31st Anniversary Prayer from Alexa (Nov 4 2009)

A prayer for mom and dad...

Father,

I just want to thank you for giving me parents who have followed and feared you throughout all their years together.

Thank you for giving me parents who trained up their children in the way they should go -- from reading the Bible in the evenings (even the mysterious book of Hezzekiah) to learning life lessons from The Millers and the Bayou, to instilling solid Calvinist values in us from an early age: "Why did God make you and all things? For his own glory!" I see so few people, even Christians, who have this solid foundation of truth -- and amidst all of today's postmodernism, there is nothing greater than knowing the truth.

Thank you for giving me parents who have remained my closest friends through the years. I meet so many people who don't want to go home for the holidays. But I can't wait to see my family and look forward to those walking-home-from-work calls every day! There's nothing more restful than just being at home with my family, eating ice cream cake, enjoying mom's amazing baking and dad's delicious cooking, and snuggling on the couches. Thank you for giving me a family with that kind of love and closeness!
And thank you for parents who've always reminded us that your siblings are going to be your closest friends throughout the rest of your life. I'm still always amazed when I see things like how Sam wanted to call home every day when she visited us in SF -- what teenagers want to do that?! But you've given our family a love and a bond that is really unlike any other. I pray that you'll continue to sustain it through the years.
I also thank you for all of the others they've brought into our family through the years. They've shown us what it means to open up arms and hearts to others. From Xavion and Savannah to Wayne to Hannah to Kathleen and Jake, our family is more than the 5 of us, and I thank you for giving me parents who are always eager to adopt more into this love! I pray that I'll be able to model this openness and hospitality throughout my life.

Thank you for giving me an example of what true love is -- a commitment that lasts through good times and bad times. When Seth and I decided to say "I love you," was when we realized that love is not about finding the perfect person -- because even if they were perfect at first, you may soon realize they have flaws you never imagined -- but instead it's about finding perfect commitment: Someone who is willing to stick with you, come what may.
Thank you for giving me parents who modeled this kind of love. There is no more perfect love than a commitment grounded in you! Considering how many people I meet these days who live together but don't want to get married because they fear they won't stay "right for each other" and won't be able to "change together" -- having parents who modeled real love that endures past all changes and all hardships and all the good times as well is such a rare blessing.

Thank you for showing me what it means to lift our faces towards you, even in the midst of the darkest times -- showing me what it means to say, "though he may slay me, yet will I trust in him." Sometimes I just can't believe the hardships and experiences that mom and dad have gone through, and are somehow able to praise you anyway. So many people would have run from you by now.
Yet mom and dad somehow have found their strength in you and have drawn closer to you through it all. Thank you for making them a light for you in the darkest times -- I know that so many people have seen it and been baffled. I know that through mom and dad, you have drawn so many people closer to yourself.

I also thank you for the model of hard work and selflessness that you've given me. I watch mom and dad at his job, just pouring themselves out -- like that Giving Tree -- till there's little left for themselves. They have poured so much into this family without expecting anything in return.
But now I pray God that YOU will fill THEM up. Give them your strength and your grace as it continues to overflow to others. I pray that today and each day they will feel refreshed and alive in you anew.
I pray that you'll give them strength in the days ahead -- watching Sam head off to college, continuing to work hard and enjoying the days ahead that you'll give us. Where there are fears and worries, I pray that they'll be able to cast all their cares upon you.

Give them strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow!

Great is your faithfulness.

Amen

P.S. I love you both so much! I didn't get to make you an interactive card this year... but since it's almost turkey season, don't forget to listen to the turkey song here: Snippets of Recordings for Mother's Day

THE CRICKET by Samantha Weber

(I don't really remember now, but I imagine Sam dictated this to me. Over the years we collected a lot of critters and had our own natural museum. Such good memories. Guessing Sam would have been 5. Alison)

I see crickets all around my sandbox. Zach found 5 crickets and I caught one. Zach made me give it to him. He put all the crickets in a jar. He calls it his cricket jar. It has dirt in the bottom and plants. He wets a cottonball and puts it in the jar everyday. When I wanted my cricket back out of his jar, he wouldn't give it to me. He said it was his. I cried.

That night after dinner, I found a cricket right on top of our kitchen table. I caught it. I found an empty mayonnaise jar and put him in it. I fixed it all up with lots of grass and a wet cottonball and a stick. I found a lid for the jar too, but it didn't fit very well.

I took my cricket jar outside and tried to add some more grass to it, but it tipped over and my cricket hopped away. Actually, I didn't see it leave, but I know it did because when I looked in my jar again, it was gone. I was sad.

