many pictures :)

so first of all i would like you to know that i'm still alive and haven't completley disappeared off of the face of this green earth. well, perhaps we should call it brown... it's missing the green which was rather disappointing on this first day of spring. but ah, well, you'll have that. so i have a lot a lot of pictures to share because this bloggy hasn't been working right. so i have a lot more pictures to go along with these... but it's slower than moses, so this is what you get for now. hope you likes!! have a great night! :)

SPRING BREAK
i started off my break with a visit to my cousin annie. it was a blast... we ate rice chow for dinner and then went to a heavy metal show. this band was amazing... they're called "Take Sides" and they're ska and metal combined. i am a massive ska fan and i LOVED the trumpet and saxophone. i wish i could be in a ska band!! :)

here's annie and me in her car!

sunday nght was awesome. i was home and i got to help jonathan lead worship at youth group... and the coolest thing ever was that caleb was playing drums for the first time at church that night. so it was all three of us!! never has that happened before! it was awesome. i love my brothers!!!

after church i went to maggie's house and we hung out for a while. it was so good to see her and catch up... it's been way too long. i only wish we could have had more time! but someday soon we shall see each other again! :)

tuesday night mom planned an awesome surprise for us... she invited the jacob's over for dinner. it was so much fun hanging out with them!! sorry mom for all the anticipation crud we put you through. it really was an awesome time. i'll never forget it!!! and she made my favorite soup... chicken broccoli cheese!! yum!!!

one night mom and me and caleb went roller skating for fun. it was a blast. caleb even requested a toby mac song and they played it... last song of the night. that was sweet!




friday morning jobo took me out for breakfast at i-hop. it was so yummy. and we had a great time chatting it up. i can't wait for him to be at olivet with me next year. i miss him so much all the time!!! i love my brother!!



on the last weekend of break, our family journeyed with the quizzers to indianapolis. nicole and i had a blast. we went to barnes and noble, starbucks, and explored indianapolis. here's some of my favorite shots of the two of us...

this book was DISGUSTING!!! if you ever get a chance to read it... DON'T!!!

now this one wasnt' too shabby. "Don't let the pigeon drive the bus!" Ha ha!

this is of nicole and i on saturday morning... we went to circle center mall to be goofy and try on dresses and whatnot, but it was closed. so we took this picture, walked around for forever, and then went and got starbucks across the street. it was nummy lucious!!

our quiz team won indi!!! this is a photo of the seniors at the invitational. i missed our team photo time. whoops!!

after indi, nicole and jonathan caleb and i were gonna go to a newsboys concert in ft.wayne, but it was sold out... so we hung out, ate chinese and then hooked back up with the quizzers in decater by the side of the road. this is the boys in the back seat shooting themselves with the camera. they'r goofy!! on sunday, my birthday, i woke up really sick... a fever of 102.2. this is nicole dancing around the living room with a broom to the spooky song caleb "wrote expecially for me on my birthday" ha!! check out her face!!! dude... now, that's intense!!!

THE WEEKEND PAST

so this weekend was really awesome. it started out on friday when carolyn and rachel took me to my very first rebecca st. james concert. it was soo amazing! i LOVE rebecca st. james. someday i'm going to meet her. :)

barlow girl and jadon lavik opened for rebeccas st. james. they were awesome!! i am especially inspired by the drummer of barlow girl. wow... she is intense!! :) in these pics barlow girl is above and jadon lavik is below.

so here i am with carolyn and rachel at the concert. sweet pic, huh?

then, saturday morning... we all got up super early and went malling... me, allison, rachel, jessica (allison's beautiful married sister who is such a woman because she bough a house and they almost have a refrigerator!!!), rhonda and ashley. it was great fun.

me and jessica sportin' the shades at target.

crazy seesters!!! :)

aren't we beautiful??? allison.rhonda.ashley.me/jessica.rachel :)

then, saturday i went to michigan with jordan. we met up with jake and jordan played a worship service with him for celebrate life up there. it was really kewl... and the coolest part was that nicole met us up there for the service. it was sooo good to hang out with the sister. :)

this is alli's little brother david. he's awesome. i just love him.

WILLOWCREEK

on sunday we went to willowcreek. it was SOO amazing. it was really fun to be there with david and oye... esp. david, he was so excited. as jordan put it, "he's geeking out over there!" ha! it was amazing!

riding in the van

i'm so glad oye and heidi came!

at willowcreek!

jordan is a pirate and keith has a mullet

all of us... david, oye, jordan, keith, allison, me, rachel, heidi

heidi wanted obe swung by the big kids. ha ha. she's funny!

great picture right there!

our wonderful gut driver david.

