Christmas 2011

This Christmas season has been much to warm to put one in much of a 'Christmas Spirit'. But there have been things that have made it the best Christmas season ever. I think I say that every year... so I may just be forgetting how great last year was, or Christmas just keeps getting better and better :) Here is a list of some of my favorite things this Christmas:

~My sister going around quoting lines from the movie "Elf". It's not my favorite movie, and I think it's much funnier when she says it.
~My sister taking my to see the best Christmas lights around town (Thanks for that Arielle, that made my day:).
~Trying to figure out what to do for everyone on my Christmas list and having Arielle throw ideas at me from her sewing room.
~Going Christmas shopping with my sis. The first time we went, she had organized a 'kids Christmas excursion' wherein the four of us kids went christmas shopping, but none of us had any form of a list, so we were a far cry from being productive, but we did have loads of fun. The next time, she just took me because I was the only one who learned my lesson and made a list of what I wanted to get for each person, where I planned to get it and had it budgeted out exactly how much I was going to be able to spend on each person. That was the only way i could get her to take me, and it felt much better to be organized anyway.
~My sister trying to convince every one that she really is the Christmas elf. I finally called her "our resident Christmas elf" in the family Christmas letter... that made her happy :)
~Going to see the Gingerbread houses at the Grove Park Inn. They have the National Gingerbread House Competition there every year and it has become something of a family tradition to take another family up to see all the wonderful things people can do with Gingerbread. One of the rules of the competition is that everything has to be edible and it's fun to try to identify the food that they used... but on the really good ones it's pretty hard to tell. Look up "Nation Gingerbread House Competition" up on Google images and you will be floored.
~Watching Cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies late at night with my sister and drinking hot chocolate.
~Helping my sister finish a last minute Christmas gift.
~Staying up till after midnight singing Christmas carols in bed with my sister. We couldn't remember all the words to "Frosty the Snowman" and "It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas", so we would fill in those sections with words of our own or just humming :)
~Going for a long walk in the woods with my family. It's been a while since we've been on a walk as a family, and the nearby woods -so full of great memories- was the prefect place to resurrect a tradition like that.
~Watching my family be more excited about the gift they gave than the one they got. When we were little, the boys and I would go downstairs late at night and count all the gifts that had our names on them. But that has changed :)
~My dad's prayer over Christmas dinner. So full of trust in God, adoration at His wonderful works, reliance on the plan that He has for us, and love for our Creator. My family is truly blessed to have a Dad like we do. A true leader and a true servant.

With everyone growing up and moving on in my family, this could very well be the last Christmas that things will be they way they've been for our whole lives. That is one of the reasons that this Christmas will continue to be cemented in my memory; surrounded by sweet pictures of the wonderful family that God has given me.

I hope you all had a wonderful day with your families celebrating the ultimate gift that God gave to this world: His son; God incarnate and the only perfect lamb, sent to die on a cross as atonement for our sins.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Emma


p.s.
Random thought... have you ever noticed that it looks odd when you put an emoticon after a period or a comma? I mean, really. Observe: End of a sentence. :) Look at it! it looks like the poor guy has a third eye, or a oddly placed mole, or a bullet hole in his forehead... However, if you  were to omit the punctuation and simply finish it off with the emoticon: End of sentence :) it looks significantly better but I'm not really sure that it's grammatically correct.

Best Friends....

So true and very applicable to the sister I was born with as well as all of my "adopted" sisters out there!

I love all of you so very much!!

Emma

Sisters.... :)

Laughing... with you :P

Hope you are all enjoying your week!

Emma

First Debate Tournament!!!

The first debate tournament of the debate season was last Saturday (November 19th) and was a practice tourney. Practice tournaments are one of the great blessings bestowed upon debaters and speech-ers alike by NCFCA. They provided a low-tension environment in which you can debut your case or speech and see how it floats. I competed in one speech event (Original Interpretation- a speech category that allows you to write your own story and present it) and Team Policy debate. 

My speech, which was on my dad's childhood, was the only one in the category. Meaning that I was competing against... myself. And guess what?? I WON!!!!!! :P Just kidding. Since I was the only one competing in that event, they didn't rank me, but I did get a number of very helpful comments on my ballots. Presenting my speech has become a lot more fun than it was at the beginning of the season, when I hardly knew my script, because now I know it really well and (unless I have a mind blank) I can work more with my actions and capturing the audience with the presentation itself instead of simply focusing on remember what on earth I was supposed to say. Of course, it still needs a lot of work but it certainly is coming along. 

