TeenPact MS 2010

You knew it was coming...
Yep, it's about time for this post.

{Representative Candidates. Hugh was one of them, but sadly, did not make the picture.}

Where do I begin? This year. Was. Awesome. Last year, not so much. I just was shy, didn't know what was going on, didn't really try to get involved in all the fun stuff in committees and running for office or even just asking the speaker to yield to a question (which is correct Parliamentary Procedure according to Robert's Rules, you know), or much of anything, really. And host housing was not so great last year. But this year I stayed at Camp Garraywa, where we played tons of ULTIMATE, I met new friends, saw old ones again, got to walk back and forth from the Capitol to the church many times, played Do You Love Your Neighbor (best game ever, in case you don't know), was a member of the awesome JUD committee, got elected clerk of said committee (which basically means that, while everyone else got to eat, I had to read the bills which we voted on as a comittee. Not that cool.), got to drive down in a 15-passenger van with our New Albany/Tupelo group.

 {The 3 gubernatorial candidates: Jamie, Josiah, and Audrey}

Wait, let me rephrase that. I got to ride down. Jamie drove. Poor thing. Oh, and Jamie was nominated by our party, the Agrarian party, to run for governor. He didn't win but it was funny to see him campaign. (He didn't want to win, either. You see, if you're elected you have to give a 5 minute speech on Graduation Day. Which isn't fun.) I stayed in cabin #5. There were six of us girls plus Mrs. Carol, who was amazing. I loved getting to know those girls.

{Cabin #5: Mrs. Carol, Lydia, ?, Lindsay, Amber, Sarah, and Hannah.}

I drank Dr. Chino! (Katie and Sydney and Hannah invented this, so all credits go to them.* It's pictured below.) It's Dr. Pepper + Vanilla Frappacino.* Yeah, we had a Frappacino* dispenser in the cafeteria. It was great. Oh, and the food was surprisingly good. Once again, way better than last year. Mr. Callen was our camp director this year and he spoke at the evening sessions. He had a lot of great things to say. We got to hear speakers (various Senators and Representatives). Most of the speakers (for the most part) were pretty good, excepting one. No name.

 

{Campaign song. Don't ask.}

  

All in all, I had a wonderful time. Excepting the one day I got lost, wandered around the church for 25 minutes looking for my committee and beginning to feel hungry, then finally finding them and dropping my plate. 

Quoteables: "This neighborhood must be nice, they have silver fire hydrants!"

"The ice cream's melted!" (Inside joke, and I won't tell who said this for the sake of his...*ahem* I mean, or her reputation.)

"Chinese handcuffs" Ha, the Communist Party

"What's texting?" The Agrarian Party

"Pull out your pens, pencils, feathers, or inkwells, whichever you prefer." Funny the first time, it did, however, get old after the 7th time. 

"Vote for Hugh, he's for you - and the children too!"

Amendment I: For the purpose of this post, "Frappacino" shall mean Cappuccino. (Thanks Katie, for the correction.)  

Amendment II: I stand corrected... again. The said Dr. Chino was invented by none other than Hannah, popularized by Katie, and scorned at by Sydney.

Jonathan just said, "Listen to your arteries." (As opposed to listen to your heart.) I found it pretty entertaining.


Yeah, I'm still laughing.

So, I just realized just how "politically immersed" I am. In our little corner of this lovely neighborhood there lives (from left to right): two lawyers, one senator, and a judge, all in a line.  Apparently, we're one little powerful street corner.

On top of all that, I'm soon to be on my way to Teen Pact (a class on politics and governmental...stuff). Can you say, political overdose?

Wait, what? Cold weather proves global warming. Warm weather proves global warming. Say what?

I'm currently writing a research paper on whether or not the U.S. government should work to reduce global warming (thanks a lot, Teen Pact). When you actually research it, it's pretty hilarious. It's all based on what "experts" say. Who are the experts? How do they know what they're talking about? A few extra funny letters at the end of your name does not necessarily make one an expert.

"Pleading ignorance and refusing to take action because there is snow in Houston is no argument against years of research by the world's top scientists." Gee, that makes sense.

Just recently, there was snow in every single state, excepting Hawaii. Which naturally means the earth's atmospheric temperatures are vastly increasing. Right?

WRONG.

Lists make the world go 'round.

