Eleven years ago I fell in love with the violin. It really was "love at first sight." When I was only two years old, I got to play an eight-year-old girl's violin -- you know, just hold it and rub the bow back and forth.

March 30, 1997

I don't really remember very well, but I probably begged my mom and dad for a violin all the way home or to the hotel or where ever we were going. And they probably thought that in a few days I would forget about it and that would be that. But nope, I never forgot! When we would listen to recordings of symphonies or orchestras, I would be able to point out the violins. As the years went by, sometimes I wanted a violin worse than other times, but it never went away.

When I was about seven or eight years old, I got an opportunity to borrow a friend's violin (which was actually a Chinese imitation piece of junk). I was so excited!! My mom got me a book so I could teach myself. I don't recall ever using the book a whole lot (I still have it and it is in pretty good condition). I wrote in my diary, "My dream is coming true! We may be able to borrow the violin from the B--s! It will not stay in tune, but that will not bother me. I want to learn. I already know how to bow and to hold the bow. I know some of the parts too! - that is - mom got me a violin book I will try to teach myself."

I don't think I actually played that violin much, but I sure was excited to get it! We must have returned it soon after that, but I don't remember. I think it was the next summer that I got to go to "music camp" (day camp). I took violin and piano. While at music camp, a complete stranger offered to loan me her daughter's (very expensive) violin which she wasn't using anymore (talk about trust)! Despite not taking any lessons, I was able to sound out a song or two back then.

October 17, 2003

A little over three years ago, a lady in our church gave my mom a catalog to a music store that sells instruments for very low prices. I was soooo excited again. I soaked up those pictures of the violins. I would take it into my room almost first thing in the morning and wish and wish. Once my mom found out the name of a violin teacher, my parents decided it would be best for us to rent an instrument first, to make sure I really wanted to do this. About two years ago (?) I bought one for my very own. Three years ago this month, I started taking private lessons for the first time ever.

January 17, 2007

I still love the violin. I have never seriously thought of quitting (at least, not more than for a few minutes, in which case that would not be called "serious." LOL). I haven't taken lessons for the whole three years that I have been playing, but I can still tell an improvement, which is encouraging. After over a year of no lessons, I had a lesson with a new teacher last week. We're still not sure if this will become a "permanent" thing or not (partly because her husband is talking of moving), but for now it is good.

I am so thankful for my violin. I guess that lately I have kind of taken it for granted that I finally got my "life dream" , but after all, it was the Lord who gave me the musical talent that I have and who also gave me my violin. I only spent about $200 on it myself, and the instrument that I have now cost much more than that. I have my parents and grandparents to thank! But most of all, my Heavenly Father, for giving me my heart's desire.

About a year ago Homeschool Radio Shows put together an audio collection of kids reading good stories. In order to be selected, I had to do an audition for it. This was to record myself reading a short story about Robert Bruce. I did the audition and tried to send it to them, but it never made it! I was soooo disappointed!!! Well, I still have the audition saved on my computer, and recently I got this really neat idea to set music and sound effects to it. It was so fun! I put it all together last week, and I am sooo pleased with the way it turned out (I love that music!!! LOL. ) Beth, I think I know you well enough to say that you will like this audio. Of course, I could be wrong, but I hope I'm not. Let me know what you think!

Click on the picture below to stream the audio directly from the internet. If that doesn't work for you on your computer, please right-click on it (or control+click for Mac users) and click on "Save Target as..." or "Save Link as..." depending on which browser you are using. Download the file to your computer and then play it like you would any other audio file you have. Enjoy!!

Okay, so you people haven't heard much from me lately, have you? Well, I haven't had many blog ideas. I don't get how some people have "so many blog ideas" "swirling around" in their heads. I certainly don't!!

I haven't been blogging much recently, and that is for two reasons. They are: that I was in the middle of a huge project for my dad, which is done now, but I have another one to work on, and, that I have had almost no self-discipline the last few days, so I haven't been getting all of my chores done. If my chores aren't done, I usually can't get on the computer.

Have you ever heard of the Old Fashioned Revival Hour? It was a Christian radio broadcast that aired back in the 1940's. They had a bunch of GREAT music on it every week. My dad (who is also the pastor of our church, hehe), wanted me to take a bunch of the broadcasts, which you can download free of charge, cut out the music with my wonderful digital audio editor, WavePad, and burn a CD of the music so the people in our church could get some good music for a very low price. Yes, it was a big project (and that was a long sentence), but it was lots of fun, too! So when I was on the computer, it was mostly to work on that.

