Journies of a Jesus Freak

Pine Ridge, South Dakota

2010-07-05T07:07:00.005-05:00

I never thought I'd say this, but the FLY convention is the now the second best week ever. I recently returned from the Pine Reservation in South Dakota with Youth Works on a mission's trip with Open Door (Hunter, Josh, and Bekah's church). I'll admit, I was a little nervous at the start since I only knew two of the thirteen people going on the trip, but that was very stupid of me I came to realize. I made 10 new friends = Awesome.

Throughout the week, we were split into 4 crews and I ended up in crew 3 with 5 people from Open Door (Steve [a leader who seriously looked like Shaun White with his long red hair], Cody [a leader], Hunter, Lee, Marie, and myself) and of course people from the other two churches that also came on the mission's trip. During the four days in which we served in the city of Wambley on the Pine Ridge Reservation, we lead a Kids Club at the Crazy Horse School in the city for two days, which I thought was a pretty nice school for being in one of the 3 poorest counties in the country until I found out it was K-12, and painted a house for the other two.

Here's a Daily Schedule:

6:30 Breakfast crew wakes up and prepares breakfast.

6:45 Everyone else wakes up

7:15-7:45 Breakfast

7:45-8:15 Building cleanup

8:15-8:45 Devoes

9:00-3:00 Working in Wambley/ Lunch around noon

3:15-4:45 Free Time/ Shower Time (a glorious point of time during the day)

5:00-5:45 Dinner

6:00-8:30 Evening Activity (Badlands, Cross, Wall Drug, etc..)

9:00-9:45 CLUB

9:45-10:30 Church Group Time

10:30-11:00 Get ready for bed

11:00 Lights Out

So the first two days we helped out at Kids Club which is pretty much a vacation Bible school, but more open and less "Bible" stuff. So we helped out with reading and read or listened to the kids read for about an hour. Other than that, it was mainly just spending time with them during the other hour and a half. One kid was so funny, he was nicknamed "Moves" for his "skill" on the basketball court. He would stand down by our basketball during every the games we played and wait for the pass from a long three-pointer and without hesitation fire it up every time. But a bright side of the week with him was when we were reading. He had NEVER ready to anyone before at Kids Club. However, on Tuesday, he started reading book after book to us after a long game of basketball. On Tuesday, we also went to a nursing home which was a highlight of my week. Hunter and I played a bit with piano and guitar and then we just talked to the residents and asked a lot of questions.

The next two days were filled with a LOT of paint. The first two days on of the other crews had already been working on the house so it would be set for us to paint. Strangely, the lady wanted the house to be blue and pink... blue on the top, pink on the bottom. Anyways, it wasn't the greatest of sites. Trash littered the ground everywhere! I heard that the people on the reservation tend to buy what they want instead of needs. This lady had a really beat up car and all of this and yet, still, she had dish television! So we painted and painted which nearly seemed like forever although it was just 12 hours between the 2 days. Eventually, we got most of the house done with just a little touch up left for the next crew that would come. It was an extremely satisfying feeling driving away, even though we were extremely squished having six people in a car that's supposed to seat five for an hour, and looking back at our pink and blue house.

Now for the fun of the week, on Monday, we had the opportunity to go hiking in the Badlands! We pretty much were ordered to stay in groups of 3 or 4 and just go wherever we pleased. Although running out of water wasn't that great, the views were amazing! The rocks and crevices just stretch on forever.

On Tuesday, we traveled to a tourist attraction in South Dakota simply called The Cross. The Cross is pretty much a huge 30ft metal cross that stands overlooking the graves of soldiers who died in WW2. We got to sit and just watch the sunset dip under the hills of the badlands, really a great uplifting moment.

On Wednesday, we drove to Wall Drug which I heard they have signs that advertise it in Africa and Asia. It was supposed to be a scavenger hunt, but my group just wandered around, buying ice cream and such.

Finally, on Thursday, we played volleyball on the courts in Kadoka - Minnesota church vs. the Wisconsin church. Sadly, we made a huge comeback in the first game and won (I had no clue I was any good at volleyball. I ended up getting hero of the day for helping win the one game against Wisconsin), but after that we lost 8 consecutive times before being forced to quit because it was time for our last CLUB. At our last CLUB, we did the traditional Youth Works washing of the feet. So the group leaders from open door washed all the students feet. Throughout the week, my favorite leader had been a guy named Cody (the leader at group 3). I don't know what it was about him, but he was always encouraging everyone and just, I don't know, being an awesome leader. He even said to me later that night he was "stoked" (exact word) when he heard I was in his group which I have no clue why since I hadn't really talked to him by the time we heard which groups we were in. Anyways, he was the one who washed my feet which I wasn't to thrilled about at first because... well, the whole thing is kind of awkward because of the culture we live in. So, wouldn't you like someone you hardly knew doing that instead one of the people you knew pretty well? Maybe it's just me, but yeah, I came to regret ever wanting someone else, because Cody prayed for me for about 10 minutes after and it was really a great prayer. After the prayer, we all just sat there for about an hour with great music playing softly in the background, the room dimmed. Really kind of an emotional moment. Hunter was sobbing when Steve prayed for him and during the next half an hour or so and the girls were in their little huddle (their were only four girls and nine guys on the trip) and cried and cried which I don't really get, but I'm a guy so I probably never will, ha. I don't really know why it was such an emotional moment in the first place, but I prayed for that whole hour. One of those moments that make the trip all worth it (it was paying 400 dollars to work hard), like when Eric and Leslie Ludy spoke at FLY.

Anyways, after that great night, we packed up and left at 9 the next morning and arrived in Minnesota at about 7:00 on Friday. Upon my return, to my joy (I was exhausted), we went straight to a family gathering at a my grandparents farm to celebrate a late father's day and my cousin's slept over...... ha ha *a laugh of defiance*. So I'm still recovering from, obviously, since I got up at 10:30 for the first time...ever? this morning.

Again, the best week ever, and I really would like to do that with my own church someday. Well, I'm back, Happy 4th of July (one day late) everyone!

(Some Pics)

This is the front of the house (Cody Painting)

Hunter painting the side of the house (as for his back, Lee and Marie had a little fun with the paint)

The Front of the house. All the trash that has been accumulated pretty much on their doorstep. As you can also see, the DISH satellites.

The endless view of the badlands.

Again, the Badlands

And again, the Badlands

Alex

P.S. I regret to say I didn't proofread this...

I'll be leaving

2010-06-26T12:31:00.002-05:00

On Sunday morning, at 8 A.M, I'll be leaving to go to South Dakota for a missions trip with the Open Door church. We'll be going to the pine ridge reservation and serving in multiple ways. I'm extremely excited for it. Prayers during my trip are appreciated. I'm leaving tomorrow, and coming back on Friday. So good bye, hopefully I'll get back on a good posting schedule upon my return.

Alex

Awakenings

2010-06-14T21:41:00.004-05:00

I think I might be able to get back on track with posting now, although I have yet to finish school, I'm nearly done. Just today, I watched an awesome movie called Awakenings. I don't really want to explain the whole storyline because I absolutely hate watching a movie when I know the whole thing. So yeah, terrific movie five stars. A very powerful film, Robin Williams is really awesome during the whole movie, perfect acting.

Alex

A break

2010-06-05T22:06:00.002-05:00

I know I already haven't been posting in almost 2 weeks, but unless something amazingly awesome comes up, I'm taking a short respite from this blog until I finish school for the year (which will only be about a week and a half, but now I have a reason for my un-diligence in posting). Recently, I've been trying upload the video of our band performing at FAN, unfortunately, the computer isn't working with me. When it does though, I will definitely post it. We have also made a blog, http://letoutyourlight4god.blogspot.com// , if you want to see a little clip of our song, Where Have You Gone (the one we played at FAN).

Until I finish school (what a great day that will be),

Alex

If God can use...

2010-05-23T21:24:00.002-05:00

Before I start this post, I'm really sorry for my lack in posting. Now that my baseball season has ended, I should be able to post more often.
Okay, so at church, our pastor, gave a message on Judges 6, the story of Gideon. Now, Gideon was just an ordinary guy. In fact, he was one of the lowest in his town. God used him of all people to show his power. At this time in the Bible, the Israelites were in bondage to the Midianites. God took Gideon, and 300 hundred men, and annihilated thousands of Midianites to free the Israelites from bondage. It just got me thinking of how God doesn't just use the Bible scholars, which I am definitely not, he uses everybody. In most of the stories in the Bible, he actually used the ones that weren't the strongest, the smartest, the bravest. David was the youngest of all his brothers, Gideon was one of the lowest of his town. God doesn't just use the ones who are the greatest. He uses the weak ones to show his power and glory. I really hope God uses me in great ways during my life. Sometimes it gets hard to really believe the verse Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you, and not to harm you; plans to give you a hope and a future." My prayer for my own life is simply that God will use me.
Another thing, my guitar teacher and our former worship guitar player at church, asked my brother and I to play for the worship team on June 13th. I can't wait!

Alex

CAT Tests

2010-05-13T15:53:00.003-05:00

They're the tests we do at the end of each school year to see how well we did. Today, we just started with my vocabulary and comprehension. They're fairly easy, but have kind of pointless questions. I am praying that I do well on these, but I've done really well on previous years. Anyways, I can't believe school is almost done. Time is passing swiftly.