We did fairly well in debate. My partner and I won our Affirmative round, but ended the tournament by coming to the conclusion that our Negative... needs work :) Out the three rounds that day, we only won our Affirmative, which could be disappointing but "Chin up, and keep moving", right? :)

My sister was able to take some pictures, which you can see on her blog (the link is on the side bar "An Armful of Roses") but since she was judging most of the time, there aren't a whole lot.... But you can see pictures of my debate partner and several others whom I classify as my "debate homies"... I'm kidding. I don't really classify anyone as that, but if I did, that's what the lovely people in those pictures would be called. 

Anyway... there is not a whole lot to ramble on about at the moment, so I hope you all are enjoying your fall/winter (although here, it's almost too warm to warrant either of those titles), and have a wonderful week!

Emma

Drivers Ed = DONE!!!!!

Last Thursday was my last day of Drivers Education! We took our 200 question final and then were home free! I came out with a respectable grade and a new perspective of the High school. The enormous brick structure that has hitherto simply been a landmark for me ("you mean the ice cream place by the High school?) now has memories and faces attached to it. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be done and out, but at least now I can associate reminiscences of 'the days of Drivers Ed' and the people who shared that... well... unique experience with me :) After Mom took me to go get my grade on Friday afternoon (They didn't give it to us on Thursday after class, so we had to go back on Friday to pick up our grade at the school office), she took me driving in the empty parking lot at our local baseball stadium. I have driven the van that we affectionately refer to as "The Tank"(the name says a lot about it's smooth ride and how responsive the controls are :), but I'd never driven the new-ish van that we call "The Mommy-mobile". All the controls on it are quite a bit more responsive than "The Tank" :) I have to say that my Mother must have nerves of steel. After I had made a turn, i was really concerned that the steering wheel was upside down. I tried to correct that fact, but then "10-2" became "8-4", and I ended up on a median. And in the midst of trying to figure out the brake I about gave both of us whip-lash. But I rarely had to touch the gas; a fact that, I think, made both of us happy :) I came away from it with sweaty palms, cramps in my legs from being too tense and the prediction that I will like driving, but for now I'll just keep observing... at least for a little bit :)

I know I've said several times already that fall is here, but those were just false alarms... now it's really here! The leaves are changing on so many of the trees and it's cold enough (at least in the mornings) for sweaters and socks. Fall is definitely my favorite of the four seasons. Not that I don't like the others seasons, but I like fall in a different way. I guess before I try to explain why that is, I should think a little more about it :) Ever done that before? Where you start in on an attempt to explain something and end up finding yourself talking about something radically different from where you started? I do that too often. I get caught up in my pocket full of fifty-cent words and forget that the words in between that are supposed to be connecting,  aren't... connecting. Or even worse are the times when I'm going through the list of adverbs and adjectives that I love to use and scattering them in and around and normal everyday conversation, but when I glance at the face of my victim, I see a look of vacancy in their eyes that can only mean, "You've lost me". While part of me wants to be proud of the fact that I'm capable of losing someone by using an impressive list of words, the other part of  me is frustrated with myself that I tend to talk in a manner that is to some extent, incoherent to those who are not inside my head observing my thought process... which would be most people (if they are inside my head,  I think I should be concerned). Anyway, that is something I need to work on; slowing down and realizing that not everybody follows the rabbit trails inside my head.

I hope that you are all enjoying this wonderful fall season!

Emma

Drivers Ed!!!

Hello Everybody!

I had my first day of Drivers Ed today. A good friend of mine is taking it with me, which makes it not as daunting as it might other wise be. My Sister dropped me off at the local high school (I couldn't have been more relieved when I realized she was going to walk in with me and find out where I was supposed to be!). There are about 30 kids in the class, although chances are high there will be a lot less by the end of the class. The teacher stated right after the role call that he was going to try to get the class as small as possible and that he had been told to kick out as many kids as he could. I've been told that home schoolers don't tend to get kicked out of class (although I know some people who have managed to break that record) but all the same... it makes you a little nervous :) I met a really sweet home school girl before class while we were waiting in the office for someone to show us the class room. Both she and her mom were really delightful and I am looking forward to getting to know her more over the course of the class.

Anyway... that's my little update on life.

Someone I know was asking me why I hardly ever posted on here... the answer is that my life isn't nearly interesting enough to post more frequently :) Actually, that's not entirely true. I suppose that if I wanted to, I could find something of interest in my life to inform you of... if I wanted to... :) Maybe I should try to post more often...

Emma

New Project

Hello!

A couple of weeks ago, my Mom, CM and I were helping a family from our old church who were hosting a yard sale. As we were hauling boxes down from their attic, I noticed an old trunk sitting in the middle of the furniture that was for sale on the front lawn. Because I'm my fathers daughter, antiques and trunks are two of my favorite things. And when it looks like I've found those two things put together in one glorious conglomeration and fabulousness, I get pretty stoked. Mrs G---- wouldn't hear of me buying it though, and insisted on giving it to me.

