End of Summer,      

Wow, I'm actually writing! Actually, what's weird is I've had so many blog posts going around in my head about the deepest subjects, but of course none of them have made it on my blog! :p  So, is it just me, or did this summer go by way too quickly? I got my autistic sister ready for school this morning, and I was like, WOW, summer just flew by! It's times like this I am very glad to be homeschooled--otherwise I'd be starting school with all my other disgruntled friends, Lol.  :p

     Anywho, this fall promises to be busy, but anyone who knows me knows I like being busy. J I’m going to be leading a dance team with kids from local churches, which is something I’ve wanted to do for a few years now. A woman is going to be helping me with the secretary work, which is perfect, because I like the dance part—just not the boring secretary work, Lol. I hope that I’m still going to be involved with the hip\hop team from our old church.  Also, my siblings and I are performing in this BIG concert in October. Our voice teacher leads a music group of older people. They’re celebrating forty years, and we have been enlisted to help them celebrate! We’re singing and dancing in all these old songs like Supercalifragilisticexealidious (I KNOW I spelled that wrong!) Haha, I’m doing this dance to the song Hello Dolly. I’m supposed to be the girl and all these older men are supposed to be my admirers—one man said that certainly took some imagination, Lol. But all the old people are so sweet and it’s so much fun performing with them.  So every practically every weekend until October 30 is full...

  I finally finished the Book You’re Supposed to Read If You Want to Drive (not real title) and so I can take the test for my learner’s permit! It’s kind of disappointing, because I COULD be getting my license, and instead I’m still doing my learner’s, but that’s partly my fault for not reading the book, which, if you haven’t read it yet, I have to warn you, it’s about the most boring thing you’ll ever read. Just thought I’d prepare you, Lol. I took the sample test online and passed, so we’ll see how I do on the real thing…

  I might be starting a job staying with an older woman a couple days a week. I'm still teaching piano. (It sounds so professional that way--instead of, I'm still teaching my brothers how to play an instrument they care nothing about. :p) Caleb is actually beginning to like it and do better, so that's a relief. Ethan still doesn't know his notes. He keeps saying I said the notes didn't go in order--I MEANT you don't have to play them in order on the piano, but evidently, I didn't make myself clear. From now on, I'm not saying ANYTHING about notes, Lol. I've repented of that many times--about every time we have a lesson. ;) I'm still taking both piano and violin lessons--and liking violin better and better. Technically, it's fiddle, not violin,  but anywho...I'm also finishing up schoolwork. And speaking up school... 

  This is my last year of school!!!!!!!!!!! Yay! Woot! Woot! Hip, hip, hooray! I’ve been through so many curriculums, it’s not funny. Abeka, Christian Liberty, Modern Math, Saxon, Rod & Staff…and I’m sure there’s more, Lol. At least I’ll be well rounded. :p I guess it comes with being the oldest child of two people who have no idea what they're doing...Lol. But now all I have to do is finish Algebra and science (my two favorite subjects…hahahahaha—yeah, right) and take my GED, and then I’m done! I'm sooooooooooooo happy. It's not that I don't like school--I actually enjoy it sometimes (but usually it's just...interesting)--but it is thrilling to finally come to the end of high school.   

 So what are everyone’s plans for fall?

  Ok, so we weren’t exactly setting out on a life-changing mission, but Hannah, Daddy, and I really did go to DC last weekend to attend the Call, though we actually ended up not spending much time there…

 Anywho,  The Call is this prayer rally that is mostly composed of teens and college age people to repent for America’s sins and fast and pray. We went last year to the one in Nashville and there were about eighty thousand people there. At one point 300 shofars were blown, these people pounded drums, and all 80,000 pounded the back of their chairs, rattled car keys, and cheered. It was the most awesome sound of praise to God that I’ve ever heard in my life. And loudest, too, Lol. :p

Last year we went up with our church and stayed at a hotel, but this year only one other family was going, so we decided to drive up ourselves and sleep in the van. Yeah, told you it was an adventure. :p So we left Friday night and drove up to DC, and then slept in our van…only we didn’t really sleep…the next morning, we brushed our teeth with bottled water, got dressed in…well, I won’t tell you, (haha) and basically convinced about a dozen people we were homeless. It was definitely an experience, though not really one I wanted, LOL.

   Then, we set off to see DC!!! We vacationed there four years ago and saw the museums and stuff, but I really, really, really wanted to go to the top of the Washington monument because I’d never been there. So we stood in line for an hour just so we could fulfill my desire, haha.

