Evolution of Cara's mind.. It started with one thing and ended with quite another. Enjoy!

The past couple of weeks have been a bit of a blur. There is a good reason though...
ill start with the week of march 2-6. That was Mr. bowmen Week. and also Tayler's surgery week.. so it was pretty stressful to say the least. i was in charge of the Mr. Bowmen pageant- which is a pageant for boys at my school. Its quite entertaining, but the most important thing ,and my favorite part about the Mr. Bowmen pageant, is Doernbecher Children's Hospital. Everything we did, all the money we raised went to the hospital thorough Kids Making Miracles. That is the committee of students at Doernbecher (including myself) that raises money through schools and other community service activites, to raise money for the hospital. I love being involved with Doernbecher! it always makes me feel so great! The girls on the committee and the boys who were contestants went to doernbecher and we got the grand tour. As i walked through the halls of each ward, i couldn't help but peek into a few rooms to see adorable little children, struggling so hard to hold onto life. Ever since that day, i have wanted to help them in any way i can. So i asked our tour guide, who happens to be the special programs manager at Doernbecher, how i could get involved. She invited me to be part of the executive committee who plans and helps fundraise for the Hospital. It its amazing to see what Kids Making Miracles does. They payed for the school inside Doernbecher for the children! there is a full time teacher there who is incredible and helps the kids there to keep up with their studies so they dont feel like they are being left behind. it blows my mind!
anyways, from the pageant, we raised over $9,600 for the hospital! which is $2,000 more than last year. INCREDIBLE! i am still tweaking out about it :) Thank you so much to everyone who responded to my letter and sent money! it is so appreciated by the children at Doernbecher. And by me, because i want to help them so much. that is my soft spot.
So wednesday of that week we had our assembly for Mr. Bowmen. I was singing the national anthem and i was excited for mom to come hear me sing! but that was the same day as Tayler's surgery. so she couldnt be there. I wanted her to be with him more than i needed her to see me sing. I was so worried and stressed about tayler, and as i talked to my mom tuesday night, she told me she had asked aunt helen to come watch me and video tape. I pretty much started crying right then. Someone was coming to watch me. That was a silly thing to be so happy about but i think i will remember it forever. That was special to me, especially that week when everything sort of turned upside down.
Friday was the day of the pageant. It was a LONG day. i left 5th period to go see tayler in the hospital and then back to the pageant. It turned out soooo good. I was so happy to see it happen, and especially for it to be over. :) i didnt get home that night til after 12..
Last week was finals too.., but i got all A's so im relieved.. and this weekend has been lazy and sooooo wonderful after so many stressful weeks all in a row.
Today was particularly fabulous. It was stake conference, and the YW sang at both sessions, so i went to 4 hours of church. It was long, and the first session was a little hard to pay attention to, but i learned so much from both sessions combined. im really glad i was able to sit through it all. But what was especially great, was that i sat by my friends in the YW, and we sat and payed attention the whole time. I Love that i have friends who are on the same level spiritually as me. It is so amazing and it builds my testimony so much. I love being able to talk about gospel principles and know that they have the same standards as i do! I have grown so much in the past year from friends like them, at girls camp, and EFY. i am so greatful for last summer and those opportunites i had to grow and learn and strengthen my faith in my savior and his love for me. It was so overwhelmingly made apparent to me that i will never forget it. Singing our girls camp songs today at stake conference reminded me of the role i played at girls camp. Daughter of a king, the father's royalty. Heir to his divinity. i LOVE that song. it almost makes me cry every time i sing it, and i have sang it a lot of times. The message is so amazing. We also sang If the savior stood beside me. i love that one too. The memories that those songs evoke are priceless to me.
anyways, that is my ramble. i hope you enjoyed it.