If you could cook any meal for your family what would it be?

It would be a supper feast, and we'd invite our friends to it:  Sebastian's family would come, all the people on my Gratz Grizzle team except that one person that was mean to everyone on our team, and Miles and Trey and everyone on my team here in Florida, and Zane and Cheris and their family, and Steve and his family, plus Grumps and Ahna, and Memaw and Mister.  This will be a party to show my friends how much I like them.  So, the table will have a gold cloth, with a red heart on it.  There will be gold hearts everywhere.  There will be roses at the middle of the table, and we will have supper with the two big candles on the table, and turn off the lights.  There will be bowls of water with beads in them and flower candles.  We'll make special lights to look like their are sharks swimming around us, and fish and turtles and stuff.

We would have ribs, meatballs, chicken and turkey.  There's lettuce and things like croutons and bacon bites for salads.  We'll have the dinosaur bread with special oil and herbs.  We'd have muscles and noodles.  There would be green beans and broccoli, and you could put ranch on them if you wanted too.  There would be macaroni and cheese, and coleslaw.  There would be crackers and noodle soup.  We'd also have Cheetos, cheese pizza, pepperoni pizza, sausage pizza, and Momma's favorite kind.  For drinks there would be apple juice boxes, Coke bottles, Dr. Pepper bottles, water bottles, Orange coke, fruit punch, Yoohoos, chocolate milk, and white milk.  Then for desert we'd have ice cream, chips (every single kind), chocolate bars, smarties, and honey and marshmallows, and cotton candy, and popcorn (all kinds), and a chocolate fountain.  Last but not least there would be a love cake that was chocolate and vanilla.  There'd be something for everybody, and there would be lots of left overs.

After the food there would be a disco party, in the living room.  There would be dancing and music and lights and all of that.  Everyone could do their own dances, and if they didn't want to dance, they wouldn't have to.  Next, in my room, people would get to watch tv if they wanted too.  Then in the same room, they could play some Nintendo games.  The best part is that they all would get to sleep over 7 nights.  Alot of them brought their tents too, so that we could have a camp out.  It would be the best party ever.  The End.  By Britt.

colored by Rebecca

Last week I went to Sea World.  There was a show of dolphins.  And the dolphins did tricks.  I liked when they were riding on the dolphins.  It was my and Rebecca's favorite show.  I asked to kiss one at the end and they laughed.  Britt wants to be the prince that rides on the dolphin, when he is grown up.  Momma told him he had to learn to swim really well.  It was fun watching the Killer Whales do them big splashes.  That was Britt's favorite show.  We went to a sea lion show too.  A boy in the sea lion show, and he threw his trash coke can in the water, and a little otter got it out.  He talked and complained and said, he went right past the recycling!  And we went to a fake Antarctica.  And when it was raining, me and Britt said, "For the first time ever, Antarctica is melting!"











And after the melting rain stopped, we goed and buyed some stuff.   I got a pink dolphin holding on to a big lollipop.  I also got a glowing penguin key chain.  When I grow up I'm going to put it on my keys.  So just incase we have a black out, I have a penguin that glows.  And I got seahorse earrings.  Most important, I got cotton candy.  Rebecca got an orca necklace and squeeky orca that she named Shamu.  Britt got an aligator tooth necklace and I helped him buy a baby polar bear.

Picture taken by Ruth

Write a story called "The Baby Dragon."

Once upon a time in a little forest there was a little dragon walking through the forest.  And he saw two little boys, Britt and Christopher.  They were walking till Britt yelled "Wow," and stopped suddenly falling over, because the dragon was holding on to his leg.

Christopher said, "It looks like you've got a dragon."

