hey there and howdy.
just wanted to stop in and let you know i'm still alive.
it's been a crazy week.

thanksgiving break

yay!! first post with pictures from new laptop!!
this week was thanksgiving break. it was a blast. here's some shots from the week with the fam... starts off in the resort just chillin, jonathan taught anna and i the electric slide... here they are gettin their groove on. :)

next up: my favorite mommy face (NOT!) it's the "i said... go make your bed NOW!"
ha ha. love you mommers. :)

we went to chicago wednesday and had a great time...
this is the fam at chipotle. yummy lucious! :)

aj and me
hey sissy, i'm really sorry i never let you braid my hair. i really did want you to do that. i forgot... i was gonna have you do it today before we left so i could have it now... christmas time please?

we went up the sears tower... that was awesome.
here's cabes and me at the top of the world!!

the sunset was amazing... i wish i could figure out how to use my camera to give God's handiwork justice. it was breathtaking! :)

ha and then caleb gave jonathan a piggy back ride!! jonathan didn't think caleb could handle him! :)

mmm... egg rolls and starbucks across the street from barnes and noble in chi-town!

mom got up at the crack of dawn and slaved away over the hot oven to produce for us the most AMAZING thanksgiving feast ever!! chicken and stuffing, mashed potatoes, hawaiian chicken, sweet potatoe casserole, green beans, corn, salad, biscuits, and apple pie. it was fabulous and i think i gained like 30 million pounds! :)

we got home from chicago at 2am thursday night... and then dad and i left at 3:30am for findlay... black friday shopping... we went to best buy to see if we could find a computer. we didn't find one there, but we did get an amazing deal and now i'm all set for egypt!! thanks dad... that was a blast!!! there were people EVERYWHERE!!!

friday afternoon i wasn't a very big help, but i did help set up the christmas tree with anna. here i am hiding in it...

and here anna is the star!


then saturday we went up to aunt mary ann's house to spend the day celebrating thanksgiving with all those burkey's and grandma who is very sick with cancer. it was really good to see everybody! here's everyone... except mark... he couldn't make it because he was super sick.

this is me and lydia (or as i like to say: lydi bug)... we are the biggest and littlest girl burkey cousins. and i love her sooo much!! isn't she adorable? i'm jealous of her red locks. :)

and here's me and my gramma burkey. she looks super good for not feeling so well.

on our way home we stopped in ft. wayne to visit grandma nelson. here's mom and her momma!

me and my grandma nelson :)

and here's the four of us with grandma

this morning after lunch anna needed some pictures for her myspace, so jonathan got out his laptop and we had some fun with his mac. not bad pics if i do say so myself... and check out that hot little sister of ours!! :)

a new laptop and some hommus!! :)

first post from a new laptop!!
talk about suh-wheat!! dad and i got up at 3:30 this morning and went out on the town... "black friday" as i so lovingly call this day... we went and waited in an AMAZING long line at best buy, went to several different stores and found this bad boy at... yes, odd... meijer. but it's really nice and lightweight and will be perfect for egypt. :)
jonathan and i are rockin' out to the wireless connection at mcdonalds. :) it's sweet. AND!!! we went to my FAVORITE restaurant in all the world that, yes, i worked at once... Lazeza... which means "delicious" and boy is it delicious!! i got two of my favorites: hazelnut latte and, yes, hommus with pita bread. a-mazing!!!
welpers, that's all i got for the moment. i forgot to bring my camera cord home with me... didn't really expect to actually get a laptop... so pictures from break are yet to come. and be watching... the egypt site will be up and running soon!!!
much love,
kara joy :)

comment a praise... how has God been faithful to you?

i just want to take time to say...

GOD IS FAITHFUL!!!!

do you remember his goodness?? do you remember his love for you? do you remember that he has NEVER failed you? he is FAITHFUL!!!

take some time and post a praise to him... share with us how God has been faithful to you. we need to remember so that we can praise him. and we need to praise him because praise revitalizes us and helps us to press on and stay strong through the good times and especially the bad and hard.

so, wouldya just take a second and praise him???

update!! :)

update on the black eye for the momma... it doesn't hurt as bad today but it still really hurts, especially when the wind or something touches it, and when i sing. but that's not much. :) oh... and it's starting to get interesting and change colors... i kinda like it! ;) ha i'm totally kidding. i really don't want it to turn green. that's gonna look fun-tabulous this sunday morning as i'm traveling with the fellows. but oh, soon, sweet soon, it shall be back to normal. :)

i read a super sweet psalm today... about the moon!! well, not about the moon, but it was included. :) anyways... read up. it's good.

I look up to the mountains;
does my strength come from the mountains?
No, my strength comes from God,
who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.
He won't let you stumble,
your Guardian God won't fall asleep.
Not on your life!!
Israel's Guardian will never doze or sleep.
God's your Guardian,
right at your side to protect you-
Shielding you from sunstroke,
sheltering you from moonstroke.
God guards you from every evil,
he guards your very life.
He guards you when you leave and when you return,
he guards you now, he guards you always.
-Psalm 121

black eye

so if you don't know... this blog is basically for my mommy so that she can read about and see about my life. this one is especially for her. momma i wish you had been here just cuz last night i real bad needed a momma hug and it hurt really really bad and it took me about twenty minutes to even think about putting ice on it.
so i'm sleeping, right, on the footon in the living room... with my head against the wall and my feet hanging off cuz carolyn and katie and i had all been watching a movie and we fell asleep and then they all left and i didn't move to sleep on it the right way. so my pillow, i guess, was on top of the lamp chord... and i guess this morning at 6:30 i moved cuz KA-POW!! the lamp landed on my face. immediatley i had this huge welt... and then i iced it and it moved like upwards and into my eye and it's currently bright purple. but praise Jesus the light didn't break or it didn't actually hit my eye... but just my cheekbone. it hurts really bad still. but it's kinda kewl... i don't think i've had a black eye since i was really little and i was in the garage and stepped on a board and it flew up and whacked me in the face. so these pictures are for you mommy, so you can sympathize with me and see my eye. i love you!!!
oh and all readers, mom included... beware of things that could fall on you as you sleep. danger lurks in every corner!!!

