I am taking a break from blogging and my comments have been turned off.  Have a Merry Christmas!

HRTF

Thanks for praying for Mr. Davis.  He is not only better, but he's home with his family!  Keep praying that God will restore his health!

HRTF

--HRTF—

Postscript: oh my, I almost forgot: my mom and dad have been nominated for the 2007 Homeschool Blog Awards. Vote for them and give them your support as they push for victory!

Being someone who is subscribed to the Answers Magazine that is put out by Answers in Genesis, I really enjoy reading their magazine. So, while reading this month’s issue, I got this really great idea for a post. I’m going to let you read the section of the article about all the Christian holidays that have been made not so Christian. Here it is:*

As Christians, we don’t know whether to be sad, angry, or indifferent. The frustrating reality is that, for most in our culture today, secularism has almost fully obscured the roots of many holidays. In many cases religious tradition has overgrown its original intent—so much so that we must ask ourselves a few very important questions: What are the foundational origins of the holidays? How are Christians to correctly lead their families as they seek to worship the Lord during these special seasons of the year?

Answering these questions is not as simple as it might seem. Every Christian holiday has become a mixture of the secular and the sacred—a smearing of the historical and the fable, and often it’s hard to tell which is which.

Christmas

96% of all U.S. adults celebrate Christmas. Amazingly, even 84% of those who claim to be non-Christians celebrate this religious holiday.¹

During the Christmas season, believers in Christ commemorate the coming of Immanuel, which means “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). This miraculous and holy event is illuminated in the beautiful words of Scripture that detail the events surrounding Christ’s amazing birth.

The Christmas season has long been a mixture of both the secular and sacred. During the church’s first three centuries, Christmas wasn’t even on the calendar yet. Initially, the celebration of Christ’s birth was lumped in with Epiphany on January 6, one of the church’s earliest feasts. Some thought that it would be wrong to honor Christ’s birthday since birthday celebrations were for pagan gods. The date December 25 places Christmas in the middle of a significant pagan winter festival that celebrates the rebirth of the sun using bonfires and evergreen trees. The mixture of traditions between the pagan holiday and the Christian holiday is seen today in everything from snowy nativity scenes to stars on decorated pine trees.²

For hundreds of years, Christmas has also been the flashpoint of bitter legal and social battles. During the 1500s and 1600s, the celebration of Christmas was banned for a time in Scotland, England, and Massachusetts, but not for reasons you might expect. Many Puritans and Protestants believed that the holiday was so secularized that it had become a blasphemy against God. The opposite is the case today as Christian aspects of the holiday are brought under attack by liberal government and special interest groups.

Something that I might add to this is that the word “Christmas” and/or the phrase “Merry Christmas” are being replaced almost everywhere with “X-mas” and “Happy Holidays”. I mean, come on, you have to admit that all most everywhere you go, stores and restaurants have the ever popular “Happy Holidays!” sign in the door or window or hanging from the ceilings. Oy. It makes you feel sick, doesn’t it? Think about it: to take Christ out of Christmas is like taking the writing of the Constitution out of American history or turkey out of Thanksgiving or something like that – it just doesn’t work. And it can’t happen: we, teens, as the next generation, should try to do everything we can to put Christ back into the holiday of Christmas. I, who am planning to be a lawyer one day, am certainly going to fight for things like this and believe other teens should plan to also.

In Christ,

HRTF

*to view the full article go to http://answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v1/n2/happy-holidays.

The title of this post about says it all...my blog is having a makeover for one month. Which actually seems kind of dumb and pointless since I'm just going to change it back in a month anyway... arrgh.

Anyway, I've got new music, new template, new avatar, everything. And I have a few posts coming up that are Christmas-based as well. So get ready, because I'm going to Christmas you out. You will feel so sick of Christmas that you will, um, well...that usually happens anyway, doesn't it? Shoot. Well, just get ready as I get ready for Christmas...um, yah...I think...

Sincerely,

HRTF

This story is for TNT's contest thing. Hope you enjoy it!

HRTF

Postscript: this goes along with another story I'm writing and it helps explain some of the history of my fantasy country, just to let you know...

An Excerpt from the History of Hallinaria

This is the story of a man whose name, in his time, was feared by all who heard it. This man, who originally came from the island of Altanis, is now dead, killed by another great man whose story is told in other places. You’ll hear about him later. For right now, we should just start with the name of the man who this story is about: Hallifore. The easiest way to begin this story is just to start at the very beginning of the world.

At the time my story begins, the world was very new and the people in it were just establishing countries where the different races of peoples would live. The strong and handsome Men inhabited the middle countries, which became known as Sinclair. The tall and graceful people called the Arnaeth chose the lands near the sea as their home and named it Helia. These were the two greatest races, and they were the ones that prospered and grew the most. The smaller races spread out to the other lands, such as Ankthmar and the Barbarian Territories.

After the peoples had settled down, they began to make kings for themselves and establish governments and powers. The Men elected Elloth, the son of Naragund, as their king and built him a great house atop of a hill called The Tarraten in which to live. Elloth married Marogale and she birthed him a son, Ellothiian, and two daughters, Nelogale and Krillian, all of which grew to a great height, towering a full head higher than the rest of their race.

            The Arnaeth set up Chrinophen, son of Aleucian I, as their king. Seinocen became his wife and shortly after their marriage, she conceived a son. But Seinocen was a very weak woman and she died in childbirth without ever seeing her child, who died with her. After this, Chrinophen lamented for his wife for three years before he married both the daughters of Elloth. This came to be in a strange way, which I will now lay before you. Nelogale hated Chrinophen, for he was much older than she, but her father began to force her to marry him, so that a pact might be set up between the two countries Sinclair and Helia. Now, Nelogale and Krillian looked quite alike, almost like twins, and Elloth planned to use this to his gain, for he loved Nelogale more than Krillian. His plan was this: on the wedding day, he would sneak Krillian into the room to replace Nelogale, so that Chrinophen would marry his second daughter by mistake, and then not realize it until it was too late. What would he be able to do when once he found he had been tricked? Certainly he would not be able to force Elloth to give up Nelogale to him! And then the pact of peace between Sinclair and Helia would be sealed and Chrinophen would be able to do nothing about it.

