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. ; )

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?

Filter It!

You all know just how hard it is to find a movie the whole family can watch. It's a little more complicated for us since we have such a wide age range; but lately we have found a couple of really, really good ones. Masterful stories that don't scare the wits out of everyone. Good acting. Great characters. Only problem is that they aren't always PG. So we use VidAngel! Mom goes through the list of filters and sets what she would like taken out according to our specific concerns. Then we rent the movie for just a dollar! It's really simple, and you can read more about it all on their site. They are better at explaining it than I am. ; ) So, about the movies...

Woman in Gold

"Academy Award-winner Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds star in this remarkable true story of one woman's battle for justice. Sixty years after she fled Vienna during World War II, Maria Altmann (Mirren) seeks to retrieve her family possessions seized by the Nazis, among them Klimt's famous painting Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I. Together with her inexperienced but plucky young lawyer Randy Schoenberg (Reynolds), she embarks upon a journey which takes them all the way to the heart of the Austrian establishment and the U.S. Supreme Court."

This movie was recommended to us by another homeschooling family with the only caution being about language in one scene. My mom was able to skip exactly where that was, but it would have been way easier to use a filter if we had known about it at the time. It was a really great movie! Set in modern times with flashbacks to World War II, we loved the biographical element of this story (especially since it's about one of our favorite people groups and parts of history). It's definitely not a pull-out-all-the-stops action movie, but instead it's a true to life drama based on a real life story. Really helps you to connect with history. ; ) There were a few intense moments, but never anything that was over PG. (Because you cannot filter out worldview, please be aware of some slight feminism.)

The King's Speech

"After the death of his father King George V (Michael Gambon of HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE) and the scandalous abdication of King Edward VIII (Guy Pearce of MOMENTO), Bertie (Academy Award nominee Colin Firth) who has suffered from a debilitating speech impediment all his life, is suddenly crowned King George VI of England. With his country on the brink of war and in desperate need of a leader, his wife, Elizabeth (Golden Globe nominee Helena Bonham Carter), the future Queen Mother, arranges for her husband to see an eccentric speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush). After a rough start, the two delve into an unorthodox course of treatment and eventually form an unbreakable bond. With the support of Logue, his family, his government and Winston Churchill (Timothy Spall of SWEENEY TODD), the King will overcome his stammer and deliver a radio address that inspires his people and unites them in battle. Winner of four Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actor, The King's Speech is based on the true story of King George VI's quest to find his voice."

[Eek! That was a long description!] This movie is another World War II biography, and the first R-rated movie I've ever seen. That's right, it was rated R for a bit of language scattered throughout and especially one particularly shocking scene. The filters took it right out, leaving us a family friendly movie with superb acting (Mr. Darcy and the fairy godmother, anyone?) and a marvelous story! ; ) I personally really enjoyed it. 

The Book Thief

"Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson star in this inspiring film based on the bestseller about Liesel, (Sophie Nlisse), a girl adopted by a German couple (Rush and Watson) who hide a Jew (Ben Schnetzer) from Hitler's army. Soon Liesel discovers that words and imagination provide an escape from the events unfolding around her family in this extraordinary film directed by Brian Percival (Downton Abbey)."

This movie, filtered of course, is another really amazing World War II story!!! (I'm seeing a theme here!) The worldview (especially the narrator) is a bit odd, so we kept this one just to the older kids. It's a really amazing biographical story that felt so real we had a hard time believing it was a fictional story.

I'm not biased or anything, but I'm gonna spend a little more time on this movie than the others. Maybe because the theme is about books. Maybe because I loved the characters so much. Maybe because Geoffrey Rush is so awesome (and he's been in two of these movies I've mentioned). Or maybe because there are so many good quotes. ; )

I loved the father/daughter relationship between these two! It was so amazing and sweet. ; )

Two main characters...an awesome way of putting their different personalities. Max was such a good older brother to Liesel, and his inspiration helped her very much through hard times.

