It is the last day of December and I woke up to a great start. I went downstairs and into the kitchen and a great breakfast greeted me. Mom cooked eggs and hotdogs. It's the usual but it's great!

I prayed silently and proceeded to chow down on the food that was in front of me. Mom emerged from the study room and saw me. "Don't eat all of it! Leave some for everyone else okay?" She asked. I nodded and continued eating.

Me and my mom are the only ones awake. My other relatives got here last night and hit it off with Matt and my dad. Me and mom just slept through it. I am not really in the mood to hang with them. I was already tired doing preparations for New Year's Eve food.

I finished eating and washed my eating utensils. After that, I went on to clean the living room and the kitchen while mom cleaned the front and backyard.

Not a moment too soon, everyone was awake. The children were running around and the adults were discussing on what food they will prepare for tonight.

I am in the middle of adult and child- an adolescent to be exact. Sadly, I'm the only teenage in the house and I just did normal teen stuff- basically just burying myself in the world of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The flew fast. It was already afternoon and my phone ran out of battery so I had to charge it. I was reminded that I should do my homework though, since school starts in a couple of days. Ugh. I know, "Homework on Christmas vacation?" It's just how my school defines vacation.

I opened my laptop and clicked on MS Word. Of course I had to open some social media in the background plus YouTube to prevent this student from dying (bad joke. I know). It IS a good distraction from all the work though.

I typed things for an hour now and time check: 6:07 pm. I hear the adults babbling on about food downstairs while the children are fortunately asleep.

I finished my homework an hour later and as I was about to shut down the laptop, my phone rang (I might have turned it on between charging for another good distraction). It was an unknown number. "Hello?" I said.

"Good evening, this id Ivory's mother. Have you seen her? She hasn't come home yet and it's getting late." She said in a worried tone.

"Oh, I don't know where she is. I'm at home. What could be the reason that he went out?" I asked.

"They went out to film for your English project." She said. I told you projects rob us of our time and could potentially harm us.

Anyway, I became worried. "I'll contact some of her groupmates." I assured her. "Okay, call as soon as you get info" she said and I dropped the call.
======================
"...got home at around 6!" Kelly Angela said.

"What!? It's seven and she's still not home! I can't contact her!" I yelled.

I called 3 people already and none of them know where she might be. One of them found the potential that she might have run away. Her parents are awesome! Why would she run away?

I decided to call Ariana.

"He--"

"Ivory is missing and you are asking me where she is?" She interrupted.

"Well, yeah." I said.

"She just called. She just got home. Traffic can sometimes be a bust, you know." She said.

I released a sigh of relief. Good thing it wasn't something major.
======================
It's 11 pm and it's already noisy with all the fireworks. Explosions can be heard anywhere and colorful fireworks can be seen above.

The crazy thing in this neighborhood is that the people go full blast on the fireworks an hour before 12 am and when midnight strikes, they run out of fireworks. Excited much? Yes. Very much.

And we want to get in that action. When dad came down from the stairs, he gave me 'the look' and that was my cue to get half of the fireworks they bought and that's my brother's cue to get the lighting stick. Basically just the round spiral-y mosquito killers lit up attached to a bamboo stick.

Mom went out to take pictures. We had fun lighting up the fireworks and watching them blow up in mid-air. After 30 minutes, the firework noises began to subside as did ours. We all went inside and waited for the big countdown.

"5...4...3...2..."

"HAPPY NEW YEAAAAR!"

"YAAAAS!"

"WHOOOO!"

There were lots of screaming and the environment just got noisier than ever! It's a first.

We went outside to continue with the fireworks. We had fun watching every bit of the booms and pops that can be heard from everywhere. There's even this one called 'fountain' that seriously is amazing to watch!

We all went inside when we ran out of fireworks. Our neighbors were still going on with their firework show.

Once inside, I quickly rushed to the kitchen and got my eating utensils. I got big scoops of everything that was in there except for the salad. It was vegetable salad and yeah. I don't like veggies to be honest.

I prayed silently before anyone could take a bit of their food. I don't know why but they persecute me when it's normal to just pray.

Afterwards, I began devouring what's in front of me. Piee of advice: do NOT mix juice and root beer. It tastes horrible.

Anyway, we drunk some wine while telling stories to each other. After that, we cleaned up and headed to our rooms.

By the time all the doors were locked, it was already 3 am or past that. I played some worship songs and plugged my earphones in so I can ignore the deafening blows of the fireworks still not showing any signs of halting.

It may be the end of the year but for me, it's just the beginning of a new journey. Only this time, with Christ.
======================
Happy New Year everyone! You are all so amazing! Thank you for being a part of my 2016. You have made me happy in many ways!

Remember this verse for 2017:
"You won't even have to fight. Just take your positions and watch the LORD rescue you from your enemy. Don't be afraid. Just do as you're told. And as you march tomorrow, the LORD will be there with you."
~2 Chronicles 20:17

2017 is a new battle. But always remember that God is fighting for you. No Goliath is bigger than our God who is greater!

I pray that you have an amazing 2017 and may we connect more not only through this book but in the mission God has called us to do.

I look forward to a fantastic year with all of you. Thank you so much for everything!

Happy New Year! God bless you :)