Alex

Tenth Avenue North - "Healing Begins"

2010-05-10T13:34:00.000-05:00

Really amazing video. I can't wait for the new album. This guy could probably make a living as a pastor. Just look him up on youtube or tenthavenuenorth.com LIGHT MEETS THE DARK TOMORROW!!!!

Alex

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T15:21:00.002-05:00

Where would I be without my mom, I really have no idea. You guys may argue, but my mom is by a longshot the best mom in the world. Happy Mother's Day!

Alex

My favorite show.

2010-05-07T19:37:00.002-05:00

Survivor. 18 people, sent off to some exotic places to survive for 39 days. It is by far my favorite show. Every episode is thrilling. It would seriously take paragraphs to explain the game. However, just watch it, and you will be hooked.

Go Heroes!

Alex

FAN

2010-05-02T20:57:00.002-05:00

FAN, Fiche's Family Award's Night. There's also a talent show. And our nameless band got to play for the first time live. It was so awesome. We did our unrecorded song "Where Have You Gone". Complete success. Jake sang he and I both played acoustic, Hunter piano, Ben electric. It was so amazing. After staying up very late Friday night and practicing a lot Friday (with a Lord of the Rings movie break of course), we worked hard and it payed off with a near perfect performance. Jake was really nervous before the performance and he looked nervous. However, I don't know what happened, but he sang amazingly. It was so funny, Hunter's grandma came up to me afterwards and said, "When you guys are rich and famous, remember me."
Oh, also, I've applied for a job umping baseball and succeeded in getting it. So I had a little umpire training today before the performance. Sorry for my laziness in posting in the last week, I didn't really have much to write about I guess.

Alex

It's over

2010-04-21T21:15:00.002-05:00

Today was the last day at WEST! Meaning my last writing class and last physical science class. It started with awesome writing class. My teacher, Ms. B, started our annual Big Kahuna Bowl (a competition involving who knows the most wow words (which are auspicious vocab words we've learned throughout the year)). The game lasted 17 rounds I think. My team was made up of Jake (Thoughts of a Warrior), Hunter, (Travels of a Teen), Josh (Blog of the Rejects), and Matt. We did pretty good. Especially Jake. He annihilated whenever it was his turn to say Wow words. However, we came in second to another team. Still, I love the Big Kahuna Bowl.
For physical science, it wasn't extremely fun, but in the end, my lovely teacher, Ms. Stenzel, drew our names to win a prize. I won a free blizzard at DQ and a meal at Culvers.
Now that West is done, my time need to complete school will drastically drop.
A little band update, we get to play live for the first time! My co-op (FICHE) has a family night where most of the people get up on stage and do something. Hunter, Jake, Ben, and I are playing one of our songs. I can't wait!
While I'm posting I'll say I hit the ball the farthest I've ever hit it in my life in our 2nd baseball game. Although it was in a losing effort, I hit the ball far over the center fielder's head. It was a horrible pitch, but he was pretty wild and I really didn't want to take my chances with any more pitches. So I swung and... wow.

Alex

The Lord Provides

2010-04-18T13:48:00.004-05:00

Lately, I've really been wishing I had a job to earn some money. Specifically, because I really would like to purchase a Les Paul electric guitar. Finally, a few days ago, I prayed to God asking for some kind of job. On Friday, my dad took our family (not including my mom since she was at a conference) and my cousin Joe to help out a lady named Cari Joe Kiffemyer (spelling is probably wrong). So we helped her move her mulch into her backyard. Today at church, she asked me if I wanted to mow her yard for her regularly!!! It was so awesome. I said I would and I have a job. That's my "The Lord Provides" story for you.

Alex

I hate my brother's camera

2010-04-16T07:40:00.003-05:00

It is the most annoying thing. I come downstairs in the morning, there he is, laughing his evil laugh and taking a picture of me. I come into my room, there he is. I go OUTSIDE to play basketball, there he is. AHHHH! He could take pictures all day. He just took a picture of me writing this post. Hopefully, this will settle after he gets over the thrill of having his new camera. Until then, pray for me.

Alex

First Baseball Game

2010-04-15T21:01:00.002-05:00

Well, before I go into the details, we were obliterated by Buffalo Middle School, so I guess if you don't care to read the rest, there you go. This is my first time playing for the baseball school team. Surprisingly, I made the A Team. In my first at bat, well... I looked at pitch for a strike and probably looked like an idiot as I swung and missed at two more pitches that were just a bit outside. Luckily, my infielding was good. In my next two at bats, I grounded out to second, and would have grounded out to second again if the second baseman wouldn't have bobbled the ball. My whole team was pretty bad at hitting today, including me.
One very scary moment in the game though was in the third inning. The guy on first was stealing second (I am a second baseman) so the catcher whipped the ball across the diamond to me. I caught the ball and tagged the runner out. But on the slide, he slid a little high, and the bottom of his cleats ran into my thigh. Thankfully, Thankfully, Thankfully, Thankfully, Thankfully, he wasn't wearing metal spiked cleats. For those of you who don't know what they are, it would have been like a bunch of tiny knives driving full force into my leg... which would hurt. I can only thank God that that guy wasn't wearing metal cleats. Hopefully, next game we'll do a bit better than this... performance today.

Alex

It's gone!

2010-04-14T07:38:00.002-05:00

It finally is, my accolade of being the only teenager in my home has dissapeared. Happy Birthday Jake! My younger brother is now thirteen. Unfortunately, he gets to spend part of his birthday giving a presentation for our writing class.

Alex

Target Field

2010-04-12T20:37:00.006-05:00

Big day for a Minnesota Twins baseball fan (aka me). The Twins played their first game in brand new Target Field and defeated the Boston Red Sox 5-2. The stadium is amazing (from my view of TV). I can't wait to go to a game sometime this year. After years of being indoors for baseball in Minnesota, finally, we are outside, enter Target Field.

Alex

Everything Falls

2010-04-10T17:39:00.002-05:00

You said
You'd never leave or foresake me
When you said,
This life is gonna shake me
You said
This world is gonna bring trouble on my soul
This i know

When everything falls apart
Your arms hold me together
When everything falls apart
Your the only hope for this heart
When everything falls apart
And my strength is gone
I find you mighty and strong
You keep holding on
You keep holding on

When i see
The darkness all around me
When i see
The tragedy has found me
I still believe
Your faithful arms will never let me go
And still i know

When everything falls apart
Your arms hold me together
When everything falls apart
Your the only hope for this heart
When everything falls apart
And my strength is gone
I find you mighty and strong
You keep holding on
You keep holding on

Sorrow willl last for the night
But hope is rising with the sun
(its rising with the sun)
There will be storms in this life
But i know you will overcome
But i know you will overcome

When everything falls apart
Your arms hold me together
When everything falls apart
Your the only hope for this heart
When everything falls apart
And my strength is gone
I find you mighty and strong
You keep holding on

When everything falls apart
Your arms hold me together
When everything falls apart
Your the only hope for this heart
When everything falls apart
And my strength is gone
I find you mighty and strong
You keep holding on
You keep holding on

"Everything Falls" by Fee is now my favorite song, the mixpod playlist on the left sidebar has it as the first song so if you haven't heard it, hear it.

Alex

One of those days

2010-04-10T17:26:00.002-05:00

It's been one of those days for me. After Jake's birthday "party" last night and staying up until 2 in the morning, I felt exhausted today. However, I as usual vacuumed and cleaned a bathroom, helped my dad rake the yard of the dead grass, and working strenuously on my portfolio.
I didn't want to do all those things, most certainly not the portfolio, but I did it. It might be just me, but when I get a bunch of work done (not including school) I feel really awesome. And then I can hear Jake in the background playing through our new song, Where Have You Gone (has yet to be recorded). On top of that, I just got 40$ for watching a dog which I'm putting towards a Les Paul Electric Guitar.
Just one of those awesome/feel like your on top of the world moments.

Alex

Winner

2010-04-10T11:42:00.004-05:00

I'm announcing the winner of the Mp3 challenge number 2, only 2 of you did it, but that is certainly okay. Here we go.

1. "It's not the end, but it feels like it is."

Hunter, Josh

2. "I have heard that winter's cold, will give way to summer's warmth."

Hunter, Josh

3. "It took some time and concentration, to believe it, this I know"

Hunter, Josh

4. "You're lying there in that hospital bed, would you open your eyes and lets talk once again."

Hunter, Josh

5. "It took me a while to catch what it said, cause I had to match the rhythm of his belly with my head."
Hunter, Josh

6. "Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend, somewhere along in bitterness."

Hunter, Josh

7. "Yeah, on your mark, get set, here we go, time to make your future unfold."

Hunter, Josh

8. "Would you hop on a bus, and leave just because... would you."

Hunter, Josh

9. "Things were said, words that we'll try to forget, it's so hard to admit."

Josh

10. "I'm a fire, fighting for control, I'm a fire fighting for control."
Hunter, Josh.

Josh wins! A perfect ten of ten. Here's your award!

Alex

3rd session

2010-04-08T21:02:00.002-05:00

Tonight, we had are third official band meet once again at the Howe's house. Unfortunately, I new song we were going to record wasn't fully finished so we decided to attempt to fix the errors in when you turned away. However, we only perfected the piano and did mediocre on guitar. Check out the new poll I'm setting up and vote!