They kept walking with the dragon hanging on to his leg when they saw a beautiful girl, named Evelyn.  They asked Evelyn if she wanted to explore the forest with them.  And she said yes.  It was a fun day, but Britt and Christopher decided it was time to take the baby dragon home.  So they all agreed to find the baby dragon's home.  They didn't realize that they were lost, and very hungry.  They still didn't find the baby dragon's mom.  They decided to call the dragon Skippy, because he liked to skip alot.  All of a sudden they ran into the momma dragon.  They heard a sound like this aaahooooooo.  They knew it was something, that they were being watched.  They saw wolves!  They ran and ran up the mountain into a cave that was the dragon's home.  She breathed fire and burned some of the wolves.  The other two others ran away.  The momma dragon gave them a lift home, because they brought back her dragon baby.

Then after supper Evelyn and Britt married that night.  The End.

The biggest surprise this school year has been Rebecca.  I found a couple of early, early preschool books in my stash, so I set them aside for Rebecca.  Just in case I needed something to entertain her while the others worked on school.  In the past she's showed no interest.  For a while now, I've started school right after lunch while she takes a nap.  When she's not napping, she's been thrilled to have all the toys to herself.  The first week the kids started back, I pulled them out when she asked.  She kinda piddled with one but didn't seem to like it.  So I was really surprised about 2 weeks later, when she asked to do school too.  Ever since, she has begged to do school, even on days we aren't planning anything or planning to go somewhere.  She's really upset if the others start school without her.  Or if she doesn't get to do school.  This week she has completed the little number book I had, and is almost half way through the letter book.  Another surprise has been what I've discovered that she already knows.  She doesn't know any of her letter names, but she seems to know about half of their sounds.  And for a 3.5 year old, I'm shocked by how well she holds a pencil and traces and then draws the letters or numbers that she's working on.  Apparently we are going to need to call this year Preschool, and I'm going to need to find her something, since I had no plans to do any school with her this year.

You just woke up and there is a giraffe in your yard.  What do you do?

"I woke up at a full moon, and I goed out in my yard.  When I goed out in my yard I found a giraffe.  I got some lettuce and leaves out and feeded it.  Her liked it.  It was yummy for a giraffe, but it was yucky for me.  I looked at the giraffe, to figure out a name.  I picked Sparkles for her name.  For her nickname, I picked Twinkle.  Me and Twinkle played I spy, but Twinkle didn't like that game, so she picked a different game.  She wanted to play tag.  And she won, because with her long neck she stretched it out and touched me. Then we played tag with our eyes closed.  And I won.  Then we were getting tired, so the giraffe goed on the roof, to sleep.  She couldn't fit in the house, even with the big doors open because her long neck, was too long. I opened the little doors and got back in my bed.  The next morning I woke up and the giraffe was planting a tree.  She held the water bucket with her mouth, then the tree with her mouth, and then covered it up with her feet.  Three more days later, the tree grew big enough for the giraffe to eat it.  After that the giraffe leaved, because giraffes can't stay for Christmas.  They would get too cold. The End."

I want to learn how to cook.  So I asked Daddy if I could be his supper helper, and he said yes.  First, Momma and I measured stuff.  I squirted all the lemon juice in to marinate the chicken.  Then I stirred it and we put in the next ingredient.  Then I stirred it again and put in the next ingredient.  Then I stirred it again.  I stirred it three times with a fork.  Then when Daddy came home, we started cooking it.  First I picked out what would go with the chicken.  I picked some cream corn.  I used the can opener, to turn, turn, turn.  Daddy helped me hold the opener.  Then we made a salad, and Daddy cut up the eggs, and I put them on there.  I like to call myself Chef Britt.  Then I went out and flipped the chicken on the other side.  After a while it cooked, then I used the tongs to pick them up.  I put the chicken on the plate.  Then Daddy cut the chicken up.  Then servant Ruth served the plates, and waitress Rebecca served the forks.  And then we all ate supper.  I loved cooking.  It was fun.

This video explains it all, but apparently you aren't allowed to eat sweet things if they are a human.

