Lua

First of all - who was "anonymous" commenting on my last post? ...And thank you.

The competition went surprisingly well!! I placed 1st in piobaireachd, 3rd in the SR and 4th in the march. Kind of the opposite of what I expected, if anything! Everyone was really kind, and we also got to see more of the dancing than usual which was nice.
As a family we celebrated birthdays - Hannah's late and Ky's and mine early. I received the Sense and Sensibility soundtrack, money, and a porcelain Celtic necklace. Oh, and I've finally bought MirrorMask (lovely film).

I can't wait to go hhhhoooooooommmmmmmmmmeee

but Sunday we're going to Leavenworth for 3 days, which I do enjoy.

Currently reading A Comedy of Errors again. Shakespeare is brilliant - and funny.
Dr. Grant, my history lecturer, always says "No one is fully educated until they have read, heard, spoken, seen Shakespeare."
Mark Twain once went to see a play by him and came out saying "I don't get what all the fuss about Shakespeare is, it was just a bunch of cliches." Very true.


Poor little Lua died.

I have nothing to do. Actually there's heaps to do but nothing I feel like doing. Still down.



How are you all?

love,
cait.

Washington

Hello!

Ok, the only reason I've not posted is cause the computer wasn't letting me and now it's finally figured out...or something.

Wellllll a lot has happened. We've been in the states for about three weeks (?) now. Homesick the whole time :( but it's been fun. The best part was getting to see Sara, Aubrey, Cabar Feidh, Alley, and loads of others. Then we went to the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, etc etc, which was lovely.
Now we're back in Washington (and I have a competition tomorrow - AHHHH) and Katie was here for a week which was amazing.

Oh, and I saw Pirates 3 and thought it was just as good as the first two, with less "bad stuff" even. Happiness of the ending was debatable but I liked it anyway. A bit of tragic romance is always good in a story, according to Anne.
Now though...something's happened that has significantly reduced my ability to have fun or think straight or anything. I'm completely overwhelmed. I'm not really going to talk about it, but I trust my dad (and know that the Lord has a plan). In this case, and so many others, I can't trust my own heart and need to guard it. That doesn't make it any easier, but still. But don't worry, God is good and I'll get through this better off than I would have been, I suppose.



Much love,
Cait

so I wrote to remind you somehow.

I love peacocks.
There's one in my wall collage.



Sugar and "Spice-Girls" (those of us who led worship at the conference)




Becky Lou Filip, my hero. One of them. Not a good example of her pictures but she's perfectly gorgeous and makes beautiful music.




Tonight is 'Dare to Ask' at Oasis...should be good. Several friends are going to be bringing nonChristian friends so we're praying their hearts would be soft to hear.

A week from today we'll be on a plane to America.... = (
jk; I really am excited. Just don't want to leave. This weekend I have to say good bye to some really good friends who are moving away while we're gone.
Buuuut I do look forward to seeing people. I know God has a purpose either for why I'm not supposed to be here or why I'm supposed to be there, at this time.



luh' you all

never let you fall

My favourite song. EVER

When I see your smile
Tears run down my face I can't replace
And now that I'm stronger I've figured out
How this world turns cold and breaks through my soul
And I know I'll find deep inside me I can be the one

I will never let you fall
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all
Even if saving you sends me to heaven

It's ok. It's ok. It's ok.
Seasons are changing
And waves are crashing
And stars are falling all for us
Days grow longer and nights grow shorter
I can show you I'll be the one

I will never let you fall
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all
Even if saving you sends me to heaven

Cuz you're my, you're my, my true love, my whole heart
Please don't throw that away
Cuz I'm here for you
Please don't walk away,
Please tell me you'll stay, stay

Use me as you will
Pull my strings just for a thrill
And I know I'll be ok
Though my skies are turning gray

I will never let you fall
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all
Even if saving you sends me to heaven

- - Your Guardian Angel - - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus



Bradley Hathaway is amazing. Poet, songwriter, comedian, philosopher.

I WILL WINDMILL KICK YOU IN THE FACE

((karate chop!!))





No, he's quite nice. Just funny.