So when the wedding day arrived, the evil Elloth carried out his plan and everything went exactly as he had planned: Chrinophen and Krillian were wedded, with Chrinophen not noticing a thing. Now, a wedding in the land of Helia, a huge party was thrown that went on for three days straight. The first day, which is also the wedding day, a huge welcoming banquet is held by the groom and his family, at which, the two families meet each other in full. On the second day, the bride, the groom, and their immediate families spend the day celebrating. Then, on the third day, the bride’s family throws a huge farewell banquet that continues long into the night. Then the families disperse and the bride and groom move into the house which the groom has prepared.

When the night of the first day ended, and Chrinophen and who he thought was Nelogale lay down together, Chrinophen realized that the woman beside him was not Nelogale, but Krillian instead, he became overtaken by a great rage, crying out,

‘How dare you trick me? You are not Nelogale, who I thought you were, but Krillian, her sister! What madness is this? Whose idea was it? Answer me!’

 At this he stood up, ready to strike Krillian, when she burst into tears. This touched Chrinophen and he comforted her before she relayed the whole of her father’s plot before him. After she was finished, Chrinophen stayed up many long hours into the night, before rising and gathering his family to his room. There he had Krillian reveal herself to them and tell them the whole story again. After this, Chrinophen and his father put together a plot to gain revenge on Elloth and then marry Chrinophen to his rightful wife.

Later that day, when the two families were together, Chrinophen was walking with Elloth along the balcony of his father’s great house, with his arm around his enemy’s shoulder, when he said with a smile:

 ‘Tell me; what made you come to the decision to marry me to your daughter, Krillian?’

 When he said these words, the face of Elloth went white as a sheet, and he broke away from the grasp of Chrinophen and ran for the stairs. Chrinophen bent down, removed a small, intricately carved ivory knife from his boot, and threw it hard at Elloth. It went flying threw the air and stuck into Elloth’s back, right beside his black heart. He gasped, a surprised expression on his face, grabbed his chest, and then fell dead to the stone floor. Chrinophen stepped over his body and then ran downstairs to the patio where his family stood waiting. He walked inside the house and got Nelogale, who now realized the evil intentions of her father and also her love for Chrinophen. Chrinophen ordered his brother, a priest, to marry them then and there, which he happily did.

After this, the son of Elloth, Ellothiian found his father dead on the balcony and, after examining the knife and recognizing it of Arnaeth make, he, knowing the plan of his father, guessed what had happened and fled for his life with his mother, Marogale.

When they reached their own country, Ellothiian and Marogale told the other men what had happened and these men immediately set Ellothiian on his father’s throne. When he had been made king, Ellothiian grieved his father and his sisters, whose minds he believed had been twisted by the evil Arnaeth king Chrinophen. He then called together the generals and captains of his armies and they planned to make war on the Arnaeth.

Chrinophen heard of the fleeing of Ellothiian and his mother and then guessed what they would do when once they reached their own country. So he also gathered together his armies and formed a plan of battle to carry out on the army of the Men. Now, the Arnaeth had always carried some kind of magic about them down through the ages and Chrinophen thought that now was the time to improve that skill. So he and the most powerful magicians joined together and formed a company called the Alchemists’ Council. In this Council, they began to develop a magic so great that it could reshape land and wipe a whole race from the earth. As they were developing this power, the armies of Ellothiian began to attack, so Chrinophen was drawn away from the Council for a while to deal with the war.

            The war lasted for twelve years and in later times it became known as ‘Aur Neirel Eluphien Siede’ or ‘The War that Shaped the Earth’. This reason for this strange name was this: up until the end of the War, the land on the earth had been all one continent that the different peoples had shared. This all changed when the Alchemists perfected their magic so that they could change the shape of land and destroy a whole race of creatures. They gathered together atop the tallest mountain in the land of Helia and chanted the words of the spell which they had prepared. As they breathed the last words, the land beneath them began to alter and change drastically: a large portion of the land which the war was waging on, including the great capital city, Austin, broke away from the rest and went floating out on the sea, a few miles from the coast. A great pit opened beneath the feet of the Army of Men and they were all swallowed by the earth, including Ellothiian himself, and his mother, Marogale, who was there to overlook how the battle fared with her son, so that few people of the race of men were left alive on the earth.  Seeing that they had no enemy left, the people let up a great cheer, for they had finally won the battle.  But the war was not over, for when Chrinophen returned to his house, he found that Krillian had been killed in her sleep by a spy that had been sent from Ellothiian. So the people grieved for Krillian for many long months. Thus ended The War that Shaped the World

After this, a time of peace began in the island, which was now called Altanis. Chrinophen and Nelogale had a son whom they named Hallifore. He grew up to be a great warrior, as you will see. Hallifore was often rebellious as a young boy, and perhaps the reason for this was that he was the son of a king and a great warrior. Since he was a prince, everyone expected him to live up to those standards, which, obviously, he could not. He couldn’t even lift his father’s sword from the wall, more less rule a kingdom. So he was very rebellious against his elders and his rebellion soon turned to anger, which then turned to hate. But he kept this ever growing hate for his parents and people concealed for a very long time and no one was the wiser, though I will not say that no one was suspicious of something going on in the mind of young Hallifore. Soon after he became a young man (in that country, a boy becomes a man around the thirteenth year of his life), he was elected into the Alchemists’ Council, for the Elders (that is what the Alchemists were called) saw some great power in him. Little did they know it was hate, which does produce power, but not the sort of power which they suspected. The power which was welling up in Hallifore was an evil, tyrannical power, and this would soon be revealed.

