My Parents

This blog is dedicated to the two most important people in my life: Dad and Mom. You both are the reasons I am who I am. Man, I can still feel those spankings from back in the day, but you know what? They shaped my accountability and disciplined me to live the right way. It also gave my butt a higher pain tolerance level. So thanks. Guys, I wish you could truly grasp how proud it makes me to say that I am your son. Never do I hear anything remotely negative about either of you. The way you have conducted yourselves throughout your lives has shaped my life for the better.

Our family name has lived long because of the character and dignity of Vanmali Dada and Amarat Dada. Dad, you have equally lived up to them, and I promise you that I will do the same. “Friends will come and go, but your family will always be here.” That’s a quote from you that I will never forget, and I will pass it down to my own children. You’ve showed me where hard work can bring you. Many parents may give their kids motivation by saying that they can do whatever they want to do by putting their mind to it. You, on the other hand, completely missed the traditional parenting memo. You’ve taught me that change is inevitable and to take care of your family, your demeanor and mentality must remain steadily confident to help you survive. Changes are a part of life. Don’t let them break you, rather let them shape you.

Mom, I honestly don’t even know where to start with you. I can feel myself tearing up, and I don’t understand why. I love you more than you could ever imagine. You work so hard, and I sometimes take it for granted. But I promise you this, it has not been overlooked. When Dad has shown me the tough and serious aspect of life, you have taught me to do that in a loving manner. You are the hardest working woman I know, and you do it all with a smile on your face. You have so many responsibilities, and you finish each job with diligence and totality. I may have to blame you for why I am chubby, but hey, you cook some dang good food too.

I know you guys aren’t the type of parents that like to hear this kind of stuff, but I thought I would show you how much I really do appreciate you. You have given me the keys I need to living a successful and rewarding life. I know you both have told me that you don’t want me to live the life you do because you guys work 24/7 with a ton of stress. Let me simply tell you why I think your life is rewarding—you have raised a son who is family-oriented, dedicated, loving, hardworking, and ready to face the real world. Thank you.

in Your arms.

“It's been so long since I have met You here
Since I have said these words or cried these tears
And like a child would come I run into our secret place
And as the music fades, the tears are rolling down my face

I am alive in this moment
In this moment I am found
I am alive in this moment
In this moment I belong”
- Starfield

Dirty, torn, beaten, heavy laden, burdened, bogged down, stressed out, filthy, distraught, shattered….broken. Recently, I have felt all of these, but mostly shattered and broken. Like a desert in the middle of an oasis, scum on a clean surface, darkness in a lighted room, or just a weak and pathetic person. I have been chained to my sins and was content with that. That’s when a reality check came in. I needed it. Badly. It had been so long since I met with Him, talked to Him, and just poured my heart to Him. I had forgotten I was His child. All He wanted was to wipe my tears away, make me smile, hold me, comfort me… BE there for me. I had forgotten I was a princess to the Most High King. Instead, I was acting as a lonely orphan lost in life when He came and took me under His wing.
I was broken . . . He put the pieces of me back together.
I was dirty, and He made me clean.
I was beaten and heavy laden, and He took my profound load.
I was stressed, and He comforted me.
I was distraught, and He relieved me.
He has picked me up off my feet to carry me through. I am finally alive, because of Him. No longer an orphan, in THIS moment I am found. I AM alive in this moment, because of Him, ONLY Him. No longer broken, I am mended. No longer in chains, I am free. No longer finding somewhere to belong, I am home, in His arms… right where I belong.

