Hi. I'm back! Don't worry, I haven't forgotten that I have a xanga. There's no excuse. I'm just so lazy that I don't want to bother blogging. Well . . . I have been a little busy too. Wow! Summer is almost over, and I'm turning a new page in my life. I guess I should rewind a little and catch you up on these last few months. First of all, I don't really remember what I did in May, but I do remember June.  In June I took the SAT. Because I found out in May that I would be taking the test, I only had one month to prepare for it! One month!!! A month is not enough time to prepare for the SAT. Anyway, I began to study for it. Everyday after I finished my regular school, I studied for the test. Don't forget, I was also reviewing during that time for the end-of-the-year exams. I don't think I've ever been under such pressure. Finally, the day of the test arrived. It was incredible! All of the anxiety that had been building during the previous month just left me. I was able to wake up that morning with peace in my heart. I'm positive that it was a result of all the prayers that were going up for me. Although, Mom and I got lost while wandering around Tel-Aviv trying to find the test center, somehow we managed to get there in time. The test was 3 1/2 long hours. I breathed so much easier after taking it! After a few weeks I got my scores, and as I expected, I did well in critical reading and writing, but not so well in math. Math and science have always been hard for me. So that was June. In July I graduated!!! I must say, it was pretty anticlimactic. Also in June I began volunteering in a school for mentally/physically hadicapped children. In the beginning I was a little uncertain that that was what I wanted to do, but in the end it turned out to be one of the greatest experiences! I always thought that such kids were wild and uncontrollable; that it was impossible to really communicate with them. I was definitely wrong! Most of the kids that I worked with were more well-behaved than the average school kid. I learned that outward appearance is really only part of the whole picture. On my second day of volunteering, I was amazed to discover that one of the girls who I had thought was both physically and mentally hadicapped, was only physically hadicapped! Once I learned her signs for "yes" (holding her hand in the air) and "no" (holding her hand under her chin), we really hit it off. I had such a great time there! I'll never forget those three weeks. In August I mostly relaxed and went to the beach. Now, in September, I'm preparing to move to England for nine months!!! Oh! I forgot to mention that I decided to take the discipleship course, and I got accepted. This is my last week in Israel. On the sixteenth we are going on a cruise to Rhodes and Santorini for our visa trip. It's so exciting! I've never been on a cruise before. Anyway, we get back on the twentieth and I leave the next day. Leaving home feels really strange. I won't be gone for long, though. I'll be be back in December for Christmas break. Here's the latest on Aaron and Shayla. Aaron is in Columbus, Ga. raising his budget, and Shayla is currently in a private Christian school teaching band and computer in Chicago. Phew! That was a long blog! Sorry about that.

Hello, this is punk panther again. Yeah . . . . I know. It's been three months since I wrote last.  But hey! I guess it's better late than never, huh? So. . . where do I start? I'll start with Purim.  Purim was fun but challenging this year.  You see, it all began when I agreed to be Esther in the Purim play. I didn't especially want to be Esther, but I have a hard time saying "no" to people, so I agreed. At first I thought it was going to be my worst nightmare(I'm kidding!), but in the end I was really glad that I did it. Not only did it turn out to actually be fun, but I think it also helped me see more clearly that God can use my feelings of inadequacy to help me trust Him more. Of course, I enjoyed all the Purim parties, and the delicious oznei-haman too. So that was Purim. Between Purim and Pesach we took a visa trip to Prague; that was great!!!  We took almost the whole week off from school and just relaxed. The hotel we stayed in wasn't the nicest, but it didn't really matter since we were there to see the city anyway. I had heard many good things about Prague from other people who had been there before, and I can tell you that all of that was true, and more! It was an amazing city. There were simply too many things to take pictures of! Although Prague was beautiful, I still think that Germany is the most beautiful country that I've visited, and it's definitely still my favorite. Anyway, we had a great time of relaxation and sightseeing there. The only thing that was not enjoyable there was the temperature. We left Haifa on a beautiful, sunny day, only to arrive in Prague, where it was cloudy and cold the entire time we were there.The day we left it was actually snowing! Well, we survived, and arrived back in Haifa with a three month visa (praise God!). Not long after that, Pesach rolled around. You know what, I like Pesach. It's okay that we didn't have challah for one Shabbat. And it's okay that half the things you want to buy in the grocery store are "assur." It's even okay that we have to eat matzah for a week, although, I must say, I do prefer Saltine crackers.  We had a great Passover meal at the O'Neil's house. What a feast that was! Well, that's enough about the holidays. My life is going pretty well at the moment. My school days seem to be getting shorter, which is really nice. As we approach summer, I'm getting more and more excited. I love summer! It looks as if I will be staying in Israel for the summer, unless God tells me otherwise. I want to go to an Ulpan and volunteer somewhere where I can use my Hebrew more. In September I'm praying about going to Wydnes, England where there is a discipleship course I'm interested in taking. I've been praying and fasting, but the Lord still hasn't shown me if it's what He wants, so please pray that He'll show me soon. I have to decide by the end of this month. Talk about pressure! Enough about me now. I'll tell a little about what's happening in my bro's and sis's lives. At the moment, Shayla is in Chicago looking for a substitute teaching job for the rest of this school year, and at the same time, she's looking for a regular teaching job for next school year.  She and Ariel are doing well. Really, how could they not be, when they are in the same city? Aaron has received full missions approval (praise God!!!), and Lord willing he will be going to India in about a year or less. Now he just has to gather all of his courage to call pastors to ask for an opportunity to share his vision. Believe me, it's no easy task! Well, that's the latest.