   Before that, we went to visit the holocaust museum, which was super depressing. It’s so sick what people can do to each other. The Nazis had absolutely NO VALUE for human life. If you were old, young, disabled, had the wrong hair color, wrong nationality…then you were thrown away. How retarded is that? I would have lost so many people I love…my autistic sister wouldn’t have met their ‘standards’. What about my grandparents? My friend with diabetes?

   So anywho, it was shocking…

   The Call itself….we didn’t see much of. We were all tired and we had company coming the next day, so Daddy didn’t want to stay the entire twelve hours. So what we drove up to see we actually didn’t see too much of, Lol. But it still was fun to hang out with Daddy and Hannah and see all the sites and eat way too much junk food.    

    Haha, I wrote this a couple days ago and thought I'd post it here. It's a true story. :p 

                                                  Carrot Cake Woes      

    It was Moriah’s fifteenth birthday, and I decided to make a cake in honor of the occasion.

    I’ve never really considered myself a good cook—and that’s not looking at it pessimistically; it’s just looking at reality, Lol. It’s not that I CAN’T cook, it’s just that I don’t really like it, so I usually hurry while I’m doing it and the results are just that—hurried. You know, where people eat your food and they’re like, ‘oh, it tastes…original.’

     Anywho, the cake was one of those packaged boxes where you add water, eggs, and oil, so I figured I couldn’t go wrong. I put the eggs and water in and then I found out something terrible.

 We didn’t have vegetable oil.

 Memory flashback—ALWAYS CHECK FOR INGREDIENTS BEFORE YOU START BAKING!

   Well, olive oil is pretty much the same thing right? It had better be, because that’s what I used. Then, I had a bright idea—why not make it a layered cake? Carrot layered cakes are much cooler and awesome and professional looking. I liked that idea. I really liked that idea. So I greased the cake pans—only a little though, because we were almost out of cooking spray. Probably should have checked for that first, too.   

 Memory flashback—ALWAYS CHECK FOR INREDIENTS—

   Okay, I know. Anyways, I put the cake in the oven—on 350 degrees  just like the box said to do. I do read directions, you know.  _{I just don’t always follow them}.   Then I left them to bake and…actually, I did just that. I left them. Totally. I forgot all about those cakes…until the house started to smell like carrot cake.

  It smelled really good and I couldn’t wait to see my creation. I ran in there and grabbed a fork and put in right in the middle of the cake. The whole thing made this poof sound and just kinda collapsed. Okay, maybe a little more than kinda. But the funny thing was, even though the middle of the cake was still mushy, the outsides were turning black. I figured it could still bake a little—and maybe rise again—so I left the kitchen.

   Then the electricity went out.

    This can be a problem, especially if you have cakes baking in your electric oven. I hoped it would come back on. I prayed it would come back on. But it didn’t, so I took the cakes out of the oven. I figured if I left them in the oven, they’d just dry out, so I put them on a baking sheet. It was hard getting them out of the pans. I probably should have used more cooking spray.  When I finally loosened the sides, I dumped them onto the counter and they fell apart. Not too badly—just the bottoms. But no one would see that side.

     The box said to let them cool before frosting them, so I waited an hour. Then I started making the frosting. According to the box, we should be using Betty Crocker but I was sure Rebekah frosting would taste just as good. I found a recipe for cream cheese frosting and I started making it.  The recipe said you were supposed to soften your cream cheese. That’s probably a good idea, but the  electricity was still out, so I did the next best thing. I  mashed it with a fork. It didn’t exactly soften it, but it sure did smash it into one very disgusting looking lump. But looks aren’t everything you know. I added the butter and started beating it up. When it was ‘light’ (though it really was just as clumpy as ever) you were supposed to add your sugar.

 We didn’t have enough sugar.

Memory flashback—ALWAYS CHECK—

  *sigh* I know. But hey, it’s probably more healthy without all that sugar anyways. And it was enough sugar to frost…the top of one layer.

 I had run out of frosting.

    So I made some more, only this time I really didn’t have enough sugar and the frosting didn’t soften. I even tried putting it on the stove, hoping it would get the hint. It didn’t. So I just frosted the cake with my poor excuse for a frosting. It might not have been so bad if the stupid cake had cooled all the way like it was supposed to. The warm dough started clinging to the frosting. It looked pretty bad.

       So I decided to put the cake in the fridge and hope it looked better with candles on it. One problem—we still didn’t have electricity. Carrot cake is supposed to be eaten cold and the cake was still fairly warm. Oh well. I put it in there and hoped for the best. Most of my cooking dramas end that way—with me hoping. For the best. LOL.  

