This is Not the Post You've Been Waiting For.

This is not a post about the training I went to last month.

I actually have that one written, but have not posted it yet because I was trying to obtain a video and have not yet been successful in that venture.

But honestly, a big part of that is because it hasn't been on my mind the past several days. I will preface with an analogy that I made up all by myself (please hold the applause):

For the past, oh...yearish, I've been on a crazy roller coaster. A crazy roller coaster with sky-scraping highs and rock bottom lows. I was on the highest peak of that roller coaster when the car came off the track, and fell to the lowest low that there ever was. And let me tell y'all, I hit the bottom HARD.

It was like the car, everyone in the car, and the entire structure of this year-long roller coaster came crashing down on top of me. 

Y'all. I just came out of what was probably the hardest weekend of my life.

The hardest thing I've ever gone through.

And it's going to take awhile to recover.

I'm doing better. And I will continue to do better. And eventually it'll be like nothing was ever wrong. Time heals all wounds, but this wound's gonna need a lot of time.

I don't know what God has in store for me now. I thought I did but now I'm back to square one and I know nothing. And that's hard, because I like to know things.

I don't like surprises. I don't like change. This happens to be a surprise AND a change. Oh yay.

But regardless, I'm going to press on. I'm going to keep on living my life. No matter what happens, I'm going to keep trusting God. That He has a plan. That His plan is better than my plan.

Clearly, because God just basically took the schematics for my roller coaster and threw them in the trash. He showed me why my roller coaster would never work, and He had to tear it down so we could build a new one. A better one. Together.

These verses have kept me going the past couple days. If you're going through anything difficult right now--or even if you're not--I would encourage you to read them. They're good reminders for us all.

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, who have been called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." Proverbs 19:21

"Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed." 1 Peter 4:12-13

I put these verses up on my desk at work to keep me going. Cuz honestly, guys, work is hard right now. I can't focus because I have so much on my mind. I don't want to be there. But I'm trying. I'm really trying.

I long for normalcy. I long for simplicity. But my life isn't normal or simple. There's a good chance it will never be. But Jesus's life wasn't normal or simple either. I mean, His life was WAY less normal than mine...he was immortal for crying out loud. If that doesn't scream complicated I don't know what does.

He was crucified.

And then He came back to life.

Y'all. It doesn't get weirder than that.

Of course, that was Jesus and He can handle WAY more than a helpless human like myself can. But, I'm also dealing with way less than Him, AND I have Him to help me.

There's no reason I can't do this. None at all.

That's not to say I couldn't use prayer. If you think about it, include me. Include my family and my friends, too. And if you have anything you need prayer for right now, please let me know so I can return the favor.

At the beginning of the year, my best friend and I made a deal to make this year better than last year. Last year is gonna be really hard to top...but I'm still gonna try, despite all this. 

I will have the summer training post up at some point. I'm not going to say when because I know it will probably happen sooner if I don't. :)

Oh, and as a random post script, one of the keys just fell off my keyboard. Awesome. I need a new laptop.

My Week With Shamu.

Okay, so in actuality I only really spent about 30 minutes out of the whole week with Shamu. But it was a better title than "My San Antonio Trip," which was the other option. I'm not good with titles.

Anyway! I will now recount the events of my senior trip to the best of my ability. Don't worry, there's pictures, for those of you who hate reading.

We left the morning of Saturday, June 2nd to begin our epic adventure of initiation into adulthood in none other than the very city that marked the turning point of the war for our beloved state of Texas' independence! Others who journeyed here before us include Samuel Houston, William Travis, and Jim Bowie. In fact, I probably set foot upon the exact place where Davy Crockett's lifeless body laid...cool, right?

(Please excuse the history lesson. My mom's an American history teacher. Though I may or may not have had to turn to google to check the accuracy on a few of those facts...shh. Don't tell.)

Anyway, my faithful companions on this adventure were my good friends Meagan, Ellen, Christopher, Luke, and Stephen! Now, take a break from reading, and enjoy these pictures:

 

Ready for a week of epic awesomeness.

Remembering the Alamo...or, trying to remember, at least.

 This was Luke's idea. I think he was the only one who knew what we were doing. 

Something about a line...?

Okay, so that was day one! Well, and the second half of day two...we went to the Alamo at the end of the second day after we got back from Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels. But I don't actually have any pictures of Schlitterbahn cuz, you know, it's a water park, and iPhones don't take very high quality pictures in water.

Actually, I didn't take any of these pictures...so you can blame the friends I stole these pictures from for not taking pictures at Schlitterbahn. Which is a German word, pronounced Sh-litter-bon. In case you read that, and thought I was crazy.

Anyway, day three, and my personal favorite day (:D) was dolphin day! Also known as Sea World day. If you don't know, my favorite animal is a dolphin. Shamu was cool too, but he is also capable of eating people. Dolphins just want to play with people. They're pacifists. And much less risky.

Also, there are about five killer whales at Sea World, and they are ALL named Shamu. Even the baby is "Baby Shamu". Such a scam. I hope the kids never find out. Because when I found out, it was like my whole childhood was a lie and I could never trust Shamu again.

Dolphins don't lie to little kids.

Anyway, picture time!

 

Waiting for scam artist Shamu(s) to come out.

 

So Shamu can pose. Big deal. Dolphins can do flips. BACKflips. That actually

requires talent. 

