A Winter Tip For The Day!

I know that we all learn from our mistakes. I definitely did today. Maybe you can learn from mine and not have to learn it yourself.

To all my homeschooling friends out there: Never, ever, drink hot chocolate at your school table! I don't care how convenient it is! Don't try it! I did today, and the results were disastrous.

I took quite a bit of time getting my hot chocolate ready. Half milk, half water, 1:45 in the microwave, one and a half packages of Nestle hot chocolate, stir until completely mixed.....
It was ready. I took it over to the table where I was doing my school. One slip of the hand, and suddenly, my perfect hot chocolate was all over the table, the floor, the chairs, everywhere. My cousin Mariah was with me when it happened. She uttered a simple, "Uh oh." I gasped and just stared for a few tormenting seconds. My mom yelled from the other room, "Please tell me that wasn't hot chocolate."

Then began the cleanup. First I got all the books off the table. I set them on the counter and my mom began working on them. I wiped up all the chocolate liquid with a wet rag and waited for that to dry. I then swept the whole floor, and when that was done, I mopped. Meanwhile, my mom had taken care of the books. Only one book was severely soaked, but unfortunately, it was a borrowed book. My mom wiped it up and blow-dried each page, but I will have to pay for a new one at the end of the year.

Needless to say, that was my little experience this morning. I hope you learned something from it. Just remember to be very careful where you set your steaming hot chocolate.



P.S. My brother discovered something hilarious today that I quickly want to share with you. He looked up directions on googlemaps.com for getting from our house to Tibet, China. He just wanted to see what it would say. He was surprised when he did. It told him to drive through California, and up through Oregon and Washington. After that, it said to kayak across the Pacific Ocean. That would be about 2,500 miles of kayaking. I don't know if you laughed, but we sure did.

Sale Pending

God is faithful! Our house is in escrow. We got a full price offer, and we took it. Believe it or not, the offer came from a family that goes to our church! It's kind of strange to think that my friends will soon live in my house, but I'm so glad that God is finally selling our house. The close of escrow date is December 17th. I'm a little bit bummed that we have to be out of the house before Christmas, but I'm just glad that God is moving us forward.

So far, we still do not have a job or anything in Texas. We're praying. And praying. My mom puts it this way. She says, "We're taking the next big step. Right now, our foot is in the air, ready to set down. As of yet, there is no ground where our foot will land, but we are trusting God to materialize ground there before we set our foot down." And that is pretty much the way it is. We're trusting in God to provide for us.

So, our job right now is to pack all our possessions so that we can leave in one month. One month! I can hardly believe it. Please pray for us. Pray for wisdom for my Daddy and Mom as they make huge decisions for our family. Pray for a job for my Daddy. And please pray for us to have faith, no matter what, come what may.

Courageous

I have a very exciting announcement to make! Actually, it's not really my announcement at all. But anyway, Sherwood pictures, the creators of Fireproof and Facing the Giants, are coming out with their fourth film! Yes! It's called Courageous, and it's all about challenging men to rise up as strong fathers in their homes. I'm way excited! I guess the movie is scheduled for release in 2011. They're only in the writing stages right now, but I already can't wait to see the movie. Here's a link to the website. Check it out! Click here.

Amazing Guitar Playing

This is an amazing video. It's an unusual way of playing the guitar, but it sounds so beautiful, and is really amazing. My Dad saw this and decided to start learning how to play it! He is still in the process, but he's getting better. Hope you enjoy it!

Let There Be Green

A couple of weeks ago, we overseeded our grass. We had let the Bermuda (the summer grass) die out, and we then raked it all up, and put the rye (the winter grass) seed on. I've decided to show you the results.

This is our grass before we overseeded it.



Okay, I've got to admit, it wasn't really grass at all. In fact, it actually crunched under your feet when you walked on it.

But here's the lovely part. This is our backyard 10 days later after some very hard work, some time, and lots of water. . .

No Bites Yet. . . . . .

Well, ever since we told the congregation that we are moving, we've had an open house every weekend. We've had a couple people come and look at the house, but no one has yet been seriously interested. I can't speak for the rest of my family, but I know that I'm starting to get just a bit discouraged. Sometimes I feel like things will never move on, and we will never move. I keep reminding myself to trust in the Lord like Proverbs 3:5-6 says. It's difficult sometimes.

Last night we sang a song together as a family. As we were singing it, I was making it my prayer. I don't know the name of the song, but these are the lyrics:

I know you can do all things
You have been faithful and true

You are my mighty God and King
I will not fear what man can do

When no fruit is on the vine
I will trust in you
I will trust in you

This life is no longer mine
I will trust in you
Lord, I will trust in you

God bless you and please keep praying!



