Here are some pictures from the India trip!

http://picasaweb.google.com/therachelsawyer/

http://picasaweb.google.com/indialighthouse08

I will put up my pictures here eventually, on the second link..enjoy!

Hi!! So! I haven't posted for 2008 years basically...! Just got back from India on Saturday night. It was the longest day ever! We were traveling for 36 hours on the way back, but I slept a lot on the planes. It's been weird transitioning back to being in the States again. I'm feeling just like I don't know where to put all the experiences I had...I don't know how to apply them to my life now. Its such different worlds. I just feel like I need to meditate on everything....and journal about it or something. So that's what I'm kinda doing now. Sometimes, I just find myself staring off into space, recalling images from the trip...but then not feeling like I can grasp the full meaning I felt when I was there. It's just this separation, and feeling of alienation.

I don't really feel like describing everything that happened there right now. I just want to talk about the things I haven't really been able to put into words. I feel like I saw a whole different side of God there. Like God was so much clearer there. Maybe it was because there is such a drastic and obvious difference between Christianity and Hinduism and Islam. Like in the States, everyone basically believes in God to some degree...or they believe such a wide variety of things. In India, you're basically either Hindu or Muslim--and its such a clear cut religion. Even visually obvious--the Hindu dot, and the Muslim black covering. India is only 3% Christian. So I guess I'm trying to say that there's such contrast. In the US, everything's muddled. So the Christians just stuck out in the contrast--the Indian Christians, and our team. Our team already stuck out because we're white...but I think the spiritual contrast made it easier to live entirely in the Spirit--it made us want to show the real Jesus to all the people who were watching (and people were staring!)..maybe BECAUSE they were watching, and also because we felt that urgency that we probably would be one of the very few Christians they would ever encounter.

I've been thinking a lot about the verse "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied." And thinking a lot about what it means to hunger and thirst... I noticed in the Indian Youth for Christ staff that we were with a lot...and at the churches we went to...that they had that hunger for God. At one of the church services, Prahba (he is the national director of YFC) taught about depending on God. We have so many things we can lean back on...our education, our family status, our looks, our friends. We can find comfort in anything, but the only gateway to experiencing life in the way it was created for is to allow God to fill us...say no to the temptations that fill our lives with cheap and artificial comfort. Be willing to dwell in that hunger for a while, and actually wait on God. In my devotional book, it said something like..."only those who want righteousness can ever get it." Do I really want righteousness? I want to want it.

I'm sick of sitting around. I need and want to get involved in a ministry. I'm sick of being a "hearer of the Word" and not necessarily a "doer." I don't want God to be an accessory...I want him to be my passion...in every area of my life! I'm trying to learn what it means to open up doors to Him that I'd never even considered offering before.

Hehe! Here's a funny website dedicated to passive-aggressive notes people leave.

okay....this girl rocks....

Here's our airband from my wing this year!!! It's a Grease medley :) Sadly, we didn't get in to the main show..there were other wings doing Grease that were better I think..haha. anyway..enjoy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaR0l0X4KR8

1,303,260How Many Germs Live On Your Keyboard?

(story time!!)

Little Levi’s Library Adventures

Once upon a time, in a little town by the name of Tristansumi, there lived a little boy by the name of Levi. He was a very little boy. The littlest boy to ever have lived in Tristansumi, in fact. Perhaps the littlest boy to ever have lived—no one had ever left Tristansumi, so who could know for sure?

Little Levi loved to read. Every day after getting off the school bus, instead of going to daycare he would hang out at the public library. With his books. And he would read. And read. And read just a little bit longer. By the age of seven he’d read the entire fiction, children’s, fantasy, biography, sci-fi, and historical fiction sections. By the age of ten, he’d completed all non-fiction books. But there was one section Little Levi refused to read. One section he just couldn’t bring himself to even browse.

