Christmas Has Come and Gone...

Christmas has come and gone, and I have neglegted this blog shamefully! The days slowed down some, but still seemed to get filled. Christmas weekend was really fun! My sister Miriam came over every day from Friday to Monday! It was a lot of fun with her over, and we of course played tons of games! It was a really fun time since Lydia is here as well!
On Friday we attended the church Christmas party at the Paces house. Not all of the families could make it, but I had a great time with all that came. We sang and played a lot of Christmas carols, and I also did a monologue as told by Mary, the mother of Jesus. I can imagine that Mary (probably around my age) was really scared about being told she was to bear the Messiah! Her willingness to do whatever the Lord asked of her is something we can all learn from.
We opened presents on Christmas Eve, which was of course a lot of fun! I'm so thankful for all I received, but most especially thankful for God sending Jesus to us so long ago.
Monday was a really memorable day. Miriam, Lydia, Elijah, Jubilee and I rode 13 miles to our friend the Paces house. It took almost two hours, and was very tiring! As if that wasn't enough, after we got there I babysat Abi, Christopher, and Gabriella! I got exhausted, but had a good day.
Yesterday I edited a lot of camping pictures, which I'll upload pretty soon. Today was spent mostly cleaning, for Maria and her family are planning to show up here later tonight. Luke's family is coming tomorrow, so we'll have a full house! I hope and pray each one of you had a blessed Christmas.

Wonderful Central Heat

Central heat is finally here! I'm actually ... warm! Amazing when I'm not sitting by the fire huh?
We've been busy all day, cleaning and getting ready for Lydia's arrival and church at our house. I washed and waxed the floor and made Lofgren Biscuits among other things. Lydia's flight from Quebec City got delayed by a snow storm of all things! Something very unusual down here! So, she'll be getting here tomorrow morning instead of late tonight.
Right now I'm waiting for Elijah to download a program to resize pictures, then I'll upload to the Esther musical pictures to go with the essay I wrote about the musical, Perseverance Pays Off.
Tomorrow looks to be a very busy day as well! I'll be making pie crusts, cooking and cubing chicken, and cutting up vegetables in the morning in order to make chicken pot pie for Sunday lunch. In the afternoon we'll be going to the Montgomery Youth Symphony concert, which the Harts are in, and at night I'll be babysiting the Mortons! Phew! At least after tomorrow I'll be on a break from school, and should be able to rest up. Well, I need to go. Au revoir!

It's the Middle of the Week!

Hi everyone! It's the middle of the week... and only 2 more school days until I'm free for 3 weeks! Yipee! School work is going fine, but a break will be much appreciated.
I was home all day, but had plenty to do! Aside from school work there was sewing, ironing, laundry, dishes... I'm never at a lack of things to do!
Mom and Elijah went up to my sister Maria's house yesterday, and should be back pretty soon. So that means I've been the mama of the house for a little while! I don't mind, I've been trained well!
There's not much else to be said. I walked to get the mail again today, and just tried to keep warm by keeping the fires burning! Well, I guess I'll go and read for a little while, then make chicken chow mein and cornbread for supper!

Busy Busy!