When CM and I were carrying it to the car, we noticed this on the lid:

Since, unfortunately, you can't read it I'll just tell you what it says:

Estate of James S. Topham

Washington D.C.

November 15 1913

Specifications No. 1198

Washington D.C.

the top of the trunk

the front of the trunk

the handles here are broken.... not sure how to fix that, but "where there's a will there's a way"... most of the time :)

A different angle of the front :)

the tray here is removable

I couldn't really make out what this said...

Anyway... I'm super excited about this. We have several antique trunks upstairs that we use for storage, but I've never really had one that was mine. I'm wanting to make this looks extra-nice, and when it does, you guys should see pictures up here.

Hope you all are enjoying the remains of this lovely summer!

God Bless!

Emma

I'm Back!!!!!

I'm Back!!!!!!!!

Worldview Academy's phrase motto is that "This will be the best week of your life". I can honestly say that it definitely has been the best week of my life. The Speakers and their topics really stretched me in my walk with the Lord and how I looked at my worldview.

On Wednesday, we went out into the bus station in down town WS, and, armed with a sheet of "guideline questions" we went evangelizing. While I've certainly talked to unbelievers before, I'd never really talked to any one as lost as the people we approached in that hour at the buss stop. The goal of the conversation was supposed to be to open the persons eyes to the fact that, as sinners and imperfect humans, it is impossible to enter into an eternal life with God without the grace of Christ. But my heart really broke as I began to realize that the people we were talking to had no idea of the great sin within their heart, or maybe they did but were afraid to admit it.

One of the focuses of camp was to teach the principles of Christlike leadership:

1) Meekness-Power under control.

2) Integrity- The quality of being whole or undivided

3) Vision- Seeing God's presence, power and plan despite obstacles

4) Attitude- Responding like Christ

One of the pillars that struck me was the first one, meekness. What struck me was that when meekness practiced, it does not necessarily mean the forfeit leadership, or walking away from responsibility, it is simply keeping power under control, so that the power does not become overbearing or domineering.

I do hope to go back next year and glean more from this valuable experience.

It is nice to be home though. Although it is a weird change going from a fast paced lecture packed, and action packed week, to the slower paced summer vacation life of home.

If you all could pray that I would stick with what I've learned and that I wouldn't lose sight of the principles that were taught.

I would really encourage you all to at least look into Worldview as an option for your summer next year. It is an experience that will most likely change your life and and week that you'll never forget. I know that sounds like a sales gimmick, but as I'm not affiliated with WVA, I think I can do that :)

Hope you all are having a wonderful mid-summer week!

Emma

First Day of Summer

Today was the first day of summer. I has just reach a (rather warm for here) 94 degrees.

That's the hottest it's been all year so far. We had some wonderful rain here for a couple of days in row that cooled things off considerably, but the rain has stopped and there is not even a single wispy cloud in the bright blue sky.

My brothers left on Sunday to go work at a camp own in Georgia for a week. Yesterday, Liam texted mom to let her know that he thought he'd broken his foot and wanted to know how he could tell if it was indeed broken or just really badly sprained. Dad called down and was able to tell, from what Liam told him of the incident and about what his foot was looking like at the moment, that it was just a bad sprain. When we heard last, he was hopping around camp on crutches. If y'all could be praying that it would heal quickly and wouldn't impede him too much for too long.

Both of my brothers will be back before the week's out, and Flynn will head back down next Sunday or Monday, but Liam will be staying. At least we'll have one brother back! :)

18 days till I leave for WVA!!!!!!!!

So excited about it!!!!!!! Worked all winter and spring to raise the money and a few weeks ago paid in full with the satisfaction of knowing that every sent of the tuition was my own money. It so interesting how that simple knowledge can be so satisfying, isn't it?

Have a great first day of summer!
Emma

Purposful

Terribly sorry to all of you who read my blog.... I lapsed into a period of silence, from whence it was agony to drag myself. Not really, agony... but hard. You know what I mean.

I had made a promise to myself that when I post, I wouldn't post random ramblings. It's not helpful for me, since it doesn't force me to organize my thoughts into an intelligible format and neither does it help you, in any way shape or form, to listen to the mad ravings of one such as I :)

So, henceforth, I solemnly promise that my blog posts will be, if not always of serious and weighty purport, dedicated to a purpose (example; catching y'all up on my life, talking about a recent project, etc.).

Since my brain is currently taking a (hopefully abridged) holiday, I'll not be posting a lengthy post today, as I doubt I could assemble my thoughts into a worth while message. But you will most likely be hearing from me soon.

Have a wonderful day and I sincerely hope you are enjoying your summer!

Emma

p.s.

