Imagine if you, one Saturday, woke up at 6:00 AM. Your mother says that you will be having a family dinner at 6:000 PM, so if you want to finish any projects today, you have twelve hours. Instead of starting your day with a bang, you watch TV until 9:00. How would the rest of your day go? How much would you get done?
Not only would you have wasted three hours of your day, but you would have very little motivation to get stuck into all the worthwhile projects you wanted to do over the rest of the day.
If you do the maths, you’ll see that is exactly what the stereotypical teenager is doing! After some research on the internet, I estimated that I could probably expect to live to be about 85. In other words, in 70 years, I have a good chance of being dead. That doesn’t leave much time for dilly-dallying.
Society expects teenagers to party through the teen years, not really accomplishing anything worthwhile, just having fun. I’m often tempted to waste my life like that myself. But I don’t think we realize how much of our lives we waste this way.
If we waste away our childhood and our teen years, doing nothing of much importance, we’re whittling away the first 25% of our lives, just as you whittled away the first 25% of your day watching TV. There’s no reason to imagine you will be able to pull yourself out of the habit of wasting your life once you hit adulthood, than you would be able to reconstruct your day after watching TV until 9:00. We can’t afford to waste our lives.
My family had a discussion about this (in which we built that 9:00 AM analogy together) after reading Psalm 39.
“LORD, make me to know my end; and what is the measure of my days; That I may know how frail I am. Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths; and my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapour.”
Soccer great Edison Pele celebrated his birthday on this date.
Describe your life a soccer ball.
MY STRY
Have you ever thought of what it would be like to be a soccer ball? I have, I think about it a lot. That’s because I am a soccer ball. One usually has time to think about what its like to be its self a lot.
Yes, a soccer ball. How do I describe me to you?
Well, first, I’m always two colours, black and white. And that can get bring, very boring. Especially for a girl. Girls are very interesting, their full of energy, talented, bright, great to be around and great at doing nearly everything, they don’t deserve just two plain colours, black and white. White and blue, yes. Black and red, yes. But black and white, no. (sigh.)
Also, I get pushed around a lot. Pushed, kicked and shoved. Its .K. sometimes, I get a cool view when I get pushed up high. But that doesn’t last long, and then I get kicked around some more. They should put something soft on those shoes of theirs; quite often I think that the black spots on me are actually bruises.But I never know.
At least they have a net. But I would’ve thought that they would make it a little bit more like an air bag for me. Well, I guess the net is better than nothing.
And the way I go around and around in circles is not very pleasant at all! I really don’t like it, they don’t even give me a wash after the game, or lift me up on their shoulders like what they do with those un-thoughtful humans.
And when ever I’m a kids soccer ball, they treat me as if I’m un-important, un-necessary and I feel like I’ve made the parents waste their money when they bought me for Christmas last year.
Yesterday I made an appointment with the Elf that Ends the Endless Exercise of Entirely not Entertaining Enterprises. The elf that changes your bad life, (Like being a soccer ball) and gives you a different life, what ever you choose. I wanted to be a cricket ball. And he made me one. My ugly life as a soccer ball has ended! My new carrier of cricket lies before me like a straight road. Luxury, divine pleasure, I love cricket. Life is worth living, but as a cricket ball!!!
The view is amazing! Whenever they throw me up into the air, besides having an extremely numb behind, I can feel the air tussling over my beautiful, sleek, shiny, round sides. I fly over everything, I am not scared. I soon forget about my pins and needles in my backside, as I remember the life as a cricket ball.
But it has it’s downside too, sometimes I get hit in the face, that hurts worse than my rear. I can get stepped on, battered, I can roll of the shelf they put me on, even though its not my fault, and once I got hit over the crowd, over the car park, and landed in the park. I don’t like how I’m being treated now, it’s no better than a soccer ball. But at least I get polished.
And when I’m a kids cricket ball, they let me get tattered, dirty, cobwebby and musty! I feel just like I did when I was a soccer ball, and I don’t like it.
The straight road I thought I saw now shows me that it fooled me, it’s not luxurious, divinely pleasant, it was a mirage! The road looks like a snake curled up, all twisted and turny.
I went to the Elf that Ends the Endless Exercise of Entirely not Entertaining Enterprises again today, and he made me into a tennis ball.
It’s not too bad. The rackets aren’t to hard on me, neither are the people, they put me in a basket, with lots of other friendly tennis balls. Smiles. Not to bad.
