Summer Time Part 1

So my summer had indeed begun. It's been going on for a while now and already I have so much to tell. The very beginning was camp. It is called Olive Grove located in a small city called Cirali just outside of Antalya, Turkey. That was a very fun two weeks in which I spent a lot of good time with a lot of good friends and had a lot of good conversations :) It was fun, and to fill in all the details would take more time than I have. The first week I stayed in a small cabin with Cassidy and Clara. The second week I moved into "The House" which was inhabited by the Upperclassmen Girls. I must say I had a ton more fun living in a small house with 10 girls and 2 bathrooms than I originally thought I would. My semi-roommate in the House was Becca, who is pretty awesome :) I had a lot of fun playing 'Speed', 'Spades', 'BS', and 'ERS' with Becca, Cassidy, Serra, and random other people who wanted to play. Thankfully this time during the sneak out I didn't fall asleep (well.... at least only for an hour...). Miraculously Luke and I were actually able to see the sunrise this time, lol xD That was a fun night :) After camp I had a fun time riding back with our family and the Brutons, fun times being squished in a van :D Fouth of July was also a fun day, despite the fact that my parents didn't buy tickets to the Fourth of July party on the Base.
So I spent two weeks not doing much, although I started to get into scrap-booking in my spare time, and I hope to have the time to do more of it in the near future. We then started to travel. We spent a day in Istanbul because we missed our flight from Istanbul to Budapest. On the bright side, I got to see and go inside the Hagia Sofia as well as go into the Grand Bazar, and see the Blue Mosque. We also just walked around and looked at stores and stuff. We didn't have too long, so we only got to go to a few places. Istanbul is nice, really, but I would never want to live there (no offense to all my Istanbul friends). It's just way too tourist-y for my liking of a place to live. But it is a very beautiful city from what I saw, and pretty much everyone knows English (very unlike Ankara). So after our day in Istanbul, we made it to Budapest, Hungary. Budapest is actually two different cities, 'Buda' & 'Pest' that grew together and then were renamed 'Budapest'. We stayed in a Hotel-Apartment in what was called the Jewish Quarter on the Pest side of the town. It really was a beautiful city with the chain bridge and the Danube river going straight through the city. Also the Churches there were gorgeous and filled with amazing.... well, just about everything was amazing about the Churches. One of the Churches we went in, they were actually having a wedding there when we went inside. It was amazingly beautiful. However, I must say, there are couples everywhere in Budapest. Everywhere you turn there are people holding hands or making out :P Just saying, but great city to go with ur boyfriend/girlfriend or whatever significant other, but terrible place to go when you're depressed about you're current single status :P But anyway, we had a fun three days in Budapest, doing everything from seeing the sites, from walking around and shopping, from an evening cruise on the river, to going to Aquaworld. Aquaworld is an indoor waterpark which is aparently the largest indoor waterpark in Europe. It was pretty fun, and probably the most time I've spent in the water in several years :P We were there all day. Meghan, Konnar, and I got to go in these gigantic beachball-like balls that they pumped air into, and we were inside of them, rowling around the wavepool at the waterpark (at which time the waves were turned off). But basically we just pushed each other around, and tried to stand up inside of them and walk (sort of like a hamster in a wheel). It was a fun day :) The day after that we woke up at 3am to go to the airport. We flew from Budapest to Frankfurt to Toronto to Philadelphia in one day, fun stuff :P Lots of long flights, but it was good to finally get here and see family. Still have only seen my mom's parents and one of my uncles as far as family memebers go, but there are more to come and I can't wait :) I shall be going to Camp Orchard Hill come August, as well as starting my online British Literature class, so I would certainly appreciate lots of prayer. Can only hope that my summer will get better from here :) Can't wait to see all my cousins, especially Skylar & Katrina :D However I feel the deep need to have long convo's with Grace Kim and Harim Kim ASAP, which isn't good since I won't be seeing them for a month :P

Cheaper By the Dozen

Oasis’s Production of ‘Cheaper by the Dozen’ was a success!!!!!! All the performances went rather well with only very minimal mistakes, and people seemed to enjoy it :) I suppose you guys might want to see some pictures??? :)^^Whether it is epic lines from the play…..

  ^^Or just helping each other out……

^^Or even the guys on the cast getting “revenge” on the directors for making them wear so much makeup…..

^^We just like to have fun xD hehehe :) Annie, my “favorite” daughter ;) After all, I am apparently her 7th favorite mom ;)

^^Did I mention everyone in our cast is the Bomb?? :D

^^Hanging out backstage!!

^^Having fun!~

^^And more fun and hanging out with the cast and crew!! :)

^^Performance Day!!!!! :D

    Don’t you just love our cast?? :) Cause I do!!

