In case you are wondering about the above name, it was my youngest sister, Emma's, babyhood name for the birthday girl because she could not pronounce 'Elizabeth'. This day, September 11th, is the eighth anniversary of my little sister, Elizabeth's, life. She was born "at the crack of dawn" in my mother's words, and from being the most mellow baby amoung us, she grew into one of the liveliest, most talkative, and social. She is often the life of the party, but is willing to listen and go along with other's ideas. In fact, she often offers ideas, but then if someone suggests a different idea and seems to really want to use it, she will quickly add,

"But we can do that if you want to; I don't care."

"Are you sure?" they ask.

"It's okay, I really don't care." she assures with a smile.

  "Ibizis" loves to make other people happy, and usually has a ready smile (or rather, grin). She has her faults, as do we all, but they are not the only side of her character. On the contrary, Elizabeth can be and often is, a very sweet, loving, and generous girl. I have worked on accomplishing meaningful relationships with my siblings, and it has paid off tremendously: she confides in me, and wants to share all her little or big discoveries. That smile, that hug, that trusting look: if that doesn't make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, I don't know what does! She even asked me to help plan her birthday menu. 

[In case you are in the dark, on our birthdays we get school off and get to choose our meals, although there are limits as to what we can choose, after the Great Sugar Crash Incident of 2006 on another birthday of Elizabeth's. What a day for stomach jitters! Do you really want to know the menu? Alright, she had Magic Stars cereal for breakfast (which is pretty much the same as Lucky Charms), cinnamon rolls for lunch, and blueberry waffles for dinner. Plus, Mommy gave us two pieces of strawberry cake with vanilla frosting. I couldn't even finish my cake, I felt so sick. That day has been a joke in our family ever since, and today, she chose cranberry bread and tea for breakfast (yum), tuna sandwiches and watermelon with milk for lunch, and grilled chicken in BBQ sauce, mashed potatoes with gravy, biscuits, and cooked carrots for dinner. Her birthday dish will be a marvelous, home-made, Mint Chocolate Ice Cream Cake with an Oreo crust, a nice, thick layer of mint ice cream, and fudge sauce on top. Bon Appetite!]

I have been extremely blessed by Elizabeth, and her active, delightful personality is a God-given blessing as well. I pray that God grants her many more years, and that He calles her to Himself. I pray that He would bestow upon her the fruits of the Spirit, and that His hand of protection and guidance would be upholding her throughout her life. God Bless You, my dear, sweet sister!

Love from Within,

Mariel

I Have Returned!!!

Greetings, fellow bloggers (I dare not say, 'readers'). I trust that I find you all in good health and joyful in the Spirit of our Almighty God. I am astonished at the amount of time that has passed since we last conversed. Six months! That is my longest ever on record, and, of course not a little shameful. I have missed you all so very much! Because of the long period of time, I almost posted saying that I had stopped blogging, but then when I logged on today, it dawned on me what I would be and was missing! How could I leave my dear friends? I have met so many wonderful people on HSB and I realized what cutting off those friendships would mean. I probably wouldn't talk to Kylie, Jocelyn, Amanda, Rose, Eyebright, Grace, or my other HSB friends again! That would leave a gap.  I love all my friends here and that is why I choose to return and blog. I look forward to future conversations with you all. (And perhaps in our jammies, right, Kylie?)

