Pictures from Senior Recognition, Christmas banquet

I am officially done with my 1st semester of my Senior year! Can you believe it? I only have one more semester of academy. Yay! So now I am home, there is much to be done. I love the holidays. First of all, I need to update my blog. Finally, I have my Senior Recognition pictures devloped, and some of my christmas banquet pictures.

Aunt Mary traveled all the way from Austin, Texas for this special occasion. I appreciated her coming out!

Stephen and I had some good bonding time with the family on our couches

Mom & I

Mom prepared a delicious Sabbath lunch

A snap pic of me before I went to the banquet.

These are the flowers my date gave to me. I gave him a boutineer

Happy Holidays!

April's Photography!

Hello everyone! If you are wondering how Christmas banquet went. I was really nice, I enjoyed the evening.  Right now I am very excited about some photography I have taken. I am in the photography class this year, and I am finding that I really enjoy it. A couple of weeks ago our project was on taking pictures of movement. So Aaron agreed to help me. I got some really great shots of him playing golf, and throwing the tennis ball. Enjoy!

Nice throw!

Aaron's facial expressions are funny

A Surprise Gift

Today, was one of the stressful days. I had to finish a 4 page research paper. I had to make a lot of changes, and other important things to it before 2:12! This week has been hard getting back into the routine of school after an amazing break. Christmas banquet is this Sunday, and I have a date. I am really excited I bought this pink formal dress that is flowy. In English class my friend Candace came up to me, and was like, Beth and I bought you a early Christmas present. I didn't know what to expect. They bought me a pink purse, that matches my dress perfectly! Apparently the day I went shopping with them for banquet dresses they bought the purse when I wasn't looking. That really made my day to know that my friends would go out of their way to give me a nice gift!The Christmas season is here, and in the same way God sent Jesus as a gift to us. Let's remember the true meaning of Christmas this year.

Thanksgiving break

Well, I have been on break since Tuesday around noon. I have been catching up on my sleep, cooking, and scrapbooking. Thanksgiving was a special day. It is our best meal of the year, and my stomach was stuffed when it was all said and done. I've been particuarly busy with National Honor Society. I am the president of the organization this year, and NHS is a service team that helps others. So we decided to have a blood drive in December. We have 32 of the 46 needed to participate. But if we cannot reach our goal then the Red Cross cannot come out. It will be disappointing if we have to cancel out, because by having this blood drive we can help save lives. It makes me feel good to know that. So if you live in the Nashville area consider donating blood, because you are needed! Then we have our honors banquet next month that we have to plan for, it is for the new inductees and their parents. I enjoy doing this, but it certainly keeps me on my toes!
~If you were watching 3abn yesterday, Danny Shelton interviewed Andy Haub. Andy Haub is a member of the New Albany, Indiana SDA church where I did YFJ in the summer! It was so neat to see someone who was at the meetings interviewed on 3ABN. He shared how the Asi meetings changed the church, and has make a positive impact. And he decided to become rebaptized after the meetings were finished!
Next week I have some old pictures to post. I may be really busy with Christmas banquet. So we'll see. Happy Holidays!

ASI Youth for Jesus experience

I shared with you all a couple of months ago how the Youth for Jesus program was a blessing in my life. I never shared with you all the photos that I wanted to, and more detail of what my days were like there. If you want to see more on what the experience meant to me go back to September, and click on the Youth for Jesus post.

Here is a picture of the the Youth for Jesus participants. We met sometimes in this gazebo type of building behind the Pewee Valley school. A couple of times we had campfires and sang together, A typical day in the Youth for Jesus was very busy, but spiritually uplifting in everyone's life.
I would wake up and have my devotions.
8:00 Breakfast
9:00 Group worship in the Pewee Valley church sanctuary. We would sing hymns. We all learned to love hymns. Sadly, in a lot of places young people are not as enthusiastic about singing hymns. They have so much more meaning and depth to them. These young people were excited and put expression into the hymns. Our favorite song was "Seeking the Lost",373. We sang this on the night of the baptism. After song service we would have worship with one of our Bible workers, and they gave good testimonies and taught us to get into our Bibles.
10:00 We had class. We had many speakers come out to speak to us. Like Chester Clark-music, Daniel, End times, Kevin Sears(our Bible coordinator)-how to give Bible studies,outreach, James Nix-Adventist History, Don MacIntosh-health message,Revelation 1, another person on health, Alan and Nicole Parker- Dating and Relationships, Daniel Mesa- how to study your Bible, devotions, Gary Gibbs- Winsome Witnessing. As you can tell we learned a lot about how to witness and about our Adventist message.
12:00 Jobs- varied daily from helping in the kitchen to cleaning the bathrooms.
1:00 Lunch! We got to interact with the Bible workers at this meal.
2:00 Worship- sang hymns, and scripture songs.
2:30 Divided into our groups to our different sites. I was in New Albany, Indiana. Others were at Jeffersonville, Indiana. Pewee Valley and Shelbyville, Ky, and Magazine Street in downtown Louisville, Ky.
3:00 or later arrived in New Albany. We went with our Bible workers to do outreach and encourage people who had stopped coming to the meetings.
5:00 supper, this was a good bonding time with our New Albany group.
6:00 Preparation for the evening meeting
7:00 Meeting, afterwards we talked about improvements we could make for the meetings, and prayer requests.
8:30 head back to Pewee Valley.
10:15 Worship with all the girls. We all shared our testimony each night. This was led out by Chelsea Jourdan, and Katie Jaeger our girl's deans.

