Almost Summer (Edited: Summer!)

I didn't want a whole new post because I wanted this one to be at the top. Thanks for all the comments and emails about the camera. Please continue to comment about that if you have any input... so now onto the last day of school: it was great! The Spanish exam was fairly easy and our whole class was done within just over an hour! We got to spend the rest of the 45 minutes talking and taking pictures, while counting down until summer!! Afterwards, I went to McAllister's with quite a few friends. I'm now getting ready to go to a pool party with most of our grade. I'm so excited it's SUMMER! Enjoy the pictures. The first two are (obviously) of AnnaClaire. I love this dress on her... especially the back. The third is at school today... last day as freshmen!!

Tomorrow is our last day of school. School starts at 9 and we have a 2 hour exam (Spanish) and then it's... SUMMER. This year really has gone fast and it's hard to believe that as of 11:01 tomorrow, I will be a sophomore! Today I erased almost all of my school work off my computer... I threw away all my notebooks and binders... it felt so good. I am so excited for summer.

Things to look forward to this summer:

Jersey Shore: Next week, Mom, AnnaClaire, and I will fly to New Jersey to stay at our friend's shore house for a few days! I'm so excited! Lucy (one of our chatty sisters) is just a month younger than AnnaClaire and is also from Chenzhou. The girls met in November at Disney and were fast friends, playing lots together! AnnaClaire still talks about Lucy and how much fun they had at Disney! Claire and her mom (also chatty sisters) will also be there, which I am so excited about. We traveled with Claire and family and became very close. I will never forget bringing KFC through security and eating it with them at our gate before flying to the girls' provinces (Claire is from Guizhou.) We have not seen them since then, December 2006, so it will be so fun to see them again!

Romania: In early July, I will be going to Romania for 2.5 weeks! I am so excited. A team of 2o something highschoolers from my Church are going. We are leading a Christian sports camp for orphans and other kids there for 2 weeks (2 one week sessions.) Our last few days there, we get to go to Budapest, which will be awesome, too! By the way- I sent out letters to a few of my readers and I just wanted to let you guys know that thanks to your support, I have raised over $2,700... more than $200 over what I had to raise! Thanks so much!

VBS: I was going to go on a trip to Panama City Beach in June (with Church), but unfortunately the trip was canceled due to the low response of people going. While this is definitely unfortunate, there is a really fun VBS (Vacation Bible School) that week that some of my friends and I are going to work at! (Not only that, but I will also get back the birthday money that I put towards to trip and will be able to get a new camera... mine broke.)

Other than that, just hanging out at our pool (always a high, especially because I have so many friends my age in my neighborhood and we all go to the pool almost every day! Oh and yes- AnnaClaire does come with on most occasions and she will this year as well!) Doing things with friends, and of course the whole family will be home, so that will be fun, too! Who knows... maybe we'll even get a summer referral?! We've now been on the IF list for over 8 months.

One more question for any camera people out there... We collect change in big jars. Before traveling to China, we counted all the change and we had close to $3,000 which we used for the orphanage donation. Dad and AC have been counting this time and while it isn't nearly as much (we had been saving for a lot longer than 18 months last time!) we still have close to $1,000! We are thinking about using this money to get a new camera (different from the new one I'm getting with my money.) I'm talking a nice camera, that we could get some amazing pictures with when we go back to China for Kate (and of course before and after China!). As of now, we like the Nikon D-60. Does anyone have that camera (or anything like it) and have any suggestions/comments on it? Or if there's another camera that you want to recommend- go ahead! Please comment and let me know!

original picture on this post:

(picture from 5/27, edited)