Hey ya'll. I just got back from my home state of Georgia! Wow, three weeks in America flew by! I didn't end up going to half of the places I had planned to go to. I'll just start at the beginning with the latest news. The flight from Israel seemed soooo long since we had a direct flight to Atlanta. We drove to Columbus from the airport and spent about a week shopping. Somewhere in between all the shopping we were able to spend some time with my mom's parents. The next week we went to Minnesota to see my dad's parents. We stayed with Bucky ( you guys probably remember him) and his family on the way there. It was so good to see my grandparents after so long. I was surprised to see that my grandma, who has always reminded me of the Energizer Bunny, is finally starting to slow down...  We stayed there about a week, saw some aunts and uncles, and then left. On the way back we decided to take a straight shot to Georgia without stopping anywhere for the night. The drive really isn't so bad, and we've done it that way a lot in the past, but the last few hours were torture. My whole body ached! I got out at every stop, but it didn't help (probably the fact that I had a fever didn't help either). So, we returned to Columbus just in time for Christmas. It was great to be with my mom's family, but it was also kind of stressful. My uncle chose the worst time (Christmas Eve) to tell my grandparents that he wants to divorce his wife. Talk about bad timing! Anyway, somehow we were able to have a nice get-together on Christmas day. After I had been sick for several weeks, I finally went to the doctor the day after Christmas and found out that I had the beginning signs of pneumonia. I knew there was a reason I was having fevers every night!  So, I got a shot, and I'm almost over it now. I was so excited! I got to see one of my really good friends while I was in the U.S. It was so awesome to get to spend some time with my older bro. I didn't realize how much I missed him. It was so hard to leave him behind. Poor Caleb was depressed for several days when he had to leave Aaron. We flew through Germany on our way back to Israel (I recommend it! Germany is so beautiful!). It is so good to be back in Israel again! I love my relatives, and I love America, but I had a really BIG dose of both and I was ready to come home. The only thing I didn't get enough of was Satrbucks and Wall-Mart. Talk more later.

Hey...I'm back. I knew when I made this xanga that I wouldn't keep up with it very well. Sorry it's been sooooo long since I posted last. It's the same way with e-mail for me. Life is just too busy for me to keep up with the net. Oh well....I'm here now. That counts for something right? Well, I'm a year older now! It's funny how people always ask me if I feel older when I've  had a birthday. I never quite know how to reply to that one. Usually I just say "Am I supposed to?" I'm getting closer and closer to graduation day, and I still don't know what I want to do after school. I drift from one idea to the other, only to finally give it to God. I know He knows what's best, but it's so hard to wait! I like to know things wayyyy ahead of time. God seems to have this joke with my family of always making us wait for things until the last minute. Who ever said God doesn't have a sense of humor? At the moment, I'm considering going to a technical school to study dental hygiene. I also want to take an EMT(emergency medical technician) course. After all of that, or perhaps before that, I want to go to a Master's Commission. Who knows though, God probably has other plans. My parents are trying to get me to stay in Israel. Maybe when we are in the States for Christmas I can check out some tech schools. I can't wait! By the time we go it will have been a year and eight months since I've seen my home land.....  I'll miss Israel, though. Oh! I have some exciting news! One of Aaron's friends gave him a Jeep Cherokee last week! He's working as an associate youth pastor/children's pastor in Columbus, Ga. One of his friends was trying to sell his car, but he couldn't so he decided to give it to Aaron. It really is an answer to prayer. I guess I'd better stop gabbing , so I'll just tell ya bye now.

Hello, it's me again. The warm wind that blew on us as we stepped off the plane from germany was a wonderful welcome back to Israel. Germany was colder than I had thought it would be. It was sooo beuitful, though! And clean! We wondered how everything, including the streets, could be so clean when it was so hard to find a trash can. Staying with Stephanie's parents in Lehnin was really nice. They are really a special family. We learned a lot from their hospitality and generosity. We were glad that Michaelah got to go and enjoy Germany with us. She had a great time. Now it's back to school for Caleb and me. Oh, happy Israeli New Year! I hope they have a concert in the park tonight since it's New Years. I was so happy last year to discover that they have FREE concerts in the park! Sometimes they have movies there to. Life is so good... I'll leave you on that note.