Im off to Ecuador!

It's official 2 more items are going to be crossed off my bucket list! 1. Go to a foreign country and 2. Backpack through the Amazon! I will be visiting Ecuador for a 2 week period of time, followed by a 4 day/3 night visit to the Amazon. I cannot believe that I am actually writing this but it is all truth! I have a great friend Erika who 2 summers ago hooked up with this organization called OSSO (Orphanage Support Services Organization). They send volunteers to Ecuador to work in orphanages in the two cities of Cuenca and Quito. I will be serving in Cuenca at orphanages of young children and special needs (just saying this is right up my alley). I can't even begin to describe how excited I am for this trip.I know that I will probably freak out a little...or a lot,  but it will be a good experience for me. I wish that Erika were here to go back there with me, but she is serving a mission currently in Tacoma, Washington. I haven't told her that I am following in her footsteps, but I know that she will be so excited for me. These are some pictures that Erika took while there, just to give a preview of what I am going into. I cannot post any pictures of the children on here but the many pictures I have seen , these children are adorable! I will be posting more as this trip arrives closer, first I must finish my student teaching and get my degree....no biggie!

 I wouldn't ask where these pictures were taken because I cannot remember, but I got them from Erika of the city of Cuenca.

 My lovely friend Erika chillin out

If anyone would like more information about the organization that I am working with, here is their website.
http://www.orphanagesupport.org/index.html

Walking on water....What!?

I am taking an online New Testament class this semester while Student Teaching. I needed the 2 extra credits to get my scholarships and to graduate. It had been fun and this is part of my assignments to post on a blog answering questions and responding to things I have learned.

Matthew 14:22-33 Walking on the Sea

After Christ had sent his apostles out to sea and the multitudes away, he went to pray. He pretty much told his apostles that he would catch up with them later. After he came down from the mountain praying, he walked across the sea the ship that held his apostles. Now in my mind if I was one of the apostles and had seen the many wonderful miracles Christ had preformed, walking on water wouldn’t be that big of a deal. Of course men had never seen anyone walk on water before, but I don’t think that have ever seen the blind healed or the dead raised. But in verse 26 it says that “the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.” This may have been the reaction Christ was expecting but he was just as calm as ever and replied, “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” After the apostles realize who it really is, Peter is the first one to speak up and say “hey cool, I want to try. If it is really you Christ then let me walk on water to you.” Peter gets out of the boat and starts walking. Peter had faith enough to walk on the water when seeing Christ but the moment he took his concentration off of Jesus and back to worldly things, the storm and wind, then he started to sink. Isn’t that exactly what we can relate to our lives? In D&C 88:67 it says, “If your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things.” I think this scriptures correlates with the meaning in Matthew. If we have our eye or our focus on Christ then we shall be filled with the Holy Spirit and light will always surround us. If we lose sight of Christ then we start to sink just like Peter did. At first it starts off slow until we are all the way under. But after Peter started sinking Christ stretched forth his hand and caught Peter. Even when we do start sinking no matter how far we can be like Peter who said, “Lord save me.” We can always turn to the Lord and say “please save me, I have lost my faith and need help.”

Bucket list

These are things that I have compiled over the years of things I want to do before I die. I am going to try and add one every year so that I have as many as years old I am. I'd say at 21 and already checking off 4 is not to bad! And 2 more may be checked off before the end of the year, but I'm not telling anything yet...

Two Questions- Bucket List

Have you found joy in life?
Has your life brought joy to others?

1. Get married to my best friend- I want to find that someone who I can completely be myself with and love forever. Obviously I haven’t had much luck yet, but when I find him, he is going to be one lucky man!

2. Have children- I want the whole process of being pregnant, birthing, crying screaming baby, terrible twos, pre-teens, teens, adults. The joy of having children is nothing you can compare to…so I have been told.

3. Go to another country- I can’t be stuck in the US forever. I want to see another culture and other places on this beautiful earth. I love being in nature and I can’t imagine seeing some of the natural beauties of this earth.