Romance. Little Levi had never laid hands on a romance book. Now, don’t think Little Levi wasn’t interested in the subject. Oh, he most definitely was beyond intrigued by it. But he couldn’t bear to be seen with a romance book in his hands—no, especially not with Nelly Higumbothum the librarian around! Nelly Higumbothum was the meanest, ugliest, smelliest, rudest, most disgusting girl in Tristansumi. She was short, and well, more than “full-figured”—her hair was longer than half her body and her feet stuck out to the sides when she (very rarely) walked. She smelled like sweat and rotten soy beans mixed together times ten! And Little Levi would rather shovel goat droppings for the next eight years of his life than touch one of Nelly Higumbothum’s romance novels. You see, romance novels were all Nelly would read. She loved the romance section, and she told Little Levi if ever she found out he bent a page or even misplaced a book, she would give him hundreds of dollars worth of late fees on his library account, and maybe even eat his library card right in front of his face.

Today was the day Levi had nothing left to read at the library except for the romance books, and he was on his way there, sitting in the school bus and staring out the window, wondering just what-in-Tristansumi he was going to do.

“I have nothing to look forward to in life,” he said, for had already read every book he could. He laid down on his bus seat (it was the perfect size for Little Levi) and sighed.

Just then, there was a “SCRREEEEEECH!” and a “BAH-AAH-AHH” and a “THUD!” and a “Whoa-OOOOHHH!! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH! UGH!”

“What in Tar nation is wrong with this blasted town!? A man can’t even do his darned job without some dingbat herd of lamb chops trying to stampede the doggone road!” said an outraged Danny. There had happened to be a herd of sheep that had escaped from Jip’s Barn and wandered into the road, causing poor Danny the bus driver to attack his brakes, which in turn caused poor Little Levi to fly off his bus seat, smack onto the floor and roll all the way to the front of the bus, getting whacked all the way by each pair of feet in front of him.

Little Levi groaned, opening his eyes to see many other eyes peering over the bus seats at him.

“You alright there little buddy?” Danny said.

“Just fine,” said Little Levi as he crawled up onto his new seat.

“I wonder if he’ll ever get any bigger,” he heard someone whisper. But as people started back into their normal gossip, Levi noticed who he was sitting next to. It was Rina Calvin, one of those up-and-coming most popular girls in school. She normally sat at the back of the bus with the high-schoolers, even though she was still just an eighth-grader. Levi had hardly noticed she was there—she had her head turned so all he could see was her dark fro. He stared into the blackness for a while, probably still recovering from the tumble.

“What chu lookin’ at?” Rina said, back still turned.

Little Levi bounced in his seat. “Nothing.” He looked down at his dangling feet. “What are you looking at?”

“Daaanng kid. Why don’t you just shut up?” she said, finally turning to give him a look.

“Okay.” And Levi stared straight forward. He was stunned to see her blood-shot eyes and wet cheeks. He had just witnessed the tears of Rina Calvin.

The bus pulled up at his stop—the library.

“Well, hope you have a good day,” Levi said and hopped out of his seat and off the bus. “See ya, Danny.”

As Little Levi walked towards the library, he wasn’t really sure what he was going to do. Since he couldn’t read the romance books, he thought he’d try to ask Nelly if they had, by chance, gotten any new books in recently. He entered the library with a deep breath (he hated talking to Nelly Higumbothum because her breath always smelled like plaque, and she had a tendency to unknowingly gleek on him), but as he approached the front desk, there was an entirely different figure there than the round hairy disaster that would usually describe Nelly.

“Yippee! Nelly is gone! This is the best day of my life! My first chance ever to read a romance novel,” thought Levi. If Little Levi was a book-worm, he was preparing himself for a dirt feast!

Just then Levi heard someone entering the library—and Little Levi’s heart sank like a paratrooper without a parachute.

“Nelly is back to secure my doom. Of course she would never trust her romance books to another employee,” he thought. But much to Little Levi’s surprise and relief, it wasn’t Nelly at the door but Rina! “That’s odd.” Levi thought. “I wonder why she chose to get off the bus here. From my evaluations, Rina is not a reading-type girl.” Little Levi was also a very intuitive little boy for a ten-year-old.