Have I been busy lately or what? So busy in fact, that I haven't posted here for more than a week! Sorry! Things are finally beginning to slow down, now that both dance classes have stopped for the holidays, and our band concert is on the 19th.
Last week I was gone every single day! No wonder I had no time to post! Monday I babysat the Mortons from afternoon to evening. It was fun, but a bit challenging to keep 5 children plus Jubi happy at the same time! Tuesday I was home during the day, but I don't know where the time went! Tuesday evening was our last Perspectives class. Wednesday we went to the Hart's choral performance at the mall, where we met the Davies, the family who produced a neat movie entitled Bluestate: Tolerance For All. They invited us to their church to hear the Harris twins speak that night! But, first things first! After ballet, we went home, just to turn around and head back out again!
Alex and Brett Harris are amazing speakers. They are only 17 years old, yet are already setting out to change the world! Their blog is entitled The Rebelution, with a slogan to "Do Hard Things". They spoke that night on the "Myth of Adolesence" and "Ruining our lives with fun". It was very encouraging to hear teens who felt the same way I do on many things, and are not afraid to share it!
Thursday was the usual band and ballet, with stops at Walmart and the Millbrook library. Friday, I again babysat the Mortons from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.! It was a bit longer than I had anticipated, so I didn't get much schoolwork done. Soon after I got home we were off to see The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe! The movie was amazing! It was so cool, because they actually stayed true to the book by C.S. Lewis. The effects were just excellent, and the actors astounding! I would recomend the movie to anyone, it was so clean and exciting!
Saturday I went to see the Nutcracker performed by the Montgomery ballet. All the dancers did very well, and it was easy to get inspired. However, the costumes worn were typical ballet ones... not very modest. That's why Ballet Magnificat! is so wonderful, taking back the arts for God!
Sunday we got to meet up at the Turners! I also got to drive my first automatic car, and let me tell you, it is so easy! After having to deal with the horrid clutch all the time, the white car was a breeze! I was so happy to see Bekah T and Lizbeth (and everyone else of course!) after almost a month! We quickly caught up with eachother, and had such a good time, one only soul mates can have! I'm so thankful that God gave me such wonderful friends!
Today has mostly been spent trying to catch up on some school work that hasn't gotten done. I finally wrote my essay on a defining moment in my life. I had been putting it off for lack of time and a topic, but I finally chose to write about the musical I put on last summer. You can look for it on the website as soon as mother makes the necessary corrections.
Now that I've caught up with you, a load's been taken off my mind. Maybe now I'll go back to my extremely exciting book, the third in the Stonewycke Legacy series by Michael Phillips and Judith Pella. I get so engrossed in it!
Adieu for now!
Anna Naomi

Saturday Fun

I sure do like Saturdays! Currently Jubilee's friend Rachael is over, Elijah switched Linux distributions, and I'm relaxing!
I danced at the Millbrook park this morning, which other than being really cold, went well. It was very encouraging because the dance team of Lisa's Dance Dimensions dance to all Christian songs!
It's really getting into the Christmas season! Right now I'm bidding on stuff off ebay for presents for my neice. You can get a much better deal on stuff... usually!
The rest of the day will probably go by pretty quickly. Mom's at a funeral for my sister's father-in-law, and I'll probably be doing quite a bit of cleaning. I also hope to start on another dress! The cloth I bought is really pretty... red roses! I can't wait to get it down! But before I do that, I need to finish the mending, so maybe my day won't be so free! I'm looking forward to tonight, because Love's Long Journey (the third movie in the Love Comes Softly series by Janette Oke) is playing on the Hallmark channel! They changed it from the book again, but it's still a great story!
Well, I guess I'll go. Maybe I'll upload some more pictures. Have a good Saturday!

It's finally Friday! I am ready for the weekend! I look forward for a chance to recover more fully from our trip.. I'm still tired from it!
I just added Heroes of Today pictures to Photo Palace! I had such a good time there last summer, it really helped me grow closer to God.
It has been another typical day. I'm done with my schoolwork, but I still need to practice my flute. Our concert got moved to December 19th, so we have a lot more time left to practice, which is good and bad. Good because the band needs the practice, and band because I'm already really tired of the songs!
It's still really cold, despite the fact that both fires are burning. Our house just doesn't seem to get warm! I will be so glad when we get the central air and heat fully installed... if we're allowed to use it! Daddy says we're only getting it put in to increase the value of the house. However, once we have it, he might let us use it!
I had a good time at band and pointe yesterday. I was happy to see Miriam again, but sad to learn we won't have home church this Sunday. Everyone's doing different things. So, I suppose we'll be going to Fountain of Grace. Pointe went well, though my toes were cramping in the beginning because of the cold. We're going to dance at the Millbrook park tomorrow. I hope I don't freeze!
Well, I should go practice, then do some mending, then make Sloppy Joe's for supper! Have a good weekend!