"Christmas Is A Gift" by Betty Steele Everett

WRAPPED...
Not in brightly colored paper and ribbons,
But in swaddling clothes.

NESTLED...
Not under a green-needled tree,
But in a manger.

GIVEN...
Not by earthly parents or friends,
But by our Heavenly Father.

SENT...
Not because it was expected,
But from pure love.

PLANNED...
Not as last minute,
But from before the creation of the world.

GUARANTEED...
Not for a year,or even five,
But for eternity



If you haven't figured out who this poem is talking about it is about the reason why we celebrate Christmas(at least to a Believer anyway). It's how Jesus came to earth born to die for our sins so that we may become right with God. Merry Christ-mas!!!!


(SIDE NOTE)
I got this poem from Focus On The Family's Brio magazine,December 2006 edition. Website is www.briomag.com

When You Wish Apon A Star.....

On the way home from Jamie's scrimmage basketball game,Dad,Mom and I saw a shooting star(some how Jamie missed it). It was really cool.

Excerpt From "The Great Divide"

"Have you ever been to a "white" church?" Marcus asked.

"A few times.They are just fine I suppose". Deacon Wilbur chose his words carefully. "Problem wasn't the churches. It was me. I heard The Spirit in there,yes. I wanted to stand up and thank God for the gift. Dance,sing,shout,clap my hands." "And they didn't". "Not that I saw. Felt like I was sitting with the chosen frozen."


I don't know why,but this statement was profound enough to write/type down. I don't enjoy myself when I am with "The Chosen Frozen". Who wants to be all bottled up about God if you know Him?

WhooNu,WhooNu #2

Ok,so we have been putting Canna Lillie bulbs in the crawl space underneath our house(My Dad has a very odd hobby of growing gazillion per-year and then having to dig up twice as many the next). Dad said "Move the couch in your room so we would have room" to Jamie. Jamie then exclaims "I don't wanna put Canna bulbs in my room". I laughed so did Dad,then Jamie clicked his brain back on and then said " O you mean to bring Christmas stuff down!"



Whoonu,Whoonu


UPDATE
THE CANNA BRIGADE IS OFFICIALLY OVER.(insert here:HALLELUJAH,HALLELUJAH,HALLELUJAH!!!!!)

Arggg

My pirate name is:

Dread Pirate Cash

Like the famous Dread Pirate Roberts, you have a keen head for how to make a profit. You're musical, and you've got a certain style if not flair. You'll do just fine. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

WhooNu,WhooNu

Ok,first background information on the saying "Whoonu,Whoonu". Quite some time ago I was telling my parents about the game called Whoonu,and Jamie thus exclaims "We don't have that game". I told him we had,had the game for at least a year in a half but he kept persisting we didn't have it. Finally he figured it out in his brain (after ten minutes of debating) that he was thinking about GuessWho(which is a game we do not have).Therefore whenever he spaces out or has a literal-"blond moment" we all call out "Whoonu,Whoonu?!".


Today we went to the Dollar Tree,
Jamie asks "How much is this?"
Whoonu,Whoonu?!

Hahaha

Gotta Love C.S Lewis's The Great Divorce

"God!" said the Ghost,glancing around the landscape.

"God what?" asked the Spirit

"What do you mean,'God what?'" asked the Ghost

"In our grammar God is a noun"(the Spirit said)

"Oh I see. I only meant 'By Gum' or something of the sort"(the Ghost said)


Now that is a way to stop someone in their tracks.

SCBC's Fall Festival 06'

Today,instead of Trick or Treating I went to SCBC's Fall Festival. In the beginning I couldn't find my friend Kimmie so I got some BBQ and beans, I liked the BBQ the best...it was pretty good for church food. Eventually I found Kimmie and we walked around and stuff and hung out. She made me go with her and watch a magic show. I was bored out of my skull....every three minutes or so I would look over and give her puppy dog eyes and pout and ask "can we leave now?". After the mind numbing performance we continued our walking and hanging out. I got my face painted with a lady bug on one side and a blue flower on the other. Mom and Dad went home,so I was going home with Mrs. O,because Mrs. O was helping at the end of the event we were aloud to take some of the remaining candy. This year I got the real good stuff,Milky way,Kit Kat,Twix.sweet tarts and milk duds. Most of the time I get all the crappy little candies that no one eats like dumb dumbs or itty bitty jaw breakers. Anyway,I had a really good Fall Festival this year, and I can't wait till next time!!!

Prayers Answered

Since the start of school I started praying on a regular basis and the coolest things have happened!!! Like I prayed that I would be able to get a pet for like two weeks and I got Gabbie. Also I have been praying that my cousin James and his wife Tasha would get back together,and today I found out that they have. I just think it is the sweetest,coolest thing, I feel like I had a part in it or something. God is good!!!