4. Ride in a rodeo- It is crazy and could be dangerous, but hey it’s not that long right! Check! There was a rodeo at school (yeah that's what we do in Idaho). I was telling my friend how it was something I wanted to do. Her roommate happened to be in charge of the people riding in the upcoming weekends rodeo. I told her I waited to long to sign up...I was bummed. Later that night she called and said a girl had dropped out and if I wanted to I was in! It was so intense and I freaked out a little and then alot as they wanted me to get on this 700 pound steer! I lasted 2.8 seconds before slamming to the ground. I literally thought I walked away with a few broken ribs and concussion, but I sucked it up, got up, and ran for the gate. Best adrenaline rush in my life! Definitely a once in a life time experience.

5. Raft down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon- I love rafting and have done it multiple times down the Youghiogheny River, both the rapids and the scenic tour. I have never been to the Grand Canyon and I think this would be a great way to experience it.

6. Backpack through New Zealand- I love back packing, so going anywhere would be amazing. But I have seen and heard people who have gone there and how beautiful the country is. Ideally I would stay in a hostel and be a bum for about a month as I walk to countryside.

7. Compete in a triathlon- I grew up swimming, I love biking, and I hate running. Perfect! Well not really, but it still seems fun and something that I could push myself towards.Check (2 actually) Although I cant say that I did it alone. It was a team effort with lovely Erika Eichenmiller and Erin Hammond. I did the swimming part and it was a blast. It was pretty much an all day event. Erin started us off by running, then Erika almost died biking (but dont tell her I said that) and then I brought us home with the swimming. I am not sure it is something I will ever do on my own, but this was so much fun with my good friend!

 8. Become an ASL interpreter- I love working with children with special needs. I have never had the opportunity to take ASL classes but after I graduate I want to get my MBA in Deaf Education. I find sign language fascinating, and that even though people are limited on one of the senses they are still able to communicate. I would love to offer that service to people.  

9. Ride on a hot air balloon- I have just recently gotten over my fear of flying, but I think that this would still be a neat experience. $170 for an hour of flying where ever the wind takes you! To me that sounds magical.

10. Run a relay marathon-Like I said, I hate running. But I could push myself and as long as I finish I am happy with myself. Check. Didn't do this by myself either but it was more than a 26 mile marathon. We ran from Rexburg to Idaho Falls (the long way) 38.5 miles. There were supposed to be 8 in our group but 1 guy decided not to show. So we split up his leg and ran extra. We ranked 12th overall out of 72 teams with a time of 5 hours and 5 minutes! I have never been so tired and sore, but we had a blast the entire day!

 11. Go ice fishing- Well I love regular fishing and this is sort of like that but colder. The whole little hut experience would be neat, but not necessary.

12. Visit a rain forest-Why not?! Except my awesome abilities to catch random diseases and sicknesses, besides that…..

13. Win a competition- Really anything like on the radio, or entering some competition. I feel like we are a very unlucky family and never win anything. Funny story: This Christmas break my mom bought a ticket to support some fundraiser in my town and she WON! The lady called her and told her to come to town hall to pick up her prize. No one was home so she left a message. When we listened to it later my family literally all got together and just laughed. It was so exciting that someone in our family finally won something! It ended up being an alphabet pocket chart…super exciting I know. She gave it to me to maybe use in my classroom someday or with my children. Check. Last winter at BYU-I they tried holding the largest dodge ball game to break the record of I think 1600 people. We ended up with about 1200 people which is a huge game of dodge ball. We decided to play and I wouldn't exactly call this winning, but I wad the last one standing on the blue team. And yes I actually played and did not stand in the corner hiding. And no I did not cheat and stay in the game. I am just that good. Towards the end the gray team started shouting go for the guys leave the girl til last. That was my time to get some people out since i knew they weren't aiming for me. But once everyone else was out I saw like 30 people coming at me with balls! In my mind I won for the blue team. Last semester we had a rock paper scissor competition in my ward. With every competitor it was best out of 3. I ended up winning that competition and they gave me a plastic medal that I wore proudly! The guys also lifted me up on their shoulders, it made me feel like a true champ (even if it was just 31st ward)

14. Stand at the four corners Colorado, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico- to me that is fascinating, right now I feel like I live so close maybe I will make the trip.

