SPRING IS ALMOST HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SPRING BREAK IS HERE AND REAL SPRING IS ALMOST HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'M SOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CAN YOU TELL??????????

I WANT TO YELL IT TO THE WHOLE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MY COLD WINTER DAYS ARE OVER AND WARM WEATHER IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!

SINGING BIRDS AND FLUFFY BUNNIES ARE HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!


BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS ARE HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GREEN GRASS IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, I will be civil. And polite. And respectful. And controlled.....BUT NOT REALLY!!!

BECAUSE SPRING IS ALMOST HERE AND I TRANSFORMED MY BLOG INTO AN ARRAY OF COLORFUL SPRING-LIKE PICTURES TO TELL YOU SO!!!  

YOU SHOULD BE JUMPING UP AND DOWN IN YOUR EXCITEMENT BY NOW!!!

GOD'S GORGEOUS DISPLAY OF NATURE WILL ARISE AND AWE EVERY PERSON IN ALL THE WORLD, CRYING TO THE SKIES THAT THERE IS A SOVEREIGN CREATOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well...that was fun.

Please Comment :D :D :D

Cheers! ~Anna


And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.  For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.  Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them.  Of how much more value are you than the birds!  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?  If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?  Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!"      ~Luke 12:22-28

Sandy Update!

(IF YOU GET CONFUSED, PLEASE READ MY PREVIOUS POST, THANKS!)

Anyway, Dr. Skipton called again yesterday and told us pretty much everything they could figure out from the aspiration they took on Tuesday.  1) its not an abscess.  2) The lump is a lymph node.  3) The remaining possibilities are either a bacterial infection or lymphoma.  One more weird piece of information.  When Sandy woke up limping on Sunday, the lump was small.  Then the lump grew to nearly the size of a golf ball over the week, but today...its really small again.  Dr. Skipton said that's probably a good sign because if it was a bacterial infection, then that behavior would show the ability of Sandy's body to fight off the disease.  If it IS just an infection, the antibiotics that we started him on today should work.  If not...well, like my dad says...we'll cross that bridge when we get to it (if we get to it.)

Related to that, I had an emotional breakdown yesterday.  Well...I'm not sure if that really relevant, but it sure was ironic.  It had something to do with...too much homework...unfair confiscation...Sandy being sick...Godspell production week...my own exceptations...untimely character tests...and all of those combined.  Why am I giving you this little window into my hectic life???  I HAVE NO IDEA.

Somehow, I wish teenagers didn't have so many problems.  Actually, my problem was that I was trusting in myself.  Yesterday at church, Pastor Ray Ortland said..."its pointless to focus on ourselves!  We're so discouraging!"  That is soooo true.  What is also true is that God is sooooo forgiving and he's given us a tool to battle the lies of the devil!  Later in the evening, dad directed to that very tool, the Bible, and I found something I hadn't noticed before.  I had a twisted view of God.  Apparently, I was viewing God as too busy to answer my prayers.  Dad told me to go through the New Testament and find places where God welcomes people to come to him.   

In Matthew 11: 28 says: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."  

No wonder I had an emotional breakdown!  I was trying to handle the entire burden myself!!!  It's good to know that I'm God's child and that he is faithful even when I am faithless :)

~Anna
NO GOD, NO PEACE.  KNOW GOD, KNOW PEACE.

Sandy's Mystery Sickness

In case nobody has ever seen my dog, Sandy before:  TA-DA!!! (see below)

Sandy will be turning 6 years old on July 18, 2011

He is epileptic and is on medication for seizures

This is him in his college dog sweater.

Sandy loves to sleep in the sun on our driveway.

This is his way of patrolling the yard without moving.

Sandy is currently enrolled in dog training with the 4-H Kids N' Dogs club.

This is him at the State Qualifier Dog Show in the obedience ring.

He's supposed to hold the dumbbell in his mouth until I call him.

This is Sandy at the State Qualifier Dog Show in the showmanship ring.

He's good at standing still and gaiting, but his free-stack needs work :)

This is us at the Montgomery County Fair Dog Show.

I'm doing a promotion on rescue dogs (which is why Sandy has a life-jacket on).

He's sooooo cute!!!

This is me, Sandy, my sister Mary, and her dog, Cali.

Cali is a recent addition to our family, lolz.

Cali is ALWAYS bugging Sandy to play tug with her.

That purple ribbon at the plaque means that we won champion in something.

