Hey Jude

So Erin is having a boy!!! When she went in for the ultrasound a week or two ago, they couldn't tell what it was because he was riding the umbilical cord. But she went to this place that does 3D pictures of the baby and was able to get some really great pictures of him sucking his thumb and posing for the camera. He is so cute! We are all so excited and can't wait for Jude to make his debut in June! For the really good pictures and news go to her blog- http://fromthewattshome.blogspot.com.

CS Lewis on Prayer

I got an awesome book for Christmas, The Quotable Lewis, which I have been wanting for a super long time. I have been having a hard time with prayer lately and so I decided to read some stuff from different authors and church leaders. I looked in this book and found some awesome, awesome, AWESOME!!! thoughts from him.

"Take not, oh Lord, our literal sense. Lord, in Thy great,
Unbroken speech our limping metaphor translate."
-Poems, "Footnote to All Prayers" (1933) p. 129

"The prayer preceding all prayers is 'May it be the real I that speaks. May it be the real Thou that I speak to.' . . . Emotional intensity is in itself no proof of spiritual depth. If we pray in terror we shall pray earnestly; it only proves that terror is an earnest emotion. Only God Himself can let the bucket down to the depths in us. . . The most blessed result of prayer would be to rise thinking 'But I never knew before, I never dreamed . . . ' I suppose it was such a moment that Thomas Aquinas said of all his theology, 'It reminds me of straw.' "
- Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, chap. 15, para. 15-17, pp. 81-82

"We must lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us."
- Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, chap. 4, para. 15, p. 22

Yellow

Look at the stars, Look how they shine for you
And all the things that you do.
Yeah they were all yellow.

I came along, I wrote a song for you
And everything you do.
And it was called yellow.

So then I took my turn
Oh what a thing to've done
And it was all yellow.

And your skin, oh yeah your skin and bones,
Turn into something beautiful
Don't you know?
You know I love you so,
You know I love you so.

I swam across, I jumped across for you,
Oh, what a thing to do,
Cuz you were all yellow.

I drew a line, I drew a line for you.
Oh, what a thing to do, my love,
And it was all yellow,
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And your skin, oh yeah, your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
Do you know?
For you I bleed myself dry.
For you I bleed myself dry.

It's true,
Look how they shine for you
Look how they shine for you.

Black Belt/Leadership Essay (Kwon Shu/Kenpo)

So, I had to write a short essay for karate as an assignment for acceptance into the leadership team. This is what I came up with:

"Over the past 14 months, karate has become a very important part of my life. As a child, I had a great desire to get involved in karate, yet I don’t really know where this dream came from. None of my friends or anyone in my family was interested or involved in martial arts at all. It just started to grow in me one day until it became all consuming. Maybe it was from the first time that I saw the movie, The Karate Kid. Something about that movie just spoke to me, but the possibility of ever achieving that dream was almost instantly pushed aside when I realized the futility of asking for something like that. I remember asking to participate in soccer, and laying in bed thinking about what I would say and how I could present it to my mother, and when I did I knew I would have to have a way to come up with the money. That was no where near as expensive as karate would be all year, and so I never asked. I knew she would respond with frustrated words similar to, “You know we don’t have the money for that. Why don’t you call your dad and ask him if he can pay for something like that!” I knew full well that would never happen, especially since I had already asked him to help me buy my $15 PE uniform, which he refused, and so, that was it, the hope of ever fulfilling that dream was gone. I dropped it completely, knowing it was hopeless to continue to even think about it at all. But dreams never do really die. They always seem to find a way to pop back up from time to time, always tormenting you until you take the time to pursue them, which is what I finally decided to do. I was talking to my mom on the phone one evening and told her how much I wanted to do this and reminded her of how I had wanted to do this since I was about 8 or 9 years old. She had completely forgotten it and was surprised. I started to cry terribly and told her I felt like I would never be able to do this and that I was so frustrated that I let myself just sweep so many hopes and dreams aside or ignore them all these years just because I was so worried about everyone else. I didn’t know why it was so important to me, but the emotions became so strong, and the years of frustration finally just started to pour out.
I am grateful beyond measure that I finally listened to my heart and took the initiative to do this! I have learned so many things through karate, not just about self defense, but about myself; who I am, what I hope to achieve and be, and what I can be. From the time when this dream was born at 8 years old until I finally acted upon it last year, I never really thought, “I want to be a black belt.” I don’t know why I wanted to do karate or what I hoped to get out of it, I just wanted it and I knew I needed it. Something about it just called to me even though I didn’t know what it had to offer. But, since I started, I have learned to set higher goals and to believe that they really can be achieved. I have always been a determined person and once I start something, I usually see it through to the end. Yet, since starting karate, I have become even more focused on what I can become. Earning a black belt isn’t about status or rank and it isn’t the end of the road either. As I see it, earning my black belt is just the beginning. Maybe I will continue on and earn higher degrees, but even if I don’t, it is about the fact that I listened to myself and responded. This tells me that I can continue to listen and respond for the rest of my life, no matter what the situation might be.
For me, it isn’t about why I would be a great black belt. Instead, it is about why a black belt would be great for me. Until last year, I would never have seen myself where I am today and where a black belt can take me. Knowledge, wisdom, strength, confidence, faith, determination, physical health, and spiritual and emotional awareness are just a few of the things that I have seen grow and I know will continue to grow on the road to earning my black belt. These are things that I could develop through very few other pursuits. I don’t know that I have anything more to offer than anyone else, which would make me a better candidate for a black belt, but I know that what it has to offer me is something I can not deny or refuse."