15. See a sunset/sunrise in Maine- so romantic, inside sources tell me that it is worth it!

16. Work with handicapped children- I am pretty much there. I have worked with a variety of children already from speech problems caused by a cleft pallet/lip, to differing degrees of autism and developmental disorders. That was just from my college experiences, working with families and their children would make me the happiest person.

17. Bike from Pittsburgh to DC on the Appalachian trail- My Pappap brought up the idea a few summers ago to bike from Pittsburgh to D.C. He asked if I would go with him!? Of course! So we started out small and he went to the gym and biked there a few times a week and I would bike a few miles. So we planned a family trip to Ohiopyle where you can rent bikes and go on their trails, which as so beautiful. But a few months before we were going to go, he found out he had cancer and they had to remove it. A lot of other things happened and I was planning on postponing the trip until he got better. That was our goal. He did get well enough and last summer we went and biked about 3 miles at Ohiopyle. It was enough for him and we would never be able to bike the Appalachian Trail together, but it is something that I want to do for me and for him. We have all the research done and there are a variety of choices. I want to just go with a pack and sleep on the side of the road and just bike. They say it will take about 3 days. My body might not like me to much but I have a reason and a purpose for doing this.

 18. Take a spontaneous trip- I have a friend, Martin, who was telling me how one day he would love to just go to the airport and find the cheapest flight and where ever it is, go! Hop on that plane with no plan in mind, but have an amazing trip. I have not forgotten that idea and would love to do it someday.

19. Spend the night in a castle in Ireland or Scotland- It’s my heritage…and way sweet!

20. Get punched in the face- This sounds so weird I know, but I want to know what it’s like spontaneously being slapped in the face.

21. Make a list of 100 movies/100 books and watch and read them all- I love to read! This would be a great goal for me. I know that I have already read over 100 books, I wish I knew how many I have read in my lifetime. When I find a good book I just can’t put it down, literally.

Sirens all day

I was driving to work this morning and there was a bad accident on 54th that made me take a detour to get to school. I am not good with directions but luckily it was only a few blocks and I was able to make it to school. I didn't think much about this accident until I was on my drive home.

During the day while I was supposed to be teaching math an announcement came over the load speaker. My teacher has tried training me to block them out if they are in the middle of the school day because she doesn't want to interrupt learning time. Well the words lock down caught our attention and we listened. My school was placed on lock down for about an hour today because of a robbery. It happened down the street at a Walgreen's. The man took off running in the direction of our school. From what I heard he then went missing in the area of our school, hence the lock down for our classrooms. The police did catch the man  about a block down from our school. There were police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, lights, and sirens. While this was all going down outside my teacher was taking care of the necessary protocol while I read a story. I read A Diary of a Worm, because I do enjoy that book and I could make it exciting to get the children's minds off of what was going on, because at that time we all had no idea, just that it wasn't a drill. Eventually all went back to normal and we were able to continue on with our lessons.

Then on the was home I was sitting at a light and I heard more sirens turn on and head my way. Luckily they were going to other direction. But that is when I stopped to think about all the I saw today. Way to many sirens and police for one day. I heard that I was going to be in a tough area, and it is proving to be just that. Whether it is children puking in my class one day and on lock down the next. I never know what to expect when I show up each day.

Kearns on Lock down story

I'm a Harry Potter nerd

I heard from my parents today and they are enjoying the sunshine and warm weather down in Florida! I was super jealous that they were going down with Uncle Ed and Aunt Beth but they need a nice weekend break like this. I woke up in the morning from a text message from my dad, and I think it is the greatest thing I have ever read on a text..."good morning Megan, what wand would you like?!" They were at Universal Studios today and my parents aren't big Harry Potter fans but oh man I am obsessed a little! I went there last summer and seeing the castle was a magical experience for me. I went through Ollivander's show and was going to buy a wand but I didn't, I settled with something else instead. After I got home and told my family all about it they were like why didn't you get a wand. I wish I would have, but it was too late. BUT from that text message I have a feeling that my parents are coming home with a present for me! That would be so amazing if they did, if not I could live without a wand of my own. If you have never been these were pictures that I took of the harry Potter past of the park! We heard the line can be ridiculous so we literally ran through the park (because of course the castle is in the very back). Luckily it wasn't that bad at all, we waited 30 minutes. And throughout the day I think we went on the roller coaster in the castle 3 times! I really could have just stayed in the castle all day. The ride itself was amazing too!

