I'm glad last week is over. I'm a little discouraged about my English class; the essay I posted here a couple days ago only got half credit because the teacher said it couldn't be demonstrated. I thought it could, but I don't know how to say so without sounding rude; I already tried once, and I hate to try again.

      So I guess it is back to boring essays. The one I wrote for last week was rotton- I don't think I made any mistakes, but you would fall asleep reading it. I'm still trying to get up the nerve to write another interesting one.

     I have to go, but I will be back. At some point, that is. Fare thee well.

     I read Beowulf yesterday.  It was pretty good, if you look at it the right way. I can see why it is a classic, and it was neat to read the poem format and the regular Old English words. I got it out from a library, and it has the translation on one side of the page and the old translation on the other. It was pretty neat.

     There was an Eomer in it, which surprised me; I didn't know that before. I can tell from the style of it that Tolkein was influenced by it, the rhythm and the names, etc.

     It was a little wierd though; Beowulf talks about a swimming contest he had with a friend where they both went swimming in the ocean and were swimming for about a week... during storms... and on top of that, they wore armour, too! Beowulf carried a sword to fight the sea-monsters (he killed nine during the swim). There were quite a few places where you read it and just have to be thinking, "Um, no."

     Like when Beowulf declared that he would fight the monster Grendel without a sword or armour because Grendel didn't have any. That one was an "UM, NO!"

     All in all it wasn't too bad. I had expected a really long and boring read, but it was alright. It kept my interest pretty good, but it did take me probably at least two hours to read it.

     Not too much else going on; anything new?

     Fare thee well.

    This is the assignment I turned in last week for English class; i thought it was worth posting. If it wasn't for the word requirement I would have made it longer.

  Managing a Group while Making Pizza

     There is a large difference in managing the making of pizza and the actual making of pizza, though very few people realize it. This post is not how to make pizza, but how to manage the group doing the making of the pizza.

     My sample helpers will be my six younger siblings: Half, three years old; First, eight years old; Second, nine; Third, eleven; Fourth, thirteen; and Fifth, fourteen.

      Half is for the most part, an observer- hence the “half” helper status.

     The first division is Assembling the Ingredients. The five kids at your disposal should be distributed wisely to the various places where the ingredients are located. The key is to place the correct individual in the correct place for a mutually beneficial result. A typical program is as follows:

     Send First down to the freezer in the basement for the cheese. Aside from completing the useful task of bringing you the cheese, this will keep her out of the way for at least five minutes.

     The next oldest can get out cookie sheet for the pizzas, frying pans for the sausage, and a cheese grater. This move is strategic because Second has a temper that can be depended on to tear the cupboards apart looking, if need be.

      Send First back into the basement to return the Munster cheese and get the Mozzarella.

      Fourth can be trusted, and should be engaged in searching the fridge for the pepperoni.

      Assign Third to get the Mozzarella when First comes back with Cheddar. Redeploy First to the cupboards to locate mushrooms and spaghetti sauce.

     Send Fifth to the basement to find the mozzarella and to return Third’s contribution of Monterey Jack.

     When Fifth returns and all ingredients are collected, continue on to the second section: Preparing the Ingredients.

     Remove Half’s hands from the pepperoni. Give the most intimidating sister, probably Fourth, the cutting board and the knife. Remove Half’s hands from the pepperoni stick again, and give it to Fourth, with the instructions to cut it all, cut it thin, and don’t fire until she sees the whites of their eyes.

     Remove Half’s hands from the raw sausage, wash them, and give the bowl to Third, with instructions to fry and not to sell for any price.

     First may open all the spaghetti sauce jars, and Second the jar of mushrooms, while Fifth is engaged in making bids to Third for the sausage.  

     Second division complete, the third division is the Combining the Ingredients.

     Once the dough is spread onto the sheets, have Fourth dump about half a jar of sauce onto each crust, and both First and Second may spread it with spatulas.

     Remove Half’s hands from the cheese, and give the package to Fifth to distribute evenly over all pizzas.

     Third should be exiled away from the sausage as soon as it is cooked through, and can be busied in figuring out how to preheat the oven since he was the one who accidently washed all the temperature settings from the dial.

