Moments

That awkward moment when you and your friends pull out a random sci-fi date and freak out because 2020 is only four years from now. (And the freaking out just happens to be while everyone else is trying to concentrate!)

That interesting moment when you are having a heart to heart with your dad, and he uses characters from a Marvel movie as examples of emotional immaturity. (Someone from another movie got used as an example of double predestination.) ; )

That adorable moment when you are playing outside with your nephew, and you realize he's not holding on safely to something like he usually does. You remind him, and he responds with "It's hot. It's hot!" Poor southwestern baby.

That hilariously weird moment when you are teasing your sister by running in slow motion pumping both arms (on your way out of the grocery store, no less), and you bang one fist into the other. I will never be one of those people who look cool walking away from an explosion. ; )

That amusing moment when you are all walking out of the grocery store (same one--it was Walmart so no regrets here), and you are vaguely aware of your family being counted. Two ladies who are walking directly behind you accidentally get included in the count. My dad had to explain to the 'counter' that they weren't with us. ; )

That unbelievable moment when the dog comes to lick your hand while you're reading on the Kindle and the page turns. I'll never know if it was her tongue or my hand.

That cute moment when your youngest sister informs you that "this is not the Long Winter, it's the Long Summer." Poor southwestern baby again. ; )

That twin moment when you're playing charades with your brother, and he draws a stick figure man in the air then shrinks it with his fingers for the word "boy". There are some things only family members understand.

Questions, Questions

The last survey I did was so much fun, I thought it was high time for another. This is borrowed and tweaked from Aimee's Google+, so you can thank her later. ; )

1. Name: Kate Marie
2. Age: Young enough and old enough. ; )
3. Role model: Jesus Christ, Mommy...
4. Hobbies: The three r's (minus the 'rithmatic), cooking/baking, nephew chasing, singing with my family, writing letters, test reading, amateur sewing, talking.
5. Favorite actor: Jimmy Stewart, and Gregory Peck. (And if you're asking about ones currently living I'll add Kirk Cameron, and David Tennant. And James from Studio C!!!)
6. Favorite actress: June Allyson, Julie Andrews, Donna Reed, and Amy Adams 
7. Best friend: I live in an artist colony (yeah, creative people who wear weird clothes--we qualify when we're still in pjs), so I'm pretty much best friends with everyone here. Outside of my family, I'd say Esther, Rebekah (both of them), Anya, and Susie.
8. Favorite band: Andrew Peterson and all his folks!!! (Though I'm beginning to branch out into some of the other Rabbit Room-ers...)
9. Favorite song: Kung Fu Piano by The PianoGuys and Rejoice by Andrew Peterson.
10. Favorite movie: Fireproof, A Man Called Peter, and Toy Story 3.
11. Favorite animal: Big dogs and small cows.
12. Favorite subject: English. (That covers about all of the wordy stuff.) ; )
13. Pens or pencils? Pencils, because I'm a fallible human. 
14. Summer or winter? Winter. It's so moody and good for inspiration and a really good excuse for reading.
15. Tea or coffee? Chai tea! It's like coffee without the dirt flavor.
16. Good day or bad day? So far, so good. I've made breakfast, read my Bible, and done my chores while talking waaay too much with my crazy siblings. 
17. Birthday: In the springtime. Lovely, lovely springtime.
18. Something that makes you happy: God's love, babies, books, breaking 13k words in my story, my family, our sweet dog Ella... I'm sorry, there are too many. ; )
19. Something you're looking forward to: In the future future, having a family of my own and Christ's return. In the present future? Eating lunch, publishing, writing more, and seeing the nephews again.
20. Tell a story in one sentence: Once upon a time, there was a problem that was solved so everyone could live happily ever after.
21. Nominate any number of people: I think it would be fun if Rebekah, Holly, and Lauren answered these questions! ; )

Now it's your turn! Answer the questions if you like or ask me an extra one. ; )

Grateful for 2015

Wow, I can hardly believe that 2015 is already over! Every other blog post you’ll read this week will probably start with those same words, but isequelh it’s the truth—time flies. There has been so much to be grateful for this past year, even the fact that this year happened. The world was supposed to end in 2012, so don’t forget that we are all miracles, folks.