His attention turned back to the new librarian. The new librarian peered down at Levi. He was a lanky nerdy-looking fellow, but had a look of quirky happiness in his eyes. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Yes, where is Ms. Higumbothum, the old librarian today?”

“Ms. Higumbothum? I’ve never met her. Someone just called me over at the library in Frockshire saying this library would need some help today. I was told there was a crisis in the family and the librarian was unable to come to work. My name’s Troy. Let me know if there’s something I can help you find.”

“Okay, thanks!” said Levi. And he took off across the room to the romance section. “Yay! I can read new books! I can read new books today! This is the best day of my life!” Little Levi thought, as he sped around a shelf of books. And of course, Little Levi was so excited, he didn’t look where he was going and smacked right into Rina.

“Boy, what chu think you’re doin! Are you crazay!?”

“Uh, sorry Rina. I just really wanted to go read.”

“You like reading? Daannng boy, you must be crazay!” she said, shaking her head. And she wandered off to a different section.

Little Levi spent the rest of the day reading. Hours passed, and he was just finishing his fifth book. “This truly is the best day of my life!” Little Levi thought as he closed the book. He looked at his watch. 8:50pm! The library was closing in ten minutes! “Oh shuckers! I don’t want to leave. The check out limit is only five books per account. Nelly will probably be back tomorrow and I won’t be able to read any new books ever again. It’s not fair. I just can’t accept this.” Then a heinous and very un-Levi thought entered Little Levi’s head. “I’ll just hide out! I can stay here all night, and no one will ever know!”

Little Levi grabbed a new book and climbed the shelf up to the very top and laid down flat on his back, grinning in his genius. A few minutes later, the lights shut off, and some doors shut and Little Levi was all alone in the library. He jumped off the book shelf and ran around in excitement. “This is going to be so much fun!” he chuckled. He went to the front desk with a stack of romance novels and found a little desk lamp he could read by. And he read. And read. And read just a little bit longer. Then his head fell to the desk and Little Levi was asleep in the library.

Little Levi awoke to a grunt and a burp and a gasp and then a growl and then the pain of being smacked over the head with a book. His fun was over. Nelly Higumbothum was back and fully prepared to torture him for his crimes.

Nelly didn’t even speak words; her rage would only come out in growls and other indiscernible language. Little Levi finally escaped after he had come to some level of awareness and fled through the library doors. He ran all the way home (his house was only a few blocks from the library). Just as he got home, his school bus arrived and Little Levi just hopped back on the bus—he didn’t feel like facing his parents anyway. The next stop was Rina Calvin’s house, and she chose to sit next to Levi on the bus.

“Have fun reading yesterday, Levi?”

“Yep! I did! What were you doing there yesterday anyway? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Uhm. Well. My doctor said I’ve got this disease, right? I was just lookin’ at some books about it.” She looked at her hot pink Blackberry. “Yeah, I’m gonna go there again to do a little more research today.”

“Hey, maybe I can help you. I’ve read almost every book in the library.” So after school, Rina and Levi got off the bus together at the library, but Little Levi wouldn’t go inside.

“Uh, I can’t go in there anymore,” Little Levi said.

“Huh?”

“The librarian hates me.”

“Uh, she hates everyone! C’mon!” Rina dragged Little Levi through the doors.

When Nelly Higumbothum saw Little Levi, heat rose to her face. She grabbed a box of pencils and threw them at Levi. She thundered towards him with a cart full of books and shoved it in his direction.

It was then at Rina gave her a piece of her mind.

“Woman! Why don’t you get a life? You got nothin’ better to do than bully a baby boy? You pathetic! Look atchu. You’re disgusting and fat and just rude. I don’t even know how you got this daaanng job. If you keep actin’ like this though, Imma make sure you lose it!”

As Rina continued to chew Nelly out, Troy came in the library with a latte in his hand and a chipper grin on his face. “Well, hello! What’s going on here?”

