Exhaustified.

I am Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo tired. I'm sitting on this little couch in our apartment and am basically about to fall asleep with my contacts in and makeup on... So I'm going to give you a quick rundown of what we did today, and then I'm going to go to sleep. I'll be able to sleep tomorrow too in the car because we're leaving :( But here's what we did today:

Got up. Ate. Headed towards the subway station. Hannah&Mom stopped in @ H&M so H could get a couple of things that she had seen that she wanted. Katie, Dad, and I went into Barnes&Nobles. It was HUGE. and I luffed it. Then we went to Times Square! And we walked around a little bit... and then we went to the Hershey's store AND M&M World! I ♥ M&M World. It's so cool. I got a lanyard for when I have keys? If ever. =P

Then we went to Famous Ray's Original Pizza. The pieces were huge and it was extremely good. Pictures to follow on Facebook.

After Ray's we started walking towards Central Park... stopped in at St. Patrick's Cathedral and FAO Schwartz. I LOVE FAO! It's huge and wonderful and full of toys! :)
Then we went into Central Park and walked for a bit... sat in the Mall and people watched and watched this amazing kid do juggling&stuff. It was sooooo cool! He was fantastic! Then we kept walking and ended up at Bethesda Fountain and stayed there for forever. It was Gggrrrrrate! Then... we went to the Imagine circle (John Lennon memorial) and took a few pictures. Then we went to Columbus Circle to find a piano for Hannah (They're supposed to have these pianos all over NYC but we think they took them away because they were getting vandalized a lot). There wasn't one there :(. Then we decided to head to this place that we had eaten when we were here 2 years ago. We got a little lost and ended up walking back a subway stop, but it was all okay because the food was delicious! We then walked over to Madison Square Park and sat for a bit and then headed to a subway station and came back to our stop. We went back to Barnes&Nobel because Kate wanted to get a book. So I wandered around for a while then found my family again. Then we came home!
The end.
There will be pictures on facebook tomorrow night or Sunday!

Today in New York City...

a lot happened.
We got up... ate and got ready for the day. Then we headed out towards a subway station intending to head to Chinatown&Little Italy. Dad wanted to stop at the Verizon store so he could back up his contacts on his new phone... so while he did that the Girls went to H&M and Sephora. And then we headed to the subway. We got off at Union Square and went to the farmers market there. It was incredible!

Farmers market booths

Radishes&carrots! =)

We got bread (rolls, mine was sourdough)

Soooooo cool!

And I got what could possible be the best apple I've ever eaten! T'was fantastic.

Yum!

We sat in the Union Square park to eat our purchases. Then we went to Forever 21&DSW. Mom got a pair of black flats that are super cute! :) (I got a headband at Forever21)

Then we finally made it down to Chinatown. It was pretty cool... we ate at a Chinese restaurant called XO. Good food! And we used chopsticks too :)
Then we headed to Little Italy to look around there... then we headed back towards the apartment. We wanted ice cream so we stopped at Shake Shack (AMAZING PLACE) and got milkshakes/concretes that were aaaaaaaaaahmazing.

Chocolate, toffee, chocolate! SO GOOOD!

Then we came back to the apartment and got changed and then headed out to see WICKED! And let me tell you, it was WICKED. Amazing. The music on the CD is good. But seeing everything performed live was SOOOOOOO cool! I'll post pictures of the set&theatre on facebook when I get home.
But here's a picture of our family :)

And then we came home. After much confusion as to where to get on the subway and which direction it was going. But we got home! And that's all that really matters.

Tomorrow is our last day in NYC! (Full day)
I think we're planning on hanging out in Central Park... and probably getting pizza... and having pasta outside. We got pasta last time we were here at this really cute restaurant&we sat outside. It was fun! I'm looking forward to doing it again.

For now, I need to finish my NIPTO post and then get ready for bed and then GO TO BED because it's almost 1 am!

Goodnight readers!

P.S. My feet are still killing me! Walking around is crazy tough on the feet! (And the tennis shoes! The tread on my shoes is almost gone! So crazy!

I. Am. Exhausted.

We walked all over New York City today. And didn't take one single train or bus.

But today was amazing. And fantastic. And SUPER fun.

It started out slowly... Dad had to drive around forever to find a parking spot because you can't be parked on the left side of the street (one way streets!) from 11-12:30 on Tuesday and Friday because they clean the streets from then to then. Soooo while Dad was driving around, the Girls (Mom, Kate, Hannah, and I shall be known as the Girls from now on.) went to Goodwill a couple blocks from our apartment to shop for a bit. Everything was pretty expensive... BUT I found fantastic big huge black leather bag that I'll use for school books or whatever. But for now it's my bag for the week! It's pretty perfect. It has a really big middle compartment ,but it also has little well defined compartments too. :)
After Goodwill we came back to the apartment to eat something (as it was now about... 12?) and decided that Dad would park outside of the apartment but stay in the car in case he needed to move.
And then we had a New York Experience. Don't get me wrong, this was GOOD.

Most of the girls were in the apt. (Mom was outside talking to Dad) when Mom came in with a t-shirt in her hand and said that this lady wanted her to put the t-shirt on so she could take her picture for her website. So Mom got her picture taken for this t-shirt website (it's not up yet.) Then Mom came back in and told us to come out because she wanted us to put t-shirts on toooooo! So we all go out and get our pictures taken in these sweet t-shirts! And we got to keep them!
The woman was really nice. She's from Ireland. And had a fantastic accent :) So that was a really cool thing that happened to us today!

