A New Year
So... unlike Caleb's New Year post, I'm actually going to write about what's been going on in this new year! ;D
The life of Rachel has been really really good recently. I've enjoyed every minute of this break—well, maybe not every minute, but most minutes at least, hehe. God has been doing some incredible things in these past few months, and I really can't express my thankfulness to Him and my awe at His intricate work in my life and the lives of my friends, especially with one thing in particular (if you don't already know about that, you can ask me or Stephen sometime if you like... actually I'm trying to decide if I should write about it or not, so you may or may not hear about it on here later). I am so amazed, when I look back over my life so far, at how God's worked everything for a purpose and He even uses those times when I feel like everything's going wrong to bring me to a place far better than I could have imagined. And the one thing in particular I mentioned is only one part of that... that thing has actually opened my eyes to see how God's works the same way in my whole life. So yeah, this last month or so has been really really good. I can only fall on my knees and praise God for it all, really. He is good beyond hope, beyond anything we can imagine or comprehend.
Okay, onwards to shallower waters, lol. New Years was awesome. Our troupe had one of our biggest dance performances of the year. It was an incredible experience and God's hand was more evident in that performance, at least for me, than any I've ever been in before. To make a long story not so short, I for one tripped, slipped, went blank, and all around messed up more than any other performance I've been in with the troupe so far. I was also feeling really sick and my energy level was, on a scale of 1-10, getting down pretty close to 0, lol. So many other things went wrong too, like the stage was bad and we couldn't hear our hardshoes and stuff like that. I was praying the whole time, and I trusted God would be faithful... but it's interesting how in all our past performances I've noticed that no matter what goes wrong before hand, God always makes it pretty much come together for the performance. Well, this time it did NOT come together at least for me, but God was still faithful... turns out, everyone I talked to afterwards said that they hardly noticed ANYTHING wrong!! Wow... I could not believe it. Well, actually, I could, but I knew it was entirely God and not one bit us. Wow.
Anyway, Stephen, Jackie and Caleb all came to watch our performance and spend the rest of the evening with Hannah and me at the downtown New Years' celebration! Thank you all so much for coming, I had so much fun with you all that night and I'm glad each of you were there! It meant a lot to me, and I hope you had as much fun as I did! After our performance, Hannah and I made Stevo, Jackie and Caleb hang around while we sat around waiting for our energy level to rise and also while we changed into normal clothes... though come to think of it, our troupe costumes are pretty "normal" for us, too, lol.
Anyway, after putting all our stuff back in our car, all us troupe people went our own separate ways (I hope everyone else ended up having as much fun as we did!). Stevo, Jackie, Caleb, Hannah and I walked over to the Myriad Gardens and spent about an hour just taking in the amazingness of a big, beautiful garden with a mini-lake and a fountain and lots of trees and hills perfect for running down in the middle of a city, completely covered in Christmas lights (that is to say, we weren't, but the gardens were). We were all feeling a little artistic-y so we took lots of pictures.
Pretty soon we realized we'd better get moving if we wanted to have a decent view of the ball rising... yes my friends, here the ball doesn't drop, it rises. By crane. That was pretty funny, but at least it's a ball! We all threaded our way through the crowd and up as many steps as we could on this hill-like thingimajig and eventually made it to the top of a wall thingimajig. It was crowded (like everywhere else there... there were thousands of people crowded into this place between the skyscrapers), but we were really close to the ball and pretty much facing the front of the stage so we got a really good spot, I think. On the stage a band was playing all these awesome old songs. Stephen could probably tell you what they all were, though I did recognize some of them, lol. I need to work on enlarging my mind's old music database. But anyway, once we got to our spot, we all had fun dancing and screaming and watching people wave streamers and stuff like that. Finally the ball rose and we danced and screamed a lot more, this time under a rain of confetti, and at midnight the fireworks show began. That was one freakin awesome fireworks show. I don't know if I've ever seen any others as good! We all just about got hoarse from screaming and cheering so much. It was way too much fun.
After it was all over, we sat on top of the wall and people-watched while we waited for the crowds to clear out. When we deemed it sufficiently clear, we walked over to Sonic and got some mozzarella sticks and caffeinated drinks (except Caleb, who's a celiac... I'm sorry, Caleb). I was glad to have the two guys with us—the celebration was technically supposed to be alchohol-free, but heh, how much can that rule be enforced? There were still of course more than a few crazy people there. Thanks for being our "bodyguards," guys, lol. You rule.