It would never do to try to exhaust everything awesome that happened in the last 365 days. My brain would steam and yours would fall out your ear. So I’ll just cover the categories and please forgive me if I leave something out. ; )

I’m so grateful for…

• My family. The more I live the more I learn that my family is awesome. They are my built in friends, Romans, countrymen, critics, laugh track, comedy show, iron sharpeners (‘cause I have a pastor-dad!), and friends. Nobody else in the world would giggle at 11 o’clock at night about dropping flashlights or understand the joke “the eggs rolled off the ceiling”. (We don’t even understand that one.) Nobody else in the world would properly appreciate the term Calminian or be able to go on all day about the Trinity and constitutional rights at the same time. And definitely no one else would die laughing over our brother’s ability to mimic the voice of everyone in our family and beyond.
• More of my family. Yeah, I’m talking about the cute chubby ones and their chauffeurs. The Chap and the Chum and their tiny brother who is trying to learn to crawl so he can join them in throwing all their toys out the bedroom window and hosing each other down when Dad and Mom aren’t looking. They lived with us for five months this year in which we got to witness Chum getting un-chubby enough to be able to walk, Chap learning to do fist-bumps and say all sorts of intelligent things, and their fabulous brother being born. Then we got to help move them into their own little house, and altogether it’s been altogether amazing. ; )  The chauffeurs are pretty amazing too, by the way. Perry is great for calling and telling all about the three mile thick novel you are never going to write or getting all the advice you could ever need whether you want it or not. ; P (Hi, Perry! I know you are reading this! This part is for you!) And Tyler is awesome to bake for and shoot with Nerf darts.
• Church family. Since we started out on that infamously crazy road trip to move down here a year ago, they have been so welcoming and helpful. It’s been great to learn and grow and laugh and love with them all. Probably my two favorite things I’ve done with them all this year were our church picnic in April and caroling this past Christmas Eve.
• Friends. Most of my friends are at my current church, but if I didn’t talk about this category I’d be leaving out the special people back in the Northwest and my pen-pals far and near. All of these people have enriched my life so much.
• Media. I don’t mean the tv/social networking/newspaper kind. If you’ve been reading my blog long enough, you’ve probably noticed that this year has been a book explosion for me. There are definitely too many books for me to mention; but my favorites this year have been Dreamlander, Gift from the Storm, The Green Ember, its prequel The Blackstar of Kingston, The Warden and the Wolf King, and the Aggie’s Inheritance series. It’s not just books that I’ve been enjoying this year either. Andrew Peterson’s albums “After All These Years” and “The Burning Edge of Dawn” have been used by God to draw me so much closer to Him, and Handel’s “Messiah” is going to be a forever favorite now that I’ve heard it live. Two of my favorite movies this year are probably “Inside Out” and “The Stratton Story” (Jimmy Stewart—yup, yup!); but “Cinderella” isn’t on there just because I still haven’t seen it yet. (Goals for this year…) ; )
• Projects. Very sorry to bore you with more of “Kate’s Nerd Stuff”, but this year has been awesome for writing and test reading. I’ve written three short stories, two 10k words stories that I like tolerably well, and I’m halfway through another. I’ve also gotten to test read three manuscripts this year, which is always fun because it’s been rare for me to get to read something by someone who’s living and breathing right now and is asking my opinion. ; ) I love working out my worldview and imagination in story form and the sharpening from fellow authors is pretty awesome. The two Rebekah’s and the lovely people at Noble Novels have been a big part of that process this last year. (And those funny phone calls with Perry!) ; )
• Little things. A mini muffin tin; family celebrations; our sweet dog Ella (Nana if there ever was one!); sunny, breezy days; boots (I just got some for Christmas!!!); driving two hours just for the world’s best Mexican food; teaching a little friend from church how to say my name; old pictures; swings… There’s so much more, but you get the idea. Aren’t you proud that I didn’t accidentally sneak more books into this category? ; )
• Lessons and love. I have big problems with fear. I have big problems with change. I have big problems with adoring people but not wanting to talk to them because they are just too scary. I have big problems with controlling my imagination. I have problems with trust. I still have problems with crying when I smash a dish and then getting all defensive. I have problems with managing to get everything done. But when God said, “Let there be a Katie”, He knew there would be a lot of problems with her. Her teeth would be crooked; she would be afraid of the dark; she would love Him one moment and forget Him the next. God knew all of that. He loved her unconditionally. He sent His Son to atone for all of her sins. He sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in her heart to conform her to His image, and He gave her lessons this year to teach her. And someday, when all things are made new so will Katie. Right now she’ll listen to Andrew Peterson’s songs “The Rain Keeps Falling” and “Rejoice”. She’ll talk about herself in the third person so she can tell her blog readers about herself while pretending that that problematic person is someone else. ; ) And she’ll strive to love people and listen to the Holy Spirit. 