So, there you are... just a couple of movies that we have all enjoyed recently. I hope you watch them (on filters) and enjoy them just as much a we did! ; )

Just a couple of cautions about using VidAngel: They don't filter the previews or the movie covers, so be careful in that area. Also, the filter descriptions are very explicit, so it's usually best to have an adult set them. We have noticed that a couple of times the filters are off and a few things have come through that we didn't want, so watch at your own risk! (We have watched both The King's Speech and The Book Thief on VidAngel, and the filters were just perfect.)

Sick Day

Last weekend, we were at the Southwest Family Vision Conference hosted by our church and a few others in the valley listening to amazing sermons like "Conforming Marriage to the Image of Christ and the Church" by Scott Brown and "Are Family-Integrated Churches Legalistic" by Greg Thornberg. (There were many others, but those two are my particular favorites.) ; ) We were also enjoying fellowship with friends from church and making new ones.

This weekend is a bit of a different story... We are keeping company with lemon/ginger tea, zinc lozenges, elderberry tincture, and crackers. Mom carries her thermometer like her life depended on it, and we are keeping the hours of retired people. (With an emphasis on the tired...) Kid Snippets, VeggieTales, and other random family friendly movies have been the daily fare; and yesterday the living room was a regular sickbay. (The dog even got in on it deciding that the end of the mattress on the floor was perfect for napping on.) We seem to be on the mend as far as high fevers go, but we are all still very tired.

Sometimes it takes being sick to make us grateful for health, and I think we are all excited to get back to our regular everyday lives no matter how ordinary they are. ; ) So, here's to being patient and riding it out and eating chicken soup!

A Few of My Favorite Things (Blog Tag)

The wild southwest has its pros. It also has its cons—one of which is definitely that winter always seems to end with Christmas. Now, of course, we still do have some good weather, but it doesn’t quite feel winter-y probably because of the lack of snow. When I found out that Elanee (from Elanee’s Endeavors) had tagged me for this survey, I was super delighted. And then I began to wonder, “How in the world does a desert gal like me write a post about her favorite Christmas/winter things when it really isn’t either right now?” I’ve decided to give it a try, and we’ll see what I come up with. ; )

The rules for this challenge happen to be… (1) Use the same title and adorable picture. (2) Answer the questions. (I promise to do that in a sec.) And (3) Tag five fellow fanciful fantabulous bloggers.

Okay, let’s get down to business…

1. What are some of your favorite “Snuggle Weather” books?

Good question that I’m really not sure how to answer since I love so many different kinds of books. I would have to say my Bible and anything that stirs me poetically and fits the moody weather. ; ) Those would probably be The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis (amazing essays), Sir Knight of the Splendid Way by W.E. Cule (medieval Pilgrim’s Progress-like journey), Dreamlander by K.M. Weiland (amazing fantasy), Gift from the Storm by Rebekah Morris (heartwarming family story), and on and on. Another really great winter story I discovered last month is At the Christmas Lodge by Rebekah Morris. It is so cute! I also think that if I had the Aggie’s Inheritance series, I would definitely be reading through them right now. ; )

2. What is you favorite wintry snack?

Oh, snacks. Yummy. Definitely apple pie!!! I love making it, I love eating it, and I love the joy it brings to the people I serve it to. I can also convince myself that it is pretty healthy since the crust is so thin. ; ) Peppermint bark and some ginger cookies I just discovered (that I simply MUST get the recipe for) are also high on the list. Because we are trying to switch to gluten-free, however, my answer should probably be different next winter. ; )

3. What are some of your favorite hot drinks?

Chai tea!!!! I am totally crazy about it right now!!! It’s spicy, it’s milky, it’s sweet, it’s like coffee without the dirt taste and (the way I make it) without the caffeine! What could be better? The people in my family who usually don’t drink tea love it too! ; ) (And, just so you know, if you eat some chocolate on the side the flavors are even more perfect.) I also really like hot chocolate and hot apple cider, but Chai definitely ranks first. ; )

4. What are some of your favorite Christmas movies?

I can answer that one really easily!! For as long as I can remember, we’ve watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “The Nativity Story” every Christmas. They definitely spell Christmas for me! (Although I was all right when I didn’t get to watch the first one this year. ; P) They are both so amazing, but I especially love “The Nativity Story” as it reminds me of how beautiful God’s Gift to man really is. I also really enjoy “A Joan Walsh Anglund Christmas” (great childhood memories with this one) and “The Fourth Wiseman”. ; )

