A Visit From A Friend

SOME of you have been looking forward to this post for awhile... Sadly, life has kept me busy up until now. :(
But hey, I finally had some time and decided to give you the long expected post.

Saturday morning...October 17th...
Our family cleaned our home, cleaned Dad's study/the guest room, cleaned the bathrooms EXTRA well, and got food prepared for the next morning.
Emily McConnell was on her way to visit us!

Emily and I
right before our "Good bye".

I had been eagerly awaiting her arrival (Emily will tell you how we counted down weeks, days, and hours) for a LOONNGG time.

It was SO fun to finally meet her face-to-face and get to really know her! I mean, actually talking to a PERSON, not just e-mailing a girl you've seen pictures of is completely different! And MUCH better in my opinion! She was able to show me her Mornelly siblings in better detail and I was able to show her some of my characters for a future book...you all will hear more on THAT later... Also she brought some fascinating WWII espionage books that are now on hold at our library for me to read! ;)

I know I'm making you all jealous now. *sheepish grin*

Sunday morning she was able to go to our church! I dragged her around and introduced her to all my friends (except one who was down in California at the time...and very disappointed that she would miss meeting Emily) and then took her on a tour of our house and woods, as well as some various neighbors. And yes, she got jam from the Kernans. (Inside joke to those of you who have met the Kernans. Jesseca will understand...her family also got some jam from them. ;P)

Ironically, we were having such a great time talking and showing each other characters and books that we only took one picture together. And that was right before she left!

Sorry to you guys... :(

I really meant to take more.

Anyways, we had a fantastic time!

Emily will probably tell you her perspective soonish, so I won't spoil everything by giving you ALL the details. ;)

God bless you Emily! It was so cool to meet you! (And your brother and sister. B-)

A Hobbit House

Ok, I have to apologize about this post. It is WAAAYY over due. September 19th...as in almost a month ago...some of my siblings and I went to The Brother's Greenhouse  in Port Orchard (you can visit the link by clicking on the name) with mom for a surprise visit of their Hobbit House!

Isn't it adorable? ;)

 
We had a lot of fun going inside the Hobbit House, taking pictures, besides exploring all the exotic plants and trees they grow there at the greenhouse.

A couple hobbits posing for me.
(Actually, these are my little brothers Sam and William)

Another posed picture of the inside of the Hobbit House.

Sam, who I nicknamed "Sam Gamgee", stoking the fire.

ALMOST the perfect height for me! ;)

Also, it was my little sister (well, she's not so little now) Tabitha's twelfth birthday! So this was a special treat for her. :)

Mom and the birthday girl! ;)

There was even a mini Hobbit House inside the gift shop that was even more cute than the big Hobbit House! (If such a thing could be possible) I almost wished I could shrink to the size of a large beetle and make it my home! ;)

Tiny, but adorable... ;) Wish it was life sized. *sigh*

Group Photo!

 

All in all, it was a really fun outing! I would love to go again at some point. We had a blast! :) Again, sorry for this post being a little late. I'll try to get you some more updates on life later.

 

Besides...I have a surprise post up my sleeve for sometime next week, so come back soon! B-)

 

God bless you all!

THE ANSWERS!!!

Any one else excited?? ;P Once again, you guys all did really well. I was impressed how many you got right despite some of them being a little vague. ;) Nice job to everybody!

Here are the promised answers:

Little House on the Prairie
1. "A long time ago, when all the grandfathers and grandmothers of today were little boys and little girls or very small babies, or perhaps not even born..."

Misty of Chincoteague
2. "A wild, ringing neigh shrilled up from the hold of the Spanish galleon."

Pride and Prejudice
3. "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

The Bible (or Genesis works as well)
4. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

The Silver Flower
5. "It all began when..."

The Hobbit
6. "In a hole in the ground there lived..."

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
7. "Once there were four children whose names were..."

A Wrinkle in Time
8. "It was a dark and stormy night."

Robinson Crusoe
9. "I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that country..."

The Red Badge of Courage
10. "The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting."

Thistle the Dragon
11. "Once upon a time there lived a dragon. His name was..."

Mary Poppins
12. "If you want to find Cherry-Tree Lane all you have to do is ask the policeman at the cross-roads."