"Joe and Luke" are some good artists as well - they were back up singers for Rebecca St. James, their sister. Especially the song "Sane."
...you will be sane, you will be free...



And of course hellogoodbye.


But I'm still all for rock.




Candace is so photographable. As opposed to photogenic...which she is as well.



hmmmmmOasis tonight, yayyay. and desert on Friday, bigger yayy.



loves.

wow

Has been a long time since I've posted anything on here...
So sorry to all the people I've neglected in email; I'm way behind on that.
Msn is a disease, seriously. But a good kind. Inspires very random and funny or deep conversations.





It's been both an amazing and awful couple of weeks.

The week before Easter was loads of fun, I went out a lot to the beach, mall, Oasis, and then a desert campout. Amazing fun, with dancing in the car and singing and taking goofy photos...and the dune buggy out in the desert.
Then was Easter and we went to the beach and Dreamland water park. Again, amazingly fun.

But the whole time and the next few days were really hard emotionally, some of the hardest I can remember.
Now things are resolved and I'm doing even better than before.


Leslie, Lisa (visiting from England), Sharon, me, at the beach --

Nathan and "Stevie" doing their best oh-so-cheesy smiles in the MOE toy store --
We played signs in the middle of Starbucks. This is us all doing our sign against the wall --

Lisa and Aragorn in Virgin Megastore (gotta love that place ) --

patriotism?

I'm proud to be an American,
where at least I know I'm free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.


I love this song.
It seems like no one in America loves their country anymore. That's a huge exaggeration - I should say mostly. Or hardly any teens, that is.
I talk to kids back home in the states and they don't have anything good to say about it at all. They blame President Bush for everything. They say they're ashamed of him and of their country, and if they're Texan they'll even say they're ashamed of their state for having been where this president was from (imagine a Texan saying that!?)


There are protests against the war instead of people supporting it. Although they're entitled to their opinion and protests, that shouldn't be ALL you hear about. Mothers campaigning against their own country, military, and president, because of their son dying in a war....does she forget what he was fighting for and that he believed in it?
The only people (living in America) that I know who truly show respect and love for it are my cousins (Navy brats like myself) and people from church. That's really sad! What happened to "I'm proud to be an American!"? What happened to supporting our military? - Whether you completely agree with what they're doing or not.
Because, granted, our government and its actions are FAR from perfect. No one could say otherwise. But they do their best...to guide our country and try to help other countries.
I personally know many Iraqi people. They are happy that America is in Iraq, that Saddam was overthrown, that their father and cousins and families back in Iraq are safe from his tyranny - or that he was punished for what he did to their brothers.
There are two sides to everything. But in many cases people fail to look at them.

In addition, the freedoms that make America and many other countries what they are, are the result of Christianity...but we're reverting to those things. Feminists loathe Christianity - yet the reason they aren't still under the ancient Roman law of Patria Potestas, wearing a face covering, being cremated with dying husbands, forbidden to speak in public, or having their feet tied in half, is because of Christianity. Why they can vote. Why we can do so many things - is because when America and other western countries were being founded, they were being founded on Christianity...and Christianity says that men and women were created in the image of God. Equal. But with very different roles.
Christianity also brought about the value of life (end of exposing, abandoning, killing, and aborting babies, gliaditorial shows, slavery, etc), and actual morals.
But now, abortion is largely legal. So is homosexuality. Feminists are going to extremes. Euthanasia is promoted. Our country[s] are going back to how they used to be....and you can tell.
Buuuuut that's a different subject.


Newspapers are filled with rebellions, protests, demonstrations.
Kids have "I hate Bush" posters on their myspaces.
They have it on bumperstickers.
They talk about it on TV.
They write songs about it.
They blame everything on President Bush.
They scorn soldiers.


This is generalisation...but it's still there. And I can't help but notice, cause it's so strange and sad.
I've never considered myself a very patriotic person at all. I don't know a whole lot about politics. I've always enjoyed traveling and living in other countries. I love Dubai; it's already home. But America is where I'm from and I'm not ashamed of that...though it's made a lot of mistakes, so has everyone, and there are good points too.