     Once the cheese and the sauce are adequately spread, send everyone from First to Fifth in search of the pepperoni and the sausage, since Fourth suddenly forgot where she hid them.

     When Half is eventually found eating them and the leftover cheese in the closet, scold firmly, laugh behind hand, and roll eyes when Fourth remembers hiding them in the dishwasher.

      Give directions accompanied by threats to Half, First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth to dole out the meats over the entire pizzas. Stand over crowd with sharp eyes and a wooden spoon until the pizzas are sufficiently covered.

      Apportion leftover sausage and pepperoni equally to all.

     Put pizzas in the oven yourself, and play It Is Finished on the stereo while cleaning up.

     Whups, I guess I haven't been on in quite a while. I really have to do something about that.

      That being said, what do you all think about the election? I personally am a bit disgusted so far; I am glad Obama is beating Hillary for the Democrat nomination, but would somebody like to explain why Huckabee won Louisiana but McCain got the delegates?

      Yup, I'm still rooting for Huckabee. He probably ain't nowhere near perfect, but he beats McCain hollow. His quote (warning: I tend to ferget the exact wording)"I didn't major in math, I majored in miracles. And I still believe in those too."

     It irks me that a lot of Christians don't get out to the polls. I am afraid for America- with all the warped "justice" and the ACLU (formally known as the American Civil Liberties Union, aka (to me)  Against Christian Liberties Union) firing off lawsuits everywhere against "Under God" in the pledge of allegiance and everything else, I am afraid for America.

     Maybe I ought to change my theme to whats wrong with the government :-)

     Fare thee well.

Sorry I haven't been on in so long, everyone! I accidently deleted the last two post (long ones, too) by mistake, and if I delete this one as well I shall be very, very,cross.

     My little sister had a birthday party recently. She turned eight, and had the kids from her Sunday school class over. Oooooooh my goodness, those kids were full of energy. They played games and had cupcakes and played again. It was very fast-moving. Once they were playing a game where someone was "it" and they sent a girl out of the room while they set up, and then decided not to play that game anymore. "It" was not indignant when five minutes later someone finally remembered to tell her.

     We also have the hockey rink set up at last! Every year we hose down the snow in the backyard and make an ice-skating rink, and this year's is finally up and running. The best time to play hockey is after dark, when the moon is out and the christmas lights, which we leave up, are on.

     Not much else going on at the moment, so I will be back in the near future-possibly. If I don't keep deleting these.

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT-I DID IT AGAIN!!! ARGGGG!!!!! This time, I really GIVE UP!

No I don't-I'll lick this thing yet!

But not tonight.

I wrote a whole long post and hit the back button by mistake. I give up.

Almost.

     No, I did not write a title.

     REason: I can't think of one.

     NO, I do not really have a topic for this entry.

     Reason: I can't think of one.

     NO, I do not have a theme for this blog.

     REason: I can't think of one.

     NO, I do not type here regularly.

     Reason: I can't think of an entry regularly.

     NO, I can't get the stupid shift key working.

     REason: Sorry, I just felt like saying that. Otherwise I would have fixed the errors.

    But to get back to the point, I think I found my problem concerning why-I-cringe-thinking-about-writing-here-again.

     Reason: I can't think of anything to say. (bet you didn't see that one coming)

     And I think I found a temporary solution.

     Solution: Write anyway.

     Wish me luck and hope I don't just talk about nothing every time I get on here. At times blogging, I basically talk to myself, like now. I just start talking about nothing... and it eventually becomes something... Although I admit not even I know exactly what I am saying, I just keep on saying it and saying it until the something has been wore to pieces, and you all are about ready to come after me with ducktape, but I for some reaason just keep talking and talking and talking on the same subject, and I can really keep going on the same track for literally hours. See, if you look at it in the right angles, it changes shape and you find something really interesting at times, but mostly you just start with nothing and out of the ashes of nonsense comes an idea that grows and grows and grows but then suddenly dies because you realize you have talked all there is out of it and it collapses on itself, and you start picking up the pieces, wondering what happened, and you keep talking, confusedlike, and then as you start to realize what happened you elaborate on that-

     Okay, that idea suddenly died, not because I ran out of material, but because I forgot what I was thinking.