The End

Alexa and Foodspotting attract seed funding attention!

Alexa and Foodspotting attract seed funding attention!

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Samantha Weber - Senior 2010 HS Graduate

Application Essay -- Samantha Weber Fall Senior Year 09

Prompt
Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.

A Story of a Journey

I’ve heard that when you think that something is the end, it is really only the beginning. To me, this means that when one chapter ends in your life, good or bad, you can be sure that a new chapter is about to begin. At the end of my freshman year in high school, my twenty-one year old brother died in a tragic hiking accident outside of his Air Force base in Aviano, Italy. His death was a closing to one chapter that transformed who I am today.

This new chapter titled “Formative” began in darkness as I went through all the necessities accompanying Zach’s death: visitations, the funeral memorials, followed by months of “firsts” without him. I questioned God and everything I had grown up believing. I mulled over questions, such as: “If there is a God, how could he have let the ground fall from beneath Zach’s feet? Why did He let him venture onto the ledge alone? Why did Zach have to die three days before coming home after being away for over eighteen months?” My heart ached for answers, for an explanation, for anything that would provide relief to something so incomprehensible.

I found relief starting my sophomore year when I read Night, by Elie Wiesel.
He detailed his suffering and questioning of God. Although our stories were different, I identified with him after he lost his family during the Holocaust. He also questioned God, and I understood his sentiment: “His eyes were opened and he was alone – terribly alone in a world without God.” My fingers fumbled as I turned page after page in Night, waiting, wanting, along with Mr. Wiesel, for God to intervene, but he didn’t. Instead Mr. Wiesel was beaten, worked, starved, and moved from camp to camp. He waited for the end, whether it came by rescue or by death.

As I turned the last page of Night, depravity became a tangible feeling that flowed from his book up my arms and into my heart. Then my heart began to break as my own depravity began to ravage me while I examined the opening chapters of my life and found their titles were ugly: Fastidious, Impetuous, Prodigal. Looking back, I realize that every time I fought with my mom, had to take out the trash, or had something not work the way I anticipated, I found a way to blow it completely out of proportion, bringing misery to others and myself. Then, one day, I looked out my window at the trees flowing orange, red, and yellow; the sun was setting behind them and clouds wisped white across a pink sky. Stunning! The warmth of the picture before me soothed my aching soul and God’s presence, like the sun lighting up a room, lit up my soul and spirit. The magnificent masterpiece before me was proof of God’s goodness, and I realized that no matter how many ghastly events happen, His goodness will always outweigh the pain and darkness of all tragedy.

Night detailed the impact the Holocaust had on Mr. Wiesel, and similarly, my life was also completely transformed by Zach’s death. No longer did I turn a fight, a bad grade, or a chore into a tragedy – now I knew what tragedy was. My fastidiousness turned to understanding, impetuousness to circumspection, and my prodigal attitude towards time to appreciation. Today, I find myself able to accept disappointment, such as when I tore the major ligament in my knee and had to miss my entire senior soccer season. Instead of wasting time pouting about my injury, I seized the opportunity to support my team and worked hard in physical therapy for my next season. Finally, I now take time each day to say “I love you” to my family and friends because I know how quickly things can change. I cannot say that all of these changes have come directly from Zach’s death; however, his death commanded maturity and, ultimately, a positive transformation.

Over the past three years my life has not always seemed fair; but since Zach’s death, I have gradually grown up to be a person I’m proud to be. I am proud to say that throughout my years in high school, despite the hardships I have faced, I have stuck to my principles and made changes for the better. I’m definitely not perfect, probably a little broken around the edges, but my resilience has allowed me to accept the closing of one chapter in my life and the beginning of a new one. Life truly is a journey and it takes determination and stamina to face the vicissitudes of life and climb to the mountaintops of success.

Leadership Essay

The content and experiences cited in this essay are Sam's, but I rewrote it (the italicized portions are mine) to emphasize the character trait I believed it showed best, Leadership. (Alison)


John Quincy Adams once said, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” Making friends with Olivia, a girl several years younger than I and still in elementary school, while on a church mission trip to Appalachia Kentucky was, I now see, a time of inspired leadership for me. Olivia was quiet around me when we first met, but I sensed a need in her that made me want to get to know her. I saw myself reflected in her life as I became more acquainted with her: Olivia played soccer; she had a caring heart; and, like all girls her age, she needed someone to come alongside her and give her confidence. I was baffled by her lack of confidence but also identified with her. Every time I took a step back and examined her, I wanted her to see the amazingly gifted, intelligent, and beautiful girl that I saw. I began investing time in getting to know her and was able to arrange to work alongside her on our mission project to help renovate a home for a needy family. We became friends.