The formal celi was last Friday and went very well. The butterfly wonderland dress, plus the beading that we added last minute, did very well, and my fabulously talented sister got lots of compliments on it. I'll probably post pictures of it at a later date!

Prom and Steeple Chase

Last Friday night was Prom. Honestly, having never been part of the "teenage community", being around so many people my age, was sort of disconcerting. But I found a fellow debater to talk to, which was nice. JC and I talked for a while about Sherlock Holmes, some random ideas for inventions, and dancing. I love how home schoolers can have the most unconnected conversations, and still manage to make it interesting!

We will need to find a new way to affix the butterflies, since a few of them came off while I was walking around... but we have plenty of extra ones to replace them! :) I am just concerned that they came off while i was just walking... so i wonder what they will do when I'm really dancing at the formal celi... :S

Here are some pictures:

My charming brothers. So thankful to know they were watching out for me all evening.

One of the lovely girls I went with. They made it a wonderful evening!

The other young lady.

Group shot

Another group shot

Here are some shots of the dress, my sister has more detailed ones here (and the story behind it is here):

So.... that's the dress. It was so gorgeous and almost all Arielle's handywork. Thank you Arielle!

We (my brothers and I) met some super nice people from a rival swim team there. Glad I wasn't the only one with a swimsuit tan! ;)

All in all a fabulous time and I'm definitely glad I went.

The Steeple Chase went well the next day. I got up at 6 to polish my shoes and iron my band shirt and my kilt, which were in pretty bad shape from the last highland games. We got there at 9:30, and played at 11:00. Because it was extremely sunny, I got a pretty bad sunburn. It was really very painful but then I put on some of this and it got all better! Last summer, when we were working at a camp with some friends of ours that was our saving grace. I forgot to bring it for the first week of camp, so all the skin on my nose peeled off... not a pleasant sensation by the way! But the second week of camp, it was indispensable! (Yes, I know that sounded like a cheesy TV commercial, but I'm just being honest!)

SOOOOOO excited about the formal celi coming up. Since there wasn't any "real" dancing at prom, it made me look forward to the celi all the more! Most of our celi's are informal (but all the same it's fun to come in a long swishy skirt), but this one is supposed to be completely formal. I have a hard time explaining to my friends that this is a "formal celi, like prom formal, but it's not like prom, well it is, but just in the 'formal' part... the dancing's not the same though. And it's prom aged people who are supposed to come, like a teen celi, but more formal..." most of the time they look at me like I just grew an extra head and go ask the next person to clarify... oh well, I tried :)

This Saturday we get to go to the beach for the first non-band related vacation we have been on in... I don't remember how long. We will be fairly close to Charleston (one of my favorite places EVER) so we may drive in and visit at some point. Not sure. I'm not planning it, I'm just going :)

Since I haven't been on just a vacation for a while... I'm not sure what to pack... so I'll probably wait to see what Arielle packs and then go from there. Yeah... story of my life ;)

Well, love you all... I've got to go write my paper on the Great Depression which I'm sort of making harder than it should be....

Emma

Steeple Chase and Prom

This Saturday, we (My Mom and older brother #2) are headed out to the Queens Cup Steeple Chase. Our band got hired to play for the opening ceremonies, so as members of the band, we get free tickets. It really is an interesting thing to experience. Very different atmosphere than that which we've grown up in, but a great event anyway. The tailgating competitions are really neat to watch. They certainly take tailgating to a new level! That was my first introduction to tailgating so when I saw the "real" way tailgating is done in the south, I was somewhat surprised :)

In about a month, we have the Greenville Highland Games at Furman University. It used to be held in late June, but temperatures would get up to 102 on the field, and competitors who are obligated to wear a wool kilt, wool socks, a black wool hat, and a black vest (which includes most of the people there) weren't very happy with that and several people suffered heat stroke on the field. So the competition was moved to early June. But it still got too hot for those of us who's outfits weren't exactly suited to the weather, so it was moved the late May and that is where it's at right now. It's actually a rather nice games, and one of my favorites (besides the one in Charleston.... that one is definitely my favorite, hands down).

Also, I am thrilled to announce that I will be attending my first ever prom!!!

I didn't think I was going to be going, but a good friend of mine managed to secure me a ticket, so I'm headed of to prom with her. I'm slightly nervous since my only exposure to prom has been riding with my mom to drop my sister and brother off at theirs. This one is a "homeschool" prom, so should be more low key than a public school prom. The butterfly wonderland dress (as a friend of mine called it) may be done on time, but I'm not sure. My sister performed a miracle last night by finishing all the butterflies in one night. I was shocked when I came home to find all my work done for me. I'm so lucky to have a sister who is capable of taking a plain dress and turning it into something wonderful. In the words of the little green space aliens from Toy Story, "I am eternally grateful!" (not sure what brought that to mind but it seems to fit the situation!)