     But would you look at that, out of one little idea I have a post!

     *Okay seriously, people, I am not crazy. It is just that, on occasion, I... am?*

I feel really guilty about this.. After saying how I can never think of anything to say, I am posting twice in a single day after weeks of absence... I bet none of you believe me :-) But this was so funny I had to write it down somewhere.

     Tonight most of the family was watching The Cathedrals on the gaither.com website. For anyone who doesn't know what I am talking about, the Cathedrals was one of the greatest southern-gospel quartets of all time, and we love anything southern-gospel or quartets.

     Guy Penrod was up there as a guest singing Haven of Rest, and he comes to the line, "my fetters fell off..."

     My little brother Jonathan (9), a little suspicious that he was being taken in, but not about to pass up a good joke, said amusedly, "I didn't know he had feathers."

     Sorry,  but that just strikes me as funny. Okay, I'm going now. God Bless, ya'll,

                          Christina

     About keeping my blog, I have decided...(drumroll)...

     That I won't decide yet. I love saying things like that :-)

     Seriously though, the reason I am not sure is I don't know what my reason is. I don't know if you saw that "blogging with a purpose" award floating around a while back, but that made me realize that my blog really doesn't have a purpose... and hence me not knowing what to say. If I had a reason for blogging [to insert a comma or not to insert a comma: don't you hate those questions?] I think that things would sort themselves [by the way, ignore these bracket things] out mostly [my version of talking to myself while on computer]on their own, so therefore [and besides, it is rather fun to go completely off the subject once in a while] I will think most deeply and ponder most studiously the question [I confess that the thought of these brackets annoying you does make me laugh] of what purpose I should take. [See?]

     Or if I should drop it. We shall see what we shall see, and by the way Merry almost Christmas! I would continue further in this Christmas theme, but if I do I fear that I will run out of things to say later when it is closer to Christmas, and there is only so much plagarism and repeating yourself that you can get away with.

     So I won't be talking about Christmas today.

     At all.

     ...

     Oh forget it, yes I will.

     Today I was helping my three year old brother, Kevin, make a Christmas present up in my room. First, I asked him who he wanted to make a present for, and he named everyone in the house. Okay, um, one step at a time... then, I got him to narrow it down to one person for that day at least, and asked him what he wanted to make. Leaning in close he whispered confidentially, "Christmas present." Uh, yes, I had guessed that.

     When I had suggested enough things he picked, and painstakingly we eventually had it (nearly) complete, and I could tell he needed to take a break before he got frustrated with the time it was taking. So we got the wrapping paper and scissors and tape ready, and excitement mounting, he wanted to wrap it right away.

     "Kevin, it isn't done!" I said, trying to persuade him otherwise. Thoughtfully he regarded it, and laid it back down. Then, bright paper still beckoning, he hopefully lifted two dirty socks out of the clothes basket.

     "We could wrap these...?"

     He was serious, and I had a hard time keeping a straight face as I convinced him that that might not be a good idea.

     Kevin is fun.

     On another note, please pray for Jen (Lyric,  friends list on my sidebar) and her family and county. They had a flood-her blog can explain it much better than I could.

    God Bless,

                    Christina

     Sorry I haven't been on in a while; I'm thinking of dropping this blog. I don't know for sure yet, though. It just seems like I never get a chance to write anything, and when I do... well, I don't know what to write.

       A problem which is confronting me again at the moment. Now what do I say? Umm... Switch to Geico and save on your car insurance?

     Okay, seriously, I will be back...sometime...I think...If I can think of anything to say...

     This has been a pretty busy week. Aside from getting back from Kentucky on Monday, on Wednesday I had to give a Powerpoint presentation for class, which went-I think, anyway- okay. I'm glad to have it over with.

     Thursday I raked all day, almost literally all day, at the camp where Stephen and I work. Yes, I have blisters. Yes, my arms hurt. Yes, it actually was a lot of fun. No, I did not go back the next day. Yes, Stephen did.

