“Lord as I stand at the kitchen sink mixing batter for Christmas cookies the spicy pine permeates our house. Already everyone is rushing in our town! I remember that it started years ago when the startled shepherds came with haste to find the newborn Baby. Dear God as I bake enormous batches of cookies this beautiful Christmas season I pray for sufficient strength to go with haste to the frightened and lonely to the worn and weary to those without courage and hope. Lord, may each batch of cookies be mixed with love- not just mine, but Yours! Right now, dear God with flour smudging my face and dough clinging to my fingers I praise you with all my heart for loving us enough to give the very best- the gift of Your only begotten son.”
~ The One Year book of Bible Promises, December 2o
"Know you what it is to be a child? It is to be something very different from the man of today. it is to gave a spirit yet streaming from the waters of baptism; it is to believe in love,to believe in loveliness, to believe in belief; it is to be so little that the elves can reach to whisper in your ear; it is to turn pumpkins into coaches, and mice into horses, lowness into loftiness, and nothing into everything, for each child has its fairy godmother in its soul.” -Francis Thompson
I am sitting here and trying to think of something to write about. To my right, the window is open and letting in a beautiful breeze. The sun is shining and the leaves are falling to the ground with a soft whispering sound. To my left, I can see into my bedroom - spotless and shiny from this morning's cleaning. In front of me (of course) is the computer screen were the tiny thoughts of my mind are being transferred to you. In a little while I will be watching Little Woman with my dear sister, Anna, and enjoying it immensely, I'm sure.
I can hear soft snatches of harmonic melodies as Anna listens to Redwall music while doing the dishes. Above the computer screen is a red shelf that contains a tea pot, tea cup and a coffee cup with the words “Faith, Nothing will be impossible for you" - Matthew 17:20. There are several little books that read as follows: Gathered Thoughts, Etiquette for Ladies, and Fair Play and Other Stories. Furthermore, there is an Canon Ink Cartridge, and numerous CDs and labels. Well, I have rambed on some, haven’t I? At least I have emptied my mind! And entertained you.
"Humor is the spiciest condiment in the feast of existence. Laugh at your mistakes but learn from them, joke over your troubles but gather strength from them, make a jest of your difficulties but overcome them."
— L.M. Montgomery
"I'd like to add some beauty to life," said Anne dreamily. "I don't exactly want to make people KNOW more. . .though I know that IS the noblest ambition. . .but I'd love to make them have a pleasanter time because of me. . .to have some little joy or happy thought that would never have existed if I hadn't been born."
— L.M. Montgomery
"I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens, but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string."
An old man, going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned, when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.
“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim, near,
“You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again will pass this way;
You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide-
Why build you this bridge at the evening tide?”
The builder lifted his old gray head:
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There followeth after me today,
A youth, whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm, that has been naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.”
Thank you everyone for leaving such nice comments. I'll try posting once or twice a week.
Lately, I've been reading Red Wall by Brian Jacque and I've been drawing a lot of Redwall animals. I love Redwall and this week mom bought me a some titles from Ebay that I haven't read before. Here are some of my drawings below.
Copyright 2007 by Elizabeth Novak
All Rights Reserved
I haven’t blogged in a while, and there is a lot to catch-up on. First I’ll tell you about my goat. I’ll start at the beginning. We wanted goats for a long time and finally we got our wish. A friend was so kind as to give us two goats. One was a nubian and her name was Cherry. The other was a cross between a nubian and a pigmy. Her name was Flicka, which means “little girl” in Swedish. Cherry was pregnant and gave birth to twins, so we had to send Flicka back because we only had one stall. We had a concrete block that was used for a gas pump in the fenced-in area. Cherry would stand on the block (it was right by the fence) and jump over it into the yard. The twins (by the way, their names are Bulls-Eye and Taffy, would follow her, so we had to give Cherry and Taffy back. We kept Bulls-Eye. Sometimes I would call him “Backwards C” because of a marking on his side that looks like a backwards C. Lately, we have been having trouble with him. He will lean on the bottom of the gate and push so hard that he makes a gap which he squeezes through. Mom fixed that, however by twisting a wire around the bottom of the gate to keep it closed. My goat is a real escape artist.
