Anna Ward's blog

That’s right… My sisters were involved in my senior photoshoot 🙂 So cool 🙂

It has been such a fun day so far!! AH! I’m pretty sure wrinkles start happening not to long after this day…. lol 😉 I am going on mixed chorus tour tonight to Washington (i get my phone back, YAY!!) The whole school sang the birthday song like 3 times at breakfast. Then Joel played the birthday song for me on his cello (he’s really good :D) Sam, Anne, Anna Ford and Diane sang to me in my office during work, then Sam sang again by herself. Sam and Anne sang again. Then at lunch Agnes and Bethie started the whole singing to me. Then Eddykins and Rands started them up again. Lol!! 😀 And then Moses sang it solo in front of all the grade 11s and 12s before class!!!! I got my card from gram on monday. This morning Morgan covered my whole room with sweet notes on colorful post its. She also had the whole school sign a big card for me. Then Ashley gave me some cute school pants (VERY comfy :D) and a card. I have the best friends ever 🙂 hehe I still wish i could be home, but this has not been a bad birthday at all!! 😀 Last year i got all kinds of sweets and candy and stuff like that at MCHS but I am VERY thankful for Fountainview. Except that I don’t get a birthday cake. LAME. Last year they made cake for every persons birthday. Now there’s one a month. Anyways…. I’ll lose weight this year ;D lol I miss my family… Gotta go to health… Bye bye!! 😀

I just got back from the flag raising ceremony in honor of those killed ten years ago in that disastrous event. I still remember that day. I was only barely in the 2nd grade. For some reason I was at home, sitting with my papa watching everything unfold on the news. I had no idea what all of this meant, but papa was acting very strange. I don’t remember much of the details, but everyone on the news was talking about how America would never be the same; how that day and those innocent people would “not be soon forgotten”. But what did it really mean to me? I didn’t know. I had no idea how it would shape my life.

So here I am, ten years later. Papa’s no longer living. I am getting ready to graduate high school this year. I can vote in the next election, and I start paying income tax a year from this wednesday. So much has changed. I had no idea why this would be the beginning of change in America. I didn’t know what the Patriot Act was, or why it mattered. Now I understand. It’s because like Ben Franklin said… “He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.”

Now for the real point of this post. What did the flag raising ceremony mean to me? Why did I even go? I go to school in Canada, where 9/11 mattered, but its not as big of a deal here. Besides, I wasn’t even old enough to comprehend what was happening. Honestly, I wasn’t too sure why I was going at first. Was it because I am American, and that’s what we’re supposed to do? Hardly. Or maybe because I am a nationalist who finds my identity in my country? Nope.

I believe that I went to find forgiveness.

My biological father has put me last on the priority list for basically my entire life. I had built up this hatred for him, and more importantly, for his job. You see, my father is a chief in the US Navy and that has always been his excuse for why he can’t be in my life. In my mind, everyone in the entire country came before me, his own daughter. He left my mom and I when he went off the boot camp. And since I never comprehended the importance of freedom, and the consequences of having it threatened, I always thought that to be a lame excuse. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t hurt any less that he has put his job before me. However, as I stood by that flag today and sang our national anthem, it finally meant something to me. All of those soldiers are sacrificing their families, and sometimes even their lives, for freedom. No matter who was responsible for those events, Americans died. They were brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles and friends in those buildings. And while are still blessed with many freedoms that other countries are not so fortunate to have, where is America heading? Will I have to live in fear for the rest of my life because of 9/11/2001? I think not. Because whether America professes to be letting God lead her as a nation or not, God is still in control.

Some ask, “Well if God is in control, why did He let this happen?” While I don’t have all of the answers, I believe whole-heartedly that it wasn’t God’s fault. This event showed the results when evil is allowed to take control. Yet so many people try and blame God for all the bad things in the world. All I can say is that I pray for our country and I pray for my father. Because none of this will matter when we get to heaven. With one look at Jesus coming in the clouds of glory, the fear, pain and suffering from September 11 will vanish. And we will no longer have to spend time, money and happiness to defend our freedom. But for now we must work on taking as many people with us as we can.

Well. Life is pretty normal. Today consisted of making my own bow, spindle and fire board for my survival trip. So i can start a friction fire if I need to survive on fish, bunnies, grizzlies, etc. without eating them raw. HAHA! We made fires in Health all day today. English was typical… Laughing hysterically at Miss Raney’s awesome sense of humor. Then there was P.E. where we went on a “brisk walk” to Lillooet in the crazy canadian mountains. Needless to say, my calves are protesting that decision. 😛 Worked out la abs a little… Went to choir practice. Then supper… Ate with John (new guys dean from southern michigan) Chris and Katie. It was banana bread and purple smoothies. Mmm… My favorite. 🙂

Read the most interesting book ever this morning for devotions… Last Day Events by EGWhite. Taught me a lot about trusting God more as the world gets more and more screwed up. I’m listening to Veggietales at the moment and its really funny because as i was writing the last sentence “God is bigger than the boogieman” came on. 😀 ROFL “God is bigger than the boooogieman, he’s bigger than godzilla or the monsters on TV… Oh God is bigger than the boogieman and he’s watching out for you and me!” HAHAHA so very cool. Not many things can even begin to compete with singing vegetables. 🙂 Anways, yeah. Larry, Tom and I are going to have fun. Talk to you later. Lol

And now its time for silly songs with Larry…. The part of the show where larry comes out and sings a silly song. 😀 Everybody’s got a water buffalo….. 😀 hahahahahahaha

Well, rumor had it that we would be going on the spontaneous survival trip today. Due to the fact that I am currently on the internet, you can tell that that was false. There was reasonable evidence but… Here i am. Its my baby sister’s birthday today. Wish I could be home. My birthday’s in 8 days, so I definitely wish i could be home. Oh well. I’m sure I’ll get a bomb vegan birthday cake here at Fountainview. I’ve met a ton of new people and I am settling in to being a senior now. Still can’t believe that grad is just around the corner though. Last year went so fast. I’m afraid that this year will too Oh well. The sooner i graduate, the sooner i go home, and the sooner I GO TO COLLEGE!! 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 hahahaha so yeah… I’ve been practicing flute a little but my wrist basically sucks so yeah… Hopefully if i leave it alone to do its healing business, I can go back to the good old days when i didn’t sucking at pretty much everything I do. So… Yeah. I miss my family a lot. I’ve been back in the office doing all the clerical stuff for Fountainview’s carrot farm. Fun stuff 🙂 Brock is here now so i’m gonna get off here 🙂 lol Chao!