On another note, these last two days, we have had the extremely delightful Suarez family visit here at our house! On Tuesday, they were coming for dinner; Mommy was going to make wine chicken, boiled potatoes, salad, and our traditional Suarez/my family dessurt, sugar bread. Yet, there was one big problem: Cornflower and I had forgotten to tell her that the oven was not heating up correctly over the weekend that she was gone to the Modesto conference! Trouble on the horizon.... So, when she preheated the oven so that the wine chicken could be cooked--the oven did not turn on at all, although the stove worked perfectly. To top it off, the Suarezes were going to be here in an hour, so no time to get it fixed. Of course, that was when I remembered to tell her about the oven's behavior during the weekend. I prayed furiously, asking God to make the oven work, knowing that He must have a plan, but not a spark flared. Oh, dear. You mothers can imagine the situation. The Suarezes got here, the situation was explained, and--fabulously flexible friends that they are--we were able to settle on Chevy's for dinner. We high-tailed it over there and had a scrumptious meal, came home, Levi, Julie, Corn, Spidey, Wibbs, Emma, and I went into our backyard and fought battles with the foam-padded swords that Daddy made us. [Pause: I'm sorry, Corn and I are laughing over Jocelyn's post "You've Been Labeled" Go check it out.] Paul eventually came out and beat us all with his quick moves and blocks. After a few more matches together, we went back inside and Daddy showed us some amazing martial arts scenes and then some absolutely hilarious WIPEOUT episodes.

[Warning: This show is occaisionally a wee bit crude, so, even though my family, namely my sister, Cornflower, teases me about being so sensitive to some crude humor, I still don't appreciate all the jokes on this show. That said, there are many laugh-out-loud moments from the hosts, but, unfortunately, as with any obstacle course show, there will be and are some people who take the LORD's name in vain.]

Anyway, somewhere around 12:00, they left and we parted by saying "See you next year!" Little did we know that tomorrow, spontaneously, the mothers had put together a playday for Levi and Julie at our house! So they came over again, dropped Levi and Julie off, then Mommy invited them to dinner. Mrs. Suarez said they had an engagement with the Wuehler family for dessert at 7:00, but they could push for 7:30 and have dinner at our house! So, Mommy crockpotted the wine chicken through the day. All of us kids went out into the backyard and fought some more skirmishes with the swords. Levi is an aware fighter and a good opponent, therefore he presents a challenge, which I appreciate. I love challenges! Mommy made some lemonade to refresh us hot soldiers, and we came in and played Bluff, Lord of the Rings Stratego, and the girls played with Playmobil until the most heated part of the day was over. After that, we went back outside and played five games of Medieval Times Capture the Flag, or simply, Fight for the Flag, where you use your sword to defend yourself from the opposing team with your sword while trying to steal their flag and guard the prisoners. We had so much fun playing with them! Next, we asked Mommy if we could go outside in the court on our bikes and scooters to play Cops and Robbers. She agreed and we strapped on helmets and swept the highways! Levi and Cornflower were the police officers, and the rest of us tried to avoid their hawk's gaze while breaking traffic laws. So you see, we didn't really rob, we only went the wrong way on 'lanes' and crossed 'off-road'.

The rest of their family arrived and we had a splendid dinner of wine chicken, boiled potatoes, and a lovely salad. While we were eating it, Paul came into the kitchen and I asked him when they had to leave. He replied by saying: "It was canceled." Whereby Cornflower accidently tipped her plate over and the remains of her salad scattered on the table, everyone laughed and Paulie added, "Don't get too excited!" I found out a bit later that the cancellation was due to Mrs. Suarez's headache. I did feel sorry for the Wuehlers because I know that if I had been in their place, I would have been very disappointed, but I was SO VERY glad that they could stay! So we spent some more quality time with them and I was reminded of how much I love their family, not to mention adorable little Susanna, who resembles Luke and looks so much like a Suarez! I love her! We LOVE you, Suarez family!!!

Goodbye, fellow bloggers! I sincerely hope that you enjoyed my narrative. God Bless You All!

Love from Within,

-Mariel~

I won't even begin to describe how late this is, and I apologize profusely for the aforesaid tardiness in getting back to you all but I hope that you will forgive me and--now that the Christmas rush is over--I hope to correspond with increased regularity.

Well, how's that for a run-on sentence! Oh, it feels good to be back! My family and I had a wonderful Christmas, but New Year's was a little under the weather as we all had intermittent versions of the dreaded flu--but not the stomach flu, which--to quote our beloved Kylie, is something to be thankful for. I will tell you what Christmas was like in a moment, but first I would like to post our family picture for the various friends that reside at HSB. [Warning: Prepare yourself for the tall alien in a red dress who dares to call herself Mariel!]

