Rodents

Now, most rodents I don't like. Especially mice. But, I stumbled on these pictures on the computer and even I have to admit, they can be super cute.=) These aren't very good pictures, but, oh well. If I'd have taken the pictures I'd have taken about 30 then had to delete all but the best 2 or 3. That could take awhile.=/

Basketball

Yeah, I know volleyball isn't quite done yet, but I did want y'all to know RHAA is starting basketball. We had an open gym tonight, and there'll be another one Thursday- Girls from 6-7:30, Boys from 7:30-9. Hope you can make it! Oh, yeah. It's at the Junior High in Rolla.=) I think Practices Start the first week of November.

VB

Well Varsity played pretty well last night, and I know I had a ton of fun!!=) JV played great in the first game and won it, then didn't do quite as well and lost the next 2. I think the other team got a bit warmed up. Especially one girl, wow! She had an amazing spike. Anyways, Varsity won both games.=) And after both teams were done playing a bunch a the fans came out and started a game, and that was super fun!!=) Too bad I didn't serve as amazing in the real game as I did in the pick-up game..... o well........Mr. Hamacher had some awesome serves too, and Elise and Jenny.=) The other team had a few good serves, but those are just some of the amazing peoples on my team.=) Thanks to everyone who made it to the game!

I'm FINALLY done w/ Algebra I!!!!!!

Ugh! Algebra is terrible! Anyways, I'm done! Procrastination is a terrible thing, but I'm finally done w/ last years' Algebra!! Geometry isn't nearly as bad as Algebra was.

Results & Up-date

I'm proud to say both volleyball teams won their games. It wasn't a super hard team, but I did feel that we played a bit better than we have been.=) Since Jenny is still hurt and Martha had to work(she couldn't change her schedule last minute), I got to play middle hitter! And we still won! And this is remembering that I started this post like 3 weeks ago......=)

So, Jenny's better now, but a couple of the other girls are sick. Please keep both VB teams in your prayers!

Since the State tournament was canceled, we get to go to nationals!=) It's gonna be fun.=)

O yeah, the JV & Varsity have games tonight(Oct. 16th). JV plays at 5 @ Redeemer & Varsity plays right after, about 7. I think we're playing Maranatha, a team we haven't played yet this year. I think we beat them last year, but I have no idea how good they are this year....so... come watch some volleyball and support the team!=) Hopefully we'll be awake today.

Dr. Manuel& Company

As many of you know, our family has been involved in some mission work down in the country of Ecuador, where my grandparents were missionaries when my mom was a kid. One of the missionaries names is Dr. Manuel, and he has asked for prayer, reagarding regarding road closings that have occurred in at least seven of the Ecuadorian provinces.

The road closings, demonstrations and marches are being undertaken by the indigenous nationals in protest to the government and concern water rights, etc. They are setting up roadblocks with burning tires and other means of blocking the highways. You can check this out on www.OSAC.gov. Because Dr. Manuel works as a traveling doctor/missionary, he heavily relies on being able to travel to the areas in which he works. He was in Tombo yesterday where the International Church Planters (ICP) from Arkansas are about to complete the pastors six weeks of training. The main road (rt. 35) was closed so he had to travel very dangerous roads to reach Tombo and back. This coming weekend a team of 24 will be arriving in Ecuador to do evangelism and medical care. I believe they will be based in Tomba and will need to be traveling in some of the provinces where roads have been closed. Dr. M. will need to travel back and forth between Cuenca and Tombo several times, over these very dangerous roads.

Please pray for the safety of Dr. Manuel, Juan, Pastor Lucas, and mission team who will be working and traveling.

In case you were wondering, I copied this off Becky's blog. She's a much better writer than I.=)

VB Tournament!

Wow. We did so much better this weekend than last weekend!! The tournament was down in Springfield again, but there were more and different teams. And I must say we played much better than the previous weekend. We were all in a good mood most of the time and therefore got along w/ each other and therefore, played as a team, and much better than when we play as individuals. Great job out there girls!!!! The Pizza Inn fundraiser went great too! Thanks to everyone who came.=) I'm actually procrastinating right now, so I should probably go do school....=/ Ta, Ta!