After Sonic, it was around 2 or so in the morning, so we decided it was time to call it a night. I managed to drive the car back without any drunk people ramming into me (though that's probably God managing that instead of me). All in all, it was an awesome night and I don't think I've ever had a better New Years celebration. Thank you Stephen, Jackie, Caleb, Hannah, and the rest of the troupe girls for making it so awesome!! You are all pretty darn awesome yourselves.
Here's some of our pictures from the night:
During our performance:
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-03%2011.09.45%20-0800/Image-50C6D6347C8A11DA.jpg
Fuzzy picture of Caleb:
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-03%2011.09.45%20-0800/Image-50C7A0E57C8A11DA.jpg
Jackie in the headlights:
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-03%2011.09.45%20-0800/Image-50C7C1C27C8A11DA.jpg
Stephen's foot:
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-03%2011.09.45%20-0800/Image-50C805B07C8A11DA.jpg
Stephen's face (okay, well not just that, but it sounded good after the last one):
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-03%2011.09.45%20-0800/Image-50C829147C8A11DA.jpg
Hannah showing her feelings after the performance:
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-03%2011.09.45%20-0800/Image-50C8A78E7C8A11DA.jpg
Waiting for our energy to come back (Hannah looks a little strange, don't you agree?):
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-03%2011.09.45%20-0800/Image-50C9AC447C8A11DA.jpg
We all thought this picture of downtown and the gardens looked like it should be a postcard:
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-04%2017.53.52%20-0800/Image-91CCDBB67D8D11DA.jpg
These pictures are just cool:
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-04%2017.53.52%20-0800/Image-91CB84287D8D11DA.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-04%2017.53.52%20-0800/Image-91CB63BC7D8D11DA.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-04%2017.53.52%20-0800/Image-91CC98CC7D8D11DA.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-04%2017.53.52%20-0800/Image-91CCBABD7D8D11DA.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-04%2017.53.52%20-0800/Image-91CCFC9B7D8D11DA.jpg
The ball that rose:
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-04%2017.53.52%20-0800/Image-91CDC7437D8D11DA.jpg
Fireworks!!
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-04%2017.53.52%20-0800/Image-91CEB5617D8D11DA.jpg
And finally, this is Jackie, Hannah, Caleb, Stephen and me:
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-04%2017.53.52%20-0800/Image-91CD3E807D8D11DA.jpg
Sorry I probably bored you all out of your minds, but it's kind of hard when blog programs make it extremely difficult to post pictures on your blog from a Mac.
Well, there's been so much more happening... I had an awesome time with my family in Missouri for Christmas, my room is more than halfway finished, I've been able to spend a lot of precious time with my friends this week. I'm not looking forward to starting school again, and I don't know what God has in store for this semester, but if there's one thing I've learned over the past few years, it's that God is faithful and that He is always there for us to see us through, and to work everything together for our good. Wow, that one word, "good," just seems too small... the "good" God has in store for us is so much better than we could dream of. It's amazing to me that though I'm only 18, though I'm really just a kid, I already just can't get over how good our God is. I can't imagine how awesome it will be to look back over His goodness in Heaven!
Thank you all for being so awesome and I'll try to post again sometime, lol!
The life of Rachel has been really really good recently. I've enjoyed every minute of this break—well, maybe not every minute, but most minutes at least, hehe. God has been doing some incredible things in these past few months, and I really can't express my thankfulness to Him and my awe at His intricate work in my life and the lives of my friends, especially with one thing in particular (if you don't already know about that, you can ask me or Stephen sometime if you like... actually I'm trying to decide if I should write about it or not, so you may or may not hear about it on here later). I am so amazed, when I look back over my life so far, at how God's worked everything for a purpose and He even uses those times when I feel like everything's going wrong to bring me to a place far better than I could have imagined. And the one thing in particular I mentioned is only one part of that... that thing has actually opened my eyes to see how God's works the same way in my whole life. So yeah, this last month or so has been really really good. I can only fall on my knees and praise God for it all, really. He is good beyond hope, beyond anything we can imagine or comprehend.
