Family Camp 2016

My younger sister Anna blogged about our family camp adventures complete with some adorable pictures. ;)

Tons and Bunches: Camp 2016!: HBC Family Camp was September 17-19, and we drove up and back home each night for Friday and Saturday! Enjoy the adventure! ;)  Thursda...

And here's a picture of my favorite camp memory. ;)

Family Camp!

It's family camp time again! I'm looking forward to hanging out with the nephews, enjoying the breezy weather, and maybe even collecting a few acorns. ;) Right now we're gathering our stuff together and preparing food. Since we are only coming for the daytime stuff, we're making our own food which will be fun. The list of snack jobs currently includes an apple pie and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies (both regular and gluten free). Aimee and I are starting on those right now. Super yummy!

I hope to be back next week with some cute stories, great pictures, and a lot of acorns. ;)

Tons and Bunches: Sewing Camp

Wow has July been busy! I spent the first week building my author blog Once Upon an Ordinary, the second being a mother's helper at Perry and Tyler's (along with Em--so much fun!), and this last week was full with a sewing camp. ;) I've been quite enjoying the summer adventures and opportunities my family and I have had. I can't wait to see how this week pans out! ;)


Here's a post my sister Anna did about the sewing camp. Enjoy!

Tons and Bunches: Sewing Camp: Sewing Camp Monday through Friday was a blast! The youngest sisters (minus BB) enjoyed sewing four hours each day with some of their frie...

Chap & Chum Explain Fireworks

Last night, we went to fireworks with Perry and Tyler and several other families from church. Chap and Chum were outfitted with ear protection, snacks, and numerous aunties/friends to hold them if they got scared. They definitely stole the show with their adorable opinions (and shooter's earmuffs that squeezed their cheeks). ; )

Chap: They're like an earplane [airplane] that goes POP!

Chum: It's loud.

Chap: They go up in the sky like a cloud then BOOM!

Chum: Wow.

Chap: The fireworks come out of a hole in the ground.

Chum: Duck! (We were near a lake, just in case you wondered if a firework had come close.) ; )

It was so special to be able to celebrate with them! How are you celebrating?

Soap Factory

I pulled out my glycerin soap making supplies, and soon Em and Blue got in on the fun. They are having a ton of fun melting and mixing and experimenting with colors. ; ) Fun buddies.

Like Em's turtle?

These are some of the better things I made. I recently got white glycerin soap for the first time, so some of my projects this time were experiments with it. I LOVE the way the shells turned out.

Mom encouraged me to make some sparkly green bars to represent ocean water. I think they make a nice backdrop, and once I replace the paper plate with something a little prettier it will be just perfect. ; )

Next, I hope to make some peanut butter cookies, and after that we are going to a get-together this evening (which might have something to do with why I'm crafting for the first time in forever). ; )

Read-to-Win 2016 (or Dying and Going to Heaven)

Starting today, Homeschooled Authors is hosting their third Read-to-Win! Basically it's a chance for readers to buy these ebooks for 0.99 cents each at some point during the summer, write Goodreads reviews, and get entered in a giveaway for an $100 Amazon giftcard according to how many times you review. That's what I call awesome. ; ) There's something here for everyone--children's books, historical fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, mystery...

I'm really excited about this for three reasons...

That's number one. ; ) My book is on sale all summer as an ebook thanks to a dear friend who formatted it for me! I'm really looking forward to more people getting to read it and hopefully some more reviews. It's not an action adventure novel; but it's definitely fun, kid-safe and a great read-aloud!

Number two? Some of my favorite books are part of the sale. If you look closely, you'll see Gift from the Storm by Rebekah Morris in the sea of books. I wrote a rave review of it last year, so I'm really excited that now you'll be able to read it too! It's a really amazing mystery, and I love the story to pieces. Another book you'll see is Red Rain by Aubrey Hansen. One of the first books to introduce me to work by homeschooled authors and the sci-fi genre. It was so brilliant but super clean! Definitely a favorite. You can see in this exceedingly short review I wrote of it just exactly what I thought. ; ) And a third book featured this summer is one I read recently--Implant by J. Grace Pennington. It was really brilliant, time-wimey, and a super interesting read (for older readers). You can also read my review of this one on Amazon.

And number three... I'm looking forward to trying out a few books myself. ; )

So hop on over to Homeschooled Authors and stay tuned for great posts and great sales!

Long Time, No See (Literally)

What have I been doing? And what am I grateful for? I'm glad you asked!

I'm grateful for...

