School

"School is fun!"... Snowballs through the open window... "I know how to write 'God' now!!!"... "lost" pencils... "two plus two is ALWAYS four, you said so!"... paper airplanes aimed at unsuspecting me when they're supposed to be studying... "eighty? ninety? tendy!?, 'you are like so guessing!', yup I am!"... Yeah, I like teaching! :)

This Weekend

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A quick reposting of a song that is again running through my mind...

Trust His Heart

Babbie Mason

All things work for our good
Though sometimes we don't see how they could
Struggles that break our hearts in two
Sometimes blind us to the truth
Our Father knows what best for us
His ways are not our own
So when your pathway grows dim
And you just don't see Him
Remember you're never alone

God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don't understand
When you don't see His plan
When you can't trace His hand
Trust His heart
Trust His heart

He sees the master plan
And He holds our future in His hand
So don't live as those who have no hope
All our hope is found in Him
We see the present clearly
But He sees the first and the last
And like a tapestry
He's weaving you and me
To someday be just like Him

God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don't understand
When you don't see His plan
When you can't trace His hand
Trust His heart
Trust His heart

He alone is faithful and true
He alone knows what is best for you

God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don't understand
When you don't see His plan
When you can't trace His hand
Trust His heart
Trust His heart


When you don't understand
When you don't see His plan
When you can't trace His hand
Trust His heart
Trust His heart

In Which She Replans Her Winter Activitys

Once upon a time there was a girl. She had turned 17 on the 6'th of the previous January. She had brown eyes, brown hair and stood 5 feet 5 inches, and her favorite color was burnt orange. Don't ask  me why you needed to know what her favorite color was. She was out of school. She had spent her summer cleaning various houses through out the northern woodlands in order to obtain the money needed to travel to the distant land of Timbuktu. Otherwise known as Thailand.
  Upon the arrival of the needed pennies in her piggy bank it came to her attention that the dear people whom she was planning to visit in that fair land, were possibly going to return to their home land, where the wild chipmunks roam, right-smack-dab in the middle of this young girls visit.
 "So," the young girl thought to herself, "I shall change my plans for the umpteenth and 11'th time".
And she did! The umpteenth and 11'th plan turned out to be teaching two young children in the first year of their scholastic endeavors.
 "But first", she thought to herself, she did allot of 'thinking to herself' btw, "I shall journey to the land of dangerous drivers and too many people to see what I can learn under the tutelage of several preachers for a week". Otherwise known as going to Charity Bible School.
 So the date for the journey was set  for the 4'th of November, various other people planning on going along invited about a million of their friends to go with, and the girl is spending her last week before the journey doing various odds n ends of things before she has to settle in and be a responsible schoolmarm for the rest of the winter.
Tonight her family is planning to go to the fair city of Rice and Lakes to see if they can conquer the houses of Aldi, Farm and Fleet, and hopefully a few thrift stores and a computer store, the girl has decided that it is time to see if she can buy a computer without spending every last penny from her piggy bank, and then they are planning to travel home with their plunder and live happily ever after.
The End

Amy and I

One Wish

I'm one of those girls who always wonders what they would do if they could have one wish.
Just one, anything at all was possible with that one wish. A girl could go back and fix a mistake. A girl could go forward and see what they will be doing when they are thirty five. A girl could wish herself a princess in medieval times... The possibility's are limitless.
  A girl could even wish that someone else she loved could have her wish.
Today, I'd give my wish away. I don't think even a princess could have a better few months planned.
(Large emphasis on the planned word).  I think I finally have my winter planned.
  Last Monday Jared called and said that the only open flight he could find for me is for this Thursday, and I would be returning in March sometime. 
So we thought, and agonized and finally decided that, yes, I could be ready to go. The ticket was found, purchase of it was to happen Tuesday morning, along with sending off of my Visa (which should be ready that soon but... oh well, we wont worry about that.) I called Charity and told her what I was planning to do... and told her that we could not talk about it that night or I'd cry, it would mean that I was not going to see her until next April, and I haven't seen her since last January. (Yes, that IS over a year, and yes, that IS too long!)
 After we were done talking I had convinced myself that, yes of course I'm ready to go that soon, duh!!!
 Tuesday morning I found out that I will not be flying this Thursday. Dru had called and said that it was silly to spend just as much money on a one way ticket as a two way ticket should be.
So I spent the rest of the day and all day Wednesday wondering what in the world I was going to do.
Dru's spent some time trying to figure out who else might happen to be flying in the meantime. Among the people they came up with was some for thirty year old bachelor, ("Pleeeeease God, dooooon't make me fly with hiiim!!!").
Thursday Mom called GTO and asked if there was, by any chance, someone flying in January, and coming back in March.
And they did. A group of GIRLS actually, and they have not gotten their tickets yet, which means that I can get on the same flight with them for sure. PTL!!!
So yesterday I sent off my application for Charity Bible School. Today I need to order a bunch of craft supplies for the Ojibwa children (btw NBCC is now on FB) and buy fabric so I can finish my sewing this week. 
 So you see, life is good. And today I'm going to enjoy it... So you can have my wish if you want it, I don't need it.
 "But above all, laugh when you can, apologize when you should, and let go of what you can’t change. Life is short, yet amazing. Enjoy the ride." -Marc