 

{They wanted a cheesy holding-hands picture. And they got one.}

1. Friday: I love Jon-Jon and Andrew. I also love dancing in the kitchen to Nickel Creek (and Phantom of the Opera) while making chocolate chip cookies with them. (Okay, it was more like I made they cookies and they watched. All the same, it was great.)

2. Saturday: I love friends. And swings. And Memphis. And the Orpheum. And Cinderella carriage rides. And the Four Seasons. :)

3. Sunday: I love Valentine's day. ♥

4. Monday: I love snow. And staying nice and cozy watching Cranford II with Jamie while I knitted and he edited papers, like good little homeschoolers. :)

P.S. Yes, Katie, I'm making fun of you. ;)
{With the title I mean...just in case that wasn't clear.}

Well, no snow for us here, unlike some lucky people I know. Just cold, wet, gloomy rain. But we decided to make the best of it anyhow. Kelley and I had a delightful afternoon while she read A Room With a View (which is strangely ironic; it's about two girls temporarily living in Florence, Italy - sound familiar?) out loud and I did some knitting by the fireplace. Oh, and at this rate, I think I might be able to finish my scarf by my 80th birthday.

P.S. I think I have a new favorite (okay, one of my new favorites) hymn, it's number 473, in our hymnal.

Have you heard the voice of Jesus

Softly pleading with your heart?

Have you felt His presence glorious,

As He calls your soul apart,

With a love so true and loyal,

Love divine that ever flows

From a Saviour, righteous, royal, 

And a cross that mercy shows?

Have you heard the voice of mercy

Granting peace and pardon pure?

Have you felt the balm of Calvary

Binding all your wounds secure?

Was there ever such salvation?

Was there ever care like this?

See the Saviour’s grief and passion, 

Grace and mercy’s gentle kiss.

Have you heard the Saviour calling

All to leave and follow Him?

Have you felt His Person drawing

With compulsion lives to win?

Hearken to His invitation,

To the music of God’s grace;

Let the peace of God’s salvation 

Fill your soul, and love embrace.

A Person's a Person, No Matter How Small.

Well the Personhood deadline is fast approaching; the dark cloud is beginning to overshadow us, or the dawn is gloriously nearing the horizon, depending on who you talk to. Please keep Personhood Mississippi in your prayers!

Well, I've been thinking (uh-oh, that can't be good). It's easy to look at abortion passively, while stile agreeing that it's bad. As if there's just nothing we can do about it, it's just not in our power, I'm not a difference-maker, etc. You can make a difference! (Please excuse for sounding like some wacko green tree-hugger.) Back to the point. Think about this: at this very second, innocent babies, who have no say in their own life, are being cruelly and brutally slaughtered because their own mothers don't want them or 'can't deal' with them right now or just 'don't have the money' (um, hello ladies, do you think abortions cost llamas or something? No, they do indeed cost money). But we can do something about this! We can help join this movement, petition, and we can pray.

Unfortunately, even many churches are afraid to get involved (or just joined up when it's gotten a bit more popular and the deadline is nearly up). I suppose this is because they're concerned for their reputation or they think it's a bit risky or they don't want to lose any of their pro-abortionist members, I don't know exactly. But, let me ask you this; as Christians are we not called to live in this and world not of it? Countless churches think they can spread the gospel and change the world by looking just like it, but the world ends up changing them.

Abortionists say these babies in the womb are not babies at all. In fact, abortion clinics ban employees from calling the fetus a "baby", lest the mother makes that connection, lest they realize that this is, in fact, a baby inside of them! The clinics are afraid they might recognize this and thus might not go through with the abortion (which would also mean the clinic might not make some money). To the abortionist that baby is just "a clump of cells". This baby becomes a baby or a person at fertilization, not at birth. This is what Personhood is trying to do, "to define personhood as beginning at fertilization...to protect all life, regardless of age, health, function, physical or mental dependency, or method of reproduction."

Amendment XIV, section I of the Constitution states, "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities if citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive a person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." The fetus is, indeed, a person. It's a person just as much as you or I. If these unalienable rights do not cohere for a child in the womb, why should they cohere for us? Noah Webster said a person is "an individual human being consisting of body and soul." A fetus (beginning at fertilization) is an individual human being consisting of body and soul, is it not? A fetus is a person.