     Yesterday we got halters for the cows, finally now that they are about 9 months old. That was interesting. We went down to the field with grain and hay, and I went for Isabel first, because she is the wilder one. She was eating hay and I leaned over quick and got the noseband over her muzzle just as she tried to pull away. When she realized what I was doing she tried to bolt, and she was twirling around while I had my arm wrapped around her neck, holding on for dear life... We ended up at least forty feet from where we started, while Dad and Jesse (younger brother) watched and laughed at both of us.

     Ferdinand, while he did a bit of hauling the two of us around, was a piece of cake compared to Isabel. And his halter stayed on.

     Isabel, whose intelligence I cannot fathom, left the grain and went for the plastic bag that we had brought the halters down in. There was no way we could get to it before her, and while I inwardly wondered how even a cow could be so dumb, we tried to catch her before she swallowed it and suffocated.

     The long and short of it is that we grabbed her halter, and she backed up so violently that it ripped off of her head. Promptly bolting, she kept us going for another five minutes and then, when she was good and ready, she spat out the bag.

     Sometimes cows really annoy me. Have we gone over that?

      I'm back again.

      I came in third, which is not great, but is alright. The team came in third also, so I have matching yellow ribbons. 

     I was some disappointed, but third is still not too bad for Nationals. I did really good at States this year, so that makes up for it some.

     I rode a mechanical bull for the first time! It is a lot harder than it looks; I was on for maybe a minute or a little less. When you eventually fall off and stand up again, it feels really wierd.

     I got home Monday, and that night the dogs celebrated by getting sprayed by a skunk.

     Yup, I know I haven't been on in forever, but I have a really big National contest this week. I have to study an awful lot for it, so I probably won't be on again for a bit longer... Like maybe next week sometime.

     And yes, I am nervous.

     Or rather, I'm scared stiff.

     Goodbye until next time,

                               Christina

     Hullo, and I really didn't mean to wait this long before I wrote another entry. When I said the two weeks thing last time, I was only joking, but it came awfully close to the mark-Whups.

     We have a mouse or two or several hundred again. Every so often we get a few in the house-mostly in my room- and occasionally in the downstairs also. At the present we have both.

     The upstairs mouse is very quiet and never does anything unexpected, mostly because we have come to expect that it will wake us up every night at one in the morning chewing on soft things like sheet metal and pop-gun caps. Not really, but I don't know how that thing can make so much noise chewing on ordinary...I don't know, wood? sheetrock? dusty and forgotton peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches under our beds?

     Whatever it is, it crunches and crackles at an incredible volume level.

     The downstairs mouse we have seen once and once only, heard once and once only, and known for definite sure, if that is a true phrase which I doubt, that it was there once and once only. Probably because we scared it out of it's wits (once and probably unknowingly more than once only).

      Most of us were in the living room, and Mom was down the hall in the sewing room a few nights ago, doing what else but sewing (unless she was reading, I can't remember ;-). We heard her call (not yell...) that there was a mouse in there. When we got there she pointed to the step and said it had skittered across the floor behind the bookshelf. Nothing much was going on and the boys were on hand, we attempted (keyword there, attempt) to get the mouse.

     It was pretty funny. About two or three of the five boys had tall hard plastic sewing machine covers ready for when it emerged, and Dad had the cover to the wok (a type of chinese frying pan cooker thing). They moved the shelf, and (drumroll)...

     Everyone yells "There it is!" and everyone dives, everyone misses, mouse scoots under the table, everyone starts clearing clearing out the bags or fabric etc. from under the table, Anne and Kevin cheering them on from their strategic position on the wicker couch. Dogs are attracted by the noise and stare at us from the living room door like we are nuts, Mom suddenly gasps, "Was there something by my foot?" I yell as the mouse flashes past and I think better of grabbing with my bare hand for it (I was seriously considering), everyone else yells and comes over to this side of the sewing room as mouse again slides under the bookshelf.

     Half time. Everyone breathes. Dogs raise invisible eyebrows at each other.

