Thoughts on Thanksgiving

I have a huge problem with getting stuck in the stereotype category of "senioritis" since I happen to be in my senior year of high school. I believe the biggest mistake young people make is trying too hard to "find themselves." Our culture tells us that we need to take a year off of college, or travel the world to find out who we really are. If there is anything I can say that I've learned this year, it's that staying where you are and diving into Christ is the best place to find everything you're looking for.
I've been so blessed to have great events that have assisted me with my journey. I'm still attending Bible Study with some home schoolers, and it's been even more of a blessing to be able to take Reid along with me this year. We're using the Focus on the Family's "Truth Project" videos for this year, and they have been extremely interesting. We've studied different world views, and ways to live in society.
I'm learning every day that I have so much more to learn. Tim had a great way of explaining this. He held his arms shoulder length apart, thus making two sides of a box. He said to imagine that this box contains all the knowledge that anyone in the world has ever learned, or ever will learn. Now imagine how much of this knowledge you will learn in your life. Makes you feel pretty small, right? People have dedicated their lives to a single topic, learning everything they can about it. But maybe a few years later another person will find a missing piece of information that makes the old information meaningless. Scientists are constantly discovering new cures and medicines. Remember in Jane Austen's day when they thought bleeding would cure people of their illness? Now we know that this in fact makes it worse!
I find myself disturbingly immersed in college applications. As my dad likes to remind me, when he went to college he just told Kansas State he was coming and sent them a check! My how the times have changed... The University of Dallas requires four short essays, one long essay, a letter from my teacher, AND a letter from an outside influence! This was the first of my undertakings, and the process still hasn't ended. I'm flying down to Dallas on Wednesday for an interview with the French Department. I know it's a lot of work, and at 11pm, I'm wondering if I should be spending more time on other schools, but right now this is where God wants me to be. I think the people who regret their college experience didn't include God in their decision. Just like in some marriages, we make the decisions and then ask God to bless them. Oh how great the world's joy would be if we reversed this process!
We we're blessed enough to have the National Catholic Youth Conference come to Kansas City last weekend. My mom took a group of six boys and girls down for the Thursday through Saturday events. Jason Evert and his wife were two of the main speakers, and I was moved by their talks. Anyone who knows me knows that the subject of Love is one of my favorites. I would love to give chastity talks in the future. After waiting in line for about an hour, I finally got a signed copy of their book "If You Really Loved Me." I'm still reading it, so I'll post more when I finish it.
French class is still going good, and I've decided to continue taking it in the spring. There are some really great people in my class, and we have a great coffee study group started.
Finally, I'd like to share my thoughts on Thanksgiving. Before this week I've only told this story to one person, but I felt like my Blog was a fitting place to share it. I'm against most holidays. In fact Halloween is about the only one that I fully understand. If you need a day to tell the people in your life how much you love them, you don't deserve to tell them. If you need a day to be thankful, you don't deserve to say the words! Understand what I mean? So for everyone that reads this, I am just as thankful for you all today as I was yesterday, and as I will be tomorrow. You are all wonderful people, and I've been so blessed to have you in my life.
I hope this catches everyone up on what's been going on in my life, and that you had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!