But when I’m not being used by TV tennis stars or professionals I feel unwanted, I don’t want to be used by little kids, or teenagers either. I want to be someone big and important and useful.
I was on my way to the Elf that Ends the Endless Exercise of Entirely not Entertaining Enterprises when I stopped at a cafe. One of the guys there told me something. He said; "Jeremiah 29:11, mate. you know what that says? it says 'I know the plans I have for you…I want you to enjoy success. I do not plan to harm you. I will give you hope for the years to come.'”
But if I want to be useful….I was useful before! That’s it! I was a blessing to others wasn’t I? I didn’t like it, but I bet the Ball maker had a purpose for me when he made me. He knew that I would make people smile. The little kids last Christmas, they were happy weren’t they? They used me a lot; they enjoyed me, that actually feels good! I am useful! I am important! I was made by a maker! That maker was proud with me! I remember he said that I was a mighty good-looking ball, the other workers agreed, didn’t they? He knew my future before I was finished! HE HAS A PLAN FR ME!! I have a future!! I am lved!!!!!!
I want to go back to being a soccer ball…
THE END!
The Moral.
God has given us a purpose even if we don’t know what it is. We just need to walk along the road He has put us on. The road will give you hard and good times, happy and sad, tough and easy. All this, even if we don’t see it, is strengthening us for what lies ahead. We should be happy with the road God has given us and not try to change it, like what the soccer ball did when he tried to be a cricket ball or when the cricket ball wanted to be a tennis ball.
Every cloud has a silver lining. Just remember Jeremiah 29:11 and the story and what happened in He has a plan for me!
I was sitting under a tree, one Saturday afternoon playing my gameboy.
Something behind my back moved, I thought it was me, but it wasn’t!
I looked up, and saw the last thing I had thought I’d see… a GIANT!!!!!!!!
He reached down, down, down. A big hairy ugly hand reached for me.
I was...um...stunned…dazed…speechless! Like a fool I just sat there.
I must be dreaming!! I shook my head and thought for a moment. If that’s a giant, and its legs are right behind me and it’s reaching down for me than… I gotta run!!
I jumped up and ran for shelter. Leaves were every were, in piles and not in piles and falling none stop from the trees. I slipped, and fell down with a thud. The giant gave loud roar. (I’m knot sure if it was a roar of laughter or a roar of victory or a roar of war.)
I put my gameboy in my pocket so I could at least try to fight back. But wait, what was this in my pocket? I pulled out the object, scissors!! I could chop the giant down like in ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’! I knew it wasn’t much, yet I just had to try.
Some say you see everything moments before a car crash, this was my crash! I charged for the giant, the giant charged for me. It was all as slow as slow could be. I pulled the scissors out from my pocket; they made a scraping noise like a sword coming out of its sheath. The giant pulled out a huge club that seemed to come out of nowhere! Every time my foot hit the ground, it made a thump, like a hammer thumping on a dirt road. Every time the giant’s booted foot hit the ground. The sound effect was more like pushing over a mountain!!
50 feet was between us now. With both hands clutching the scissor handles, I let out a roar and lifted up my deadly weapon. The giant lifted up his 8-foot long, spiky club. My ‘deadly’ weapon wasn’t so deadly any more. The giant let out a roar of war 15 times louder than mine!! Terror stricken, I tried to turn around and run for my life. But like I said earlier, it was all in slow motion, so I had trouble doing so. I found myself running strait for the 28-foot tall giant.
40 feet.
“ROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Came the fearless cry of the giant.
“AAAARRRRH!!!!”
Came the terrified cry of me, still running strait for what was my worst nightmare ever, instead of running away from it.
30 feet.POUND, POUND, POUND!!! Sounded our feet.
THUMP, THUMP, THUMP!!!
Sounded my heart.
20 feet!
And closing in!!
“RROOOOOOAAAARRRRH!!!!!”
10 feet!! 9!! 8!! 7!! 6!! 5!!
I opened the scissors wide for the hardest blow I could give.
3!! 2!! 1!!…
Clenching my teeth I enclosed the scissor blades around the hairy, bug infested legs and… the Giant gave a deafening roar of pain as I heard the sound of his shinbones cracking just where the scissors had enclosed. He fell, slowly, slowly, down, down, down, and landed with a THUD, that shook all the earth.
His big, hairy, almost black hand fell down and hit the earth with enough force so that it cracked the ground beneath it. His cheese-over-flowing-nailed fingers went limp. I watched as the big heavy club rolled out of his hand and stopped on the grass beside his dead masters sweaty hand.