TODAY

these are from our goofiness tonight. ha ha. allison's almost as afraid of lightbulbs as i am of birds!!! and she has a wicked sweet fro if i do say so myself!!! and rachel is an amazing lazarus... sound effects and all!!! i just love my roommates!!! (AND WE MISS AMANDA MORE THAN THE OCEAN!!!)

perm!

i got a perm today! it's wicked sweet. more pics later...

spring break thus far! :)

so i thought i'd take a little moment and update you on the happenings of my spring break.
friday night i went to ft.wayne and hung out with my cousin annie. it was great fun... i have some pictures to post eventually when i locate a mouse that actually works and my camera cord. ;) we went to a metal show... there was a band there "Take Sides" who was amazing... they were ska/metal and it was really neat. i met a guy... eric, who hangs out with mark burkey and thr all the time, and that was really fun and interesting to hang out with him.
then saturday i came home and hung out at home with my family. yesterday we went to church, and a missionary, bob skinner, from the ukraine spoke. that was awesome. last night jonathan had me sing with him for youth group, and caleb played the drums for the first time. that was absolutley awesome... all three of us leading worship together. nick joked that maybe someday we'll be "the honour recital part 2" ha ha. today, i hung out, went and visited mrs. williams and showed her my pictures from last summer finally, and nicole came home and mom made mashed potatoes and kelsey salad for supper. yum!!! tomorrow morning i am going to do my social work practicum hours at marimor industries and then hopefully i'm getting new contacts and glasses... praise Jesus!! i really want some new frames, but i'll be glad for lenses that actually work. :) so that's my break thus far... oh, and mom has some big surprise for tomorrow night which should be fun, i think.. .i hope!! we'll see. she says if it's boring i can leave and go to trust but i'm sure i won't. :) i've got some pictures coming up soon... and rach, if you're reading this, i'm still working on sending you the banana cake pics, i haven't had a chance yet!!! i love you all... have a great day and i'll talk at you laters!!! :)

THE best day of my life... NO JOKE!!! :)

as alli said tonight, "kara... has today been the best day of your life?" and to that i give an outstanding shout "YES!!!"

my God is so big!
so strong and so mighty
there's NOTHING my God cannot do!!

wow. so today was nasw lobby day... this is where social workers from all over the state of illinois go to the capital, springfield, to lobby to senators and representatives for the passing of certain bills. i was really nervous to go, but it really opened my eyes to the importance that each individual vote and opinion and say is in our democracy. i'm starting to dig this whole politics/law/government stuff. it makes me super excited inside!! :) so i went with prof lareau and jan and 5 other social workers: 4 seniors and a junior. so i was the youngest and they said they're never had a sophomore go before... so i was the first and it was so much fun. first we had a motivational speaker who threw out some really good quotes like...

"Where there is no vision, the people perish. Where there is vision, the people flourish. Where the people flourish, peace, justice and democracy prevail."
"Politics is the process through which we figure out the distribution of power."
"Power is unjustly distributed. If power is finite, our goal is to secure communites of power. We are not merely justice seekers, public advocates-but we are activists-empowering those who have little power."
"If you put a light in the darkness, the people will find it. As a social worker, I would rather be one lone candle in the darkness than a part of unorganized, chaotic darkness."
and my favorite...
"Legislators put their pants on one leg at a time too."

and then, after eating lunch at an amazing sandwich and soup place (i had beef and barley soup and a roast beef sandwich. it was wonderful!) we walked to the capital to lobby. we were there until around 3:30, talked to a senator and 2 representatives from the house. we also sat in on some of the house hearing and it was amazing. very eye-opening and just pretty downright sweet!

needless to say... the capital building in springfield is BEAUTIFUL!!!

so... i told prof lareau to smile... he was just too busy trying to figure out what Jesus peaking would be. :) ha ha!these are the lovely people i went with... from left to right

jan, chris, liz, jenn, prof lareau, kim and lindsey

this was amazing... these are all the lobbyists... waiting outside the house of representatives to be able to talk to their representatives. you can sign a note to be sent into the house and sometimes the reps come out of the voting room and make time to hear people's interest in a particular bill or agenda and they meet the people and take time to talk to them. it's really kewl how it all works. i was fascinated.

so that was awesome. and THEN!!! i come home and i'm checking my email and... I MADE IT!!! i got accepted to be a part of the band "Before Tomorrow" and will be traveling with Olivet this summer. it's me and six guys. which is kewl, i think!! :) i am SOOO excited!!! we're having a party tomorrow night... and i just can't wait!!!

and THEN!!! yes, that's right... it just gets better. i went to gospel choir, and YES! we're wearing jeans and white for the concert... always wanted to do that... but lindsey and i talked for a while afterwards about life and politics and Olivet's student body government and lobby day and law school... and we ended up going to taco bell and talking for, um, probably about 3 hours. can i just testify that God is the God of forgiveness and restoration and healing and he is turning our relationship into something more beautiful than i ever would have dreamed!!! i am so excited about all that he is doing and working in lindsey's life and in my life and i'm even more excited about the way that he has brought us back together and so encouraged that he is really concerned with my healing. i think a lot of times i take that for granted. i think that if i can just forgive that that will be enough... that that's all i need. but God wants to give me sooo much more... restoration. peace. healing. and i can FEEL him speaking those words over and into my life... and it just feels soooo good!!! my God is SO big, so strong and SO mighty.... there's NOTHING my God cannot do!!! thanks Jesus for lindsey... for our relationship... for breaking us so that you could put us back together even better than when we began. help us to share our past and our relationship as a testimony to draw other women and girls closer in relationship with you and with each other. and thank you so much for all that you've given me and for all that you continually desire to pour into me. may you be blessed and lifted high in my life from now until forever!!! amen!!! :)

may you today trust God in whatever area it is that you need healing. know that he not only CAN give you that healing but that he desires that for you more than anything else! he loves you... and just like a lover loves on his beloved, so God is longing to love on you and fill you up with him and make you smile and make your heart not hurt and hold you and restore you... you only have to let him "date you". :) be blessed!!! and enjoy my pictures of my beautiful friend and kindred spirit, lindsey marie kline. i love you linzers!!! (more than the ocean!! ha ha!!)