5. What are some of your favorite holiday songs?

Andrew Peterson’s outrageously awesome cd “Behold the Lamb of God”, Nat King Cole’s cd of Christmas favorites ; ), Josh Wilson’s recent song “Once A Year” (if that’s the right name…), and, of course, “The Carol of the Bells” in all three versions. ; ) I also love the hymns we sing in church to celebrate this special season especially “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” and “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus”. “Adam’s likeness now efface…Stamp Thine image in its place…Second Adam from above…Reinstate us in Thy love…” We really should sing Christmas carols all year!

6. Favorite snow [rainy, cloudy, rainy-ish, cloudy-ish] day crafts?

Well, definitely writing. Cozy, gloomy weather helps me to get in the creative mood sometimes. ; ) I also discovered this year that I kinda’ like making Christmas cards whether or not I’m good at it. Baking, some sewing, and a bit of knitting are always fabulous too. ; )

7. Do you want to build a snowman?

No, actually. *sheepish smile as I prepare to make a horrible confession* I-don’t-really-like-snow. Phew. There, I said it. ; ) Don’t get me wrong—I love the decorative aspect of snow, the crunchy pretty aspect of snow, and even occasionally a vicious snowball fight—but I don’t love being in the snow. I’d rather stay indoors. ; ) (Though I have to say toddlers that look twice their regular chubby size because of their snow clothes are definitely special.) ; )

So, there you are! Those are just a few of my favorite things, but since I don’t get bit by dogs or stung by bees very often I’m very grateful for the reminder to look for the marvelous things in every day. ; ) What do you love most about Christmastime/winter?

Since that was so much fun, I’ll pass it on to Perry, Holly, the Tons and Bunches people ; ), Mrs. Bowes, and Rebekah.

Have a great day, everyone! ; )

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?

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."

Good Days

Summer is leaving, and I'm not very sorry at all. Next comes good weather, our church's family camp, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas. What's not to like? Still, these days have been good, and there is plenty to be grateful for...

I'm grateful for...

• The weather. I already mentioned it, but it's worth saying again. This Northwestern girl isn't quite done acclimatizing, so the cool(er) weather is a welcome relief. ; )
• Birds. I peeked out the window the other day and saw pigeons and some little brown birds (yeah, I don't know their name...) gathered together in our front yard. I had never realized before that there are beautiful birds even here! I'm just used to seeing gray mourning doves and nothing else. ; )
• Old pictures. The other day I was working on the huge project of putting eight years' worth of pictures on a USB drive. It was so wonderful to remember the times we've been blessed with. I found I had even forgotten some of the things we had done earlier this year, and it was very nice to be reminded. It also amazing to see how much my wonderful nephews have grown!
• Books to read... I've been reading so much lately it's been a ton of fun! Reviews coming when I can. ;P
• I've also been doing a lot of reading for our history studies. We are learning about Egypt right now, and I'm so excited to see how the Exodus fits into everything. 
• Christian movies. It seems like there have been a ton more good ones coming out lately than ever before. I got to see "War Room" earlier this month and absolutely loved it!!! It was very encouraging and inspiring, and I can't wait for the rest of my family to see it so we can discuss it. ; ) My dad bought "Polycarp", and the older ones in our family watched it together. It was a slower movie than I am used to, but it was very good!
• Nephews! Since their little family moved out, we haven't gotten to see them as much; but Perry sends enough pictures and hilarious stories to keep us alive until their next visit. ; )
• How much faster chores are lately. That sounds really weird, but now that I'm a "big girl" chores that were painfully slow to do in that past get done in a snap. So much more free time... ;P
• Shortbread--three flavors--plain, spiced, chocolate. 'Nuff said.
• Music playing all over the house. Sometimes three different songs at once because everyone has their own mp3 player. ; ) Walk into the kitchen--encouraging Christian music that we all love. Walk into the girls' room--very lighthearted and slightly romantic. ; ) Walk into the boy's room--inspiring, majestic, heroic movie music. Yeah, it's pretty fun. ; ) My favorite song right now is "After the Last Tear Falls" by Andrew Peterson. (The version from 2014 is awesome, but so is the older one too. Pick your favorite.) ; )
• Ants. Yeah, really, I'm grateful for our ant invasion! It gave Buddies a project to do when she ran out of schoolwork, and she was so cute and "adult" doing it. She had me help her handle the vacuum a bit, but she mostly did it all by herself. She found where they were coming in and was full of ideas to block the hole, get ED (she meant DE for diatomaceous earth) or poison for them, etc. After a while, she decided she needed a break, and we had popsicles together. ; )
• Inspiration. The little people in my family (soon I'll have to call them "medium people" because they are only getting bigger) are so hilarious and inspiring. Together we discussed what it would be like to have a world completely made of chocolate, or bagels, or noodles. ; ) I made them a pretend newspaper the other day using some of their ideas, and it was so much fun.
• Direct access to my Maker. Anytime I need to talk, He's there!