After the mission trip, every Sunday I would seek her out to talk about her week at school, how soccer had gone, and what was up with her friends. We have grown together, giving and taking from each other’s experiences, including the death of my twenty-one year old brother and the death of both of her grandparents. My twenty-one-year-old brother died unexpectedly and not long afterwards, she unexpectedly lost both her grandparents. I understood perfectly the grief she was experiencing and began to share and care for her at an even deeper level.

I’ve been told by her mother that Olivia uses my life as a model for her own, and I know from experience that she is willing to confide in me when she feels lost or uncertain. I was surprised when I was told this because my only goal was to be a friend and give a portion of my time to help her realize how great a person she is! Whatever the reason, I am honored to have this place in her life, and I pray that I don’t set a bad example for her. This leadership experience I wandered into where someone is looking to me as a role model has pushed me to be the best that I can be for her and everyone else in my life.

Narrative Statement for Gov School Application

This is an incredible essay and the only formula for this kind of success is T-I-M-E. Sam started this one weeks before the application deadline. She probably picked it up and reworked it 10-12 times. At one point it was more than twice the 2-page double-spaced page limit. Having to cut it down once she'd said everything she really wanted to say forced her to find better words and better phrasing and be succinct. We both talked about the fact that some of the phrasing came about after she let the paper sit, then when she picked it up, new and better ways to say things literally "popped" into her head. This experience makes writing fun, especially in comparison to trying to turn out a final paper in a brief timespan. Creativity does not like to be "forced." Alison

Narrative Statement
Character is not attained through ease of circumstances but through one’s response to the vicissitudes of life that at one minute you ride high on eagles’ wings while at the next moment you plummet and see yourself falling, falling, and dashed upon the rocky shore below. I have ridden the vicissitudes of life already and am emerging as a relentless, competitive, and yet caring person who compels others to come and fly as high as me.

Two years ago my twenty-one-year-old brother died in a hiking accident in the Alps near his military base in Aviano, Italy. Moving forward without him seemed impossible, but time passed and the deep lacerations in my heart scarred over. Toughened instead of weakened by self-pity, I rejoiced in the idea that he was climbing mountains when he died. In pondering my own response to his death, I realized I was a person who never gives up.

I see my relentless spirit as I keep at my schoolwork until I am satisfied I’ve done my best job. This past week, I had not only a difficult soccer schedule but also an enormous test in my AP US History class. I felt the need to put in extra hours studying in order to be certain I’d do well. I read over my own copious notes, took online quizzes, made my own terms list, read extra material, and also enlisted two classmates for a study/quizzing session. When I got my test back at the end of the week, I had the top score in my class! My study buddies did well too and I know they benefitted from the competition I set up. Spurred on by the discovery that I can motivate others to fly higher in life, I have undertaken little people-projects in my school. So, today, there’s a French-class student, Brian, who is making note cards for the first time; a sophomore, Shelby, who brings her homework to study halls and actually does it; and special-needs students who have a better feeling about themselves because they know I think they’re cool.

I thought I’d reach the heights of success playing the beautiful game of soccer, but shortly after my brother’s death, my dream began to plummet. A soccer-related concussion led to the second worst day of my life when I was told I had Acute Traumatic Brain Injury and should never play any competitive sport again. While that diagnosis was reversed, a sternum injury and then multiple ankle sprains, ending in surgery followed. For almost two years I went to physical therapy several times a week and lost the entire first semester of my sophomore year. Worst, however, was when I was cut from my club team that is now ranked within the top ten teams in the nation. I no longer feel certain I will play collegiate soccer which saddens me greatly, but injuries as well as an epiphysiodesis and an emergency appendectomy brought me inside the medical community, especially at UPMC Sports on the southside of Pittsburgh. Instead of being a burden to me though, these experiences have brought me into friendships with many people working in health care who have willingly shared their journeys into medicine with me and given me a vision and a certainty about where I believe my future lies.

After I had the repair of my ATFL on my right ankle, my mom asked my surgeon essentially the same question we’d asked our concussion specialist, who’d replied that my life as an athlete was over. My ankle surgeon, however, had a better answer. He told my mom he could always fix my ankle. From these two different answers, I now know both extremes of emotions: the devastation of “the end of sports” and the exhilaration of “You go for it!” I understand the heart of an athlete; I want to be a doctor who can stand down the athlete’s enemy and return him to the field of battle. I look at the Governor’s School for Health Care as the beginning of my specialized education and an opportunity to make a difference for some young athletes in my community now through my proposed project.