I have been struggling with a nasty cold recently and it's made swimming a bit harder as a result. The cough makes it hard to sleep and the congestion makes it really hard to breath at night, so I haven't gotten much rest. If you guys could just be praying that it would be gone by Friday night (prom), and that I would be able to get some sleep and be well rested up for the Steeple Chase on Saturday and.... life. ;)

Enjoy this lovely day!

Butterflies... lots of butterflies

We have begun work on my dress. Now we just have a million and one butterflies to cut out of the cream sheer fabric. If you have ever tried to cut out tons and tons of little butterflies out of a slippery fabric like sheer... then you would sympathize with me. If you haven't... feel free to come on over and try it out.

I know it's going to look nice once its done, but right now all I can see if the mass of sheer fabric and my tiny little pile of butterflies.

Wow... I just looked down at my wrist (where my watch usually resides) to check the time and realized that I'd lent my watch to my brother so he could time his run... but that's not the wow part, I am thrilled to announce that I have a watch tan. For most of my life I have lived under the impression that I cannot tan no matter how hard I try... but that myth has been busted. I have a prominent white stripe around my wrist making the rest of my arm look delightfully tan. Yay!!

Well... I should get back to my butterflies now.....

Highland Games.

Hey!!!

This weekend was the LNHG (Loch Norman Highland Games). Saturday was the actual competition day and if you've been watching the news you would know that the terrible weather that's been crossing the states hit us yesterday. The sky was almost black and the amount of rain that came down was unbelievable. The entire games area was muddy and there was a little creek running through our band area. Even after the rain stopped there was a tremendous wind that whipped everything around like crazy. Our shoes were cakes in mud by the time we had to compete. But the sky had cleared by that time and the rest of the day was lovely. Our competition run was really good. Of course we made a few mistakes but (much to our endless delight) we won!!!!!!! We were absolutely thrilled!!! Our band had been hired to play for the closing ceremonies on Sunday (today) so we stayed the night and were our bright and early this morning. There was not a cloud in the sky and the wind had died down to a refreshing breeze. We played for the parade of tartans (where all of the clans present walk around the track carrying their flag or other bits of paraphernalia unique to their clan) and then just hung around for the rest of the day shopping at the various vendor booths there. There was some nice things but, sadly, a large number of the vendors target the average tourist and just sell a lot of useless toys, cheap scottish flags, etc.

It was a pretty good weekend but immediately lost footing in my perception once I realized that I'd left my journal in the hotel room :','( I'm super sad about that but A- pointed out that its not as bad as leaving an almost-full journal, since I only started this one a few months ago. But still... shed more than a few tears once I realized that I'd left it there We called the hotel and they said that it wasn't in the room but it's not here either... so, while it might not be at the hotel its still lost... :(

But anyway.....

School is over for me until the fall... or most of it is at least. I finished all my subjects except math early!!!

Well, it's a lovely day and I've done my weekend update for y'all... so I guess I'll head off to see if I can get my sister to take me sumer clothes shopping which might end up being harder then it sounds but maybe I can bribe her with something... or blackmail, that's always an option! ;)

just kidding...

Babysitting...

Tuesday evening I babysat some lovely kids down the street.

The oldest is seven

The middle one is 4

and the baby is 1

I was initially a little daunted by the idea of babysitting 3 kids at once, it being may first official babysitting gig. (No, second. I babysat a little 4 year old several weeks ago with a friend... )

Tuesday I just was there for 1 and a half hours in order for me to get used to the kids and their routine. Tonight I will be there for 5 hours... through dinner and bed time and all.

As I said before, I've never really done much babysitting. My older sister usually gets preference because of her age, and the fact that she has a drivers license. But this time I got it. I'm super excited since I need some extra money since I'm raising money to go to WVA this summer and I don't have all my finds raised yet. But I'm on my way!

Back to the kids...

the seven-year-old is the sweetest thing ever. She reminds me of my sister at that age... I wasn't old enough to remember what she was like at that age... so I guess I should just say that she is like what I would think she'd be like at that age. Super eloquent, graceful, gorgeous, helpful, and just utterly fantastic.

The middle child is crazy. He is like what my oldest brother was like at that age... no... not that crazy... (my brother has gotten better.. much better, since then..) Wonderfully sweet and full of energy.

The one year old is ridiculously expressive. Since he is blonde he has virtually no eyebrows the little blonde streaks of eyebrows he does have are incredibly mobile. When I first came in, he arched one eyebrow in a look of mildly confused incredulity, as if wondering why I was feeding him his sweet potatoes instead of his mother.

To be honest... I'm nervous about tonight. I've never had three kids be completely my responsibility for 5 hours. If you all would pray for me, that would be fabulous.