            Not long after this, about fifteen years after The War that Shaped the Earth, another war began, ‘Aur Neirel Estanesse’, or, ‘The War that named Evil’. This is how it came about to be: the people of Altanis had already made it very obvious to other countries that they were a very magical people and had used this magic to destroy almost a whole civilization. These other countries wanted that magic for themselves, so that they would be, as they thought, invincible. So each of these countries’ kings and leaders sent ships with warriors over to the island of Altanis to try to steal as much magic as they could. So now the people of Altanis found many ships landing at their harbors, full of different people who were trying to steal their magic. Some got away with it, too, but they only managed to steal minor tricks, such as is used by street magicians today. This whole thing made Chrinophen angry. So he called the Alchemists’ Council together to discuss what they should do about the invaders. Some suggested making war on the other lands, others to burn the ships as they approached the Island, and yet others to leave the Island entirely. But it was the young magician who had been newly elected to the Alchemists’ Council who came up with a way to get rid of the intruders. He had remained silent for the meeting, listening to the older men argue, until he stood up and addressed them:

‘Fellow Alchemists! You speak of war or fleeing, and these ideas are not bad, but I can prove them all ineffective in one way or another. Firstly, Elder Thomas, you say that we should wage war on our enemy. Well, I think not. We are too few a people to stand against the much mightier countries such as Sinclair or Austintania or even the Barbarians of the south and would not stand a chance against them in any war. And you, Elder Bartholomew, you say we should cast a spell on the ships that would cause them to burst into flame. There is a problem with this, too. All civilizations grow and change, and our enemies will one day come up with a way to travel that does not use ships or even men. What I see is a great object with fire on one end that causes great damage when it collides with anything. This we could not stand against this weapon had we more power then we do now. We would eventually be destroyed whether or not these men continue to attack us. And Elder William, you speak of fleeing our blessed Island of Altanis. Well then, what is to stop our enemies from pursuing us? Even if we snuck out one at a time, there would be no way to conceal our actions from the great empires to the west. Eventually we would be hunted down and killed.

‘What I say is this: all of the Alchemists should work together to cloak the Island: hide it from sight and detection of our enemies, and make it so that they can travel through it as if they are traveling through a mist. And we should make it so that we could still destroy them if we wanted to, when they passed through our Island. We should also move the Island to another spot, across the Sea, as was done after ‘Aur Neirel Eluphien Siede’ before I was born. This way, all memory of our Island would one day either be forgotten or made a mere fairy tale.’

 At this time, another member of the council, the one named Thomas, asked Hallifore a question:

 ‘Your idea is strong, young Hallifore, but, if put into action, what would keep us from losing our own Island?’

 ‘Master Thomas,’ Hallifore responded after a few minutes in thought, ‘I believe what we might do is this: we might make the spell which we cast upon our Island so strong that we would alter the shape of the Island in such a way that there was only one harbor. And in this harbor we might place two pillars of stone, each with a beacon set on it. And then every party or ship that left our Island would bear an object or something that maintained a current with these beacons that allowed the bearer or bearers of that object to see the Island.’

 After he had said this, the Council remained in silence, then Master William spoke up:

 ‘Hallifore, your idea seems to be the best one so far. Yet, I say we should cast a vote on whose idea is the one that will most likely protect the Island.’

 ‘A vote?!’ Hallifore angrily interrupted the Master of Alchemy, ‘Is it not already obvious that my idea prevails over all? All of the others have major glitches, while mine is air-tight! A vote is therefore unnecessary. Do you not agree?’

 ‘Hallifore, sit down and hold your foolish tongue.’ The greatest magician was now standing up and glaring straight at Hallifore. Aluecian II, the most powerful alchemist ever spawned, Master of all Magic, he was the Supreme. ‘You have no right to interrupt your elder and wiser brother. I agree with Master William; we shall hold a vote. And Hallifore, you and I must talk later when this session is over.’

 Hallifore slumped down in his chair, his eyes looking right at Aluecian, filled with hate. ‘One of these days…’ he thought.

 ‘At exactly midday tomorrow,’ Aluecian continued, failing to notice Hallifore, ‘we will all meet here to cast a vote on this matter. Be here! If you are not, your vote will not be counted. Session adjourned!’

 The council dispersed, all except for Aluecian and Hallifore, who sat down in chairs next to each other.

 ‘Tell me, Hallifore, what is it that causes the hate in you? Why are you so rebellious toward everyone?’ Aluecian began.

 Hallifore thought this would be what the Master would ask him and he had already planned his answer. ‘Elder Aluecian, I think the cause for my anger is this: knowing that I am the son of Chrinophen the Great, people have such high expectations of me, expectations that I will never be able to live up to if I continue to follow the path that I am going down now. I feel so, so, stretched, between this Council of Alchemists, and becoming a warlord and continuing my family heritage. And now I ask you, Aluecian, is there no way to do both?’

At this Aluecian sat deep in thought for a while before answering Hallifore. ‘Hallifore, it is as I suspected: your hate is caused by what other people expect you to live up to and you don’t think that what they want you to do is what you want to do. This would be expected of a prince. But Hallifore, the only other way that I see you being able to be both a king, a warlord, and a member of this Council is for you to become an evil tyrant and this is obviously not right. I think right now the decision is up to you; whether or not you stay an Alchemist is not for me to decide. Think on these things, Hallifore, and we will talk again next week.’

Hallifore returned home that night, very troubled. He did not talk to anyone, but went straight to his quarters and into bed. ‘Maybe a good night’s sleep will help me decide.’ he thought. But instead, his sleep was filled with many dreams that he did not like, dreams that are explainable in word, but are so terrible, that I would rather not explain them. The dreams made the night stretch on for what seemed like eternity. When he finally awoke, it was about the sixth hour. He dressed and went out to the same balcony on which his grandfather Elloth was killed by his father many years before. He leaned over the railing and looked out over the sea, facing away from the rest of the island, and began to weep. He wept for what seemed like hours before he finally came to a decision: he would stay on the Alchemists’ Council.