These are my friends Marzanna and Sherene. Marzanna goes to Advent Hope!

Kristen, one of the Bible workers who I became good friends with.

Sorry! I accidentally put this pic in twice. I don't know how to cut it out.

Chelsea and I the night of the baptism.She really cared about the Youth and every night she and Katie would pray for the girls. I appreciated that. The baptism was the best night of all. You could feel the Holy Spirit there. People were crying tears of joy. I was very happy to see the people we had worked with get baptized.

Our chef, Miguel from France. He was very good at cooking vegan meals. They were the best vegan meals I had. We had tasty meals like lasagne, cheesecake, enchiladas, rice and a good sauce to go on top, and the breakfasts were good too!

This is my New Albany group. We all bonded together as a team. The man in the middle of the back was our Bible coordinator, Kalman Roller. The other two on Kal's sides, were Jeremy Wong an Keith Mosier our evening speakers. The girl, Nikki next to me and the guy, Michael next to her were our Bible workers including Keith. The rest were the youth.

Kimberly McNeilus , Nicole, and I

The lady in the middle of this group came to our meetings and was very interested in our church. I think she got baptized after we left,I am not sure. But she did go to our stop smoking classes, and desired to stop.

These two ladies came consistently to the meetings. The girl next to me, Kristin was baptized at the end. It was so rewarding to see her get baptized.I saw her grow and gave her heart to Christ, it was exciting!She gave up her Harry Potter books, and movies.I keep in contact with her now. She is actively involved in the church by helping with Pathfinders.

Becki was also baptized. She gave up her jewelry and never missed a meeting. I was very proud of her commitment to Jesus.

The program was so awesome. I grew closer in my walk to the Lord. I love to see people change in their life. Soul winning is rewarding.

What the Cross means to me

A month ago in my lifeskills class we did on a project on what the Cross meant us. I decided to use the illustration of a rose in comparison to the Cross. The drawing on the top of the page of I did.Here is what it means to me:

What the Cross means to me is that Jesus has given me hope. One of the hardest things I have gone through has been losing my dad. I've lost a bond,friendship, and security my dad gave. If I didn't have the hope of eternal life in heaven, and seeing my dad again I would be depressed and miserable. Jesus, is like a rose that has a sweet smelling odor. Jesus love has filled my life with peace. Peace to get through trials down here. The thorns on the cross symbolize all the agony He went through for me. To know that someone went through that much agony and pain just for me is indescribable. Like the ridges on the rose, my life has mazes and obstacles. With Christ's help I can get through all the challenges.Jesus love will bloom in my heart if I accept it. What he went through on the cross has given me hope to share with others the hope of eternal life in Heaven.

My favorite wedding pictures

I have been wanting to post my favorite wedding pictures. I know that this is kinda late, but I wanted to share.

My loving and amazing immediate family

Bridemaids were excited!
This picture is my favorite of Norman and Joelle at the wedding. I like the black and white and they look very sharp. This picture was put in both of our Portland newspapers in a wedding announcement. I have future posts that I want to post, but I don't want to overload you at once. So I may start updating twice a week. Here is what to look for in the future.

1. A tribute to my Dad

2. More Youth for Jesus pictures

3. Maybe Senior pictures

4. Lifeskills class Cross Project(what the cross means to me)

5. Senior Recognition pictures

This weekend I am planning to go on a music tour. It should be fun. I have a prayer request that I can work out a time to take my driver's license test, which is very much needed! Have a wonderful weekend!

