Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have/had a wonderful Christmas celebration this morning! :) I know our family had a great time together. I wrote a poem a couple days ago, and I thought I'd share it with you all! It gives you a small picture of what Christmas morning in the Eddy house is like as well as sharing the deeper meaning of this holiday.
Enjoy! :)

I call this:

Christmas Morning:

Christmas morning dawns bright and clear,

The yells of siblings in my ear.

A pillow can’t block out the noise,

Of screaming girls and yelling boys.

“Come on, wake up, and come downstairs!”

Aren’t they in bed with teddy bears?

Finally I’m dragged from bed,

First my feet and then my head.

Propped on a couch with blinking eyes

Each present filled with a surprise.

Wrapping paper and bows galore,

Excitement mounts up more and more.

Thanking my parents, giving hugs,

Footballs, jewelry, toys, and mugs.

Suddenly the hubbub ceases,

And finally quiet increases.

All us kids look up at Dad,

Who smiling, opens his iPad.

“Luke chapter two,” the story starts,

How Jesus came to save our hearts.

We listen, and the story we’re told,

The story that will not grow old.

Jesus, who came to save us all,

A better gift than mug or ball.

Only ask and if you believe,

Then this great gift you will receive.

Jesus will make your heart his home,

Never will you be all alone.

Victory in  Him, the battle won,

God loved us, so He sent His Son,

Who died on a cross with our sin,

Rising from the dead, so we will win.

This Christmas as you celebrate,

Don’t forget to love, not hate.

Like Jesus when he came to earth

From throne above to humble birth.

God bless you all through this next year,

Remember that God’s with us here.

Merry Christmas!
~Rebekah Eddy

Isaiah 9:6

Almost Christmas!

Only five days to go! I'm so, so, SO excited!!!!! (Can you tell? :P) And not because I get to spend time with my family that morning opening up presents, but because it is the celebration for Christ's birth! Unfortunately, we probably will be having a green Christmas...as usual...up here in Western Washington, but hey, God might give us a miracle! :P
Just for fun, I thought I'd post a Christmas song played by one of my favorite YouTube artists, The PianoGuys. Actually, just Thursday night we, (Mom, Dad, Andrew, Sarah, Margaret and I) got to go to a live concert by them in Seattle! It was AWESOME!!!
Enjoy a little "Merry Christmas" from the PianoGuys! :) God Bless!

Praise! :D

I passed the written test! :) And I now have my driver's permit! So excited! :D

Thank you for your prayers! :)

A Thanksgiving Tradition

Sorry I'm a little late with a thanksgiving post but our family is usually pretty busy on the actual holiday because of how much food we have to prepare... :P But anyways, here's my thanksgiving post, and I apologize for having it be late. :)

We have tradition of giving a "Thanks for being an awesome sibling" gift to a selected sibling every year. At the end of October when Mom puts all our kids names in a hat, one by one, each of us draws out a name of a sibling. That name is who we get to buy a special present, usually something small but something we think that they would enjoy. Our price limit, depending on age, is anywhere between  about $10 and $20.
 For example, this year I drew Samuel, my youngest brother. He's pretty easy to buy for because he loves what I call "boy toys": cars, airplanes, and army guys. :) I chose a Stunt Squadron Kit, which is five foam airplanes that he could decorate himself with stickers and then throw outside in our field. He loved it! (Score for big sis! :D)
Also, when we give them their gift Thanksgiving Day morning, we have to tell them a couple reasons why we're thankful to them. My reason to Sam was: "Thanks so much for always being cheerful. Even when the rest of us are having a bad day, a simple smile from you can make us forget our grumpiness."

To end my post, I thought I'd put down why I'm thankful for each of my family members.

Dad: You're the most awesome Dad EVER! :) I'm so thankful God chose to put me in this family and gave me the privilege to be your daughter. It's so fun to have a pastor for a dad.

Mom: What an example you are to me. I have learned so much from your teaching, and not only from you homeschooling me. You've taught me pretty much all I know about cleaning the kitchen as well as baking and cooking.

