long, long, long, long, long, long post...

well i've changed my mind about going to peru. now i'm going to mexico instead. i'm not going into all the reasons, but the biggest one is that i wanted to be with all of my friends. (this is where you say "awwwwwww")
and as you think about it, it may sound like sort of a selfish reason not to go to peru, but my dad told me that if weren't about being with friends and people that you know, then why not go to russia with a church from ohio. makes sense, huh?

so now my dad and i are going to mexico. God has blessed us incredibly and now the funds are covered. so i just need support from you through prayer. pray that our team will be able to minister to the people in mexico, that we will be safe, and stay healthy, that we will make a difference in the lives of everyone we encounter, and that God would prepare our hearts for this opportunity, and that i would learn things from this experience that i will be able to use in the future. (and for anything else you can think of to pray for:)

i'm so excited!!!

also...
reminder: $100 deposit for camp due tomorrow. yikes!
but i'm so excited about that too!!

chick night was awesome saturday. most of the people there were from pathfinders, but that's awesome. i'm glad that they were there. i found my friends holly and stephanie there, and lacey and mickey were models for the fashion show. so i had fun hangin' with them. crystal's message was great. really made me start thinking about my life- by beliefs, my home, boys, and so on. the phrases that she said that stand out most in my head are "stand up. stand out. and change the world." i know it doesn't sound that great when i just type it, but you sort of had to be there to get the full effect. the whole "stand out" part reminded me of what i said at amplified about being "set apart". i probably already posted about that, but i basically said that i should want to be set apart for the holy life that i live. so that was really cool... and the tee shirt that they gave us is really sweet. and the magazine was great too. it was kind of like an our life magazine, but it had little articles about this summer's styles, a do's and don'ts page, a few stories about missions or about how to get along with your parents, and a really cool thing that pastor tyler and pastor jason wrote called males 101. it was just saying what a girl should look for in a guy. simple, but cool. the main points were like-look for a guy who loves God more than you do ('cause he should be the leader), who would rather be at church that be somewhere else with you, who treats his mom with love and respect (that's how he will treat you one day), and they were a few more than i can't think of right now.
so sunday was my friend's birthday. i called her and we started talking about her old boyfriend. (old boyfriend sounds better than x-boyfriend) she was telling me that she had been feeling like God wanted her to break up with him, but she wasn't sure. so she asked God to give her a sign, which He did. but she still didn't want to do it, so she told God that if it was really what He wanted then He was going to have break them up Himself. so He did. (well through her dad, but He did it.) of course, she was sad, but she knew that it was the right thing. and after the whole situation was over, she came across something she had written before she started dating that guy. it was her standards for her future husband. as she compared that guy to her list, she realized that he didn't even come close to any of the things that she wanted- not even the big stuff. (he ended being a jerk, too. liked another girl or something) so i just thought that it's really cool how involved God will be in your life if you just ask Him to be. My friend didn't have to do anything but pray, and God took care of it. yeah, she got hurt, but she learned that she really can rely on God and that He knows what He is doing. He is really real. We just have to trust Him. also- i'm so proud of my friend!!! you know who you are (if you even read this). she' s the best.
well, anyway, after i talked to her, i decided to write out my own standards for a guy. it may be important one day. i literally wrote like a page and a half of things that i wanted out of a guy. but most of the things on there are like duh's, but still. i guess the main thing is that i know what is essential out of the list versus what is just a want. i'm not writing things like he has to have brown curly hair, play the guitar, and sing. i'm just writing down the important stuff. (the reason it took a page and a half to write it all is because i write pretty humongously and i put cute little collage cut-outs on the pages. lol. what can i say?- a girls gotta personalize!) don't really know where i'm going with this, so i'll just stop there.

another thing that i've been meaning to post about is...

WHY DO THE PEOPLE AT MCDONALD'S ONLY PUT 1/2 OF A PIECE OF CHEESE ON THE FILET OF FISH SANDWICHES?

WHY, BRANCE, WHY?

(brance works at mcdonald's, but he can't come up with a good explanation as to why anyone would put half of a piece of cheese on a sandwich. if i'm going to eat a sandwich i would love to have cheese on the whole thing, not just on four bites of it. [that was an estimate. i don't really count the bites i take. thank you very much])
sorry about that little outburst, but it really bugs me. i would understand if the sandwich were folded over, but not if it's laid out flat like that. it's stupid.

that's my tick, pet peeve, whatever you want to call it.

sorry for putting out such a long post. i'm making up for all the times that i missed. lol.

*vicTORIa*