 House points

 Wall of talking/moving pictures

 Floating candles

 O;livander and I

 Erica drinking some Butterbeer! It was so good especially on a hot day.



I practicing my wand skills in the store, I must say I was pretty good. I could knock over boxes :)






LOVE THE CASTLE! They did such a good job with everything.

Friends make you feel at home where ever you are

I wanted to add some pictures to liven it up a bit but I haven't taken any in Utah yet. I will get on that soon. Today my great friend Nicole, who I grew up with came to visit me!!! I was so excited and happy to see her. She is a married woman now so I have to share her with a man, but he is alright cause he is is willing to share her occasionally with me! Today was so much fun with her and Jeremy and Caitlin and Corinne. The Greensburg girls together again, and the MLPG3CCSS (that is a story for another day!)
These are pictures from her wedding in November at the Draper temple.

 When we are all together we are pretty crazy, so this is normal for us. The just smiling picture just seemed weird.

 I'm a huge fan of how this one turned out!

This is my favorite picture of us! I don't think Nicole even noticed, but when they came out of the temple and they took a few pictures she didn't know what to do next. For a few seconds no one was talking or taking pictures or anything so Nicole leaves her new husband and walked straight over to me to give me a hug! It seriously made me so happy and I am so glad the photographer caught a picture of it. That moment with a best friend was so amazing to me!

21 and BINGO

People never seem to understand why I enjoy playing bingo so much. I like the thrill of the game I guess, maybe that is why I am not supposed to gamble, but trust me when I say I am not addicted. Erica, Lizzy, and I used to play at the fire-hall occasionally and I play ever year at the Stahlstown fair, and lets be honest I have won once and it was $60! I just love bingo, yes I ever have my own set of dobbers for those of you that are wondering. Only orange, blue, purple, red, and green....... :) But since I have moved to Utah I have been in search of fun things to do and I have a friend Mallory who I student teach with (who is awesome by the way!) and she invited me to bingo on Wednesday! I was like wait what?! At Applebee's in Murray every Wednesday night from 9-11 they play bingo for free. They hand you out a card and markers while you are eating and play 3 games every hour. I was like I am there. So I meet Mallory and her friends from her singles ward, there was probably about 20 of us young adults and then maybe 8 other people in the restaurant. I was so confused why this placed wasn't packed with people, but they must not share the same love of bingo.

Overall it was so much fun, I meet alot of cool new people and the 2 girls sitting by me both won. And then when we were getting ready to leave, the waitress told us that someone had paid the tab for all of us. It was so nice of them to do that! So thank you to whoever did that. We will never know exactly who it was but what a generous person!

I have done that before to small families and it really is a fun feeling. I had a roommate and friend Meg and we were pretty tight you could say. And at school we went to eat at Winger's for lunch I think it was the end of the semester. There was a family of 4 sitting a few tables away from us and so Meg said lets chip in and pay for their meal, it doesnt look like they ate too much and there were 4 of us. So we all agreed that would be fun and random acts of service just make you happy. We told the waitress what we were going to do and she was so cinfused why we would ever do that, but she agreed to bring their check and to not tell them who it was. Since we were relatively close we could hear when the waitress told the family. The dad and mom started crying. They told the waitress that the dad had finally graduated from school and he has been out of a job, but they wanted to celebrate a little bit with their children. So they went out to eat a small meal. This was such a blessing to them and they said "please thank whoever did this greatly and more than you could ever know" So by this point the 4 of us are almost in tears and we just look at each other and thank Meg for bringing it up. It was not easy to do as college students we are also poor, but the blessings we received through the thankfulness of that family were worth the $10 extra.