Andrew: My favorite older brother! :P Of course, you are my only one...but back to the subject: Thanks to you for being a protector. I always feel safe around you, and it's so fun to go to your house and watch a movie with you! Those memories I will treasure always.

Sarah: You are such a great older sister. You've given so much time into checking my stories and helping me edit them and making them easier to read. My books would never be completely perfect without your help.

Margaret: Your love for music has really helped me want to advance my piano playing skills. Your sense of humor and "Eeyore" moods make me laugh. Even your dislike of emoticons you can put in such funny ways that no one ever feels offended when you critique their work. :) (sorry, I just had to have an emoticon after that... :P and there's another one...)

Maxwell: Having a brother that loves sports is great for me, because otherwise, I'd probably end up spending all my days inside writing a story or reading! I know this sounds kind of funny, but thanks for loving football! :)

David Clayton: Thanks so much for being a willing worker. I love how you seem to enjoy doing work that others complain about. :) You are always showing interest in other people's hobbies and have an easy time making friends.

Tabitha: What a big girl you're growing up to be. I'm thankful that you've begun helping us older girls in the kitchen and can stay up later to join us in watching girl movies. It's also fun to watch you maturing into a godly young lady with a heart for God.

Marta: Littlest sister, you're getting to be a "big girl" too! Don't grow up to fast, I like you just the way you are! :D A little bit of a tom boy, you remind me of how I was when I was your age.

William: I love you so much! You make me laugh with all the funny, and sometimes remarkably true, sayings you tell us all. Thanks for being such a good learner and always being willing to listen to me read my stories out loud.

Samuel: Youngest sibling, your cheerful smile makes me smile too, even when I'm having a bad day. You are always happy and easy to please. It was so fun to see your face light up when I gave you those planes. Love you so much!

Of course, I'm thankful for so much more, but I'd never be able to write them all down in one blog post, so I'll just say that there are a lot of things I'm thankful for.

Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow!!
And I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! :)

Art?

As something completely random...(after all, I have to live up to my blog name right? :P)...I decided that for this weeks post I would show you some of my 'not very good' pictures that I drew. Well, I take that back...the horse and unicorn are alright, but I'm afraid that people are NOT my strong point when it comes to drawing! :)
Hopefully you'll enjoy these pictures despite the bad quality. I'll label each of them just in case you wouldn't be able to identify what I was trying to draw. :P
Here you go:


A girl.

This is a horse. :)

A Unicorn, my second favorite animal. :)

Princess...hmm...I haven't figured out a name for her yet. Will you help?

How do you like the pictures? Are they ok, despite not being very realistic? :)

God bless your next week!
 *Job 39:19-25. :P

Horses & the Bible

Most of you should know that I LOVE horses, and because of this, out of curiosity I looked up how many times the words "horse" and "horses" were in  the Bible. I have to admit I was surprised to see how many times they were in it. For instance, the word "horse" is found exactly 41 times, and the word "horses" is found an additional 105 times! Cool huh?  Another interesting fact: those words are only found in the old testament and Revelations. None of the other New Testament books have them!
I thought this was very interesting.
I could give you all the passages, but that would be kind of useless, so I'll stick to just giving you my absolute favorite passage in the Bible: Job 39:19-25. In this passage, God basically tells Job how awesome horses are. (Which is why it's my favorite passage... :P)

Job 39:19-25: (NKJV)

19: "Have you given the horse strength?
Have you clothed his neck with thunder?
20: Can you frighten him like a locust?
His majestic snorting strikes terror.
21: He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength;
He gallops into the clash of arms.
22: He mocks at fear, and is not frightened;
Nor does he turn back from the sword.
23: The quiver rattles against him,
the glittering spear and javelin.
24: He devours the distance with fierceness and rage;
Nor does he come to a halt because the trumpet has sounded.
25: At the blast of the trumpet he says 'Aha!'
He smells the battle from afar,
The thunder of captains and shouting.

