Back...

…from the depths of “hillbilly hell” (yes, we watched Cars while we were there).
I hate the country. HATE HATE HATE it!!! I always get culture shock. It’s crazy how much of a culture shock it is, when Halifax is less than two hours away from my house. I hate the place.
And, to top it all off, we lost our dog. Our sweet little chihuahua (I know they have a rep for being mean, but my dog is seriously the sweetest thing!!) Mischief ran out my grandparents’ doggy door Saturday while we were at our cousin’s house. He disappeared. A couple of people spotted him, but since dogs just roam around down there, nobody bothered to pick him up. We combed the area, and knocked on every door within a mile radius, and called pretty much every one in Halifax county, left a report with the pound, put an add in the paper, and called the local radio station…
…Nothing. It’s Friday now, and we had to go home without him. By now, we figure somebody picked him up and decided to keep him. It’s actually more likely than him being dead at this point.
I feel like we were cursed, because the day before we watched Marly and Me.
I cried a lot last night.
Please pray everyone that somehow we’ll be reunited with him.
Thanks.

Edit: No, we never found him, and now all the dog stuff has been cleaned out of our house. It's really depressing, and my mom took in another stray cat since, so my dad's saying we're not getting any more animals, period.

....I'd have really rather gotten a puppy than a cat...even if she is really nice.

A Glimpse of My Summer Adventures

     I’m back from my travels!…at least my big travels. First I went on my missions trip to Indian Youth Camp in Montana, then to the National Student Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. They were back-to-back, so I was away from home for three whole weeks. X.X but, it was worth it.
     Indian Youth Camp was a little challenging, ‘cause I had four really stubborn girls under my care (I was a junior counseler). One girl was the ringleader of the other three, and she was all over the place. First of all, she came to the camp with an unfilled cavity that had since gotten infected because she hadn't treated it. She was up wailing all night every night about it hurting. And then, after the second night, she got bit by some kind of bug, and had a big welt, so we had to keep rubbing cream all over her. I can't tell you how many times I had to walk down to the nurse, who just happened to be on the opposite side of the campgrounds, where someone had seen BEARS at the beginning of the week. Then, she didn't want to listen to the speaker (I admit he was a little over thier heads), and would be disrupting service. And she would pick on girl in the group every day to gang all the other girls up on. It was insanity!! And our senior counseler had turned eighteen like two days before the camp started, so she was barely qualified, and had no experience. Not that she was a bad counseler, but she was definetely culture-shocked by the rudeness the girls showed her, and she was constantly in contest with the ringleader. Overall, it was pretty cool though. We had a few good moments with the girls, and I want to go back next year with my church. :)
     And NSLC was AMAZING!!!! I highly recommend it for next summer, if any one’s interested. I was in the Journalism and Mass Communications program, and took the scriptwriting and video production class. My session was held at American University in Washington, D.C. We stayed in the dorm rooms, and it was almost like being at college for two weeks. They also took us on field trips every day to places like the Newseum (very cool!) and the National Mall. We had some of the greatest speakers I've ever hear, and met some of the most amazing, funny, friendly people. And I learned so much about how people work and how to be a leader. It was an incredible experience!! If I could do it again next summer, I would.
     Yes, those were the highlights, and made up the best summer of my life. :)