Jenny

Up-date on Jenny, she sprained her hip and has been out a few weeks, but she was at practice Tues. and played a little. She's hoping to be able to play this weekend in the Springfield tournament. Keep praying for her!=)

Isaac

One of the threats I received for not playing 'Go Fish' w/ my little bro Isaac.

" I will cut your back in half and destroy your lungs. I'll destroy your kidneys and all the kidney beans!" -Isaac

Boys are so violent.

RHAA Volleyball Games

For anyone who enjoys watching a game of volleyball, both JV and Varsity have matches tomorrow(Tuesday)!=) The JV game starts @ 7 w/ the Varsity right afterward. Both games are at the Redeemer gym. I think admission is $1 family cap. $5. Or something like that.=) There's also concessions. Oh, btw, I'm on Varsity this year.=)

Oh, yeah.....volleyball reminded me. We need to be praying for Jenny Williams. Right before our home game Friday, she dove for the ball and in landing, jarred her knee/leg/hip in such a way as to rearrange something and make it hurt. Not quite sure what's wrong, but she said it felt like a nerve was getting pinched when she moved in certain ways. I'll try to get some more current info., but I thought she would appreciate our prayers. Hopefully it is a fixable problem and she'll be able to play the rest of the season. But more importantly she's a great friend and a child of God.=) Thanks!

I & E

Isaac and Elizabeth.... Oh, my. Give those two random articles of clothing, some cool hats, a few accessories, and they're set for at least an hour.=) Here's a few pictures of their latest original outfits.

Ecuador Part 3

Here's some more Ecuador pictures!=) There kinda random, but all of them are from Banos.

Our hotel in Banos. Btw, we stopped in Banos on the way back from Shell/the jungle.

Our hotel and the waterfall in Banos.

A terrible picture of me by the waterfall.

They had like 14 stalls right in a row that sold exactly the same thing.

A house in Banos. Notice the slide.
A cute fruit bear in Banos.

An awesome flower in Banos. I think my dad took this picture.They had a nice hot tub.
Some of the cool view from the hotel.

Cousins Playin' Pool

The gorgeous waterfall.

I love this one. With the mountains behind I think it looks really cool. Actually it was really cool, temp-wise and otherwise.=)

The view from up by the waterfall. I love panoramas!

A very pretty cathedral.

Kidnapped!

Well Zeke insisted that I post this, and I suppose I should.... We have 2 youth groups in our church, Senior Youth(all the kids that have been confirmed) and Junior Youth(about 5th grade till conformation). Well, we(the people in SY) were trying to figure out a good way to welcome the huge class that got confirmed this year into the SY. Somebody came up w/ the idea that we should kidnap them one sunday and drag them to church in their PJs. Great idea right? Well it worked for a few of them, but some of them decided to get up early and get ready for church......before 7:30(church is at 9). The girls got the girls and the guys got the guys. It wasn't as fun as it could have been, but Zeke did have to come to church in his "PJs"- sweats & a T-shirt. None of the kids had fun pajamas either. Very disappointing.

Shall We Dance!

Hey everyone! A lot of you know about the dances, but I thought I'd let you know anyways.=) I know it's awhile away, but it's super fun! There's going to be a Christmas Ball here in Rolla at Redeemer. Hope you can make it!

Here's the link:
Christmas Ball Flier

BTW, it's the 19th, not the 12th.