All of that is why I am grateful. What about you? 

Joys and Adventures 2.0

This blog post has that strange title; because, well, this is the second time I've written a post like this. ; ) I particularly like the word “adventure” to describe things that are less than comfortable or kinda’ quirky because of G.K. Chesterton’s awesome quote, “An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.” So, here it is—what’s been happening in my life.

Joy:

Starting the week out by witnessing the baptism and covenanting of several children and families! The ever growing circle! : ) The testimonies were so encouraging as they reminded us all of the Good News once again. I was particularly blessed to hear the testimonies of an older couple who came to the Lord late in life and the testimony of a young boy whose faith is very real despite all he has gone through. (His father is AWOL, so he knocked the socks off a Christian family friend by asking him to stand in and baptize him. So amazing!)

Adventure:

Doing the famous take-two-trips-to-go-somewhere-because-Dad-took-the-van-to-work. This time the car was my aunt’s and the destination was DQ to celebrate her birthday. Only problem—just as the second ice cream expedition was starting out, the car decided to quit moving and start smoking. We jumped out and were very grateful that it had broken right in front of our house.

Joy:

Salvaging the party!! The first expedition took a cab home bringing a DELICIOUS ice cream cake with them, and we gave her the gifts we had made to show our appreciation for her. Betsy Bea and I had so much fun making this card together. ; ) I think our aunt really enjoyed her day!

Adventure:

Scurrying to finish dinner in time so my sisters and I could visit with friends during Dad and Paul’s Bible Study.

Joy:

The amazing fellowship of sisters in Christ! We talked, did some handwork, and laughed a lot. We only got shushed about twice, which is banner for a lot of wound up girls. ; ) On our way home, Dad and Paul informed us of their tradition for after Bible Study—shakes. A very good tradition indeed.

Adventure and Joy:

The library!!!! It’s a mixed blessing but a blessing indeed! Here’s a picture of my latest finds. I’ll be sure to report back on them later. ; )

There have also been some other great movies that aren’t pictured here, mostly because I didn’t bring them home myself. We got to see the 1950s version of the movie “Anastasia” starring Yule Brenner and Igrid Bergman. Fascinating!! (My sister is now researching the Romanovs. Good ol’ Aimee.) ; ) My younger sisters brought home “Big Hero 6”. What a fun movie! (Does anyone else think Tadashi Hamada is just the best?)

Joy:

Getting some editing done! The next three parts of “The Twin Arrows” are nearly ready to go up on Noble Novels! (Speaking of that story…would anyone like to read more on here?)

Adventure:

Getting blood drawn for the first time ever! Pearl’s doctor offers free testing for T1D since we’re close relatives of a patient, so all of us kids got tested on the same day. I didn’t watch any of them, since I was really scared of it. It didn’t hurt at all; but for some reason I almost passed out, almost threw up, and could barely walk out of the doctor’s office. Yeah, that was scary.