Q. A.

What have I noticed lately?

* Hey! It's summer out there! No wait... I mean... What happened!!!? Where did it go!?

* The leaves are starting to change already!

* The weather is cooler already!

* The days are shorter!

* The corn is tasseling!

* Canning season is here!

* Enough exclamation points now... on to part two.

What am I thinking about right now?

* My Thailand trip plans.

* The Camping coming up.

* I need new songs for Kids Club.

* What the words contentment and joy and mean to me.

* What the major differences between disciples and friends are.

* How to live in two houses and not feel disconnected with the world in general... And enjoy it.

* What a Caboclo's lifestyle is (my term paper was/is supposed to be on Brazil... and I have yet to finish it( -blush inserted here- ).

What am I enjoying right now?

* The fact that Gabes will be here in three or four hours and that on Monday morning we are all  headed up to MN for a whole whoppin week of VACATION!

* That I'm not in school... My siblings started last week.

* That I'm "free, and 21" well... 17... whatever... what's the diff. ? Means the same thing: I'm free to do as I please (within reason!). 

That's all for now folks! -Francis

Anything and Everything

I love thrift stores!!! Found three more new outfits there today. Mom and I spent all morning running back and forth across town to do the shopping before going out to the job for a few days.
 And to go to the clinic about Moms arm, she damaged a muscle in her shoulder, which then swelled and is now pinching the main nerve in her arm. Doc Tommy told her to take Ibuprofen around the clock and not to lift anything. 
 Life has been crazily busy and does not promise to slow down anytime soon. I never did get my term paper finished... Perhaps I shall take it along to Thailand with me in November. I'm sooo looking forward to going over there and seeing those peoples! The only part of it that I'm not looking forward to is missing Kids Club here.
I need to run... Amy was just asking me for a pink marker and Mom is wondering about music to practice our song for the singsperation on Sunday. And I'm still not totally packed...
 Have a great week!               -Francis 

Quote of the Day

"Coperhead!!! I kiled it after my litle brother steped on it", there was a picture too... But I decided not to post that. :)  -Jonny... Otherwise known as (Cousin) Gwynndon. First he told me not to tell his name... And then he said it was okay. So I'm doing both :) 
 "Yuck that's awful! Where was it?"  - Yours Truly
"It was in d woods bhind the house." -Gwynndon
"I thought you southerners were trained to watch for snakes, not step on em!" - Yours Truly
"Southeners aint traind 4 spotin snakes. It jus comes natural after a few close cals like that." -Gwynndon

Don't you just love that last line? :)

The Project

Have you ever atempted to do something that simply would not turn out corectly? Something that is a necessity... Something that you can't leave undone. But it has to be done right. You try over and over and over... You stop for a while... And then you try again... And never once does it turn out right. Even if you've tried 20/30 times...
You've prayed over it, you've cried over it... You've even gotten mad at someone when they critiqued your project because... Duh, you knew it wasn't right, and what you really needed to hear at the time was "how wonderful!" not "um... you could try it this way...". All in all the project is the most frustrating thing in the world to you... And then one day. You get all of the right tools for doing the project... You have all of the materials you need for the  project. You start it, you finish it, you discover that it was all done correctly and it pleases you, very much... And then you try to use it. And it is perfect except... Except... EXCEPT IT'S THE WRONG SIZE!!!
 The workmanship is excellent... It was even fun to make, you didn't cry, you didn't get mad, you even perhaps had fun doing it. But in the end, it was wrong.
 So then you cry, and you pray, and you get mad... And everything else everybody does when they are upset.
 And in the end you decide that the best thing to do would be to just quietly pack it into a nice box, tie a pretty bow on the box... Go out behind the barn with a shovel... And a have a nice little funeral service.
You decide that you think that maybe that particular thing was not such a necessity after all. Maybe you could just buy something almost as good and go with that.
   The End
P.S. I'm never going to sew again.
P.S.S. Verena, do you happen to want a new dress? I don't have a barn to bury it behind.

