Disappearance & Mystery

       HOWDY everyone!! I'm sorry I went M.I.A. for a while there, but life has been so crazy lately. Here's an update in case you were wondering: I finished up July by going to the beach with my cousin, which was super fun! My beloved sunglasses were lost in the ocean, though... bummer. Then, the beginning of August marked the beginning of band camp. Band camp can be summed up in just two words: HOT and TEDIOUS. After band camp, I went straight into school. It is weird to be an upperclassman now, but so far junior year is treating me well.

       As an elective, I am taking Creative Writing with my favorite teacher from last year. It is super fun, and I can already feel myself being challenged and improving in my writing. Last week we worked on a one-hundred word story, which was a challenge, but I kinda like the way mine turned out. It is titled "The Lonesome Scooter, " and I'm gonna share it with you below :-).


Sally’s floral sundress ripped and her pink bow tumbled to the ground as they grabbed her violently and forced her inside, leaving her brand new scooter alone outside. How did I get here? She thought to herself. I was only being friendly. All she did was wave to the new neighbors, a young foreign couple with a baby, when they snatched her up. Her mind was racing, but then she had a burst of adrenaline and punched the man with all her might, throwing him off guard. She scrambled toward the door… toward freedom, when suddenly-- BAM! Everything went black.

Rise and Shine?

As part of my friend Ellie's summer bucket list, a couple of my friends and I decided to have a sleepover, get minimal sleep, and wake up to watch the sun rise. So yesterday my friends Hannah, Jenna, Ellie, and I got together to have a board game night and then watch the sun rise in the morning. We had a ton of fun eating junk food and playing games like "Can You Name 5?" and "Rummikub" and some other game I don't know the name of. We're all pretty competitive, so it made for a fun and animated night. Around midnight, it started thunderstorming pretty bad, but we weren't too concerned. The plan was to go to bed at 2, wake up at 5, watch the sun rise, then go to breakfast. Well, we went to bed around 3 and woke up around 7. Oops. It was obvious we had missed the sun rise, but we decided that it was so cloudy that we wouldn't have been able to see it anyway. So we went to breakfast, and then I went home and slept for 4 more hours. So overall a great night. And because I'm me, I didn't take any pictures, so I hope you enjoyed this lame post about our lame attempts to be artsy sunrise watchers.

FPC goes to NOLA

Guess who's baaaaaack! I had the most amazing week in New Orleans with the most amazing people! We worked with an organization called Project Homecoming, which is a group that works with volunteers to build houses so that the people of New Orleans can finally come home. You may be thinking- "It's 9 years later... Isn't it already done?" It was absolutely ridiculous to see how much more needed to be done. It was such a blessing this week to grow in Christ with a group of people who had a passion for serving in a city full of people who never lost hope. Our theme was "Focus on Christ," and we did just that as we built houses and relationships bound by His love.

We were split into work groups, and Monday through Thursday we went to a certain house with our group to work. My group was the smallest, and we were going to be doing the interior painting for a house in the upper 9th ward. We got to interact a little with our homeowner Emanuel (sp?), which was awesome. He was super sweet and grateful and excited to return to his house that was destroyed in Katrina almost a decade ago. He also had a German Shepard puppy named Princess who was the sweetest dog ever! I'm really glad I got to spend the week at this house and see God's work being done!

Our group was the white group, and this was our van. We called ourselves Group Blanco.

Group Blanco on the first day with our homeowner, Emanuel, and one of our work site managers, Hunter. All this picture is missing is our wonderful adult leader, Holly.

Emanuel's house. He chose the red trim to remind him of his mother who had died.

 Group Blanco being the coolest.

Much of my week was spent on a ladder doing detail work.

Loving on Princess.

The adorable Princess.

My friend Samantha and I taking a break.

My friend Sophia and I being soul sisters.

Group Blanco working hard. If you look closely you can see we recruited a few more people by the end of the week.

On Friday, we spent the morning doing a project in the New Orleans city park. We were helping repaint the safety strips on the stairs in one of the stadiums. We then split up into groups (somewhat by grade) and spent the afternoon and early evening exploring the French Quarter.

My friend Maddie and I painting steps.

Taking a break from walking around the French Quarter.

Observing the "Church Quiet Zone" in the French Quarter.

Friends at Café Du Monde.

Cheers from Café du Monde.

Me looking awkward and eating a "boat" of crawfish for dinner.

In case you hadn't noticed in previous pictures, one of my youth leaders gave me cornrows towards the end of the week. It was just a fun thing to do and I felt really cool with them in. 

My friend Chloe Mae and I were corn row twins!

A selfie of me to show you my corn rows in all of their glory.

During the week, we were scheduled to go on a tour of the wetlands, but due to heavy thunderstorms, it was cancelled. We still got to see a Powerpoint presentation learning about them, but missing out on the tour was a bummer. Once it stopped raining, we had some free time and decided to go down to the Bayou and watch the sunset. It was so pretty! It's so important that we protect this land because it is deteriorating quickly. We saw a baby alligator and had a fun time hanging out and enjoying the beautiful view.