Alex

Mp3 challenge the 2nd

2010-04-05T18:39:00.002-05:00

Here it is, the 2nd Mp3 challenge. As we saw from the last Mp3 challenge, Hunter knows pretty much every song that I know, so I'm trying to mix it up.

1. "It's not the end, but it feels like it is."

2. "I have heard that winter's cold, will give way to summer's warmth."

3. "It took some time and concentration, to believe it, this I know"

4. "You're lying there in that hospital bed, would you open your eyes and lets talk once again."

5. "It took me a while to catch what it said, cause I had to match the rhythm of his belly with my head."

6. "Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend, somewhere along in bitterness."

7. "Yeah, on your mark, get set, here we go, time to make your future unfold."

8. "Would you hop on a bus, and leave just because... would you."

9. "Things were said, words that we'll try to forget, it's so hard to admit."

10. "I'm a fire, fighting for control, I'm a fire fighting for control."

There you go. You have until Saturday to do it. If there is a tie, there will be a tiebreaker song which I have made especially hard...
Have fun!

Alex

Easter

2010-04-04T20:06:00.003-05:00

Happy Easter! It sickens me to think that people have created a bunny giving eggs to people to replace the meaning of Easter... let me repeat that... a bunny giving eggs to people. Not only that, but they made an old man with a beard with flying reindeer to replace Christmas. The worst part is, how many believed in it... a lot of people. This is the fascinating story they came up with. Fascinating.
Enter the real story of Easter... Jesus Resurrection, defeat of death. "He is not here. He has risen" I've seen The Passion of the Christ and it is definitely one of the most powerful movies ever made. Jesus's suffering is adroitly depicted by Mel Gibson. My family watched the actor who played Jesus, Jim Cavaizle (or something like that) on some talk show in Orlando. He said that he had to have his shoulder separated (not in an abrupt way) just for one scene. The scourge had even missed a couple of times so he'd been hit 2 times with the whip. I was just thinking, he was in a lot of pain from 2 hits from the whip, and his shoulder separated by doctors... Jesus execution isn't even legal in a lot of places now. He suffered, greatly, for all of us. The great part is, he beat death! Rose from the dead. Resurrected. Praise God for giving his one and only son so we might have eternal life in him.
Over the weekend, I wondered what % of the world would have thoroughly read through the Bible multiple times if it had no religion involved with it. Just think of the incredible story. Amazing.

Alex

Upon My Return blog parade

2010-03-31T22:29:00.003-05:00

I've decided to link up on Bekah's blog, The Word Crafter, for a blog parade. Here's the Q&A... oh, and sorry Bekah that I overlooked the part where it said to put my URL to this post on your mclinky thing.
1. If you had to describe yourself in one word, what would you say?
Wow, ummm... awesome, I don't know.

2. If you could go anywhere in the world with anyone you wanted to, where would you go and who with?
I'd go with my family to Greece. All the ancient Greek stuff has always fascinated me.

3. If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
Flying, who could pass that up.

4. What is one habit (or two ;) that you get teased about a lot?
I don't really get teased about habits...

5. What is (or are) your food obsession(s)?
Other than sugar, Panera bread from my church toasted with butter and peanut butter, sadly.

6. What is the best April Fools prank you pulled on someone or that someone pulled on you?
I haven't pulled many April Fools pranks...

7. If you were an inanimate object, what would you be?
A tree??? Not very familiar with the word inanimate.

8. Let's say you could change the world in one way. How would you change it.

Get rid of sin???

9. You have a million dollars (*gasp* ;). How do you spend it?
Electric guitar, college, band equipment, keyboard, and by then I would..., oh, and a car in a year and half.

10. What is one thing that always takes your breath away? (That could mean in a good way OR a bad way)
The government sometimes

11. You are granted three wishes. What do you wish for? (Remember, you can't wish for more wishes ;)
Free college, 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000$, and an electric guitar autographed by Jon Foreman.

12. You can spend the day with one character from a book or series that you've read. Who is that character?
Percy Jackson or Harry Potter

13. What is something odd or interesting about you that is not commonly known?
I've lived in the Middle East (Dubai) for 3 years of my life)

14. What is one thing that you absolutely positively cannot stand?
Chores after a really late sleepover.

15. Say you committed a crime. The judge gives you a choice between sentences: twenty years of complete solitude in the mountains or never having another moment alone for the rest of your life. Your choice?
...let's say something told me not to commit the crime.

16. What is one benefit that blogging has given you?
Meeting knew people.

17. A perfect day in your eyes would be...?
Heaven?

Alex

Baseball

2010-03-30T17:34:00.004-05:00

My non-busy schedule just disappeared. School baseball has just started for me. I just got back from our third practice, mostly just infielding and a little BP.
It finally feels like spring. It might be just me but whenever spring comes I always want to create, to do something. Usually that is improving in some area at guitar or whatever sport I'm playing. But it's also spiritually. It's always like a fresh start. I read my Bible at the least 4 times a week (not including church/Sunday, which I consider devotions in itself), but it's not really reading it to gain more knowledge from God. It's the busy days that are really hard to want to find time to read my Bible. Thankfully, this morning, after having a sleepover with Hunter and waking up at 9:15 (my writing class started at 10:15) I rushed through everything, but I did read my Bible. Most busy days, however, I just skip it, sometimes on purpose, sometimes it doesn't even cross my mind. The saying, "This book will keep you from sin, but sin will keep you from this book" I really see in my daily life. This is something I hope to improve on in the future, well... right now actually!

Another little band update: I'll be doing these most posts. For my co-op, ROCK, we had a showcase with about 70 families. And Jake and I hooked up my Ipod and played both of our songs for everyone looking around the booths.

Alex

Spring Break and Video

2010-03-27T16:41:00.003-05:00

Well, I am on my spring break now for a whole week! Although I don't have a clue what I'm going to do with all this extra time, it'll be nice to have a break from school.

Here's an awesome video my dad showed me.

Alex

Let Out Your Light

2010-03-25T21:40:00.002-05:00

That's it, song number two... Let Out Your Light. Tonight, again, Hunter, Jake, and I all went over to Ben Howe's after our co-op. Jake, Hunter, and I had worked on it Wednesday, and only had about half the song done when we arrived to record. After tweaking When You Turned Away, we started on the new song and finished it in 3 hours...two hours less than it took to finish the first one. Let Out Your Light has more of an edge compared to the softer When You Turned Away and we haven't decided which one we like better.
Recording is one of the awesomest things I've ever done. Sorry to disappoint you, but the song won't be on my blog for a while. Eventually, we'll try to get them on there.

Alex

Photobucket

2010-03-23T19:10:00.003-05:00

Thank you Bleah Briann for suggesting Photobucket. It is really awesome. I've redone the award so Hunter read this post before you put the other no-so-good award on your blog. Here you go. I'd say it's a million times better than the last one.

Alex

Mp3 results

2010-03-23T17:16:00.003-05:00

Here's the answer's and eventually the winner for my Mp3 contest. A day early, but I don't think anyone was going to do it anyways.

1. Welcome to the fallout, welcome to resistance, the tension is here, the tension is here.

Answer: "Dare You To Move" Switchfoot

Landis

Bleah Briann

Josh

Hunter

2. I'm giving up, I'm giving up slowly, I'm blendin' in so you won't even know me.
Answer: "Be My Escape" Reliant K

Eldarwen

Landis

Bleah Briann

Josh

Hunter

3. To give unselfishly, to love the least of these.

Answer: "Open Hands" Matt Papa

Josh

Hunter

4. We could make a feast from these crumbs, and we're all staring down the barrel of a gun.

Answer: "Live Like We're Dying" Kris Allen

Eldarwen

Bleah Briann

Hunter

5. Awake, tonight, I'm breathing the air of the night sky.

Answer: "On and On" Chasen

Josh

Hunter

6. I've seen dreams that move the mountains, hope that doesn't ever end.

Answer: "What Faith Can Do" Kutless

Landis

Bleah Briann

Josh

Hunter

7. Well the past is playing through my head, and failure knocks me down, again.

Answer: "Forgiven" Sanctus Real

Landis

Bleah Briann

Josh

Hunter

8. I'm not afraid to make mistakes. I'm not afraid to fall on my face.
Answer: "Hands" The Almost

Bleah Briann

Hunter

9. They tell you where you need to go, they tell you when you need to leave.
Answer: "On Fire" Switchfoot

Eldarwen

Bleah Briann

Josh

Hunter

10. John Perkins said it right, love is the final fight.

Answer: "The Sound" Switchfoot

Bleah Briann

Josh

Hunter

Eldarwen - 3

Landis - 4

Bleah Briann - 8

Josh - 8

Hunter - 10

I guess that makes Hunter the winner with a perfect 10/10.

You really don't have to take my lame award. I'm not very good at figuring out how to make texts on pictures, but I wanted to make it official. Nice job Hunter. I think I'll be doing more of these in the future so a list of the winners will be somewhere on the sidebar. Until the next one...