Also, another thing I have been doing is keeping a journal for about the past week. Remember when I wrote a post a while ago on Keeping a Journal? And remember how I said that I was sooo inconsistent at it? Well, before last week, the last entry was in October. Talk about a slacker. But now that I am back into it, it is soooooo fun! I can write pages and pages in one day. I love reading back over it a few months later. I am mostly writing about stuff going on in my life -- not so much what's happened everyday, because I don't have such an exciting life, but more like things and people and projects. Yes, some of you are in my journal, too. But don't be nervous that I am saying mean things about you. You girls are my friends!

I've been going on lots of bike rides with Dad, Amy, Betsy, and Emily (who is pulled by Dad in the bike trailer). I like my new bike a lot! It is really pretty and also lots of fun to ride! Here is a pic:

And my dad would probably want me to mention the OURY grips (not the ones in the picture, though. Those aren't OURYs).  It is a three-speed, so it is easy(er) to go up hills than with my old bike, which was a "single speed." LOL

Oh, one more thing. I may have a violin teacher soon. After a year of none, this will be a good thing (I hope). I am going to start a trial period of lessons with someone in about a week. I am a little bit excited about that. She lives in a really spooky neighborhood, though! Her street is a runway, and she had an airplane hanger, as do probably all the other houses in that neighborhood. This is no joke, folks. I'm serious. Can you understand why it makes me feel a bit weird? LOL

That's all for now. I also have two e-mails to write and send that are about three weeks late. TTYL!

I don't know if my mom or one of us children has ever been asked the "famous" homeschool question, "But what about socialization?!", but I have heard about it so much in the blogosphere and especially the HS magazines. But you know what? I have observed it seems like the "socialized" kids who go to public school are WAY less sociable than the unsocialized homeschooled kids! Let me tell you about it...

Most every Saturday our family goes out for our church's calling program. For calling, we go down the streets in our town in small groups of two or three and knock on people's doors, inviting them to church and often asking them if they've thought about where they might spend eternity. We have gotten many different responses from this! On occasion, some people are receptive and actually listen to what we have to say. But most of the time we get responses like, "I already go to such-and-such-church," or  "Okay, thanks." They like to keep it short and sweet (or in some cases, not so sweet, LOL!)

Sometimes we get a public school victim who doesn't know how to socialize with anyone except those of their own age, so they can hardly utter more than three words to us. At one door we knocked a few weeks ago, a teenage boy answered the door, and I tell you, he did not say ONE word. All he did was go, "Uh... uh... uh... mmmmm... uh...", etc. Either he did not speak English (doubtful) or he was UNSOCIALIZED! Imagine!!

And we sometimes even get unsocialized adults (who of course went to public school in the past) who don't know how to even be friendly. I mean, I understand if you aren't interested in what we have to say, but you don't have to act like we are the most boring people you have ever met.

What about the "unsocialized" homeschooled kids? We have some (homeschooled) friends that are definitely NOT unsocialized. Just a few days ago, they went to a city meeting and asked the mayor questions on different things (these kids are under 12). My younger siblings go out and talk to the mailman almost every day when he brings the mail. Sometimes they will be out there for nearly ten minutes (partly due to my 4 yo. sister who will carry on and on about topics that she pulls out of thin air, LOL. She's got a good start)! We're able to talk to the adults in our church, we're able to play with/talk to the other kids in our HS group, etc, etc.

Yes, I understand it goes both ways. There are some homeschooled kids that don't know how to relate to other people outside their family or their circle of friends (and there are public schooled kids that do fine at talking to other people). But for the most part, I don't think that the people who claim that homeschooled kids are unsocialized could really prove it.

Don't you just love it when you discover you can have fun with something so simple? Amy and Elisabeth have both made themselves doll houses out of cardboard boxes and even carpeted them with leftover new carpet! A few weeks ago Elisabeth, Emily, and I used cactus fruit juice as face paint. It was so much fun!! (To see pictures, please see my mom's post.) Amy, Elisabeth, and I have great fun just riding bicycles around the neighborhood. Those are just some examples of simple little things that can be sooo much fun.

Yes, modern technology can be fun, too. Making new desktop backgrounds with PSP (thanks, HeartnSoul!!!) and designing new blog templates can be fun (and even addicting). But somehow it seems like I always feel happier and like I've had more "fun" when I do something simple. Something "real."