The Pilgrims Progress
13. "As I walked through the wilderness of the world, I came to a place where there was a den."


And here is how you all did! (Remember, each correct answer is worth 10 "points")

Anonymous: 40
Lydia Scott: 60
Faith P.: 20
Blessing Counter: 50
Sarah Eddy: 80
Rebekah: 50

And this means that my book nerd sister Sarah "won". And Lydia Scott came in as a close second! Like I said before, you all did a FANTASTIC job! :) I know I wouldn't have done nearly as well!

Would you be interested in doing it again?

God bless!

Fantastic Beginnings: The Contest

After an unanimous "yes, do this game" from all you, here it is: the Fantastic Beginnings Game as created by yours truly.
For those of you who didn't read my last post, here are the rules:

1: Read all story beginnings. (They would be numbered for your convenience)
2: Decide which book you think they came from. (Give a title next to the number of the story's beginning in your comment)
3. Publish your comment. (I would not publish any of the comments until the contest "time" was over.)
4: Each correct answer will be worth 10 "points".
5: Please don't look the answers up until AFTER you publish your comment. It wouldn't be fair, or fun, if all of you get 100% on this. Be honest.

And now, without further ado: here are the fantastic beginnings:

1. "A long time ago, when all the grandfathers and grandmothers of today were little boys and little girls or very small babies, or perhaps not even born..."

2. "A wild, ringing neigh shrilled up from the hold of the Spanish galleon."

3. "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

4. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

5. "It all began when..."

6. "In a hole in the ground there lived..."

7. "Once there were four children whose names were..."

8. "It was a dark and stormy night."

9. "I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that country..."

10. "The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting."

11. "Once upon a time there lived a dragon. His name was..."

12. "If you want to find Cherry-Tree Lane all you have to do is ask the policeman at the cross-roads."

13. "As I walked through the wilderness of the world, I came to a place where there was a den."

On Monday (maybe a smidge later, depending on how busy I am) I'll post the answers as well as how many questions you got right and how many "points" you earned. Please make a comment as soon as possible or you might end up not being able to participate. Have fun coming up with answers! :)
God bless!

Fantastic Beginnings: A Contest Idea

The other day I was contemplating the beginnings of stories. My stories in particular. Have you often found yourself chewing fingernails over your book's first sentence? It's so hard sometimes to come up with original, creative, one-of-a-kind beginnings when you're working on a story. You always want your story to pull a reader into it within the first couple sentences, and keep them enthralled throughout the rest of the book.
Popular beginnings like the classic:
"Once upon a time..."
"A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."
"It was a dark and stormy night..."
Just don't work for stories all the time. And besides, they've been used so much, or for such popular things that everyone would recognize them, that you hate to use them for your own precious book.
However, the great story writers of past ages and even the present age have managed to pull of awesome starts. A sentence, or even part of a sentence, that makes you want to read the rest of their book.
After reading some of them, I decided that a fun game could be made out of their work. I would give you either the first whole sentence, or part of a sentence, of the beginnings of books you should have read. They're all pretty famous, and I purposely added some that everyone would know. To warn you, and give you a hint, one of the options will be the beginning of one of my books. :) I'm not ranking myself with Charles Dickens or C. S. Lewis by any means, but I thought it would probably be an easy one for those of you who have followed my story blog. ;)
So here are the basic rules for you if you're up to this game:

1: Read all story beginnings. (They would be numbered for your convenience)
2: Decide which book you think they came from. (Give a title next to the number of the story's beginning in your comment)
3. Publish your comment. (I would not publish any of the comments until the contest "time" was over.)
4: Each correct answer will be worth 10 "points".
5: Please don't look the answers up until AFTER you publish your comment. It wouldn't be fair, or fun, if all of you get 100% on this. Be honest.

Once about a week or so has gone by, I'll post the answers and how many y'all got right in the order of who commented their answers first.
Sound fun?
Let me know so I can start this game next time I post! :)
God bless you all, and sorry about the length between posts...it'll get better I hope. ;)

Guest Post

This was written by my "big-little" brother, Maxwell. His favorite sport is American football, so when asked to write about it in an essay for school, this was what came out of his brain. :)
Yes, we all have a somewhat peculiar sense of humor. B-)
So go ahead, sit back, and enjoy a taste of Maxwell's goofiness.

THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF FOOTBALL

Very few thrills compare to that of watching a team (which you temporarily want more than anything to win) roll up the field. (For purposes of illustration we will call them the West Albuquerque St. Bumblebees). With five minutes left in the game, and trailing by three, the Bumblebees quarterback throws an interception. The game now depends on whether your team can stop them from making a touchdown, as another score would bring about certain defeat. They’ve been forced to punt it! The bumblebees are back in the game with 30 seconds left they go for the long bomb. They’ve got it! It’s a touchdown! The point after is good, and the Bumblebees East Mountain Tech 24-20.

Football is played with eleven players on each side, on a one hundred yard field. You have four downs (chances) to get ten yards. If this is accomplished you get four more downs to get ten more yards. Once you reach the end of the field you get six points. However, if you are on fourth down and are close to the endzone you may wish to try to kick a field goal. Kicking a field goal is when you try to kick the football through a goal, similar to a soccer goal except suspended in the air. When you are on fourth down and far away from the endzone then you may punt the ball to the other team. Punting is when you kick the ball as far as you can to try to make it harder for the other team to score.

This exciting game depends on the skill and strength of the players, as well as that of a host of different coaches. The star players are generally the quarterback (the one who throws the ball) and the running back (the one who runs the ball). They each have a private coach; other coaches include the Headcoach, the assistant coach, the Quarterback coach, the runningback coach, the linebacker coach, the special teams coach, and the wide receiver coach (each of these coaches have less important assistant coaches). You think you’re done? Wrong. You still have the offensive coordinators, defensive coordinators, cheerleaders, ball boys, water carriers, and, of course, the referees (though they don’t seem to do anything, other than make bad calls, they are essential to keep the teams from getting too proud of themselves ). Oh, and I almost forgot Great Aunt ‘Tilda up in the bleachers. She’s hard of hearing so you have to shout over the crowds for her to hear you. You also have to worry about her sudden attempts (and failures) to stand up. Now, you’re ready to play. Actually you still have to warm up (long pause). Oh; you’re done playing catch on the sidelines, and punting footballs into the stands?  Then now, finally, you’re ready to play! To demonstrate I will give you the basic layout of a game.

                As a general rule the game begins with a lady standing in middle of the field, with a giant American flag, singing the national anthem at the top of her lungs. (Though singing on tune is preferred, as long as it is louder than the drums, it is not required.) Then, it’s time for the kickoff during which one team kicks the ball to the other, and for the first few drives they politely punt the ball back and forth. Though, occasionally one team scores right away. However, if this is the case the refs (who always cheer for the under dogs) will start penalizing them. After this they settle down to scoring. apparently it is harder than it looks, because sometimes they don’t score on a drive. After a few hours, one team will have more points than the other and they are proclaimed the victor. The winning team generally celebrates with pizza or ice-cream, while the losing team walks off the field mumbling something about the dirty refs.

                One reason that football is known and loved in America is that anyone can play it. I love it because it is a way to get exercise while trying to improve your skill. I also play because it is a way to spend time with friends. Another advantage is that you can play it almost anywhere.  Whether you’re in a stadium or in the backyard with your friends, as long as you aren’t paralyzed you can play football.

 

 

God bless!
I'll be back soon! :)

Something to Laugh About

This is a random post, just for fun, and to make you laugh. I was writing my Circle C Contest story and the Western mood came on. So you get this video. :P Have an awesome week! :) I'll be back soon(ish). ;) God bless!

Exciting News!!!

This may not be news to some of you, but I have officially self-published my very first book!!!
"The Silver Flower" is now available to you all! Go to my own personal webpage by clicking on the title of my book.

I am absolutely thrilled with how my book has turned out! And I have so many, many people to thank for helping it get published.

1. Of course, I thank my Savior. Without him, nothing would have happened.
2. My parents. They encouraged me so much in all my writing endeavors, and cheered me on as I wrote and edited. Mom, thank you especially for reading through my proof copy and giving my advice on it.
3. My oldest sister, Sarah, spent hours editing my book. I really don't know what I would have done without her help.
4. My younger siblings. They were always willing to listen to me read my book aloud, begging for more whenever I paused, and giving my tons of encouragement by saying how much they loved my story.
5. Mrs. Miller. I gave her a copy of my book and asked her to read it and tell me what she thought, but she took my request far beyond what I first intended and also edited it.
6. All my other friends who gave me their advice and encouragement. There are too many of you to name!
7. And last, but certainly not least, those of you who have read my book over on my story blog and given me advice about it and more original ideas.