1. Bible studies. Our Evangelism training and Reclaiming Beauty studies ended earlier this month. It was sad to say goodbye to acquaintances who have become good friends, but we all agree that we should do something together again soon. ; )

2. House cleaning! Top to bottom deep cleaning. And yardwork. ; ) I got to organize our history bookshelves chronologically which was helpful to organize my own brain. (Believe it or not, I had the Alamo in the totally wrong mental place!)

3. Out of town guests. It was so much fun to catch up with friends we haven't seen in over a year! Balderdash, Chik-fil-a, thrifting, Studio C, a water fight, and just plain hanging out... Good times. ; )

4. Family. ; )

(The crazy sisters on the slide. We're screaming because we're falling of the end as Anna is taking the picture. And yes, that's all of us, Blue is just hiding next to Aimee's head.) ; )

5. Homeschooled Authors work. I'm now officially part of the team helping out with emails and keeping the booklist updated. It's been a ton of fun to work with the amazing Sarah Holman and all the other authors I come into contact with. ; )

6. Short story inspiration. A couple weeks ago Em and I spent a couple of days at Perry and Tyler's. During our nighttime talking time together, we told each other stories. I recently expanded my idea into a full short story which I hope to have up on Noble Novels soon. I had her and Blue read the finished version to give me their opinions. They enjoyed it and found a few continuity errors/missing words which was really special. ; )

7. More book related stuff believe it or not. ; ) I'm part of a summer reading program on Homeschooled Authors (more details Wednesday!). It was quite a bit of fun work to get my entries put together, and Anna helped me a ton by taking the pictures for me. ; ) We had a hilarious time together trying to pick poses. I'm a bit of a photographer's nightmare since I like to photobomb myself; but she did a good job, and we got it figured out. ; ) Here's one of my favorite pictures we took...

The necklace is one of my birthday gifts from Dad and Mom this year. I put it together from components from Hobby Lobby, and it's now one of my favorites. (Chum loves it too. He'd open and shut the locket for hours on end.) Since it's a bit whimsical, what book could be better to pose it with?

8. Library books. We are so funny when we go to the library. We usually hit the limit of books that can be checked out, which means both book bags are full and still everyone has to carry something. ; ) I'm enjoying reading all the juvenile fiction that is too adult for it's age group but is just perfect for mine. It's a lot safer and more fun than the adult section! 

9. A store. Em, Blue, and Pearly put together a little store of things they had made and invited us all to come browse through it. There was some pretty neat stuff; and, when all the shopping was done and the store was closing, they generously gave us all gifts. ; )

10. Nephews!!! Like I said, Em and I were over at their house a few weeks ago; and there's been visiting between our families a few more times as well. We also get the blessing of seeing them at church (and chasing them all around the play area--in medium-high heels!). I'll post some newer pictures of the little friends sometime.

11. Grace. We are weak, but He is strong.

So that's what I've been doing in a nutshell! (Not that I've personally been in a nutshell, but what I have been doing has... Oh, forget it. Grammar.) ; P

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Next time you want to take an undercover gluten-free dessert to an event try this recipe. And if you aren't trying to be super healthy, substitute the chocolate chips with M&M's. Oh, heavenly! Just be warned that if you want a picture of them, you'd better take it right away. They sell out quickly! ; ) (I'm a living example.)

What is one recipe that you've found that never fails to please?

I'm Back!

Yes, I'm here again. There's a lull in the storm of things to do, so I thought I'd pop in and tell you what I'm grateful for...

The auntastic adventures I had while Aimee and I stayed at Perry and Tyler's house for a few days helping out. Chap and Chum were so hilarious and adorable with their clip-on ties, cowboy boots, and sunglasses (that don't quite stay on their heads or their noses). Their two favorite things definitely are playing outside (except one time when the sprinklers were on--then Chum was happy to just sit on the porch with me) and eating. (Eating a lot. Especially if it is "callilip", known to everyone besides toddlers as cantaloupe. The score was 8 for Chap and 5 for Chum.) ; ) We also had a great time with Perry and Tyler when they were available. Perry took us grocery shopping and treated us to Starbucks. (I got to try out their Chai tea for the first time!!)

My birthday celebration. On my actual birthday, I had a nice quiet day hanging out with my family. My two littlest sisters treated me to a treasure hunt (with very hard clues! They had recently got a kid spy book from the library, so there were a lot of really creative ones.) with a package of cards they had bought together as a prize at the end. Then all of us sibs (and Mom for awhile) played a crazy game of Ultimate Monopoly. Near the end it was just Paul and I switching back and forth, back and forth. We called it a draw, especially since it was time to eat Chik-fil-a and ice cream since Dad was home. Soooo yummy!!!! After that they showered me with presents and appreciations (that were so sweet I almost cried). It was truly a great day!