     Shelf is again pulled a little further from the wall, mouse emerges, everyone again yells for Jesse (closest) to get it, Jesse doesn't see it in time, tries, misses, mouse scampers underneath the table, everyone again starts tearing the room apart, dogs move in so as not to miss any of the show, flashlight is brought in, and after a long and unfruitful search we call off attack, mouse wins round one.

     As of yet, round two has not begun. Mouse story of the day is complete.

     We also picked grapes (we meaning the boys...and not me) on Saterday and Jennifer made grape juice last night. Jennifer cans grape jam and juice every year, and it tastes nothing like store stuff. Homedone grapes are the best.

      While Mom read during school this morning, Jesse was industriously picking the grapes from the stem-things and sorting out the good ones from the bad, putting them in our multi-purpose wok. He had a good pile by the time Mom was two-thirds of the way through.

      Unfortunately during a break Jonathan didn't see the wok on the floor, stepped on the handle and it promptly flipped over. Jesse, not noticing the grapes on the flor while Jon was picking them up and putting them back in, stepped on a few and squashed them. These Jonathan, showing great presence of mind, did not replace in the wok.

     There still is a good pile in there, but we need a volunteer to rinse off all the dog hairs.

     So how was your week? God Bless,

                                                   Christina

     Yup, I know I haven't been on in a while. Why? Good question. I'll think about it and tell you in another two weeks.

     Yesterday we were cleaning out our junkyard (aka barn). We have never used this one for anything much, except chickens a long time ago when we were dumb enough to get some, mainly because it was full of junk even when we got it.

     We have stuff in there like a cider press, tons of old glass bottles, our hockey goals (okay, I admit not all of it was there when we came...) old newspapers, dead rodents(I actually found a skeleton of a rat with the skin like paper still on it), old books, broken chairs (have we discussed chairs?), and mainly junk.

      And our Nature Museum. I can't remember if it was me or Jonathan who cooked that one up originally, but the two of us started up a collection in a cupboard in the barn with a window, not belonging to it but fitting exactly over the front.

      So far we have a deer skull, a snake skin, a turtle shell, a real paper wasps's (wasp's? waspses's?..) nest, some kind of a heron's skull, a bunch of different types of bird's nests, feathers, random unidentified bones, honeycomb-type wasps's (hang on, I think it is wasp's)nest, that sort of thing.

      Oh, and one chicken bone that Anne contributed.

     One of the larger bones in the museum, has to be a good sixteen inches long and maybe two in diameter at the middle and probably four at each end. Stephen found it on a walk and brought it home. We didn't know what it was from, and he threw it into the fork of a tree in the front yard, where it stayed for two years. Company asked about it once in a while...

      We put in hay about a week ago, about 200+ bales. we've only put in about a hundred at a time other years, but now that we have the cows we got some more. The last few bales Michael and I pulled up into the loft with a hook on a line. The only method that  worked really good was for me to wind my hand around the line and basically turn around and run. Just before the bale would hit the ledge, Michael jerked as hard as he could and it would bounce up over the sill of the window-thing.

     Sometimes the bale would lurch so high when he yanked the rope that it would fly up to at least shoulder height. Once this caught me off guard. I was pulling as hard as I could, and when the rope suddenly went slack I lost my balance and landed sitting down against the haystack.

     Michael of course thought it was hilarious. Lucky for him I did also, to a lesser extent.

     You may or may not have read my entry from a while ago concerning our cows. Well, my affection for those particular cows have since then dropped once more.

     During school a few days ago, we got a call from a neighbor, who told us that there were two cows in the field behind the fire department.

     Thank goodness for brothers.

     We never had a doubt that it was us; it had to be. Immediatly Stephen and Michael dashed out the door and ran into the woods (the fire barn is about a mile and a half or so up the road), while I stuffed every carrot we had in the fridge into my pockets, and younger brother Jesse and I went for lead ropes.

     We found them in the woods behind the fields. I was able to get a hold of not-too-bright-Ferdinand with the carrots, and then showing a brilliant talent for cowboy work, Stephen caught ornery Isabel (hey, I like that; it fits her) with the tail end of the lead rope while holding Ferdinand with the correct end.

     "Worked a sumer on a dude ranch." he said casually.

     Ha ha, very funny. Still, I'm glad he caught her.

