Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010, Denver, Colorado~

Dear Journal~

Sage McDermott here!  I hope this finds you well; I am doing great, especially since I have a long holiday weekend coming up!  No school Monday:  Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!  Which means I can sleep in to noon if I want!!!!

I love days off from school!  They're the best!!!  :D

I had an awesome Christmas:  went to a bunch of Christmas parties, and I nailed my solo at church.  I was very happy at how good the church cantata turned out!  It went better than expected!  I know Uncle Fenton and Aunt Reba were proud of me; it really felt good!

I love my little puggy-wuggy, "Smedley":  he's the cutest wittle puppers in the whole, wide world!  I wish everybody could have a "Smedley" in their lives; they'd be a lot happier!  I should have thought of asking for a puppy long ago, when I was having all those problems at school!

For Chrissie I got an mp3 player, ear buds for the player, batteries, a new digital camera, cash (over $600!!), new clothes, new games for my Wii system, and gift cards to Bath and Body Works, Barnes and Noble Booksellers, Olive Garden, Sayonara Cafe' (a new Japanese restaurant just up the street; I love sushi!!), and Chili's.  I also got one for Appleby's.  Lots of nice stuff, as you can see!  I made out like a bandit; it was the best Christmas I can remember having in a very long time!

The weather here is cold: nothing unusual, seeing it is winter.  Meanwhile, in Australia, where my new penpal lives, it's summer; it's more than likely hot there.  I have been writing to Camie Singleton since after Thanksgiving; she's the same age as me, and she and I like a lot of the same things.  She's a Christian; she got saved when she was thirteen,  younger than when I did.

Camie has sent me piccys of "Oz" and of her family; she has three sisters, all younger.  And one is in a wheelchair; she has spina bifida.  She was born like that; she's ten and is a brat, according to Camie.  LOL  Her other sisters are six and thirteen; Camie's the oldest in her family.

I wonder what it would be like to have a brother or sister.  All I have is my aunt and uncle, as well as "Smedley".  LOL

Aunt Reba said if I keep my grades up the rest of this school year, she and Uncle Fenton might send me to visit Camie in Australia sometime this coming summer.  I think that would be aweseme; I've always wanted to go to the land of koala bears, Vegemite, kangaroos, and wallabies ever since I was a little girl!  I find Australia fascinating!

I'm trying like he-double-hockey stick to do my assignments on time and to keep my grades up!  I would soooo love to go to Australia!!!!

Well, I gotta go:  "Smedley" is looking for a place to pee or poop; not going to have him go in my clothes or in my room.  Yuck!  I will go now; will write another time!  Til later, this is Sage saying so long!  God bless and pray I get to go to Australia this summer!!!

Bye!

~Love, your friend in Colorado, Sage Rainbow.  :D