 

I feel so smart!

I got my SMART board all installed in my classroom. Woot woot! Now I just have to figure out how this thing works...

Wii mania

I have wanted to get a Wii for the longest time but have not been able to get my hands on one. The other night, I was at a friend's house and they had gotten Guitar Hero for the PS3 and so I was privileged to get to learn how to play the game. It is tons of fun and I can tell that I would be in trouble if I had it. Last night, we celebrated Christmas with Erin and Will at their house since they were in Houston on Christmas day. His parents gave them a Wii for Christmas and he and I were playing. I made my own Mii character that looks just like me. I kicked his butt in boxing and then we bowled. I beat him once, but he is pretty good to say the least. We played a few rounds and on one of them he got 7 or 8 strikes in a row, nearly a perfect game and me, well, I have never been a good bowler at all. But I think I started to get the hang of it and was playing decent. There was an incident, maybe two, in which a bowling ball nearly killed a couple of spectators, but the whole crowd just jumped up, cheered, and the game went on. I think I'm in trouble now that they have the Wii and they live just around the corner...

Bugsy

Kelly got me a bunny for Christmas! It is a tiny, sweet thing with the most beautiful markings and cutest face. I have had the hardest time choosing its name, but I have finally decided to call it Bugsy. I think it fits him well.

Merry Christmas To All!!!!

Remember Christ's love at this time and His sacrifice for us.

God Bless Us, Everyone!

So, I like to read A Christmas Carol every year. It is a quick read and very inspiring. I decided to share some of my favorite excerpts from it...


"Man of the worldly mind!" replied the Ghost, "do you believe in me or not?"
"I do," said Scrooge. "I must. But why do spirits walk the earth, and why do they come to me?"
"It is required of every man," the Ghost returned, "that the spirit within him should walk abroad his fellow men, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world- oh, woe is me!- and witness what it cannot share, and might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness!" . . .
"You are fettered," said Scrooge, trembling. "Tell me why?"
"I wear the chain I forged in life," replied the Ghost. "I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to YOU?"
pages 31-32


"At this time of the rolling year," the spectre said, "I suffer most. Why did I walk through crowds of my fellow beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode? Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted ME!"
page 34

"I am a mortal," Scrooge remonstrated, "and liable to fall."
"Bear but a touch of my hand THERE," said the Spirit,laying it upon his heart,"and you shall be upheld in more than this!"
page 45

"A small matter," said the Ghost,"to make these silly folks so full of gratitude."
"Small!" echoed Scrooge.
The Spirit signed him to listen to the two apprentices, who were pouring out their hearts in praise of Fezziwig: and when he had done so, said,
"Why! Is it not? He has spent but a few pounds of your mortal money: three or four perhaps. Is that so much that he deserves this praise?"
"It isn't that," said Scrooge, heated by the remark, and speaking unconsciously like his former, not his latter, self.
"It isn't that, Spirit. He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count 'em up: what then? The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it costs a fortune."
pages 57-58

"And how did little Tim behave?" asked Mrs. Cratchit, when she had rallied Bob on his credulity and Bob had hugged his daughter to his heart's content.
"As good as gold," said Bob, "and better.Somehow he gets thoughtful sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made the lame beggars walk and blind men see."
page 80

"Man," said the Ghost,"if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is. Will you decide what men shall live, and what men shall die? It may be that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. Oh God! to hear the Insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust!"
Scrooge bent before the Ghost's rebuke, and trembling cast his eyes upon the ground.
page 84

It was a game called Yes and No, where Scrooge's nephew had to think of something, and the rest must find out what; he only answering to their questions yes or no as the case was. The brisk fire of questioning to which he was exposed, elicited from him that he was thinking of an animal, a live animal, rather a disagreeable animal, a savage animal, an animal that growled and grunted sometimes, and talked sometimes, and lived in London, and walked about the streets, and wasn't made a show of, and wasn't led by anybody, and didn't live in a menagerie, and was never killed in a market, and was not a horse, or an ass, or a cow, or a bull, or a tiger, or a dog, or a pig, or a cat, or a bear. At every fresh question that was put to him, this nephew burst into a fresh roar of laughter; and was so inexpressibly tickled, that he was obliged to get up off the sofa and stamp. At last the plump sister, falling into a similar state, cried out:
"I have found it out! I know what it is, Fred! I know what it is!"
"What is it?" cried Fred.
"It's your Uncle Scro-o-o-o-oge!"
Which it certainly was. Admiration was the universal sentiment, though some objected that the reply to "Is it a bear?" ought to have been "Yes;" inasmuch as an answer in the negative was sufficient to have diverted their thoughts from Mr. Scrooge, supposing they had ever had any tendency that way.
pages 97-98