          Later that night, when the Alchemists gathered together again, the vote was cast. Hallifore’s idea was the one that was chosen and it was immediately carried out. The whole of the Council trudged up to the top of the same hill from which the spell that had shaped Altanis was uttered. But what the Council did not know was that Hallifore had thrown in a few curses with the spells which they cast; a curse so evil that anyone who spoke of it was looked down upon by anyone else. Any foreign ship that uncloaked the Island, then sailed into the Island’s one harbor immediately became under the power of Hallifore. Whatever his wish was, the captain of the ship would have to do it, whether it was pirating or spying or warring, anything. The other curse which he threw in was also of evil make and was spawned by the hate in Hallifore’s heart. The second curse killed everyone on the Island, except Hallifore, including his family and friends and every one of the other Alchemists. When the spell was complete, Aluecian finalized it and then said the final words that caused it to work: ‘Nost-ista! Khil irooma!’, that is, ‘Spells, be made! Hear my voice!’ Then Aluecian and all the rest of the Council, save Hallifore, fell to the ground, dead. Suddenly, their bodies began to turn into a mist and were no more. Hallifore looked out toward the city and watched as the rest of the people also died and their bodies faded away. Thus ended The War that named Evil, for Hallifore had become evil and was the ultimate summary of all fear and hate.

From there, Hallifore moved to the northern parts of the mainland, taking Aluecian’s book of magic with him. He took over the northern parts called Ankthmar and ruled them as a tyrant and his name was feared throughout all the land.

 But the rest of his story is told in another book. 

What’s your name? H

What’s your middle name? RT

What are you listening to right now? The main theme of Superman (best song ever, best superhero ever...no offense to Spiderman lovers, but you have to admit that Superman Returns was a sweet movie)

What are the last 4 digits in your cellphone number? ****

What was the last thing you ate? Coffee cake

Last person you hugged? My grandparents who had just returned home from a four month vacation

How is the weather right now? Have you ever lived inside a freezer? That should help you know how the weather is…

Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? My dad

What is the first thing you notice about people? I’ve seen this in another tag before and in that one I said their clothing, but this time I think I’ll go with their HAIR

Favorite type of Food? I hate this question, so you should never, ever ask me it, for I will never answer it

Do you want children? yes

Do you drink? No, never have, never will (strictly because of the taste of the vile drink :P)

Ever get so drunk you don't remember the entire night? Hmmmmm…no, not that I can remember

Hair color? Black as pitch

Eye color? Blue as a peacock’s tail

Do you wear contacts/glasses? No.

Favorite holiday? Christmas or 4^th of July

Favorite Season? Summer by far (no hope of getting cold)

Have you ever cried over a girl/boy? Actually, there was one time when I was fixing a second story window and I smashed my hand with the hammer just as my sister was walking underneath the ladder that I was standing on and then I cried…jk…no, not in the way you mean it (btw, I made that story up)

Last Movie you Watched? Ummmmm…well, does about ten minutes of Around the World in Eighty Days count? Otherwise, it would have to be Superman Returns

What book are you reading? Quite a few…for the ones that I’m reading right now, at this very instant, look over at my sidebar

Piercings? Nope

Favorite Movie? Never ask me this, as I will never be able to answer it

Favorite college football Team? Hmmm, don’t know, don’t care, how’s that? Okaay, bye-bye. (from The Emperor’s New Groove)

What were you doing before filling this out? Eating breakfast and watching Around the World in Eighty Days

Any pets? A dog, a cat, a turtle, a gecko, about two dozen chickens, and a bazillion goldfish (though they don’t really count, seeing as they are in our pond)

Dogs or cats? Dogs by far

Favorite Flower? Venus fly trap J

Have you ever loved someone? Yes…but not in the way you mean…

Have you ever fired a gun? Yes…and I’ve killed something with one too…

Do you like to travel by plane? yup

Right-handed or Left-handed? Right.

If you could go to any place right now where would you go? Probably Scotland

Are you missing someone? Uhhh, what do you mean?

Do you have a tattoo? Nope!

Do you still watch cartoons on Saturday mornings? I watch Drake and Josh every once in a while…

Are you hiding something from someone? Maybe…but why would I tell you that?

Are you 18? Yes…minus four…J

What is the wallpaper on your cell-phone? A mountain range that was automatically loaded on the phone when I got it

Did you get enough sleep last night? Are you kidding? No way!!!

First thing you thought about this morning? K-LOVE can be really obnoxious alarm…

What things do you have handy at your bedside? A book

Grilled or fried? Huh?

What makes you unique? Good question…my advice is to ask someone who would actually know…

Are you afraid of the dark? Only because of the fact that I don’t know what lies ahead in my travels through the pitch black darkness of night…

Favorite hangout? My parents’ bed

3 things you can’t live without? 1) God; 2) Air; 3) Music

Favorite song? Would you quit asking me these questions that I’ll never be able to answer?!

What are you afraid of? The Big Bad Wolf…J

Are you a giver or a taker? In what aspect?

What are your nicknames? H, HRT, HRTF, Arizona, Zone, AF, Mr. Scientist (although H is the one I like best)

Stuck on a deserted island and could only take one thing? A motorboat

Favorite TV commercial? This one: http://www.christianlogic.com/video/?p=12

First thing you’ll save in a fire? My family, then my computer

What’s your favorite color(s)? Blue, Black, Purple

What are the things you always take with you? My clothing

What did you want to be when you were a kid? Superman

What do you usually do when the clock turns 11:11? Point it out to my brother who enjoys those sort of things

Who do you want to tag? If you were insane enough to read all of this, you’re tagged! HAH!

Sincerely,

HRTF

I have finally gotten around to posting about this little incident that happened a few weeks ago. Wait, make that very unfortunate little incident that happened a few weeks ago. Very unfortunate.

Okay, so now I have probably freaked you out. What happened that was so unfortunate? Did I perhaps explode a can of gasoline? No. Or how about this: maybe I got liver cancer and will die in a few weeks? Again, no. Actually, the "little" thing that happened to me (actually, that I did) was way more complicated than that. But perhaps I should give you a little more background on what led up to the very calamitous thing that I did.