How Many???

How many ways do you think you can write one word? O,wait, I DO!

Immanent
Imminent
Emanant
Eminent


And to mention all of those words I am doing in Spelling and they all sound the same "Em-in-nent" Gotta love it,NOT!!!

States Of Sleep

I read this in my Health book in school and thought it was rawther interesting.


"Through research,scientists found people experience two kinds of sleep. One kind is characterized by rapid eye movements (REM stage),while the other is called the state of relaxation. During this state your body may go through four stages and then enter the REM stage.


Stage 1:Occurs just after you fall asleep. Everything slows down,and you could be easily awakened. Some may experience muscle spasms just before falling asleep due to bursts of brain activities.

Stage 2:Brain waves in quick bursts. Eyes roll slowly from side to side. You still could be awakened.

Stage 3:Deep calm sleep. Brain waves are long and slow. Muscles are relaxed,heart rate slows,temperature and blood pressure drops.

Stage 4:Deepest level of sleep. Large slow brain waves. Breathing is even. If an alarm went off during this stage you may not hear it. Most nightmares and walking in your sleep occurs during this stage.

REM:After stage four,your brain moves to the REM state. Eyes dart back and forth and much of the dreaming takes place during this state. The body is almost paralyzed state while breathing and heartbeat are irregular."


Pretty interesting..ehh?

I Got

a Kitty!!! Mom and I went to the Richmond SPCA yesterday and ended up getting a six month female tabby cat. Her name was Mare (her siblings are/were named Colt and Stallion..go figure) but I renamed her Gabbie. Gabbie is uber cute,soft,adorable and has only scratched me once. The only problem I have had so far is that once she is wound up she stays that way for a while,last night she went sprinting around my bed a gajillion times after we played with her toy mousie on a string. I love her though,she is MY pet and no one else's!!!

Alpha

Today was the first day of Alpha. Mom and I got there a hour early to help set up food and stuff. For anyone's information Alpha is a thing at church where people can get free food and ask questions about God without being embarrassed or anything. So after we set up everything,we all then served the food,assembly line style. After everyone ate then the helpers got what we leftover. What we could or did have was salad,white rice,chicken-cheese and broccoli,soda and chocolate brownie. Then after I ate it was time to help with the little kids. Luckily I wasn't alone,Mrs L and her son Cameron helped with the Littles. I was super glad Cameron was there because otherwise I would be the only kid my age helping. It was really funny when two of the little boys and Cameron couldn't get a simple puzzle together and I came over and simply moved one piece and it all fit. The names of the kids I can remember is Sierra,Sarah,Teddy,Alayna(whom for the first couple minutes called Alana),Samuel,Kaily and one other boy whose name escapes me. So after an hour or so all the kids had left but Sarah,so we all moved into the Gym and waited until her Daddy got there. Then we all came home!


Kingsway's website is: kingsway.cc

Brother.... Why?

As I type this I get to enjoy the pleastry country songs in a nasally course voice this is my brother. Jamie isn't awefully bad or goodly great at singing,but singing any song of any sorts without the music to back it out drives me nuts when he decides to sing a tune. For some odd reason he has taken it apon himself to become the singing music person,whereas that job has normally been mine. One weekend I didn't sing in the car at all and guess who filled the void....you guessed it my lovely brother Jamie. I think what bugs me most is the fact that he sings nonsense songs like Spongebob's soundtrack or Shrek's soundtrack. Jamie hates my singing also,so I suppose it is mutually felt that we are both not great singers. LOL

Something I Found Amusing

Reading my daily Bible today I found a rawther interesting verse.

Proverbs 23:13-14
Do not withhold discipline from a child;if you strike him with a rod,he will not die.If you strike him with a rod,you will save his soul from Sheol.


The Bible certainly pertains to "Today's world".

Dog Names

I REALLY would like a little lap dog for my birthday or Christmas this year,so as I have been reading books and have been writing down names and looking them up later to find some suitably nice names for my potential puppy lap dog. Most of the names I have picked Jamie has hated... he doesn't like cute or Biblical names for some odd reason. So here are the names I like the most and narrowed down to only a few!

Boy Dog Names
Nate:Hebrew:gift of God (first favorite)
Murphy:Celtic/Gaelic:sea warrior (second favorite)


Girl Dog Names
Zelda:German:woman warrior (second favorite)
Emma:Latin:entire (first favorite)

PLEASE post a comment for your favorite out of the list!

