Monday, December 13, 2010

Ellen Marie Update

Hello! This is Ellen typing. Mom asked me to write my own post this year. So here I am.
I am 17 years old. And this year has been the best year of my life.
Not only did I graduate high school, but I also just completed my first semester as a full time student at Westmoreland County Community College with a 4.0 GPA!

Now I will go back to the beginning of the year. I attended WEC again for my senior year of high school. And I must say, the class of 2010 rocks! I started tutoring some of my friends, which was a fantastic experience. Mostly in math and science.

In February, Kara, Derrick and I went to the Mellon Arena to see Casting Crowns, Kutless, and Caleb in concert. It was so much fun, and also the first concert I've been to.

I had an MRI earlier on this year, and was declared to have perfect ventricles. :) And in October, I reached the 2 year mark of being hydrocephalus free! Thanks God!


In April, I was a bridesmaid in Kara's wedding. It was so fun being in her bridal party being able to celebrate her big day with her. Although, I stepped on my dress going up the stairs and then proceeded to get my heel caught in the crack in the stage, it was a blast. And I made the blooper video.

Which you can see here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOnEi_bLMkI

In May, I had a traumatic experience when I wrecked and totaled my car. But God has gotten me through it.


When I graduated in June, I took my final piano lesson from Mr. Jalosky. He is a fantastic teacher and I wish I could have continued longer, but my schedule thought otherwise. I love playing the piano and I always enjoy finding new sheet music online to play. My favorites are by Casting Crowns and Switchfoot. Who also happen to be my favorite bands.

My graduation party was awesome. Thanks to all of you who came out to support me!


I attended Worldview Academy for the second time this summer. It was so awesome! I had so much fun with my small group and learned so much! My favorite lecture was called "How to Study the Wise Man's Book" or how to study the Bible. It was such a fantastic and needed lecture.  I learned to much from Worldview this year, that sometimes I think my head is going to explode. Haha. Oh, and I got to spend that week with Ashley and Bethany. Two of my awesome friends. And here is my small group.


Then we went to Tennessee!! It was awesome! I got to ride in a zorb ball 3 times! Here's a picture of me rolling down the hill.
And me and Amy stayed in the same room. So we did some weird things.


After Kara got married, I spent the summer working for Eichelberger & Sons, Heating & Air Conditioning as Secretary. (which was her position) And on the weekends, my favorite place to be was at Deep Creek. It was so nice to not have to think about school anymore, and I could just relax and enjoy summer. And that is exactly what I did.

I bought a car in August...with my own money. It's had some problems like stalling...and neither the air conditioning or the heat works, but it gets me where I need to go. The stalling was fixed though, thank God! Now I just have to suffer through the cold going to and from school. This is going to be a freezing winter...and a life changing experience.

I also bought a kayak this summer...but I didn't receive it until October, so I didn't get to try it out yet.

I started community college in August in the Mulitmedia and Photography Associates Degree Program. I was nervous about going of to school by myself. I knew a few of my friends were going there, but I actually have only seen one of them this whole semester. God blessed me that first day of school. I sat beside a girl who I found out was homeschooled the whole way through, just like me. And she was a Christian. Her name is Sarah and we have become great friends. I also found out that there was another homeschooler right after I had met Sarah. Her name is Rebecca. And then I met Courtney. She wasn't homeschooled, but she caught my eye the second day of school. We've all become best friends and I'm going to miss them very much over break.
This is Rebecca and Courtney
 And this is Sarah
Yeah we have a lot of fun. :)

Throughout my senior year, I was taking online classes at WCCC. And I got involved with one of the clubs there called the ReachOut Christian Club. They had some get together's that I went to, and some fundraisers that I was a part of. The president of the club, Jordan, was about to resign from his presidential position in the ReachOut Club to be the president of the Student Government (which I must say he does a fantastic job at!). And needless to say, the ReachOut Club needed a president. I was elected at the beginning of this fall semester to be President of the club, and it has been an awesome experience. My vice president Hannah and I came up with the idea to have a prayer meeting every thursday at school. And we started that the first week of October. We've had such a great response to it this semester with about 6-9 people showing up to pray every week. I've met a lot of people through these prayer meetings who will be my friends forever. God has been so good to me.

One thing every club has to do each semester is a service project. And this semester the ReachOut club participated in Operation Christmas Child. Which is where you collect shoeboxes and fill them with toys and hygiene items to send to children around the world. We were able to collect enough money to send off 15 boxes! It was an awesome project and we are hoping to do it again next year.

Needless to say, the ReachOut Club has taken up a lot of my time, but I absolutely love it! And during Christmas break, I am leading a Bible study on saturdays. So if anyone is interested please contact me! :) I'd love to have you join me/us.

Since I am a photography major, I needed to get a DSLR camera. And I got my baby (Canon 50D) about 2 months ago. You can see some of my pictures at: bloomsbyellen.blogspot.com
And if you ever have any photographic needs, let me know. I'm happy to take pictures, or teach you how to use your camera.

So that's been most of my year! I hope you enjoyed reading about me!

1 comment:

  1. i love it ellen !! great post :D i love your style :D miss ya kiddo.. see you soon !!

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