Well it's been exactly 358 days since my last post. Its christmas-time again, and yet.. I have quite different feelings about it than I did last time I wrote.
Things are substantially different in my life in more ways than a crowd can count on their hands, it seems. I suppose I will start from where my life gets interesting.. which was summer of '08.

I made my annual trip with my family up to Osoyoos in July and it was beautiful there. I made new friends, had some... how shall I say.. "eye-opening" experiences... That vacation slowed me down because of some of the choices I made, and really made me think twice about things.
As if I'd never learned, I made again one of those "choices", two days before school re-opened. But this time I learned my lesson.
School started as usual with my grade 11 year, and wonderful friends I have. It was different, not having my recently graduated step-brother home, and still yet adjusting to my newly blended family. But, I have a feeling that adjusting will go on for the rest of my life. Not in a negative way, its all a learning experience that truly I am able to grow from.
At the beginning of the year, thanks to my great friend Alex, God became a more prominent role in my life and we started a small bible study, which sadly was quite short-lived. However, I did start attending Youth Church, this really made an impact on me and made me fall in love with God, I believe truly for the first time in my life.
Since then I still tend to fall into the choices that aren't exactly that of a true christian, but I am working on it!
As with all teenagers, I have drama, and stress.. mostly associated with.. you guessed it.. boys. Recently, put in the position to make a significant decision not only for me but for a couple I know, I made the choice, not usual for me, but really was the best.
I've been strugglign with things being bitter-sweet in my life lately, and even though the bitter part still sits in my mouth like a not-quite-rype orange, the sweet part is what I am trying to keep in my head. Especially as christmas comes around in ten days, I struggle to be thankful for what I have. Yet, I do have great girls in my class who I know I can depend on to be there with me through absolutely everything!

Basically, through this giant, brutally vague, re-cap of my life in the past year, I have alot to be remorseful of, and yet once you dig through it, alot to be thankful for also.
As your family goes into christmas, think about how truly blessed we are... this has dawned on me, even today listening to a holocaust speaker talk of the fear...and as my friend returned from Haiti with stories of the poorest people in the world, and yet they are happy! Think about it.

Merry Christmas...