     By the next morning the electric fence was fixed, and our cows who had not been in the barn all summer needed to be brought down again.

     Them thins need to learn how to lead.

      I alternately braced myself back while they surged ahead, and then literally leaned  forwards almost on a forty-five degree angle straining with all my might while they lagged, heads down and eating grass. Fortunately they are too dumb to realize they could outstay me in a test of who-refuses-to-give, and eventually move their heavy feet along again.

     I like horses.

     Enough of cows.

     My older sister told me this.

     There were two brothers. The older one was going on a trip, and he asked his younger brother to take care of his cat for him while he was gone. The younger brother agreed.

     While on his trip he called back to say everything was going good. At the end of the call, he said, "By the way, how's my cat?"

     The younger brother replied, "Your cat is dead." and hung up.

     At first the older brother was really sad, and then he grew angry at his brother for being so unfeeling. He called back and when the younger brother picked up, said, "I can't believe you could be so insensitive about my cat."

     Surprised, the younger brother asked, "What should I have said?"

     The older brother replied thoughtfully, "Well, you should have said, 'Your cat is playing on the roof.' Then on the next day you should have said, 'Uh, your cat fell off the roof.' Then on the third day, you say 'Your cat broke it's leg.' Then when I came to pick up the cat you tell me, it died in the night."

     The younger brother made the proper apologies.

     Satisfied, just before he hung up the older brother asked, "By the way, how's Mom?"

     Long pause.

     "She's playing on the roof."

     I thought that was pretty funny. Have a good week!

     For the past few years I have been doing Horse 4-h with my older sister, Megan. Last year, Megan qualified to go to Nationals for Horsebowl. Horsebowl, simply defined, consists of two teams with buzzers, about seen rounds of horse questions, and one person to read the questions. You have to buzz in before everyone else and answer it correctly.

     Well, to make a long story short, MY big sister won the national competition.

     This year I qualified.

     Help...me...

     I really, really, really, want to do good in this competition (it comes up in November).

     Hence, I have print-out diagrams of horse skeletons, structures of the hoof, an eyeball, life cycles of parasites, etc. taped on the ceiling above my bed, where when I wake up in the morning I have no choice except to study.

     Ah, but one could look at the wall at the foot of the bed, correct?

     I have written in marker on slips of paper the eruption date of every tooth in the horses mouth, a list of the names of each section of the intestines, various technical terms (like Stenosis, Cervical Vertabral Malformation, Cyanosis, Enteritis, Pyoderma, Cellulitis...) and random other facts. It does work though; I know what each of those terms listed above mean (YES!), and I am learning, by hook or crook, which bone is which, and where exactly within a horse's head the gutteral pouch is located, and, oh, did I mention I have a diagram with the major veins and arteries mapped out on it?

     Whatever works, I guess :-)

     Yesterday I got up later than usual-everyone else was about to start school, and Mom asked, "Were you asleep all this time?"

     "No," I answered without thinking, "I was staring at the wall."

     Okay. I think it is about time this topic to come up.I mentioned-more than once, I believe- that I like the Lord of the Rings.

     Yup.

     I also mentioned I didn't like Arwen very much.

     Yup again.

     MY POSITION CONCERING THE LORD OF THE RINGS:

     Great books, adequate movies.

     I really, really liked the books. I read them first about two years ago, and watched the movies about the same time, but a little after I finished reading the trilogy. The movies were okay; I do like them a real lot also, but I was a little disappointed with them.

     Okay, maybe not so little. After watching the movies, I wrote a thirty-page paper on what was wrong with them.

     I like movies to stay true to the books they were based on, but here and there the Lord of the Rings really goes haywire. Especially with Arwen. Every scene (for once I do not exaggerate when I say every) with her in it was not in the actual book part of the book. Awen annoys me a good deal for that reason.

     Aside from the differences between the books and the movies, there is a lot of unneccesary stuff that we fastforward that waren't in the books. And Faramir! Faramir was rotten in the Two Towers.

     Savvy?

     I do like the movies too, though. We watch them together, Mom and Dad and most of the older kids. They are a lot of fun.