Alex

He's got the whole world in his hands

2010-03-23T14:20:00.002-05:00

He’s got the whole world in his hands – Casting Pearls

When all around is fading
Nothing seems to last
When this day is filled with sorrow
Still I know with all my heart

He's got the whole world in his hands
I fear no evil for You are with me
Strong to deliver mighty to save
He's got the whole world in His hands

When I walk through fire
I will not be burned
When the waves come crashing round me
Still I know with all my heart

He's got the whole world in His hands
I fear no evil for You are with me
Strong to deliver mighty to save
He's got the whole world in His hands

He's got the whole world in His hands
I fear no evil for You are with me
Strong to deliver mighty to save
He's got the whole world in His hands

This is such an amazing song.
I think we need that reminder the most at a time like this. God has the whole world in his hands. He's in control.
Even if there's a health care bill that doesn't agree with what we believe in. It wouldn't have happened unless God had allowed it to.
Even if there's huge earthquakes striking in the world killing people and leaving many homeless. It couldn't have happened unless God had allowed it to.
Psalm 23:4 "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me."
The entire world is in God's hands.

Alex

Invite to play

2010-03-23T14:14:00.003-05:00

Well, Hunter, Jake, and I have all been invited to play our song at a park in Rockford. It wouldn't be until July 13th and Jake and I probably won't be able to go because of the Mexico missions's trip, but it was really cool that someone actually heard something we created and wanted us to play it because it was good. Very encouraging.

Alex

Health care from D.C.

2010-03-22T17:36:00.002-05:00

I don't get it. The Health care bill passed. 219-212.
Lately, I've been listening to a Conservative talk show on the radio. It really uncovers the health care bill and the on-goings in politics. Yes, everyone will have the insurance on health care, but there is funding for abortion in it. Does anyone really want that? I hope something good will eventually come of all of this.

Pray,
Alex

50

2010-03-21T19:57:00.002-05:00

I have finally reached 50 followers. Thank you Moriah for following. An update in the Mp3 challenge thing. I'm giving everyone a week to do it (so wed. is the deadline). So far two people are tied for the lead with 8.
Thanks

Alex

Do Hard Things Blog

2010-03-17T19:23:00.003-05:00

Hey, a little request for the Do Hard Things blog I am a part of. If anyone who is not Hunter or Jake that is following that blog please stop following it. My Dad made it not with an intention of anyone other than him, Jake, me, or Hunter and his Dad following it. It's just for a the study of Do Hard Things we are doing.

Thanks,

Alex

Mp3 challenge

2010-03-17T17:11:00.002-05:00

I have decided to do an mp3 challenge because I just love doing them myself so much. Here you go, most of you know the rules, but... No looking them up, No checking my playlist, No nothing.

1. Welcome to the fallout, welcome to resistance, the tension is here, the tension is here.

2. I'm giving up, I'm giving up slowly, I'm blendin' in so you won't even know me.

3. To give unselfishly, to love the least of these.

4. We could make a feast from these crumbs, and we're all staring down the barrel of a gun.

5. Awake, tonight, I'm breathing the air of the night sky.

6. I've seen dreams that move the mountains, hope that doesn't ever end.

7. Well the past is playing through my head, and failure knocks me down, again.

8. I'm not afraid to make mistakes. I'm not afraid to fall on my face.

9. They tell you where you need to go, they tell you when you need to leave.

10. John Perkins said it right, love is the final fight.

Hope you all enjoy it!

Alex

My awesome youth leader

2010-03-14T20:42:00.003-05:00

Today, at youth group, my youth group leader, Jimmy Noreen, gave us all a challenge. He got us in pairs and had us sit back to back and link arms. Next, he said that the first team to stand up gets 100$. So I didn't come even close to winning. The five winners each received the green bill with greedy, eye-watering eyes. I stared on in jealousy until... they found out it was 100$ Jamaican dollars. My youth group leader works with a missions team called Praying Pelican so he just returned from a week long missions trip in Jamaica. It was one of the highlights of my day seeing the disappointment on their faces. It turns out 100$ Jamaican dollars is only 1.44 in American money. So in truth, Jimmy did give them a hundred dollars as he'd promised at church earlier, but it was Jamaican money.
Speaking on the track of mission trips, this summer, our youth group (and parents) is going on a mission trip to Mexico! I'm already signed up, now I just have to raise money to help with the cost.
A little update on how I was going to post our song on my blog, Hunter says that we still have to edit it, so I won't be putting it on anytime soon. Sorry for the wait, although those who know me may be able to hear the rough draft of it sometime.

Alex

Recording

2010-03-11T21:49:00.002-06:00

Today, after my co-op, Jake, Hunter, and I all drove with Tanner and Ben Howe to their house to record some of the music Jake, Hunter and I have written. It was one of the most fun things I've ever done. After two hours, we (Jake, Ben, Hunter, and I (Tanner doesn't really enjoy this kind of stuff) ) were still trying to record the piano part, but after finishing the piano just before supper at around 6:30, we cruised through the guitar, base, and electric guitar. And then...singing. My Dad came to pick us up at 8, so we thought that Jake could just sing the song once and we'd go home...no. Finally, at 9:15, the song "When you turned away" was mostly finished (just some sounding stuff left). It was so awesome, I can't wait until the next time we go there, Ben has all this equipment. All in all, that was my awesome day. And now, I'm going to watch Survivor.

Alex

Timed essays

2010-03-10T18:33:00.003-06:00

Today, at West (a place where I take two classes, Writing Foundations and Physical Science) we had to write a time essay in 60 minutes. For our prompt, we had to write about, "Do cooperation or competition achieve more success." I chose competition, because, well, I'm not sure which one I think achieve more, but there are definitely more examples from reading to write about. I think I lean more to competition from personal experiences. After the first ten minutes, I had about 2 lines done on my essay, and I pretty much panicked, that's why I'm unsure about my Thesis. Anyways, thirty minutes later, I completed my essay. We were required to include 4 paragraphs (Thesis, Example, Example, Conclusion). My paper was a page and a few lines (actually as long as my brother Jake's! and he is very meticulous to get everything in (something I wish I always did) ). For my examples, I chose the Rams vs. Patriots Super Bowl and a battle in the end of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Lightning Thief. All in all, I think I did a pretty good job on it. I definitely could have improved on my Thesis and Conclusion, but I won't know until probably next week at West. Until then...

Alex

Of braces and laptops

2010-03-08T14:28:00.004-06:00

Well, today I had braces cemented (as they called it) to my teeth. I'll will say it is very uncomfortably, but they also said it doesn't actually start hurting till around dinner time...

Also, on the way to the orthodontist, my mom was running through her plan for my first year of high school next year, and along the way she said I would be taking an online class for American government. AND, she and my dad might have to get me a laptop so I could go somewhere "quiet" for my classes....YES!!

Alex

Mixpod

2010-03-06T19:48:00.002-06:00

If anyone still has a playlist or grooveshark, get rid of it! Mixpod is so awesome for creating a playlist. Not only does it have songs, but you can do videos of anything on YouTube. As you can see with my Tim Hawkins... so awesome.

Alex

Feed my starving children

2010-03-04T17:50:00.002-06:00

Today, my co-op, FICHE, all went to volunteer at Feed My Starving Children (FMSC, I'm just going to use that since it's shorter). FMSC is a Christian organization (although they don't only allow Christians) that relies only on volunteering to make meals which they ship to over 60 countries in need around the world. In my group, we had Jake (Thoughts of a Warrior), Ryan (Speculations of a Swordbearer), Hannah (Aspire), Chloe (Crazy Corner), and Amber (Sounds of Melodies) all working at one table. The process is pretty simple, fill a bag with chicken flavored vitamins, vegetables, soy, and rice. Our table packed 21 boxes full of these 8-10 inch bags that each contained six meals.
Afterwords, we prayed over the boxes of food and tasted a sample of the meal we were sending over. It was awesome!
The lady who led us through the instructions, challenged us to tell four people to go volunteer, so if anyone lives in Minnesota, go and do it, because it's so fun and meaningful at the same time.

Alex

New header and background

2010-03-03T17:39:00.001-06:00

Thanks so much to Hannah from Aspire. This is my new background and header, cool?

Alex

A cool story

2010-03-02T19:20:00.002-06:00

I found this story, thought it was cool, and decided to post it.

Nathan De La Garza keeps one book close at hand these days: His Bible.

Following a challenge from the pastor who leads his youth group at Racine Assembly of God, 1325 Airline Road, Nathan carries his Bible everywhere he goes.

He makes a point of carrying it at Park High School, where he is a sophomore.

The book attracts attention, he said.

"People are like, ‘Is that a Bible?' " Nathan said.

With his Bible out, Nathan said, there's always the potential for a talk about religion. Several students have tried out his church's youth group after talking with him.

He has had some real conversations about religion, he said. A friend who is a Jehovah's Witness offered to trade Bibles, Nathan said. A Muslim girl in his class has talked to him about her faith.

And that's OK, he said.

It's different when students who don't have any spiritual practice talk to him, he said.

"The atheist people, they try ganging up on you all the time," he said. "They make the rudest comments."

His Bible hasn't presented many problems, Nathan said. It has even opened up discussions with some of his teachers.

But one day, a teacher didn't seem to approve of his discussion with a friend, he said, during time when students were allowed to talk. The teacher asked him to stop talking about religion, Nathan said, and when he came to class the next day, she handed him a pass to talk with an assistant principal.

"She tried saying I was disrupting class," he said.

He said the principal told him - "in a nice way" - to stop talking about religion during class and "to keep it to lunch and out of school."

Nathan said she told him that he might offend somebody, and that they might start a physical fight with him.