Today, what are you grateful for?

Spray Bottles, Dragons, and a Makeshift Choir

I could start this out with an apology for not keeping up with the loose posting schedule I had been doing. Or I could just tell you what I've been up to and let you decide if blogging has been the most important thing on my plate right now. Hmm... I think I like that second option better.

Forget I even said any of that. It was awkward and self-conscious. Starting the blog post over...


Summer days in this baking desert have been very full of work, play, family, and community. So many things to be grateful for!!
I'm grateful for...

• My nephews--Bobbers, Lum, and Beef Stew (or Stewy). Each one of them has touched my life so much in their own little ways. We were so happy to have them live with us, but we're also very glad for them that they have their own little house. ; )
• Being able to help Perry and Tyler move. It was great to be able to see their house and help unpack some things. What a cute little house for a cute little family!
• The old Jimmy Stewart movie "You Can't Take It With You". Wow! It is so awesomely funny! If you ever want a glimpse of what our life is like--watch that movie! We had a family movie night with that and some yummy microwave popcorn.
• Bible Bee hive meetings. My memorization partner is such a joy! Hi, Hannah!
• The Green Ember by S.D. Smith. Don't let the Beatrix Potter style cover fool you! It's a full-blown, amazingly written adventure! Very good!
• The Restoration Hardware store! *Alice steps into Wonderland* *Angels sing* *Kate goes crazy*
• Singing in a makeshift choir after church. Thank you, Paul and Matthew for setting it up!! It was so much fun. We had a great time singing to the Lord, and it was surprisingly good sounding for a bunch of people who hadn't practiced together before. ; ) One of the newcomers to church actually thought we were a choir which flattered us all immensely. Very good times. ; )
• The sweet texts we're getting from Perry telling us all the cute things that the babies are doing. We taught Lum part of the cup game while they live here, and he just decided to do part of it today! ; )
• Little friends at church! So many of them came up to greet me and give me hugs or hang on my arm as I was talking to someone older.
• Matching my two littlest sisters at church. We wore red skirts and white shirts. ; ) It was so fun! (Every time Daddy would say, "Where's so and so?" I'd just say, "She's in a red skirt.") ; ) 
• Hilarious family discussions of whether or not the word "both" could mean more than two. Google may have settled the issue. For now... ; )
• Music. I'm loving Josh Groban's instrumental "The Wandering Kind (Prelude)", almost everything by the PianoGuys, and "The Cup Song". Here's the original version of it from the movie. (Please note that these links are on YouTube, so be careful to guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Also, "The Cup Song" does unfortunately have a reference to drinking, but what I enjoy about that song is its sound.) Great background music for working in the kitchen or any time the mood needs a little lightening! ; )
• A fresh notebook and about four story ideas! County fair story here I come! Children's picture book second draft here I come! Dragons and chimney sweeps story here I come! Robin Hood, Peter Pan, Queen Susan, and King Arthur all in one story here I come! (I know, the last two story ideas are crazy. I love them.)
• Crazy family spray bottle fights. Wow, enough said there. O.o.
• Our sweet dog Ella. (Lum calls her "Lella".) Love. ; )
• Danny Kaye. We were laughing over our favorite parts in his old movies ridiculously late last night. ; )
• The love of God, so rich and pure, all measureless and strong.