    Anyways, the cake actually tasted okay, even though the frosting was a little sour. I guess the moral of the story is (besides checking for your ingredients):

    Make sure the electricity isn’t going off.

 Okay, if you can’t do that, at least buy your frosting from Wal-Mart.

Megjo tagged me. This one was kinda funny, because it turns out I'm more city than country, but I've lived in the country practically all my life, Lol. Oh well...city girl at heart. :p

How City Are You?

[] I've drunk Starbucks more than once in my life (I've never been to Starbucks...crazy, I know!) 

[ x] Sometimes I link arms when I walk with someone
[ ] I shop at AE, A&F, or HCO
[x] I own 4 or more dress shirts/dresses

[x ] I will never be caught without my cell phone  (if I had one...)

[ ] I blow dry/straighten my hair on a daily basis

[ x] I will wear flip flops no matter what the weather

[x ] I own an over sized pair of sunglasses

[] I own 1 or more pairs of ripped jeans

[ x] I layer my shirts

[ ] I have/had a "Myspace mirror pic"

    Heyyyy!!!! So a quick update on my week...(just in case you're dying to know about it, Lol. I'm so nice, satisfying your curiosity:p)

  Sunday--we went to see the screening of the new Billy Graham movie at Thomas Road Baptist. I chuckled, no I laughed, no I ROARED most of the way through it. Though everyone else was laughing pretty hard too, so it was ok! Oh, don't you hate it when you're in a theater and you laugh at something and no one else does? Anyways...it was funny. It focused on Billy Graham's earlier life before he became a big-name evangelist, and--sorry, can't say any more.  The movie comes out in October I think.

Monday--We celebrated Caleb's birthday while I tried to recover from a sudden case of shock because I remember when he was born, ok? And now he's eight and I feel ancient. It's really not too bad, though, feeling ancient. :) I don't remember what we did (I really am ancient, not remembering from four days ago!) I think we did... something. Wow, this is terrible. Ok, well on to Tuesday...

Tuesday--We went to voice lessons.  We're supposed to be in this BIG concert celebrating forty years with a group our voice teacher leads. It's so....fun, Lol. No, it really is fun, and my teacher said I did really well in our first dance number (oh yeah, we're dancing, too) so that made me happy. :) It was the only compliment I got from her though, so I guess one song out of eighty isn't too good.   Then I had piano. Or piano had me. (shudders) There's nothing WRONG with piano, there's just something wrong with lessons. Let's just say my teacher thinks I'm going to practice eight hours a day and be a concert pianoist, and I just don't share the same ideals, Lol.

Wednesday--Let's see, I woke up, ate breakfast, and did my schoolwork for the first time this week. (Well, it's still summer...lol) Then after lunch, I cut up garden peppers so we could freeze them. I've decided I don't like peppers. I have a very good reason for not liking peppers. See, I was helping Daddy chop up hot peppers a couple weeks ago and after doing so, I washed my hands. Then we were watching a movie, and I felt something in the corner of my eye. So I reached up and barely touched the corner,and all of a sudden, it was like my eyes were on fire! They hurt soooo badly. It took about five more hand washings for all the pepper juice to finally leave. So that's why I don't like peppers...lol...but mom doesn't really care about the fact peppers and I don't get along. She practically COMMANDED me to help her with the peppers. So I did. I'm a very obedient daughter...well, most of the time.                       After that, I taught two piano lessons, practiced my own piano and violin, and bagged garden tomatoes. THEN I put the two year old down for his "nap" (except that he really doesn't know he's napping, because we put him down on the basement couch with a bottle and a video to put him to sleep. Aren't we smart? Okay, maybe more like we're too lazy to train him to stay in bed. Lol) I had to watch him until he fell asleep, so I read a really depressing book. I didn't know it was depressing when I started reading it, but I was practically in tears by the end. Sniff, sniff. Lol. After Joshua was sleeping, I had to help Mom pack, because she was taking some of the kids to North Carolina in the morning. Then we watched a movie and went to bed. There. That was about the longest day description I've ever read or wrote. :p

Thursday--Mom left with four kids to North Carolina and the house feels so empty. Only five kids!!!! Yeah! So Hannah and I are babysitting the three youngest. It's a blast. :p Well, sorta. We're watching a movie called Madeline...that sounds so amazing, I know. Haha, we wanted to get Horton hears a Who (cause we haven't seen it yet) and Enchanted, but Mom came back with Madeline. You  know...twelve little girls who lived in two straight lines?

Haha, well I have to go because Havilah just dumped all the CDs onto the couch. KIDS!!! Ya gotta love 'em. 

