Dear Carly,

Hello, and welcome back to "Measuring God." I'm really sorry at how long it's been, but I haven't had the time or the resources to update my blog since June (or whenever my last post was). Really sorry about that. I actually have a friend who has been nagging me all summer to update... SORRY HEATHER! The first step was this past sunday-monday part of the weekend (beginning of the week? Whatever you call those two days). It was senior camp. Senior Camp is when almost all of the seniors from our school go to Timber Wolf Lake. We bond together as a class through many worship sessions, meals, and free time. It was a really powerful experience that we went through, and we really bonded as a class. It was really amazing to see the work that God did throughout the 36 hours we were there. I really learned a lot this weekend (or whatever), so I hope you enjoy hearing about it (you'll probably getting a few posts about it). We heard four sets of two word phrases t...

I don't know how many of you know this, but Disney's "Newsies" is one of my all time favorite movies (if not my favorite one). I know I've blogged about it before, but I thought I'd dedicate a whole post to my favorite movie.  The movie came out in 1993, and it was a total flop in the box office. If you ever get the chance to watch this movie, do it. It really will teach you something about life.  I've heard that most of the actors in the movie don't like to think about it because the movie did so terrible. It's funny because Christian Bale, who played the main character Jack Kelly, is huge now. He went from living in a dusty old basement to saving Gotham City. Pretty impressive.   The musical showed for the first time in 2012, after they updated the storyline and the music. I don't know much about it because I haven't seen it, but I have listened to the music from the show. I like the music better because it was re-written, and...

  Tulip Time is a huge festival in Holland for a few reasons: -the 3 parades (street sweeping, kinder, and the long one) -Dutch Dancing -TULIPS! I march in the parades with the band from my school. Since I'm not musically gifted, I can't play an instrument, so march in my costume and carry a province flag from the Netherlands (the original Holland). The first two are shorter, and the last one is longer (obviously). The second one (which takes play on Thursday) is the Kinderparade. This one has always been one of my favorites because all the little kids ge to march in it. All of the area schools have their elementary students march in the parade, which is tons and fun to see. They all wear costumes (although they don't have to wear wooden shoes, the lucky ducks.). It's fun to see all the kids, most of them having a great time.  Dutch Dancing is another thing that's huge for tulip time. As you can see from the pictures above, I am a ...

Okay, I know I said I would do some media fast reflections, but I don't really want to talk about those. Maybe I'll touch on that topic later. Today, I wanna talk about a few other things. Firstly, a poet named Jack Ridl came to my creative writing class today, and he shared some things that I wanted to write about. The first one is "try to create a really good with." At first, I was confused as to why he said "with" was the greatest word in the english language. But then he explained. You are always "with" some one or some thing. It's interesting because it's true. It's hard to describe anything to someone without also saying who you were with. For example, this weekend I was at Forensics State (forensics is a speaking competition) with my team, my coach, and a few teachers. Or, yesterday I went to get ice cream with my sister after school. Or, I didn't dance with my partner yesterday. That's really interesting. Then he said ...

Friday the juniors and seniors were let out of school early to prepare for a huge thing in our lives! (for those of you who can't read this, it says "b-a-n-q-u-e-t". Yes, that is ASL.) Banquet is our version of Prom at Holland Christian for a few reasons. 1. Prom is too suggestive (you know, teenagers having sex after prom...). 2. We actually eat food there (and it's pretty good). 3. We are just that cool. We couldn't have asked for a prettier night as it was the first night in Holland this year that was decently warm. Everyone was fine in our dresses, and we didn't need winter coats (which probably could happen in Michigan). All of the juniors and seniors head to the park to take pictures.  Then, we head to our location. This year's banquet was at the Pinocle Center in Hudsonville. We ate, listened to a comedian (who was also a ventriloquist and was pretty funny), and then danced. It was a really great time, and I won't bore you with to...

Trees are ablaze, wearing spring like Joseph wore his technicolored dream coat. But there is one section of the forest that doesn't. They've had their coat ripped of. They've been raped of their colors by something they cannot control. Death. The river seems peaceful, but it's a candy-coated guillotine  The trees are now bathed in ghosts, a sheet of gray covering those only a few paces from the river. You can almost hear the trees calling out for help, but the death plague has already got them. Slowly, they wilt, giving their strength over to the cancer. Their pride is slowly turned to shame as they wilt further and further into an eternal sleep. -Carly Palmatier I wrote this poem on our way down to Gulf Shores, Alabama over spring break. It was interesting because a huge group of trees seemed to be coated in pieces of fishing nets. I thought I'd jot somethings down about it, and this is what I came up with. I wish I could have gotten a picture to show you, but I...

I know it's been a while, so here are the two writing warm-ups that I wrote today in class and some notes about them. Warm-Up #1: Tone Stepping out of the car, a beautiful upgraded dollhouse greets you. The place where it lies is cleared out from the woods, with trees everywhere around it. The regular silence is never empty, it's always filled with a bird chirping or a bubble popping in the river or a tree whistling the wind. The dock is peaceful i the way it floats on the river. The dam is crowded with too many people there to swim. The river slides down it's slimy path, and even when you're floating  something still feels wrong. You can see the crayfish swimming beneath you, threatening to pinch. Getting out is a battle, fighting to pull yourself onto the dirty banks. The dirt covers your skin and makes it nearly impossible to get clean. Towels can't dry you off completely  and the rest of the water has to go away by itself. Walking back to the cottage hurts y...