-Faith Fallin

Come on, baby, sell it! Sell it well!
Why is it that in life you are constantly returning back to the things that hurt you the most?
You have made your own personal businesses, selling
yourselves out to everyone you deem that you can trust. You pull people closer and closer just to feel “loved,” and you say the words because you like the way they sound, in love with the idea of being infinite. Making yourselves weak, you grow numb exposing yourselves completely to one another only for a feeling, a temporary feeling that will inevitably never last. You are over exposed, your wounds have now become fatal, and all of your scars are from yourselves, though you still wonder how they got there…
WHAT-HAVE-YOU-DONE?.. You have sold your souls… You pawned them, for a 30-minute feeling, and every waking moment you give more and more away. Then you find yourselves thrown out into the world with everything that you never wanted placed before you for the population to see and again you grow weak. You have become so numb that you have mutilated the meaning to unrecognizable refuse, so numb that you cannot even feel the blade you have placed in your own hearts. Now you have nothing left to give, but you do not know. Not yet.

<3>

Hero

What is a hero to you? See, when I hear the word hero, I think of a little skinny dude in tights running around with bulging muscles, a flowing cape, and sometimes no neck, due to their very large trapezius muscles…just kidding. Or sometimes, heroes are wanna-be’s, and they are only evil and hungry for power, like Sylar from the show Heroes or the Joker from Batman or Gargamel from the Smurfs.

But seriously, what is a hero to you? This word has different definitions, but I think it has been misinterpreted and redefined. What people don’t remember about the real definition of a hero is that anyone has the ability to be one. A hero is “a man distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility and strength,” according to Webster's.

Military people are definitely heroes. They sometimes get disrespected and taken for granted, but they deserve so much honor and reverence for what they are doing for us. If you’ve ever seen the movie The Guardian, I’d hope you feel the same way. They risk absolutely everything they have to save other peoples’ lives. It’s amazing to me that they are that willing to serve other people.

However, military men and woman aren’t the only heroes in the world today. Ordinary people can be superheroes everyday. Giving up your seat for an elderly or disabled person might be considered a heroic act to them, even though it may seem really insignificant to you. Just saying something nice to someone may make their day. You could be their hero for giving them a smile or saying their jacket was pretty or whatever. I once heard a story about this boy who had cleaned out his locker, and he was on his way home from school one day carrying all of his books. He dropped them and another guy from the same school saw him and helped him pick them up. Come to find out, the reason that boy cleaned out his locker was because he was going home to commit suicide. He felt like no one cared for him, but when this other boy showed him kindness, it changed his mind. And how simple was it for that boy to help him pick up some books? Not that hard. Yet, he chose to be a hero.

Jesus was the biggest hero ever, though. How many of us would give up a home of perfection and go live with people who hurt us constantly? I’d say that none of us would. But Jesus not only came to live with humans; He also died for them. That, to me, is true heroism.

Anytime we hear the word “hero” and simply think of a cartoon character running around or a guy driving his Batmobile, we need to remember that the word “hero” has a much deeper definition and can apply to any of us, anywhere, at any time of any day.

We should look at everyday as a battle to be won, a challenge to be faced, or an obstacle to be overcome, and we should work our hardest to seize every opportunity to be someone’s hero. As seniors, we have such a huge leadership role. We should take advantage of our “seniority” and make every effort to be the hero in someone’s life each day of our last year of high school. Don’t worry so much about what other people are doing. Fight your own fight, do what you know is right, and sooner or later, other people will start to follow you. Go, fight, win, seniors!




--Lindsey Kolbe

Sphere of Influence

"One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child. -Carl Gustav Jung

The moment we have all been waiting for is almost here. We are finally seniors and soon we will graduate and go our separate ways. Have you ever stop to think how many people have made our graduation possible? There is a group of people who impacted us so greatly and we hardly ever stop to think about it. Our teachers have poured their heart and soul into teaching us not only the curriculum but life lessons as well. I'm not just considering our high school teachers, but rather the teachers who laid the foundation of our education.

To build a strong, sturdy house there must first be a strong foundation. Our elementary teachers have the laid the foundation for us to achieve success. We have all seen a math problem on Mr. Pickle's board that we thought we would never understand. Bu we would never be able to understand it if we didn't know that two plus two equals four. We wouldn't be able to paint a masterpiece in Mrs. York's class if we didn't know our colors. If we never learned the simple structure of a sentence, we would not be able to enjoy the magnificent stories in Mrs. Christensen's class. There would be no interesting discussions about religion in Mr. Spence's class if we didn't know the basics about the Bible. The elementary teachers are sometimes overlooked or taken for granted. Yet, they are the teachers that lay the foundation for all the middle school and high school teachers. When we stop to think about all the people that have made our graduation possible, our elementary teachers should be first in line.