"They are Man's," said the Spirit, looking down upon them. "And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all, beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it!" cried the Spirit, stretching out his hand toward the city. "Slander those that tell it ye! Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse! And bide the end!"
page 102

"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!"
page 126

Best and happiest of all, the Time before him was his own, to make amends in!
page 127

And so as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Everyone!
page 138

The Story Book by William Bougereau

Erin this is my favorite of his...

Christmas Party

Aidan: "It squeezes like a brain!"

Rebekah: "I want candy! I want candy!"


Chris: "It's the World's Biggest Candy Cane and it only has 110 calories!"
Ms. Rogers: "Let me see... well, there's nine servings, Chris, so actually there's nearly 1,000 calories."
Chris: "1,000 CALORIES!!!!!!!! Whoa!"
How does he know what calories are?


Adan broke his leg in Vegas at a skate park trying to do some sort of 360 or 540 or olly or something like that. I just told him to leave those things to Tony Hawk.


My wishes for Adan. He was pretty proud of it and thought it was funny. "Look what Miss Rogers wrote! She said, Better luck next time! Haha."

great fun in the snow

Trying to loosen the lug nuts...

After all the nuts were off, I couldn't get the wheel off.

Still can't...

Still pulling... Finally, I gave it a swift kick and "pop" it released. Just like butta.
Are you impressed?

Snow!

I think this takes first place for things that suck

Don't you hate it when you are so tired and you know you have to work in the morning, but no matter how hard you try you can't sleep? Well, I do. I finally fell asleep today at about 4:30 or 5:00. It bites.

Book Club

Book buddies! I love this and our expressions are awesome! You just gots to love a good book and how it brings sisters together.

Christmas Cookies and Ugly Ornaments

Today Erin had a Christmas cookie and ugly ornament party. We all had a great time. Everyone brought a plate of cookies and the recipes to share. I made some rocky road bars and pineapple coconut snowballs. My rocky road bars won 2nd prize. . . woohoo. I felt so special.
But I was kind of bummed because I found this awfully ugly Santa decoration at the DI. I thought for sure that he would win the ugliest ornament award. Erin tried to DQ me from the contest because he wasn't a "tree ornament." Well, no one said it had to be a "tree ornament." An ornament can be defined as anything used to add flare or decoration, so this Santa could fit that definition. Well, in my humble opinion, he was the ugliest because his fluff was falling off all over and he had this strange pocket thing instead of an arm, which I think is supposed to hold something . . . maybe candy canes or something like that????? Who really knows? Well, I was the only one who voted for the ugly thing.



My mom's thing wasn't even ugly. I wouldn't have put it out to decorate, but it's not ugly... Well, the winner was something that my aunt Becky made this morning, but I couldn't get a picture of it because my camera's battery was dead and wouldn't revive. She won an ugly ornament ugly pen... Hahaha, what fun! I was gonna go to the Dicken's Festival, but I was so tired tonight that I decided not to. Maybe next year. That's what I have told myself for the last several years. Whyyy????? I love Charles Dickens.... Why have I never gone??????????? I suck.

Thought for the Day (TFTD)

"Life is like that--ups and downs, a bump on the head, and a crack on the shins. It was ever thus. Hamlet went about crying, "To be or not to be," but that didn't solve any of his problems. There is something of a tendency among us to think that everything must be lovely and rosy and beautiful without realizing that even adversity has some sweet uses. One of my favorite newspaper columnists is Jenkin Lloyd Jones. In a recent article published in the News, he commented: Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just ordinary people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. . . . Life is like an old-time rail journey--delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."
--President Gordon B. Hinckley

Whodunnit?

Okay, so I have seen and heard of many people over the years who have had really fun Clue dinner parties where you try to solve who killed the mystery guest. I want to do one, but I don't really know how it works. For example, is the mystery guest just made up? and how do you solve it- is it a scavenger hunt? Does everyone have a clue in their invitation? Are the clues scattered throughout the house- and are they written or do you have to search for the evidence (like an open window or a broken glass or a hair in the bathtub even)? Hmmmm. I think it would be soooo much fun to dress up like Professor Plum or Miss Scarlet or Colonel Mustard and have dinner and solve a good mystery. So CSI or Cold Case to me. I love it. Tell me what you think about it. I want to plan one for sure.

Annie aka "Maestra Magenta" hahaha