Madison Sanders Writes

Memories Rewind will have to happen late this week. I'm not feeling good at all, and I don't want to post a so-so post that's no good. It will be up Thursday or Friday. I have a test on Friday, and I'll be studying for that. Send good thoughts my way. When Friday is over, I'll consider it an accomplishment that I made through this week.

I regret not being able to post these last few days. I had a really rough weekend. I was just trying to make it, you know? Even though this weekend wasn't the greatest, I went to bed believe today would be better day. I'm having to constantly remind myself what the Word says about my situation because I know nothing good ever comes from being negative. That's easier said than done, but God promised his grace would be sufficient through it all. We had a small graduation party for my brother this weekend. He graduated from an electrical lineman program, and although it was a short program, he learned some invaluable skills. The whole family is proud of him. This is a picture of all of the cousins together, which is rare because I'm not usually able to come. The fun isn't over yet! We have my other grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary coming up this weekend. I'm sure it will be great. What did you do this weekend?

In elementary school, you learn about geography, have spelling tests, and look forward to recess. What happens after school is even better. My best friend, Amanda, had invited me to her birthday party along with our other friends. We celebrated with cake and presents and a little dancing. We pulled out our sleeping bags and settled in for the night. Little did we know there would be a turn of events. Amanda passed out glow sticks to everyone there. I ripped open the black package that had Glow Sticks written on it in a variety of colors. A friend of mine, K, started chewing on hers. Soon, everyone was doing it. I was chewing on mine, when I heard a pop. "This can't be good" I thought. I slowly pulled the glow stick out of my mouth with a sinking feeling in my stomach. Phew! Green glittery goop went everywhere lighting up the sleeping bag that I had borrowed from my brother. I turned the glow stick package over, carefully reading its contents. "Non- Toxic, but don'

We celebrated my grandparent'(on my dad's side) 50 th anniversary this weekend. Let me say-that is a long time to be married to one person. Even through the roller coaster that is life, they have stuck together. Through the death of their young son, they stuck together. That means something. It's refreshing to know that marriages can last. The best part was that they knew nothing about it. They decided to have it indoors because of the weather. Everyone had a great time talking about things that were done years ago, but the memory of it lives on forever. My oldest cousin and me My youngest cousin and me I needed this one to be more cropped, so I tried something a little different. My brother The only thing that I forgot to get a picture of was the food, and I'm kicking myself now for not remembering. We had brisket, ham, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, and some kind of rice dish. There was a beautiful cake for dessert. Unfortunately we had to leave rig

I'm doing a group project in Communication on rhetoric. For those who don't know, it means using language to effectively please or persuade. It has three main parts: Logos, Ethos, and Pathos. Logos means using reasoning to have a logical argurment Ethos appeals to the ethical side of things; source credability(perceived trustworthiness) Pathos appeals to the emotional side of things; using vivid language Here are a few that I thought of: The Ultimate Gift Black Beauty The Beautiful Mind Our goal is to have a clip of a movie to represent each one if possible. To Kill a Mockingbird has all three parts, but we want a few more clips if we can find them. I know my readers have some great ideas, so I thought I would ask everyone. Any movie suggestions that college students could relate to that fit within one of those categories? Book and movie lovers should love this topic.

Girls have some creative imaginations. My cousins and I were over at my grandparent's trying to think of something to do. I think we spent more time deciding on something than actually doing it. After all, necessity is the mother of invention, right? It might have had something to do with a concert that I'd gone to. I had the brilliant idea to get my younger cousins in front of the fireplace to do a one of a kind performance. Decked out in our Backstreet Boys t-shirts, we belted out "I Want it That Way", "Larger Than Life", "Everybody", "Quit Playing Games" (with my heart), and many others. My Memaw had the camcorder nearby so she filmed it. Many on the couches asked for an encore, and we happily obliged. I played the part by singing into my hand. My younger cousins showed off their best dance moves. My youngest cousin would laugh during the performances."Come on y'all, make it fun!" I said. Sometimes the youngest one would

Whew! What a week. I finally have a moment to sit down and gather my thoughts. I've had lots of tests, quizzes, and preparing for presentations. I love it when I turn in an assignment because it means that I've completed one more task. Even if that means gritting my teeth until the clock says 10:50, so be it. I'm not giving up. It's just not who I am. I also want to take a minute to talk about September 11th. It's the day that we vecame more aware of the the safety of our country, of life as we know it. I stumbled across this great video that I think sums up my thoughts and sentiments perfectly. Click here to view video.(Link has been removed because video isn't available anymore).  In the video, the kids start making something to represent their feelings. This reminded me of getting my feelings out in the open whether I'm happy, sad, or angry. I remember exactly where I was on September 11, 2001. I woke up with a very painful tooth. My

I always loved to play with my brother outside. Unfortunately, I had to figure out a different way to do something because of my disability. We were outside at my Granny's house. The sun was beating down on our backs as we ran to get our tricycles. Mine was a light pink with purple and sea foam green accents. Yeah. It was all girl. My brother's had red on it. I'm not too sure about the specifics now. At the age, I thought our Granny and Papa's house had the perfect driveway for tricycle races. There was a hill at the top that gave us enough of a challenge to make it fun. Then, it dipped down and leveled out. My brother was already hoisting his up the hill. I was having a little trouble. I couldn't figure out how to get beside my tricycle to push it. I would try, but the tricycle kept rolling backwards. Push, roll. Push, roll. This happened repeatedly. I was getting frustrated. I had a race to win. I didn't have time to be wrestling with a tricycle. It must have

A smile This is one of the easiest things someone can do, yet it can make such an impact on someone's day. Best of all, they're contagious. :) A child skipping down the street This reminds me about hope and to find joy in the simple things. Flowers because they remind me of my Memaw's beautiful rose garden The roses remind me that there are seasons of growth, seasons of dying, and seasons of pruning. Sometimes things take longer than we want them to. Sometimes change is difficult. In the end, there is always a beautiful rose. My Mama's jokes because they remind me to laugh even if I don't feel like it These are a few of the things that inspire me each day. It's nice to stop and take a look around you. In this fast paced world, people forget the simple pleasures in life. I recently saw a quote on Molly and Marshal's blog that I loved. It said, "Don't get so caught up in making a living that you forget to make a life." That's so true. Wh

I know why people blog. They want to keep in touch with family who are far away, they want a place to share their thoughts, whether it evokes laughter or tears. Some do it to catalog their recipes online and not scattered throughout the house on various note cards. Others do it to share their love of scrapbooking or photography. What I want to know is what keeps you coming back to a person's blog. As I've said before, there are literally thousands of blogs to choose from. This is something I've pondered for awhile now. Is it the design of the person's blog, the content, their humor?

Kid's days are filled with play and fun. When in elementary school, one dreams of recess. My friends and I met up for recess. We stopped in the middle of the chaos to decide what we want to do. We decided on the monkey bars. Crystal climbed up, followed by Amanda, Kiaya, and Samantha. I slowly made my way up, gripping the silver metal bars for dear life. My usual spot is about halfway up. I didn't like to venture up any further. We sat and talked about our day, which consisted of topics like, "Do you want to play freeze tag? Did you see what so and so was wearing today? I can't believe I got study hall (aka after school detention)!" We really thought we were something sitting high atop the monkey bars, surveying all of the "little people" down below. Recess was coming to a close when I got a bright idea. I was going to climb to the top of the monkey bars. "I just want to see what it feels like." I told myself. I turned around, being careful so