Mar. 6, 2009 - Park Day
Today was Park Day for a HS group in our area. We aren't members of this group, but we've met some of the people before. It was fun -- I got to meet a girl who wants to take violin lessons (I'm really hoping she'll take lessons from me... hee hee), and another girl named Ashley that was really nice. I enjoyed talking to her. Next week they'll be at a park really close to our house, so maybe we'll be able to go over there and see them again. 
Now we're at the library, and I'm typing up this entry as I wait on my sisters to choose their books. I have pretty much given up on getting good books at the library. They have too much trash, and I'm tired of digging through all of it to find something worth reading. I told Ashley about the Kingdom Series, and she thought they sounded awesome, so she's going to look them up. They are awesome!! I agree with a friend of mine that says they could be written a little better, but I LOVE the setting... so good!
You know, I haven't really written a lot in my journal since I set up this blog... bad, bad! But this is sooo much faster.
Tammy is attached to her camera, taking about a hundred pics per day. I am not joking -- it's probably close. I love it that she is so into her camera. I'm not sure why, but it is fun! She lets me use it, too.
Speaking of Tammy, she just brought a book over to me and asked if I wanted it -- but no, it's actually a book that I've seen at the other library -- the one closer to our house.
Okay, I'm just rambling on now...and it looks like my sisters might be getting ready to go now. So I'd better get off the computer. *grin* Wouldn't it be cool if I had my own laptop? Of course, if I did, I would not have it with me right now. Oh, well.
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Mar. 4, 2009 - Flat Tire... Sigh
Well, this evening we girls were going to ride our bikes for a little while before it got too dark. So we all hurried to get out there and get our bikes out. I quickly changed into the skirt that works for riding my bike in, and fixed my hair so it would fit under my helmet. And I went outside and found... this:
Nice, huh? Dad taught me how to fix a flat tire, but I don't know how to get my back wheel off. Plus, it would have been too dark by the time I actually got it fixed. So I'll have to do it later. Oh joy oh delight. 
A few minutes later, Dad took Tammy, Olivia, and me on a short walk. We were going to walk over to our friends' office, a few blocks away, and see if Mr. M was there. If he was, we would have gone in to say hi, but he wasn't. So we kept walking through the parking lot, and all of the sudden a door opens in one of the units and our neighbor walks out and says Hi! Well, this is a talkative neighbor, and I don't know if he notices, but he usually does most of the talking whenever we have a "conversation" with him. LOL. So we stood there and listened to him for a few minutes. We've invited him to church, and he keeps saying that he'll come, but then he doesn't. So then he keeps apologizing for not coming. Maybe he will eventually. LOL.
Tammy, who just got her camera back from Canon for repairs yesterday (btw, they have great customer service, I hear), took it with her on our walk, and make kind of an electrical storm behind us as we walked along -- the flash kept going off at unexpected times.
Other than that, I don't think it was a really exciting day. Just another day, ya know? Sigh. At least nothing really bad happened! That's a blessing.
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Mar. 3, 2009 - To-Do Today
I said to Katherine this morning, "This is my favorite time of year... I think."
"You think?" she replied.
"Well, it is right now," I answered. Probably later in the year my favorite season will be summer or even fall! That's a good thing. But right now I'm so happy that it's spring! I was so tired of being cold this winter. And you're thinking, You live in the desert, Lindsay!!" Well... yeah. But I get cold anyway. I'm very happy it's spring!!!! Yay!
Okay, I thought I'd post today's to-do list for fun...
The Obvious
~ Brush teeth
~ Take vitamins
~ (I already made my bed.)
~ (My hair is a little too damp to put up in a ponytail yet, and I don't like to use the blow dryer. I'll probably leave it down for most of today, anyway.)
Chores
~ Empty the dishwasher -- but it's not ready yet
~ Sweep the dining room floor -- after lunch
~ Clear off the counter in front of the china hutch (which is actually filled with books, not china)
~ Clean the toilet :P
Schoolwork
~ Bible
~ Algebra II
~ Biology
~ Vocabulary
~ History
Wow, that's not very much, is it?! Hmm, now my mom will read this and think of what else I can do. LOL.
Other
~ Play the piano
~ Play my violin
~ Make a snack for our kids' Bible club tonight
~ Write an article for an online kids' thing.
Okay, I think that's it! Time to get going on it! 