^^Cast: Sam Hoard (Mr.Gilbreth/Dad), Kalista Huddleston (Mrs.Gilbreth/Mom), Hanne Larsen (Anne), Sofie Senecal (Ernestine), Luke Bruton (Frank), Meghan Huddleston (Martha), David Lewis (Bill), Alejandra Tristen (Lillian), Nate Raymond (Fred), Hilton Lewis (Dan), Annika Campbell (Jane), Annie Wolfzorn (Jackie), Lyle Lewis, Benniah Campbell, Rascal Lewis (the $5 dog :D), Josh Land (Larry), David Wolfzorn (Joe), Harim Kim (Meg), Sydney Petersen, Mary-Erin Campbell, KangEun Seo, Mason Puckett, Tommy Henry (Mac), Sevda Sulayman (Miss Brill), Nana Lee (Mrs.Fitzgerald), and Yosi Sukotjo (Dr.Burton). Crew: Miss LaMertha, Miss Bagnell, Miss Jones I, Mr.Gissendoner, The Puckett Family, Josh Bruton, and GyeongBae Jeon. I dearly hope I didn’t forget anyone, but great job to everyone!! :)

Nearing Summer...

Exams: only two more days left of them. Hopefully they won’t be too hard, but only two more days and the school work for the school year is officially oooooooooooooooover!!!!! :D

It is almost summer, which I both eagerly await and wish would never come.... Summer, the time of year when there is "abundant sleep" and "no hard school work" to deal with, and also the anticipation of getting to see family members that are greatly missed. Summer, also the time when school ends and where you travel and generally do not see any friends, and sometimes is the last time you ever see some friends. I am not at all looking forward to that part of the summer. I am rather scared that this end of the school year will turn out much like it was two years ago. I am just hoping and praying, and that I will be able to accept whatever God does, because He has a plan. And I am praying that I and everyone else affected by it will be able to cope with His plan, because in the end He does know what is best.

On a positive note, I am very much eagerly awaiting summer because I simply love the last two half-days of school (basically you come to school to socialize with all of your friends). And also, in just a little more than a week I will be in Antalya for Olive Grove!! And let me just say, I love camp :) This will be my sixth time going to Olive Grove, which is crazy to think about. I cannot wait to hang with my camp friends and well as some friends from home here in Ankara :) Also, at least I’ll be doing something active at camp, because every since the play ended, I’ve been feeling awfully lazy *sigh*.

Speaking of the play, Oasis’s Production of ‘Cheaper by the Dozen’ was a success!!!!!! All the performances went rather well with only very minimal mistakes, and people seemed to enjoy it :) I suppose you guys might want to see some pictures??? :) Well I'll post them soon, very soon ;)

So my first plans of course for the summer are spending two weeks in Antalya, Turkey at Olive Grove!! Then we come back to Ankara and spend about two weeks here just chilling. After all, since it will be the middle of July I do not think anyone will really be around to hang out with *sigh*. After that we are off to the US, and possibly going to some country in Europe for a couple days on the way there. Our first week in the US will be spent at the shore with my mom’s side of the family for a week. We’ll be somewhere in New Jersey…. but I cannot wait to see everyone, especially to see my little cousins!! They are getting so big its unbelievable. Skylar, I remember when she was born and I think she’s almost 7 or 8 now!! :O And Krew-buddy, he’s getting so big and tall!! And little Lina Love!! I feel like she was just born!! But she’s the cutest two year old I know :) So big now. The following week we’ll be traveling down to Deep Creek Lake, Maryland to spend a week with my dad’s side of the family!! We did this two years ago and it was so much fun, so it is much anticipated :) Katrina!! Can’t wait to see you and hang :) Then right after that I am going to a Christian camp in Dallas, Pennsylvania for two weeks called Camp Orchard Hill. I am attending a leadership training program there, and I really am looking forward to it :) This will actually be the first time that I will be exposed to genuine American teenagers that aren’t my cousins, so it’ll be interesting to see what it’s like. And I know Mr.Meyer is psyched cause he says I have to call him JJ at camp, lol :D After COH I will be spending about another week in the US to spend time with family and do all the fun stuff like doctor’s and dentist’s appointments :P And then we will be heading back to Ankara a day before school starts again!! Sounds fun, right?? ;) Oh yes, I forgot to mention, on top of all this craziness, I will be taking an online British Literature class over the course of the summer. This will allow me to possibly graduate at the end of next school year if I want to. This is because we do not know exactly how much longer we will be living here, and I really would love to graduate from Oasis, because I love this school to death. I practically live there during the school year after all. And I’ve been attending since 5th grade, one of the “old timers” here, so I’ve grown pretty attached. But at the same time, I’m not so sure that I want to graduate a year ahead of my class, and two years ahead of people my age. I don’t know, we’ll see what God has in store for me.

I’ll conclude by saying that there are people in this world that mean the world to me. Certain people that I know that I will stay in contact with for the rest of my life because of what they mean to me. I thank God for these people every day. And I know that know matter how close or far apart in the world we are, that friendship reaches over any distance (and thank God for facebook!! ;)).