Setting- Day: Sunday; Time: 8:50 a.m.; Where: my room/closet

Story: Okay, so I'm ten minutes from leaving to go to church, and I have neither eaten nor gotten completely dressed (as usual). When I say that I was not completely dressed, I mean that I was actually almost dressed excepting my belt, which I could not find. I was very distressed, knowing that one can certainly not go to church without one’s belt. I had already frantically searched my clothes drawers, the laundry room, my bathroom, and my belt rack. So I turned to my last resort: the closet. Now you must understand something very key to this whole story: my closet is in no way big. It is in fact, dinky, with two sliding doors that have mirrors on the outsides (a very common closet thing). Sure, the closet is very long, but only about three feet deep, thus making it very hard to move around in. Also, my brother and I share a room and had, in recent months, somehow managed to allow quite a pile of boxes full of nothing other than junk (paper, school stuff, books, toys, and other countless items which together become known as junk). A few comforters and sleeping bags were in my closet too, along with our nice clothes that were hanging about three feet from the ground. In other words, our closet was a mess.

Now, two of the said boxes of junk that were in our closet were inside of each other, with a few blankets and a lot of books stacked on top of them. I had (after looking through the rest of the closet) a strange suspicion that my belt was in the bottom box. So, without caring to remove the other stuff on top of the box (which was a plastic laundry basket, I should mention, not one of those wimpy cardboard boxes that can be manipulated and bent easily), I dug through it, searching by feel for the belt. When I was through, I tried to remove my hand, but found it stuck between the boxes. So I tried to shift the boxes and junk with my other hand, but to no avail. I was well and truly stuck. And five minutes before leaving for church too! ‘AAAAH!!!’ my brain was screaming in frustration and my mouth felt like following suit. But I wasn’t going to let that happen (since when do teenage boys scream about getting their hand stuck? Never). Instead, I gathered all the energy of that waiting scream and used it to lift the box and junk off of my hand. I yanked my hand out from under the box and…slammed it against the wall. Ow. I groaned in anger and then it happened: I, lying on my side and twisted around the open closet door and also completely exhausted after having just used almost all of my energy to lift a very heavy box, let the very heavy box drop and crush my other hand, bending my fingers back and scraping the top layer of skin off of the back of my palm. So now I had two hurting hands and a newly stuck one. I wanted to tear the boxes into little shreds, but couldn’t. I was so frustrated and mad at my predicament that I was about to try to lift the boxes off again when my dad called to me from downstairs, telling me to get moving and get in the car. That was it, the last straw. I yanked my throbbing hand out from between the two boxes and…smacked my elbow into the backside of the door. I heard a loud crunch and knew that I was dead. I crawled/shoved my way out of the closet, and rolled back the closet door to see my “handiwork”. There, across the bottom two-thirds of the mirror, was a huge crack. This crack was not your normal straight-line, hair breadth crack. Oh no. Of course not (why would it be?). This was your completely huge, spider-web like, very deep crack. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. That hurt. Here's some pictures of the mirror after the incident:

Mirror 1

Mirror 2

Mirror 3

Suffice to say, I still ended up going to church without a belt . Now, the fact that I wrecked my loset door wasn't as bad as you think, seeing as we were going to rip the mirror out anyway. But it was still pretty bad...and I know, I'm a little clumsy...okay, fine, a LOT clumsy! Whatever. Fine. You're embarassing me, so go away. Goodbye!

HRTF

Okay, so for the last three days I've been taking an hour or two to snap photos, just to give you an idea of what (some of) my life looks like through my eyes, and then (conveniently) ending with Thanksgiving. Of course, each hour was split up into about ten minute sections throughout the day; therefore, you'll get a glimpse of quite a few things that I or someone else did. Now, to work: for your convenience, I have just placed links instead of pictures. Just click each link to view the picture. Okay? Coooolll…

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007
Monday was actually the day that I got the idea to do this, but Tuesday was when I summoned the initiative to do this project. Here are the photos for Tuesday:

Brother #2 making a face at Brother #1

Brother #2’s Lego Spaceship

Mom making gravy for Thanksgiving

Brothers #2 & #3

Brother #3

Sister #3

Mom tasting her food for Thanksgiving

Brother #2 with his “Light-saber-broom-thing”

Mom with Brother #3

Brother #3 being held by Brother #2 while in dino pajamas

Wednesday, November 21^st, 2007

The majority of these are of Brother #3:

Brother #3

Brother #3

Brother #3

Sister #2 with her Dora the Explorer Disposable Camera

Brother #3

Brother #3

Brother #3

Dad & Brother #3

Brother #2 jumping on the trampoline

Thursday, November 22^nd, 2007

All of these are from Thanksgiving:

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, a family tradition (and look who’s in the background!)

Mom’s cinnamon rolls, freshly baked

Sister #3, enjoying her cinnamon roll

Brothers #1 & #2, both freezing

Brother #2 watching the parade on Grammy and Pop-Pop’s TV

The Thanksgiving Dinner Table

Gramps and Brother #3

The Thanksgiving Dinner Table, invaded

Sister #2, enjoying a candy stick

The leftover turkey (which resulted in two days of turkey sandwiches, and probably more to come)

Fire!

Sisters #1 & #2 enchanted by the flames

Okay, that’s it. My three-day project is over. Phew! Okay, well, I guess that leaves only one more thing to say: hasta la vista, baby!

HRTF

Tenna’ ento lye omenta,

HRTF

1st of many

Just to start this post off on a weird note, I like naming my posts wierd things (kind of like every one of the Jamestown 400 things). For instance, this post has a wierd name relevent to only one thing in the entire post. I'll leave it up to you to comment and tell me what it is.

I, HRTF, have decided to add another thing to my sidebar: the Quote of the Month. This thing will list a really great quote that I deam worthy of my blog. This month's quote is already up, but I think it needs a little background. About a month ago, I was reading Of Plymouth Plantation for Omnibus III (which I despise). The author, William Bradford, was talking about a really bad decision that the Pilgrims made which almost cost them their lives, when he said this: "Man doth propose, but God doth dispose".

Isn't that a really great quote?! I read it a couple times of through and dog-eared the page for later reference (a.k.a. my blog). This is one of my favorite quotes, as it talks about the providence of God and how man thinks "Oh man, I'm so big and awesome!" Right. Uh-huh. Sure. We are shrimps and nothing more. S-H-R-I-M-P-S. Little pink things (actually, that's not far from the truth: we are little and pink  ).