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Mar. 2, 2009 - A Hike With Dad
Can you believe it? I didn't get out of bed until after 8:30 this morning! But it sure felt good to sleep in. I felt so refreshed and energized. I really need to get more sleep at night -- maybe like go to bed earlier, huh? Good idea.
Mom made us a pancake breakfast this morning. Wow, we haven't had pancakes for breakfast in... years, maybe? We usually have them for lunch or supper. I had three pancakes and a banana, and I was nice and full! Then Dad took all of us girls on a hike in the "mountains," in a place he likes to ride his bike. We pulled off the highway, and he asked, "Should we drive down the dirt road a ways, or should we walk?"
The unanimous vote was to drive in farther, but Dad almost immediately decided that the road was too tough for our minivan. So we had to walk instead, anyway! LOL. My hair had still been too wet from my shower when we left the house to do anything with it, so after we got out of the car I quick threw it into a ponytail (yes, I brought my hairbrush and a scrunchie with me -- and my journal, too, which I wrote in on the way up to the hiking spot). Then the hike started.
Dad pointed out a vehicle a ways off, and we were talking about people being out there, when all of the sudden, a guy on a bike comes up behind us. He didn't say a word, but his bike was so noisy that we heard him in plenty of time. He didn't really look like a mountain biker. His bike was loaded down with a couple packs, and it actually seemed like it might fall apart any minute (well, okay, not really). But it was pretty loud. He went off the path to the right, sort of just cutting through the wilderness. ?? Then he stopped, and looked around at some kind of footpath, it looked like. Who knows what he was up to.
Dad told us that if we heard a motor, to get off the road quickly, since it was a road. Tammy and Katherine both demonstrated for Olivia how to get completely off the road, not just stand on the edge. LOL.
The hike continued, and we came to a spot where it sort of looked like someone had poured out some concrete onto the ground, and it kind of just ran down the hill a little way, making a lumpy mess. But really I think it was just rock. Not sure.
Now, we live in the desert, but it was so green out there! There was so much grass popping up everywhere! Wow. We've had a lot of rain recently. There was a spot that looked almost level and so soft and green, and I thought it would be a nice place to set up a tent, since Dad had said that there was sort of a campsite up here. I'm not really sure what all he meant by "camp site," but I guess you could just put your tent down anywhere, eh?
A little farther down the path we came to a couple bushes with some clothes draped over them. I think one was a black swimsuit, and the other we thought had some curtains on it, but on closer observation on the way back, it might have been some article of clothing... what, I don't know.
We decided to take a road that went off to the left. Dad couldn't remember what was down that one, and he wasn't sure even if he'd been down that road. So we decided to explore. The first thing we came across were a bunch of old tires. I mean, a bunch. I didn't count them, but there were probably fifteen or twenty. I wonder who just brings loads of tires and dumps them out in the middle of nowhere. ??? I spotted a lizard on one of them, a blackish lizard, that almost completely blended in!
Dad pointed out some rabbit tracks, and he said, "Now what we don't want to see is cat tracks." Meaning mountain lion tracks. Well, what do I see immediately afterward... but mountain lion tracks! We didn't know for certain, though... maybe it was our imaginations. Looking for tracks kept us busy for a while.
There were some green bushes that were buzzing with bees. Eeek! We girls stayed clear. We also saw a tree that kind of looked like a brocolli tree (yes, I know there is no such thing, but this tree kind of looked like it was growing brocolli!). We stopped under a nice shade tree up a head for just a minute. Dad said that if you were journying through the desert, you should stop under that tree and just wait for the sun to go down before you went on, because of the heat. Tammy said, "Well, let's wait for the sun to go down, then!"
"No, we're not on that kind of journey," Dad said. We laughed. The shade felt really nice, since the sun was quite warm on our skin.
"Can I borrow your hat for just a second to see how much cooler it is?" I requested of Dad. He has a really nice hat.
"No, I need it to keep the sun off my head," Dad anwered.
"But just for a minute?" I begged. "I'll give it right back. Just let me try it real quick." Dad handed the hat over, and immediately commented on how much hotter it was. I couldn't really get it to fit on my head, because of the ponytail, though. Tammy said that I looked like Elisha on PMK with that hat on. LOL. Really, Tammy?