Elizabeth's Journal Entry, age 7 October, 25th 2002
The geese alighted in the field one morning when I wasn't even awake. I woke up and went out to the living room and sat down on the love seat. I called, “Mom, look! There's a whole bunch of geese out in the field.” Mom said, “Yes, I wish Eric could see them.” I said, “Wake him up, Mom, wake him up.” “No, no,” she said. “He’ll only be disgusted because he can't shoot them.”
The geese looked like they were doing the tango. You could hear the crunch of the soybeans underneath their squeechy feet. Tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp...
As I gazed upon the many geese I saw the beautiful colors of their feathers: black, white, and gray. The scales on their legs were orange. When all the geese were eating, one of the leaders set a guard to look out for the girls who were in the field. The guards go up to higher places to make sure that there isn’t anything there.
Claire wanted someone to let our pet goose Peep-Peep out to see if one of the geese would mate with her. No one would let her out of the barn because it was tooo cold. I said, "I will." And they said, "All by yourself?" I said, "Yes, I don't mind."
When I went outside the geese looked like statues. They didn’t move. I went into the barn and I heard, “Honk, honk, honk, quack, quack, quack, peep, peep, peep.” I went and let Peep-Peep out and I said to her, “Peep-Peep, we need you for an emergency.” She said, “Honk!” and came right towards me. I grabbed her and pulled her out of her cage. She said, “Honk, honk, hooooooooonk!”
I clomped out of the barn and set her down. I chased her towards the guards. I wondered what would happen. I hoped it wouldn’t be Peep-Peep’s last breath, and it wasn't! She would not go one step near them. She flapped her wings and ran away as fast as she could. I said, “Peep-Peep you're supposed to go to the curious guards!” She just stood there and looked at me. I chased her into the field of golden brown soybeans.
Then the marvelous guards flew up into the air as the flock flew away. I felt like it was my fault that they flew away. Mom comforted me and said, “No, God makes them go places, not you.”
May 28th, Three days ago, on a bright sunny afternoon, I was going to the kitchen to get a drink of water when I heard I thought I heard the catbird. The sound kept coming and coming and coming. Then Eric heard it, and said, "Neat, its the catbird."I didn't think it was one because it didn't really sound like a bird. It sounded like this, trillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll. I have it right here by my head this very minute, but I will not tell you what it is right now.
Back to the story. I looked out the window and didn't see anything, so I stepped outside. There in the bushes by the house was a baby raccoon. I yelled to Eric that it wasn't a catbird, but a baby raccoon. Anna, Eric, and I ran over to see it. Eric said to run and get a net and gloves, so I did. When I came back, the raccoon was in a tree.Eric said, "We'll wait until he comes down and catch him in the net." So we waited and waited. Then mom came down from Mrs. Kraft's where she was talking. She ran into the house and got the digital and video cameras and started videotaping the raccoon up in the tree. I took some still pictures of it. Eric was sick and got tired of waiting, so he went inside and left mom, Anna, and me to try and catch it.
Then mom gave up and left me and Anna to try alone. I told Anna to get one of the great big plastic pipes and a ladder. When she came back I put the ladder at the base of the tree and climbed to the top with the plastic pipe in my hand. I took the pole and reached up to where he was sitting and tapped his hind leg and tail. He kept backing down the tree until he was almost to the ground. Then I put the net under him and took my glove and pushed him into the net. Mom decided to put him in some rabbit cages that were by the garage. Every time we came past the cages or when we tried to feed him or give him water he growled at us. He was very, very ferocious.
The next day we went to Lake Michigan and had a great day at the beach, as well as a picnic. That night when we came home I put my gloves on and touched him for the first time. The next morning he was even friendlier and I patted him with bare hands.Then I decided to see if I could pick him on and I could.
The next step was taking him into the house, and here I am in the bedroom telling you about him. I'm happy to say he's asleep under mom's arm as she is helping take down this journal entry for me. Next I will tell you about what he likes to do.