See? Isn't that awesome? Sometimes people skim through Job because they can't understand it, but never, EVER do that! Golden verses hide in every corner of scripture. I have to confess that I didn't even realize that this passage was in the Bible until I was about 13 years old. Imagine how many other verses I must have missed that could change my life! Never again do I skip over sections that seem like they don't apply to me, or may not be very interesting.

God bless your week! :D

Busy, Busy + Harvest Blessings

Siblings and me at the Pumpkin Patch

So sorry for not posting for a long time. I've been busy with school, music, church, and the list goes on... :) Life as a pastor's daughter in a family of twelve is never easy, and is always full of challenges. However, it's also a lot of fun. I wouldn't exchange my life for the life of another's if you paid me millions of dollars. Since it's fall, I thought I would tell you  what our family does as harvest time activities.

Our family doesn't go trick-or-treating, or dress up in weird costumes and walk around the neighborhood on Halloween. Now believe me, we know lots of people who do, and we don't think it's wrong, we just don't do it ourselves. Instead, our church puts on a Harvest Party where kids play games for candy and have loads of fun with other kids from church without having to dress up and knock on doors.


Here's a car I can drive without a permit or license. :P

Also, in early October, our family went to a pumpkin patch owned by a Christian family that goes to our church. It was so much fun walking up and down isles of pumpkins looking for just the right ones to put in our wagons and buy. They had a gift shop there too, and I bought a pair of earrings (surprise! ;), and a couple bars of cinnamon soap for some friends of mine.

Now, I must admit that Halloween is probably my least favorite holiday because of all the things our country brings to your attention around that time of year. Nevertheless, I think we, as Christians, should take advantage of that holiday too. For instance, if your family does go trick-or-treating, you should pass out tracts at every house you stop at. Maybe they won't read it, but all we have to do is plant a seed, because God takes care of the rest.

So, don't let the Enemy use that holiday for himself. Let's use it to spread God's Word!

God bless you as you go on your way! :)

Out of the Mouths of Babes

I'm going let you in on a little family tradition we have. Whenever any of us hear an ambulance go by, we like to stop and pray for whoever is in trouble. In this post I decided to give you one of those moments.

Setting: Dad is taking my youngest brothers, William and Samuel, to the hardware store to buy some tools. An ambulance goes by, sirens screaming.

Dad: Someone's having a bad day.

William: We should pray for whoever is hurt.

Samuel: I don't know...what if they're bad?

Dad: Even if they are bad, I think we should still pray for them. We should pray that they get saved so if they die they'll go to heaven.

Samuel: But how do we know what to pray if we don't know if they're bad or not?

William (wisely): God knows.


Have a blessed week!

Surrender All: Preformed by Soveriegn Grace Music

I love this song! And I think you will too... :)

 

Lyrics:

VERSE 1

Take all I am, Lord, and all that I cling to
You are my Savior I owe everything to
Take all the treasures that lie in my storehouse
They cannot follow when I enter Your house

CHORUS
So I surrender all to You
I surrender all

VERSE 2
Take all my cravings for vain recognition
Fleshly indulgence and worldly ambition
I want so much Lord to make You the focus
To serve You in secret and never be noticed

CHORUS
So I surrender all to You
I surrender all

VERSE 3
Take all my hunger for all that’s forbidden
Every desire and sin I keep hidden
Search me and know me I want to bring to You
A life that is holy and sanctified through You

 

CHORUS
So I surrender all to You
I surrender all

 

 

Carrot Love

Home grown carrots...very original. :P

You never get a pair of carrots like this from the store! :) Oh the joys of growing your own vegetables.
My younger brother Samuel gave them one look before saying in a shocked voice: "They're HUGGING!!!" :D
It makes them a lot harder to peel for carrot sticks though... :P
Sorry for a short post. With school back on, it's hard for me to post as regularly as during the summer. Hopefully I can keep up with posting at least once a week, but just to warn you all, I may not be able to give you a post weekly without fail.