 

I look a lot happier in this picture. Probably cuz we were waiting for the DOLPHIN

show. 

 

Reason #52 why dolphins are better than Shamu: That mouth is open for a fish.

NOT a human being.  

I fell asleep in the car on my new pillow.

 And there's the pillow. It was too perfect that the dolphin one was purple.

Okay, I think I'm done ragging on Shamu now. 

Tuesday we didn't do much. We were going to a fancy steakhouse for dinner that night, so we didn't want to do anything that would make us look all gross for that. Sooo...we went bowling! And then the BOYS made us go SHOPPING for like TWO HOURS. First time ever I have been stuck in a mall sitting on a random couch in the middle of the building waiting for a boy to finish shopping. And hopefully the last time; it wasn't too fun.

They had to buy a sweater vest for Christopher, but it was some big secret so the girls had to go away. And it took them FOREVER to find one.

So then we got back to the hotel and had like 45 minutes to get ready for dinner. And then we went to Chamagaucha steakhouse which was AMAZING. I've never eaten so much meat in my life. It's one of those places where they just keep bringing out more and more and more and more meat until you're about to die from fullness and then they still bring more.

 

Bowling!

 

In the elevator in our pretty dresses :)

 

At the restaurant.

 

 We told them we were celebrating our senior trip, and they brought us a free

slice of cheesecake! It was gone in 30 seconds. So good.

 Us in front of the restaurant. Christopher is wearing the vest that took two hours

to find. I hope it was worth it.

Day four was Fiesta Texas day! I LOVE theme parks and roller coasters, so that was fun. It was really hot, though. I was so dehydrated by the end of the day...I think I walked around for about 20 minutes (or it felt like it) looking for a water fountain...only to find out there was one like five feet away from where I started searching. We left by mid-afternoon, and just hung out at the hotel the rest of the day. Then, that night, we went to the Chart House Restaurant in The Tower of the Americas for dessert. It's a really fancy restaurant in downtown San Antonio that overlooks the city and actually revolves so you can see the whole city and not just a quarter of it. I tried creme brulee for the first time and I will definitely be getting that again. It was so good.

 Waiting in line for a ride I don't remember the name of. But whatever it was, it

 gave me whiplash and a headache.

On "The Scream"! About to shoot up 5000 feet into the air! Or whatever a 

more realistic height is. I'm not good with numbers. 

 At the Chart House. Isn't that view amazing?

Our last day, we left in the morning and then spent part of the day at Schlitterbahn again before heading back home. It was sad that it was over. Because it was fun. And who likes it when fun ends? 

  The only Schlitterbahn picture we have.

All in all, it was a really fun trip. I especially appreciated it because I didn't get to go on my school's senior trip and I had been pretty bummed about that. Then I found out the possibility of a smaller senior trip with these great friends of mine and I was super excited! So glad it worked out, and that we got to do everything we wanted. :)

Oh, and in case you were wondering or concerned...we did have parents with us. Mine and Christopher's were there, but they didn't go anywhere with us. They were just there in the same hotel/city with us, you know, in case of an emergency. It was fun!

So yeah, great time with some great people! And then I came home, had about three days to re-coop, and then I had to pack all over again for the three week summer training program I went to next! I will have a post about that up...later. As in, like early next week later. Like Monday or Tuesday. More likely Tuesday, because I'm a procrastinator. But we shall see.

Did you go anywhere this summer?  

Oh, Hey. I Have a Blog.

Yeah. So in case you haven't noticed I haven't been around lately...

I have a good excuse, I promise. But before I start explaining, I have an announcement/a favor to ask.

Okay, well I don't really have that many readers at the moment BUT I'm really looking to start expanding my blog. You know, do this more as a regular thing and not just sporadically. 'm also hoping to make more friends here in the blogosphere so I will be looking for blogs similar to mine in order to help do that. But it will also help if others spread the word! If you happen to know someone looking for a blog about life by an 18 year old girl possibly by the name of Kayla...you might as well just give them my URL. :)

But in all seriousness, if you think your readers might enjoy me too, I would greatly appreciate it if you would tell them about me. I'm really hoping to meet some new people and also find some good blogs that I enjoy reading. And I promise I will get a lot better about commenting...I haven't been doing much of that lately, but I should have more time now to do that. :)

Oh, and if you do tell someone about me, please let me know so I can return the favor!

Okay...back to why I've been MIA for so long.

The Month of June...

As I mentioned earlier, I went to San Antonio the first week of June for a senior trip with 5 of my closest friends. It was a blast. I will try to dedicate a post to that later.

Then...I came back, unpacked, washed all my clothes, and repacked...for a three week summer training program with some girls from my youth group. That was intense, but awesome. I will also try to post more about this at a later time.

But basically, that is why I have not been here. In that three weeks I did not have access to any sort of technology. Told you I had a good excuse! I was suffering for Jesus (kind of).

So What About July?

Umm....yeah.

Let's just pretend it's July 1st and I blogged as soon as I got home.

I have no excuse for the last two weeks.

What Else Is New?

Well, I had orientation at the University of Texas at Arlington this past Monday and Tuesday. I am now completely registered for classes! I start August 23rd. So that's a new exciting stage of life. :)

That's really the only new thing in my life...I'm boring.

So anyway, all this to say I'm back and better than ever! Keep checking back for those posts about San Antonio and summer training!