Yeah! I'm Adopted!!

Well everyone here knows my name; it’s Kellie! I was born in Missouri and was soon taken home to Tennessee. My birth mother is one of the strongest people I know. She was 17 years old when she got pregnant with me. I’m sure this came as a shock to her. She knew she was not ready to be a mom and my birth father was not ready to become a father of two children. Her whole family was against her choice of putting me up for adoption, but she knew it was her best option. I am so very lucky that she chose to put me into the arms of a loving family with both a mother and a father. I can’t imagine being faced with the choice to give up one of your own or to tough it out and hope you make it okay without a husband.

Adoption is not a bad thing! The way I look at it is I am loved by two families now. Throughout my life, they have all written me letters and made sure I knew that they still love me. My birth mother is now married to a youth pastor with three children of their own, and my birth father is happy with his family and children as well. I can’t wait to see them all when I turn 21. It’s kind of weird because they are complete strangers, but they also had me … I don’t know it’s weird to me.

Because of my story I will always say that abortion is wrong no matter what. There are families out there who want children but can’t have them, and I am full proof of that.

Kellie

Resolution for 2010... What are yours?

It seems people every year try to make New Years’ resolutions that they intend to keep. While it is a goal for the resolution to be kept, 99.9% of the time, it does not happen. When I think about all the different kinds of resolutions, all I can think about is people trying to find ways to improve their character or appearance. People try to stop smoking. People try to stop drinking sodas, and my favorite is to lose weight. Most people are never happy with the way they look or feel. This results in those common resolutions to benefit ourselves. All of these resolutions can be very important, and I give credit to every single person who keeps their resolution, but at the same time, it is also good to do more for others rather than yourself.
My question is why aren’t people making a resolution to help others. There are so many things we could do to help. We can help feed the homeless; visit those in the hospital, whether it be young or old. Just a single visit can help people have a better day. We can give to those that are less fortunate. Send money to countries that are in distress (Haiti), etc. These are only just a few ways to help others, rather than yourself. I think a good resolution for me is not only to be a better Christian, but to look for opportunities that benefit others and help boost my self esteem at the same time.
So this year, make a new kind of resolution. Make a resolution that pulls you out of your comfort zone and tests your faith. Be different and change someone’s life.

-Kenzie

War on the Horizon

Before World War II began, German leader, Adolf Hitler, had a vision of one major German empire that covered all of Europe. Hitler began pursuing his dream on September 1, 1939 when he invaded Poland and started the war. Two days later, Britain and France responded by declaring war on Germany. On April 9, 1940, German forces invaded Norway and Denmark. By May 10, Germany had begun invading the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. All three, along with France and the United States, had taken a neutral stance in the war. On June 10, 1940, Italy joined the war, allied with Germany.

The United States involvement, up until Pearl Harbor, had been solely neutral. America did not have the desire to join in the affairs of the Eastern Hemisphere. Content to sit back and watch, America never dreamed on the tragedy that was lurking in the future, waiting to pull her into the war. On December 7, 1941, AN American base in Hawaii was bombed by Japan, killing thousands and wounding thousands more. As a result, President Roosevelt declared war on the Axis Countries.
As I sit and think about World War II, and Pearl Harbor, and the effects they had on our country, I can’t help but think about the war waging in my own family. As armies invade on my quiet little country and things begin to fall apart, I realize that my time to enter this war is drawing near. I can no longer remain neutral in the battle. But when? When will I be pulled in? What will be my Pearl Harbor?

-Holly

The Land of Garcia!

I thought that you should know what is going to happen in the future because this may affect you. I don't know if you've heard, but I'm taking over the country, and you can't stop me. It will be called the Land of Garcia! (exclamation point included) The national land animal is the bear, because "Garcia" means "bear." The national bird is the flamingo; the national flower is the Venus flytrap. The national tree is the banana tree, and the national colors are purple and creme. (You may not like the colors, but you can get over it, because there is no flag known to man that is either purple or creme, and my country is going to be unique.)
The Land of Garcia! has many sports; like ice skating, baseball, basketball, lacrosse, swimming, and tennis. There is absolutely no golf, because it's boring and I don't understand it.
Education is important. You can't graduate from high school unless you take all core classes along with mixed martial arts classes and cooking classes. Gym is required every every year in every school. For college, scholarships and financial aid is available.
For every country there has to be laws, and my country is no exception. There aren't that many. You've heard that people who go to jail just have a happy time watching television and sitting around playing cards or whatever. In the Land of Garcia!, if you go to jail, you only get three meals a day, and if you have good behavior, you're permitted to go outside for three hours. That's it; no television or whatever it is they do jail. If you have killed someone, you will be killed the same way. Homosexuality is not tolerated. Abortion is illegal. If found out, you will be kicked out. Ridiculous laws, like the laws mentioned in Mr. Turner's government class, will not be passed. Men who weigh more than 400 pounds and women who weigh more than 200 pounds will be forced to lose weight. My country will be healthy. There is no work on Sunday. No divorce is allowed unless there is abuse or infidelity. Single parents will receive financial help, but to qualify for this, they must have a job.
There's only one leader with two others in command. The current leader appoints a worthy person with a clear mind that will not become too ambitious, and want to annihilate the Land of Garcia! If this ever occurs, there are hidden assassins and spies in place from around the world who will exterminate the leader, and then the people will get a chance to vote on who the next leader will be.
I don't know about you, but I like my future country. You may like it as well, or maybe you think it's horrible and gruesome, whatever. If you don't like it, you can leave.