Becky

She's GONE!!!!!!!!! She was my personal fashion adviser, hair dresser(for special events), counselor, good friend, and most importantly, my SISTER! I am really gonna miss her! Yeah, I guess it's good that she's going to college and getting to learn all about nursing and life w/out her family *sniff* *sniff*.........I kinda want to be selfish and keep her all to myself and make her stay till I'm ready to go to college. Whoa, one scary thought at a time..... Of course I know I can't keep her here forever...... I am really going to miss her though....=< Becky, I'll try to remember to pray for you, but as you know I'm really bad about remembering that kind of thing. I think writing it on my mirror in big letters might help.=) Anyways I'll finish saying farewell w/ the line I used to give Andy when he was going to public school......Don't smoke, don't do drugs! Love ya!!!=D

Ecuador Part 2

Here are some pictures that were taken while we were in Ecuador. Not sure who all of them were taken by, but o well. Since there's so many pictures, I'll do it chronologically in a few different posts....I'll be putting pictures from every stop we made in Ecuador, so there's going to be a LOT of pictures. You definitely don't need to feel like you have to look at all of them!=)

At the airport in St. Louis. Jan Bloom was so kind as to drive us up in the van the Hickles were nice enough to let us borrow.=)

Elizabeth got to ride in the luggage cart in Miami.
Waiting to be picked up at the hotel in Miami.

We had to wear the masks on the way to Ecuador. Silly Swine Flu.

Nate Saint's house in Shell.
The little plane we flew into the jungle in.

The 5 from our family who went in plus the spiritual leader, his daughter, and another guy from the village. Forgot the names....

A few of the little kids in the jungle.

Uncle Brad was so good w/ the kids.
The beginning of the tour we never got to finish on account of rain.
You can see the super high volleyball net. I guess they play w/ a soccer ball and the rules are a bit different...=) Not much spiking on that net that's for sure!=)
A tree. In the jungle. It's big.

We got to go down to the river...

Zeke, Isaac, & Me in a hand-made canoe.

This is a lemon tree. I guess the jungle makes stuff big(well, except for the people...).

We gave them some balloons!=) The girl w/ the baby was probably only 10 or so.

Fun w/ Horses

**WARNING** All about HORSES!

Well since I've gotten back, I've gotten to ride once and just be around horses twice. I went on a Thursday and got to brush both stallions(their manes and tails needed it bad!) and ride a mare named Little Lady that I'm kinda helping train. I foxtrotted for the first time on her! Oh, the foxtrot is a gait specific to Missouri Foxtrotters where the front legs walk while the back legs trot. It's super smoooooooooooth and really fun to ride. I love horses!!! Then Tracy, the lady I work w/, mentioned that the vet would be coming over the next day, Friday, to give a bunch of horses their shots and also to geld one of her colts. Well this sounded like a great opportunity to see if I might be able to handle being a vet in the future. So I went over Friday and got to watch him(the vet) give the horses their shots, do some random checking on some stuff, and I got to watch the whole process of cutting the colt. It was very interesting, but I will spare you the details because, according to my family, not everyone wants to hear about that kind of stuff.......If you do happen to be interested in that stuff let me know and I'll give you the gory details.=) It actually wasn't that gross. Unfortunately, I didn't think to bring the camera....=( O well, perhaps another time.=)

Ecuador!!<3 Part 1

For anyone who didn't know before, my all the family on my mom's side(except for Uncle Chee) got to spend 2 weeks in Ecuador for a family reunion!=) It was a ton of fun, though traveling almost constantly wears you out. Jane Bloom graciously drove us to the St. Louis airport so we wouldn't have to leave the Hickle's van there.=) After being delayed a couple hours in St. Louis, we flew to Miami, met my grandparents and my mom's older sisters and her 2 boys, and flew to Ecuador the next morning. The Rogers met at at the airport in Quito and we split up and stayed at the Senior & Junior Rogers' houses. O, btw, the Rogers are a missionary family in Ecuador. They fly into the jungle in little planes and preach the Gospel as well as setting up schools for the Waorani natives there. We got to go into the jungle and see one of the villages, but because of our super busy schedule and other stuff, we could only stay for the afternoon.=( I really wanted to stay longer and actually help out w/ something instead of just going to gawk, but I guess I'll have to do that another time. Actually, we might have been able to help out w/ something as it was community workday, but it rained while we were there so everyone had to stop working for awhile. We thought we might get stuck overnight and I wouldn't really have minded..........but, after raining about 45 min., it stopped. and the air cleared enough for the pilots to get through. My Dad just commented that it was a LOT of rain for the short time period. Aparently this happens often, but Dan Rogers(the son who went in w/ us) said he's never gotten stuck for longer a day.

