I’m so sorry I haven’t posted in over a week! It is getting so hot here that I just want to stay down in the basement where it is cool. The computer is here in the loft, and gets very hot…

     We didn’t have quizzing last Sunday, due to the church’s 20th Anniversary celebration. We had an early service at 3:00, and then had a potluck/picnic outside and played some volley ball. It was only my second time playing, but I enjoyed it. :) I wish I had more opportunities to play so I could be better at it…. oh well. :)
     Anyway, I had a great time!

     It has been **mostly** confirmed that we are going to be able to do Friday Quizzing, so I’ll be able to be on the national quiz team. (!!!!!) So far, I qualify for a scholarship, so that was extra incentive for Mom and Dad to go for the Friday Quizzing.
     I am hoping that we can do all of Friday School, most of which is music-related, and right now it sounds like a possibility.

     Dad has been getting home around five the last week, and then yesterday, too! I hope that he will continue to get off early so we can go to prayer meeting on Wednesday. :) Last week the church was having VBS, but they were having regular services, too, so we went. That was the first time I played volley ball. LOL. I only got to *try* serving the ball once, so I didn’t have time to figure it out. I actually did halfway decent on Sunday, though. :)

     Well, that’s about all I have to say for now. Ya’ll have a great day! In Christ,

alwaysgivinglory.wordpress.com

     Seth's Birthday went great! Except... he didn't want to eat the cone with his ice cream. Silly boy... the only dessert he'll eat all together is plain ol' ice cream. :)

The rest of us enjoyed them, anyway...

I took a lot of pictures, but this one was my favorite face:

Isn't that great?!

Happy Birthday Seth!!!

alwaysgivinglory.wordpress.com

     The fireworks were pretty cool last night, but I didn't get any really extra-spectacular pictures. They all turned out rather blurry, so I won't bother posting them. :)
     We took one of our neighbors with us again this year. I must admit that I don't like him. I really wish that I could love everybody like some people do. I feel so wretched every time I catch myself thinking about him, but I just can't seem to think of him as a nice guy. He will be moving to Pennsylvania in less than a month with his elderly mother (who will be missed!), so he was glad that he 'got to see Colorado fireworks for the last time.'

     Well, that was all we did for the 4th...lol. We had been hoping that we would be able to go up to Steamboat Springs for the weekend, but that didn't work out. **sigh** Maybe next month....

     Seth's birthday is tomorrow! He will be four. We were trying to decide what to do for birthday dessert, because when we have cake, he eats the frosting and doesn't want the cake. When we have brownie sundaes (sp?) he eats all the ice cream and doesn't want the brownie. He doesn't like chocolate mousse (***he is NOT my brother***), so, as you see, either he picks it all apart, or doesn't like it (how could anyone not like chocolate mousse??)
     So, Mom asked him what he wanted for birthday dessert, and he says, 'Ice cream cones.' Lol... so, we don't eat sugar. We have found one **very expensive** brand of ice cream without sugar, but we had never found cones without sugar. But then.... we'd never looked. :) Anyway, Mom found some, so we are going to have ice cream cones tomorrow for the first time in 8(?) years. :D

alwaysgivinglory.wordpress.com

     I have not been very faithful at all with keeping my blog going... I apologize for not posting or commenting on ya'll for the past several weeks - I will try to do better in the future. I am going to try to get back into the habit of posting twice a week - once on Monday, and then on Thursday or Friday.

     Bible Quizzing is going really well. I'm currently the #1 quizzer, but I don't expect that to last for long, even if I want it too. :) 
     We are divided into six teams, and we have three teams competing against eachother in two rooms. Three of the teams have been neck-in-neck as far as scores go, although the three-way tie was broken, and I think that we're just one point apart from eachother. Anyway, next week, all three of us are scheduled to be in the same room. That is going to be interesting. And a lot of fun!! I hope my team wins.... lol.... everybody wants their team to win.