Okay, onwards to shallower waters, lol. New Years was awesome. Our troupe had one of our biggest dance performances of the year. It was an incredible experience and God's hand was more evident in that performance, at least for me, than any I've ever been in before. To make a long story not so short, I for one tripped, slipped, went blank, and all around messed up more than any other performance I've been in with the troupe so far. I was also feeling really sick and my energy level was, on a scale of 1-10, getting down pretty close to 0, lol. So many other things went wrong too, like the stage was bad and we couldn't hear our hardshoes and stuff like that. I was praying the whole time, and I trusted God would be faithful... but it's interesting how in all our past performances I've noticed that no matter what goes wrong before hand, God always makes it pretty much come together for the performance. Well, this time it did NOT come together at least for me, but God was still faithful... turns out, everyone I talked to afterwards said that they hardly noticed ANYTHING wrong!! Wow... I could not believe it. Well, actually, I could, but I knew it was entirely God and not one bit us. Wow.
Anyway, Stephen, Jackie and Caleb all came to watch our performance and spend the rest of the evening with Hannah and me at the downtown New Years' celebration! Thank you all so much for coming, I had so much fun with you all that night and I'm glad each of you were there! It meant a lot to me, and I hope you had as much fun as I did! After our performance, Hannah and I made Stevo, Jackie and Caleb hang around while we sat around waiting for our energy level to rise and also while we changed into normal clothes... though come to think of it, our troupe costumes are pretty "normal" for us, too, lol.
Anyway, after putting all our stuff back in our car, all us troupe people went our own separate ways (I hope everyone else ended up having as much fun as we did!). Stevo, Jackie, Caleb, Hannah and I walked over to the Myriad Gardens and spent about an hour just taking in the amazingness of a big, beautiful garden with a mini-lake and a fountain and lots of trees and hills perfect for running down in the middle of a city, completely covered in Christmas lights (that is to say, we weren't, but the gardens were). We were all feeling a little artistic-y so we took lots of pictures.
Pretty soon we realized we'd better get moving if we wanted to have a decent view of the ball rising... yes my friends, here the ball doesn't drop, it rises. By crane. That was pretty funny, but at least it's a ball! We all threaded our way through the crowd and up as many steps as we could on this hill-like thingimajig and eventually made it to the top of a wall thingimajig. It was crowded (like everywhere else there... there were thousands of people crowded into this place between the skyscrapers), but we were really close to the ball and pretty much facing the front of the stage so we got a really good spot, I think. On the stage a band was playing all these awesome old songs. Stephen could probably tell you what they all were, though I did recognize some of them, lol. I need to work on enlarging my mind's old music database. But anyway, once we got to our spot, we all had fun dancing and screaming and watching people wave streamers and stuff like that. Finally the ball rose and we danced and screamed a lot more, this time under a rain of confetti, and at midnight the fireworks show began. That was one freakin awesome fireworks show. I don't know if I've ever seen any others as good! We all just about got hoarse from screaming and cheering so much. It was way too much fun.
After it was all over, we sat on top of the wall and people-watched while we waited for the crowds to clear out. When we deemed it sufficiently clear, we walked over to Sonic and got some mozzarella sticks and caffeinated drinks (except Caleb, who's a celiac... I'm sorry, Caleb). I was glad to have the two guys with us—the celebration was technically supposed to be alchohol-free, but heh, how much can that rule be enforced? There were still of course more than a few crazy people there. Thanks for being our "bodyguards," guys, lol. You rule.
After Sonic, it was around 2 or so in the morning, so we decided it was time to call it a night. I managed to drive the car back without any drunk people ramming into me (though that's probably God managing that instead of me). All in all, it was an awesome night and I don't think I've ever had a better New Years celebration. Thank you Stephen, Jackie, Caleb, Hannah, and the rest of the troupe girls for making it so awesome!! You are all pretty darn awesome yourselves.
Here's some of our pictures from the night:
During our performance:
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-03%2011.09.45%20-0800/Image-50C6D6347C8A11DA.jpg
Fuzzy picture of Caleb:
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-03%2011.09.45%20-0800/Image-50C7A0E57C8A11DA.jpg
Jackie in the headlights:
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-03%2011.09.45%20-0800/Image-50C7C1C27C8A11DA.jpg
Stephen's foot:
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-03%2011.09.45%20-0800/Image-50C805B07C8A11DA.jpg
Stephen's face (okay, well not just that, but it sounded good after the last one):
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-03%2011.09.45%20-0800/Image-50C829147C8A11DA.jpg
Hannah showing her feelings after the performance:
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-03%2011.09.45%20-0800/Image-50C8A78E7C8A11DA.jpg
Waiting for our energy to come back (Hannah looks a little strange, don't you agree?):
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-03%2011.09.45%20-0800/Image-50C9AC447C8A11DA.jpg
We all thought this picture of downtown and the gardens looked like it should be a postcard:
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-04%2017.53.52%20-0800/Image-91CCDBB67D8D11DA.jpg
These pictures are just cool:
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-04%2017.53.52%20-0800/Image-91CB84287D8D11DA.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-04%2017.53.52%20-0800/Image-91CB63BC7D8D11DA.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-04%2017.53.52%20-0800/Image-91CC98CC7D8D11DA.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-04%2017.53.52%20-0800/Image-91CCBABD7D8D11DA.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-04%2017.53.52%20-0800/Image-91CCFC9B7D8D11DA.jpg
The ball that rose:
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-04%2017.53.52%20-0800/Image-91CDC7437D8D11DA.jpg
Fireworks!!