Awesome Senior weekend

We went to Opryland Hotel today,and ate brunch

I had an awesome Senior weekend. To start it off Aunt Mary came in Friday night. We had Mom's yummy homemade split-pea soup, and rolls. Then, we had the Senior recognition program. Mom and Stephen walked me down the aisle. When they read about me, this is what was said

April Rose McNulty

Secret Ambition to become a Bible worker and seek souls that are lost.

Occupation: Elementary Education or Physical Therapist

Favorite Bible verse: 2 Corinthians 4:6-7

Parents: Frances McNulty

12 year Senior( I don't really remember if they said 4 or 12, but this my 12th year at Highland schools, and the first of the McNulty family to do so.)

It was very special. Pastor Watkins gave our sermon. We took pictures afterwards.I will upload once I have pictures developed. It was so nice to have Aunt Mary here, it has been hit me hard the last two years that dad is gone. It didn't hit me as hard the first couple of years, but now it does and I miss him a lot. Sabbath we went to Highland church. The Seniors were honored by wearing red carnations. Mr. Smith our chaplain asked me to give a testimony on how Highland has affected me. Well, I had to think about that. Mr. Cornell is a godly man, I appreciated his classes so much. I shared how my best memories at Highland was learning from my teachers. Mr.Cornell's worships were the highlight of my classes, he taught that we needed to get into the Word of God for ourselves, and I shared I had taken this to heart. I was glad I had the privilege to share with them. Then, we had Sabbath lunch at home. Mom made burger roast, corn, peas, rolls, and apple pie to top it off. I was so tired from late night play practices I took a long nap. Aunt Mary and Mom went to see Grandma. Last night, we had our Senior benefit to raise money for our mission trip to Costa Rica. We raised over $7,000!! I am happy about that! We had live and silent auction items, which people payed ridiculous donations for them. We did a play on our four years at Highland which was really good, and funny. Mom and Aunt Mary said they really enjoyed it. Aaron and Uncle Albert were there to support me too, and I appreciated that. One line that that was funny I had to say was "I can't believe you are so happy! It is four in the morning!" This was on our Junior History Trip scene. Some people may know I am not a morning person. Today , Aunt Mary treated us to breakfast brunch at Opryland Hotel. It was so nice. Then, Aaron dropped me off at Rivergate Mall to meet up with my friends Beth, and Candace. I went Christmas banquet dress shopping. Finally, after much searching I found a pink,long dress. I like it, but it will need alterations. Then, we went to Wal-mart, and to Candace's house in Gallatin. On the way back home, Beth( the daughter of the Pastor at Highland church) were talking about the crises at Highland. We were both sad about everything that has happened there. Pastor Hartman gave a powerful sermon on how we need to stay to the doctrines that God has given us through His word. I came home and am trying to catch up on everything. Until next time, God bless you.

April's future bakery

I have a lot of things to update you all on. So the beginning of the week is always a bit rough. I got through my classes. Both of my bosses were gone to new accounting training meetings in Georgia. I was busy in the business office. I took my Senior pictures last week, and Mom went to order them in Hendersonville. They should be here in a week, I'm excited! Some representatives came up from Southern to do interviews with us. They were professors from different departments like Education, Communications, Nursing, and Computers. I went to the Communications and Education one. I am actually interested in Communications now. I enjoy writing, and taking pictures. I talked to the professor and, I am uncertain really what I want to do. Education I know is a needed field. But, teaching is not a easy job. You have to have a lot of patience to deal with rowdy children. At the same you can make a good spiritual influence in their life to commit their life to Christ. I really need to pray about what God's will is for me in my life, rather than what I want to do. Next weekend is Senior recognition and benefit. On Friday night all the Senior girls walk down with their parents in their white dresses, and the boys as well. We all sit up front, and our sponsors read our favorite memory verse, and remembrances, our future occupation etc.. Then, on Sat. night we will have our Benefit. We are going to practice a play all week long. Which I am not looking forward to. Plus, we will have Senior choir members sing, bell choir, and gymnix. Aunt Mary is coming in from Texas for it! I am excited!! We each had to get a item donated for our live auction. I asked Mrs. Cornell to make homemade wholewheat bread for it. She makes really yummy vegan food! This brings me to my idea of making homemade bread for money to save up for college and other needs. I think I would enjoy doing this, and the people that buy it would like having homemade bread instead of storebought. This is just a idea, I'm still not sure if this will work out. Tomorrow we are going to Jared Litchfield and Chantel's wedding. The Litchfields used to be our neighbors. Being a Senior is very busy, I will be very happy when I graduate. On a Spiritual thought, I have been reading Desire of Ages this week. Ellen White wrote that Jesus brought in thousands of people in His harvesting, what are we doing down here! Staying busy with our jobs and school work, our main focus is to be reaching others. I really need to work on this. Because the only you can take with you to heaven is yourself, and the ones you helped find Jesus. May it be our desire to serve Jesus daily through witnessing and evangelism.