Today is a very special day. You ask why? Well, Ill tell you. Heres a list of things that makes today nice. First of all I heard a Red Wing blackbird. Then I heard the Sand Hill cranes and the Canadian Geese. I also heard the cardinal, seagulls, and the chickadees. I saw seagulls, red winged blackbirds, Sand Hill cranes, cardinals, lady bugs and box elder bugs as well.
A few days ago I had an inspiration to make a talent show. Wait a minute, I'd better start at the beginning. It all started because I wanted to get a riding lesson, so I made a talent show... Oh, you get the idea I needed money.
There are six of us in our family and two of us were in the show, so I got four dollars and a $1.00 tip. Dad gave me a five dollar bill because he didnt have any singles.
I took our goat and taught her to stand on her hind hooves for some grain. Anna got the cats to do the same thing, only they stood on their paws, not on hooves and not for grain, but for lunchmeat.
I sang My Sweet Heart Went Down With the Ship. Anna told jokes and did tap dancing.
During the intermission Anna sold drinks and apples. Apples were 10 cents each, and drinks were 25 cents each. Then we had a contest to see which one of our chickens was the prettiest. Claire was the judge. In case youre interested, a pretty brown chicken with brown and black spots won.
After that, Anna and I told some knock knock jokes. Here is one of the jokes we told. Knock, knock." "Who's there?" "Frank." "Frank who?" "Frank, go do the dishes!" Ha! Ha! Ha!
I am starting to read big books. I am finishing reading the first grade readers. Here are some names of the books I am reading.
1.The SecretGarden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
2.The Adventures of Mr. Mocker (1942). The Famous Bedtime Story Books by Thornton W. Burgess. I am listing some of the names of the other books that he has written.
3.Prickly Porky (1944)
4.Ol Mistah Buzzard (1947)
5.Jerry Muskrat (1942)
6.Chatterer the Red Squirrel (1915)
7.Mother West Winds Animal Friends (1912)
8.Molly an American Girl Book One to Book Three by Valerie Tripp
You can get the newer books at almost any library.
This afternoon it started to snow. I thought it would be nice to decorate the house with sprigs of green boughs. I took a basket and went outside to get the sprigs. When my basket was full I went back in the house. I put some sprigs above my picture by my desk, and on the shelf above the window. Then I put some on the door, and some above the mirror. I put a little jar of sprigs on the piano. It is so pretty.
Tonight we watched Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I like the part where Gideon, the youngest brother says, Im an uncle! and faints (thats when he hears Millies baby cry). I also like the part where they have the big dance. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is such a funny movie. I think you might want to get it too. We have watched it on DVD and on Video, and so can you! Bloggirl.
Last night we went to MidwestCimarronArcheryCenter. We got there early and the director wasn't there yet, so we helped set up the targets, putting balloons on them.
The people that were there the other week came again this week. One of the girls decided she wouldn't learn bow hunting, so the mother decided she would. She was there with her two other daughters.
We started shooting and then we did archery machine guns, which is everybody shooting at one target at the same time.
They call the director the Turkey man and when his wife showed up we called her Mrs.Turkey. She helped me a lot with my form.
Because it was her birthday she brought cheese, crackers, and cookies, and when we were leaving we happen sang happy birthday to her, but not the regular version. We sang the Christian version.
We have wanted goats for a very, very long time.Finally, our wish came true. Last year, the Beattys said we could buy two goats from them. We couldnt get them in the spring because mom wasnt feeling well. Finally Mrs. Beatty called up again and said, We have two goats that we want to give to you! We were overjoyed and said that we would be glad to take them.
We had to wait three whole days until Saturday came. Mom woke us up at 7:00 a.m. in the morning to get ready to go.It took an hour and 45 minutes to drive to the Beattys. When we got there the goat girl, Beth, took us to the barn where we milked Cherry, a brown and black goat.Later, we would take her home with us.
We went out into the pasture and met a little white goat, named Flicka. Flicka means little girl in Swedish. She is the mixture of two breeds. One breed has droopy ears, and one breed has ears that stick up.So her ears are in-between. We brought them home and put them in our pen. We have milked Cherry two times.
