IOWA Testing!!!

So here, the school district has AIMS testing. In California we had STAR testing. Guess what homeschoolers get!? Iowa testing!!! Yep yep yep. No lie. No joke.

I took my own kind of standardized testing this morning with a bunch of my other homeschool friends(There were 13 or 14 of us in highschool). It was...interesting. To say the least. I wasn't nervous but I didn't know what to do with my hands so it probably came across as nervous energy. Today we did various language sections and one math section. Tomorrow, we will finish the test with a little bit of language and math plus some social studies and science.

It was so bad! I really did eat a decent breakfast this morning. I really did! I had spaghetti and I made myself finish it! But when 11 o'clock came around, my stomach started growling at me!! It was horrible! And of course, it was much worse than usual since it was silent in the room. I had the opportunity to eat food at break earlier but I wasn't hungry then! It was so bad. I finished the test twenty minutes early and asked if I could leave to go to the bathroom and feed myself. I was still hungry after eating but my stomach didn't growl at me any more so that was good.

The test was easy for the most part. And we goofed off a little bit between sections. It was fun! Well, as fun as standardized testing can be when you're not allowed to talk or listen to your ipod.... (Yeah we all thought that was horrible. No ipod? But why???) Overall, I think I did pretty good. We got my least favorite part out of the way -- reading and comprehension!! I hate those things!! That is the one where you have to read the passage and answer the questions. *shudders* me no likey. They are not very fun. But after tomorrow, it will be all over! Yay!

I guess it's not really that bad but still...

Grace Like Rain

I thought this was so cool! I just had to share it with everyone! And it's been a while since I posted anyways....

So at Youth Group tonight, we began the night with worship in the sanctuary and Jake led us on the piano. It was an amazing worship time and he led us in "Grace Like Rain". It was so neat; the moment the song finished, there was silence and in the silence, it was pouring rain on the roof. It was so cool!! It was oawsome! We just had an awesome time of worship; it was really moving.

I kept thinking about how God continually gives us second chances. And third chances and fourth chances and fifth chances! He gives us hundreds of chances! And it just struck me how much He really does love us! =D

Recap-Milea's Visit!

For spring break, my lovely friend Milea came to visit and we had so much fun together!! We took her everywhere with us! Our week was so packed!

She got in on Saturday and we were able to meet her at the gate, right as she got off the plane. It was so good to see her! We tried to go to the Rainforest Cafe in Phoenix but the wait was too long and I was starving (I really was) so we went to another place for hamburgers instead. Can I say that the mall in Phoenix was freaking huge? It was SO scary! I don't see how you could actually fun there. I'd be lost within five minutes! After dinner, we drove home and I got to show her my room and the house and I introduced her to my family.... Then we crashed on the bed.

On Sunday, we went to church and I introduced her to everyone I knew. We helped the kids in Sunday School and goofed off a bunch with them. After church, we baked and decorated cupcakes to take with us to Awana. Milea wasn't very confident in her cake decorating skills but kudos to her for trying something new!! (We tried a lot of new stuff this week.) Didn't they turn out cute! We had a lot of fun with it. And they were delicious! Awana was interesting and I introduced her to all my friends there. And we played dodgeball and had a great time. I felt bad for introducing
her to so many people all at one time but she did pretty good with all the names. And I've talked about all of these people in out letters so I'm sure it was nice to put faces to names.

On Monday, we cleaned for home group and Mom sliced up her toe really bad. She almost went to the ER. It was super exciting. I wanted her to go so I could come with her and bug the doctor by asking all sorts of nerdy questions...but she didn't go. Instead, Dad came home and patched her up and she was fine. Darn! Oh well, next time! In the evening, we went to Young Life at the nearby highschool. Young Life was really fun! Everyone was really nice and we both had a blast! The people at Young Life are a goofy bunch but I liked them a lot!

On Tuesday and Wednesday, We chill-axed during the day, playing games all day. Cam challenged Milea to many many games of chess and she won most all of them. We taught her a lot of new games and played some old ones. And she even taught me a new game! It's called the Ninja Game. (Pretty awesome huh?) It is hilarious and we will definitely be playing that one in the Grand Canyon this summer! I am already stockpiling some awesome games to play around the campfire. It should be fun!

On Tuesday, we made the mandatory Eegee's trip and on Wednesday night, we went to youth group together and had a blast laughing and playing basketball and singing and praying, even crying. It was a good youth group night; we even had some new folks joining us. It was a lotta fun!

On Thursday, we went to the Desert Museum and I got to show off my desert nerdy-ness by pointing out all the different kinds of cacti! Milea doesn't mind my nerdiness though, thankfully. After the DM, we walked down to Eegee's again cuz we felt like it and there was a new flavor of the month because it was April 1st! Which, as you may know, is also April Fool's Day!

In honor of April Fool's, we dressed up as twins to see if we could fool anybody into thinking we were actually related. We didn't fool anybody and the trick backfired at dinner that night. Funny story about that actually! We took Milea out to dinner to another mandatory restaurant called Pinnacle Peak. And we wore some really ugly ties to adorn their ceilings. But when we ordered our drinks, we decided we'd trick the waitress and order each other's drink. So I ordered water for Milea and she ordered Sprite for me! As soon as the waitress left, we swapped drinks and everything was fine. Our waitress had no idea.

But then, later on in the night, the waitress came by and was filling drinks and she came and gave me a refill--of water!! The five of us looked at each other and we just BURST out laughing! It was hilarious. Best April Fool's Prank that ever backfired on us! Ever. I drank down the rest of my Sprite and once it started tasting watery, I stopped drinking it. It was fine as long as I didn't stir it but it was really funny. We all had a good laugh over that.

On Friday, we had another chill day with lots of games and relaxing and napping; tt was wonderful. We attended the Good Friday service at our church that night and we went to Dairy Queen afterward. Saturday was very hard. The car ride up was kinda quiet, the silence in the car, heavy... My mom and I got temporary boarding passes to escort her to the Gate. We played a game in the terminal while we were waiting and we stayed until she boarded the plane. It was so hard saying good-bye. I almost almost cried. I barely held myself together but I was determined not to cry. It felt like half of me was leaving on that plane. We could've totally been twins...

So, saying goodbye was definitely hard but now I can just look forward to our next visit! Yeehaw!