"The last thing we want is for you to get into a fight about God," Nathan said she told him.

The assistant principal declined to speak to The Journal Times about the incident, but after speaking with her, the district's spokesman generally confirmed Nathan's version. One difference between the two stories was that school officials said the discussion in class "kind of turned into a debate," said spokesman Paul Holley. The teacher felt it was disruptive and sent him to the assistant principal.

"Students are certainly allowed to (carry a religious text or speak about religion), but at the same time they're not allowed to cause a disruption," Holley said. "You've got to respect other people."

There was no disciplinary action taken, Holley said, and the family did not contact the school to discuss the incident.

Still, Nathan said it feels unfair.

"When the whole class is done working, other kids can talk about what they want and not get in trouble," he said. He said no one seems bothered when students use that time to talk about doing drugs, having sex or drinking.

"We have freedom of speech and I think we should be able to talk about whatever we want," he said. "I'd like people to be able to talk about their religion freely."

Alex

45

2010-03-02T16:26:00.002-06:00

Today, we have reached a milestone in 2010. It is 45 degrees. The snow is slowly melting off of the roof and for the first time in a while I can actually see the top of the trampoline. I think spring may actually be around the corner!

Alex

Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol

2010-02-26T12:13:00.003-06:00

Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol may now be my favorite song. They are actually a British band, which I don't usually love *coughs* (the Beatles), but this song is so good. I heard the song on American Idol by from a guy named Lee Dwyze (such a cool last name), looked it up on YouTube, printed out the chords and tab for guitar, and have been hooked ever since.

Alex

Planning for High School

2010-02-24T14:43:00.002-06:00

Last night, from 6:30 to 9, I, my mom, Hunter, and his mom all went to a conference on how to home school through high school. A lady named Linda Lopez gave a 1 and half hour lecture about it. I admit Hunter and I were bored enough to play Chinese football afterwards (we were the last ones to leave), but it was cool how we planned out the next for years of schoolwork. After the conference, high school doesn't seem like such a enormous step up from 8th grade.

Alex

Worldview Conference

2010-02-20T20:50:00.003-06:00

During last night and this whole morning and afternoon, I was at a conference for Worldview. It was amazing. My friend Hunter and his Dad were at the conference with us. The three speakers, Bill Jack, Randy Simms, and Jeff Baldwin. The whole conference was about apologetics, how to defend your faith. To start of the evening (Friday), Bill Jack (my favorite out of the three, he was great at mixing humor with a serious lectures) spoke about the different worldviews and an intro to the weekend by discussing faith. It was really cool, one of the things he said was "The question is not, who has faith and who has reason? The question is who has the most reasonable faith?"

After a short respite, Randy Simms gave his own lecture (i'm having trouble remembering all the details of it, I accidentally took Jake's note book and forgot my own so I don't have anything but memory to go on...). Randy said was also hilarious. He used lots of analogies of skiing. For the battered and bruised skier who comes to the end of his run on the black diamond, he will be greeted by the ski instructor, who will say "Great run, well done." But some skiers stayed on the bunny hill, when they arrived at the "ski lodge" and didn't receive any high praise from the "ski instructor". Randy said that in his opinion, that our faithfulness and obedience to God won't be rewarded in heaven by treasures because...IT IS HEAVEN! What treasures are there that we don't already get, but it's the words from God, "Well done, good and faithful servant" that make living on the black diamond all worth it. It was really inspiring to strive farther in my walk with God.

Well, at about 9:30, we drove home and I later fell asleep around 11:00-11:30 only to be abruptly awoken by Jake at 8:30 (well, I got up at 7, but my clock has been out of whack lately so I thought it was 6 so I went back to bed) (the conference restarted on Saturday at 9 and we hadn't had breakfast and it was a 25 minute drive) saying we had to leave in ten minutes cause my dad accidentally slept through both of his alarms! Thirty-three minutes later, we arrived after a quick stop at Mcdonald's just in time for the first session by Jeff Baldwin (I really can't remember much of his, I was out of breath by then, I did have it in my notes, but...) After Jeff Baldwin, we had a choice of break out sessions by Baldwin, Jack, and Simms (we could choose two out of the three) so we listened to a great lecture by Bill Jack on Creation vs. Evolution. Bill told of what everything would actually be if an Evolutionists/Atheists was right.

He said, "If evolution is true, not only have you lost the ability to know anything for certain, but also there is: No meaning: No significance: No law, only exploitation: No love, only hormones: No purpose, only survival. Chance and Chaos are the ultimate realities." (I did write some of this down in my other notebook, Thank Goodness!)

After a lunch break, in the penultimate session, Hunter, Jake, and I chose Randy Simms' session on "Servant Leadership". To wrap it up in a whole, he told of the qualities of a leader, and that everyone is a leader, because a leader is a leader by influence, and everyone has influence (that was on pure memory, I hope it's better than Jake's post, which I doubt).

Finally, Bill Jack spoke one final one last time on how to argue your faith. He showed a video of him interviewing a Humanist and a Atheist/s. Bill Jack came up with four terrific questions to ask: 1. What do you mean by that? 2. How do you know? 3. What difference does it make? 4. What if you're wrong?

He used those questions in both his arguments which got Hunter and I laughing at the responses from the Humanist.

One of my favorite quotes I heard during the weekend was by R. C. Sproul - "We live in what may be the most anti-intellectual period in the history of Western civilization... We must have passion - indeed hearts on fire for the things of God. But that passion must resist with intensity the anti-intellectual spirit of the world."

All in all, this conference seriously rivaled the FLY convention. I wish more than the 300-400 people had been able to hear the auspicious speeches by the three men. (

Alex

My Mom

2010-02-18T08:40:00.002-06:00

This morning I unexpectantly woke up to a scrumtuous breakfast of bacon, cresants, and fruit smoothies. Wow, It was amazingly good. My mom is so amazing. She does an unbelievable amount of things for me and my family. All the meals, cleaning, taking care of the younger ones, and even homeschooling four of us on top of that. God has really blessed my with an awesome mother. And I was reminded again this morning by those very good cresants...

Alex

President's Day

2010-02-15T20:11:00.003-06:00

For President's day, my mom and dad took my family to a movie. My Dad went with the three younger ones to the Alvin and the Chipmunks while my Mom went with Jake and I to Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Theif. Overall, I thought the movie was good...if you hadn't read the book. The dumb director/producer (whoever makes up the story line these days) changed a lot of the storyline. The main jist of the story was changed to a quest for pearls...pearls!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Also, the characters (except Grover, he was awesome (if you haven't read them, stick with me)) were a bit uptight. Anabeth was...ugh, horrible, Jake would say worse.

On the bright side, the g(lower g)ods were portrayed fairly well, the mythical creatures fantastic, and Percy himself was pretty cool.

All in all, I'll give it a 7/10 because they decided to changed the brilliant storyline so drastically.

Alex

Tim Hawkins

2010-02-14T19:49:00.002-06:00

Here's a video from my favorite comedian, Tim Hawkins. He is the best...

Wow, and once again, I have to hand type it (dumb computer) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5R8gSgedh4&feature=related

Alex

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T14:59:00.002-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Unfortunately, I've had to sit in my room all weekend due to sickness. On the bright side, my ipod touch arrived in the mail so it wasn't so boring lounging around all weekend.

Alex

Thank you Dentist

2010-02-11T18:00:00.002-06:00

I can't believe I just said that. On tuesday, I traveled to the dentist building in Maple, Grove, unfortunately respecting to return with four less teeth. After my regular dentist apointment, they were going to pull four of my teeth. One of the dentists put the numbing materials in my mouth (Thankfully, she'd only put the short-term ones) then the main dentist..Dr. Carter looked at my teeth and said "No, No way, that's impossible, these teeth can't be pulled." So they cancled my appointment for the moment so Dr Carter could call my Orthodontist, Dr (really long name that starts with a H) to tell him what he thought (I'm supposed to have braces in March). Amazingly, Dr Carter called and said he and the orthodonists could get an agreement so they were going out for "lunch". Haha, the suspense, all I can say is You Show Him Dr. Carter!!

Alex

Back from SidexSide

2010-02-08T15:00:00.002-06:00

Well, before I recap, this is my 200th post on Journies of a Jesus Freak.

Our Youthgroup left the Middle School West in St. Michael at around 5. The bus ride to the Wisconsin proved to be awesome. Although I accidently (Brandon!) dumped my box of Pringles on the muddy floor. Well, we arrived at the ARC (Association Retreat Center) and soon separated into our two groups: Side by Side (8-12 grade) and Snow Days (5-7 grade). So I went with the Side by side people and we soon had assembled our supplies in the dorm. From there on, the rest of Friday night, all Saturday, and Sunday morning was filled with great speakers, music, basketball, tubing, (great food), and just hanging out with friends.
The theme for the weekend was Fearless using Psalm 27:1 "The Lord is my light and my salvation-whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strong hold of my life- of whom shall I be afraid." Jeremy Erickson spoke about his life during the sessions which is a very amazing story. He is a cancer-survivor and is writing a book about his life. I loved one of the verses that was shared at the retreat: Romans 8:31-32 "What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?Jeremy also used the description of a lighthouse. He asked what you needed to make a strong lighthouse - a foundation (God, Jesus), Building Materials (oh, I wish I'd remembered to bring a pen) and the light. Jeremy later told countless stories of how he'd made just small decisions in teen years of school and later on that influenced others to give their lives to Christ. It shows how God can take the little things you do and make something big out of them.
The music was provided by a band of four guys called The Keep. I think they're relatively new. They had a cool feel to their songs. The lead singer had a really high (not soprano) voice for a lot of the songs. They sang a song called Reign in us (second song on my playlist (mixpod is awesome!)). All in all, the retreat was bombastic!

