!!!! That's 4 weeks from tomorrow! Yaaaaaaaaaaaay! I'm still planning on camo retainers! :D

My new lifestyle

Ben took this.

My parents have decided to start living healthier and they joined a gym. Ever since they did that I have been seriously wiped out! Today we swam in their huge pool. I feel as if I could go take a nap and wake up tomorrow morning! LOL

I'm getting my braces off!

As you can probably guess, I'm so excited!!! Dr. Poppell (my orthodontist) said I can get my braces off and Mom set an appointment for July 14th!!!! (I'm planning on camouflage retainers!)  Yaaaaaay!  (^_^) Leigha

Piano Recital

My 1st piano recital is coming up on June 5th! Well it's not really my first piano recital. I had one in 2nd grade but that was 7 years ago. I will be playing Robert Schumann's Humming Song. It's a very formal occasion so yesterday Mom and I went shopping at the mall. We found a very pretty dress. I like it a lot. What do you think? It was $100 and 40% off! Great deal!

 Leigha

Aki and Kuma's hairstyles

We decided to have a little fun. :)

I like this one the best!

Look what Ben did to Aki!

Leigha

Aki & Kuma

We are dog sitting a couple dogs for 3 weeks. Their names are Aki and Kuma and they're so cute! Aki is a teacup poodle and Kuma is a toy poodle.

Bacon and Pork Chop and the Mother's Day banquet

This is a collage of our new pigs (Yorkshire-Hampshire cross), Bacon and Pork Chop. Bacon has the black back and is mine; Pork Chop has a black butt and is Ben's.

    The banquet was a blast! We played games and ate (of course) and had lots of fun. Since I don't have time to load pictures of all 77 tables, here is the theme and another collage. The center table is ours. It's all origami!

Sorry, way too many tables.

The Mother-Daughter-Sister-Cousin-Aunt-Niece-Friend-Female Banquet

Wow that's a long title! It's actually only the Mother-Daughter banquet; but as long as you're a female, you can come. This evening, the church is having the annual banquet. My best friend Haley and I are hosting a table. I'll take a bunch of pictures to show you!
         We got a pig!!! Well... 2 pigs! I'll have to take a picture of them too. This morning at the farm swap, we got 2 'practice' pigs. They are destined for the table. LOL! There names are Bacon and Pork Chop.
         Also, Grandpa and Grandma and my cousin, Nick, are spending Mother's Day with us. Yay!!!
        
      See Macy's new outfit!

 

She went into heat for the first time this month and was making messes everywhere so we bought a diaper for her!        Leigha

Ben's tooth

Here's something we weren't expecting.

Under the Bed

Lately, Ben and Macy have been under my bed a lot. I guess it must be comfortable or something... So I took some pictures of them.

After they came out from under, I took this pic of Macy. It's so funny!

Hmmmm...

Leigha

Chickens and Ducks

Wow we are really becoming a animal farm! Now Daddy's talking of getting a cow! He took this picture this afternoon and now it's my profile picture. :D

Leigha

The Morning of April 6th

Here are the pictures I took at around 8am.

Macy and I explored the lake bed and found all kinds of stuff like golf balls (see towards the bottom of  my Interesting Finds post) and fish skeletons. There's even grass growing!

I suppose if you don't know how friendly Macy is, you'd find this scary.

Mistletoe

Aflac! He's completely white now. I'll have to take a picture of him and show you.

Ben, Ben, Ben... (shaking head)

I love this picture!

We have figs! We have a lot of blossoms on the Persimmon tree too. We're going to have a big harvest this year.

We had Loquats, too, but we (by then Ben was outside too) and the squirrels ate them all.

While we were eating breakfast we saw a couple Cardinals on a "date".

That's it for that morning.    What's your favorite cereal? Mine's Cinnamon Chex.

Leigha