Who Knew.. Snow Day??

I'm going to start out by saying Homeschoolers Don't Get Snow Days. Not only do we not get snow days but when it snows we get snowed in with our school. It's terrible. But today I was supposed to have my co-op classes (chem, spanish, and worldlit). Sadly, it snowed. oh wait did I say sadly?? I mean THANK THE LORD IT SNOWED!!!!!! I haven't had a snow day in FOREVER. We got So Much Snow! I slept in for the first time in weeks, then I got up and learned that my littlest sister has never made a snow man. What kind of nine year old has never made a snow man?? I felt so guilty. so, while still wearing our pjs, all three girlies went out side and attempted to make a snow man. He's name was going to be Dave. Sadly, he never got past the base. I forgot how hard it is to make a snow man!!! So I ended up taking lots of pictures out side of my adorable sisters and the beautiful out doors.

After playing outside with the dog and getting cold, we came inside to chocolate-chip pancakes. What a wonderful thing! We watched Hogan's Heroes while eating this wonderful breakfast.

The rest of the day was spent by going out to lunch with my Best Friend Morgan, a little bit of school, and song writing. I forgot how much fun snow days are!!! I love it!

Now I'm sitting in the kitchen while my sister bakes The Pioneer Woman's Blackberry Cobbler. I'm so excited to eat this. So. Excited.

I hope y'all had a wonderful day of snow!!! Enjoy God's beauty.

More Poetry.. by yours truly.

Hey all. I had to write another poem for my WorldLit class and I really like it so I thought I'd share. I know, I'm such a good person, I share! :) Enjoy.

A Welcome With A Celebration Drum

A welcome with a celebration drum.

I now have reached the place where I call home.

A hand reached down and voices shouted come.

And I was there, searching for a wisdom,

Looking for the knowledge above all else.

A welcome with a celebration drum.

I guess I could blame the first one, Adam,

For putting me in the state that I'm in.

A hand reached down and voices shouted come.

I knew where I was and what I'd become,

Someone not worth the breath given to me.

A welcome with a celebration drum.

But with His Glory and Love so Awesome,

He decided that I was worth it all.

A hand reached down and voices shouted come.

And thus I was given the great Freedom.

Despite my sin, I could live with the King.

A welcome with a celebration drum,

A hand reached down and voices shouted come.

Material Things?

I've been thinking this week about material things and how they don't last. Thursday night, here in the heart of Lancaster City, Zap & Co. burned down. Zap had been around since the '70s and then all of a sudden it wasn't there any longer. The fire went on for a very long time. I could see the smoke from my house. It was red. Everything was lost. It's a pile of blackened rubble now.

This made me stop and consider what I'm setting myself up for. Am I putting my hope, love, and trust in worldly, material things? Or am I trusting God to see me through. Am I worrying too much about what's going to happen after graduation and how I'm going to provide for myself, or am I trusting that the Lord will guide me through it all. Am I afraid that all my things will be lost in a four alarm fire and that I will have to start anew? Or am I trusting God?

It's been a lot to think about. I had a dream about fire. It's a scary thing. But slowly the promise that God will never leave me or forsake me has been seeping into my heart. I just hope that now the owner of Zap & Co. will be alright and that maybe, juuust maybe, he might see the Lord working through this tragedy. That's how God has knocked me over the head... many times. Keep Steve and the rest of the 300 block of Queen in your prayers.

I Am Free

This is a poem that I wrote for my World Lit class::

I Am Free

By Carey Bustard

As I sat in my office chair

I realized I had forgotten

To turn off my curling iron.

I pulled out a file

In the cabinet by my desk,

Opened it to read

To see which argument was best.

As my mind began

To work this out,

A plane hit

And no one knew what was about.

The tower went up

Flames were everywhere.

People were screaming.

I grabbed my purse to get out of there.

But all to late

I boarded the elevator

Not knowing that

It was there I would meet my fate.

Two Towers fell.

The World was shocked

Not knowing what to do and

For most, it became a living Hell.

Not for me.

I was safe,

And sound,

Where Streets had no name,

Where I was Free.

Lot's Wife

I've been reading Russian literature for my World Lit class and this is a poem is one of the ones I had to read. I love this poem. You really have to read it at least three times. I've read it at least seven times already.. Here it is, Enjoy

Lot's Wife

By Anna Akhmatova, translated by D.M. Thomas

And the just man trailed God's messenger

His huge, light shape devoured the black hill.

But uneasiness shadowed his wife and spoke to her:

"It's not too late, you can look back still

At the red towers of Sodom, the place that bore you,

The square in which you sang, the spinning-shed,

At the empty windows of that upper storey

Where children blessed your happy marriage-bed."

Her eyes that were still turning when a bolt

Of pain shot through them, were instantly blind;

Her body turned into transparent salt,

And her swift legs were rooted to the ground.

Who mourns one woman in a holocaust?

Surely her death has no significance?

Yet in my heart she will never be lost

She who gave up her life to steal one glance.

oh em gee It's 2011

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY (to my best friend, Danika..)

I hope you all had a wonderful set of holidays.

On a side note:: I am officially obsessed with Jams and Jellies.. and the tv show Psych. and looking at photographers' blogs, but that's not new..

photograph taken newyearseve in VA by myself

Ben and Recent Events::

My mom got this from a friend in one of those chain email things. Although this isn't the whole

article, I thought it was super good and thoughtful. Thus I am sharing it with you.

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My Confession:

I am a Jew, and every single on e of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees... I don't feel threatened.. I don't feel discriminated against.. Thats what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating his happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc.. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide.). We said an expert should know what he's talking about.. And we said okay..

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send "jokes" through email and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

My Best Regards,

Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein

..woah..