Joy:

The Goodwill trip afterwards! That was really, really fun! I found Aimee the world’s best linen skirt and the world’s best denim shirt. Yours truly is an awesome shopper. *crows like Peter Pan does when he’s super proud of himself* *head-cuffs herself for being so weird*

Adventure:

Trying on autumn boots. There were two pairs—brown suede for $10 and brown leather for $6. I had to try. I never knew boots could be so hard to get on and off!! (Cinderella’s shoe was actually a glass boot, FYI.) Yours truly cannot, at this time, walk in heels. It was hilarious; but hey, I tried! ; )

Joy:

Making deviled eggs with my “baby sister”. She is awesome at peeling eggs!!

Adventure:

Dropping one of said eggs and calling our dog Ella over to eat it. She haunted me for the rest of the cooking time, and I had to make sure that the plate of finished eggs was beyond her reach on the table. ; ) She has good taste.

Joy:

Doing “baby” sister’s hair. We had a funny time to start with—I did it like Anne Shirley’s just for fun. It was amazing how poufy I could get it! Then after some calming down time, I tied a pink scarf-headbandy-thingy around her head and secured it with bobby pins. It took two tries, but she was such a princess the rest of the day.

Adventure:

Going outside to finish my sweeping job (just a teeny bit of the porch left to do!) and discovering that a neighborhood cat had decided to kill a pigeon in front of our front door. Fortunately, no carcass but lots of feathers everywhere! I felt like a Pixar character.

Joy:

The clean porch!!! So beautiful!!! Why don’t I do this more often?!!!

Adventure:

Discovering that on my regular posting day there was again no time to write a tome of a blog post. Sigh. So, I’ll be honest—I’m writing this on a Saturday and scheduling it for Monday so I can at least look like I’m on top of things. ; )

Joy:

Banana cake with chocolate drizzle this morning. Wow. Yum. (I get more creative when we haven’t grocery shopped in a bit.) ; )

And One More JOY:

Psalm 71:14-16. “But I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more. My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness and Your salvation all the day, for I do not know their limits. I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only."

Life Right Now

Life has been very full right now with such beautiful things as...

Church life and the ministry and fellowship opportunities that come with it. 

It's been so amazing to be a part of this body of believers!

Our new resident dogs. (Patrol is on the left and Ella is on the right.) We love them. ; )

School. I'm particularly excited about this subject right now because I only have two lessons left in it! That's one of the best things about being homeschooled--if you're better at a certain subject or more interested in it you can finish it faster than the others. I love graduating subjects early. ; )

 Nephews. : ) This little guy loves shoes of all kinds, but he looks especially cute in his daddy's shoes. ; )

And I just had to throw this one in for fun. 

It's so much fun taking the little boys outside and playing a bit with them.

And reading. Oh, wow. It looks like I went to the library and brought the whole thing home. : ) So far, I've devoured The Return of the Indian (fun story but I wouldn't suggest that its target age range read it) and The Giver (and really good, but there's some stuff I don't agree with). ; ) 

I'm really looking forward to reading Andrew Peterson's On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness (not from the library actually) because my brother has been reading hilarious excerpts aloud.

There's also been some book shipping; lots of dishes, cooking, and house cleaning (goes with the fellowship, ya know); hilarious family times; and a bit of writing. (I'm working on a new story called "The Twin Arrows"--over nine thousand words!)

So, it's been the best of times and the worst of times. I'm very grateful for all the times. : )

Oh, and BTW--one of the worst times was when I found a dead stinkbug down in my toothbrush after I had started brushing my teeth with it. It was bad. And a really hilarious story to tell afterward. Every stinkbug has a silver lining, you know. ; )

Tons and Bunches: Surprise!

Over at our family blog, my sister Pearl tells all about our newest surprise. Check it out; it's a great story! : )

Tons and Bunches: Surprise!:  We were  blessed  to find a beautiful Australian Shepherd/Border Collie dog on Craigslist. Only three of us knew we were going to get her....