Left to Right: Me (13) , Elizabeth (7), Mommy, Emma (5), Daddy, Corny (10 or 11 in February), and John (8 or 9 in February) 

I must say, my siblings look very nice in that picture, though that was before Spiderboy got his hair cut. *gasp* You should have seen the difference. Both my parents look good in it, contrary to my mother's belief that she appears large in this photo.

I. Don't. Think. So.

Oh, I am so very blessed with my family! My father is the strong, persevering oak, gentle rebuker, handyman, willing explainer, godly example and humorous comedian; my mother is the supporting vine, beautiful, self-sacrificing, wise teacher, my understanding confidante, and God is so real to her! My sister, the lovely Cornflower, is my giggly, tell-secrets-at-night confidante, comedian extraordinare, partial tomboy, and smart computer-lover; John is the silly, I-like-to-do-all-kinds-of-things, thoughtful and delightful brother, and the little girls keep us entertained with their sparkling and unique personalities. I love my family!

Our parents and relatives were very generous this year, and as such there were many wonderful surprises waiting for us under the tree.  Still, all this put me in mind of Jesus, the First Gift. If he had not come as a small, human baby, what would become of us? Just take a moment and think about that.....if Jesus had not come, there would be no resurrection, if there were no resurrection, there would be no interception from Jesus for us to the Father. We would have no hope, for we sinful, weak, self-important people cannot keep God's Law but break it repeatedly, thereby securing eternal punishment for ourselves. But God, in His breathtaking mercy, sent His Son--His only begotton Son--to take our place. Why? Because He loved us. I ask you; what have we ever done to deserve this love? I know I have done nothing. So what am I trying to say? I am reminding myself that Jesus is the "Reason for the Season".

In light of that amazing fact, I will describe to you our Christmas Day celebration--well, I think I'll have to do that later as it is time for dinner, but, once more, it is SO wonderful to talk with you all again!

God Bless You, and may your New Year be guided by Him,

~Mariel~

 And here is the tag from Daddy's Lioness:

:

you've just been tagged by DaddysLionesshere are your questions: 1.How many brothers do you have? One 2.How many sisters do you have? Three 3.Can you whistle? Yes 4.Do you like "Silly Songs with Larry"? It's cute. 5.How often do you wear black? Not very often. 6.Do you like to wear black? It's not my favorite, but I like it. 7.How about pink/purple? Not extremely. 8.What is you favorite veggie? Probably corn or garbanzo beans. 9.How often do you lose your hairbrush? About once a week. 10.How long is your hair? Just about one-and-a-half inches higher than my elbow.

That was fun! Thank you again! (I am very sorry that it took so long!

Warmly,

Mariel

Apologies. Why elaborate when everyone knows what I am going to say? I am very sorry that I have not responded to you all and been absent for a lengthy period of time. Honest!

Now, one thing; are any of you positively intrigued by the use and anatomy of words? For I am and always have been. My mother and I have had long discussions on simply the sound of one word or the placement of another! They fascinate me, therefore when I find a book which marries the perfect word with the perfect sentence and then the perfect paragraph, it is devoured. So you can imagine the happy thoughts that go through this girl's head when she does her Total Language Plus curriculum which combines literature, vocabulary, spelling, grammar and critical thinking skills all in one! No, if you are wondering if this is an advertisement, you are wrong. I merely wish to share an enjoyable assignment I had with regards to the vocabulary portion in one of my lessons. You see, I had to use my vocabulary words, plus the ones from the former unit in sentences--and I could use more than one word per sentence! This was shaping up to be a pretty fun part of my lesson! Now, I will underline the words that were part of my vocabulary for that unit, and I leave it up to you to decide whether these are well-used or not.

1. (this first sentence is not the most--well, you can see for yourself, but I'm putting it last)

2. I was aghast at the burgeoning fracas the zealots were causing.

I love this one! (above)

3. It has been almost a fortnight since Rhoda was christened and baptized.

4. As Amos donned his tallith and stepped out the door, he gently fingered the mezuzah, then joined the other men and boys in phylacteries.