Today what are you grateful for?

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!!) ; )

Update : )

I'm back, and probably sooner than any of you expected! I was only gone for as long as it took for me to race through those amazing books... ; ) So, here's a quick update on what I've been doing the past few weeks in no particular order. So many amazing things, and I'm grateful for each one of them!

• Catching up on letters and emails
• Doing school (I can see the light at the end of my Grammar studies tunnel!!)
• Trying to fit blogging in somewhere ; )
• Learning ebook formatting
• Selling used books on Amazon (and shipping them out! That part is the best!)
• Cleaning house and then cleaning it again
• Baking really yummy things (Banana cake, cinnamon rolls...pie next)
• Helping a friend out with her beading business
• Doting on the babies (they are so amazing!!)
• Reading
• Thinking about reading some more
• Writing stories (well, not so much really lately--I'm hoping to get back to it soon)
• Painting tiny fingernails
• Writing to-do lists
• Battling seasonal allergies
• Watching "Granite Flats" with my family
• Washing dishes
• Doing a service project with my family and my aunt
• Reading some more
• Going to a bookstore with my family to trade used books for credit (So much fun!!)
• Formatting baptismal certificates for church
• Coming up with ideas for stories
• Searching free images for a blog button I am supposed to be making
• Discussing true worth in Christ with Paul
• Joining in toddler dance parties (Irish music, Messianic Jewish music, classical music...)
• Making new friends
• Watching "Penguins of Madagascar" (in which Benedict Cumberbatch can't say the word "penguin"!)
• Learning my true worth in Christ
• Celebrating Christ's death for us at a Good Friday service
• Celebrating Christ's resurrection for us at our Resurrection Day service
• Watching the wonderful nephews and some little friends hunt Easter eggs
• Laughing with family and friends as we ate our Easter dinner
• Reading (Ha, ha! There it is again!)
• Helping run/plan a fabulous church picnic (Tyler won a 5k, and Mom and Pearl took home blue ribbons for their chili and cookies!)
• Helping the little kids at said picnic make their own icecream
• Feeling sore that day and the next after shaking so much icecream ; )
• Cleaning rock salt off the chairs the kids used for the icecream project
• Making new friends and hanging out with old ones
• Enjoying every minute of the hayride
• Learning origami with and from a little friend
• Singing songs around the campfire with wonderful friends
• Cleaning the house again
• Discussing which characters in "Granite Flats" are spies and which sides they are on
• Listening to a sermon on the Gibeonites deception of Israel (really good!)
• Pondering the reviews I must write
• Discovering that a nephew (or two) chasing a laser light is one of the funniest things in the world!!!
• Learning to live in what Christ has done (and is doing) for me

What about you? What have you been doing?

A Good Ending in Mind

Since the beginning of December, a lot of things have happened—things to adjust to and things to be grateful for. I’ve decided to sum it all up in one word.

I’m grateful for…

Ministry of the body of Christ. All through this experience we’ve been loved on by three different churches with financial help, yummy Christmas food (score!), moving help, and prayers. One family even went as far as hosting a goodbye party for us where 150 people turned out to fellowship together! It was a beautiful time filled with lots of good memories made. Two families whom we had just met this past year hosted us at their houses providing us with even more memories, and our new church neighbors have pulled out all the stops to make us welcome.

Ordinary things. Once you have lived in a car for 3 ½ days (with eight other people, one cat in a dog kennel, two tables—one of them foosball, one telescope, tons of bedding, three suitcases, and everything else imaginable) or in your new rental house with a million boxes everywhere, you begin to just really appreciate a regular day. Last Sunday was a really nice, regular day for me. Although we had to stay home from church because of sore throats, I found plenty to do with a new board game (Paul, Em, and I played some of “Hail to the Chief”), a new book (review of Stephen by Rebekah A. Morris coming soon!!!), our amazing swing set, kitchen chores, and Pearl’s new orange juice popsicles. (I also like run-on sentences, in case you were wondering.)