 

Picture courtesy of the world wide web.

" What A Wonderful World"

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom, for me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

I see skies of blue, and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, dark sacred night
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces, of people going by
I see friends shaking hands, sayin', "How do you do?"
They're really sayin', "I love you"

I hear babies cryin', I watch them grow
They'll learn much more, than I'll ever know
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

Yes, I think to myself
What a wonderful world

Linda Said It Too (in referance to my last post).

Miss Linda Hershey

Give, give some more, and keep on giving.

Photo Courtesy of of the World Wide Web.

"Sometimes a small thing you do can means everything in another person's life."

I've been thinking allot lately about giving. Your time, your skills, your love, anything that isn't material...

 The other day I had an especially depressing day and when I sat down for my devotions that night I found  verses, over and over... Many, many of them, about how God loves His people, and He is always right there for them. And I felt so encouraged, and so challenged. How can I learn to give like God does?

 If God had a limited amount of time for people, a limited amount of love, a limited amount of patience, a limited amount of anything, where would we be?

 And then today we saw a thrift store just off the road, and as we had extra time, we stopped. Guess what the first thing I found was? Try Giving Yourself Away by David Dunn. If you have not read it already I would recommend it. It says, pretty much word for word, what I've been thinking...

People need to give unconditionally, with no expectations of receiving back. If God had wanted to know, for sure, that every one He gave the gift of His Son too, would give Him something just as big back. None of us would have forgiveness. Praise the Lord that He is unconditional! -Francis

My Help Comes From You

"I Look To the Hills" 

When I look to the hills, when my eyes turn to the hills.

 When I am in the valley Father, I look to You, when I look to the hills.

 And where do I find help, help to see me through?

 Father in you, oh Lord, my help comes from You.

 When I look to the hills, when my eyes turn to the hills, 

When I am in the valley Father I look to You, when I look to the hills.

 And where do I find strength, strength to seem me through? 

Father in you, oh Lord, my strength comes from You. 

And where I find joy, joy to see me through? 

Father in you, oh Lord my joy comes from You. 

And where do I find help, help to see me through? 

Father in you, oh Lord, my help comes from You.

 My help comes from You. 

At Grandmas

Abbey called me last week and wondered if I would want to go with she and Hannah and Susan down to Grandmas this weekend... And of course I did. So we left Friday afternoon, and got back last night.

  And since I am really not in the mood to write, I'll put some pictures on now, and perhaps post about the weekend later.

And here is a link to some Senior Pictures I had Abbey take for me on the way home... While we waited for the car to cool down... Which is another story.

I Love Summer

Like I just said, I love summer. Especially, breezy, sunny, glorious, summer days like yesterday and today.
 Yesterday I got a humongous amount of work done, I'm really rather pleased with myself. And today I spent/am spending, they day doing the finish up work.
 Yesterday we cleaned CC, a huge lodge that takes between 5 and 7 hours to clean. So I was gone from 9 till 2:30, then I came home and dived into redoing/cleaning my room. I sanded my desk and painted the top. Some fine day I'm going to sand the paint back off the top and varnish the whole thing...
And I did some touch up painting in my room, and made new curtains, and did all sorts of odds and ends, moving my fish downstairs for the summer, ect.
 Today I found 7 lil' wooden picture frames at Salvation Army just like I've been dreaming about ever since I got my own room. And I just ordered pictures through walgreens... I do not, I repeat, DO NOT, like walmarts photo ordering website, my poor brain is too little for it! I also found three doilies there, at Salvation Army I mean... You should have seen us walking out of that place! :) Mom had whole bunch of stuff and Amy got something and then I had my arm load of things... I love thrift stores! :)
  I always talk about starting a coffee shop, and on days like today I think about all the fun ways a person could decorate... Today it would be bright, sunshiny, bouquets of flowers on the tables and polka dotted dishes and square drinking glasses... The drinking glasses are always square in my coffee shoppe, don't ask me why, they just are. My only problem with any of the planning is the fact that I can not, at all, figure out the name of the place. And as long as the place does not have a name, it is nonexistent. Sorry folks, no iced coffee today.
Actually I did have an iced coffee today, of sorts, we stopped at MacDonalds for ice cream and I got myself and Mom Caramel Frappe's, I don't think coffee can ever get better than a caramel frappe!!! 
 I think I'm going to talk my family into taking a walk tonight, and I think that it shall be down towards the lake because my lilacs are wilting and the only place I can find to get more is on somebodies deserted (or at least it looks deserted most of the time) property. Summer simply isn't summer with out a bouquet of lilacs on the table and a honeysuckle bush in bloom outside of the window.
  And speaking of honeysuckle bushes, I'm going to go pick a bouquet for my room. It's been asking for one, quite loudly, ever since I hung my new curtains.
 Have lovely weekend! -Francis