Another week done

I like this picture, I didn't take it. It was taken in fall, and is very nice of the sunset.

I'm very thankful that another week has come to an end. The Sabbath is so peaceful. Mom made vegetable soup, and toast. Yummy! Aaron is gone to Asheville,Ky to preach a sermon tomorrow. So keep him in your prayers. Have a nice rest of the Sabbath!

New pictures

Last year, it was nice to have Norman home for Christmas. Norman and Aaron are wearing new matching sweaters.

The family at the yummy Christmas dinner Mom has prepared. I was there, I was behind the camera!!

After Christmas we headed up to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore for GYC. This picture of Aaron and I was actually on the way back from GYC. We got to see President Gerald Ford's casket in the rotunda. What a honor that was!

This picture was on the way up to Baltimore when Norman was with us. I like Washington D.C. I could visit there any day.

Next week, I will share another place we went to visit on the way back from GYC. And, I will show my favorite wedding pictures from Norman and Joelle's wedding.

October homeleave

I was going to post some pictures today. Next time I will, I can't find them. During my break I worked all day Wednesday for 8 hrs! In the afternoon we entered all of the student workers into a new payroll system. On Thursday, I got my Senior pictures taken. If you have been to the McNulty house you will notice all of the three boys have their Senior picture framed in the living room. I'm the last, and the time has come. It went really good, but they charge a lot for pictures. Yesterday, we went to the Walwyn's house for dinner. It was really nice. I am busy today,so have a good week and I'll keep you updated soon.

I love classical concerts!

So last night Aaron took me to the Nashville Symphony concert! It was amazing! There is a new concert hall in Nashville, that is very elegant. We had front row seats which was nice, but we couldn't see all of the orchestra. You had to lift your neck up to look at everyone. But I liked it, we could see the cellos really well. We watched their runs, they were good at that. They played Schumann,Tchaikovsky , Beethoven. I enjoyed Beethoven. Everyone that came was dressed classy, and formal. We had a fun night out in downtown Nashville. My other news is I went to ViewSouthern. I need to pray a lot before I make my final decision. I slept 10 hours last night! I was so exhausted. Have a nice rest of the weekend!

College options

I've had a interesting weekend. I went to Young Women's retreat at Indian Creek Camp. It was very good. Maybe, someday I will get a digital camera and I can upload recent pictures more often. It is my last time to go to camp as a young person. I can't believe I will be in college next year. It seemed like yesterday, Aaron was there. So tomorrow I am going to ViewSouthern, and we are thinking and praying about it. I called Ouachita Hills College and they are sending me a dvd about more about their school. I am interested in going there, considering the spiritual atmosphere they have. I took an hour nap today I was so exhausted! Please pray for me in my decisions. Also, I have a silent. A friend of mine from Youth for Jesus has moved to Loma Linda, Calif. She visited Advent Hope yesterday and said she heard Norman preach. Her name was Nikki and she looks asian. I thought that was neat , what a small world we live in. September is about to wind up!

Youth for Jesus 2007

This time I will share a couple of pictures from Youth for Jesus. What a blessing the program was in my life. Now I have a mission to do Bible work in my hometown. Yesterday, Aaron and I for the first time together went on outreach to a neighborhood close to where we live. We did surveys and loaned two Final Events dvds. The two ladies we loaned them to were interested in what we had. The first one didn't know her Bible well, but wants to learn more. Next week we will do followups!
These are the girls I stayed with a month in one big classroom. We became close to each other, and grew more spiritually.Chelsea Jourdan and Katie Jaeger were are deans. We gave them cards and flowers on the last night.



The group of Bible workers and youth at New Albany church. How I miss that church!

Over all there were 77 baptisms the baptismal night! And I think 145 commitments for baptism. There is one story I want to share. Sondra had a dream one night. She dreamed that there was a banged up white car in front of her house. Then, there were two guys that came to her door. I kind of quiet, the other talkative. The next day two of our Bible workers from New Albany knocked on her door. She told them the dream. They invited her to come to our evangelistic meetings. She came and was interested. She is a religious studies teacher in college. When we were there , there were some things that she was struggling with and she got discouraged. Praise the Lord she is now going to be baptized! Our Bible coordinator stayed for two more months to do follow up work and more are getting baptized! God still gives dreams today. Like I said before my passion will not end, and Aaron and I are planning to sow seeds in Portland, Tn this year!