Very fun media. A few of the things that kept us alive on the road were Kindle books (special thanks to the Ty and Py for an amaaaazing Christmas present!), new movies, and music (Andrew Peterson’s “After All These Years” from the awesome Ty and Py as well as assorted Mp3s). We literally had a really long patch cord running from the stereo over our mountain of luggage to our first bench seat (where the third seat is in a fifteen passenger), and Paul was running the Mp3 player. At other times he was holding the computer high enough for us all to see. : )

Interesting scenery. We got to see the amazing Mount Shasta with the sun setting behind it on our drive down as well as other snowy mountains and tons of sheep. We got ourselves a pretty nice yard for the desert, I might add. The grass (or lack of it) needs some help, but we have trees!!

Nice weather. All through our move the weather was very dry which was super nice for December. In the state we left, it was 25 degrees sometimes during the daytime; but it was so much better than our regular snow for that month. Down here in the desert, the weather has been a little on the warm side in comparison; but we’ve had some rain, and it is really nice out at dusk.

God’s love. I can’t close without that one. He’s the one that has called us, enabled us, moved His people to love us, and protected us on this journey. He is the One Who is writing this story, and I know He has a good ending in mind.

6 Media Lies That Have Affected Me

I have read many books ever since I could decode the word “cat”. I’ve seen the inside of nature stories, mysteries, historical fiction, sci-fi, biographies, and anything else interesting that wasn’t off limits. Still, within these “good books” (and some good movies too) are some lies about the world. Some of the lies have become a part of my life—something to recognize and replace with the truth; others have only recently come out in my writing as I’ve tried to craft a world and what I believe about it.

1. Adventures only happen away from home. This one has never affected me enough to make me want to go on a safari, but it has made me long for something romantic (in the true sense of the word) to happen. Something outside of dishes and algebra problems and tennis shoes. God has recently shown me how much of an adventure I really am living. I live in the beautiful setting of a nice yard and a cozy house. I have courageous comrades around me fighting the same battles, and a King who is there in my every need. I have perils enough in the shape of the dragon of pride and the giant of bitterness to conquer with His help.
2. Romance ends at the altar. I didn’t know I had fallen for this one until at age eleven I tried to write a story. In that story I tried to stretch the engagement on as long as possible. After all, in Cinderella they only “lived happily ever after” which pales in comparison to what happened before in the story. This lie disappeared quickly after I discovered that the setting has only changed from the rose garden to the kitchen; and the same love (if it is a true one) is still there and grows ever stronger. Watching my parents, my older sister and her husband, and reading real things have helped dispel this notion.
3. Orphans have the most fun. I’ve never wanted to be an orphan—I love my parents. Unfortunately, in the same story I mentioned before, I wrote an orphan just because that’s the way stories go. After all, good parents want to protect their children, so typical adventures require orphanhood or crazy parents. I’m still working on weeding this one out and trying to move my adventure stories to more of a home setting where the parents have an influence on their children’s lives. And who wouldn’t love an Irish girl who is captured and imprisoned in a cave WITH her father?
4. The first boy who smiles at you is your future husband. This one has been a really big problem, but God is teaching me that He is in charge of who my warrior-poet is; and I don’t have to worry at all about it. Phew. That makes me feel much better.
5. Acts of kindness will ultimately change hearts. I believed this one until very recently when I discovered that I can be as nice as possible and still not change anything. Love does make possible softened hearts, but it is still up to the person whether or not they will change. All the heroines in the stories save the world with a smile, and I still can’t get the shy girl at church to come out of her shell and be friends. Realizing this one took a load off, showing me that all I have to do is love and leave the rest to God. I can quit worrying that the world’s problems are my fault.
6. Character counts—just because, and besides it looks really cool. This one is really subtle (plaguing me for awhile), and I can often get confused about why I am “being good”. I believe in sanctification all right, but it is an often fought struggle for me to realize that I shouldn’t just “be good” because people will like me, but because I am called to holiness by God.

So what are some ways that media has lied to you? How have you discovered this and what are you doing about it?