“You!” Nelly stuck an ugly finger at Troy, two inches from his nose. “You are the lousy librarian that let this little pip-squeek get into my books! I’m going to tear you apart! Rarrrr!”

Nelly pounced onto Troy with her long nasty fingernails swiping every which direction. But! What every person there in the library did not know was that Troy had had five years of ninjitsu training—in fact, he had just come from practice and was well warmed up to put Nelly Higumbothum down! There was a storm of body parts crashing about, which finally ended with Nelly Higumbothum flying out of the library on the library cart and down the street.

“That is just not how a person in a library should be behaving.” said Troy. “Just gotta do my job.” And he walked back behind the front desk.

Little Levi and Rina looked at each other and smiled because Troy didn’t know that Nelly was the real librarian. And they weren’t going to tell him!

Nelly never returned to the library. In fact, she disappeared entirely from Tristansumi. Legend has it that she was too ashamed to come back to the library—not for the way she was acting of course. But that she lost a fight—with a scrawny college boy, no less! It is thought that she lives in a hut out in the forest, writing her own romance novels under a pen name, as to hide her true identity (and perhaps because no one could ever get published with a name like “Nelly Higumbothum”).

Little Levi and Rina continued with school and became almost best friends. Rina was able to raise Little Levi’s social status as much as she could, and he even got a date once for a middle school dance. Little Levi was able to educate Rina about her disease, which happened to be a rare form of late-adolescent invisible chicken pox, and she went to a good doctor who cured her. Troy took over the Tristansumi library and allowed free-readings of all genres. He even raised the maximum book check-out number to twenty-five, which made Little Levi and Troy become best friends. Once Little Levi got to high school, he took over the library job because Troy was getting married to a feminist Yale-graduate who insisted on supporting him financially. Little Levi read all the books in the library, and eventually inter-library-loan came to Tristansumi, and he spent the rest of his life reading fascinating things. He ended up getting laser eye surgery four different times throughout his life because his eyes were so strained from reading, and he finally became legally blind, resorting to books in Braille. Little Levi spent the rest of his life listening to and creating books on audio, and eventually was voted “most well-read” by Time-magazine.

THE END

College Applicant

This is an actual essay written by a college applicant to NYU in response to this question:

IN ORDER FOR THE ADMISSIONS STAFF OF OUR COLLEGE TO GET TO KNOW YOU, THE APPLICANT, BETTER, WE ASK THAT YOU ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION:

ARE THERE ANY SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCES YOU HAVE HAD, OR ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU HAVE REALIZED, THAT HAVE HELPED TO DEFINE YOU AS A PERSON?

I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently.

Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.

I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.

Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.

I am an abrstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat 400.

My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.

I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations with the CIA. I sleep once a week: when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.

I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven.

I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin.

I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.

But I have not yet gone to college.

(The author was accepted to NYU.)

woooo whoooo!!!
yay!!!
summmmmmmmerrrrrrr!!!
oh yeah.!

Haha! Awesome swing dancing video!! :)
http://www.falarious.com/file/1222-swing-dance-contest.html

Hey there's a couple new Christian bands I've discovered recently ~ One is called "Rush of Fools" and the other one, "Byword" came and played at my church last Sunday.
There's some samples of their music on these links! Also, on www.rhapsody.com you can listen to full length songs for free. :)

Rush of Fools

Byword

What's Nice About Being Home:

1) No shower shoes........................
2) Mountains and lots of pretty pine trees!
3) Playing with cats and dogs
3) Little kids and old people and babies!! (aka: Jonathan)
4) Being walking-distance to civilization (yes, it is civilization)
5) Seeing cooler cars ~ aka: non-American cars....
6) REAL Mexican food...
7) Good food in general.
8) Sleeping in :)
9) More sophisticated looking people!
10) And of course...friends and family ;)

If You Were Born in 2893...