Why can't people see how what Mr. Bush stands for is good? What America stood for is good? ....or used to be. Why can't they see that even their little protests are making it revert to the place they would NOT fight for?

I love a lot of songs...I love music in general. And as I've said, Navy brat though I am and American though I am, I've never thought of myself as a seriously patriotic person. But nothing gives me the same chills as hearing The Star Spangled Banner.

There aren't many things cooler than seeing hundreds of people crying together at a 9/11 memorial service (not the fact of what it is...just that they're actually united, together!) or praising God at any simple worship service. Or seeing my uncle, Commander of his fleet in the Navy, in his uniform, saluting the flag, and saying "One nation, under GOD!" Under GOD. Maybe that's why it's changing....people don't like that. They take it out...they take it our of everything...and it's the foundation for everything. They're so blind.
America is just as much a mission field as anyplace else. And it needs it just as much as any place else. But people there tend to think they have everything and that they are everything and that they don't need anything immaterial.
I might not live there now...I might not live there again; who knows. But America is my country, by golly.


God Bless The U.S.A.
by Lee Greenwood


If tomorrow all the things were gone,
I'd worked for all my life.
And I had to start again,
with just my children and my wife.

I'd thank my lucky stars,
to be livin here today.
'Cause the flag still stands for freedom,
and they can't take that away.

And I'm proud to be an American,
where at least I know I'm free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

From the lakes of Minnesota,
to the hills of Tennessee.
Across the plains of Texas,
From sea to shining sea.

From Detroit down to Houston,
and New York to L.A.
Well there's pride in every American heart,
and its time we stand and say.

That I'm proud to be an American,
where at least I know I'm free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

And I'm proud to be an American,
where at least I know I'm free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.



I posted this on my myspace and got an interesting response from a Kiwi friend, saying he knew what I meant and "Though I am proud to be a Kiwi I'm not necessarily proud of New Zealand" and that made a lot of sense...sort of what I'm trying to say.
That is, I'm proud of what the country was once built on and stood for, but definitely not all the decisions it makes now and the hypocrital and immoral people. I'm glad President Bush is against abortion and euthanasia and is a Christian, but I also think he could be more proactive in that. (again, I don't really know a whole lot about politics)
So, though the foundations and forefathers of America stood for something good, so much of that has disintegrated...which, strangely enough, is what the people who DON'T support America like! It's so mixed up. There was a great quote related to this in a book I'm reading, How Christianity Changed the World, that said -
"Christian ideals have permeated society untl non-Christians, who claim to live a 'decent life' without religion, have forgotten the origin of the very content and context of their 'decency.'"
-Josiah Stamp

They complain about silly things and do stuff about it, but we don't do anything. That's the sad part.

blah.

I typed up a nice, really long post the other day and saved it as a draft and of course....it's disappeared.

We've been having crazy fun times at youth group and had a guest speaker last week who spoke on purity. It was very good.
The trouble with my back had been because I danced for so long and then stopped really doing anything for exercise. That made it easy for it to get strained, and as a result the muscles in my back were all torn and inflamed. It was really painful, and made my back not quite straight at times. Now I'm dancing again and have had 6 sessions with the physiotherapst and am doing much better.

Daddy flies a lot and is enjoying it I believe, as he is also home a great deal. He goes to all sorts of places and sometimes brings back things for us...last time it was an awesome little table from Casablanca Morocco.

There's an artist on myspace whose music is very nice. Her name is Elissa Mielke and she's a young girl, model, and independent Christian/folk singer. She writes and sings and plays her own songs and they're pretty cool...
Her site

This is my favorite song by her:

Give me a chance

Give a minute

This is your day but I don't know

How you should spend it;

Give me your hand

I've got some money,

At least I think I do

I'll buy us a coffee

And you will

Say something funny;

And your eyes will get small and happy and laughing, and so distracting, and attractive

And I will be

Hopeless

And I will be helpless

And I will be smitten, absolutely taken with you, taken with you

And I will be hopeless

And I will be helpless

And I will be smitten, absolutely taken with you, taken with you

I won't want to be but I know you'll see right through me

You get to me

Give me a chance to show you how I'm worth it

I might be too sensitive

But I'm working on it

So don't you go before you're sure now

I think again I'll miss you somehow

So that you will be

Hopeless

So that you'll be helpless

And you will be smitten, absolutely taken with me, taken with me

Hopeless

and I hope you'll be hopeless

I hope you'll be smitten, absolutely taken with me, taken with me

Hopeless

You will be helpless

And you will be smitten, absolutely taken with me, taken with me

In some small way I think you see

What you really mean to me

I can try but I can't hide the truth

I'm so into you.