Sweet Sixteen

I'm late posting for my birthday, because we were busy all that day, but I decided to post anyways. :) After all, I'm pretty excited to be sixteen! :D
For my special day I woke up to:
"Yippi Kiyay Kiyay! Today is a special day.
Yippi Kiyoo Kiyoo, Today we celebrate You-hoo-hoo."
I let it play for a couple minutes until one my sisters finally rolled over and said, "Ok, ok, Happy birthday...will you turn it off now?" :) Happy memories... :P
I was given a pair of purple butterfly earrings (because I LOVE jewelry) and two pairs of pajama pants (because I needed them :).
In the evening we went to Grandma and Grandpa Eddy's house for dinner, and I got to choose the menu. Afterwards we had desert and watched the first Washington Husky game of the year. It was a late game so we only got to watch until half-time, but the next day I learned that the Huskies had won. I'm very glad they did, it would have been sad to have them lose on my birthday. :)
And that was my sixteenth birthday. Here's my birthday photo:

Sweet Sixteen!!

Thank you to Mallen Roberts for taking this photo of me. :)

Coming Soon: A Week in Skirts

Beautiful: sun on water. I love summer!! :D

I got this idea from a friend of mine, Miaya Drennan. It looked so fun, I decided to try out myself! Unfortunately, I have to wait a week before posting...we're kind of busy this week, so you'll have to wait...*sighs* Still, now you have something to look foreward to, right? :P See you next week! :)

Q&A w/ Rebekah Eddy: Session #6

Yay! Back again finally with Q&A! I had a lot of fun taking a break from it, but I know a lot of you have probably been missing my Q&A sessions.
Calamity Rene gave me the Liebster Award as well as Bethany, so I thought I'd answer her questions too, AND have it be another session of Q&A!! Brilliance, right? :P Kill two birds with one stone as the saying goes.
I know I've already answered a couple of these, but I thought it would do no harm to refresh our memories...anyways, here you are:

1: You just got awarded a million dollars. What are you going to do with it?
Give 10% to the church for tithe. Then buy a horse. Then use the rest to buy feed and accessories. If there is anything left after that I'd put it in the bank for when I'm old enough to buy a house and car of my own. And possibly help me go through collage.

2: What time period would you travel to if you could?
To when God comes back to take us to our new home on the new earth. :)

3: If you had to pick one, who would you pick as your favorite fictional character of all time?
Oo...tough question. I really like Aslan (from The Narnian Books). But I also like a couple of the character's I made up. Like Valkin Tredhale and Dusak Awknae. I guess I don't really have a favorite.

4: Who is your favorite Bible character?
Do I have to have one favorite Bible character? I love Jesus.

5: What's your favorite book series?
The Black Stallion series by Walter Farley is a favorite of mine, but I also like the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Wilder. And the Circle C Adventures by Susan Marlow.

6: Who's your favorite author?
C.S. Lewis, P.G. Wodehouse, Charles Dickens. (And there is this fantastic new author who happens to be my exact age. She also has my name! I really, REALLY like her book The Silver Flower. :P)

7: Do you have a favorite movie?
Whew! You ask hard questions Calamity Rene! I like a lot of different movies. Actually, just recently I was watching Amazing Grace with my younger brother, and was reminded how much I liked it. Also Pride & Prejudice and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. (do these sound like books? Well, there may be a reason behind that. Check out my favorite authors for more clues... :)

8: What's your favorite past time?
Writing. By far. But I also enjoy making jewelry for my friends and family as well as posting on my blog once every week. :P

9: What do you want to do when you get older?
This one sounds familiar. Be a mom. And own a horse. ;P

10: What's your favorite wild animal?
My favorite wild animal? Wild horses of course! :P

11: If you could ask God one question, what would it be?
"Are there horses in heaven?"

Ok...YOUR TURN!!!! Have fun coming up with answers! I'll have fun reading them! :P

The Liebster Award: discover new blogs!

I've been awarded! I'm still not exactly sure WHAT I was rewarded for...but it still looks good, doesn't it? :P Thank you Bethany (from Bethany's Blog)! :D

 

Here's the rules to the "game":

 

Acknowledge the blog that nominated you. 

Ok, I did that.

 

Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger created.