       The End to the longest post ever

   Goingyeep awarded me the smile award, and Little Sparrow awarded me the beautiful thoughts award! (Thank you both! )

   I now award (drum, roll please!) Country Kell, PearlgirlforChrist, and jcislrd.

     Tomorrow we have some friends visiting and they have nine kids, plus a niece traveling with them. So we are going to have nineteen kids in the house for a whole night and day...fun, fun, fun. Haha, it actually will be a lot of fun. I think, lol. 

   So what's up with everyone?                                                                                                                                   

My parents have always insisted on modesty….as I’m sure most of the people reading this can relate to, LOL. Actually, most people I know insist on varying degrees of modesty. but my parents are the only ones that want us girls to wear dresses or skirts rather than jeans or shorts. When I was little, I really didn’t care. I was something of a tomboy (still am, actually: p), but I don’t remember dresses interfering with bike riding, hiking, or anything else I wanted to do. Sometimes, my mom would let us wear pants or shorts if we wanted to do something like climb trees or play in the dirt. So despite my tendency to tomboyishness, (is that even a word? Lol) I didn’t mind wearing dresses. Haha, it’s rather funny looking at old pictures now, because I would be dirty, scuffed up, and wearing a cute pink dress!

   When I was about twelve, I began to dislike wearing them. I have eight siblings, so we cause a small reaction whenever we go to Wal-Mart anyways, but I was even more self-conscious since all six of us girls would be in dresses or skirts. I just knew people saw us and built an immediate stereotype in their minds of an Amish family, living on a farm with no electricity or cars, closed off from the world. And I hated that. It didn’t help that people did ask us if we were Amish. Haha, I’ve been asked if I’m Amish, Mennonite, Mormon, Jewish, Catholic, and I can’t think of any others right now….lol. But that’s off the subject…

       When I was fourteen, we were going to this homeschool co-op where we were the only girls in skirts. One time, one of the teachers there (who also went to our church) held a discussion on modesty. I remember feeling stupid contributing to it, because everyone else was in jeans and I looked like something from the eighteenth century! (Ok, it wasn’t THAT bad, because I did dress somewhat in fashion…but you get the picture, lol.) I went home and stormed out at my mom and told her that all the girls there hated me because I was modest and I hated being different and there was nothing wrong with wearing jeans, yada, yada, yada. The funny thing was, none of the girls hated me; it really was just that I was already sure they were going to because I looked different. I interpreted their friendliness as pity, or I thought they were just being friendly because they had to or their moms told them to under dire threats of groundings for life. My mom didn’t show much sympathy…:p She said that my dad wanted us to look feminine, and while he didn’t necessarily think pants were immodest, he thought girls should look like girls and dresses were a good way to do that. J I got the hint—DON’T ARGUE WITH YOUR FATHER! And so I don’t remember ever outwardly rebelling again.

     But I was still mad and I lived with my angry, rebellious little self for another year before I decided to honor my father. And I realized something. Wearing skirts aren’t so bad, Lol. I mean, I always feel pretty and girly wearing them (well, unless I’m in my tomboy mood!) and when I wear pants for dance, I don’t feel so attractive. And it’s really not hard to do anything in a skirt or dress—I just ran a mile yesterday in a knee-length skirt! (Though I wouldn’t usually; Daddy doesn’t mind us wearing shorts if we’re running or something. Actually, I wouldn’t usually run a mile, either. Haha.) About the only thing I’m not able to do in a skirt is flip over on the monkey bars—which I can’t do anyways…and practice dance, as it’s next to impossible to dance hip-hop modestly in a skirt.

   Sure, I still don’t like being stereotyped. There’s times that I still feel awkward. But it’s kind of fun being different. I actually like walking into Wal-Mart and showing the world that it’s possible to dress fashionably, but modestly, Lol.  I’m still living under my parents’ roof and I’m still under my father’s authority. And until I get married or leave for college, I obey him willingly. 

    Personally, though, I don’t think to be modest, you have to wear an ankle length dress and have hair down to your waist. Some people do, and that’s awesome that they have such a standard for themselves. But for myself, I’ve decided that WHAT I wear isn’t necessarily the most important thing. The most important thing is the attitude of my heart. Am I being modest or trying to attract too much attention to myself? Am I trying to be as modest and beautiful as I can be, or am I trying to see how much I can get away with before Daddy sees me?