We girls stopped for a rest in the shade while Dad went ahead a little ways to see what was up ahead. All of me except my head was in the shade. "Can I borrow your hat?" I aksed Katherine. You might be wondering why I didn't bring my own hat, but it's because I don't have one. Katherine's hat was way to small, so I just let it rest on my head. The other girls thought that was funny. Tammy borrowed Olivia's hat, and then Katherine asked for her hat back. Musical hats!
Dad came back from his scouting expedition and asked whether it would be nice to have a house on one of the hills nearby. Sure, since we were making this up, I suggested that we have a house on one of the really high hills, park our truck down on the road, and take a helicopter back and forth to the truck. The only problem with my idea was that the truck would be parked in the wash, and so when it rained hard enough, the truck would get washed away. Tammy said, "'Wash' stands for 'Water at speedy heights.'" LOL.
I asked the old question, "What if we found a briefcase just lying out here, full of one hundred dollar bills? Would we keep it?"
"We would tithe," Dad replied.
"No, that's not what I meant," I said. "Would we keep it, or would we turn it into the police?" Dad said that if there was any identification on the briefcase, we would give it to the police, but if there wasn't, we would take the money home. I said that we couldn't just carry a briefcase out of there -- we would all have to stuff it in our pockets or down our shirts or something.
The briefcase suggestion led to a discussion of what Dad could buy for us with the money. I asked if we actually did find a briefcase full of money, could I please have a laptop? Dad sort of laughed, but said sure. Of course, I set the example. Tammy asked if she could have a new digital camera, Katherine wanted either an American Girl doll, a Life of Faith doll, or a Vision Forumn doll. Olivia wanted a Hello Kitty digital camera. LOL!! I mean, she might get that for her birthday sometime. It's not that expensive! That discussion went on for quite a while.
Dad asked, "If I gave each of you a thousand dollars, would that be good? Would that buy all the stuff you ever wanted?"
"No," I replied promptly, thinking of how much a laptop cost, and how much would be left over to buy everything else I would ever want.
Tammy said, "It would be a good start!" LOL!!!
"Well, it would be kind of stingy of you, if you had, like, three million dollars stashed away in the closet, to only give us $500," I said.
Nearly the entire rest of the hike was spent looking for a briefcase full of money.
Tammy and Olivia fought over Olivia's hat, which Tammy was still wearing. Olivia asked for it back several times, and I really don't see why it was such a big deal to Tammy. Dad threw sand and rocks into the bee bushes on the way back, but thankfully no bees came charging out to get us. I saw this pretty rock, almost like marble, sitting in the middle of the road. "What is this doing here?" I wondered, immediately thinking there must be some spiritual application here, but I'm still not completely sure what. Katherine dug one of them out for me, but I didn't really want it, so she kept it to take home, wash off, and put in her rock collection in the yard.
I had this really neat thought while all of us were sitting under a nice shade tree on the way back. We were all being quiet, listening to the bees in the bushes, and I looked around and realized that everything I saw was something that Jesus had created. Wow. I mean, I knew that. But sometimes you have to be reminded of simple things like that. And then I looked at my family, and realized that we are part of the creation, too (again, good to be reminded of ). Everything was made by him! It was just such a neat feeling to look around and realize that. And we humans, we're part of the creation. And we have been created with minds that can understand that fact. Wow! It was just a neat thought. Good to be reminded of, that God made everything. Everything!!
In conclusion, it was a fun hike! I'm glad Dad took us, especially since it was such a beautiful day that he could have used to just go off on an all-day bike ride. by himself. But instead he spent time with us kids this morning! He's on a ride this afternoon, though, riding his singlespeed mountain bike. I just don't understand what is so fun about that. He thinks it's absolutely fantastic. But to each his own way! LOL.
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Mar. 1, 2009 - New Stuff
Here are a few new things that today brings:
A new month
A new week
A new Lord's Day
A new chance to serve God
A new blog
It was fitting that I should start the new blog today, huh?
So what will this blog be about? No, not anything. Do you think I would throw all my private thoughts onto the World Wide Web? Absolutely not. But I got this crazy idea the other night to sort of make an online journal for myself, where I can record the events of my little life. I do keep a "real" journal, and this is not intended to take its place. But since I write in my journal with a pen, I don't always get all the details that I would like to, because it takes so much longer to write it all out. My typing speed is around 70wpm when I'm really going at it, so I can get a lot more written in a shorter amount of time on the computer. Obviously. So this will be my online journal. And it'll be pretty handy, since I can write on it from anywhere in the world, as long as I have a computer with internet access. Of course, if I find myself in a remote jungle location without a computer, I can always revert back to writing with a pen, right? Haha.