I sat down to finish my gameboy…
“Yes! Yes! One more! Come on, one more!! That’s all I need!” A shadow passed over me making the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I looked up to the sky and saw the last thing that I ever, ever wanted to see again in my life…
Jane's hair, that’s a new technique that I learned.I’ve been asked to tell you how I did it.
It was fun! It was simple! And it was affective!!!
All I did was strip wadding into long strips and 1 inch wide. Then I threaded strong string through the middle using quick stitch and knotted one end so it couldn’t unravel. I then dumped it into a sink of tea-dyed, hot water and pulled it out when it was the colour I wanted it.
It was easy to stitch on; I’d pull the un-knotted end to scrunch it all up. Knot that end and stitch it on!!
School started last week, so I’m back to my rigorous school schedule of 6 hours of school work a day. My plan is that if I can wake up at 5 o’clock, I can eat, have devotions, give the dog a walk and do my jobs by 6:30, and start school. That means that if I go to bed early, if I don’t read over breakfast and if I stay focussed during school, I can finish everything by 1:00, giving 30 minutes for family devotions and family meeting.
That’s the theory. In reality, I’m not there yet. In particular, I keep falling to the temptation to read over breakfast, which means I get carried away with my book and spend 90 minutes instead of 10 over food! As you can imagine, that just wrecks my schedule. However, I will get there! What’s the normal schedule for you guys?
The other exciting news is that Parliament has started sitting again this week after having a couple of weeks off. Ever since I came back from Canberra, I’ve been paying more notice to politics, and so, this afternoon, I’m going to watch Question Time on TV. Provided I’m not lagging in my schoolwork, I’m intending to watch it as often as the family schedule permits.
In Canberra I also discovered that parliament is broadcast on FM radio. Hopefully we get reception for it. So I’m intending to keep up to speed with politics via the TV and the radio- as well as the news of course. That’s about all that’s happening over here. What are you guys up to?
I have two hobbies. Both are constructive, productive, quality hobbies. If I took my hobbies as far as I wanted to (without being obsessive), I could spend $10,000 on my hobbies over my entire lifetime. Should I be doing that? That much money could provide enough drinking water for thousands of people in Sudan, thanks to programs like Dollar for a Drink. Is it right for me to spend it on myself?
This leads to the question, how much time should we spend on playing, and on working? By “working” I mean, being productive so that the results of our labour have long-lasting affects on ourselves and on the people around us. My hobbies don’t really fill that definition. “Work” might not be the right word; I’m only using it in relation to how I often have the choice to spend my time either on my hobbies or on my life passions and probable career (history/politics/philosophy).Just because they are my passions doesn’t mean that it’s not easier to spend my time on my hobbies- my passions are still “work” in a sense, work I enjoy, but still work.
So should my play simply be a means to an end, so that I’m rested enough to go back to work and study efficiently? Or is it all right to give some of my life to play?
The relaxation side of the argument in my head says that humans need relaxation. If we worked 24/7, we’d crash and never get anything done. Spending time with other people, just relaxing, is very important- we can’t spend life in the fast lane. Hobbies are my relaxation. We shouldn’t always be working, after all, God created the 7th day for resting.
I know there is validity in all those arguments. But the “work” side of the argument says that only the 7th day was for resting! Considering that the average lifespan is about 80 years, I have approximately 64 years left to live out my life’s passions, and its terrible stewardship to waste them. The question is, are my hobbies good stewardship of my 64 years?
The ancient Spartans dedicated their whole life to the military, and refused themselves any creature comforts that could reduce their ability to withstand the rigours of war. We can admire their discipline, toughness and dedication, but when it comes to actually wanting to replicate that…
I don’t think God expects us to live up to the Spartans’ extreme lifestyle. There is a place for relaxation and hobbies. What I’m trying to find out is, how much play, is too much play?
Jess, Daniel and me all have our own guinniea pigs! Yes!! Jess and I got little ones that celebrated their 2-weeks-old birthday yesterday and Daniels is a nearly full grown one. They are all bys.
And they all have a full name. Mine is a creamy brown and black one; his full name is Fidget Alexander Tickles the Explorer. (Fidget for short!!!)
One of our friends gave me the idea for ‘Fidget’. But it is a perfect name for he hardly ever stays still! One minute he’s under the tissue box and the next moment he’s having a drink!