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-04%2017.53.52%20-0800/Image-91CEB5617D8D11DA.jpg
And finally, this is Jackie, Hannah, Caleb, Stephen and me:
http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2006-01-04%2017.53.52%20-0800/Image-91CD3E807D8D11DA.jpg
Sorry I probably bored you all out of your minds, but it's kind of hard when blog programs make it extremely difficult to post pictures on your blog from a Mac.
Well, there's been so much more happening... I had an awesome time with my family in Missouri for Christmas, my room is more than halfway finished, I've been able to spend a lot of precious time with my friends this week. I'm not looking forward to starting school again, and I don't know what God has in store for this semester, but if there's one thing I've learned over the past few years, it's that God is faithful and that He is always there for us to see us through, and to work everything together for our good. Wow, that one word, "good," just seems too small... the "good" God has in store for us is so much better than we could dream of. It's amazing to me that though I'm only 18, though I'm really just a kid, I already just can't get over how good our God is. I can't imagine how awesome it will be to look back over His goodness in Heaven!
Thank you all for being so awesome and I'll try to post again sometime, lol!
posted by Rachel @ 4:13 PM
12 Comments:
At 1/09/2006 1:27 AM,
Herohtar said…
Yay! You did a much better job writing about NYE than I would have. I couldn't quite figure out how to put it in words, plus I didn't feel much like writing for some reason. That was a whole lot of fun though!! The Celtic Praise Troupe was awesome, along with all the other events of the evening. And I enjoy being a bodyguard. :-D ACK!! A picture of me! Evil!
At 1/09/2006 6:44 PM,
£l §tévó said…
Amen, Rache. That was one completely freaking awesome night. You all (the dance troupe) were absolutely amazing as was God working thru u all. That's even kind of cool that although u messed up, or felt urselves mess, up it was still amazing. This year's definitely gonna be a roller coaster, but I know God will see us all thru. Hmm.. writing about that something in particular, that should be interesting, hehe. But I agree, I can't get over how good God is and how well He works. That's the best New year's eve that I can remember, lol. I hope God gives you lots of free time, to focus on him and to hang out with friends. I know he'll keep you safe though either way.
At 1/09/2006 7:54 PM,
Anonymous said…
Caleb: At least what you wrote about actually happened around New Years. Or even, you know, happened.
At 1/10/2006 10:16 AM,
Anonymous said…
The picture of the fireworks looks almost as if the trees were melting.
At 1/11/2006 8:43 AM,
£l §tévó said…
Hannah, actually post something? I'll alert the media. But yeah, you should whatever it happens to be about, lol. And also, you and Rachel are actually pretty funny tired. You weren't bossy at all. As proof, it was actually me that ended up deciding everything... You all didn't have an opinion on anything! So I'm not sure how you possibly could have been bossy.
At 1/11/2006 7:03 PM,
Herohtar said…
Lol Hannah, I agree with Stephen; you were definitely not bossy. Yes, you should make a post. Go do it. Now. ;-)
At 1/11/2006 7:04 PM,
Herohtar said…
*checks Hannah's blog* Hey, where's that post I told you to make? Eh? :-P
At 1/20/2006 7:39 PM,
£l §tévó said…
Alright, definitely time for a post from both of you.
At 1/22/2006 2:48 PM,
Anonymous said…
what happened to the comment page??
At 1/22/2006 5:50 PM,
Rachel said…
Well, I'm trying to decide which setting I like better, the full comment page or the pop-up comment thingy. Any opinions?
At 1/22/2006 7:08 PM,
£l §tévó said…
I like the full, cause my comp can load it... lol. The pop-up takes awhile. But it's up to you.
At 1/23/2006 1:26 PM,
Anonymous said…
I kinda like the full page, but it is kinda nice to be able to check the post in case I forgot anything to comment on.
*shrug* Stevo's right.
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