5. Justin was baffled; what had his cousin been thinking?

There is a connection between this sentence and the one below it; number six. "Justin" is describing "Bertha" in his mind.

6. Bertha had blue-black curls down to her waist, a flowing dress of dazzling white, with a multi-faceted amethyst brooch fastened to her collar which set off her vibrant complexion--she was beautiful!

7. A rancid stench emitted from the mangy pauper, suffocating the delicous odor from the lentils.

8. His hunger was interminable, yet he was forced to be finicky, restrained by the manacles of his fast.

9. Samuel anointed David, the conqueror.

Again, a connection:9-10.

10. His cohorts stood by, the auxiliaries in the rear.

11. His arm a cubit long, and quite muscular. 

So there you have it! What do you think? Do I have a future as an authoress? Just kidding--it was fun to do! Oh, and about that last sentence....well, all right, here it is:

12. Only an infidel would dare to blaspheme the name of our Messiah in the synagogue!

Good words, bad meaning. This is NOT implicative!

I look forward to hearing your probable humor in the replies! In the meantime, I would like to thank WillowTree10 for awarding me the Beautiful Blog award created by her! I am going off to bed, so I will award five deserving people in my next post! Here is the banner, and many many thanks!

  Beautiful!

Now goodnight, dear bloggers! Sleep well.

Warmly, and with much love,

~Mariel~

Today is the day! Today is the day! I've waited a whole year and it's finally here! Alphameticasmicdociousogger! Oh, my. Do you know, I was trying to find a word that fit, and my brain automatically triggered some meaningless twaddle to express some unknown emotion supposedly classified as 'joy' but.....pardon me. This is so unlike myself....

I am blessed with a generous family! My wonderful, devoted, sel-sacrificing, simply spiffing parents gave me my favorite "holdable" gift--books! Ever heard of H. Rider Haggard? King Solomon's Mines, Pearl Maiden, The Brethren, or Lysbeth? Those are written by him and he is a fabulous writer! Anyhow, I had PM and TB and my parents gave me Lysbeth! They also gave me Christy by Catherine Marshall, my sweet brother gave me Jason and the Argonauts retold by Felicity Brooks and a handmade card with a special message just from him. :+) As did my caring sister, again with a handmade card. My parents also gave me an embossed leather journal, as I had spoken of my wish to write in a "official" old-fashioned diary--it was beautiful! My grandparents, great-grandparents and great-aunt/uncle also gave me gift cards for Target, Borders and cash--which I haven't spent half of yet! Thank you, Lord, for my family!

Now, I would like to express most sincere thanks for the wonderful friends and friendships I have here at HSB--I am SO very grateful for you all, and for the warmth, encouragement, comfort and inspiration you have given me! God Bless You All!

My plans for this year are:

1. Continue to grow and serve the Lord more fully.

2. Keep a record of all the movies that I watch in a year, and judge my screen time from that!

3. Cultivate my relationships with family, siblings and friends.

4. Be able to offer God something at the end of this year of my life.

Love from Within,

~Mariel~ 

Ah, so here we go: my brilliant sister got these awards up for me, though, of course I would have figured it out myself....right? Oh boo-hoo, I am SO incompetent when it comes to HTML, that it almost hurts me to see my sister rattle it off--I'm kidding, of course!

Oh, do you know, my birthday is in almost two weeks! (The 25th) I will be thirteen! A teenager! And that is NOT a bad word! It is how it's used. I am excited, but not because I'm entering my teens, or because I get presents, or because us children get a school holiday on birthdays, though I look forward to those things very much, but because I get to have another year to serve the LORD! And my wonderful friend Jocelyn remembered and acknowledged it on the VirtuousMaidens blog! Oh, she is so sweet! Still, with the big one-three, comes the exclusion of all those reduced price ranges for ages 6-12 when you go to a resturant! Oh, well. That's the only thing to lose, so look on the bright side!

