4th of July

Happy 4th of July, everyone! Okay, okay, I know that it's now the fifth of July, but I was too busy packing to post anything. 

A few days ago, someone that I used to work with came in to Taco Bell. He is now in the military, along with his brother, who I also used to work with. They're both a year older than me (they're twins). He's expecting to have to go over to Iraq sometime soon, and his brother has already been. This really got me thinking about our men and women in the armed forces. If it weren't for people like them, we wouldn't be celebrating the 4th of July. We wouldn't have the freedoms that we have today. I thought of all those serving over in Iraq and Afghanistan, especially. They face danger each and every day because they love our country. 

This got me to thinking about all those who protest the war. How sad it must make all those fighting to know that they don't have the support of our country behind them. I know that people don't want the soldiers to be hurt or killed, and that;s why they want to bring them home, but wouldn't it be much better to support them and what they're doing over there? It seems to me that as much as a soldier would love to come home, he'd rather have people supporting the war. What ever happened to the patriotism that this country had during World War 2? People would have rubber drives, and metal drives, and buy war bonds, and do anything that they could to support the war and help make it safer for our soldiers. How do people support the soldiers nowadays? They protest the war. I don't know about you, but I sure don't consider that patriotism. Maybe if this country actually supported the war, our troops would be able to come home sooner.

Please don't think that I'm sitting here writing this as someone unaffected  by the war, and with no one in the military. That's not true. As well as the two friends that I mentioned, I have several cousins in the military, and I have one more leaving for boot camp this fall. There is a possibility that one of them could get sent over to Iraq and Afghanistan. So please, when you hear on the news about the war, think of all the soldiers fighting for what they believe in.

Update/Future Plans

I'm horrible at updating this thing! I really need to get into the habit of updating more. Hmm...let's see, interesting things going on right now:

I'm leaving to go to camp at the Bill Rice Ranch tomorrow. It's going to not only be my first year there, but also my first time in 7 years not being at Wildwood. I am looking forward to going to the Ranch, though. I will be there for two weeks, as I am doing their S.T.S. program (Summer Training for Teens). the first weeks I will be in training to be a counselor. I'll be taking counseling classes, sign language classes, and bible classes. The classes are mainly in the morning, so except for attending teen chapel services, my afternoons will be free to spend as I'd like. The second week I will be a junior counselor. This is the part that I'm most looking forward to, as I have always wanted to be a counselor. Those days will be pretty busy as I also have to work in their cowboy town. On the Saturday between the two weeks, I'll be able to go into town or stay at the ranch and do as I please. I probably won't decide until that day which I'm going to do.

When I get back from the Ranch, I'll work for six days, and then I'll be having surgery to get my wisdom teeth removed. I'm not at all looking forward to that. They're impacted, so rather than simply pulling them out, they have to cut them out. Ouch! I'll be off work for four days to recover from that.

I will be leaving for college on August 15. I can't wait! As excited as I am, I'm also a bit nervous, but my excitement very much outweighs my nervousness. We'll get to the college on Thursday afternoon, and we don't start classes until a week from then. In between will be registration, orientation, get to know you activities, and other things. I think the thing that I'm looking forward to the least when I leave for college is having to say goodbye to everyone. I will definitely miss everyone greatly, but I doubt I'll get homesick. I'll still be able to call and talk to them, so it's not like I'm going to be completely cut off from everybody.

I will have to choose a church once I get down there, so please pray for me as I make that decision. Mom and Dad are taking me to one of the churches in King's Mountain that first Sunday morning that I'm down there, then  I'm going with Holly to Emmanuel that night. I think I'm going to visit Maranatha either that Wednesday or the next Sunday. After that, I want to visit Tri-City and Victory.

Well, that's pretty much everything interesting that is going on right now or that is coming up soon. I plan to update once I get back from camp and write about what I did and how it went.