My other birthday celebration. ; ) Because my birthday landed on a Monday, the Perry and the Tyler and their very silly babies weren't able to come so they had us over that Saturday for more celebration. Ice cream, politics, silly babies, my local aunt and uncle, and leftover wedding cake from my cousin's wedding combined to make it another great celebration. (And the gifts too! More on one of them later...) ; )

Evangelism training. We are going through the Way of the Master training videos with two different groups (north and south since we are so spread out!) from church. It has been great to be able to get to know these church friends better and to grow in our ability to share the Good News. (And this lucky pastor's family gets all the info twice!) ; ) Please pray for me that I would get over my shyness and actually reach out to people.

Reclaiming Beauty webinar by the Botkin sisters. My mom and a friend of hers are leading this study together for their own daughters (that includes me!!) and some other mother/daughters from a homeschool group. It has been so amazing!! I've been learning exactly what God thinks of the whole topic, that I must dress as His ambassador and an example to my younger Christian sisters, and that it really is okay to enjoy it as long as I keep it in its right place just like any other art. ; ) (If you want to find out more about it, you can download the first episode for free here.) It's also been a ton of fun too. ; )

Anna and I spent a several sister-ly hours decorating our study guide notebooks together. (Yes, that's us! Looking weird and horribly lit.) ; )

My book on the left, hers on the right. I love how our different styles came out in the process. ; )

Over the past several weeks, we've also gotten to know some girls that we had never met before, collected a ton of info for our style files, figured out face shapes and colors (vaguely, anyway) ; ), and I had the insanely irritating and wonderful privilege of doing an entire closet inventory. ; ) Which actually turned out very helpful when we went on our field trip to our local modest (unfortunately Mormon) thrift store together. We all found some amazing things and had a great time. ; )

Our Ladies' Bible study. It only happens once a month, but it has been amazing so far. We are studying through "Living the Gospel in Relationships" by Tara Barthel. We like it so much that we've actually been watching it as a family and gleaning a lot.

Stories. What would a blog post by Kate be without her stories? (Don't answer that question. It was purely rhetorical.) In my "Year of Editing Six Large Works", I have four down and two to go! I just finished editing "Fiddler's Bargain" last night, and I can't wait to move on to its companion story. (When I say these are edited that doesn't mean they won't get more later on, but it is a step forward.) ;) "The Book of Dreams" project has progressed in one exciting way--Perry and Tyler have offered to give me a free cover!!! (That's my birthday gift from them. Aren't they just the best?!!!) I have a story spinning in my mind, but I'm not sure it will ever make it out of the idea stage. (The fact that I have 7k+ words does help to encourage me a bit. I'll share an excerpt of the beginning some time here...)

My crazy family. Right now my mom and I have ganged up on my littlest sister and are tickling her mercilessly. Other fun times include another treasure hunt Em made for Blue and I yesterday, watching the second National Treasure movie together yesterday on VidAngel (Anna and I love quoting Riley Poole to each other), coming up with eighty business/book/movie/ministry ideas a day, and listening to Mom read a book about Marco Polo aloud. Pretty great. ; )

That's just a bit of the awesome things that have been keeping me busy. ; ) What have you been doing?

Discovering, Breathing, Enjoying, and So On...

Yes, I have been extremely busy! You can just look at our church calendar and see at a glance 2/3s of what is filling our time. Add to that birthdays, celebrations, social events, and family ministry--wow!

Today's blog post is going to be a little different. So many awesome things have happened that I'm going to just share a few pictures of some of my favorite experiences. ; )

We celebrated Chum's birthday by feeding "eatmeal" to ducks at the park. He had a ton of fun!!

Chap and Uncle Paul watching the ducks.

Love that sweet smile!!!

Yeah, this is what I mostly did. ; )

On that same day, Pearl and I discovered our first Little Free Library! We had the back of our van full of rejected stock for our used book business, so we decided to take the time to fill the library with an assortment of books. It was so much fun, and we can't wait to do it again! ; )

Our evenings have been mostly occupied by church Bible studies. It's been a really good time of learning and fellowship! Mom, Aimee, Anna, and I are also going through the Botkin's Reclaiming Beauty study with some friends of ours and their homeschool group. We just had our third session today, and it's been really good so far.