I think I blew on his face and that's why he...uh...attacked me, :D

So now that you know a little bit about my dog, I will tell you what is so important.  Sunday morning, Sandy woke up limping on his front, right foot and looking quite sick.  He ate RELUCTANTLY...which is very unusual for him.  Suspecting pain in his leg, we gave him a slight sedative...which was a BIG MISTAKE.  Because the sedative lowered his blood pressure, his heart compensated for it by beating faster.  This meant that by the time we got Sandy to the 24-Emergency Vet Hospital, his pulse was around 180 beats per minute.  At that moment, I was soooo thankful that I could lean on my Savior in times of trouble :) 

They did a physical exam on Sandy and discovered three things.  1) Diagnosis was difficult due to the sedative.  2) The limping could be either a bone injury or a spinal cord injury.  3) There was a lump on Sandy's right shoulder that we hadn't noticed before.  Unfortunately, a simple blood pressure test at the 24-Emergency Vet Hospital was $75...no kidding.  Just imagine how much an overnight stay or x-ray would have been!  So we took Sandy home hoping that it wouldn't get worse overnight.

On Tuesday, we took Sandy to the Damascus Veterinary Clinic and had Dr. Skipton examine him.  The vet aspirated (took a sample of) the lump in Sandy's right shoulder and told us that it could either be 1) a harmless abscess, 2) a mast cell tumor, or 3) lymphoma.  Those were numbered best case scenario to worse case scenario.  Dr. Skipton sent the samples to a lab and we're waiting for results.

I don't know if this seems stupid or not, but please pray for my dog.  Praying for a pet may not catch God's eye as important, but we can always try.  I would appreciate it and will keep you guys posted once I get results.  I hope I don't sound too freaked out........

~Anna

My Wish List

I feel like a 5-year-old!!!  Teenagers actually have wish lists...who knew?
These random wishes are in no particular order.  SOOOO,...I wish for.......

1. Disney movie soundtracks on my I-pod

2. A Sheltie puppy...SOON

3. A paying job at the Gaithersburg Animal Hospital

4. A greater passion for God and his Word

5. An awesome performance with video during Godspell production weekl

6. A smart car...that was so random :)

7. NO MORE SCHOOL!!!!  Don't we all?

8. No more acne (it is such a pain sometimes)

9. A life driven by the reality of heaven

10.  A Netbook (aka mini laptop)

11. More people to share God's love with

12. My own private garden

13. A humble, teachable attitude

14. A veterinary career

15. Lots and lots and lots of dogs!!!!!

17. A pornography-free internet

18. Warm weather all the time

19. Warm shower-water all the time

20. Less of myself, more of my Savior

21. Concentration and diligence in my schoolwork

22. The ability to talk to animals through my mind

23. Time to read every book my sister does

24. An opportunity to support a young girl from Uganda

25. Faith the size of a mustard seed

What do you guys wish for???
cheeeeers!!!!
~Anna :D

My Sick Person Monologue

Whew.  This week was very busy and I still have some tests to complete too.  Then I got sick.  That was kind of a drawback but it was rather nice of God to have me get sick over the weekend than in the middle of the school week.  I have my ceremonial speech for Rhetoric on Monday and am trying to decide what I should wear (we're supposed to dress up like professionals).  I thought like a maybe a skirt and blouse...except I don't have a suitable skirt.  Then I thought I should wear my red hang-neck sweater and black dress pants...except they got too short for me last month.  Off to the clothing store!!!!!!

Video for Godspell!!!!!!!  I'm so excited about this.  I already got trained and so far, have spent approximately...give me a minute while I tally up this amazing score...1 1/2 hours on the big camera!  Ok, so that's not that much.  Anyway, its really fun and it makes up for missing the audition last summer because I was sick.  I don't like being sick.  How come my monologue always deviates back to being sick???  I know!!!!  I bet its because I'm sick right now - OOOOOOOOOOK!  Let's talk about something else.

I watched the most amazing movie last night.  It was called...are you ready for this...THE INHERITANCE.  I know, right!!!  I should've known it wasn't about dragon, elves, dwarfs, dark lords, and beasts of unusual size.  Ahh...now I'm gonna go on a tangent about Eragon.........actually no.  Haha.  It was a romance movie.

THE INHERITANCE was about this young woman named Edith who was the companion of a rich girl.  The rich girl's family hosts at their house, their cousin, Ida Hamilton and two eligible bachelors named James Percy and...whatever the other guy's name was (I only tend to remember the names of important characters).  Everybody is hoping for one of the bachelors to fall in love with Ida (because she needs a husband) but instead both of them fall for Edith.  Ida is mad, so she tells Edith lies and does all sorts of crafty things to discourage Edith and James from loving each other.  The other guy (who's name I can't remember) makes ungentlemanly advances on Edith, fails miserably, and is ejected from the house.  Edith is torn between loving James Percy and her apparently low status in the family as a "helper."  Somehow, James Percy reminds me of Mr. Darcy.....what a random connection!  It is written by LOUSIA MAY ALCOTT.  Need I say more???  It was sooooo cute!

beez happy everyone, God loves you!
see ya later!
~Anna :)