Alright. Here are the questions, followed by the answers:

 

1. Besides family, who do you admire and why?

I'll have to say that I admire Mrs. Hough, wife of one of the elder's in our church. She has such a wonderful attitude, even when she is dealing with pain or stress. Not only does she love God with all her heart, soul, and mind, but she loves and respects her husband as well. She's such a good example to me.

 2. Awkward Moment?

Oh my goodness. Do I really have to answer this? When I get up front to preform a memorized piece, but when I try playing it I find out I can't remember a single note.

 3. How do you plan to impact the future for Christ?
I hope to impact the future for Christ by raising a godly family of my own. But before that, I help in children's ministries in our church, and try to be a good example to my siblings.

 

4. What makes you laugh?
All the goofy things my little siblings say!

 

5. What do you love about your best friend(s)?
They laugh at my jokes, even when they weren't good jokes. They encourage me when I'm feeling discouraged. Give me a shoulder to cry on when I feel like it. And laugh with me, not at me.

 

6. What is something you want to do someday?
Be a mom. And own a horse of my own.

 

7. Is there something that you would have never dreamed of doing, yet you are doing today?
 Wearing a skirt with horizontal stripes.

 

8. What is your favorite state and why?
Washington. I've never been to any of the other states except Oregon, which pales in comparison. Why? Because it's where all my family and friends live.

 

9. When I say exciting moment, what comes to mind?
Galloping on a horse. Right towards a cliff.

 

10. Do you love what you do?
It depends on what I'm doing. Most of the time I do, but sometimes not so much.

 

11. What are some goals you hope to accomplish?
Be a mom. And own a horse of my own.

 

List 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers that deserve some recognition. 

Alright. Here it goes:

 

Jesseca: akansaswind.blogspot.com

Andrew: 1ajeddy.blogspot.com

Rebekah: rsreadingroom.blogspot.com

Margaret & Sarah: whereareyoureading.blogspot.com
Mrs. Marlow: circlecadventures.blogspot.com
Maiya: blessingsblissandbedlam.wordpress.com
 

 I could only come up with six. Sorry about that.

 

Write 11 questions for them to answer. 

Oh, goody. Now I get to put other people in the spotlight! :)

 

1. What is your favorite thing to do during the summer?

2. What's your favorite color?

3. What's your favorite Bible passage, and why?

4. What do you want to be when you "grow up"?

5. Who is your favorite author?

6. What is your favorite book/series?

7. What is your favorite pastime?

8. What is your favorite season?

9. What's the funniest joke you've ever heard?

10. Do you like answering questions?

11. If you could go back in time to any place at any point in history, where would you go?

 

Notify them they've been nominated.

Ok. I'll do that.

 

HURRAH! I'M DONE!

 

(By the way, everyone should feel free to answer the questions...I'll count it as another Q&A w/ Rebekah Eddy! :P)

Penial Ranch 2014

Yes! I just came back from my vacation to Penial Ranch! I loved every moment of it, even though it was hot. (Every day during the afternoon the temperatures went over 90 degrees Fahrenheit.) I'll give you an idea of what a day there would be like schedule wise:

A beautiful sunset

6:00 am: I'd get up and take a shower, then go over to the dining room to spend some free time playing Ping-Pong or pool before breakfast.

8:00 am: Breakfast

9:00 am-11:30ish am: Swimming. Yeah, we spent a lot of time swimming. The water was freezing cold, and it felt so good. There was a dock to jump and/or dive off of, but you did have to watch out for rocks.

The water felt SO good! (but VERY COLD!!!)

12:00 pm: Lunch

1:00 pm-2:00 pm: Bible Bee hour. This was the time for quiet Bible study and prayer. It was nice to be able to calm down during the hottest time of day and relax with my Bible and Sword Study for an hour.

Gracie Asa wanted to get her hair done, so I volunteered. :P
By the way, don't you love my swimming dress??

2:30 pm-3:30 pm: More swimming...I told you we did a lot of that... :P

3:45 pm-4:30 pm: An event. One day we did Archery, another day, Pony rides, another day, knife throwing. More swimming until dinner.