Anna and I spent a huge chunk of one day decorating the backs of our notebooks with things we love. (Mine is on the left and hers is on the right.) ; ) It was a great sister togetherness time, and we were sad when the project ended. ; )

What else have I been doing? Well, living, experimenting (more on that later), discovering (love this creative community!), editing ("Mara"), breathing (glad to hear it, aren't you?), cleaning, studying (real Mount Sinai!!!), enjoying, loving, and learning (the Levites were presented to God as a "living sacrifice" just like we are to be!). 

Oh, and um... stories... Perry Elisabeth is hosting a short story contest!!! I'm so excited, and I can't wait to start on my submission. Also, if you go to my page on Noble Novels, you'll find the fifth part of "The Twin Arrows". (The suspense is building!!)

It's been an awesomely blessed week and a half! How was yours?

The Story of Sparkle

Once upon a time, not too long ago, a curl was born.

Or maybe it was a sparkle. Whatever she was, she did both. And as she grew...

And grew...

And grew...

And grew...

And grew, she continues to do both spreading her unique love and laughter to everyone she meets. Today is Aimee's 21st birthday; and we are so grateful for the hilarity, decoration, and love (and sparkles) she brings to our life. Happy Birthday, Aimee!

Busy and Blessed

This weekend has been super busy and blessed. Added to the regular activities of usual weekends, it’s birthday season for us! ; )

Thursday

Buddies' actual birthday; but, since we were going to celebrate it on Saturday (so we could have Perry, Tyler, and the nephews come), a school holiday was declared as long as we played with the birthday girl all day. ; ) After some chores, a little bit of school that had a deadline, and that silly selfie session from my last post, the younger girls launched into a game of dollhouse. It was, of course, only a precursor to the main event when they were allowed to go outside and build a town. That’s right—a town. Em set up a very nice Doctor’s Office in the tree house (which was kind of funny because “injured” people had to climb up the ladder to get there) where I got a real bandage for a real injury; and Pearly set up a sort of carnival/game tent (Literal tent and one of the walls was held up by a rock on the roof that fell off later. No one was hurt!) with activities including guess the number of Skittles in the jar, a penny toss, a raffle, a hidden object challenge (bottle of rice with small objects in it—the challenge was to find them all), and a ball ramp she had made by herself. There were prizes and even badges that said things like “Champion of the Skooter Race” that they got to wear all day. (Em had her doctor name tag and two champion badges, so let’s just say she was very decorated!) ; ) Also very popular were the bags of complementary popcorn  with a few turns at the games. (Which was really good, because we were so busy playing that our meals were a bit off schedule.) ; ) Speaking of lunch, the Birthday Girl herself served it through one of our back windows as a drive through. I made a big batch of chai tea and served it in my new adorable glass mugs. It went like hotcakes! Buddies even wanted seconds after it was gone so she went and made herself more (with a little help from Aimee). ; ) Paul spent most of his morning on the computer making something mysterious and interesting for our game. None of the younger girls were allowed to look at the computer, but if they had I don’t think they would have understood what he was doing. (I had to be told, myself.) He coded an app for our family phones that read smart tags off “debit cards” that were linked with play bank accounts. Talk about an advancement from the tinfoil coinage of the old days when the big girls were little! He set up a tent and chose Birthday Girl as his assistant. She was so cute sitting there reading a book as he explained the cards to his primitive customers. She had dressed up for her birthday complete with stick-on earrings, a necklace, and a bracelet. Anna had done her hair in a French braid and twisted little hair jewels into it. Very grownup! ; ) She got even more dressed up because of the salon hosted by Anna and I. Anna set it up next to Pearly’s game tent on an old bureau that decorates the back porch in it’s own rustic way. She took a mirror, all the hair stuff, and a ton of small decorating items (including Christmas lights!!) outside and arranged them to make a very pretty picture. ; ) My job was to paint fingernails and toenails while she did hair and makeup. Mom let us have the rare treat/torture of using some of her makeup like face paint. (I tried a little and it turned out like war paint so I washed it off.) ; ) Anna got into the act and dressed up as a crazy salon lady, and we used a little face paint to get the clown next door into character. The pictures say it all. ; ) Tyler surprised Buddies by dropping by on his way home from work to wish her a happy day. He was a little astounded by our costumes; but he seemed to enjoy seeing the town, and she certainly enjoyed showing it off. ; ) So we played until it was almost completely dark (or maybe it was completely dark), then came inside to warm up. My favorite part of the day was definitely when Birthday Girl thanked us all by saying, “Thank you so much for playing with me, guys!”

The lovely M.D (Mother on Duty)

The "clown"

Mayor and secretary

Getting dark!

