Where Does It All Go?

I am missing some clothes! And not just a random sock or a shirt I never wear; I am missing important clothes that are staples in my wardrobe. My black tank top that I wear under everything, my favorite pair of shorts and my black flats, have all disappeared. I have looked in all the usual places: the dirty clothes, the clean clothes, under my bed, in all my drawers, and they are nowhere to be found. For a girl, this is a crisis! How on earth am I supposed to accessorize my outfit correctly if I don't have my black flats?! (And for those of you that don't know me well, this is sarcasm. I am not that crazy about clothing. But still, not being able to find my favorite shorts is kind of a bummer.) 


You know, this whole crisis reminds me of that one Arthur episode when DW has lost her sock (for those of you who don't know what Arthur is; watch this and be educated). It turns out that the sock was stolen by a neighbor's dog and taken to the "sock market" ,* a place where pets take their owner's socks and give them to other pets. The purpose is to help stimulate the economy because it forces them to buy new sock. 


So, I guess that must be it! My brother's guinea pig stole my clothes to help the economy! Excuse me while I go interrogate a rodent as to the whereabouts of my clothing...


-Nat 


P.S. For those of you who may be wondering after my last post, I am feeling a lot better now.  We think that it was just my adrenals being overtaxed because of all the late nights and the stress. So, now that I have been getting to bed earlier, (although I am not doing such a great job of that tonight) it has been a lot better. But we are still going to go on another elimination diet to see if that helps too. (For those of you who don't know what this is, let's just say that it is worse then having to watch the Hannah Montana movie every night from now until I graduate college.) 

*when you are quoting something and the punctuation wasn't in the original, are you supposed to put the comma before or after the quotation? I have seen it both ways and I have no idea. It seems to make more sense to me to put it after since it isn't part of what is being quoted, but I could be wrong. (Also, I am never quite sure what is the proper procedure for punctuation and parenthesis.)  

God Give Me Strength

I'm getting near the end of my rope. My body is completely out of whack and I don't know what is wrong with me. I thought it was just food allergies, but even though I have tried to cut all of the stuff that bothers me out of my diet I still don't feel better. And it turns out that it might actually be something other than food allergies. I don't care what is wrong with me,  I just want to know so I can fix it. But I don't know, and so I spend almost every day fighting to get stuff done when all I want to do is sleep. It is a constant struggle against a complete lack of energy, and I don't know how much longer I can do this. I know that God puts trials in our lives for a reason, and I will do my best not to give up. But I just pray that God will give me the strength to get through this because I can't do it on my own.

Oh, Darling, Don't You Ever Grow Up

It's happening, I'm growing up. I've signed up for classes next fall, met with the speech team and figured out my schedule without consulting with my mom. I guess I'm an actual adult now. This sucks.


Honestly, I don't think anything has terrified me more than all of the occurrences that have taken place since my graduation. Having to do and figure out stuff on my own, no longer having a parent or sibling with me for every new activity, knowing that this fall, I will be walking around campus, surrounded by complete strangers. Also, I have already started missing out on spending time with old friends because of my new life. So on top of the terror, I have this feeling of great sadness.

But even though it is scary and even though I don't like growing up, I also know that it is time to move on. I can't stay in high school forever. Even though the scared part of me would like to just stay where I am safe and comfortable, the rest of me is ready to move forward to a new and exciting adventure. It won't be the same and there will be a lot of new challenges to face, but I am ready (sort of). But regardless of where I go and what I end up doing, I will probably always still think of myself as a homeschooler.

Different from Our Expectations

At the regional speech and debate tournament in May the tournament director read a letter from a person who had judged at the tournament. In the letter the judge had written (among other things) that he had come to the tournament expecting a bunch of unruly teenagers, and been surprised by the professionalism and maturity that the competitors had.

Sometimes in life we expect one thing, wish for one thing or want one thing and God gives us something completely different. At the beginning of this year I wasn't expecting to go to nationals, and if I went to nationals I figured would probably go in debate because I hadn't a chance in speech. Well, whadya know, I made it to nationals. Three guesses what I qualified in. Yup, speech and my dramatic interp at that. Me, the girl who was not meant to do well in all types of speech, especially the interps. God sure has a sense of humor, and He is also very good.