P.S. Isaac has pneumonia! Yeah, it's pretty crazy. So he is supposed to be resting, but of course, he is refuting it. He doesn't seem too sick, but they think the X-ray showed fluid in his lungs . Please pray for him.

Christian historical fictions that are worth reading

A couple of years ago, my Mom bought a Christian historical fiction book for my brother. He and I both read it, and we loved it! The author of the book is Douglas Bond. Since then, we've bought several of his other books. They are amazing! I would really recommend them. Of his books I've read:

*Hostage Lands
*Guns of Thunder
*Guns of the Lion
*Duncan's War
*King's Arrow
*Rebel's Keep

They are all amazing books and I would so recommend them! Douglas Bond has a blog as well. You can visit it here.

Our trip is over and I present to you........... Pictures!

We are home. We are exhausted, but we are home. Thanks to all of you who were praying for us; we had no major incidents on the road. We did have a bit of trouble with our air conditioning and we still do not know what is wrong with it, but we were able to fix it temporarily without much difficulty.

So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, somewhere around Friday evening. Ok, well Friday night Jen came over with her girls, and Kim came with her four kids. We had a nice time hanging out together.

Saturday morning we took Aunt Marilyn to the airport. She had to go to Iowa for about a week, so we didn't get to see her at all after she left. After that, we drove around some areas for homes again. Then we went to Chik-fil-A (one of my favorite fast food places) for lunch! It was good. Saturday night I think Jen came over with the girls again. (Forgive me, the details are beginning to be muddled a bit in my mind. All the days are sort of running together.)

Sunday morning we went to church. It was really nice. The people there were extremely welcoming, and it felt so good to be with so many like-minded believers! One of the deacons at the church invited us to his home for dinner, so went there after church. We hung out with his family until later in the evening and had a really wonderful time of fellowship. This family had four daughters, one of whom was about my age. We played games, and just fellowshipped in general. We had a really nice time. After that we went back to Uncle Frank's house where we ate cookies and played with Elli and Abri.

Monday, we didn't do much of anything at all. I think Dad was trying to call people about jobs and stuff, but we pretty much just had a very lazy day until we went to Red Lobster (or Dead Lobster as my Uncle Frank calls it) for dinner with Uncle Frank, Jen, Kim, and the kids (except for Michael who was at Ju-jitsu) After dinner, our family hit the road and headed back to Arizona.

So, that's pretty much it for the narrative. Now for the pictures.........

My friends Gabby and Hannah made us cookies for our trip. This is me eating one. After sleeping for a while in the car, Mom, Isaac, and I woke up simultaneously and were hungry. So we got out the cookies and had a midnight snack. At that moment, those cookies were the best I had ever had in my life. Thank you Gabby and Hannah!



And what do you suppose my Mom is doing in this picture? You guessed it! This is her infamous cookie face.



Taken at 6:00 AM. The sun is beginning to climb up behind the mountains. Isn't it beautiful?



Here are lots more pics of the drive on the way there.....





















This is my cousin Elizabeth. We call her Elli most of the time though. She is 3 years old.



This is Abrianah. She is Elli's sister and almost 2 years old. One of the funny things about Abri is that whenever you take her picture she immediately says, "Lemme see!" in her cute baby voice. Then when you show her the pic on the digital camera screen she stares at it intently and says, "Aaaaaahhhhhhh...."



Dad was playing the guitar and singing some worship songs and Elli was dancing.



Abri enjoys trying on other people's shoes. She usually chooses shoes that are way too big for her. She tries to walk in them too, but usually she just ends up tripping over herself.



These are two of Kim's kids, Mikayla and Michael. They are twins and 5 years old.



That's Michael on the left there, and on the right is Kamden, Kim's youngest. He is 3 years old. And of course in the middle is Isaac, my brother and a wonderful babysitter. He's good with kids.



These two pics were taken when we dropped Aunt Marilyn off at the airport.





Abri was hiding from me in this pic, but she decided to peek out just long enough for me to snap her picture.



Dog pile!


Jen was trying to get Abri to jump into her arms, but she kept falling into her arms instead. For some reason she just couldn't get her feet off that counter.



Deer walking through the backyard one morning.



Abri, sweet baby.



Me out in the backyard.



Abri playing the piano..... with her elbows?



Elli at the piano. She wasn't doing much playing.



Kaytlin, Kim's oldest, at Red Lobster.



Mikayla and Abri at Red Lobster.



And finally (I hope I didn't bore you with all these pictures) this is a pic of the family at Red Lobster right before we left and hit the road.



God bless!

We shall depart soon.....