     I am officially done with science! I was supposed to be officially done about two months ago, but hey, at least I'm done. LOL. After all, Mom did say that it's better to go through it slowly and get good grades than to whiz through it and flunk. :)
     Now I just have a paper to write. Umm.... could I actually have more science instead? Lol... writing isn't my favorite.

     The reading program.... I have read a whole book and a half this summer!! Hehe... four and a half to go...
     I'm currently reading Do Hard Things, written by Alex and Brett Harris. But then you already knew that...lol. Anyway... about the book: it's great. Very challenging. If you think about it, the title itself is challenging. But when you read the book, it becomes ten times as challenging. I would encourage everybody to read it - if you let it, it will change your life.
     Hard thing #1for me: Let it change my life.

     Here is a more recent update on Rachael Kligmann copy/pasted from here:

Still waiting for MRI results.

Rachael moved her thumb in response to my asking her to squeeze my hand and then lifted a finger when I asked her to. Then I touched her left leg and asked her to move it and she did. The nruse witnessed the leg part. I let her rest for a few minutes and then asked her to lift her hand off of mine, which she did.

And YET...the nurse would not tell us anything about the MRI, the drs want to meet with us and anre conferring so I think they are going to tell us bad news about it.

And YET...if you don't look inside a closed box does it change what is inside it?

This is by far the worst rollercoaster ride we have ever been on. I think next time we should just go back to Disneyland.

Pete and I are wearing down fast. Jodi (our pastor's wife) promised us that this is the hardest thing we will ever have to do.

As soon as they tell us that she is likely to live through the night we can at least go home and sleep for a few hours and begin trying to figure out what our lives will look like from here, but she is still in critical condition.

It just keeps getting harder in lots of ways. But she is still alive.

     Keep praying for her! And her family - this is a very big trial for them. Most people would probably turn their backs on God, but they are staying faithful!

Ya'll have a fantastic day!! In Christ,

alwaysgivinglory.wordpress.com

     I really don’t know how many people are still reading my blog, but I had to post about this anyway. I copy/pasted this from here.

Rachael was riding her bike with her sister, Amanda, on Wednesday evening. As they came around the corner in the neighborhood a car hit her on her bike. We feel it was an accident. The residential intersection had a blocked view. Rachael didn’t hit her head but has a severe brain injury. The doctors described it as similar to shaken baby syndrome. Her brain has injuries throughout her brain stem and thalamus. The doctors are working on keeping her brain pressures stable and have put both a pressure monitor and a drain tube to keep her cerebral spinal fluid draining. It was helpful to reduce her pressures early this morning. This afternoon she was able to move both sides of her body. Her left side is less than her right. Her left eye shows more damage, which they don’t know if it’s due to brain or ocular nerve damage. She still is in a life-threatening condition but things are a bit better today than last night.

     I don’t know when this specific paragraph was last updated, but they are keeping up with the ‘journal’ thing-ga-moe here. Please pray for them!!!

alwaysgivinglory.wordpress.com

     I'm so sorry I haven't posted... lol. There. I said it. Even though it was a lie. :P It has been getting very hot here, and we don't have a/c, so I've been spending my time in the basement. However, the computer is in the hotter area of the house, hence, no posts.

     I asked ya'll to pray about Dad's job, so I suppose I ought to give you an update on that. :) Today was actually supposed to be his last day, but that didn't happen. They're now saying another week. The job was supposed to be done in May! Needless to say, we're getting a little impatient. But we're also glad that he has a job.
     We were hoping that he would have next week off so we could go somewhere. We haven't been on a family vacation in over four years, so yeah... that would be nice. But he doesn't get any paid vacation, so he has to be out of work. But when he's out of work, we don't have enough money to do anything like that. So, when we have the money, we don't have the time, and when we have the time, we don't have the money. That's the story from the past four years.
     Anyway, we thought we could go somewhere for the 4th next week 'cause he was supposed to be done today, and they have another job for him starting whenever he's ready to start. So, we could spend the money to go because it's not like we would be in desperate need of it later. So frustrating.....
     Anyway, that is a praise that he has another job as soon as this one ends. :)