But apart from just debate, there have been other areas in my life where I have expected or wanted a particular thing and God has surprised me with something else. Something that I have realized is better. One area of this is my college. This year I applied for two colleges, Hillsdale and the UNO. I really really wanted to go to Hillsdale. It was a good college, I knew I would be challenged there, I could get a good scholarship and I already knew a bunch of people going there. I didn't get in, I got into UNO instead. A college I only applied to after I found out I wasn't going to Hillsdale so that I wouldn't be stuck taking classes at a community college.

But looking at things now, I am very glad I'm not going to Hillsdale this year. Yes the school is good, but the classes are hard, and I don't know if I would have been ready for them. Yes there was a good scholarship, but I'm able to go to UNO pretty much for free and I won't have to take out any loans. Yes I have friends going there, but I now get to stay home with my family and friends here. I can still work with the debate club, judge tournaments and get used to taking college classes without having to go so far from home. I still want to try and transfer to Hillsdale after I finish this year at UNO and I really hope I get in. But I know if I don't, it will be for the best.

So yes, sometimes in life we get what we don't expect and because God is in control it is often better. The judge who wrote the letter had gone to the tournament expecting normal teenagers, and he was surprised for the better. He also wrote that he had gone simply expecting to judge a couple of rounds, but he came away with a conviction to go back to church and re-explore the Christianity he had abandoned. Sometimes what is better, is different from our expectations.

-Nat

Scientist Discover the “Narnia Effect”

By Natalie Schneider

May 6, 2011

Have you ever sat in class and felt like it lasted longer than the specified hour? Do you remember how when you go shopping time always seems to move faster outside of than inside? Well, according to a recent discovery made by scientist you might not be so off on how different the time seems to be.

Scientist discovered what they are dubbing as the “Narnia effect.” It appears that in certain areas, time is actually warped and activities that take place in that area actually move slower or faster than activities that take place outside of it. “It is actually quite spectacular,” Dr. Braden Harm, one of the scientists who discovered this, stated. “For some reason certain events and locations will attract this phenomenon, and time will actually become distorted.” The areas that attract this singularity that have been identified so far are shopping centers, class rooms and debate tournaments. This discovery is being touted by some as one of the greatest discoveries of all time. Dr. Steven Evens, another scientist working on the project, stated. “If we can harness this we can use it to put terminal patients in stasis until a cure can be discovered. Or even travel through time.”

Some people still remain skeptical concerning the validity of these findings. Dr. Jeckle Hyde Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland is a vocal critic of these findings, “The idea that time could be warped like that is just plain ridiculous. We all know that it is just our imagination,” Hyde stated. “We already know that time is relative,” Dr. Harm responded. “So this theory is not that big of a leap from that. Besides, all of our experiments support our findings.”

Regardless of the accuracy of these findings, this revelation has caused quite a stir around the world. Some people have become strongly critical of the project, claiming that it is dangerous if the wrong people acquired it. The Lead Center for Time Travel Discovery (LCTTD), the organization that discovered the phenomenon, has come under heavy fire from activist groups. Mary Little, leader of People Against Time Travel (PATT), organized a protest outside of LCTTD headquarters stating, “These actions are foolish and wrong, we should not be allowing them to try and gain power of time. This will lead to the destruction of our world as we know it.” They have also received criticism from the Vulcan Science Directorate who has already “determined that time travel is impossible.”

The controversy that has surrounding LCTTD has led to some private donors removing their support from the organization. But despite all of the trouble Frank Furrter, spokesman for LCTTD stated that they will, “stand firm behind their discovery” and not “simply push it aside because there is some opposition. All of the great scientific discoveries met with opposition  and if those people gave up too, we would still think the earth rested on the back of a turtle.” 