Now, another thing: ever heard of...coincidence? R-I-G-H-T, sure. Whatever. Well, here's some for you: right after I finished reading that chapter of Of Plymouth Plantation, I walked into our kitchen and saw this magnet that my mom had just fixed on our fridge door:

Now there's some coincidence for you! It's kind of like a modern version of the quote. It also proves itself: that was no mere coincidence, that was the providence of God.

Even though this is the first quote of the myriads more to come, I already believe that it's the best one.

Aa' i' cam en' i' Heru na yassen llie mankeoio llie aut,

HRTF

Postscript: YES!!! I did it! I used the word "myriads" in something! I've been wanting to do that for months! Yahoo! -HRTF

Eragon

One word: Alagaesia. Have you ever heard of it? It’s the country in Eragon by Christopher Paolini. But why should I tell you about all of this? Why not let the author of this great book do it? I don’t know; that’s why I’m asking you! Anyway, here’s a link: http://www.alagaesia.com. Visit it. Read the book. Join the adventure! (BTW: if you have already read this book, tell me; my brother and I will then become your best friend J).

Aa’ lle cael Aman re, melloneamin,

HRTF

N-n-n-nineth grade?

Many of you mat know that I love  waterpolo. If you don't know that, you're gonna learn.

Waterpolo is by far the best sport ever. For a brief summing up of the sport, it's like soccer in the water (but you use your hands, not your feet). A little yellow ball gets passed up and down the court while you swim to go intercept it. Very tiring. And you don't sweat like in football (awesome).

Anyway, I was taking a class this summer in which I learned how to play waterpolo. There were about thirty other Jr. High - Highschoolers in the class, male and female. I was probably the oldest one there. We learned (aka did) about six different strokes, about thirty different exercises and a lot more stuff. One day, during one of said exercises, these two girls (obviously best friends from school) were chatting about school. I was standing there, nonchalantly listening and minding my own business, when one of the girls says to me:

"So, what school do you go to?"

"Who, me?" I say to throw her off her guard and appear as if I don't know what she's talking about, "I'm homeschooled."

"So what grade are you in?" she says.

"Umm, ninth." I say slowly.

"No, no, no, what grade would you be in if you were in school?" she asks.

"Umm, ninth." I say again, wondering if she even knows what she's talking about.

"No, I mean If you were in public school." she asks, as if she was annoyed with my "incompetence".

"Ninth. I would be a highschool freshman if I was in a public school." I say through annoyed, gritted teeth.

"Oh." she says with surprise at the annoyed tone. "So, what do you like about homeschooling?"

"Umm, the amount of freedom to rush through your day and get all your stuff done really fast." I say after a short pause (I've always hated that question).

"Oh really? I like the amount of socialization that public schools give you."

"Yah," her friend pipes up, "schools are a lot more social!"

Thus ended the conversation.

*sigh* I know, public school systems aren't the best, but hey! I don't want to be unsocialized or weird or anything like that. I walked (swam) away from them as the girls began to chat again, utterly bewildered. My mom posted about this incident too. Ouch.

Tenna' ento lye omenta,

HRTF

End

Okay, that's it. That's the end of the post. Don't blame me for your insanity.

Tenna' ento lye omenta, Taraerea,

HRTF

Today’s entry is rather short, yet funny. It is a joke I made up:

Bad spelling doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. For instance, a wealthy-yet-bad-at-grammar-and-spelling businessman left the following note on his receptionist’s desk before leaving for a meeting one morning:

Susie-

Please change the office answering machine to the following: Hello, you’ve reached ACME Businesses. Please leave your name and number, along with a short massage, after the tone.

Thanks!

So, for a long while, the businessman found a masseuse showing up at his door almost every day to give him a five-to-ten minute massage.

Moral: the next time you go to correct someone on their grammar, think again.

Aa’ menealle nauva calen ar’ malta tenna’ ento lye omenta, melloneamin,

HRTF

Against my will, I accidently tagged myself by commenting on someone's blog. Oh, I'm an idiot...

Eight Things I’m Passionate About:

1. God

2. Everyone around me

3. Blogging

4. Waterpolo

5. LOTR

6. Reading

7. Computer games

8. Ummmmm...

Eight Things I Want to Do Before I Die:

1. Live in Scotland

2. Watch all of the Star Wars', LOTR's, and Pirates' consequently

3. Publish my book.

4. Finish Algebra

5. Beat the Pirates of the Carribean 3: At World's End game (I'll probably die doing this, the last level is so hard)

6. Get over 500 comments on my blog

7.Take a last breath

8. Catch me later on this one...

Eight Things I Say Often:

1. Okay...

2. (sarcastically) Really? I hadn't noticed; how observant of you...

3. I'm tagged... :)

4. DIE DIE DIE! (when playing computer games, of course)

5. I am such an idiot...

6. Whatever.

7. Lord of the Rings (a common phrase in my vocabulary)

8. (very, very recently) Hey sweetie-pumpkin-shnuckums... (I will explain this later)

Eight Books I Have Read Recently:

1. The Bible.

2. My Algebra II textbook

3. The Silmarillion

4. The Children of Hurin (again)

5. Arizona Fletch

6. The Authoriative Calvin and Hobbes

7. Of Plymouth Plantation

8. Ummmmmmm...

Eight Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over:

1. Concerning Hobbits from LOTR

2. Drink Up Me Hearties by Hans Zimmer

3. Wherever We Go by the Newsboys

4. Turkish Delight by David Crowder Band

5. I like to Move It from Madagascar

6. Funeral March Sonata No. 2 In B Flat Minor, Op. 35 by Frederic Chopin

7. Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade - Scherzo For Motorcycle And Orchestra by John Williams

8. Will and Elizabeth by Klaus Badelt

9. Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring: The Bridge of Khazad Dum by City of Prague Philharmonic, Crouch End Festival Chorus & Raine

10. Oops, that’s nine…

Eight Things that Attract Me to My Best Friends:

1. They are attracted to me (who isn’t?)

2. Their vareity

3. Ummmmm…

4. They just do…

Eight things I have learned this past year:

1. Rock candy breaks brackets (trust me, I know).

2. My little brother will fall for anything…

3. Books are hard to write.

4. Tenna’ ento lye omenta.

5. a² + b² = c²

6. Omnibus varies in difficulty.

7. Not very many of my best friends know me very well…

8. As a director of a 20-minute movie involving actors with ages stretching from 14-7mon. and with a dead line of a week from starting, you a have a VERY hard job (trust me, I know about this too and will post about it soon).