-Hannah G.

Am I Truly Thankful?

Every year, we gather around a table with friends and family and enjoy a large lunch or dinner. We talk about what we are thankful for for ten minutes at most. When we are done, we eat and talk about what happened to each of us since the last time we saw one another. We laugh together around a table in fellowship for a few hours. However, we unfortunately go our separate ways at the end of the day.
Every year, I promise myself that I will keep up with Rian, my step-cousin, and every year, I fail at just that. I have to ask myself, how can I be truly thankful for my family if I don't even keep up with them? Today has been a great day with my family and friends, but I don't want that fun time to be a rarity.
In the same way, every day, I promise myself that I will become closer in my walk with God, and every day, I fail at just that. If I am to be truly honest with myself, I must ask myself, how can I be truly thankful for a God who gave up his son for me if I do not take the time to talk to Him? I want to want to take time, but I find myself living down to the expectations of many other people. I am then daily disappointed in myself.
However, I learned durring Horton Haven that we cannot be challenged, but rather that we must be changed. This year, I will strive to show my thankfulness to God by coming to Him with a sincere heart of thanksgiving, praising Him for everything that He has done for me. Only then can I show even part of my thanks to Him for his providncial grace.

- Ashley Reed

Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving! Yeah, I have the blog while we are out of school. Since it is Thanksgiving break, I’m going to say the things I’m thankful for and hopefully help you all get into the attitude of this holiday. I know we are all excited about not going to school and getting to eat lots of great food, but I don’t think we can forget what it’s all about.

Starting off, I am of course thankful for having Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. My life would be a train wreck without Him, and I am eternally thankful (pun definitely intended). My family and friends are next on my list; they are a big part of my life and I love them so much.

I am also thankful that I get to attend MJCA, even though some people would say differently. My parents pay money for me to get a better education, and I don’t want to take that for granted. I have to throw the troops in there as well, how could I not be thankful to men and women who put their lives on the line for our country? That statement leads me to the fact that I live in a free country, and that is a big deal.

Since I don’t have any life destroying illnesses and I have all of my limbs, I also get to be thankful for that. There are so many things in my life that I get to be thankful for and I hate it that we usually only pay attention to them once a year. I want to start being thankful everyday, and not just on the day we devour large amounts of food while watching football. Well, hope that got you ready for the day known as Thanksgiving, Turkey day, or whatever you want to call it. Have a good one!

-Kaitlynn

Outwitted

Reading this short section of poetry reminded me to love my enemies. The author speaks of being shut out, but then with love, he let who shut him out in. Naturally we who are left out or shut out want to get revenge, and this is human nature, though the best cure for hate in most all cases is love. The author was shut out, but he forgave and loved his enemy. If this were the mindset of all of us there would be much less violence in the world and less enemies for everybody.
We all have a desire to get back at someone who treated us unjustly. Often it never even crosses our minds to forgive them and love them and forget about what they did. Revenge is the best answer for us, and it causes mischief and harm to both us and the person who treated us unfairly. If we would just forgive and forget about what our enemies did to us, the world would be a better place.
The best cure for hate is love. If we love our enemies, it teaches us not to be mad at them despite the things they may do to make us angry. The author in this poem outwits his enemy and instead of hating him back or trying to get revenge, he shows him love and neither one of them are harmed by the other. And a great reason for loving our enemies is because God tells us to love our enemies. Love is the best thing to use against hate.
If everybody had the heart and desire to love their enemy like we are supposed to, there would be a lot less violence in the world. When we hate our enemies, it shows how less of a person we are when we try to get back at them, and the hate continues between us and may not ever end. Hate is truly a harmful and dangerous thing and can only be resolved by loving our enemies. Yet before we love we must also forgive. If we do not forgive our enemies for wronging us, why should they forgive us if we have ever wronged them. We should all love our enemies.

-Cody