Your Name Would Be: Ala Ayn And You Would Be: Telepathic

If You Were Born in 2893

Well, only 15 more days of school left I believe!! It still feels like summer is far away. Megan told me yesterday that A Book For All Seasons is hiring!! I'd LOVE to work there :) especially since it's right next door to Starbucks where she is working and we could visit each other all the time :) And..I could probably just read books all day when there is free time ;) Also, I applied at the Leavenworth Echo to do copy editing or something, and they seemed interested because the person they have right now is ill and might be wanting to quit soon...but, it's not that promising right now. Anyway, I'm excited for summer!...and doing everything we have on our excellent list of funness!! (Rachel: I am still patiently awaiting the final copy...!)
Okay, what else. We bought carpet yesterday for our new room for next year. Still trying to sell our lofts. I've been having a grand time procrastinating things lately! And it really has been good. I really think procrastination is healthy sometimes :) I think this is a pretty good article for serious justification: http://www.paulgraham.com/procrastination.html
In other news...I've been wondering a lot about the meaning of weakness. Sometimes, I just feel so incredibly weak, in all different ways and I just have been thinking a lot lately about what that means, and all it's good and bad connotations. Usually, when I'm in the midst of feeling weak, I don't like it at all...but then, I know that to be weak is also supposed to be a somewhat good quality I think in the Bible. I looked up verses that have the word "weak" in it and this is what I got:
Romans 5:6 ~ For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one whill scarely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But God showed his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
1 Cor. 1:27 ~ But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
1 Cor. 8:9 ~ But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
1 Cor. 9:22 ~ To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak, I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.
2 Cor. 12:10 ~ For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Hebrews 12:12 ~ Therefore, lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.
1 Cor. 12:22 ~ On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable
2 Cor. 12:5 ~ On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses.

Okay the first time I did this, I came out an ENFP...and I've never come out an extravert before, so then I changed one question and I came out an INFP!

You Are An ENFP

The Inspirer You love being around people, and you are deeply committed to your friends.You are also unconventional, irreverant, and unimpressed by authority and rules.Incredibly perceptive, you can usually sense if someone has hidden motives.You use lots of colorful language and expressions. You're qutie the storyteller! You would make an excellent entrepreneur, politician, or journalist.

What's" Your Personality Type?

You Are An INFP

The Idealist You are creative with a great imagination, living in your own inner world. Open minded and accepting, you strive for harmony in your important relationships. It takes a long time for people to get to know you. You are hesitant to let people get close. But once you care for someone, you do everything you can to help them grow and develop. You would make an excellent writer, psychologist, or artist.

What's Your Personality Type?

Please PRAY. A girl on my wing's Dad just died. He was in a car accident, they think he had a heart attack, but they're not sure.
Please pray for her. and I mean really pray for her...just stop right now before you forget (I know that's what happens to me).

Flashmobs: watch and laugh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcdvyRw06So

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj0Ma2CsHME

One of my friends said something today while we were watching Titanic (we were a week late for its anniversery, haha)...and I'm sure many people have said it before, but--it's so true..
She said, "Watching movies like this gives you unrealistic expectations for a relationship." It's just so true...and I cannot get that statement out of my head. So true, and yet so incredibly annoying.
I think...I need to fast from romantic movies...or something. Not that I even watch them very often. But they really do affect me!!--no matter how much I want to deny it. Lame? yes. I mean...I didn't even think I liked Titanic! I thought it was such a cheezy movie...etc..which it most certainly is in a way. But somewhere in there, I just thought..."what if that had actually happened to me?" What if I was in love with a man..and I was faced with the situation of him possibly dying? And..what if I had to watch him die right in front of me and I had to go on living?
I don't know how people who have actually gone through this have ever been able to manage the agony...

okay question!!

If there were a pair of girl twins and a pair of guy twins and they married each other...would their kids turn out looking identical too? what if each girl twin gave birth to twins again, would they be identical to her sister's pair of twins?? what would happen if the cycle just kept going on and on and on???

A little Spring Break ~