The crazy salon lady, the M.D., and a little sliver of Yours Truly

Friday

We did do some school, and I did get some editing/writing in. I actually finished editing “The Book of Dreams” as much as I can, and I’m looking forward to sending it out to test readers hopefully soon. My current writing WIP is “One Day After Eden” and my editing WIP is now “Letters for Victory”! ; ) That evening, we went to some friends’ house to have dinner with them and learn to make their Paleo friendly apple cake. (It was so good!!! I’ll have to put the recipe here sometime.) We had a great and blessed time with them. ; )

Saturday

Oh, wow. We packed in four days’ worth of stuff on this day! The first day of this day was Dad’s birthday celebration (since it was actually his birthday) where Mom gave him a collage she had made to commemorate our years in the Northwest. The second day, Dad, Em, and I had to do some last minute birthday shopping for Buddies before her celebration later that included going to Barnes and Noble and the Christian bookstore. *angels sing* It was a ton of fun! Back home, I helped to finish cleaning the house and Em and Anna closeted themselves to wrap the presents. (They did an adorable job!) Day three: the relatives arrive! Perry, Tyler, Chap, Chum, and Brudder Baby as well as our local aunt and uncle! We had a nice party appreciating Birthday Girl, eating too much ice cream, and watching as she celebrated over each present. ; ) Dad also got another present—this time from us. Starbucks giftcard but since we only have non-birthday girly cards in the house, Aimee’s sense of humor told her to use a sympathy card. “In sympathy for all the health problems this coffee will cause.” ; ) ; ) ; ) And then day four, all the adults left for a courtship discussion with a few other families from church as they introduced the idea to a homeschool group. We got the babies!!!!! (All except Brudder Baby but I didn’t complain too much.) ; ) Chap and Chum kept us on our toes (and themselves happy way past bedtime) with dancing to “The Fiddler on the Roof”; cooking with kid kitchen (They both pray over food, and Liam loves “cutting” wooden food with a little wooden knife. He would have done that all day if there hadn’t been anything else to do!); playing doggy with streamer leashes; and just being generally cute. Buddies got to share one of her birthday gifts, the first volume of What’s in the Bible with Buck Denver, with them which was pretty fun. I think they liked it even if they felt the need to play a little Duplo when they got bored for a moment. ; ) So cute! Anyways, it was a great day!

Birthday Girl!!!

Chef Chum ; )

Sunday

Dad wanted to take us to Savers for his birthday, and since there was a big sale we thought we would snag a little time at the store before our afternoon church. We found some great things, but we were a bit rushed getting to church since it ended up taking a lot longer than we had thought. Dad preached some of the last few verses of the book of James this Sunday. It was so good! The sermon will definitely be posted here in the near future since it is about serving God in every area of life. The communion service was really great too, especially since one of our piano players from the church’s early days was in town so we resurrected a really amazing communion song we used to sing. Fellowship afterwards was simply amazing as I found myself talking to people I don’t usually get to, and we were discussing amazing principles from the Bible (and coming up with analogies that include water balloons so they definitely break down). And the nephews were awesome as always. That’s a given. ; )

Monday

Oh, wow, that’s today! The only reason I’m writing this right now is because I’m the only one up and my computer was handy, but today is going to be busy. We’re renters, so it’s time for the annual walk through and we have a few things to do. (Like yardwork—because weeds always grow.) Dad is home because it’s MLK day, so I’m excited to see what we’ll do when the work is all over. Mom’s birthday is tomorrow, and we have a good long week of school (and editing/writing!) ahead of us so I’m excited. ; )

What about you? How have you been busy and blessed?

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? 

Christmastime Is Here!

Ten days ‘til Christmas, wow! This year has really sped by for me. These first two weeks of December, there has been so much to be grateful for! Let me share some of it with you…