And of course, I have to say something about the Super Bowl. The Saints beat the Colts! Personally, I think Peyton Manning is a little too good so I was ecstatic when he threw the pick-six. The Saints fought hard, I probably wouldn't have rooted for them if it was a different team in the AFC they were playing, but I'm glad they won their first for New Orleans. Wow, I love Super Bowl commercials (most of them). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD_n7ExZVZk That commercial was amazingly funny. Great job Hyundai!

Alex

I'll be off

2010-02-05T07:03:00.001-06:00

Well, I'm leaving for the Side by Side retreat in Wisconsin tonight at 5 and I probably won't have much time to post before then. So good bye everyone until then. The retreat should be awesome so I will post on it Sunday night....monday morning, sunday is super bowl sunday.

Alex

Cool verse and video

2010-02-02T14:41:00.003-06:00

If you haven't already been to her blog (Ivorydancer), here's the to watch a pretty awesome video - http://anotheronceintime.blogspot.com/2010/02/youve-gotta-watch-this.html (i had to hand type the link {I hate doing that} so if it's wrong...)

Also, here's a verse I read in my devos this morning. "If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord."

I think that verse may have just passed Jeremiah 29:11 for me as my favorite verse.

Alex

Funny planner for Favre

2010-02-01T21:06:00.003-06:00

Here's something my uncle sent to my dad who sent to me, i find it very funny.

Brett Favre's Offseason Daily Planner!
Jan 24 – Throw inexcusable pick to blow Vikings Super Bowl chances.
Jan 25 – Announce that “It’s highly unlikely” you’ll come back to play again in 2010.
Feb 1 – Get interviewed for Peter King’s MMQB column. Tell him “no decision” has been made, but “Deanna and I are going home to Mississippi” and give it some thought. Fish for compliments by telling King how banged up I am. Be sure to mention that this gets harder every year.
Feb 1-9 – Quality time with family. Also monitor the web for speculation about my future.
Feb 10 – Leak to John Clayton I’m retiring.
Feb 11 – Deny reports about my retirement.
Feb 15 – Formally announce my retirement in teary press conference. Don’t forget to say “I don’t have anything left” and “I gave it everything I had.”
Feb 15-19 - Keep schedule clear to watch “Brett Favre Tribute Week” on ESPN. TiVo same on NFL Net. March 1 – Call Adam Schefter to start “second thoughts” rumors. March 2 – Deny second thoughts.
March 15 – Dinner with Chilly (Brad Childress).
March 16 – Call Minneapolis Star Tribune. Say “This is the best I’ve felt in 10 years.” March 20 – Call in with “Mike & Mike.” Insist you’re not coming back but if you did you could compete at a high level.
April 22-24 – NFL Draft. Encourage Chilly to draft a QB because you’re done.
April 30-May 3. Skip minicamp.
May 30 – Have agent call Zigi Wulf re: new contract.
June 1 – Tell Jason LaCanfora “I’m not sure” about coming back.
July 24 – Training camp opens. Go fishing in Lousiana.
Aug 24 – Sign record contract.
Aug 25 - Report to Vikings camp. Tell press “I’m here to win.” Say you don’t want the focus to be on you. Cry.

Also, I just bought and Ipod Touch today and I can't wait for it to come in the mail. Wow, I haven't spent this much money in a long time. I got it on Amazon.com which was waaaaay cheeper than target, walmart, or bestbuy.

Alex

Wow and shot

2010-01-31T16:00:00.002-06:00

Today, at church (my church is in the middle school), they opened up the gym because it was our 1 gathering. I actually made a full court shot. We were all trying to make one from the opposite free-throw line. I ended up being the last one heaving the ball across the court when everyone else wanted to play the game. So when I finally came over, I threw the ball when they were picking teams and ! it went in, full courter.
Also, I don't know what exactly it is that i've done, but I've gotten 7 followers this week. That is a record for me. Well, thanks to all of you that are now following my blog.

Alex

My Friday

2010-01-30T13:39:00.002-06:00

Wow, yesterday was an extremely busy and exhausting day. First, my family woke up (we got to skip school, if didn't get too...well, idk) at 7:30 and drove down to Orcastra Hall for a cinema performance. They played the Star Wars theme, some lotr music, and the UP theme song, but they also played some pretty dumb songs, these including Fantasia, Our home (which was weird because they showed pictuers of people and houses on the big screen of towns in minnesota {we got a laugh out of that}), and then this one about Motzart. Anyways, it was okay I guess because we went with our FICHE co-op. Well, after that we drove home, ate lunch, and zoomed off to the Monticello community center with our ROCK co-op. We played basketball in the gym, pool in the teen room, and swam a little bit. After that we had a 2-hour respite before leaving for Hunter's 14th sleepover party. A very fun night of playing blackjack (with chips!), the wii, and then of course we decided to stay up all night and watch the Lord of the Rings series. HUNTER HAD NEVER SEEN THEM! He was hooked. I have to admit I fell asleep at the middle of Two Towers but woke up just before The Return of the King.
Well, that sums up my yesterday, I am exhausted.

Alex

Happy Birthday Hunter!

2010-01-29T07:24:00.002-06:00

Happy Birthday to my long time friend Hunter, he's joined the ranks of 14 year olds! Go to his blog and wish him a happy b-day - http://travelsofateen.blogspot.com//

Thanks,

Also, I now have forty followers!

Alex

Paul

2010-01-26T17:41:00.002-06:00

Wow, recently I've been reading through Romans and before that, Acts. Both books illustrate Paul's journies throughout the Roman empire. Constantly, I'm amazed at how much Paul did. He wasn't afraid to stand up for his faith, but he wasn't stupid either. God really used him in magnificient ways. I hope all of you have read at least Romans to know what I'm talking about. I haven't read all of them, but so far Romans is my favorite book of the Bible.

Alex

Disgusted

2010-01-24T21:41:00.003-06:00

Well, tonight, we went over to our neighbor's house, the Cusick's, where Craig is an enormous Saints fan for the Vikings - Saints NFC Championship game. The game went back and forth and with nineteen seconds left, the Vikings had the ball in field goal range to win the game, Brett Favre threw an interception and the Saints got the ball to send it to overtime. The Saints eventually took it down the field in the now sudden-death matchup and kicked the game winning field goal to send them to the Super Bowl.

Truthfully, my expectations were extremely low for the Purple and Gold, at least it turning out to be an excited game. We (me, my brothers, my dad, my mom, brandon and his mom), we were jumping up and down when the Vikes had the ball (for a sec I thought the Vikes were going to win), against them (Craig and Mitch) who were cheering for the Saints. OH, what I would give to see their faces if the Vikes had won. Well, if the Vikes history continues (2006 = 6-10) (2007 = 8-8) (2008 = 10-6 {loss in the Divisional round}) (2009 = 12-4 {loss in NFC Championship}) (2010 = ?) we should finished 14-2 and lose in the superbowl.

Alex

Well, it's official

2010-01-23T14:38:00.002-06:00

I've been blogging for a complete year. It's been a great experience and sometimes a challenge to post every once in a while. Thanks for all my followers who've read my posts, good or bad.

Alex

Tubing with 180

2010-01-22T23:32:00.002-06:00

Well, I just got back from tubing with my 180 youthgroup. It was awesome. The card ride took a lot longer than it should have due to us trailing a large...machine traveling in front of us at about 20 mph. Eventually, we arrived and had a blast. The hills were iced over from all the rain/sleet that was coming down. Unfortunately, we were unable to link up tubes for "safety" issues. After about an hour, my friends and I got a bit bored so we took our soaking coats off and starting tubing in sweatshirts/t-shirts. The people running the place thought we were crazy. Anyways, I'm exhausted, we tubed for 3 hours.

Alex

Hilarious video

2010-01-19T20:25:00.002-06:00

Here is a SUPER funny video from american idol.

I can't get the video to load on here for some reason so here is the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLL01KOGXSc If this link doesn't work it's because my copy and paste is not working.

Alex

Caption Contest winners!

2010-01-18T10:13:00.002-06:00

Here are the winning captions for the caption contest. I don't have time at the moment to post all the pictures again so if you need to just look back a few posts.

Anyways:
Picture 1:

Eldarwen - Jack: Did you just touch my beard? Seriously, did you just touch my beard??

Picture 2:

Chloe - Bird: And that is why we shouldn't drink.

Picture 3:

Seth - Finger: I'm going in!

Picture 4:

Eldarwen - Abigail: Well the bats don't look so bad.
Riley: Who wants to go first.
Ben: I think Riley was just volunteering himself.
Abigail: Seriously? *rolls eyes*

Picture 5:

Chloe - He did NOT just do that.

Picture 6:

Amy Thomson - Boo! Gotcha!

Picture 7:

Eldarwen - Riley: My sides hurt after all that running!
Ben: I think I broke my leg.
Abigail: You guys, we only ran a few feet. Y'all are so out-o'-shape.
Picture 8:

Chloe - I'M NOT A TRAMPOLINE!
Huns: JUMP JUMP JUMP!