Well, we are still in Texas right now. We are planning on leaving this evening. :( I really don't want to go, and I'm especially not looking forward to the long drive. I have to go pack my bag now, but I will describe the last couple days of our trip once I get back. I'll also post pictures!

Please pray for safety on our drive home. Our van has had some troubles lately, and on the way here the air conditioning broke. (It wasn't too bad; we just had to clean out some filters to get it to work again.)

Until I get back,
~Kiah

Update from Texas

Well, on Wednesday night we set out for Texas. We went to get an idea of houses and jobs in the area and stuff. It was a long drive, but (Praise God!) we arrived safely at My Uncle Frank and Aunt Marilyn's house about 19 hours later. Yes, it was a very long drive. I was very happy to be out of the van by the time we got there. That night, we had pizza and hung out with my Aunt and Uncle, and my mom's cousin Jennifer and her two kids Elizabeth (3 years old) and Abrianah (almost 2). We had a lovely time visiting together. Elli and Abri are so precious! They are some of the sweetest little girls I've ever known.

Today, we slept in (Yeah!!) and then we just went and drove around in the area looking for houses and just trying to get a general idea. We did that until about 3:30, and now we are back at Uncle Frank and Aunt Marilyn's house. (I'm posting from Aunt Marilyn's computer.) I think tonight Jennifer and the kids are coming over again and Kimberly (my mom's cousin and Jennifer's sister) is coming over with her four kids: Kaytlin (8 years old), Mikayla (5 years old), Michael (5 years old), and Kamden (3 years old). So we should have a nice time together.

Tomorrow I think we will be looking around at more neighborhoods and stuff. On Sunday we will be going to our new church. I'm really looking forward to that. We will be going back home on either Monday or Tuesday. Being here now, I almost don't want to go back. It's green here. Very green. There's millions of trees and lots of grass...... and it's just beautiful...... and it's about 75 degrees....... and it's just beautiful....... and....... aaaaahhhhhh....... I really don't think I'm going to want to leave when it comes time to. We saw deer walk across the backyard this morning. I mean, how often does that happen back home? Never!

Anyway, I think I'm finished now. When I get back home, I'll post pictures of the trip. I can't do it on my Aunt's computer right now. Anyway, please pray for my family, that we would have patience in waiting on God, and that we would listen for his voice and follow his direction. And please pray that we don't get Texan accents and start saying y'all because it seems entirely inevitable!

God bless!
~Kiah

A New Season

Some pretty crazy stuff has been going on in my life lately. For about a month and a half, I wasn't able to say anything, or blog about it, but I am now. Well, here goes. Forgive me if my "narrative" is confusing and makes little sense. I am not a great writer, and I sometimes have difficulty putting my thoughts on paper, or in this case, the computer screen.

For some time now, God has been leading our family in a new direction. By a new direction, I mean a new place, a new church, a new job, etc. Recently, God has made it evident to us that it is time. Time for us to move on. Time for God to lead us into a new season.

I must say, moving away from your home town is not an easy ordeal. I've lived in this town for 12 years. It's all I've ever known. Our family is here, both church and blood; our closest friends are here. Yet if God is calling us to go, can we simply say, "Oh, I'm sorry God, but I just can't."? Of course not.

We've known for sure that we were going to move in the near future since about the end of July. For a while, we were just seeking God and asking, "Ok God, we know you want us to move. But where?" We had no idea. Soon, God began laying two specific spots on our hearts. One was Georgia; the other was Texas. At the beginning we had high hopes for Georgia. But as suddenly as the door had opened there, God shut it. So, all we had left was Texas. Again, we were seeking God out. "Is this it, God? Is Texas the place?" We were afraid that God would shut the door like he did on Georgia. But this time, God only gave confirmation after confirmation. Needless to say, we now know without a doubt that God wants us to move to Texas.

Last week we began telling our friends that we were moving. It was so hard. One night, we went and told the Cross family, our closest friends. I cried more than I ever have in one sitting. It was extremely sad, and yet, in another way, it was joyful. Our friends completely backed us up, and though they were sad that we had to go, they were glad that we were following God's lead. My 16-year-old friend Gabby said, "Thank you for being obedient." As we were leaving, I said through my tears, "That was officially the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my entire life." And it was. I must say though, that the time I have spent with my friends since we told them has been the most precious time I've ever spent with them. Somehow, you never appreciate something so much until you realize that you are going to lose it.

But we are looking forward. The past few weekends have been spent getting the house ready to sell, and packing up some of our things that we don't use very much. We are still working on getting the house spottless for our open house this coming Saturday, and we are keeping busy doing random, necessary things. We are taking a trip to Texas next week to scope things out. We will be staying with my mom's aunt and uncle, who live only 16 miles away from the town to which we are moving.