Did you think I lied about it being beautiful?

Our attempt at a group picture. I'm not even sure exactly where I am, but I love this picture!

Overall, it was an amazing trip! I had so much fun branching out and making new friends as well as strengthening my relationships with old friends. I learned so much about tragedy, the amazing human capacity for hope, and the amazing God who created that hope. If you are still reading, thank you for sticking it out-- I know this was long. But I'm so grateful for all the hard work done and relationships built this week! Until next time, NOLA.

Catching Up

Sorry I haven't been posting regularly; I'm still getting the hang of this! These past few days I have spent a lot of time with my family doing various things, which has been super fun!! We're all so busy, so it's kinda rare that we all get together and do something fun.

Thursday
Everyone in my family except my twin Will (he kept sleeping) took a day trip to Austin. We ate lunch at Home Slice Pizza- supposedly the best pizza place in Austin, and I must say it was super yummy. Then we hung around South Congress for a little while and looked at the shops, which was fun. SoCo is the cutest and artsiest little area and I always have so much fun window shopping there (aside from the HEAT... ugh Texas). Next, my brother Sam wanted to go shop at Waterloo Records. It's in this cool area near the huge Whole Foods which I love shopping in because it's huge and awesome and ya. Anyway, though, there was an Anthropologie across the street from Waterloo, and I found the cutest top ON SALE (love when that happens), so of course I got it. Weirdly enough, that's the first clothing I have bought in the longest time... I'm not much of a shopper. My mom and I also took a quick look in Book People, which is this artsy book store. Next, we headed home, but not before stopping at the outlet malls in San Marcos. I didn't actually buy anything, but everyone else in my family did. Like I said, I'm not much of a shopper... I'd done my day's worth already. We then headed home (listening to Sam's new Black Keys CD) and watched Anchorman 2 together. Overall a great day!

Friday
While most people were out and about for the Fourth of July, the Bertons had a rather relaxed day. Sam, my mom, and I went to Sam Ash and got some cool sheet music, and we all pretty much relaxed at home the rest of the day. We then celebrated America's birthday with Mexican food (typical). We're all so busy and dysfunctional; today was the first time in forever that all 5 of us have eaten dinner together, and I really enjoyed it!

In the future, I will try to post pictures when I do something like this, but I'm the literal worst at taking pictures, so SORRY! You'll have to deal with it this time, but I promise I'll try my best to take more pictures :).

Also, I'm going to New Orleans for a mission trip with my church this coming Sunday. I'm super excited to see the things we'll be doing and building relationships with my peers and Christ. I get back the following Saturday, so I'll see you then!!

The Final Stretch

I have a summer birthday, which means that while most people on their birthday have to wake up early and go to school/work, I do not. I get to wake up at my leisure and spend my day doing whatever I want, surrounded only by people who really care about me. However, this also means that this past year, as all my friends gradually turned 16 and became eligible to get their driver's license, I did not. I must patiently await that elusive date in late July until I can finally have the freedom I so long for. It has been a long and frustrating year for many reasons, but this is at the top of my list. I want to be able to go to a friend's house without bothering my parents for a ride. I want to go pick up food whenever I want. I want to be able to go buy a book or go to the gym without having to wait until it is convenient for my parents. Now, with less than a month to go, I am as anxious as ever to be able to step on the gas (responsibly) without a supervising adult. I already know it will be the longest month of my life, but I'm hoping it will be worth the wait.

The Unknown

[friday's food for thought]

As a gonna-be junior in high school, I am constantly being bombarded with questions and information about my future. Colleges contact me daily, people ask about my plans, and honestly I don't know much about them. The competitive school system these days places an immense pressure on students to get good grades and get into a good college and make a lot of money. This past year in English I wrote an essay about the definition of success. Society's version of success has been so twisted to being entirely based on doing what you're "supposed to" and is measured in accomplishments. This isn't what success is, though. Success is finding what it is in your life that gives you a purpose, and using that purpose to help others. This type of success is measured in happiness. This is why I try my best to not concern myself with these new pressures. I have no idea what I want to do with my life, but I know at some point I will find it. If I get stressed about this stuff, I remember that life isn't about what your grades were or what college you went to or even what your job is. Life is about the relationships you have built and the people you have helped. These thoughts are what make The Unknown bearable.

Ode to the Spurs

This is a tale

of a team who has failed.

A team that has tried,

and a team who was denied.

This tale has downs and ups

and many hiccups,

but this tale ends in success

because the Spurs are the very best.

Just one year ago

in the city of San Antonio,

the town was quiet and sad,

for things had gone quite bad.

The series ripped our hearts out,

but we were not ones to pout.

We came back the next year,

and were someone to fear,

for we had something to prove,

and this time we weren't gonna lose.

There was no one we couldn't beat,

not even the Heat.

It all happened quite fast-

The Spurs were champions at last.

*this is a terrible poem but it's cute right?*