thanks...

family, for everything you do for me and put up with from me, and yet you still love me. :)

youth pastors, for being amazing, and always being there for me.

best friends, for never letting me down, loving me no matter what, and laughing like crazy.

God, for obvious reasons that I don't think I have enough words to describe.

Do Hard Things

Do hard things. I'm currently reading this book, written by twin brothers Alex & Brett Harris when they were 18 years old. This is a hard book to read. It challenges you to pull out of your comfort zone and do things adults never dreamed teenagers can do. It challenges you to defy the low expectations of our culture, to rebel against our culture's ideal, to revolutionize our world, to become a "rebelutionary."

The website describes it: "Written by teens for teens, Do Hard Things is packed with humorous personal anecdotes, practical examples, and stories of real-life rebelutionaries in action. This rallying cry from the heart of revolution already in progress challenges the next generation to lay claim to a brighter future, starting today."

This is a really great book, and I would encourage everybody to read it, teenager or not!

Saying goodbye

Recently, my best friends and I had one of our really close friends, almost like a big sister, start ignoring us. It was totally out of character, and we couldn't understand what was happening. She just stopped talking to us, and wouldn't ever answer if we tried to call her or anything. All four of us in our group of close friends had a hard time with that. Last year, our eighth grade year, we hung out all the time with this friend, and then this school year started, and it was like she wasn't even there anymore. It was really hard to try and deal with this, because she had become a big part of our lives, and then she was just gone. We're still trying to come to grips with the fact that she most likely won't be back, and if she is, then it won't be the same. Our relationship will never be the same after she hurt us like that. It's really difficult to let go of this relationship and move on, because she was such a big, influential part of our lives last year. I think that even though its been so hard, as friends we've grown closer because of how she left us, and its been good to talk about it and grow closer together. Its still hard and I'm not ready to tell her goodbye and let her move on with her life.

Photography

Recently I've been taking a lot of pictures of the fall landscape. I just thought I'd share a few of my favorites.