We stayed at the Roger's a day or 2(I don't remember) and saw the equator and went on the cable cars up the mountain, then we went to Cuenca(which I thought was spelled Quenca for the longest time....) and did some stuff......then we got a bus and drove to a resort in the middle of nowhere in this big bus on some really small roads around some very sharp turns and through some super tight places, like only and inch to spare on each side. Seriously! We made it to the resort alive and we were all very thankful that we had such a good bus driver!=)

At the resort we played lots of pool, ping pong and of course euchre. For those of you who haven't heard of that game it's super fun and it's pretty much a Douglass family game.=) According to my cousin Nick, I'm really good, but I think I just get lucky, like in pool.=D There was also a zip-line over a pond at the resort, which was a big hit. Of course it turned into a competition of who could do the coolest most creative thing and I'm not sure who won. O, it was kinda like a swing seat, so there were more options. I was the first to try 'superman'(or woman) and that got me lots of points even though I didn't put it far enough down on my body so I had to bail before I hit the dock.......O yeah, we were doing all of this in our clothes w/ life jackets over. Even though it's Ecuador, I suppose they do have some rules.=) I can't remember all the other cool things everyone did except for one. Zach(my cousin, about 12) would lean back and dip his head in the water while holding on w/ his hands. Being that it was a competition, I had to do him one better by dipping my head back, hold on w/ my feet and sticking my hands and arms in the water too. Unfortunately, I couldn't get back up, so I had to bail before I hit the dock w/ the back of my head. Everyone thought that was really funny of course, but it wasn't too bad. The water was pretty nice temp-wise, but the wind was cold when you got out...brr.....also at the resort, they had a concrete slide that went down the mountain a little and was super fast! The ending was a bit dangerous the first time, but then you learned real fast how to stop. You definitely have to wear shoes though, the ground is a bit rocky and hurts when you fly off the slide and land w/ bare feet. O, there was a swing too. It went off the mountain. Apparently, when my cousins went last time, there was a bigger swing that went off a cliff and was a lot higher up. I gathered that either they took the tree out, the tree broke, or the swing broke or something......... Wow, this is getting really long! Congrats if you made it all the way to the bottom!! I think I'll save the rest for another time. Of course I'll probably forget...... O well. Good night.=)

Ecuador!

So I've kinda mentioned that we're going to Ecuador already, but I'm so excited I just have to say it again!=) We're going to Ecuador!!!!!!!!!! We leave Wednesday and get back Aug. 3. It'll be my first time out of the country and I'm super excited! My mom used to live there while her parents were missionaries.......My g-parents wanted all the g-kids to go to Ecuador and they took Andy & Becky a few years ago, and my cousins Ben & Nick, but they are getting older so they decided to do it all at once.=-) Anyways..........bye!

Back in Missouri!

Well, I'm finally back home. Btw, so sorry I haven't posted in forever! I will try to keep my blog a bit more up-to-date. Of course, I won't be able to up-date from Ecuador.... Anyways, when we came back as a family from IL, I stayed a whole 1/2 day w/ my family, most of that being spent packing for my next trip. I met most of my volleyball team @ Kroger, then we left for Springfield and VB camp!!=) The actual camp was great! Though, we did get in an accident on the first day while on our way to the mall. No one was hurt except for the lady driving the other car. But she was on drugs so she didn't get as hurt as any normal person would after hitting their head on their windshield so hard it cracked...... Anyways..........they caught her after she drove away from the scene and took her to a hospital, after which she probably went to jail........I suppose I should give you the whole story.........