Once the foundation is laid, our middle school teachers take the job of laying the framework. They build off of the foundation and prepare us for the challenges of high school. This is the point in our lives when we are unsure of who we are and what we want in life. These teachers keep us in line and help us stay focused.

Finally, we have our high school teachers who push us through the final stretch of our school days. They challenge us to think outside the box and find our own opinion. We become more aware of who we are and who we want to become.

When we walk across the stage, we should think about not only how long it took us to get there, but who helped us get there. Graduation is not only a year of preparation, but rather a twelve year preparation. We should take time to reflect on all the many faces that contributed to our success and who ultimately become a part of us.

-Danielle Miller

How to: Improve a Horton Haven in (almost) 10 ways

As we approach our final Horton Haven, I am left wondering two things. 1) "How can we make the best of this year's retreat?" and, 2) "Am I too old to be craving chocolate milk?"

Now, the answer to the second question is pretty simple: "Of course not, don't be an idiot; I'll never be too old for that." However, the answer to the first question is not so straight forward. It requires a lot of deep, intellectual thinking, but lucky enough for all of you, I have already devised a brilliant plot that is sure to let us have fun at Horton Haven this year. It also might help us take over the world, but that's for a different day (can you say senior prank?).

Here is how the plan goes:

• First and foremost, we are going to have to find some kind of way to smuggle Chuck Norris and Mr T. into the campgrounds.
• Second, we are going to need a small monkey from southern Malaysia.
• Then we will have to take control of a large robotic panda, preferably one with a stubby tail.
• After that is where it gets tricky though, the next thing on the list is a wide screen TV, with a HD sports package.
• Then, someone is going to have to catch a blind butterfly using only their left knee.
• We are also going to need all of the supplies used to build the raft in Cast Away, including Tom Hanks and Wilson.
• After that we will need sugar, spice, and everything nice.
• And finally, though this one may be impossible, we are going to need Noa to keep his shirt on the entire time.

If for some reason we can't get any of these things though, I do have a back-up plan. And that is to just spend as much time with each other as we can.

-Beau

graduation.

Generally speaking, this blog post is supposed to be about holding onto now, living it up- savoring every moment of my last year in high school. While it is important to hold on to the present, especially at this crucial point in all of our lives, I really can’t help but look forward to the future. I think the term “senioritis” started applying to me early sophomore year. Instead of “no mores,” my mindset consists of “can’t waits.” I can’t wait to finally turn 18 and finally get a tattoo. I can’t wait for the senior trip, nonetheless, I can’t wait for my last Horton Haven. I can’t wait to write senior letters and completely spill every emotion I have ever felt towards that person onto a piece (or a few pieces) of paper. I can’t wait to sit down and make my senior board and fill it with tons of memories. I can’t wait to hear Mrs. C’s graduation speech for every person in our senior class. I can’t wait to throw my graduation cap into the air. I can’t wait for all my friends and family to surround me with love for accomplishing the one thing I’ve wanted for so long. I can’t wait to fill albums upon albums with pictures of countless great times with my friends during my high school career. I can’t wait to dress up and take my senior pictures. I can’t wait to pick a college to tour. I can’t wait to apply to my NEW school. I can’t wait to pick out furniture to go into the foreign place I’ll soon call home. I can’t wait for my first day in college. I can’t wait to become a “professional.” I can’t wait to do what I love to do every single day. I can’t wait to settle down. I can’t wait to get married to my one true love. I can’t wait to have kids. Well, really I can wait on that- but I am looking forward to it. I honestly can’t wait to grow up. I can’t wait to fulfill my life. But first thing’s first- I can’t wait to GRADUATE!

-riley.