Oh Joy! It's May!

April showers bring May flowers, and that is so exciting because it also brings greener grass which is good (get it? I'll be blogging again) and bad (the lawn needs mowed). So to start off, let me just fill you in with what's been going on in my life, and what I'm thinking about.

First of all, I took the ACT test again and am real happy with my score which is exactly what I was hoping for. Now I don't have to think about that anymore! My brother and I went to the MACHE conference for homeschoolers and took part in the Generation Joshua teen track, which ignited our desire to get involved in politics and campaigning. We are considering helping our local sheriff in his race for the senate this fall, but are still praying about that. Now that Vassal's Guild is done, I'd really like to get a GenJ club together, which would hopefully be the first in Minnesota. As for next year's conference, I've asked Alex and Brett about doing the Rebelution tour as the teen track, but they are still thinking about that...

I will graduate from high school in a private ceremony at our place on May 28, and so I have been busy lining up all the details for the big day. I've applied to become an intern at Vision Forum, and if I get accepted (which I don't find out until June) I'll be in San Antonio from August 1 thru December 20. If I don't get accepted I will be home next year, taking distance learning classes with Patrick Henry College. In October (again, if I'm here) Harold & Stephen Mally will be coming up to Alexandria, MN to put on a Just Men conference. That's right, I'm heading it up!

We submitted an application for a $2500 scholarship from UNICEL, which should be announced soon…also I sent in an article to Every Thought Captive, newsletter of the Highlands Study Center, of which R.C. Sproul Jr. is founder. I’m hoping it gets included in one of the next issues. I entered an essay in the Secrets of Great Communicators essay contest and am waiting to hear back about that. The website to enter it on is sort of wacky, so I hope they got mine...there's a good chance not too many essays were entered, so I think it has a chance of winning.

On the same note, I had a regular column in our homeschool group’s bimonthly newsletter and really enjoyed reaching out and sharing my thoughts with others…I wrote two letters to two different newspaper editors last month, one about Wal-Mart Supercenters and the other about how to get to heaven (!). The Rebelution is looking for guest writers and Regenerate Our Culture Magazine is seeking out staff writers. I’m going to apply to both and then pray that Yahweh’s will is done.

I’ll be attending Journalism Camp at Patrick Henry this summer, and I’m trying to coordinate a way to visit with Mr. Mark Hamby at Lamplighter Publishing (Pennsylvania) as part of the same trip. I have the student handbook I put together for Vassal’s Guild that he wants to look at, as he is considering publishing it.

We are getting chickens for eggs and meat right after graduation, and since this is a new experience, I am overwhelmed with feelings of uncertainty and naivety. Our friends the Kiemles have been helping us a lot, which has really been nice, and doors have been opened like when Grandpa found a cage at Roger’s Ram Auction that will hold all of them in the pasture. It was only $7.50-a huge bargain as we won’t have to spend the time or money building one. He also got a feed grinder real cheap, and we are looking into organic corn, soybeans, and supplements for the bird’s diet. Speaking of which, our vegetable garden will be almost completely ORGANIC this season, as we found a wonderful selection at Seeds of Change…more on that as the plants mature.

I haven’t even covered everything…but the rest can wait. Yes, this was very choppy, not at all an example of good writing. But sometimes that’s OK, like when it’s more important to clear one’s mind than to articulate clearly. After all, you just witnessed a direct result of the grazing, musing and wandering…You know how it goes. Thanks for reading, in spite of bad grammar!