Thanks to you all so, so, SO much! I could never have done this without you!

Saying Goodbye

Don't worry, this isn't going to be my last blog post or anything... but last month, August 18, 2015, a big change happened to our family: my big brother, my ONLY big brother, Andrew, left us to finish seminary at Maranatha Baptist University in Watertown, Wisconsin.

We're all going to miss him, and it's going to be so different to have a sibling gone for that long. I've never had any of my family leave for more than a couple months at a time, and Andrew is going to be gone until Christmas, then until Summer, and so on until he finishes.
Long story short, I wrote a poem. Actually, I warned some of my friends at church that I might do this because I'm kind of funny this way: my emotions tend to come out in poetry form. So whenever I feel sad, serious, or simply remembering something that is important to me, I express in in a poem.
I made this poem vague enough so it could be applied to anyone who has someone they love leave, but personal to me as well.
Without further ado, I give you:

When Someone You Love Goes Away:

 

When someone you love goes away,

It's so very hard to say

"Goodbye for now."

And keep from crying somehow,

When someone you love goes away.

 

When someone you love goes away,

To others you might seem ok.

But really inside,

You're wanting to hide,

When someone you love goes away.

 

When someone you love goes away,

You know that you'll see them someday.

But while you wait,

It seems so late,

When someone you love goes away.

 

When someone you love goes away,

From August through April and May,

The question is when

You'll see them again,

When someone you love goes away.

 

 

And these were my feelings on the matter. I love my big bro, and I already miss the special times we had together, but he will be back. I look forward to that time!

 

Love you Andrew, my one and only big brother!! <3 I'll be praying for you while you're away.

 

God bless.

Another Birthday

It's happened again. As it does every year. I had another birthday. Now I have to go through all my bios and change my age. Again.
Honestly though, I really don't mind. I love turning a year older, and I've been looking forward to it ever since I turned sixteen last year. ;)
But I also know that every year I get older, I will begin to get less excited about my birthday...and I'm not looking forward to that. So, while I can, I'm going to continue to be excited about getting older and, hopefully, more mature.

Here are a few things I look forward to doing during my seventeenth year:

1: Finishing school once and for all
2: Graduating
3: Making new friends
4: Getting to know my old friends better
5: Hopefully gaining wisdom
6: Getting better at driving
7: Finishing several of my books and self-publishing them

Those are only a few, but enough to give you a picture of what this year holds for me.

For fun, here is the definition of 17, the age I'm turning, as well as some random facts:

17 (seventeen) is the natural number following 16 and preceding 18. It is a prime number.
In spoken English, the numbers 17 and 70 are sometimes confused because they sound similar. When carefully enunciated, they differ in which syllable is stressed: 17 /sɛvɨnˈtiːn/ vs 70 /ˈsɛvɨnti/. However, in dates such as 1789 or when contrasting numbers in the teens, such as 16, 17, 18, the stress shifts to the first syllable: 17 /ˈsɛvɨntiːn/.
The number 17 has wide significance in pure mathematics, as well as in applied sciences, law, music, religion, sports, and other cultural phenomena.

Random facts on the number 17:

1. Seventeen is the number you’re most likely to pick if you’re asked to choose one at random.

2. Seventeen is the atomic number of chlorine.

3. Stegosaurus had 17 bony plates on its back.

4. The minimum possible number of givens for a Sudoku puzzle with a unique solution is 17.

5. The okapi is the only mammal that can clear its own ears with its tongue, which can grow to 17 inches (about 43 centimetres) long.

6. The middle verse in the New Testament is Acts 17:17.

7. The Smashing Pumpkins realeased a song called 17 that is 17 seconds long with no vocals. It comes with a poem and if you read this at a standard speed, you will finish at the end of the song.