I’m grateful for…

• Our family’s Advent celebration. Every night (at least every night we are able), Dad pulls out the Advent calendar after dinner and reads aloud that night’s little book that tells a part of the Christmas story. It’s a time where we all slow down to remember the Story again, sing Christmas songs together, and share in good conversation. This year, my littlest sister is finally old enough to participate in the celebration and understand what’s going on. It’s a really special time. ; )
• Our church’s Christmas recital early this month. I got to sing alto to “Joy to the World!” in a performance with some of my family members and friends. ; ) It was so amazing to be a part of! I also enjoyed listening to Anna and her friends sing “O Come, All Ye Faithful”; Tyler and Perry do “Mathew’s Begats” (by Andrew Peterson); and Tyler, Perry, and Dad perform “The Holly and the Ivy/While Shepherd’s Watched Their Flocks” (another Andrew Peterson).
• Babysitting nice nephews while their parents did music at the recital and that Sunday for church. Chap was hilarious sitting on my lap and coloring all over my sermon outline. Later when he was sitting with his parents again, I used his crayon to take notes. ; ) I also got to experience the “cry room” with the littlest one, which was a new experience. ; )
• Funny to say it, but…the clothes! All the best colors—red, green, black—are Christmas-y and my family actually finds it pretty easy to coordinate during this season. ; ) And I actually get to wear my warmer, favorite things since it’s a tiny bit cold out!
• My Christmas-present-making buddy! Betsy Bea and I are partners this year to prepare gifts for the siblings whose names we drew. It’s so much fun discussing our secrets and surprises. ; )
• The awesome gifts boxes we got from Aimee’s yard sale. That yard sale had a ton of Christmas stuff, and we bought some really cute little boxes from her. We turned on Christmas music and dragged all of our wrapping and scrapbooking supplies into our place of choosing. With a bit of decoration (one of them had lime green decorations that I colored darker green so they weren’t so hideous), Bea and I have them ready for their presents to go inside. ; ) Very exciting!
• Christmas music! Right now I’m listening to a cd of orchestral music; but it’s ranged from Nat King Cole to Andrew Peterson, from a collection of Christmas favorites to even a bit of the radio. ; ) Last Saturday, we got to hear a live performance of Handel’s “Messiah”! It was so amazing!!!
• Inspiration! Besides my story “Snowman”, I wrote another one currently called “Package” which I finished last week. They're even a little bit related. ; ) So much fun!
• Elderberry syrup to help us get healthy and stay healthy!
• All the Christmas baking I’ve been able to do since we are almost healthy now. ; ) I got to use my mini muffin baking tin for the first time ever last week! I brought the brownies to church yesterday which was pretty fun. I plan on making more for our church’s upcoming ladies’ tea.
• Mushy Jimmy Stewart Christmas movies. ; ) We just watched his little-known and hilarious movie “The Shop Around the Corner” (thanks to a generous friend); and I look forward to watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” soon among our other Christmas favorites. ; )
• The fact that Aimee and I get to host a table at the ladies' tea together! It will be really fun, though we do have somewhat different decorating styles. Not as far apart as they used to be though. When we were younger it was really bad. ; )
• The cold-ish weather that is coming!
• The book of Isaiah. I’ve been trying to read two chapters of it a day this Christmas season since there are so many prophecies related to Jesus. It’s pretty amazing!

Soon we will decorate our house for Christmas, if we are well enough; and we ladies will participate in the tea. After that, Christmas caroling with our church and then Christmas day—the celebration of our Lord and Savior coming to earth for us. What more could we ask than the Maker of the universe would humble Himself to come to His people? God is with us, and I am truly grateful.

This Christmas, what are you grateful for?

We Gather Together

Wow, has this week been busy!! I am so grateful to have been able to spend time with my hilarious, Chick-fil-A loving, Hobby Lobby loving, music loving relatives. We had a great time singing Christmas carols together and making a ton of food in the kitchen. (I got to help out this year.) ; ) If you'd like to see a picture of the crazy crew, you can follow this link to our family blog.

Tons and Bunches: Happy Thanksgiving!: Happy Thanksgiving!!! All of Betsy's family came to town for a couple days, and we've enjoyed hanging out with  them while they...

I'd like to encourage you to listen to this sermon on thankfulness if you haven't already. ; )

A Camping We Did Go

Last weekend, my family and I had the awesome adventure of going to our church's family camp together! Since it was an hour or so north of here, we got to enjoy a taste of greenness once again. The best parts, though, were sharing a cabin duplex with Perry and Tyler (and the BABIES!!!!!!) and getting to know our church family better.

After packing way too much clothing; gathering card games; baking and popping food (I made these cookies and popped four huge batches of popcorn. I even used up all the coconut oil and melted the lid just to make it more fun.); finishing up the sermon (Dad did that part. We only pack things and melt things.); collecting random forgotten things; and smashing it into the back of the van (Paul saying his typical, "Hey guys, don't open that one door. Everything will come out.), we started off on our adventure. Wow, that was a run-on sentence if ever I saw one!

Some of my lovely road-trip buddies. (My angel mother is in the passenger seat, but since she is shining like the sun you can't tell she's there.) We are veteran road-trippers now from our move down here last winter, so an hour doesn't feel like much. ; ) Dad had an awesome time pointing out real and imagined landmarks to us, and we kept ourselves clapping and bouncing with the PianoGuys.