   Ok, so I am having a very hard time coming up with a template that actually fits ME!!! I liked my old one, but I deleted my blog and now I'm thinking I want a new template for my new blog. :p All the ones I've tried have either been too black, blue, boring, or just down right not me. (Sniff, sniff, sniff. LOL) I think I want something bright and happy, but really dramatic and, um....cool. (For lack of a better word. :p) Daddy's trying to make us come up with something other than 'cool!'  Everytime one of us kids will say it, he'll be like, AMAZING! WONDERFUL! FANTASTIC! TOTALLY AWESOME, DUDE!!!!! Ok, he doesn't quite go that far but you get the picture. :)

  So if anyone has any amazing, wonderful, fantastic, totally awesome templates they know about (besides the myspace ones--for some reason I can't load them) share the link with me and I will be forever grateful. :) Oh, and who actually likes the music player thing? I had one, but a couple people said it annoyed them, so if no one really likes it or listens to it, I'm not going to add it again.. And if so, does anyone mind if I put rap or hip-hop music on there? I had added a couple songs by Lecrae and toby mac, but Mom said it would probably be annoying, so I thought I'd ask. Most people have soft rock, pop, or a movie theme like Pirates of the Carribbean, so I understand if no one wants to listen to hip-hop, lol. I dance to it, so I don't mind...

   Ta ta for now!!! 

    It sure would be easier if everything was in black or white, wouldn't it? Like we know murder and stealing is wrong, but what about birth control? Or if a friend loans you a CD of songs and you want to copy one for your own use? I get soooooo frustrated sometimes at GRAY. I'd rather have everything in black or white--don't talk back to your parents, do go to church, do read your Bible, but don't read that romance novel. If all of life was laid out in basic do or don'ts, it would be so much easier. Is it ok to watch an R-rated movie if it has a really good message? Is it ok to listen to emo music or give yourself a tattoo? (Please note that I don't watch R-rated movies, listen to emo, or neccessarily want a tattoo, lol. They're just examples. :p)  

   We see so many churches stuck in big debates on everything from headcoverings and music (or no music) to the church's role in goverment and how many kids you're supposed to have. The Bible doesn't really give a black or white answer on many of these things, although the principle is there. Though what exactly the principle is can be a huge disagreement among Christians. And honestly, I think we waste our time in stupid arguments when we should be out on the street corner winning souls for Jesus, ministering to each other, and serving God. Yes, these issues have their place and you can't ignore them, obviously, but we waste sooooo much time. I personally think (and I may be wrong) that each man has to decide in his conscience between him and God what he is allowed and not allowed to do. Obviously, some things like murder ,evangelism, and modesty are pretty black and white already, but things like music, clothing style, and whether or not you choose to drink wine should be between you and God. We're not supposed to stumble weaker people in the faith, but beyond that, if your conscience says 'no' don't do it. What's ok for one person may not be ok for another.

  I don't know. Those are just some of my thoughts. :) But I do know that I don't like gray, Lol!

  Um....I miss my other blog. This one is rather boring. I'll have to get a new template up soon, I guess.  Because black defintely does not fit my personality, lol. I still can't believe I actually deleted my other one!

   So as for interesting things to write about....(other than the fact that my title is watching Kung Fu Panda!)  Last Sunday was our last one at our church; from now on we'll be going to ones nearer to where we live. So it was a sad day--at least for me. :) We went to a park after church and my best friend and I walked around...and around....and around...ok, not that many times! LOL. We both have decided that playgrounds hold little interest now that we're so OLD!!!! Then we finally convinced Daddy to take us swimming!!! Which I'm defintely not too old to do, lol. Nothing really has happened since then (and my whole family has heard my unhappy feelings about that!!) I'm usually not happy unless I'm going somewhere or doing something--and summer days can get a little long. Of course, that's not a good thing and I've been repeating to myself all day--Godliness with CONTENTMENT is great gain! LOL. 

 Oh well, it's probably good July is so lazy, because every singe weekend in August is full. We're going to this event in North Carolina. I think it's a pow-wow, but I'm not sure. It does have to do with Indians. Then, the next weekend, we're heading (with our old church) to the Call in Washington DC. (More on that in a later blog. Ooops, I mean post. I'm not starting ANOTHER blog, lol!) And then, the next week, Mom is going to North Dakota to the Lakota Indian reservation (more on THAT later, too) and the rest of us are headed to Virginia Beach!!! So August should be pretty busy.

 So what should I name this blog? Any ideas?

I accidently just deleted my blog.  I had made this test blog to test templates and stuff and then I decided I didn't want it so I went to delete it and I accidently just deleted my other one. And the sad thing is, it's permanant. Yup, it said 'do you want to PERMANTELY delete this blog' and I clicked yes. So yeah...I guess I'm starting all over. :( 

I suppose I'll think this is funny in forty years....lol

So anyways....comment and comfort me. (sniff, sniff)