Earlier today, I went with my sister to switch banks. She has been at the same bank for 16 years. All the tellers know her by name and she's friends with everybody who works there. She's changed to another bank because they have a higher interest rate, but she told me she feels like she's cheating on her old bank by changing.

Every Thursday for about a year, my sister and I have been baby sitting for a mothers bible study group at a local church. We are only two out of probably 40-50 childcare workers who do it with us. I've been watching the 18-24 moth olds and have had an absolute blast doing it. But alas, even the best things must end sometime. We have one more week of it after Easter break and then it's over for the summer. It'll pick back up again in the fall but I won't be continuing with it because I'm wanting to swim more often and this commitment on Thursday morning conflicts with swim practice.

We've started on my dress today!!! A- took out the train and replaced it with a double layered panel of cream sheer. We have the butterfly template printed out but have yet to begin to cut them all out. Any one want to come over and help? :)

Well... I need to go get ready to babysit. I leave in a few minutes...

Love y'all!

My lovely dress..

Here are some photos of my dress for the formal ceili (formal ceili; noun; formal social dance; no date required; mostly square - or circle- dances done... I think you get the picture) in late May

Arielle and I have some major alterations planned for it but here is the starter dress.

the back... sorry... it is kind of far out but you may be able to zoom...

more of the back... the train is coming off ('cause you can't dance with a train) to make fabric for the straps (yeah... I'm not wearing a strapless, y'all can take a deep breath now. :)

We are also hemming it to make it easier to dance in.

We are modeling it after this:

(at least the butterflys part...)

I'll post more pictures when we've done something more with it.. or when we've finished.

My sister just went to go get the fabric for the butterflies so we should be getting started soon!

I'm sooo excited!!!!

Rambles...

I had just completed a rather lengthy post, when I realized that one of my brothers had signed out of my email account, making it impossible for to post what I'd written from my blogger account. Soooo.... my very-long-post got deleted and I lost everything that I had written in it. Now I don't feel like blogging. After pouring all my literary genius (:P) into one fabulous post, I feel as though I've gone dry. Not really.... I think the deceased post seems better now that it's gone than it ever really was. Funny how that happens. I used to regularly lose pieces of clothing after I'd put it in the laundry (I still don't know where a lot of the stuff I lost years ago is...), and I'd be so upset over it's loss that I'd cry over "my favorite sweater" or "my favorite pair of jeans" (this was years ago... not recently :) even though it was something I rarely wore. Now, I'm sure that once things are gone, you become blind to whatever was wrong with it and only see it's good qualities.

"I've been painting pictures of Egypt,

leaving out what it lacked

the future seems so hard and I want to go back"

~Sarah Groves "Painting Pictures of Egypt"

So sad but true. When it got hard for the Israelites, they immediately began bemoaning their choice to leave Egypt. They no longer remembered the cruelty of the enslavement they were subject to, they only focused on the conditions of their surrounding and wished they could go back to Egypt. (Exodus 14:11-12)

We can easily point fingers at the Israelites, and think "Man, that was so ungrateful of them! God showed them His magnificent power in so many ways, but time after time they would turn around and throw it all in His face. How could they do that?" but so often we do the same thing, in far less imposing circumstances than they were in. They were wandering in the middle of nowhere, and, as far as they could see, no closer to the promised land that when they first started, and so they doubted God. But how often do we, in the face of the most insignificant issues, doubt the sovereignty of the God who created us?

So soon do we turn and say, "My life was so much easier when (fill in the blank)", that we have no business looking down out noses at the Israelites.

Well, I don't know how I got from raving about my deleted blog post to this... but there it is.

I think I'm done rambling now, so I'll leave you all to enjoy your Saturday!

My poor dear Sister...

Yesterday, my older sister over at An Armful of Roses, had all three of her wisdom teeth removed . My brothers and I came home from swim to a very unhappy camper sprawled out on the couch. Let me tell you, watching your big sister cry because her jaw is so painful, is not any fun. But when the pain meds. take effect, she's a ton of fun. She not very thrilled about looking like a chipmunk, but I have to say, I think she'll enjoy the pictures (yes.... we did take pictures) at a later date. Since she was confined to the couch all day yesterday and all last night, I had a very lonely evening up in our room by myself :( Dad has removed one of our walls, so there is a very large, very dark, and very capacious (sort of the same thing as large...) hole in our walls that opens up into our attic. I've always had a terribly irrational fear of our attic (you never know what will come out of it you know!), so now that our room opens up into it, I wasn't to thrilled to have to sleep right in front of the hole without my sister there. But once I was asleep, it wasn't that big of an issue.

On another note....