The rest of my lovely (????) buddies. Weird angle because I'm sharing a seat with them, but you get the idea that it was pretty fun. ; ) (Oh, is Paul an angel too? I'll leave that for you to decide... No, he is an angel for sharing a seat with all the copious amounts of bedding we brought.)

 A little while later (we used to drive this far to go grocery shopping). we arrived at Friendly Pines just in time to throw everything into the cabin and run off to the cafeteria for dinner. After that came a chapel session, organizing our cabiny-messy-thingy, and games in the cafeteria until the wee hours of the morning.

Next morning we all walked to church. (It should always be this way, shouldn't it?) It was beautiful outside!!! At just about every session of chapel our family enjoyed mixing with Perry and Tyler's little family and the H. family as well.

Our fantastic little neighbors. They were the best thing about the weekend!! Unfortunately, they were so cute that we had a really hard time not laughing out loud during the sermon.

Especially when this one sneezed so hard he almost fell over...or when his older brother dumped a toy dump truck load of dirt into my lap...or when the camp cat startled one of them out of their wits when it came scampering by. Yeah, pretty cute. ; ) Don't you just love those funny eyes???

The theme of the weekend was revival, and Dad chose a really amazing aspect of the whole topic for his sermon Saturday morning. I HIGHLY suggest you listen to his sermon "Don't Lose Heart". It was very encouraging!!! (Special thanks to Anna for taking the picture because I couldn't see Dad very well through some people's heads.)

Saturday is probably everyone's hands-down favorite day of camp. That's because of....

FIELD GAMES!!!! I watched the first few games from the sidelines, but after a while I wished I had joined in. ; ) This game was a crazy relay race of trying to bat a balloon down the field without popping it. Add to that an ornery breeze and some surprisingly sharp grass--you get the picture. ; )

Another great one was passing a hula hoop around a circle of people without letting go of each other's hands. That was pretty crazy, but a high-five to everyone who managed it especially those wearing skirts.

We didn't get pictures of my favorite relay race (also the first game I played), but it was pretty fun/funny! All of us players threw our shoes in a huge, stinky pile at one end of the field and lined up on the other. You've probably guessed the objective--run across the field, find your shoes, cram them on, and make it back to your team without them falling off. There were some pretty hilarious stunts too, like my brother-in-law throwing his best friends' shoes out of the pile so they would have to go farther to find them. Thumbs up, Tyler! It was pretty hard to find my shoes (since apparently brown is the most common color); and I found myself wishing for one of the first times ever that I had flip-flops. ; ) I'm not sure how the scoring came out, but my team was awesome!! ; )

The tug-o'-wars were awesome!! This picture is kids against adults. You'll find me on the kids' side because this was taken before a couple of older girls and I realized that we belonged on the other team. ; P We lost the first one since our church is mostly children, but we won the second! ; )

That's my little buddy!

The rest of the weekend consisted of more hanging out (I did a little exploring with my friend Hannah and chatted some with her older sister), chapel sessions (I loved the history of the laymen's revival), an amazing bonfire (S'mores. That's what we exist for.), and amazing games in the cafeteria. (Some of my family members brought crafts to do with everyone, but I never got around to doing them.) Those times of all sitting around together laughing and talking or trying to beat each other at Dutch Blitz were my favorite times of all. That's when I got to know people (and sometimes got to beat them too!). ; )

Hanging out with the H. girls was my younger sisters' favorite thing about their first family camp (that they can remember, at least). I got to hang out with them a lot of the time which was so much fun! We visited their favorite spot at camp (nicknamed "the L tree"  for it's unusual shape), visited each  other's cabins (this picture was taken in ours), and sat together during church and the group picture. ;)

Altogether, it was an amazing time of fellowship and learning from God's word! And I highly suggest you all check out my Dad's sermon. ;)

The Deacon with the Toffee

When I was little, at least younger than six, my family went to a Southern Baptist Church. I remember very few things from that church—random Sunday school memories, the way my classroom looked, and names and faces here and there. (One of my classmates works at a local Chick-fil-a. It surprised me a lot when I first recognized him! That’s off topic though…) One of the things my brain chose to remember though is a dear, old Southern Baptist deacon who kept toffees in his pockets to give to little children. He may have only given me one once, but I still remember it and still love that candy. I’ve never seen him again—he’s probably with the Lord—but in his own small way he blessed a very shy little girl.

In my post "In the 'Out'" I mentioned that everywhere you are there are always people to minister to who are in the out with you. I often find it hard to figure out who to talk to at social events. I don’t always exactly fit into one of the “categories”. I’ve discovered that the categories I work best with (not to say I shouldn’t try with all of them) are those of the little children and the lonely strangers.