-I Will Be -Elissa Mielke

desert, dance, Anberlin, and back.

We had a desert campout with the youth group recently. It was amazingly fun.

I've started listening to a band called Anberlin. They rock. I also got a bunch of Disney songs today and they make me smile = ) "Paint with all the colors of the wind...."

I've begun taking ballet again! I had been thinking of doing kickboxing, but then I took an introductory lesson and discovered that it was a real combat sport, and I had been told otherwise...so no, I shall not be taking kickboxing lessons! It would be quite unlike me, anyway.
The ballet is at the Mall of the Emirates performing arts centre. The teacher also has a street jazz and hip hop class, but she's an amazing classical ballet dancer, and she even does the Russian style! This is great. She keeps the class entertained! She is hilarious. Sharmila sings, yells, and dances as she teaches! In addition to this, she literally spits on the ground! She spits on the floor in front of her, stomps on it with her foot, and says "let's dance!" However, the class is challenging and good. My muscles are still killing me four days later, which means I worked hard.
My back is improving slowly and next week I have one more appointment (since I've begin exercising again which is supposed to help) with the physiotherapist. Praise the Lord! We're just hoping it's alright now, cause if it isn't then that means there's something wrong with more than the muscles.


I don't have much of consequence to write, so I'll stop now. Good night and God bless!

Desert Challenge and My Story Night

Many things have been happening here with the church.

The three days right after Christmas we had something called Desert Challenge, where teens from all over the gulf came for three days to our church. It was a very powerful, fun, encouraging, crazy, and challenging time. Every day we heard speakers on the subjects "reach, keep, and empower." There were also different topics we could choose from to go to seminars for.
We played games, went to the beach, ate, talked, had long worship sessions, and a "no talent show."
It was great fun and impacted most of us a lot.
To me the most powerful message was the one "keep," where he talked about keeping and applying what we'd learned and letting go of things that were holding us back from giving every part of our lives to God.
After that I had a good talk with some friends and we decided to hold each other accountable.

Just this past week at Oasis (youth group) we had something called "My Story Night." About six of us shared about a struggle God had been helping us through. It was encouraging to hear others talk about their walk with God and relate to how they had been feeling.
Speaking in public is not something I am generally interested in or do well at, but eventually I started to think about it and decided to say I was willing to share. Just after that my well group leader called and asked if I would, so I was just like "Ok God, I guess you really want me to do this." I was glad to have a chance to talk about my (past) struggle anyway, to get it out, but at the same time it was quite hard since I hadn't really talked about it to anyone.
Others spoke about struggle with friends and with God, and the worship time fit very well. When it was my turn I was really uncomfortable, but as I began talking it was alright. I shared about the time about a year ago when, for a year I fought against feelings of inadequacy and physical self-hate, on the verge of an eating disorder, and how God brought me out of that before it got further, using Becca's talk at a BarlowGirl concert.
It was encouraging talking to people afterward, although we had to leave quite quickly.


I am so grateful for the youth group and church here....it has been a huge blessing and I have SO many awesome friends through it. They are so crazy fun!

A Rebelution

Hello Y'all!

There's this fantastic website and blog that you should check out...and keep doing so...

The Rebelution
www.therebelution.com

"Revelutionaries, come with me...."
-Revelutionary-Bethany Dillon

It's a rebellion against rebellion. Showing that teens don't have to settle for being like the average teens out there. We don't have to rebel, we can do what's right and fight for it. We don't have to stop at being told we're "there;" we can still go for excellence.
We can do hard things. We can save fun for after working hard at things. We can have vision and build character.

It's not impossible-it changes our society.

luv you