In a couple of weeks out pipe band has our very first competition of the year (the Loch Norman Highland Games). It's our very first time competing with all our new music and everything. Since it's the first one of the year, it's really the only one I get nervous about. Our band is fairly sure we'll place fine, but I'm still a bit nervous. If ya'll could just be praying that I would just be relaxed about everything and just play the best that I can, I'd really appreciate it!

Sadly, It'll be the first highland games I've played without Arielle as the Bass drummer (she pulled out so that she could focus more on her business). It'll also be the last one that Liam (oldest brother) will be playing until.. well... who-knows-when. That leaves just Flynn and I as the remnants of our family's presence in the band. Aside from this being the first and last of a few things, I'm still really excited about it. I really enjoy being in the band and absolutely love going to competitions. It's really neat how God has used this band in our family's life and (hopefully) used our family in the band.

Well, Arielle is up from her nap and so is my dad so I'll sign off here.

Enjoy this lovely weekend (despite the absence of rain :)

Spring is (officially) here!

Today was (as some of you know) the third day of spring!!!!!!

Exciting, for one, because well... it's spring, and not winter -although I love winter- but not exciting because, it being the third day of spring, I missed the offer of a free Italian Ice at Rita's, which was only valid on the first day of spring. Devastating, I know... but wipe your tears and we'll move on. The weather around here has been lovely, although, sad to say, there's been no rain :( But the sound of birds in the morning can be almost as good as the pattering of rain on the roof.

My older sister says that if all you have to talk about is the weather, than you don't really have anything to talk about. But that's not always true. I have things to talk about just not the urgent stuff.... I ramble (have you noticed?:) All the flowers were out today. After I came back from swim practice I was so happy (not exactly sure what it was about since I was in the middle of a theological debate with my brother... but then again that may have been why I was happy...) and seeing the flowers everywhere and our weeping cherry tree in full bloom just thrilled me.

Tonight Arielle and I went to the hardware store with Mom. It's so weird going with her since that's where Dad always takes us when we go on dates. Arielle and I were going to slip over to Rita's while mom was in the store, but she said she'd be lonely so we came in with her. We missed a trip to Rita's but Arielle promised we'd go later. Not sure when but later is enough to satisfy me :)

Well, I think I'm done rambling and it is pretty late.

Talk to ya'll later...

This is Weird....

Today I had a dentist appointment. I love dentist appointments. Many people cock an eyebrow at me when I say this, but you're on the other side of the screen so I can't see you cock an eyebrow. I was headed to said dentist appointment, expecting a cleaning, but wasn't until I was seated in the chair, our dentist walked in a stuck a needle in my mouth that I realized that I wasn't there for a regular cleaning (how come people don't tell me these things??). At first I had no earthly idea why there was a needle in my mouth ("new and improved way of cleaning?" was the first thing that went through my mind) but when my mouth started to go numb and the dentist told me that I was going to have a filling, I caught on pretty quick. For about 20 minutes the dentist and the hygienist had an ridiculous amount of tools in my mouth at the same time. The good side was that I got to watch the History Channel the whole time. Every once in a while the hygienist would break my concentration on the program about tsunami's to tell me to close my mouth and bite down on this or that or close my lips so she could stick that little vacuum thing in my mouth. Any way, after about 20 minutes of that, they turned off the TV and called my mom in. the dentist then expounded on the type on sealant (did I spell that right?) he had used, what had been done et. But now.... almost an hour after the whole thing I can't feel half of my face, half of my tongue and half of my lower lip.... thus the title of my post, because it is really weird. If any of you have ever had local anesthetic, then you know how it feels, but this was a first time experience for me.

Shortly after I got home I walked past the mirror in our front room and just happened to glance into it. It was then I realized I had a string of drool on the left side of my face that had managed to take advantage of my numbed state to sneak out of my mouth.... thankfully I was able to catch it before anyone saw it... ah the wonderful thing about mirrors! :)

But for now, my mouth is still numb and I'm having quite a bit of trouble trying to get out an intelligible string of words.

On another note...

It just happens to my my Daddy's birthday day today. We are planning on an dinner of homemade hamburgers (a special favorite of his) and then heading over to another family's house to celebrate his and another gentleman's birthday. I think it'll be fun.

He had a friend his from Canada (where my Dad's actually from) call to wish him a happy birthday. I picked up the phone and after a bit of conversation, they said "You know, you don't sound a bit like you're from the South, you actually sound more like a Canadian." I'd have to disagree... if they could hear me talk on a regular basis they'd probably change their mind, but there it is, straight from the mouth of a Canadian. :)

Well, I'm off to go make Dad's birthday cake.

Till next time,

Emma

Pictures.... and Rain :)

I said I'd put some post some pictures, and so here they are:

Fabulous Sunglasses eh?

Starbucks!!!!!! Iced Caramel Machiato (did I spell that right?) was fabulous!!!

