What have you learned from an elderly someone? What wisdom has been passed on to you?

I have learned alot from elderly people especially from my Grandparents. My Grandparents are chock full of stories from when they were little, and they have experienced so much because they were all born between 1930 and 1933 so they were just growing up during the Depression and World War Two. However most of the things that I learned from my grandparents were just stories and experiences that they have had, rather than words of wisdom. The wisdom that I have learned from elderly people is to always appreciate what you have and never take anything for granted.

Snow Days

I am really starting to get tired of these snow days because they are shortening our summers and they are are just boring to be sitting around all day. We have had 7 snow days so far, emphasis on the so far because I heard from my Dad that he was listening to the radio and the National Weather Service came on and said that we are going to stay in this pattern of it snowing every single week for the rest of the winter. I really hate this so much because I am taking the AP US History Test on May 6 and if we keep having all of these snow days we are not going to get all of the information we need to get covered accomplished. That is not going to turn out well at all and not only that, it keeps setting us back and making everything unorganized because we have no idea what to expect. At first I liked having a few snow days, but now we are having way too many and they are just becoming an annoyance more than a positive thing.

My Weekend

I had a very fun weekend because I went to my cousins wedding all the way up in Peoria, Illinois. It was a 6 hour drive up there, which was so long because it had snowed so it had slowed us down a little bit, and we saw 4 wrecks on our way up there. One of them we found out last night that it was a fatal accident; is was a bus full of volleyball players most of them got injured and two died later in a hospital. Then when we finally got there it was so cold when we brought all of our stuff up to our rooms, and then we met my Aunt Sheila and my Grandmother and we went out to eat at the restaurant in the Hotel which was very good. Then at 4:00 we left to go to the church; which was less then 100 feet away from the Hotel it was on the same block, and we went inside and my mouth dropped because it was so beautiful I am so jealous that none of our churches back in Owensboro looked this beautiful. The Church had a traditional and very beautiful altar, the ceiling was royal red with gold accents and antique chandiliers, they had antique pews, the floors under the pews were carpet and the rest of the church was marble, they had a very pretty choir loft, and the walls had these massive mosaics that were so beautiful. The Nuptial Mass lasted a little over an hour which was good and then we went back to the hotel to one of their reception rooms which was also very pretty and we had a formal dinner which was very good. The dancing was fun and I was able to play with one of my little cousins while I was there for a few minutes which was definetly worth it because he is so cute. We went back to the room and went to bed around 10:30 I didn't get very much sleep while I was up their, but I guess it was okay. That morning we all packed and then we went down to eat breakfast with the rest of our family. We left around 8:20 or so and we got home around 1:45 after we got home we put everything away and I worked on homework for a while then watched the news until we watch How the Universe Works on the Science which was so awesome.

What kind of example are you trying to live out? What kind of person do you want to be? Why?

I try to be a good example to other people. I want to be a devoted husband and father so that I am a good example to my children. I want to be as good of an example to my kids as my parents were to me.

How do you feel about criticism whether you are the giver or the taker of them?

I do not like criticism in all forms except for constructive criticism that can help people fix their mistakes. I really hate it when people criticise each other because in most cases it hurts their feelings, I have been criticised on numerous occasions and they make me feel bad which I don't like. Constructive criticism however is different because it can actually build people up, the most cases of this that I have seen is people helping each other on homework or revising someones essay paper. The advice I have gotten from constructive criticism helps me out alot when I do essays because I like to have a second opinion on big things that I do.

What are the possibilities for me in the next 12 months?

• On January 22, I am going to my cousin Jason Hofer's wedding up in Peoria, Illinois. Which will be very pretty because the church is beautiful, but the end of January might mean snow, so we are hoping it won't be a dangerous drive up there.
• On February 18-20 I will be going on another Catholic Youth retreat known as, "Teens Encounter Christ" the point of that weekend is to develop a better personal relationship with Jesus, and I have heard it is just as amazing CLI was for me.
• On March 11-13 I will be going to Youth 2000 a Eucharistic Centered weekend, it will be my second one so I am very escited for it, and I will be seeing alot of my CLI friends there, some friends I have made since then, and I hope I will develop more friendships there.
• On May 9 I will be turning 18, which I am very excited because I get to register to vote so I can have my voice heard, I will also be registering for the military draft.
• This summer I have so many possibilities of things I will be doing, if I am lucky enough I will be spending 5 weeks at a college campus for the Governor's Scholar Program, and I will possibly be going to my first Catholic Youth Camp at Gasper River to which I am very excited.
• In August I will start my Senior Year which I am both excited and afraid of because it is my last year of High School, there will also be so many things I do that year.
• In November I will be going with my Youth Group to the "National Catholic Youth Conference" in Indianapolis, I have heard it is the most amazing experience that you will ever have because not only are you surrounded by close to 30,000 Catholics, but it is everything I have experience times 10.
• In December if I am lucky enough will be once again attending KYA in Louisville.
• The two things I am looking forward to the most this year is going to TEC in February and going to NCYC in November because I want to get closer to God and I also want to meet new people and make even more amazing friends.

Reflections of 2010

For me last year was the best year ever, because so many good things happened to me. In March I went to Youth 2000 which was a Catholic retreat that we spent most of a weekend at Brescia and it is modeled after World Youth Day. Going to that inspired me to join youth group and I have had so much fun ever since. Over the summer I went to a thing called Christian Leadership Institute in which I learned and developed alot of leadership skills in conjunction with Catholic values. I also made some of the most amazing friends I will ever meet and I my favorite part was that I broke out of my shell and became more of a leader and more comfortable speaking in front of people; which inspired me to be a Lector at my home parish which I have now been doing for the past four months. Today I still talk to alot of my friends from CLI and we all miss each other so much that we want to have a reunion probably sometime  this summer. The next big event I participated in was Owensboro Diocesan Youth Conference which occurred in November and it was 2 days of awesome fun with another 500 young Catholics like me. I also took that breaking out of my shell which happened at CLI and applied it there, for the past year and I half I have been teaching myself traditional prayers in Latin and it all paid off when I said a decade of the rosary in Latin, in front of 500 people which was a quantum leap for me and I got so many compliments for how well I did. I also got to see several of my CLI friends at the conference which was really cool. Then in early December I went to KYA and had a blast it was so awesome to see our State government in action not by actual lawmakers but by High Schoolers my age, which gives me hope that our country and state are in good hands. I also made a few friends there and what is cool is that they were the previous youth governor and the new youth governor so it is really cool to be friends with them. And then to end the year I had an awesome Christmas with my family.