     Probably we would really annoy someone else, because through the major part of the movies we (us kids) keep saying something and anything that comes to mind. Jokes, that is. Yes, it does make the movie less epic and reduces it to a comedy, but we laugh so hard... it really is pretty funny. 

     Soft music in Lorien. Barefoot in a white dress, Galadriel, elven queen of the wood silently walks past... and quietly Michael squeals in a high voice, "Ouch! a thorn!"

     Helm's Deep is preparing for attack, and hordes of orcs from Isengaard are advancing on the city, column after column of ominous feet treading the ground in unison... and Jesse starts humming the marching song of the elephants from Disney's animated, The Jungle Book.

     Holding the lead rope of the stallion, Aragorn doesn't see Eowyn walking up. "His name is Brego." she tells him... Michael says fast, "This is Brego, Viggo."

     Tears in her eyes, Eowyn stands facing Aragorn as he tells her, "It is but a shadow that you love."... Under their breath, somone adds, "And besides, I can't stand your soup."

     Just crowned king in Minas Tirth, Aragorn turns to see Arwen. Holding a banner, she slowly moves her face from behind it and looks up into his eyes... (my crowning moment)I whisper, "Peekaboo."

     It doesn't sound very funny(to rephrase, it sounds awfully dumb)  in writing, but when you are there, watching the some tradgedy or solemn moment unfold and someone throws in something like that, it strikes you as funny. Really funny. Like everyone-laughs-so-hard-we-pause-the-movie-so-we-can-finish-laughing-in-peace-funny. Peekaboo was one of those; I can't remember the others, but they were real fruitcakes.

     Seems I got off the subject a bit. Anyhow, I like the Lord of the Rings.

     (Is that a lousy wrap-up or what? Oh well. Have a good day.)

                                          -Christina

     Today is Tuesday, September 11, 2007.

     This very Tuesday, six years ago...

      I don't remember much about it. Dad came home from work early; we don't have (working) television, and I overheard a little when he told Mom what happened. I only caught a few sketchy words here and there... two planes... Trade Center... crashed...killed... And I remember Mom gasping.

      "That's terrible."

     At the time I was too young to understand it. My journal entry the next day talks about our everyday schoolwork and going to the library.

     A few days ago we were watching the God Bless America Gaither DVD, and one song showed clips of new york city from that day, while in the background they sang.

     "Carry us on, Holy Father, Carry us on, through your son. Give us the strength to belong when our strength is gone, Holy Father, Carry us on. "

      One clip was a group of firefighters praying.

     Little Anne, only seven years old herself, asked what was happening on the clips. How do you explain something like terrorists whose goal in life is death? Gently Jennifer tried to tell her how it happened. Anne, a year younger than I was on that Tuesday, didn't get it either. Immediatly after Jennifer finished, she asked,

     "Why?"

     Why did it happen? I don't know doesn't seem quite sufficient, does it? This isn't something we are reading in a history book. It happened here, in safe America. People died.

     "Carry us on"? What kind of a song is that to be playing? What about WHY? Where were you, God? Weren't you watching? You promised to be there for us!

     Isaiah 41:10

     "Do not fear, for I am with you;

     Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.

      I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,

      Surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

      God didn't tell us-or at least not me, specifically, why it happened. But doesn't he promise right there that he has got us where we can never be harmed? Not a sparrow falls that he doesn't notice. Think for a moment on that. He actually sees everything, even down to the littlest, least important birds, and knows when each one falls.

     If he watches them, don't you think he is keeping watch over us too? Right up there, Isaiah, it says he holds us in his hand. Absolutely nothing can harm us unless he allows it to; and in another book, another place, he also tells us that all things work together for the good. No matter how Satan tries to harm us, God only lets him "score" when he knows it will only work against the devil anyhow.

      It is only when we allow him to score, by letting the anger against God grow inside of us for things we don't understand, that it truly hurts us.

     There will be more tragedies. In this lifetime, we probably will never fully understand them. We cry out, and feel we hear nothing in return. We may think we can't do it, we can't keep going.

     Why? Why did it happen?

     I don't know.

     God does. And he will carry us on.