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! :)