So. I said this would be a journal. That means I'm supposed to write stuff that's happened today. Right? Okay, here I go.
I woke up at 6:30 to my beautiful, helpful, perfect-shade-of-blue alarm clock. My sister Tammy, who I share a room with, hates her alarm clock. But I like mine. I never get mad at it when it wakes me up in the morning. Isn't it silly to get mad at an inadimit inadement inadamint (how do you spell that word?! Anyway, you get the idea) object? Actually, it's wrong to get mad at anything or anybody. But I digress. So after I woke up, I took a shower, combed my hair, made my bed, and talked and talked to Tammy for a long time. We share a room, so we often have a hard time being quiet when we have other things to do, like our personal devotions, or at night, going to sleep. I know, that's not very responsible of us, but probably someday we will look back and be glad that we got to spend so much time together as kids.
I finally got to my devotions (I won't even name the time 
). I'm reading in Joshua right now, so this morning I read Joshua 10-13, and I was impressed with the fact that the Israelites didn't get all scared and complain and weep and all that when all those kings came up against them in chapter 11. Verse 4 says that there were "much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many." God gave them the victory, and they went out and fought against them without crying out that they would be destroyed.
Sometimes we tend to overlook when people do the things they're supposed to, and only notice the things they do wrong. We always point it out to ourselves when we read through the part when Israel wouldn't cross Jordan the first time, and how scared they were, but it seems like the times they trusted the Lord and just went out and did what he said, we don't notice as much. I do the same thing in my own life, finding fault with my siblings or friends when they're doing something wrong, but when they do something right, I don't really notice all that much. Definitely something to work on!
Well, the clock kept ticking, and I had to save some of my reading for later so I could go get ready to leave for church (we usually leave around 8:40 or so). I ate some Raisin Bran in a pink plastic bowl. I like using the pink one the best, since I like the way the brown and pink go together. LOL. Yep, I'm weird sometimes. I looked through a book while I ate, and even carried it into the bathroom with me to brush my teeth, but you know how that goes -- I didn't get any teeth-brushing done, I just stood there reading while Tammy told me to hurry up. :o)
When I finally put the book down, I found that I had wasted a bit of time, so I sort of had to rush to get ready for church. But I'm good at getting ready in a hurry, if I have to. And I made it, of course.
When we got to church I helped Tammy tune her flute to the piano, ran through the songs I would be playing on the piano for Sunday School, and tuned my violin. The church piano is a little low, so I always have to tune down to it from 440. Sometimes it's easier than other times. This morning it wasn't too bad.
In Sunday School, our pastor announced that he had been saved longer than he had been alive. A few of us caught that, and in the main service he corrected it. What he really meant to say was that he had been saved longer than he had not been saved. More than half his life.
The Sunday School lesson was out of Revelation 4, and I didn't take notes, so I'll probably miss some of it, but first he talked about the sea of glass mentioned in verse 6. Then he showed us that the scene of the four beasts around the throne is something that is always going on (Isaiah 6). And last he taught a little about the crowns that the twenty-four elders cast at the feet of Jesus. I'm probably forgetting something, sorry.
The sermon in the main service was out of Acts 16:30-31. Lots of good stuff. Especially focusing on that last part, "and thy house." The jailer trusted Christ, and the rest of his household was saved, too! There was more, but again, I didn't take notes, and I'm not going to re-preach the entire message, either. But it was very good! Our pastor always does a really good job. He is a blessing.
Okay, this is getting long, and I have to hurry, since we're leaving for our evening church service soon. After church we went home to eat lunch. I tuned my violin back up to 440 for our nursing home service -- the first Sunday of every month our church has a service there. A man from our church brought a keyboard, which Tammy played, and I played the violin too, for the singing. Pastor gave a lesson on "no man cared for my soul", and gave the plan of salvation, like he does every time. I think we had more people there than we have any other time, but I'm not sure about that. But it was a nice-sized crowd. We always have a bunch of people come from our church, too.
After we got home, I started writing this entry, but in the middle of it I took a break to talk to good friend on the phone for quite a while. We talk just about every week, since my dad has free cell phone minutes on weekends. Good thing! Tammy and I use quite a few on Sunday afternoons!
Okay, I'd better go -- time to leave real soon!