Massachusetts

One word: "fun", I had tons of fun hanging with my soon-to-be-in-laws. Every night Tess and I stayed up til eleven-thirty and talked about stuff til twelve. It was like having a sister!!! Teddy was cute,when we first came to the house Jamie sat on the couch and here comes Teds and plops himself on Jamie's lap,turns his head and says with his high pitch squeeky voice "Hi!". Ted and Ray together were hilarious!!! After two or three days asking Mrs. A if Mark could hook up the Nintendo 64 and promising not to play all the time,she finally let him. From then on,except for a few breaks Jamie,Ray,Ted and Tessa played quite a bit. Mrs. A made really good food too!!! I had pancakes like every morning,and always had really good meals during the day.Cassie drove us places around town like Shaw farm and another farm where you could buy ice cream. The second farm had the best ice cream because it had more stuff in it. Mr. A was quite like my Dad,except for more hair on top and the stach'. I also found out that Drew can play some mean guitar. We had an ice cream palooza,all the kids went up stairs,Drew started playing guitar and SJ and Cass started singing "Twist and Shout",it was funny. I recorded it on my cam-corder,but I left that in Mass. by accident (whoops!). We came through the whole week without hardly an accident. I kinda banged a guitar handle on Tessa's head by accident,she did some mind switching and made me run into the van's side door as I got out so I got a bruise on my side (LOL) and Teddy started showing off at breakfast and bit the glass and broke it. Don't worry though,he didn't get any shards in his mouth or anything.Mark and Cass are coming back in October,in December the whole A. family is coming down for Mark and Cassie's Wedding. I can't wait,Tessa and I are gonna be bridesmaids and ohhh ya We are in charge of decorating the car (devilish smile,,squinty eyes,rubs hands together says "broohahahaha")

On Our Way To

Massachusetts SOON. Yay!!!

Kingsway Girl Sleepover 06'

Yesterday afternoon I went to the C's house for a girl sleepover party of sorts. When I got there,the only girl there at the time was Mary and her Mom. Apparently Mary just got there. Every couple minutes girls started to arrive. After ten minutes or so there was about thirteen girls in the house. First thing we did was pull out nail polish. One girl had like a cajillion things of it,mostly pink though (yeck!). I brought some too,but most of mine is NYC,not the best nor the worst. During most of it I was sitting watching and trying to decide what color to pick. Eventually I just did my own when we started playing Family Feud on the TV. The color I decided on is sorta pink,not bright but a little pink none the less,I was trying to do something I hadn't done before.... okay?! Anyway we played two rounds of Family Feud both of which my team lost, I always get the losing team or the last team. Some girls had to go home so now there was only ten or eleven girls. We all played Catch Phrase which was quite funny. One girl,some how linked Robin Hood with Little Bunny FooFoo,we laughed our heads of at that and the rest of the night I couldn't get it out of my head!!! One of my friends named Amy's birthday on Sunday so Ms. B casually got up and went to the kitchen lit a cake came in and "one,two,three". We all started singing "Happy Birthday". Amy was so shocked,she wasn't expecting it at all!!! We then I commenced in having some cake. Once done with cake we brought out our sleeping bags, I ended up sleeping by the kitchen. Mrs. C put in "Anne Of Green Gables" in the VCR,and we started watching that. I had already seen it before, so I was trying to get to sleep so I wouldn't be totally knocked out today. By now it was twelve and I fell asleep,only to wake up at three or so and everyone else watching "Anne Of Avonlea". Everyone said I talked and mad weird noise in my sleep. I had NEVER done that at any of my other sleep overs I had been at!!! Once "Anne Of Avonlea" was over everyone had to go to sleep. Due to the fact of my previous "nap" it took me twenty to thirty minutes to get back to sleep. Somehow in the middle of the night a girl named Megan got up to get something and managed to step on my hand,it didn't hurt much so it wasn't a big deal. Before I knew it,it was morning. This is when Amy informed me,that I pushed my elbow into her forhead a few times when I was sleeping,once again,NEVER done that before!!! For breakfast most people had a muffin or bagle,Amy and I are/were not sane so we had leftover cake. Everyone was so grossed out. I thought it was pretty good though!!! Anyway,soon parents started picking up. Mine arrived third. Apon entering the car my parents wanted to go Yard Saling,I was so tired I wanted to go home so badly,nope we had to go. I was still in my PJ's so I waited in the car for the next four stops. FINALLY we went home and I totally crashed in my bed and slept for seven hours. Then I watched a previously recorded tape of "Read It And Weep" a Disney Channel movie. It was pretty ok,not my favorite though... Yep, that just about sums up what I did for half of my weekend,party and sleep and more sleep.

Pulled Wisdom,Fact Number One

Swishing water and salt around your mouth is almost like French fries,just without the potato.