Eight People I Want To Tag:

1. Whoever wants to do this.
2. same as above
3. same as above
4. same as above
5. same as above
6. same as above
7. same as above
8. same as above

Tenna' ento lye omenta,

HRTF

If you haven't already noticed, there is a section on my sidebar called "HRTF's Blogger of the Month". This section contains a link to someone else's blog. I have put this on my sidebar so that the readers of my blog can go immediately to the blog of the person who I personally congradulate as having a particularly neat blog. Please click the link each month and check out their blog and see if you agree with me on whether or not the person has a cool blog. 

Tenna' ento lye omenta,

HRTF

This is a quiz about me, HRTF. It is for those of you who think that they know anything about me. Oh, I almost forgot: there is a huge prize for the winner (though I won’t reveal it yet. You just have to trust me on this one J). To take my quiz, follow the link below:

The HRTF Ultimate Quiz

Tenna’ ento lye omenta,

HRTF

Postscript: a. if you are in my family, you can't participate and if you do, your answers will not count; b. contest ends 10/15/07

HRTF

This is a test on the Answers in Genesis site to see how much you know about the bible.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v2/n4/biblical-authority-quiz

My score was 16/20. What's yours?

Tenna ento lye omenta,

HRTF

Today is the sixth anniversary of the worst tragedy that our country has suffered in the last decade (besides rising gas prices). As such, I have put a link to the entry in Wikipedia for September 11^th.

Wikipedia Entry for 9/11

Let’s not forget how fragile life is.

Tenna ento lye omenta,

HRTF

After much deep and profound brain things inside my head, I have decided to give my own personal review on the books that I'm reading (if you want to know what I'm reading right now, look right over there -->). Okay, that said I am now going to announce what book I'm going to review today (drum roll please): The Children of Hurin!

Why do I choose to review this book over the others? Because it is most positively the best book on that list (besides the Bible, which doesn't really count, because no matter what book you're comparing it with, the Bible whoops it in the "Best Book" competition). Okay, question answered; onto the review.

The Review

"There are tales of Middle-earth from times long before The Lord of the Rings, and the story told in this book is set in the great country that lay beyond the Grey Havens in the West: lands where Treebeard once walked, but that were drowned in the great cataclysm that ended the First Age of the World.

In that remote time Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in the vast fortress of Angband, the Hells of Iron, in the North; and the tragedy of Turin and his sister Nienor unfolded within the shadow of the fear of Angband and the war waged by Morgoth against the lands and secret cities of the Elves.

Their brief and passionate lives were dominated by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bore them as the children of Hurin, the man who had dared to defy and to scorn him to his face. Against them he sent his most formidable servant, Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragon of fire. Into this story of brutal conquest and flight, of forest hiding-places and pursuit, of resistance with lessening hope, the Dark Lord and the Dragon enter in a direly articulate form. Sardonic and mocking, Glaurung manipulated the fates of Turin and Nienor by lies of diabolic cunning and guile, and the curse of Morgoth was fulfilled.” –The Children of Hurin, back flap.

This definition by Christopher Tolkien, third son of John Ronald Ruell Tolkien (a.k.a. J.R.R. Tolkien) hardly scratches the surface of this wonderful book. This book rates as one of the top ten in my list of books that I like and I give it, in a scale of one to ten, like a nine-and-a-half.

I won’t give away much, but I will say this: The Children of Hurin is one of those books that you love and hate at the same time. I will explain why. The hate comes from the fact that everything that could go wrong in Turin and Nienor’s (pronounced “Toorin” and “Ni-enor) lives, does, and worse, if that can be imagined. They get chased by a dragon, get lied to by their friends, get hypnotized so that they don’t remember a thing, have their love torn out of their life, and lots of other bad stuff. You seriously have to read the book to see what I mean.

For Tolkien lovers (you know, the people who have a bazillion pictures of everyone from LOTR all over their bedroom walls and LOTR trading cards taped next to their laptop touchpad), this book occurs before Sauron and the Ring were even heard of, in the First Age of Middle-Earth. You know that evil guy that is mentioned about once in LOTR? The guy named Morgoth? That’s the evil dark lord in this book, and I can tell, he has a lot of power.

The love for the book comes from the fact that it is so beautifully written and has a great story. You have to read it to get my point, because I’m not going to reveal any more stuff about the story. It’s just that good.

Well, that’s the end of that review. Here’s a link to buy The Children of Hurin.

Tenna ento lye omenta,

HRTF

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?

Yes, as a matter of fact, I was named after someone(s). First name (that would be the "H" in my username, which, if you haven't already heard, is my initials): he was a college friend of my dad's who is now very successful and owns a company called "Watson Enterprises" somewhere up north; second name (the "R"): another friend of my dad's from college who lives on top of a mountain which overlooks the Pacific Ocean (he is a highly successful photographer!); third name (the "T"): another friend of my dad's (just to let you know, I'm like a living billboard for these people that I'm named after) from highschool who is a surfer/climber down near Pismo Beach and who I saw this week when I was on vacation.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?

You're asking a male freshman the last time he cried? Come on, we never reveal that kind of info to anyone.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?

I do in no way whatsoever like my handwriting (which is probably why I'm addicted to writing everything on Microsoft Word). I can't even read it. My dad on the other hand, has the sweetest handwriting I have ever seen.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?

Turkey

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?

I have siblings...

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?

Yes. I mean, who wouldn't like me...

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?

Sarcasm? What's that? 

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?

Yes

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?

Sky dive, yes. Bungee jump, no. The idea of the jerk at the end doesn't sound good.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?

Frosted Flakes, though I rarely have it.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?

I rarely wear tennis shoes, but when I do, no way! It takes way too much time.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?

Strong in mind, heart, or body?

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?

The one that I get at Coldstone: cake batter with Butterfinger.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?

