It’s just that time of year when there’s so much I want to share. First, (and probably why you’re here) Xander, Ryan, Jesse and Ben’s calculus video. Once AP tests are over, there’s not much to do in those classes. All the teacher fill those weeks in different ways, but the AP Calculus teachers assign videos. You might remember Hansie’s.

Get ready for HILARIOUS

‘Derived’ from Disney’s ‘I See the Light’ from Michelle Lehnardt on Vimeo.

Next, we’ve been having a ton of fun over at RubyGirl.org. We announced our summer retreat (and it’s filling up fast), Ruby Answers hits a home run every time, tomorrow we’re announcing our book club and we have AMAZING posts every day. In the past week, we’ve had more great posts than I can reasonably link to, but I’m especially proud of little Miss Mary. She received fan mail after writing this post and was amazed to find herself even more inspired to be nice to her brothers and to be the nice girl her readers saw. See? This is why I love writing. It transforms us into better people.

WHAT MY CAT AND MY BROTHER TEACH ME ABOUT SERVICE

I’m especially proud of Abby for her story about being the mean girl at camp and how she changed. It was this conversation that first put the seed of RubyGirl.org in my mind. It’s hard to share our struggles and mistakes, but when we do, so many people can benefit.

 

I WAS THE MEAN GIRL AT CAMP

 

Darling Lizzy wrote our most popular post ever with her advice on dating (or not dating).

ADVICE ON BOYS FROM THE ROMANTICALLY CHALLENGED

I’m thrilled to introduce you to Ellie Heiden. You’ll never be the same after watching this video.

Catherine Arveseth told me about Ellie one day while we were on a walk and I knew we needed to interview her. Ellie’s currently serving an LDS mission in Portland, Oregon. She just happened to be home for gallbladder surgery, which was miserable for her, but fortuitous to us. Ellie graciously spent some of her recovery time with us, answered all our questions, went to lunch with Catherine and worked her way into our hearts. Finding a time to film this video was so complicated we had to do it at Catherine’s house when she wasn’t even home and Mary worked as the camera crew. I had over an hours worth of footage and had to pare it down to ten minutes. Thankfully, Catherine filled in all the blanks with her beautiful write-up.

I WAS THAT PERSON NO ONE THOUGHT WOULD AMOUNT TO ANYTHING – VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH ELLIE HEIDEN

All my friends know my angst over living in an area where the church doesn’t really need me. RubyGirl is easing those feelings. All my silly, somewhat useless talents have been called on in building, managing, recruiting and contributing to the site. So, if you’re feeling a bit useless, just hang in there, keep working on the things that call to your heart and remind yourself the future is full of happy surprises.

 

p.s. I’m still writing over at Segullah and this post is near and dear to my heart (even if it’s not getting read!). DOES AGGRESSIVE DRIVING MAKE YOU A BAD CHRISTIAN?