We were minding our own business on our way to the mall after camp on the first day, sitting at a red light and talking and laughing as a van full of girls is bound to do. Sarah, our coach was driving and 11 girls from the team were riding in our big white van. The lady had pulled out of Walgreen's and started driving towards the intersection we were stopped at. I think we were headed south and she north. Anyways, she ran the red light, hit a car waiting to turn on the west side of the intersection then came swerving towards us. I think Sarah heard the squeal when the lady hit the other car, but barely had time to look up before she hit us. She was driving just a small car and since we were in the big van, it hit right below Sarah's seat. If the lady had been driving a truck or we'd been in a smaller vehicle, Sarah would've been badly injured or even killed. We thank the Lord that it was us in the big van and not someone else....... When the lady hit the other car( I think she just got one of the lights, they weren't hurt), she hit the windshield, then when she hit us, she obviously was not wearing a seat belt, because she was flung from the divers seat to the passenger's side, hit the windshield over there and landed on the floorboard. No one else was in the car. After hitting us, she climbed up pushed back the driver's seat got in looked around kinda dazed and drove off. Sarah realized she was gonna leave and started yelling at us to get the licence plate number. We did and one of the girls called the police while I called Dad. We were pretty close to the baseball field and there were people going to the game, so we had about 10 witnesses who all saw the same thing, which was really nice. The policeman came and got all our ID and phone numbers. We pulled over into a small parking lot that was very convenient.=) We all got out of the car and everyone started calling parents and such. One of the first things one of the girls said however was, "Are we still going to the mall?" We did go to the mall, though the accident took about 45 min out of the time we could spend there. I only bought one thing. A skirt.

After that things went as planned except for the ride home, Mom & Dad had to bring a couple minivans down to pick us all up. Volleyball camp was great and we got to do a bunch of other thing too.=) We got to go bowling and to see a Springfield Cardinals game(minor league, yeah, it took me awhile to figure that one out.), and we also got to go swimming!=) Another thing that I thought was awesome is that coach Sarah led us in devotions every evening. We studied the story of Esther(which totally should be spelled "Ester") and also studied some of her character qualities, our personal qualities that we shared w/ Esther, and the qualities of one of the other girls. It was very good for me to take the time to really think about someone else's qualities and think if they coincided w/ Esther's qualities.....I also found out a bit about myself. On the last night we stayed there we did our devotions in the sanctuary(before we did it in one of the sunday school rooms.), then after we spent about an hour in prayer at the end of which we sang a few praise songs together. To be honest, I don't think I've ever taken that much time to pray before. It was great and I really need to do it again sometime..... Anyways, in whole the trip was great! Well, the accident was really scary, but no one got hurt and if it had been someone else in a different car........let's just say I'm glad it was us.

I'm back home now, though I think I already said that and I'll be going to volleyball open gym real soon.=) This is only the 2nd open gym I've been able to go to which is a real bummer, but o well.... I finally almost finished the dogs' haircut, which I started in what was it???May? Wow. Oops... So I'm pretty much done w/ them except that both their tails look funny and rocky won't stay still enough for me to get his back end and there's a couple spots on joy that could be better, but I think they now officially hate the scissors. I'll try to get pictures before we leave. Which reminds me......................

My family and I are leaving for Ecuador on Wednesday!!!!!!!!!=) Prayer for safe travel would be appreciated and that the weather would cooperate(weird word) w/ our plans to go into the jungle. Also, a lot of you probably know this, but some of our friends, the Quittschriebers(I know awesome name!) are going to adopt 2 kids from Russia who stayed w/ them for a couple weeks I think. Anyways, they're trying to adopt, it costs a LOT of money, but they put it in God's hands and they really believe God wants them to do this. Anyways, I know they would appreciate prayer greatly.

Wow, I definitely have not started packing yet. I think I'll be doing a bit of that today after volleyball and stuff....=) Sorry this post is so looooong, but I had a lot of catching up to do. I've been slacking on running too. I did great while in MI and then came volleyball camp, and I did bike/roller blade once or twice, but nothing regular....=( Well I gotta go to volleyball now, I'll try to write more later.... Bye!