Also, you guys should check out my website that I’ve been making pretty much since the beginning of 2011. Hope you guys like it, and I’m trying to make as many improvements as I can as quickly as I can: http://kalista1996.20x.cc/

Trials

Trials really stink. I know, they are 100% nessecary in the life of a Christian, and that it is all a part of molding a Christian's life. And that is wonderful, it really is. But in the midst of trials, before it's all said and done, they are stinky. It is God's test, God's molding of his childrens lives. It's just, I've never liked tests. And sometimes it's hard to know what exactly God wants you to do during the tests. And sometimes when you jump ahead of God's plan and make the wrong decision, it ruins everything. If I hadn't been in such a hurry, if I hadn't been in such a rush to get rid of pain, to get rid of the trial, then I wouldn't be in the midst of such a much worse one. I guess you just need to learn from your mistakes......

Dear Jesus,

I am not worth it. What you did for me is unspeakable. All that you’ve given to me I don’t deserve, especially not you in my life. It is incomprehensible why you, God, would suffer for me; why would you, God, lay down your life for me? Because you are so genuinely good that my human reason cannot make sense of it. Because your love is amazing, steady, unchanging, and no matter how little I am worth, you love me so much, for some reason, that you would give your life for me. I really can’t, no matter how hard I try, understand why you, God, love me so much when I treat you the way I do, and after all you did for me! How could I treat you the way I do after everything you have done for me without me deserving it in any way, shape, or form? I wish I would treat you the way you deserve to be treated. But thank you God, for doing all you did for me, because without you I am faithless, hopeless, lonely, and purposeless.

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus:

Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

~Philippians 2:5-11~

Christmas Time

I have not posted in a while…. so I decided I need to :) The only problem is I do not know exactly what to write about. I suppose I’ll write about a bunch of different things.

     First I’ll talk about basketball. Basketball season has started, and it is pretty cool. I like to play basketball, but I have not really played in so long that I could definitely be a lot better in areas like….. well….. everything :P We had our first games last weekend, and the first one went pretty well. I think it ended with a final score of 24-11, we didn't win, but did pretty great based on the amount of practice we have had. The second game…… well that was just beyond embarrassing :P We scored zero points the entire game and the other team had I think somewhere in the 20’s. At one point one of the girls on their team smacked me. At this point I felt like knocking her to the ground, but instead I just ran into her so she would not get a foul :P Soon after that was when the cheerleaders came out, and I have nothing against cheerleaders….. except for the ones that just repeat themselves a gazillion times and do not do anything more impressive that jump :P So yeah, basically I was annoyed times a million. Oh well, it made it better that the guys team won both of their games, and the first game they played they pretty much massacred the other team.

Now for an “interesting” topic, how often I get sick. I think I have been sick a gazillion times this school year missing a total of I think 2 weeks of school from being sick. Two weeks ago on Friday I went to the doctor because the throat was in severe pain. He told me I had a really bad throat infection, and that I was not allowed to go back to school until the following Wednesday. This was…. craziness. It hurt my throat when I breathed, coughed, swallowed, yeah…. pretty much did anything :P I was relieved when I got medicine from the doctor though, because we went on Friday and it had been hurting since Wednesday. It was beginning to get unbearable.

  On a happier note, CHRISTMAS!!!! yay!~ I’m dreaming of a whiiiiiiiiiite Christmaaaaaaaaaas! Snow! Snow! Snow! It snowed to Sunday and Monday night, like a lot!! I really thought we’d get a snow day. Sadly enough they did not cancel school on Monday. And even more sadly, after it snowed hard on Monday night, Tuesday morning it rained, washing away a large percentage of the snow on the ground :( It was too sad, and not it isn’t even as cold as it was; it is no longer below 0 degrees!! :( Oh well. But Christmas, it is coming soon!! Only 10 days left until Christmas Day!~ Excitement!~ xD But yeah, I love Christmas time. I love our decorations, Christmas Spirit, the warm feeling of being inside when it is cold spending time with your family, and most of all I love the celebration of MY Savior’s birth!! Glory to the newborn King :) This Christmas Season I feel overly blessed with gifts, mostly not tangible, but that makes them all the better :) Thank you Lord for this time of year, and thank you for the birth of your Son Jesus Christ, my Savior <3

Confusion

I am so confused as to what emotion(s) I am experiencing right now. Maybe annoyance, happiness, anger, peace, sorrow, hopefulness, loneliness, or all of them, or more. I cannot decide, actually I just don’t know, which is the real problem. Actually I might be feeling all of them for different reasons and/or motivations. Now I’m just confusing myself now.

I guess I’ll explain a few.

My first is a mix of hope and peace. I was reading my Bible, and I came across this verse in Jeremiah that I have been looking for, for quite a while now, because I kind of had forgotten what it was about. But I am so happy I found it, especially right now.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Says Jeremiah 29:11. It is a great verse. It words I cannot explain it gives me peace.

Ok, so my next set of emotions: sorrow and anger. I had a sort of fight with my parents. I was not thinking straight and therefore even though I thought before I spoke it did not go over well. Also it did not help that both my parents misunderstood me and I misunderstood my parents. I hope it is all ok now though. I do not like fighting with my parents.

And lastly, happiness. I am a female, a reflection of certain character traits of God. God purposely formed me, cared for me, and made me the way I am, beautiful and perfect in His eyes. God has blessed me and loved me, helped me and held me. What more could I ask for?? What not to be happy about??