8. At 17 weeks pregnant, if you were to hold your baby, she would fit snugly in the palm of your hand.

 9. Seventeen is the number of syllables in a haiku.

10. To call the police in France, you dial 17.

11. There are 17 different ways that a wallpaper design can repeat.

12. A cow's saliva increases by 17% while grazing.

13. Seventeen steps lead up to Sherlock Holmes' house at 221B Baker Street.

14. A wild goose will accept as its parent whatever creature it sees within its first 17 hours of life.


I'm going to finish this post with a song I wrote. The name of the song is "Lead Me Lord" and I hope you enjoy it:

Lead Me Lord:

 

Lead me Lord as I walk through this life,

Keep me pure in this world of strife.

 

Guide me Jesus I pray,

You are the only way.

 

Lead me Lord as I follow you,

I want to praise you with all that I do.

 

Guide me Jesus I pray,

You are the only way.

 

Show me Lord how to do Your will,

I need to learn to be patient and still.

 

When, one day, Your face I will see,

I know I'll live for eternity.

 

Lead me Lord.

 

And this is my prayer. For this year, and every year after. I need God's guidance with my life, as we all do. I rest in the assurance that He will always be by my side. No matter what I'm going through, He knows all my troubles and will take care of me no matter what.

 

God bless you all! Have a wonderful week! 



Guest Post

I'm putting this in italics because this post is really not supposed to be by me. My older sister Margaret (see the "My Family" link) is a very funny person. And that is somewhat an understatement. If you ever have met her or ever meet her, you'll understand why I say this. B-) But anyways, to get back to the point, Margaret is nineteen, and she noticed that a lot of Christian girls her age were writing about how they thought courting and dating were different, and which they thought was the better way to get to know someone as a possible spouse. Not to be beaten by them, she wrote her own views on the matter. I read them, and I asked her if it would be alright if I posted them. She said I could, and here they are in her own words:

From what I have observed, all homeschooled girl bloggers either write a blog post on this subject sometime in their mid teen years, or, once they get into their later teen years, are (presumably) given no peace until they do so. Though this has not been true in my case (I cannot see why), I turned nineteen last week, so I thought for once: why not fall into the homeschooled young lady stereotype of my own accord? Why not be the one to write the bazillionth article saying pretty much the same thing, in pretty much the same words about the necessity of defining one's terms, and which of those clearly defined terms I prefer but am not going to force on everyone else, etc., etc.?And so, like bloggers have from the beginning of time, I sat down at my computer, completely unresearched, with no sources but my own experience and (mostly unfounded) opinion, and set about broadcasting my knowledge and lack thereof on the internet. This was the result. I hope —but do not expect— that you find it helpful and enlightening:
In my mind, the differences between Dating and Courtship are quite simple and obvious. Granted, there is more than one definition of each. Still, I thought, if you only saw the definitions written down you would see how they simply cannot be confused. They are entirely different things however one looks at it.
Here are the definitions as outlined by M. C. Eddy, Defining Courtship and Dating, 2015:

Courtship: 

1. A ship that is employed by the court. 

2. A ship the carries around the court. (i.e. When the viking kings would go to battle the king and his court would all be in one ship so that they could confer more conveniently. More often, however, this is called the "Kingship".)

3. Ships used by individual court members to attend court when the actual court consisted entirely of water. This particular kind of court was mostly limited to the Renessaince era in Venice and similar parts of Italy. Its general impracticality, and the ease of "accidentally" dispensing of opposing members of the court by toppling them out of their boat overrode the aesthetic appeal as soon as reason once more reigned in Europe.

Dating:

1. The process of making historical dates. This is most commonly employed by historians and archaeologists, but is very easy to do by anyone. The preferred process is to find something (in the ground or otherwise) and make up a time period for it. Using as many zeros as possible is encouraged.

2. The process of making a certain food like substance called dates. We seem to recall that drying them is necessary at some point in the process. We are not completely sure what they were before becoming dates. It is commonly believed that dates were figs, or some other kind of fruit, before becoming distorted and altered in taste, texture, and appearance. The personal theory of the author is that they were at one time the heads of very large caterpillars.

What did I say? Dating and Courtship are very different things. I, personally, prefer courtship, as I do not find even the mental picture of caterpillar heads very appetizing. However, if you do, I will try not to judge you, though I doubt that I will succeed. 

This has been Margaret Eddy: bringing clarity where there was confusion.