Easter

Last night I was reading through the story of Jesus' death and resurrection in the gospel of Matthew, and for some reason the story really hit me hard. Maybe it was because I was tired and especially emotional. Or maybe because I have been trying to imagine what it would actually have been like to be the people in the Bible as a read it. But whatever the reason was, I was crying my eyes out as a read the story of Jesus' death, and as I read it, something struck me. Jesus did all this stuff for us. He came down from paradise, suffered so much pain and felt God turn His back on Him, for us. He did all this even then we are no where close to deserving it. Yet, my life, I am not willing to do the simplest things for Him.

I hardly spend any time reading my Bible because I am too busy doing other stuff. I don't want to speak out for Jesus because  I am afraid of being ridiculed. I don't want to witness to people because it is uncomfortable for me. I don't put others over myself, like He asks me, because then  I don't get to do what I want. He went through all that pain to save me, and I am not willing to give up a little of my comfort for Him. He loved me so much, and I chose to ignore Him because I am too busy watching Youtube videos.

So, on this Easter, God has really convicted me. I need to strive to do more for Him. Not to pay Him back, not to try and get even. But because He loves me and  I love Him back.

-Nat

Updates on Tournaments and Such

I haven't posted in awhile, obviously. So I figured it would be a good idea to let you all know that I am, in fact, still alive and that I have not been abducted by aliens or been subject other such occurrence that would prevent me from posting. Nope. Hey, have you ever noticed that half of the time when you read blogs the post contain long apologies about why they haven't posted in awhile because they've been busy? Well, I suppose traditions are supposed be followed so...I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile, I've been super busy.

So here is an update on what is happening with pretty much the most important thing in my life right now, debate:

At the qualifying tournament in Lincoln got 11th in debate, 1st in dramatic, 7th in impromptu and semifinalist in apologetics. I also received an honorable mention for the spirit award. I'll take a moment here to explain what the spirit award is to those who don't know. The spirit award is an given to one male and one female competitor who exhibit the fruit of the spirit, the person gets nominated for this award and then the leadership decide based off of those nominations who should get the award.

Although I credit God with all of the awards I have won, this one more than all the others is because of God's amazing grace. You see, even if it were possible for a person to achieve anything without God, I would not have gotten this award. This is because I am not not bent toward the actions that got me nominated. The nominations talked about how I was talking to and encourage others, how I would go up to people in the halls and ask how they are doing, and how I had a positive attitude even if things didn't go my way. But that is not me, at least not without God. Naturally I am a very selfish person, I don't like to think of others first, I am also rather reserved and don't like putting my self out there with people, and I hate not succeeding.

But getting this award made me realize the amazing changes God has made in me. Although I am still very selfish, I can see myself putting others first. Because of God I am growing in this area. Even though I still am kind of shy, God has helped me gain a great deal of confidence in myself through acceptance of the completely weird person I am and trusting in Him instead of worry what others think of me. Finally, God has helped to be able to let go of success. I no longer look to that as a goal, or feel like a failure when I don't achieve it. Because of God's working in me instead of success I focus on having fun, learning a lot, growing as a person and bringing glory to Him. God is so completely amazing and I look forward to seeing the other changes He has in store for me.

Moving on now to the qualifying tournament in Minnesota. There I got semifinalist in impromptu, 4th in dramatic, 3rd in Team Policy (TP), 2nd TP speaker and 1st in persuasive. I love sequential awards. ^_^

 And even here I can see God working in me. This speaker award was the first speaker award  I have gotten all year, and because I hadn't been doing as well in speaker points I decided to really work hard at improving my speaking, and it payed off. Also, it was so amazing to get first in persuasive that I had written a couple of weeks before the tournament, memorized the week before, and not expected to break in.

Also, debate people are just the most awesome people on the planet, so I have been having so much fun at these tournaments! I will be so sad to not see them all next year.

So yeah, debate has been pretty awesome and God has been even more awesome. Now I should probably go do something like prepare for the regional debate tournament.

-Nat

P.S. I said I would post more pictures from our MI trip, so here they are:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1northstars/sets/72157626562239286/show/

Also, I am doing this thing where I take a picture every day. So here is a link to what  I have done so far:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1northstars/sets/72157626563037446/show/