Most of the arrows ended up on the ground...
but everyone had such a fun time shooting them it didn't really matter. :)

5:30 pm: Dinner

6:30ish pm- 7:00ish pm: You guessed it...more swimming.

7:00 pm: Our evening event. One night this was a talent night, another night we watched a movie, one night my oldest brother Andrew gave a talk about Galatians.

Andrew is a really good speaker. He hopes to become a church planter as soon as he finishes seminary.

8:00 pm-10:30ish: We played volleyball, Frisbee, Apples to Apples, Taboo, etc. It was fun to get together with the other kids my age and have a hilarious time playing various games way past our bed time.

Totally Eastern WA look. :)

Yeah, I loved doing that with our church and my family. We made special memories and had a lot of fun doing so. I had the privilege of taking pictures for the Penial Ranch slideshow we'll be showing at our church next Sunday. I miss it already, though, and I can't wait until we go there again!! :D

Love my little brothers!! :D

Hope you enjoyed the update on how I've been doing! God bless you over the next week! :)

Vacation Bible School

Just a quick post on what I've been up to for the last week...VBS!! My church has put on a VBS every year since I can remember, and it has always been a highlight of summer for me at least. When I went to VBS as a kid, I loved participating in all the activities such as crafts, games, Bible Story Time, and snacks. But even as a Guide I love helping "my kids" work together as a team through all the same activities I remember doing as a "VBS kid" a couple years ago.

Games: I love coming alongside them and encouraging them, as well as cheering them on during games. Sometimes our team doesn't win, and sometimes it does, but my goal at the end is to make all "my kids" feel like they were the best despite anything.

Bible Story Time: I want "my kids" to be able to learn a lot during their time at VBS, and having a Bible Story every day helps that a lot. This year we learned about the Armor of God that protects Christians from the fiery darts of Satan.

Snacks/Memory Verses: I'm not exactly sure what they learned from snacks, except maybe some manners...but the memory verses were very helpful. :) "My kids" would recite the verses from memory to me and I would give them as many prompts as they needed as well as a prize when they completed it.

Crafts: The crafts were very fun, because not only were they able to bring something home to remember this year's VBS by, but the crafts were designed to go with the theme. This helped "my kids" remember what we learned that day. I especially remember the last day's craft which was a foam sword. The kids had a lot of fun slashing at each other with the swords, but no one got hurt because, after all, the swords were only foam.

Hope you had fun reading about what I've been up to. :) Over the next week my family and I are going on vacation to Penial Ranch, so I'm going to be exempt from any blogging for awhile. Just thought I'd at least warn you all... :P

See you next week with a report on how our vacation went! Have a great week! God Bless! :D

Independance Day...A little on the late side

Yeah, oops. I meant to post this yesterday, but, as you can see, I didn't. And it's not like we had a very busy day, either! We were just having the 4th together as a family and we meant to see fireworks that night, but it began raining and we were too chicken to watch fireworks in the pouring down rain. *Sigh* Life in Washington can sometimes be a trial... :(

However, on a brighter note, I hope you all had a fun Independence Day! What did you do? Where did you go? I hope you all had a fun, but safe (with no injuries), 4th of July! :D

O beautiful for spacious sky's for amber waves of grain.
For purple mountain majesty's above the fruitful plain!
America! America! God shed his grace on Thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim's feet, whose stern impassioned stress,
A thoroughfare for freedom beat across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend Thine every flaw,
Confirm Thy soul in self control, Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proves in liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life!
America, America! May God Thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness, and every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed his grace on Thee,
And  Crown Thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea!       

The Magic Saber: Chapter Three

Well, yet another busy, busy week full to overflowing of activities. I just can't seem to get used to it. I'm loving the summer weather though! Today was kind of iffy, because half the day it rained and the other half was sunny, but windy. (The wind was probably causing the constant weather changes...) I hope that tomorrow will be nicer, and of course the day after that, and the day after that, etc. :)
Alright, another chapter for you all to enjoy. It starts getting more exciting...trust me on that one! :P

Sorry the picture isn't very good, but I thought it went well with the story. :)

Chapter Three

Emily was sent almost immediately to the kitchen to help the ship’s cook, and so Luke and John were put on cleaning the captain’s cabin. It didn’t take long with both of them working on it, and the captain was very pleased.