Right Now

* Started at Chicago Club yesterday, it took 7 hours... That's allot of work!
* Kids Club  went good last night... I didn't even bother to count how many kids came somewhere between 10 and 20 :)
* I was talking to Amy last night, moaning, and she looked at me and said in a no-duh voice " You'll Live.".
This is what I wrote up about it this morning:
I was talking to Amy the other night  about life and she told me in a very flat, no duh, voice: "You'll Live".
  How many of you have ever been running frantically around on the ceiling and suddenly somebody looked up at you and said "you'll live", it's a rather startling thought! You land with a thud on the floor. Both feet planted firmly under you and a big sign right in front of you that says "Get on with Life!".  And you suddenly discover that since you do have feet, and they are both on the ground, you don't really have any excuse for not walking. Except maybe soaring back up to the ceiling, and you don't really feel like doing that anymore. You think that perhaps that would make you look, and feel, slightly silly after what you were just told about yourself.
* I've been dreading my summer lately, its full of cleaning jobs, and that's about it. Last night and today were  good for me, made me realize that I might as well make lemonade with my lemons.
Mom was listening to The King's Singers today and one of the songs was about living for each day, not for the past or the future, and I realized how much growing I have to do in that area. The other thing I keep realizing is that there are an awful lot of girls out there that have much worse problems than mine. I keep trying  to tell myself that that is a comforting thought, it never quite works :) I mean, my problems are still there, and they are still problems, even if other people do have worse ones... I never was very good at talking myself into something! :)
* Got my dress finished to day. WOO HOO!!! Now I have two more to go. :P I think that if there is anything in the world that I dislike doing it's sewing. I always end up praying my way through the last couple hours of it "please let this seam work this time, please to make me have to take it out again. It would help allot if I could get my pattern right.
* I was in the kitchen today making myself some lunch when Amy and Brad came into the house with hands full of Dandelion greens "yes you will try one, I know what I'm doing, they're good!"- Amy
"I might, dunno though, they look disgusting..."-Brad in a very dubious voice.
Amy proceeded to bread them and fry them up in butter. (Someone, ahem, walked into the kitchen at this point and informed her that they look just like the pictures of fried rat, they did too!).
When I went into the kitchen about ten minutes later I found them both gulping water, Amy with a slightly annoyed, somewhat sheepish, look on her face. And Brad with a rather shocked look on his face. "I did too get some dandelion!"-Brad "No you did not! Did you taste something kinda soggy n stringy? THAT is the dandelion part!". -Amy
I'm afraid I was guilty of laughing at them. :)
*Susan just walked in the door and its 10:40... I really should be going to bed.
*Okay it's today now, or rather it's not last night anymore.
*I just discovered a humongous bag of cheese curds in the fridge!!!
*I finished my math book about fifteen minutes ago... That means that I never have to do another math lesson. :)
 I distinctly remember thinking in second grade that ten more years of school was ALLOT of school left!!! Like forevers worth! I wonder if my next ten years will go as quickly? They'll go faster I spose.
* We were looking up train songs last night and Dad found Josh Turners  Long Black Train song. I love watching the look on Dads face when he listens to a song he hasn't heard before, or hasn't heard in a long time... He almost looks upset he's listening so hard... And if anybody tries to talk they get shushed. He has a hard time understanding the words on a song unless the words are spoken very clearly. He was sitting there trying with all his might to understand the guy... So I told him to get a utube that had the lyrics with it... Which he did.
Meanwhile Mom was sitting on the other side of the room listening to The King's Singers I'm A Train.
It really was funny, the difference between the two... Look them up and listen to them and you'll get what I mean. :)
* I'm supposed to be baking something... Or at least doing something destructive er constructive (I have a reputation in this house for burning cookies) so I think I shall go get at it now... Hope my choppy post did not drive you all crazy! Have a great weekend. -Francis

Miss you Chari!