Picture 9:

Hannah - "It says...'made in China.'"

Picture 10:

Eldarwen - little boy: Look, mom! It's a manakin of a Star Wars Clone!
Clone: What are you talkin' about boy, I ain't no manikin!
*boy screams*
Well, Eldarwen wins with 4! Congratulations. I think I'll make a list of all the winners whenever I decide to do another one of these.

Thanks everyone for their captions.

Alex

Vikings win!

2010-01-17T15:11:00.002-06:00

Today, the Vikings won for the playoffs: 34-3! I am so pumped. Brett Favre was worth it all the way. Next stop, the Superdome in New Orleans.

Alex

Well

2010-01-14T15:00:00.002-06:00

Something appears to be wrong with my posts. As in they are being delayed to show up that they've been posted by like a day. Sorry about that.

And for the caption contest, Monday at noon will be the deadline for captions.

Alex

Caption Contest!

2010-01-13T19:06:00.013-06:00

Well, here we go, I've decided to hold a caption contest for 2 reasons: one I LOVE doing caption contests ever since I took the time to figure out what they were, and secondly, because everyone seems to do them just for LOTR and Chronicals of Narnia.

Rules:

1. Make a funny comment w/ the number of the picture (PLEASE DO NOT LOOK AT OTHER PEOPLE'S CAPTIONS, THANK YOU)

2. I'll look at everyone's a pick the winners, and...idk, i'll figure out something for the winner.

Here's the pictures: 1.2.3.4.5.

6.7.

8.

1o.
Have fun

Alex

Bowling

2010-01-12T17:08:00.003-06:00

Today, I was finally well enough to go my co-op's bowling party at Sundance. I've been sick since last thursday and I had to miss the night at the Lake Maria cabin (of all the weekends!). Well, I did not have a strike in three whole games and am very dissapointed in myself although I can't bowl. So sorry for not posting in a while, there's my reason why.

And my computer is not letting me delete the picture, I wanted just the middle right square. Sorry.

Alex

Like the new look

2010-01-06T20:26:00.002-06:00

Anyone like the new look, I just have to say the dot dot background sight (whatever its called) has some awesome backgrounds.

Alex

Quote

2010-01-05T17:37:00.003-06:00

Recently, I re-watched the Lord of the Rings Series with my family. I'd have to say this is one of my favorite quotes.
Frodo: "I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened."
Gandalf: "So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

Alex

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T00:48:00.002-06:00

Well, 2009 has come and gone. 2010 is here! Tonight...yesterday night, I went to my lifegroups party. It was very fun. We started out by (me, jake, zach, and brandon) playing Settlers of Catan (an EXTEREMELY FUN GAME), then basketball in Zach's basement, followed by apples to apples, and an hour and a half of mofia with all the adults! After watching the ball drop we are now home.
What a great year filled with blessings and trials, a whole new year of them has come...2010!

Happy new year everyone!

Alex

Funny video

2009-12-31T16:51:00.002-06:00

Here's a funny video of my brother caleb at my race I ran this past october.

Alex

LOTR TRILOGY!!

2009-12-31T16:41:00.002-06:00

Yes!!! My Grandparents came over today to give us our family christmas present and it was................The LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY MOVIES!!!

I can't wait to watch them.

Alex

Last day of 2009

2009-12-31T12:15:00.003-06:00

Well, it's finally here, the last day of the decade. It's kinda strange when you think about it for a while that the year is done. I remember something that somone said, "The end of each year is one year closer to when God comes back." Anyways, tonight, I'm going to my lifegroups new year's party.

Also, this is kind of late, but it was my mom's 40th birthday on the 26th! (maybe skip the exclaimation point). Yesterday, my parents went on a day long date while my siblings and I spent the day at the Frasers.

Happy New Year everyone!

Alex

"Faith Like Potatoes"

2009-12-28T08:56:00.003-06:00

Last night, I watch the movie "Faith Like Potatoes". The movie is powerful as it follows the life of a farmer and his transfirmation to follow God. The movie just showed that God still is active and still does miracles. It's so easy to think that God doesn't perform miracles anymore. I highly recommend this movie.

Also, my uncle and aunt and my 2 cousins were unable to make the trip to Pipestone for Christmas with us, so they came over last night. We played "Would You Rather" ( board game version) and I recived a Adrian Peterson jersery!

Alex

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T12:35:00.004-06:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm still in Pipestone because of the SNOW! It's so strange. We must have at least a foot so far. The street plowers made piles of snow on the sides of streets that are huge! Last night, my grandparents gave me 25$ for Christmas! I hope you all had a great Christmas.

Alex

A funny picture

2009-12-22T12:30:00.001-06:00

Nevermind about that last post being my last post. Here's a funny picture my dad found.

Alex

An early Christmas

2009-12-22T08:23:00.004-06:00

So, my family is all going down to Pipestone, Minnesota (where my mom grew up and where my granpa is an interm pastor at the moment) for Christmas Eve. Because of that, we had our family christmas last night.

I recieved a Kapo (if you have no clue what that is just know it's something you put on your guitar): I was given an awesome basketball (strange, this is the first basketball i've ever had that's been mine =)). Thirdly,

The sixth installment in the Ranger's Apprentice Series, very interesting books. And finally,

Hello Hurricane. It's....awesome. I'm very annoyed they don't have this on playlist.com.

Well, this will probably be my last post until after Christmas...so MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! I wonder if people ever greeted each other back then with "Happy Birthday Jesus!"

Alex

New Template

2009-12-20T09:58:00.001-06:00

I have a new christmas template. Anyone like it?

Alex

Praise God...

2009-12-18T12:06:00.002-06:00

Well, Buffalo Hospital called today and the lump on my mom's thyroid was not cancer.

Praise God.

Verse of the week: Proverbs 3:5-6

"Trust in the Lord with all your heard and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight."

Alex

"The Blind Side"

2009-12-17T08:52:00.003-06:00

Last night, I saw the movie The Blind Side. Overall, this is one of the best movies I've ever seen. Very well done. It does swear a little in the movie but other than that it was pretty clean. I'm not really going to tell about it because is it just me or do you hate it when people say stuff that's going to happen in a movie, or a book. As in when I read Brisingr, I already knew that...(if you haven't read the book yet, stop reading this post)
........there would be another shade, and I knew that Eragon's elf trainer, master, instructor, whatever you call him, would die. And in Harry Potter (stop reading if you haven't read the books and plan on reading them)
.........that Dumbledore would die, ugh that wrecked the whole sixth book knowing that.
Let's give my brother Jake a round of applause for that.

Alex

Update

2009-12-16T18:07:00.002-06:00

First of all, thank you all for your prayers. My mom has been back from the hospital since noon yesterday. She was a considerable amount of pain throughout the day and couldn't take her pain medication until night because she couldn't eat (if she couldn't eat, she couldn't take the medicine). Today, she was feeling a little better and at least wasn't up in bed for most of the day. She should get the results on if her thyroid contained cancer or not next Monday I believe.
Secondly, my comment thing is fixed, thanks Hannah for helping.

Oh yes, and we lost in basketball 56-35 at Becker so we're now 4-6.

Alex

Today is the day

2009-12-14T08:11:00.002-06:00

Well, today is my mom's surgery day. So if you could all pray for her that would be great.

I know you can't comment and I have no idea what I did wrong to make that happen. If anyone knows how to fix that, could you email me at alexmon223@gmail.com

Thanks,

Alex

Please call it what it is...

2009-12-11T21:00:00.004-06:00

Recently, well, for a while, I've been really annoyed on how merry christmas has been changed in many places to Happy Holidays. I watched a commercial on CBS with a bunch of people that star in shows on that channel come on the camera and say "Happy Holidays". There was about 20 people...not a single one wished anyone a Merry Christmas.

Thankfully, when I was driving home from my piano lesson today I saw a man painting on a store window (he wasn't tresspassing) "Happy Birthday Jesus". I wish we would have stopped and waved or something. It was really cool.

Alex

Christmas Party

2009-12-11T20:43:00.002-06:00

Today, I went my ROCK co-op Christmas party. To begin, we had our LEAD business meeting (LEAD is all the older kids in the co-op, i think 5th grade and up). It's really cool, the kids (mostly the presidents [Hannah and Bekah] lead the meeting. I play the role of secretary which is mainly I get to type up (on an awesome MAC), during the meeting, what we've discussed for future/present/past events.
After the meeting, we played the white-elephant game. In my gift, I received lip gloss...ugh. Fortunately, after much trading, I was able to acquire a real bowling pin (probably the best thing there, in my opinion. Next, we did the snowman game (tape someone up, chuck cotton balls on them, team with most cotton balls wins). Finally, we all participated in the Christmas style of Four on the Couch (renamed Four on the Sled). After all the games we ate, hung out, and...then left. All in all, an awesome party (planned by the advisory team, which I'm on). It's so cool how we plan our own events, with guidance from Mrs. Julie (the founder of ROCK).

A quick update on basketball - our record stands at 4-5 after a disappointing blowout loss at Big Lake.

Alex

12 days of Christmas

2009-12-09T20:04:00.002-06:00

I recently (a few minutes ago) received a forward on email and the meaning of the song "12 days of Christmas." This was from Josh so sorry to Josh if you were planning to do this.