Ah, yes, and before I pass it off as "okay" I would like to formally, officially and sincerely apologize for my HUGE absence and 'same-old entry'. Goodbye to "Regular Blogger Reputation"! I could at least say, "I'm sort of busy at this time, so I won't be able to get back to you for a while..."! I'm sorry.

Oh, and for the record, before anybody starts looking up to me as a role model, may I say what I struggle with? I struggle with laziness--no really! I don't even--well, I've already started so I might as well let it all out--sweep the floor everyday, I don't load the dishwasher everyday, I certainly don't make my bed everyday, and our (Corn's and I) laundry hamper is a joke! I am NOT a good example of a helpful daughter, and some girls my age could even run their own households! I'm turning thirteen on the 25th, and "turning a new leaf" is harder than ever. What do I have to offer Jesus at the end of my twelfth year of life??? A bedroom that hasn't been vacuumed for weeks? Irregular reading of the Word, and even when I do, I barely think about it for the rest of the day? Sure, some verses stick and remind, but that's rare. Guilt at seeing my friends at church who do their jobs regularly and are diligent on a regular basis? And usually, they do it because they want to! Whereas me, when Mommy asks me to clean the bathroom, rage and "It's not fair!" churn inside of me.

I pray consistently for God to change me, but I've started to wonder--especially after this week's sermon from our pastor--do I really expect God to do all the work? Yes, and why shouldn't I? The Bible says that we need to surrender ourselves to Him and He will change us, right? Note to self: Excuse me, Mariel, but haven't you noticed that the Bible also says, "We must decide to follow Him?" God isn't going to spoonfeed us/me. Do I expect him to? Yes, of course, I can't do it. Pardon? God gave you free will, and when you get mad at your siblings or at your mother, that is your choice. In the same way, we need to choose to listen to God, to allow him to sculpt us. Sure, I want him to change me, no question, but we have to ask, is wanting always doing? No, it is not. I. Must. Allow. Him. The sooner I realize that, the better. Thank you, Bloggers. You are all SO encouraging!

Oh, and next post will be about the "Nice Matters" award, that Kylie gave me. And what she said about me almost made me cry! I love you, Kylie!

Love from Within,

~Mariel~

  I know it's about time I posted, and this is the last day of the contest too! Short on time, I can only tell you all that I have been busy-very busy. Here goes; let's see if I can make a tribute that is even remotely accurate.

A Tribute to my Dad

--------------------------------------------------

I love my dad. I don't see any other better way to begin. If you asked me why, I could spew forth pages, but as we don't have that, I will name as many as I can and hope you get the same impression I do. I am going to divide this into three parts:

--------------------------------------------

(A) Why I Love Him

(B) What He Has Done For Me

(C) What I Can Do For Him

--------------------------------------------

(A) Why I Love Him

Because he loves me. And he showes me that he loves me. He is always ready for a hug and he takes time to explain difficult subjects. He needs to reprove me often, but he does it in a gentle yet firm manner that pierces a lot farther than yelling ever could.

He is always there to protect my heart, and I know I can tell him pretty much anything (same with my mom) and when I did have feelings for someone once (not anymore, thanks to God) I was able-because of the bond of trust that we had-to tell him through Mommy about it. He is very careful about what we watch on the television also (movies and shows) and we have a TVGuardian on those very grounds!

He is the kind of father who will take you out if only for some special time together. Here, let me give you an example; say you were going to a baseball game with him or something along those lines, and you didn't really know the inner workings, plays and positions of the game-he would explain all those things to you, and point them out too-just so you would be able to enjoy the game with him!  

He works very hard at his job, and sometimes it is overwhelming to him. And still, he has that much patience that if he comes home to a messy house and bickering children, he just shrugs his shoulders, takes command and tries to make Mommy's burden lighter by stopping the bickering, and ordering a "House Rescue" which is what we refer to as cleaning up the house, then asking Mommy what he can do to help. That is what I call long-suffering!