My 18th birthday

For my 18th birthday, I had a party a week from the day of Norman and Joelle's wedding. While I was busy getting settled back into my Senior year and unpacking from Youth from Jesus and the wedding. It was a lot of fun planning and making the food. I had 7 girls over from my Senior class, so we were busy!

It was hawaiaan themed notice the pineapple, coconut, and lei.

Our meal was delicious we had fruit salad, hot dog sandwiches, chips, and I made homemade pina colada for the drink.

I'm eating leftover cake after the party was over!!

I just finished opening my presents, and I'm socializing with friends. This is Beth and Kendra.

This is my real 18th birthday day. Mom made it very special. She took out all of the little dolls I collected when I was young and set them out in the window seat. She decorated it very pretty too.

My birthday didn't end till Thursday. Stephen came up on my long lunch break and went out to eat at El Azteca with us. First, I opened my presents from Mom and Stephen.

We're happily eating bean burritos, and rice, and other good mexican food. Wish you all could of been here. Thanks for the ones who called or wrote to me it meant a lot! I had a great birthday!

I do have a lot more to update you all on. I have wedding pics, and Youth for Jesus stories and pictures. Have a cool, crisp September!

Wedding picture of family

Today we got some wedding pictures in the mail from our McNulty relatives. Here is a picture of our family. Enjoy!

7 girls at my house!

Well.... It has been a while since I updated my blog. Sorry, let's just say that I've had a lot of good things happen since then. I went up to Youth for Jesus , an awesome experience. Then, Norman and Joelle's wedding. It was gorgeous!! Today I had 7 girls at my house for my birthday. Yes, today is my last day to be 17. So sad.. I will be 18 tomorrow. I had invited 6 girls, but a extra girl hopped in which was fine. It was a lot of fun to have a friends party. It will be my last friends party in the highland community. We spent all afternoon getting ready. Norman called today from the Chicago airport. They told us where they went for their honeymoon. I don't think I should say till they officially announce it. They seem to be doing very well. It already has been a week since they got married! I went out to cvs pharmacy to get my pictures developed from the wedding, then I bought gifts for all of my friends. It was neat having a lot of girls at my house, and it took a lot of work. They came over at 4:00. The first game I planned was I put 18 different objects in a laundry basket. I brought over to them to look over. Then, they had to write on a piece of paper as much of what they could remember, and the winner won a notepad with squirrels on it. Then, we did the trees and flower game cards. I won't explain that, it takes toooo long ! Ask me in person if you are curious. I had a hawaaian theme, so they got to wear lei's. My table was decorated with a hawaaian table cloth. Southern just put out the film "The Secret of the Cave", we bought it at ASI. While they were watching that, Mom and I hurriedly made food for 9 people total! A lot of food. We had hot dog sandwich spread sandwiches(Big Franks to be specific). I made pina colada. Yummy!!! There were chips, fruit salad, and vegan cake. Everyone sang happy birthday to me. Then, I opened my presents. I got a purse, colorful notebook, lotions, and cards. It was a very happy day for me to bond with my Senior girls. One of the girls was a dorm student. So Mom and I drove her back to the dorm. Everyone else has their license and drove to our house. I really, really feel behind. I don't have my license, because you have to drive 50 hours if you are under 18. And since everything is close by I haven't driven that much . So pretty soon I will have it, I promise! So next time, I will tell you all about Youth for Jesus with pictures. Then, the wedding! Bye everyone!!!

I'm on my way to Kentucky!

I can't say much because I am about to leave. But I am on my way to going to Kentucky. Please pray for me that I will be able to bring souls for Christ. I look forward to seeing you all at the wedding!

It's busy around here!

So it has been busy at home right now.

1.We are working on getting wedding rehearsal dinner arrangements made, and that is coming together. I can't wait till August!
2.I am leaving for kentucky in a week. So I have to start packing soon, and I have been shopping to get everything I need. I bought a new iron, and alarm clock Sunday and other things.
3. Sadly, I lost my Auntie Rosie in Austin, Texas. She is my Aunt Mary's sister-in-law. So we are flying out friday for the memorial service which will be held on Sunday. I will be great to be with Aunt Mary again.
4. OPERATION GLOBAL RAIN starts today. So pray earnestly! We are going to Highland church this evening to meet with church members to pray. Aaron told me that it was started by some pastors in Southern California, and Ivor Myers.
5. Meanwhile, I am here at work and both of my bosses are gone. But a couple of staff members are in the building.We are caught up on all of the work we can do. So I am busy at home, but not so at work. This afternoon after lunch I m going to bring things to read, and do!

That is my five points for the day. Have a nice rest of your Wednesday!