This is an entry I sent in for a contest at the library...:

Dear God,
So much has happened to me this past year. As you know, I decided to become a Christian back in May of 2003, after attending the youth retreat. Later on, I started straying from my path with you. One of the biggest hurdles I’ve come across was Dad’s surgery on Friday, June 13th, 2003. As I’m sure you recall, he needed to get his bypass surgery from 30 years ago reversed. He was also going to get a gastric bypass surgery, but when the surgeons opened him up, they found his tissue was too thin and weak, and had to close him up after the first surgery was completed. That resulted in him not getting the gastric bypass. All summer, Dad was in the hospital. Finally, at the end of August, Dad was moved to a nursing home to recover for 20 days. Unfortunately, in his last five days of being there, he got some virus and had to be rushed back to the hospital. Finally though, Dad began to recover. Throughout this whole struggle, I bounced back and forth from being a Christian, as I’m sure you remember. Right when I was the strongest in my faith that I had ever been, my 12 year old dog, Tobi, died. It was on August 27th, 2003, my first day of school. I remember I wasn’t able to sleep that night, and I thought it was just because of nerves. Little did I know that at 2:00 am that morning, I would be calling Dad at the hospital, who would be calling our neighbor, Dawn, whom in which would rush my sister and me to a vet, where we would have to put our dog to sleep. I missed my first day of high school. It took me about a week or two to start going to church and youth group again, but I made it. Right now God, I am having a bit of trouble with the people at school prosecuting me for my faith and with my Mom, who doesn’t believe me when I say I am a Christian. In all honesty, I don't care what the people at school think, because I know you God, and that’s so much better than stressing about what they think of me. But it’s really hard knowing that my very own Mom cant believe me. It hurts, knowing that I have changed so much this past summer while becoming a better Christian. I don't listen to the Goth music like I used to, and I barely ever swear anymore. I even had a talk with my sister, trying to get her to respect our Mom more, since it’s a commandment and all. I felt so wronged when she denied me of that truth. God, please write me back soon, and show me the right way to address my struggles.

Love Always: Naomi Star __last name__