 

If he sees me crying during a movie (which I usually try to hide, crying that is, not from him, just in general) then he will often come over, sit next to me and rub my leg. He is the kind of dad who doesn't make a big deal out it, he just offers a little comfort.

(B) What He Has Done For Me

He has inspired me and shown me what a real man of God is, and he is what I want in my future husband. He has shown me many things technological-one of his specialties-and while I don't think I could build a computer at the moment, thanks to him, I know enough to get around. :+)

He has taught me so much, and frankly, I would know only half the things I know now if not for him!

 

(C) What I Can Do For Him

 

I can show him what a true daughter can be, I can be his ray of sunshine when he comes home, I can tell him about what my day was like, I can make him laugh. I can show him that I care about what he has to say, I can show him that when I apologize, I mean it.

I can be a comfort or a burden, a joy or a pain, an optimist or a pessimist, a good listener or a brush-off. "If you love me you will do what I command you." I will show my father that I love him by listening, learning, and doing.

I love you, Daddy!

Love from Within,

~Mariel~

P.S. I wrote most of this on the fourteenth, but we had to go somewhere so I didn't finish it, but still, you don't have to be in a contest to write a loving note about your father. You should be lifting him up in ways like this every single day. (Sorry, Jocelyn. I would have been on time! I will still say I wrote this on the 14th though, because--technically--I did!)

Greetings, faithful readers. I trust I find you all in good health, spirits and disposition. I would like to acknowledge (at long last) the awards which kind blog friends have bestowed upon my humble blog. To make this introduction rather monosyllabic, yet appreciative, I would like to thank my friends, the lovely Rose, the gracious Willow, and the roguish () yet charming Ryann for their wonderful sweetness in honoring my blog and I. You three are delightful!

  Rose awarded me this, and I am honored to receive it!

Now it is my duty and pleasure to bestow this award upon five people who, I feel, really deserve this honor:

Underthesky: Because she's my mother, and glad am I that it is so.

Eric: Because he deserves it, and also because he truly has a purpose.

Mrs. Suarez: Because she has a purpose worth noticing, because children should be schooled at home.

Paul: Because his purpose is to be him, and that is a purpose in itself.

Myrtle: Because on her personal blog she has all the awards I have to offer, so I gave it to her on her other blog. Love you!

  This was awarded me by Willow, and it is a pretty addition to my blog! Thank you!

Underthesky: Didn't I say? She deserves it!

Frodo and Legolas: They are extremely intelligent and thoughtful girls; I can always reflect on their posts! Also, they already had the 'Blogging With a Purpose' award, or I would have given them that too!

Mrs. Novak: She has a beautiful blog, and she is very sweet and gracious; I owe her many thanks for multiple favors. Mrs. Novak, this is sort of like a thank you present for publishing me, and also for being so patient!

Chloe, Lois, Rachel and Hannah: These girls probably write some of the mot reflective entries I have ever seen! They really care about what they write.

Mrs. Igarashi: I think we all know why she is reflective--love you, Mrs. Igarashi!

 And guess who awarded me this little doozy....that's right! RedHeadRyann....you rock, girl!

Cornflower: She's my sister, I love her, she deserves this, and she rocks!

Kylie: This is the only award of these three that she doesn't have, and as the giver, I am delighted to do it! She has been a wonderful friend since we met, and we even had a comment conversation while we were both in our pajamas!

Grace: She writes excellent movie reviews, she responds very promptly, and she is the only person I know who lives in Israel! "It's a small world after all....."

Jess: It seemed a fitting award to give her, and she is a great girl! Hope you enjoy this, Jess!

Lady Rachel: This was also the only award out of these three that she did not have, (popular) and her blog was one of those that would fit. She is very smart and a grand writer!

Well, I would like to congratulate all those that I have chosen, and I am proud to have you as my friends!

Farewell, dear Readers!

Love from Within,

~Mariel~

P.S. Cornflower has a new post, and could you possibly stop by? She would love that! Thank you. 

Our new kitty, Caspian. Pictures as promised. :+)

Isn't he adorable?

Mariel