Illini update...

WE WON!!!!!! I wasn't able to see the last quarter, but Illinois defeated Michigan State 23-20.

I-L-L -- I-N-I!!!!!

September 30!?!

Where has all the time gone??? These past 4 weeks of school have gone by so fast! Life has been pretty much normal. We went to Happy Wok for dinner last night. Yey Chinese food!!! Today is one of the few Saturdays that Eric doesn't have a soccer game, so that makes life a little less chaotic!!!

A look at my chaotic bulletin board!

Oh, and GO ILLINI!!!!!!!!!!!!! (right now, they are playing Michigan State, and they are up 10-3) Let's pray they can keep it up! I-L-L -- I-N-I!!!!

CHIC Memories!!!

CHIC was so awesome! CHIC (Covenant High In Christ) is a Covenant denomination-wide youth conference held every three years in Knoxville, TN, and this past July, I got to go. The best part is that my church was able to pay for me, 14 other high schoolers from my church, and two counselors and we didn't have to pay anything!! It was so much fun that last Sunday, the High School Youth Group took over the service at church. We sang a ton of songs from CHIC and Dan (my youth pastor) preached about some of the things we learned. At CHIC 2006 - No Ordinary Day, we heard some great speakers, had some great worship moments, went hiking in the smokies, went to Dollywood's Splash Country, and had a blast. Here are some pics!

Some of the great worship moments at the stage

These are some paintings that were finger-painted right in front of our eyes in a manner of minutes by a guy who's called "The Jesus Painter." He begins by writing "all my sins" on the canvass and then covers that with darkness and all of a sudden, Jesus appears! The night he painted these, the subject was how Jesus' death was No Ordinary Death. Really powerful stuff!

School Starts!

My first official day of school was just completed today, and I think it's gonna be a tough year! I've got a few difficult courses and only two pretty easy ones (one this semester, one next), but what else can I expect from my junior year? I'm still using the same curriculum (Abeka Books) that I've used since first grade and my brothers have used since Kindergarden. It's hard to believe that in only two years I could be starting my college career at some major university (that's a scary thought) ! Or, I could be searching for a minimum wage job trying to pay for any type of higher education! Whatever the case may be, I only hope I'll be ready. Yikes! I'm not a kid anymore!