Their clothing, especially in modern day teenagers (you know, skulls and died, long hair and that stuff).

15. RED OR PINK?

Pink; I’ve always disliked red, especially when I’m the one who’s wearing it.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?

This list would go on forever eternally.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU?

Not really, no.

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?

My swimsuit (just finished waterpolo) and my absolute favorite shoes (they are made of this porous, self-repairing, comfortable, temperature maintaining, bacteria fighting material. I love them because they were given to me by God).

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?

Watermelon.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?

Well, I was listening to the Newsboys Go CD on the computer but it just finished, so right now I’m listening to the very quiet static in my headphones.

22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?

Okay, this is a weird question, but I'll go with it: black.

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?

Leather like the stuff on my Bible and our new couch, my current shampoo, clean sheets that have been washed with fabric softener.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?

My mom on my cell phone.

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?

She is one of my best friends, so, yes.

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?

Waterpolo.

27. HAIR COLOR?

As black as black can be (hey that sounds like a good song: to the tune of "I need thee every hour" "as black as black can be, it does not matter to me, I love it o-so much, I realize this song's bad, ow! okay, now I need a crutch.”)

28. EYE COLOR?

A very distinct blue.

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?

No.

30. FAVORITE FOOD?

A good hamburger with curly fries and rootbeer.

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?

Some scary movies HAVE happy endings. It does depend on my mood, but most of the time it is happy endings. (I liked Linds'  answer, seeing as Pirates fits into this).

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?

"Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" the #1 looniest/insanest/funniest/stupidest/pointless/hilarious movie I have ever seen (probably the only movie that I have seen that fits into all of those categories).

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?

Blue and white plaid.

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?

Sorry, don't have an answer for this one.

35. HUGS OR KISSES?

Physical? Hugs. Chocolate? don't know; I have braces on right now, so you'll to catch me in a year and a half do get my answer.

36. FAVORITE DESSERT?

Jack in the Box Oreo cookie milkshake, hands down.

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?

My cousin (who has commented twice on my blog) if he gets a blog or Ruach.

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?

I don't know.

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?

The Children of Hurin by J.R.R.Tolkein. This is the best book that I have ever read.

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?

My mousepad is a piece of paper J.

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT?

Nothing (I don't have TV).

42. FAVORITE SOUND?

Hans Zimmer’s music.

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?

The Beatles, thou I could care less.

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?

Connecticut.

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?

I can name a song from Pirates the minute that I hear it. Just kidding (although I can do that): I can make a weird whirring sound with my tongue.

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?

San Francisco, CA.

47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK?

If you can figure out who the guy was that my first name was named for, you can do this tag (leave your answer as a comment below. HINT: remember that my username is my initials). Otherwise, go ahead and do it.

48. WHAT TIME IS IT NOW?

8:36 a.m.

Tenna ento lye omenta*,

HRTF

*that’s elvish for “until we meet again”.

Today my mom asked me to record some books on CD for my three little sisters. This is what I've decided to blog about, seeing as it is a space-filler and it is a very nice thing to do. So...

Step 1: Grab your materials-

What you're gonna need is this: a microphone that can hook up to your computer, a book, a recording system (if you are using a PC, go to START, click ALL PROGRAMS, then ACCESSORIES, then ENTERTAINMENT, and then SOUND RECORDER. Careful, sound recorder only records for a minute at a time!), and a little sign that hangs on your door knob that says this: PLEASE DON'T COME IN! RECORDING IN PROCESS. Okay, onto step 2.

Step 2: Rewriting the book-

Okay, so when you're recording and you get to the end of a page, you flip the page and the whole turning sound gets recorded. How nice. We don't need that. What you have to do is this: write the whole story on your computer's writing program (I use Microsoft Word). This may take some time, but don't worry, it will benefit you in the end. Done? Good; move onto the next step.

Step 3: Recording-

It's a good idea to record in 45 second segments if you are using the recorder that was mentioned in step 1 (if you don't remember what I'm talking about, go back and re-read the step), but record every bit of the book before moving onto the next step. It's a good idea to practice reading before you record so that you don't sound fake. Alright, next step here we come!

Step 4: Putting it together-

I used Windows Movie Maker to put my audiobook together, but you can use whatever you want. You can insert recordings of you introducing your audiobook, or music, sounds, or pictures (if you want it to be a movie instead). Just do it! When you're sure that you're through, save it to your harddrive. Okay now, next-o step-o.

Step 5: last step-

Now all you have to do is burn your CD. To do this (when using a PC), just insert a blank audio CD into your CD drive, open your audiobook on Windows Media Player, and hit "Burn Disk". That's all there is to it.

I hope you've enjoyed today's lesson in Careforyoursiblingsology. See yah!

Until we meet again,

HRTF

Postscript: "hurtf" is how you pronouce my blog name.

I know that a lot of us have younger brothers and/or sisters that obviously like what little kids like: fire-engines, princesses, cowboys, pirates (who doesn’t?), dinosaurs, baking mud pies, Spiderman, police officers, and a lot of other things. I also can make a pretty good guess at one more thing: a lot of us have some/more than average/an unmanageable ton of spare time on our hands this summer. Also, I know that (hopefully) all of us love above mentioned brothers and sisters and wouldn’t mind doing something nice for them. So, combining these three together in an equation, we get this:

Younger brothers and sisters Spare time + love for bros and sis’                                                 You do something for your little siblings this summer

 

Okay, sure, this post could be a “Wee Wuns”, but, as you notice, it isn’t and that is because of one small detail: “Wee Wuns” are things that you can do with your little sibs, while this post is something that you do for them. Got it? Okay, good, let’s move on.

What to do for them? What to do… this may be what’s going through your head right now. Well, I don’t know about you, but what I did was write a story. Now, that doesn’t have to be what you do; I mean, you could make them/he/she a paper airplane, or you could make them something to play with, or you could make them a water balloon and then soak them with it. But I chose to write a story, which is a good gift to new readers in your house (to see my post on writing a story/book, follow this link).

Also, as a bonus, I have included the story that I wrote in PDF form, in case you want to read it. The story,