Tomorrow my dad is going to pick up my new bike (he had a bike shop order one). I am soooo excited. Amy's and my bikes were way too small, so few weeks ago he bought a pink cruiser for Amy, my mom, and me to share. However, he said if I was interested enough he would buy me one, too. So, tomorrow my waiting will finally be over and Amy and I won't have to share anymore. LOL. Sharing isn't a bad thing. But we'll be able to ride around the neighborhood together!!!! Yippee!

Sometimes I just wish we could turn off all the electricity for a day (but keep the refrigerator running) and see what kinds of things we would find to do (or basic things we would not be able to do, like light the stove or make some toast). It might turn out great! But definitely keep the running water. LOL. Which would you rather be without? Running water or electricity?

How many simple things have you enjoyed lately? Try it. Try busying yourself with something simple and see how much fun you can have!

For my thirteenth birthday, a friend of mine ordered some "preaching" tapes for me. Among the others was a set called "The Making of a Princess" by Dora Esh. They are so good! Not all of the doctrine mentioned is correct, but most of the basic ideas of modesty, attitudes, relationships, etc., is right on!! Mrs. Esh has some wonderful things on those tapes, and I thought I might share just a few of some of the things that have blessed, inspired, encouraged, or challenged me:

• In talking about true happiness, Mrs. Esh points out why things go in and out of style so quickly -- it's because there are so many people out there looking for true happiness, so they try one thing. That makes them happy only temporarily, and then they have to have something else.
• Along those same lines, she asked a question: If you could not have a new dress for a whole year, a new music cassette/CD for a whole year, no outings for a whole year, and no eating between meals for a whole year, would you be depressed? Mrs. Esh points out that perhaps if there is something in our lives that we are pouring so much time and effort into, or that we "have" to have, maybe that has become a god? The Lord intends for to fulfill our longing for happiness Himself, so that we don't need all the things of the world to satisfy us. Not that it is wrong to find pleasure in worldly "things," but we should not be dependable on them to satisfy or bring us happiness.
  
• Mrs. Esh also talked about our relationships with, or how to relate to, strangers. She pointed out that the young men have more opportunities to talk to people about the Lord, but our tool as young ladies is our demeanor (? Not sure of the right word here... sorry). We may not think about it, but really, when we go to the store, we should go out as if we were on a mission to bring happiness and gladness to those we come in contact with. If a man holds the door for you, don't just mumble "Thanks" as you walk past, but give him a true "Thank you!" with a real smile. Let your countenance be such that you are approachable to someone who wants to know "what" you have. She said also, on a different tape, that when you are brushing your hair in the morning, and you look in the mirror, think, "I am God's princess, and my mission today is to bring gladness to every soul I come in contact with!" You may never know how many seeds you can sow in people's hearts just because you had a radiant heart and face, reflecting God's goodness and love to others.
• Ask God for a servant's heart. We've heard that we should be servants, but really, God wants us to serve out of love, not out of duty. Pray daily for a servant's heart. God will be pleased to answer that prayer! Mrs. Esh said that one servant's heart can change the atmosphere in the entire home!
• Talk to God all day long. It does not matter if it is "important" or not -- nothing is unimportant to God. After all, the very hairs on your head are all numbered! What could be less important than that?! You see a flower. Thank God for the flower, for the beauty you see! You feel the sunshine on your skin. Thank God for it! If you see someone who looks lonely or sad, pray for them, that somehow God would show them his love, or that somehow  you could show them His love. The list goes on. The possibilities are probably endless -- we all have different lives.

All I've posted recently are two posts about a template give-away. I don't think those are very exciting posts. Not much has been said here. So... one more announcement, and then perhaps I can start writing some real posts.

I am happy to announce that The Story Zone is now officially "open." You may wonder what The Story Zone actually is. All my stories from this blog have been moved over to there, and other than that, there is not much there right now... but I'm planning on making another blog under that username where I will post Writing Workshop assignments, so we will see. Also, maybe I will take submissions if others would like to contribute to The Story Zone, but I'm not sure about that yet.

I also made a button for it. You are welcome to use it! Many thanks to vintagegirl, who let me use a picture she took as the background for the button. Didn't she do a great job?!!

Drop on by and see what's there!

Thanks to everyone who entered the template drawing. I wish you all could've won, but sorry! Ready for me to announce the winner???

Congratulations to dixiefiddler (who is actually going to put the template on her mom's blog)!

Many thanks to Narniagirl and Bluejane for posting about it on their blogs. That was very sweet of both of you!

I may have another template drawing in the future, so keep checking back (no promises on that, though).