Last Sunday, we announced the news to our congregation. It was hard, but God saw us though, and it wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it was going to be.

Although I am heartbroken at the thought of leaving my friends and family, I am so excited to see what God does with this! We are trusting in him for all the details, including selling our house, finding a job for my Daddy, and finding a home in Texas. There is so much that we do not have figured out, be we have faith that God will see us through.

Please keep our family in your prayers. This is difficult, and yet we are so excited to watch God work in us and through us.

~Kiah

Did someone say cookies?

I don't know if anyone who reads my blog (if anyone indeed reads my blog at all) likes cookies, but I do! I love cookies! And a week or so ago, a lady at our church gave me a new cookie recipe!

Now you have to understand that this lady is the cookie Queen at our church. She literally makes the best chocolate chip cookie I have ever tasted! So she gave me a recipe for Brown Sugar cookies. They are totally scrumptious, so I thought I'd share the recipe. Here it is! Enjoy!

P.S. Don't be alarmed that the recipe calls for 4 sticks of butter. It makes A LOT of cookies, so if you want sort of a normal sized batch you can just go ahead and half the recipe.


Brown Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups butter (softened)
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and sugars. Beat in eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Mix in flour. Roll walnut size balls in cinnamon and sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet about three inches apart. Bake for 12 minutes. Cookies will be soft.

Tracts and a Kind Man

Today we went to the Anthem Outlet Mall solely for the purpose of handing out tracts. We had a good time, but the highlight of the day was when my brother Isaac and three of our friends handed a tract to a man in the Food Court. The man took a minute to look at the tract and then handed back to my brother and friends saying," I'm already a Christian. Give this to someone else." Isaac (my brother), and Joe, Mike, and Matt (our friends) took it back and were handing out tracts to other people in the Food Court. A little later, the same man came back to them and said something like, " You guys are doing a really good thing here. I want to buy you all sodas." So he did. Isaac, Joe, Mike, and Matt were blessed. It was just cool so I thought I'd share the story.

~Kiah b

The Government Can

Found this video on timhawkins.net the other day and laughed so hard that I thought I just had to put it on my blog. Enjoy.

My Junior High Graduation

This past month AFHE (Arizona Families for Home Education) held a homeschool convention in downtown Phoenix. They also held a Junior High Graduation. Myself and 4 of my good friends decided to be a part of this graduation as we were all graduating from Junior High this year. It was really cool. This is a pic of me and my brother, Isaac all dressed up before we left the house.



Once in the car, I started to feel very nervous. Isaac and I played a game that he made up. We would wave and smile at every car that went by. The winner would be the person that got someone to smile or wave back first. During the whole 45 minute drive to Phoenix, neither of us could get a single person to smile or wave back at us. I was still nervous.

The schedule for the night was:

*Rehearsal
*Go to dinner
*Ceremony

Once we got there, I was starting to feel extremely nervous. To make matters worse, after walking from the parking garage to the convention center, the skin on my heel started rubbing off from my new shoes. Now I was nervous, and in pain!

Well, I managed to get through the rehearsal despite my nervousness (it helped that all 4 of my friends sat pretty close to me) and then, surprisingly, I didn't feel quite as nervous. This is a picture of me during the rehearsal. Do I look nervous, do you think?

After the rehearsal, we took family pictures of me and two of my other graduate friends. This picture is of me and my family.



This picture is of my best friend Hannah and her family.



This picture is of my friend Sean and his family.



After this, we walked (by this time my feet were killing me) to a restaurant not too far away. Miraculously, I managed not to get any food on my dress during dinner. Believe me, I was praising God for that! This is a picture of my Dad and me during dinner.



After dinner, we walked back to the convention center. Mom, Dad, and Isaac went in the huge room where the ceremony would take place, and were seated. I waited in the lobby with all the other graduates for the ceremony to begin. At this point, I was a bit nervous, but not nearly as bad as I was during the rehearsal. Then we did the ceremony. The only unusual thing that happened during the program was that they said my friend's name was Joshua. His name is Joseph. I felt really bad for him, but he joked it off pretty lightly.

After the actual ceremony, we went to Swensen's for ice cream. Not all of my friends came but Joe and his family did. We ordered huge ice creams and it was so good. This pic was taken by my brother of the sundae that he ordered. Doesn't that look delicious?



Here's one of me eating my ice cream. Yummmmmm.....



This is Isaac starting to eat his ice cream.



This is Joshua..... I mean Joe eating his root beer float.



And finally, this is a picture of me and all 4 of my graduate friends. It's not a great picture, but it's the best we got.