(Me on the left, C. on the right)

Lovely lake at Bays Mountain....

Looking over the edge at a water fall.... you can't see it from where the camera is.

We had an all around good time....

Talk to ya'll later!

Emma

p.s

The script on this thing is really driving me crazy! It is stuck on underline... argh!!!

p.p.s

the rain cloud is back and I think it might rain again! YAY!!!!

Just a jot this time...

I've tried to write an extensive post.... but each time it turned out wrong. So today you're just going to get a short one. I just came back from spending the night with a friend who lives "up the mountain". We had a blast! Most of our day was spent at the Bays Mountain Park (beautiful by the way) and we wound it up with a trip to Taco Bell. My announcement that, indeed, I'd never been to Taco Bell before was met with expressions of disbelief from every one who chanced to hear. It also resulted in a free meal, courtesy of the cashier... so it was definitely worth it! :)

We did get back relatively late... and ended up staying up till 3 a.m. talking. I was a bit out of it today, needless to say :) My brothers were a little shocked that people could possibly find enough to talk about in order to fill that amount of time. But when two girls, who haven't seen each other in months, get put together and given an open ended bed time... what do you expect? :)

The drive back own the mountain this morning on the way to church was gorgeous! Spring in it's (nearly) full beauty, simply takes your breath away when you think of the awesomeness of the God who created it all!

Band practice was good today. We are getting ready for the St. Patrick's Day parade, which is soon. Our music is coming together, and I am almost certain that we will be ready by the day of the parade. I hope so at least! :)

Well, I said this would be a short post... and compared to others, it probably is... but not quite as short as I thought it would be. But I'm done my rambling....

Sincerely Yours,

Emma

p.s.

Pictures of my weekend soon to follow.

Rain....

After a bit of a rainy piece here, the blue sky is back and the sun is shining through. I can't help but say I feel a bit sad. Oddly enough, I prefer the rainy, cloudy, foggy weather that's been here lately, though when I tried voicing that thought to my avowedly solar powered sister on a recent drive in her car, she threatened to make me walk home :) Of course I love the sun, but prefer the rain. Yesterday, I was running our lake route with my mom and simple felt thrilled at the feel of the rain soaking me to the skin. I tend to get terribly warm when I run, so it's nice every once in a while to run in the rain. It's almost like as soon as you start to get over-heated, the never-ending shower cools you down... I love that! :) We had a dry spell here, and when the three day rain began, I could sympathize with the plants, who seemed to be silently rejoicing in the.... wet-ness (is that a word?) of it all. Rain reaches the deepest depths of my soul and wakes the inner me... okay, maybe a little dramatization, but what can I say? I love the rain!

But sadly, it's all gone now... the sun is lovely, and it is nice to dry off a bit before another rain, but it is a bit sad... Oh well, we can't have the rain without the sun! :)

Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain. ~Author Unknown

Beginnings: A New Blog, and Spring

Recently, while watching my sister type away at a new blog post of hers, I became possessed with the idea to start my own. But I am somewhat OCD, so after that resolution, I was on a mission to find the "perfect" name for my little blog spot. Taking over a week was inevitable, but as my quest for "just the right name" stretched into a month long trial, I sent a list of possible names to my obliging sister, and had her pick one. I reconciled myself to her choice and realized that I kind of really liked it. But now that I have the "right" name, facing me is a dilemma: What exactly do I write now. Ah, the great mysteries of life. :) In the absence of a thrilling anecdote, I suppose I must content myself with simple a brief description of me. I'd like to think that that in itself would be thrilling... but I think other sources would disagree.

I am a homeschool student of uncertain age. Some say that I am 10 going on 30, while others would swear I am older than 16. I can, however add some clarity to that area and assure you that none of those is correct. I am neither, 10 nor 30, and a bit closer to 16. I've been living in the NC piedmont for most of my life and don't foresee a change in that. Being the youngest of four has it's ups and downs... I'm sure any other youngest child can attest to that.

Beyond that, nothing comes to mind that any of you would care to know. I'm sure you'll learn more about me as I get more comfortable rambling into a computer.

Spring is just about here. the daffodils are all blooming and the forsythia contributes it's brilliant yellow to Spring's growing palette of color. Spring and Fall are definitely my favorite times of year. In the South, Summer tends to get pretty humid, and that does odd things to my hair. But Spring and Fall: that when the magic really happens. The delicate beauty of spring is like the beginning of a favorite fairy tale. God's wonderful creation is just starting to peek out and bloom, while the air has a new electricity, as if everyone is holding their breath waiting, just waiting, for everything to burst into full color and surprise us, like every year, with it's magnificent beauty. Fall... well, we shouldn't speak of fall while the full wonder of Spring is here.

I hope you are enjoying your Spring!

Sincerely Yours,

Emma