“You two boys will be a good help I think, after all. I have no further need of you for the moment, but you have my permission to explore our ship. If any of my crew asks what you are about, send them to me.” He said after inspecting their work. Luke and John stammered a quick thank you to the captain and rushed out onto the deck again.

The crew members didn’t try to stop them and only looked on in silent amusement as the two boys rushed from place to place looking into every nook and cranny excitedly.

Luke decided to take a look out the spyglass from the crow’s-nest, and obtained permission quickly. The old sailor in charge smiled at them and offered his own, more powerful telescope for their use. Eagerly, Luke scanned the horizon in search for land, but instead he spied a ship. Frowning, he handed the glass to John.

“What do you make of that?” he asked. John squinted as the ship came closer.

“It looks like it may be a pirate ship!” he finally exclaimed in a hushed whisper. Luke licked his lips worriedly, and took the telescope from John, studying the ship until he saw the flag more clearly. Once he was sure, he sucked in air through his teeth, and then called down to the captain who was watching him from below.

“Cap’n!” he shouted, his excitement mounting. “I’ve sighted the Jolly Rodger off the port side! She’s coming in fast with a good wind behind her, heading in our direction.” The captain and crew immediately got to work, and Luke and John slid down the ropes to see how they could help. The old sailor shook Luke’s hand.

“Ye’ve got better eyes than I have lad, thankee kindly for spotting the ship and warnin’ us well.” He grinned and slapped Luke on the back, almost sending him sprawling onto the rolling deck. “We’ll make a sailor o’ ye yet!”

Luke was grateful to the old man, but right now he was worried about the ship. And where was Emily? He and John went as speedily as possible on the pitching ship to find her. She was working on baking something when they came into the ship’s kitchen, but she stopped long enough to wipe her hair from her face, leaving a streak of flour behind, and ask what was happening.

“I think we’re getting attacked by pirates!” John burst in before Luke could manage to say anything. A look of alarm passed over Emily’s face.

“Pirates!” she exclaimed. “Are you sure?”

Luke nodded, but, knowing his sister would worry too much, patted her on her shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t worry, I’m sure the captain and his crew will have everything under control.” Emily’s frown faded some, but she still bit her lip and glanced toward the door. Finally, she washed her hands and removed her apron.

Suddenly, taking them all by surprise, a cannon boomed, and a great splash near the ship warned them that the pirates were upon them. Luke, John, and Emily rushed from the kitchen, nearly running down the captain. He frowned darkly at them.

“You need to return to my cabin and stay there until the fight is over. This is no place for women and children.”

“But we want to help!” Luke pleaded, his voice rising above the crash of waves and the cannon fire.

Emily pulled him away, earning herself a grateful look from over the captain's shoulder as he rushed off to help his men fight. “The captain knows best, Luke. He’s in charge and we need to follow his advice. Come, we will find the captain’s precious documents and hide them where the pirates will not find them if they win.”

“But…” Luke pleaded. Emily held her ground.

“You are not going to take place in the fighting, that’s final.” She replied sternly. Luke sighed, but when Emily put her foot down about something, he knew it was useless to argue. Mutely, he followed her back to the captain’s cabin.

While the war raged on all sides of them, Emily calmly searched the cabin for anything that might prove of value. She hid the maps, charts, and a small packet of letters that had the queen’s seal on them in her shawl, and Luke poured a small bag of gold coins into his boot. John took the captain’s small pistol and a pocket knife, hiding them in his boot.

Quietly, they listened as trampling feet overhead grew louder and louder. Orders were shouted, and all of a sudden, almost as quickly as it had begun, the fight ended. In dread, the three siblings waited fearfully for the captain to come in smiling, saying the fight was over and they had won.

Instead, when the door finally opened, the worst of their fears were realized.

See what I mean?
What do you think happens next?
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