I chose Alexander because for some reason I was having a ‘faze’ of it. I think the name Alexander is an awesome name! I have also been listening to Adventures in Odyssey staring Alex Jeffrerson. He is my FAVURITE character! (So are Jimmy Barclay, Mandy Strousburg and Trent DeWhite!) And Tickles because he tickles when he crawls all over me!
Right now we are keeping them all in a box in the Family room (School room). But over the weekend Dads going to be at home and he will fix our small cage were we kept our old pets (two Jack Russels) and Domin, (Our Dalmatian) when she was a tiny little puppy!
Ahh, it brings back good ol’ memories, that cage does!!!!!
This is Jess' Guinniea Pig Widget
the big black/brown guinniea pig is Daniels and that really cute one is mine. He's not cuddling with Daniels, mind you, he's trying to get past so he can eat that parsly!
This is a picture of Fidget. Its a bit blurry I know, but what did I tell you?? He's always moving!!
Widget and Fidget. Best Bro's. Commenting and whispering together on the meal.
We lve our guinniea pigs!!
(By the way, I will hopefully post about how I did Jane’s hair next time! I got a comment asking me to show you how I did the hair! Thanks ‘Elbows’!)
This email was too good not to share. I’m not sure if it’s true though. It’s entitled
“Flogging a Dead Horse Thief”
Political Spin at its best
It just all depends on how you look at some things...
Judy Wallman, a professional genealogy researcher in southern California , was doing some personal work on her own family tree. She discovered that Congressman Harry Reid's great-great uncle, Remus Reid, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Montana in 1889. Both Judy and Harry Reid share this common ancestor.
The only known photograph of Remus shows him standing on the gallows in Montana territory:
On the back of the picture Judy obtained during her research is this
inscription: 'Remus Reid, horse thief, sent to Montana Territorial Prison 1885, escaped 1887, robbed the Montana Flyer six times. Caught by Pinkerton detectives, convicted and hanged in 1889.'
So Judy recently e-mailed Congressman Harry Reid for information about their great-great uncle. Believe it or not, Harry Reid's staff sent back the following
biographical sketch for her genealogy research:
"Remus Reid was a famous cowboy in the Montana Territory . His business empire grew to include acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and intimate dealings with the Montana railroad. Beginning in 1883, he devoted several years of his life to government service, finally taking leave to resume his dealings with the railroad. In 1887, he was a key player in a vital investigation run by the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency. In 1889, Remus passed away during an important civic function held in his honor when the platform upon which he was standing collapsed."
P.S. The email had this disclaimer at the bottom- it’s like those “authorized by” notices you find at the end of a government ad- read aloud very quickly in a low tone!
I think I need to do a little bit of explaining. I haven’t completely left Homeschoolblogger. I’m still intending to post on here, and comment on here, but my main blog is now joshualetchford.wordpress.com. And yeah, I can’t believe I forgot to put down my new address when I declared I was moving! How embarrassing…
In my last post, I shared a bit about what happened when I spent a week in Canberra. I’ll share some photos sometime… but I didn’t take very many photos, and I think the other delegates are intending to facebook their photos- which probably means I’ll have to get my head around facebook… (major rant about technology etc. etc. etc.)
I was the only homeschooled student among those 30 other 16-17 year olds, and I found it very interesting to see how 30 of my peers interacted for a whole week. Of course, Homeschoolers are always being asked “what about socialization” but in the end, I realised that I was indeed socialized.
On the first day, we had a picnic to get to know each other. Most of the delegates formed this huge oval so that everybody could talk to everybody- although there were often two or three conversations going on. As we got to know each other a bit better, everybody split off into groups of 4-6 delegates. I found that a little tricky, because I am used to either going to a friends’ place, playing with all the kids, or mingling in church and other adult functions. In church or other functions, you talk to an adult for 5-10 minutes, he goes off to get a coffee, and you wander around to the next interesting conversation. Here, people largely stayed in the same groups over the week, and since I didn’t do that, I wasn’t in the hive of social activity. I wasn’t shunned or ignored in any way and I was fully included- I just had a different model of socializing than they had.
All in all, I realized that homeschooling had given me the ability to socialize very well with many people, and with people of different ages. It was encouraging to realize that.
Does anybody else have observations from times there were large numbers of kids socializing together?
RY 
Black and red, yes. 
(sigh.) 
-doolingoooooo-fffffipp!!!!!!!!!
I wanted to be a cricket ball. And he made me one. My ugly life as a soccer ball has ended! 
I feel just like I did when I was a soccer ball, and I don’t like it. 
Bamboo trees
A Butterfly
Trees
The Gecko
Domino 