There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me. What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?

This week, I found out.

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.-

-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.

-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.

-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

And I just learned to play that on guitar. Very cool song.

Alex

Asking for prayer

2009-12-07T21:17:00.002-06:00

Well, today my mom went to the doctor to find out if she would or would not be needing surgery on her thyroid because of a growth. She's had a few checkups over the past month or so, a couple of needles poked in her neck, and a lot of waiting. So today the doctors told her that she would be needing surgery. Their is a 15% chance the growth is cancerous. She goes in next Monday so I'm asking for prayer.

Here's a verse of the week, "I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1-2

Thanks,

Alex

"This Present Darkness"

2009-12-07T21:08:00.002-06:00

Recently, for my co-op's (Rock) club, I have started reading "This Present Darkness" by Frank E. Peretti. The book is for our monthly book discussion (this is the first book we're doing). Although I"m only 50 some pages through, it has been highly intriguing. The story bounces back and forth between the mortal world and the spiritual realm. Yes, I've only read a tiny portion of it, but if you haven't already read it, it's very interesting.

Alex

Cookie baking galore

2009-12-05T21:31:00.004-06:00

Sorry, my blog will be back to normal sometime soon. However, I just got back a large cookie baking party at the Fraser's home. Although most of the time I hung out with Hunter and Jake, it was a blast. I heard from my mom that they back about 1,500 cookies. That's a lot.

Alex

Nevermind...

2009-11-28T18:25:00.001-06:00

Oh, this is bad, well, it is going to be awhile before I get things back to the way they were. The sight I tried deleted all the things I had previously. I think I'm just going to stay with my old background.

Alex

Changing my background

2009-11-28T17:54:00.002-06:00

I'm changing my background so if I don't post in a while it's because something went wrong.

Alex

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T08:13:00.005-06:00

Happy Thanks Giving! Remember to give thanks today for what God has given you. When I look at it all, it's amazing how much America has twisted the meaning of it to just turkey and football. Although, I do love turkey and football.

God is good,

Alex

It's Thanksgiving tomorrow!

2009-11-25T18:17:00.003-06:00

I can't wait. Tomorrow, my family is going to the Fraser's home. It will be awesome, I heard that we're playing football (of course, we'll be watching some as well) and having great food. One of the ideas was to run a 5k (3.2 miles) but it freezing! During the weekend, we also have to gathering with both sides of family. So much food!!!!

Here's a verse of the week:

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and dicipline and self control. 2 Timothy 1:7

Alex

Out of the races

2009-11-24T07:03:00.001-06:00

This is a very delayed post, but I have to say that I quit nanowrimo about a week ago. I just didn't have time to write what was needed. Still, I'm glad I started it because now I'm at least writing again.
For Basketball, we beat Princeton 60-24, our A-team is 3-2.

Alex

I found this entertaining

2009-11-19T21:18:00.002-06:00

Here's a video my dad showed my on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZsBL4d1Eus

Just a heads up, I had to hand type the address because my computer's not letting me copy and paste.

Alex

An Update

2009-11-17T20:18:00.002-06:00

Here's an nanowrimo update, I've had pretty much no time to write. I'm stuck at about 6,000 some words. I don't think I'm going to win. I'm going to keep writing for sure, I just don't think I can do nanowrimo with school and basketball. Today, for basketball, we took a bus up to Cambridge for a game. Oh yeah, I forgot to post it but I've been promoted to the A-team, it's WAY more fun then the B-team. Anyways, we lost by about 25, but the cambridge team was huge (meaning big, tall, way bigger than our team).
Sorry, it's been a long time since I last posted but here's a verse of the week I found while reading me devoes. Romans 6:20-23 , "For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life."
Also, has anyone heard Switchfoot's new album? It's awesome, the song "Your love is a song" is amazing. The new first song I have is from Jon Foreman's single albums. If you listen as far as the chorus it sounds so amazing.
Until my next post, later

Alex

Funnest tag ever?

2009-11-13T16:57:00.002-06:00

Okay, so I wasn't exactly tagged by Earwen but this tag looked awesome so here I go.
First, list twelve characters from any fandom, then answer the questions below.
1. Eragon
2. Will Treaty
3. Harry Potter
4.Percy Jackson
5. Gandalf (spelling?)
6. Dumbledore
7. Will Ferrel
8. Peter Pevensie
9. Annabeth
10. Johnny Drake
11. Galbatorix
12. Elizibeth Swann
1. Who would make a better collage prof, 6 or 11? Dumbledore all the way
2. Do you think #2 is hot? By all means, no
3. 12 sends 8 out on a mission. What is it? Does it succeed? Ummm, yeah, I think so, Peter would probably do anything so yeah.
4. What is or what would be 9's favorite book?Bear's favorite book? Architecture for Dummies
5. Would it make more sense for 2 to swear fealty to 6, or the other way around? Yeah, I could see Will swearing fealty to Dumbledore
6. For some reason, 5 is looking for a roommate. Should (s)he room with 9 or 10? *LOL* Wow Gandalf is looking for a roomate and he has to choose between Anabeth and Johnny Drake, I'd say Johnny.
7. 2, 7 and 12 are going out to dinner. Where do they go and what do they discuss? Ha, they all settle on Mcdonalds, Will doesn't talk, Ferrel is being an idiot, and Elizibeth is desperately trying to get the other two to rescue Will (From Pirates of the Carribean).
8. 3 challenges 10 to a duel, who wins?Tahn Dorn against Marian? Harry Potter verse Johnny Drake. I don't know, it depends on if Drake could get a bullet to Potter before he died from a spell.
9. If 1 stole 8's most precious possession, how would (s)he get it back? Peter would yell at him until Eragon would say in his British accent, "Okay, okay, here's your sword." Peter will be shocked.
10. Suggest a story title in which 7 and 12 both attain what they desire. An Idiot just saved Will
11. What kind of plot device would you have to use if you wanted 1 and 4 to work together?!!! Percy Jackson and Eragon, I'd have to think about that.
12. If 7 visited you for the weekend, how would it go? Three words, "Kill me now."
13. If you could command 3 to perform any service or task for you, what would it be? Haha, perfect, Idk, i'd probably ask Harry to get me a million bucks...make it a billion
14. Does anyone on your friends list write or draw 11? I don't think they'd want too.
15. If 2 had to choose sides between 4 and 5, what side would (s)he choose? I think Will would choose Jackson.
16. What might 10 shout out while charging into battle? Ugh, I wish this one was for 7. "Fire!"
17. If you had to choose a song to best describe 8, what would it be? Umm, idk really...
18. 1, 6 and 12 are having a dim sum at a Chinese Restaurant. There is only one scallion pancake left, and they all reach for it at the same time. Who gets it? Dumbledore snatches it and dissapears.
19. What would be a good pickup line for 2 to say to 10? "Don't shoot me."
20. What would 5 most likely be arrested for? I don't know, he'd figure something out.
21. What is 6's secret? Don't really know how to answer that.
22. If 11 and 9 were racing to a destination, who would get there first? Galabatorix has a dragon?
23. If you had to walk home through a bad neighborhood late at night, who would you feel more comfortable walking with, 7 or 8? Will Ferrel
24. 1 and 9 reluctantly team up to save the world from the threat posed by 4's sinister secret organization. 11 volunteers to help them,but it is later discovered that s/he is actually a spy for 4. Meanwhile, 4 has kidnapped 12 in an attempt to force their surrender. Following the wiseadvice of 6, they seek out 3, who gives them what they need to complete their quest. What title would you give this fic? Eragon and Anabeth team up to save the world from the threat posed by Percy Jackson's sinister secret organization. Galbatorix volunteers to help them, but it is later dicovered that s/he is actually a spy for Percy Jackson. Meanwhile, Percy Jackson has kidnapped Elizibeth Swann in an attempt to force their surrender. Following the wise advice of Dumblesore, they seek out Harry Potter (That worked out), who gives them what they need to complete their quest.
I know, I'm creative.
That was the funnest tag ever!!!!!!!!! I TAG ANYONE AND EVERYONE!

Alex

Completely Satisfied

2009-11-10T20:30:00.002-06:00

Wow, maybe I do have a chance at getting to 50,000! Since my last post I've written over 2,000 words. Those of you who check my nanowrimo thing. I made a mistake in my last post. I had 2,900 before dinner and now i have 5,000! Good luck to those of you who are also doing nanowrimo as well.

Alex

First B-ball game

2009-11-10T17:57:00.002-06:00

I just got back from my first basketball game. We lost...41-28 to Middle School East for St. Michael (we're Middle School West). I scored ten points and even though we were defeated it was awesome. Jake also played for 7th against East and my friend Caleb (Ballin with God) played against West. Also, my last post was my 150th! I little update on Nanowrimo. I am now at probably 3,500 words. I haven't had much time to write with basketball but my goal is at least 5,000 more words this week (I have like no chance at 50,000)
Alex

I am pumped for...

2009-11-08T14:42:00.003-06:00

Switchfoot's new album set to release on November 10th. It's called 'Hello Hurricane'. So far, I've heard I think 7 of the songs on previews on youtube. On my brother's blog (the link below) he posted the link to the song "Your love is a song". It's awesome.

h ttp://jake041497.bl ogspot.com //