Hay Fever

 Found this while looking for natural remedies for my hay fever... it's pretty good :) I'll bet too it gets rid of it "REAL fast"! Try mixing that concoction up and  not getting a runny nose! Goodness!
  Jean writes, "After drinking this recipe, your sinus congestion will disappear REAL fast. All these ingredients not only work on the immediate symptoms, but add plenty of vitamin C to fight a cold, and garlic to fight infection.

Recipe:
Add 1 cup tomato juice,
1 tsp chopped fresh garlic,
1/2 tsp of hot sauce,
1 tsp lemon juice,
and a pinch or two of celery salt for flavor.
Heat ingredients and drink hot."

And, just as a side note here... I found another website that said that tomato's can cause hay fever... People are funny :)
 Or, I could eat beans, lots of beans, lots and lots and lots of beans actually... Yuppers, that would definitely work. I'd be so busy thinking about how sick I was of beans that I wouldn't have time to have hay fever. Or I could rinse my nose with salt water... Ouch!!! That one makes me cringe just thinking about it!
"About a half a teaspoon of salt to two cups of warm water" oofta-camoofta! And if you don't know why that makes me cringe, go try it. Make your concoction, snarf it up your nose, and feel the "relief". Actually, that probably works too, "I will not think about how my nose hurts, I will not think about how my nose hurts... I will not think about how my throat burns, I will not think about how my throat burns!", yeah, I probly would not be thinking about the headache and itchy eyes symptoms... And the fatigue would be gone too... I'd be busy running around in circles with my tongue hanging out, looking rather much like the Coyote after Mission Abandoned and the road runner has taken off again...  They're right.
 Anyways, I think I'll stick to my Vitamin C thank-you-very-much.

Apple Trees and Springtime

The only apple tree I ever remember my family having was an old crab apple tree that we finally cut down... It died or something, I don't remember. But I do remember picking  the little hard green apples and roasting them over the fire. I'd always burn my tongue. But that was what, ten years ago? It's time for another one.
  And it's time for a little pair of green rubber boots and an old dishpan for a boat.
It's time for doll houses in the woods and ittybitty houses made of sticks and stones at the roots of a big oak tree.
It's time for walks through the woods picking blackberries and getting lost.
It's time to crack open an acorn and talk an unsuspecting friend into tasting it.
And to pull all the legs off a grandaddy long-legs spider.
It's time to make mud pies and run screaming from your brother while he chases you with earthworms...
It's time to pick dandelions by the hand full and give them to your mom.
It's time to gather arm fulls of daisies and talk your older sister into making a daisy chain for you.
And to climb the pine tree you've been forbidden to climb, then use half of moms hairspray to get the pitch off of your hands and feet...
It's time to pick cockle burrs out of your dress skirt and braid, and poke grass down ants hills.
Springtime is a time to be five years old again.

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 

Psalm 8:3-4 

They are small.

The Good Part
*They look perfectly Innocent.
*They enjoy light places.
*They are quaint.
*They can not walk quickly.
*They have pretty colors.
*They do not make loud noises.
The Bad Part
*They have too many legs.
*They taste very bad. 
*They have an annoying habit of getting in your mop water.
*They stink... Badly.
*They can, and do, fly.
*They make small and irritating tapping noises.
*I can see 20 of them by simply looking to my right. (Yes, I counted.)
*I am tired of picking them up, sweeping them up, mopping them up... And any other manner of getting rid of them that you can think of. I left one at the bottom of Gladys' stairs last Friday because I was overcome with Dislike for those Things, and could not muster the courage to dispose of even one more...  I will get it next time I clean... Providing that it is still there and Joe has not squished it and dropped it into the trash can... He probably will have. And I shall be Profoundly Grateful to him.