random shots from the weekend...

mom and rach when i bought my camera!!

me and jordan eggleston... a kid from marysville that i knew from bible quizzing oh so long ago. dude... he is so grown up!!! ha ha, it was funny... i told him that last night, only i accidently somehow told his ear that and it was really funny... like his ear is all grown up. i'm a dweeb!

jobo and i played at moon monkey tonight. it was fun.


me and ames! oh how i love her!! :)

suzie sanchez came to visit!! and we went to the gyro place (nick wasn't there, sad day. ha!) and then watched over the hedge and i just LOVE her!! :)

carolyn hiding in a tree with a clown! :)

matt stanley and marcus winn at common grounds last night. sounded good. and tyler helped me figure out my new camera... it's really nice i'm super stoked about it and panoramics! ;)

PowderPuff Football!

so before powderpuff was homecoming chapel... and THE kewlest thing EVER happened!! well first of all somebody let mice out in chapel which wasn't kewl but it was really funny and the speaker was amazing and handled it well and made everyone laugh. it was a good time. then we all got mugs with free stuff at jazzman's, the coffee shop in the library. that was amazing. and THEN!!! there were tons of balloons and everyone in chapel got one and then we all released them into the air at the same time... it was AMAZING!!! really bad for the environment, but way kewl. i LOVE balloons. and it looked swell... check it out!

andy, dee, jaime and bren holding balloons... (they're all admissions counselors)
awe, bren's so cute with her bundle of love!!

me and amanda mavichien amongst all the balloonage!

wowzers look at them go!!

that wasn't all of them, just the last little bundles. :)

yeah baby!! i played powderpuff with the girls friday afternoon it was amazing!! we smoked them sophomores... and we held the seniors for a looong time. we were out of time and they scored a touchdown at the very end. it was a great game. i'm really glad i got to play!! and it didn't rain at all like until the last five minutes of the game and then it only sprinkled!! praise Jesus!! then... that night it poured and poured for hours!! but yeah, it was a great game day!!!
J-U-N... J-U-N-I-O-R-S!!!!

Homecoming Coronation

Thursday night was Homecoming Coronation. The night was absolutley A-MAZING!!! First of all, my Mommy came Thursday morning and spent the night with me. We ate dinner with Jonathan and then I had the honor of singing with Chelsea McKay, Joshua Koch and Marcus Winn in the Homecoming Cornation Service. Then... the most A-MAZING thing ever happened to me!! So let me share the pictures from the night and you may see for yourself!! :)

I got a new digital camera and here's pic number one outside of the store!! This is my roommate Amanda... she was such a sweetheart and drove me to coronation so that I didn't have to walk in my new shoes and be late!! :)

And here's both of us!! :)

Mommy Jonny and me at Coronation...

With beautiful roommate Rachel!!

B and Me!! That's Emily Benson my buddy. :)

Me and Linzers
Here's the four of us that sang "Dreamer" by Bethany Dillon... Marcus, Me, Chels and Joshie

These are the three girls and Matt, the pianist, who did the song "Captivated" by Vicki Beeching. She sounded A-mazing!!! :)

And this was the most A-Mazing quartet ever!!! Kristine, Karin, Joyce and my beautiful roomy Allison! :) They sounded sooo good!! :)

Singing Dreamer
Singing Captivated
Beautiful Miss Lindsey Bailey

Beautiful Miss Erin Hall

Beautiful Miss Sarah McDevitt

Beautiful Miss Dana Scheller

Beautiful Miss Katie Zurcher

And Beautiful Miss Molly Taylor the Homecoming Queen of 2005

And here's the whole court... and the Homecoming Queen of 2006 is....

ERIN HALL!!!!! She looks fan-tabulous!!! :)

This is Amy Hale Joshie's girlfriend. She's so beautiful!!

Dana Yost, me and Bonnie Acher... I love these girls! :)

Ok... so afterwards we all went to Baker's Square... My family, Linzers, Amanda Mavichien, Rach, Tyler, Tim, Brenda Mohr, Josh, Amy, and Josh's Momma and sister Nicole.
So we're sitting there... eating pie... and smelling crayons... and Brenda goes, "Kara I have something for you." Totally unsuspecting I'm thinking it's a crayon or something I'm like "Ok!" and she pulls out this massive amazing Egypt book and I just start crying. I've wanted that book for a year now and never told anyone. But THEN!! She says, "Do you remember that conversation we had a few days ago?" And I'm like, "No" and she pulls out another book... a journal I'd described to her that I wanted to make and fill with pictures of all my friends so I could take them to Egypt with me... and she made it for me!! Exactly... folder and all!!! It's sooo beautiful!!! I still am in shock. :)

Me Mom and Linzers looking through the Egypt book

Rach Amanda Tyler and Jonathan doing who knows what! ;)

Ty smelling crayons. Ha!


Me and the bestest Bren in the whole wide world... and that!! Is the book!!! It's SPECTACULAR!!!!
And that, my friends, was like the best night ever!! :)