Once Dad could leave the car, we just kind of started walking... kind of headed to shopping on 5th Ave. But we kind of got lost in Central Park and walked allllll the way across (the longest way possible! or so it seems...). We were all tired after that, so we went to Subway and got food. (The guy looked at us like we were crazy when we asked for 5 cups for water... they only had 3. Crazy)
Then we headed the Museum of Natural History and were there until it closed at 5:45
Then we sat outside for a while trying to decide if we should go to a bible study at 7:30. We decided to go and also decided that we needed to eat on the way there. Soooo we started walking... and we stopped at the Bethesda Fountain (the one at the end of "That's How You Know" in Enchanted) for a little bit. There was a guy who had these big ropes and was blowing bubbles. That was awesome. And there was a guy playing the cello. That was sweet too.
And then we kept walking. Got to the vicinity we needed to be in. Found food. Went to Bible study. Had a fantastic time. The bible study was with people that were friends of Priska and Chang Yong&Ke (the people from the church that Katie went to in Dresden) who live in NYC. So that was kind of cool. It was definitely challenging to listen to what Peter had to say. Stuff I needed to hear. I'll try to blog about that sometime... but now is not that time.
We headed home from Bible study and stopped to get dish soap. And then got back... got ready for bed... I took a shower... and now blogging. And it's late. But we don't have to get up super early tomorrow, which is nice.

So I guess I'll wrap this post up and head over to NIPTO, Day 191! =)

NIPTO, Day 190

Alrighty. So today consisted of... getting up and showering. Eating breakfast. Helping Meme with computer/camera stuff... and then leaving. And we headed East. We went home... kind of. We stopped at the FedEx store in our area to get Dad's DROID. (I started the other post on that and then couldn't actually type in the place where you're supposed to type. Just the title. I'll have to figure that out sometime.) And then we kept heading East. We went through Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and ended up in... a place that I still don't have a good picture of. But that was a decent hint.

All right, all right. We're in New York City! =D I'm super excited to be here and am SOOOO excited to get out and see the city during the day... We got here around.... 9. Went to get milk at a grocery store a few blocks away. And then came "home" to our apartment and got ready for bed.

I guess I'll just finish NIPTO then sleep. I'm not exactly sure what we're doing tomorrow... I wasn't paying attention. HAH. Way to go me! But I think we might be going to Little Italy&China Town? Maybe that's Wednesday. I'm not sure.
Oh well! I'll let ya know after the fact... or something...

AH! I feel like I'm bouncing up and down.... like I'm in a car or something. Or on a bed that I'm bouncing with my typing? Not sure. =P

NIPTO!
Acts 15:12-21

¹²The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.
Paul&Barnabas are talking to a group of people that were probably labeled "important people in the church." And they took the words out of their mouths. They just told them about the crazy awesome things that God had done. 
Even though we might not feel like God's done "crazy awesome" things in our lives, he probably has. And telling people about what he's done is the most important thing we can do in our lives!


¹³When they finished, James spoke up: "Brothers, listen to me. ¹⁴Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. ¹⁵The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
 ¹⁶" 'After this I will return
      and rebuild David's fallen tent.
   Its ruins I will rebuild,
      and I will restore it,
 ¹⁷that the remnant of men may seek the Lord,
      and all the Gentiles who bear my name,
   says the Lord, who does these things'
    ¹⁸that have been known for ages.
So Paul&Barnabas stop talking, and James, who was at the church in Jerusalem where they were talking, started to talk a little bit. He uses Old Testament scripture to validate what Simon [Peter] had just said. That the Gentiles would indeed come to know God and have personal relationships with him.


 ¹⁹"It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. ²⁰Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. ²¹For Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath."
I think that a lot of the people were almost trying to sabotage the Gentiles. But James is like, "guys. You've got the wrong idea! We shouldn't make it hard for them. We should send them letters with instruction and encouragement! They don't know everything that we know because what Moses wrote has been preached in every city and has been read in the synagogues on the Sabbath, but they weren't there. (or aren't allowed there? I don't know.)"


Yup. Thus concludes NIPTO for today. Tomorrow is another day. And I will take a ton of pictures. Annnnd I'll post some on here!
Hope you had a greaaat Monday! =D

NIPTO, Day 46

Wow. It's Thursday already. It seems like this week has gone by fast. And in my book, that's a good thing. Especially since it's the week before Spring Break!!! I can't wait for my sister to come home... to not have to do school... (to miss my friends while they're at Disney World in Florida.... Grrr.)

I have to really figure out whether or not I'm going to NYC this summer. I need to find out more about the actual program... and figure out whether it's feasible to get back on the 9th and leave on the 9th in the evening or 10th in the morning to go to North Carolina for LT... AH. So many logistics... I know that I want to go to NYC... but I need to really figure out if God wants me to go... If God says "no" then I'm not going. Simple as that. But I need to really figure that out... *sigh* I don't want to spread myself too thin... and being gone for 2 weeks straight (with less than 24 hours to do laundry at home in between) might be spreading myself thin... We'll see though. I'm sure I'll blog about it once I know if I'm going or not. So keep posted.

My bible smells like tropical smoothie gum from being in my purse with my tropical smoothie gum... Man. That stuff is pungent.

Acts 11:24-[Barnabas] was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. Barnabas. The church in Jerusalm heard that there was something going on in Cyprus and Cyrene so they sent Barnabas to check things out. And there were *gasp* Greeks receiving the word of God. Only Jews had really been "allowed" to become Christians. But now there were Greeks becoming Christians. It's sweet.


Proverbs 25:25-Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land. I like the idea that this verse brings of being refreshed. That's all.


Revelation 21:23-The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. No sun. No moon. No night... just the glory of God. Indescribable.

I've gotta say, reading through the Who I am in Christ statements every day is encouraging. It's sweet to really figure out who I am in God's eyes. I like it :)
Hope you have a good day!