Awana!

Oh, I love awana.

So at Christ's Church, which is where we go for awana now, I discovered [or rather, remembered :P] that the Holders go there as well! The Hansons [well Morgan at least] do too! And so do the Lows! So I was quite pleased to see them. Plus a few other people that I recognized. [I met all of them at DMCA, where I used to go to school]

So today was when I saw Jessie for the first time. [at awana] Jessie was one of the girls who decided to cling to me at school. [It was like a "thing" for all the 2nd grade and younger girls to have a 7th grade girl to cling onto... :P ] So she was sort of my little sister there. And she was quite excited to see me.

Then afterwards, she nearly mauled me over in a hug when I went to pick up Colette. I can't tell you how good it felt to hear someone scream "HANNAH!" and nearly knock you over in their excitement to see you. No one's done that to me in a long time.

So I stood there for a few minutes talking to these 3 sweet T&T girls...felt really good for some reason.

Then Jessie's brother Eric is in my group that I LIT. [Leaders In Training] He's a phsycho kid, but he recognized me so I forgave him. Then there's Liam, who was obsessed with his "boys only" army book and refused to work on his book after passing his one required section by his mom. Adie is Mrs. Hall's daughter [Mrs. Hall is the official leader] and she's a sweetheart. So is Juliette, who has those chunky adorable black glasses and blonde hair. Our group somehow ended up with 4 LIT's. It's quite funny. :P

I think I'm going to be okay at Christ's Church. If I just think about the fact that I'm having a good time there and not think about Trinity or Boulevard Park...I do okay, I think.

So. I'm quite happy at the moment. Awana makes me happy.

You know you're an awana freak when you get awana highs instead of sugar highs.... :P

More things God is teaching me

Listen to these two songs. They are amazing. I've been listening to them on repeat all week....

[sorry the player doesn't fit - it still works :) ]

ohmygoodnessgracious!!!!!!

So that interview we posted?? Aslan's Country?? The Examiner found out about it and wrote an article on it!!!!!!!! I'm in complete shock and excitement!!!!!!!!

Click here!!!! I can't believe it. I'm soooo excited!!!

I want to play piano like this.

Kat, one of my dear moderators on Aslan's Country, is an amazing pianist. She has this great ear for picking out all sorts of songs on the piano, and this is one of my favorites that she's done. [Beloved, by Tenth Avenue North] I would really, really love to develop that kind of skill to be able to do that.

Check out more of her videos here.

Aslan's Country Interview!

I have been co-administrating a Narnia Fans forum called Aslan's Country. Last summer, I was at the Kindling's Fest on Orcas Island and met Dr. Michael Ward, a C.S. Lewis scholar. Dr. Ward made a discovery on the Chronicles of Narnia, and then wrote a book about it.

On the spot, I decided to ask him for an interview to post on Aslan's Country. He agreed - and Raymond filmed me asking him all sorts of questions. Later, in mid-August, we also filmed an introduction to go with it.

Now, we have posted the interview [beautifully cut, edited, and put together by my friend and fellow admin, Matthew] which you can view here. We've also got a discussion opened up on the forum where you can ask Dr. Ward questions.

It'd be awesome to see you there! :)

New Title

My blog has a new title now - and it will probably change again when I come up with something better. But for now, this is it.

Xi-le means "joy" in Chinese [in case you didn't pick up on that] and it's one of the things God has been teaching me over the past few months - to delight and joy in Him, even when things are really, really rough.

I have a blog!

So, I finally buckled down and just made the thing. No more fretting over name/domain. Here it is. :)

I suppose I'd better start out by explaining to you exactly what the story is behind the domain and title.

My domain [subject to change, as my blog is still fairly new] is Xian-Na, which is my Chinese name. It is pronounced roughly like "sheean?-na!" The question-like accent is very short.

The title is a song by the group Point of Grace. I came across it while complaining to Brenna that I couldn't think of anything for my title, and she told me to look in song lyrics. So I spent a good half-hour in bed browsing through my ipod and came across this. These are the lyrics:

If a picture's worth a thousand words
What are they?
And since You're spirit intercedes for me
What do you hear when I pray?
'Cause I'm finding it hard to find the word
to let you know how my heart can hurt
so I'll sing the tune
and let you fill in the words
(Chorus)
La La La
La La La
La La La...

etc ;) As with the domain, it's subject to change, just like me. =P I'll find one thing and stick with it, but for now, just so you know.... ;)