     So... I was 'done' with school about two months ago, but I'm finally finishing. Lol... I'm hoping to be done with last year's schoolwork before next year starts. Do ya'll know what mean? Lol...
     I was supposed to take a science test before I went to camp. Well... two weeks after camp, I decided that I better read through the whole section again before I took the test so I wouldn't flop it. I got an A. :) Not unusual for science...
     So, I have one more science module and a paper to write, so I'm almost done. :D

     Well, I believe that's all the news right now. Have a great week (or month... depending on when I post next...lol).

alwaysgivinglory.wordpress.com

   How many times will I find myself staring at a blank page with so much to say, but having no words to write? I have so many things to blog about right now, I’m almost so overwhelmed that I can’t write at all… but I shall atempt to pull myself together and write something sensible. :)

   Bible Quizzing has been going alright, but chapter four is seeming very difficult for me. I don’t know why… I guess I’m just not good at memorizing parables. Lol… I hope that’s not the case, ’cause there’s gonna be several more! We were supposed to quiz on chapter four last week, but didn’t. I’m not sure what happened there.
   My whole team has been showing up, so that’s great. :) Tori and I are the only ones scoring points, though… lol.
   Mom and Dad said that if we’re going to do Sunday Night Quizzing, that they want us to do Friday Quizzing, too. :D I’m really hoping that we can get started with it, ’cause they also said that if we can’t do Friday Quizzing, we can’t do Sunday Quizzing, either. **crosses fingers**

   Dad’s job is supposed to end the last week of June or the first week of July, so that presents a whole other problem. With no income, we won’t be able to afford the gas to go to Friday Quizzing.
   I have so many thoughts about his job ending…
   If he gets another decent-paying job, I’ll finally get violin lessons, which I’ve wanted for several years now. We will most likely be able to do Friday Quizzing, and if the hours are convenient, we’ll be able to go to prayer meeting on Wednesdays.
   If he’s without work… we’ll have to go back to dial-up internet. LOL. I’m soo selfish… but that was the first thought I had.
   So, prayers would be appreciated that he would have a week or two off, and then another job, idealy with the same company. If you want any more details… just ask. :)

   Saturday we have a church BBQ, more specifically, Mom and Dad’s Sunday School class is having a BBQ. (My little brother call’s it ‘Barbie Cube’….lol! Random thing that I thought ya’ll would enjoy…) I’m still not sure who all is in their class, but I hope to find that out. :)

   On a totally different note, I have been trying to re-arange my schedule. :) After school was out, I started staying up way late, and hence, sleeping in way late. So, I am now rolling myself out of bed at 6:20 (actually, probably several minutes after my alarm goes off…). During school I would get up before six, but I don’t think I really want to do that….lol. Anyway, I’m now getting my devotions done in the morning, which I find to be very beneficial.
   I started reading a book called, ‘The Pursuit of Holiness’ by Jerry Bridges. It’s been very good, and has stepped on my toes. I’m not big on reading at all, but this one looked good, so I bought it. :) And since I spent so much money on it, I have to read it. LOL.

   Which brings me to the subject of the library’s summer reading program. I have to read six whole books this summer. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO??? I suppose I shall have to make myself sit down and read something. Grrr. Who wants to read something when there are so many other thing you could be doing that don’t require so much concentration?!? Hehe… when I took my CAT test this year I was sure I flunked the Reading Comprehension section, but I actually didn’t! You see…. at the end of almost every line, my mind just keeps going off the line, and into some other random subject———- I have very bad lack of consentration. Which is another reason I should make it a habit to torture myself with at least ten minutes of reading a day. Enough on this subject… I’m getting bored just thinking about it.

   So, I feel like I have accomplished very little in typing this all up, but hopefully it amused someone….lol. Ya’ll have a great day, and if anybody wants any dandelions, my yard has plenty - come help yourself. :P

alwaysgivinglory.wordpress.com