Sometimes the little children are running around so fast there’s no time to have a conversation with them, and sometimes the strangers are so shy (or move on after a while) that it’s hard to find ways to be good friends with them.

Then I remember my Toffee Deacon. I remember the lady who smiled at me as we passed each other on the way to the refreshment table at a wedding reception (mostly stranger there—I was a fish out of water). I remember the young man who asked me out of the blue how my stories were going. I remember the young lady who introduced herself at a conference of 3,000 people and was my heaven-sent friend for the next two days. I remember the girls I’ve randomly met and been pen-pals with for a few years. All small instances that made those days better, influenced my life for the better, and gave me friendships if only for a few moments.

So, I’ve decided to smile. To listen. To be their friend as much as they will let me. It hurts a little when one of the ones I was closer to moves on. It hurts a little to think that the little children may not remember me as well as I remember my Toffee Deacon. But I am blessed to know that this is doing the work of love by being the best friend I can.

MercyMe’s song “The Generous Mr. Lovewell” (one of Daddy’s favorites) pretty much sums it up for me. (I suggest looking it up, but please remember that YouTube is a secular website so be careful to guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.)

Have a beautiful day!

Movie Review: Beyond the Mask

First movie review I've ever done on here. Should I be nervous? How does one even do a movie review? But then again, this was the first time I'd been to the theater in ten years, and it was awesome (except for when I spilled a ton of popcorn). I got to go see "Beyond the Mask" in theaters. It was really, really cool.

So here's what I thought... (I think I'll just do it the way I do the books.)

The Setting:
I loved the adventuresome setting of the Revolutionary War because of the heroism and gorgeous costumes! (Except for the villain's dorky dressing gown and wig. That was weird. I should put that in with what I thought was humorous because I nearly laughed out loud when I saw him.) ; ) Everything looked awesome and period to me (except for one short scene and a definitely animated shipyard). I told my dad afterwards that he would have loved the explosions since they were very realistic. ; )

The Story:
The story was great! (Maybe a teeny straightforward at some points.) Full of adventure with a great Christian worldview/message that salvation is not something we can earn. I loved the unexpected twist of the false redemption (I'll say no more) and all the daring escapes. My two favorite scenes were a chase across the rooftops of Philadelphia and when a dock railing breaks. ; )

The Characters:
I loved the characters. Sir Thomas Kemp was an intimidating and complicated bad guy (If you could get over the fact that you felt like he should welcome you to Abingdon Falls), Will was both tragic and heroic, and Charlotte was a sweet and daring heroine. (And I just loved her costumes!) The best character, as far as humor goes, was Benjamin Franklin. Boy, was he awesome!!

The Concerns:
Parents should have caution while considering this movie for younger viewers because of some intense action (i.e. children in danger, things on fire, etc.), implied violence (but nothing super graphic), and romantic scenes including kissing. A few themes that might cause interesting discussion are being careful to use your head even when you are in love and whether or not it is all right to rebel against authority doing evil.

Altogether, I found it a very fun, very awesome Christian movie! I'm very grateful to have seen it! Have you seen "Beyond the Mask"? What did you think of it?

(Hello, it's now a year later, and I've had to update this a little since I just watched it again. It was even better this time! I highly suggest you watch it!!! And just a cute random fact--the two lead characters are now married!!) ; )

New Experiences Every Day

One of my new experiences lately (besides having pop rocks--they crackle all the way in the back of your brain or at least that's what it feels like!) has been to make my own blog button for this corner of the cyber world. You may have seen on the sidebar the one I made for Noble Novels. Well, I didn't quite like the size it came out so I did a little more experimenting on this one. (I also had to do some experimenting over because I forgot how the program I was using works.) ; ) It was a ton of fun, and I'm very happy with how it came out.

So there it is. If you'd like to add it to your own sidebar first save the picture to your computer. Then go to your blog's layout page and add the gadget for images. They'll give you an option to make it a link, and you can just copy the url for my blog over there. Then, if I'm not making any sense at all, cry and Google (that is a verb) better instructions. ; )

Another new experience has been to do the Bible Bee for the first time ever! It's been so much fun and a bit of good work too! The host family is from our church and only lives half a mile away, so we've gotten to help out a little bit. ; ) It's been really great to make new friends and to become better friends with the old ones. But the best part is that it makes me open the Word every day and actually use my brain to discern what God is saying. I unfortunately don't have any pictures for y'all, but I'll try to get some sometime. ; )

Oh, and pop rocks. Um, they are truly very cool; but BE WARNED, it's a really weird sensation... ; )

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. ; )