Just a thought...

So, I got to thinking..... (that is a really scary way to start a blog post- especially coming from me :) I got to thinking about my blog. It has been completely neglected over the past year and I really had no thoughts of resurrecting it. My reasoning for it was sound -I thought- : If the people who read my blog are, more or less, the same people I see day to day (or if not day to day, at least I see them fairly frequently), then why write a blog? They all know what goes on in my life, and if they don't, then it's either not worth knowing or they probably shouldn't know it. But that's when I got to thinking. Is the reason I blog solely to communicate the milestones in my life to the wide wide world over the internet? Maybe that's why I had been blogging. But really, how many people are going to check up on my blog because they have an insatiable desire to know "the next thing Emma's been up to"? The answer that that is none. And believe me, I'm totally okay with that :) But that brings me to what I'm doing now: blogging :) Not because I figured that you were all so curious about my life and it was high time to fill you in, but instead, simply because I like to write. I believe that God gives all of us a love for something. I don't know what he's given you, but he gave me a love of writing. Ask anyone who knows me really well and they will tell you that's true. Rambling is my favorite (can you tell ;). There is something about simply putting words down on paper (or in this case, a screen) that makes me happy. And that is why I want to blog. Not just to tell the world about me, but just because it's writing and I do love to write. That doesn't mean I'll be putting up an post every week, or even necessarily every month, but it gives me a reason to write... and that is simply to write for the sake of loving it.  So you all should hear from me soon. It may be just to tell you what I've been up to this past year, or it may be just to chat; about anything and everything.

Till next time,
EJL

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