My dentist appointment was great.  I had two cavities, so I can't have sugar for awhile.  They are in two of teeth that are grown up teeth.  Momma wasn't happy.  Momma said if I didn't take care of my teeth that they would all fall out.  If they all fall out all I can eat is jello and applesauce and drink water.  And I don't like any of those things.  I told myself I was sorry by deciing to try harder next time.  I'm going to brush my teeth three times a day until Momma says I can go back to two times.  And I am only going to drink unsweet tea, water, and sometimes milk.  That part is going to be hard.  I was really good, so I got a cool race car and a neon orange toothbrush.

We finished up the third Narnia book today, and I thought I would share my favorite part that I read aloud a few nights ago.  Shasta has just related how he feels to be "the unluckiest person in the whole world." He was orphaned, raised by an unkind man, chased by lions, in danger from bad men in a great city, slept among tombs, thought he was going to be eaten by wild beast, traveled across the great desert, had nothing to eat for a day, and was repetitively chased by lions. Then the lion, Aslan disagrees and tells him:

I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the horses new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man Sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.

Asian tells him all of this as they are walking in the middle of the night in thick fog through the mountains. Two days later Shasta is crossing them again during the day and observes:

The hillside path which they were following became narrower all the time and the drop in their right hand became steeper. At last they were going in single file along the edge of a great precipice and Shasta shuddered to think that he had done the same last night without knowing it. "But of course" he thought, "I was quite safe. That is why the Lion kept on my left. He was between me and the edge all the time."

When I read it the other night it was a potent reminder that very often when things are seemingly at their worst that God is with us in the midst of things, even when we don't see him.  The providence of God is a wonderful comfort, even if it is hard to see and understand.  I know that there were times in underemployment that he providentially intervened impressing someone to send us a check when we had no way to pay the power bill.  He provided a job in Indiana when we couldn't have continued another day without it.  Literally, Gary ran out of gas on the way home from the interview, and we had no savings left, no money coming in, and no room left on the credit cards.  However, I don't for a minute think that we were without work for so long because the job He intended for us or planned for us, wasn't open yet.  We make choices while we live here and there are consequences for our actions now, and sometimes other people just don't chose you for a job.

Which brings me to another point, while I love the beauty of God intervening on behalf of his people.  I ABSOLUTELY hate it when I see people talking about how God has plans to prosper us.  They get this erroneous idea from the NIV translation of Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  The actual verse reads something entirely different, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."  God doesn't have plans for our daily lives, we have the ability to follow him, and grow and find blessings in that, or we have the ability to be disobedient and be chastened for that.  God predestined a particular people to be His people and did everything necessary to save them (see Romans 8).  However, he doesn't cause all things that come to pass.  He doesn't work evil to bring good from it.  That would merely make us puppets on a string, and that would bring no glory to God.

In Jeremiah 29, God is telling the nation of Israel that they are going into captivity and that it's not going to be an afternoon trip.  They are going to be there for 70 years, so they are to build houses, work, establish a home, pray for those in power.  But that at the end of that time of punishment and exile that He will allow them to return home.  They will not live always away.  That is the immediate context, the long term context is that at the end of our life time here in this world, we too are going to return home, and our expected end will be in Heaven with Him.

How shallow and foolish of us today in America to assume that God has plans to divinely intervene and prosper us and no harm will come to us.  Do we fail to consider his children throughout history and in the rest of the world today?  People who right now are being beheaded and persecuted for being Christian.  And I don't mean persecuted because someone hurt their feelings when they said something not nice, but literally loosing their livelihood, literally losing their very lives.

I don't think God took my daughter.  I don't think he is in the business of doing cruel and evil things.  I don't think it's some grand plan for my good.  I do think, even though like Shasta I have at times felt like, I'm the unluckiest person in the world, He was with me.  I haven't always seen Him, but like Shasta in the fog in the darkest midnight on a cold and lonely path, I have felt Him.  I am sure that there have been times that He has intervened in my life and directed me, like Shasta and Aravis were steered together.  There have been times He has comforted me, like the cat comforted Shasta.  And no matter how bad things get here, after all we've been promised "in this world ye shall have tribulation" (john 16:33), I have an expected end, after this life is over.

Rebecca often does this cute thing of tell me that I'm the best Momma that she's ever seen.  I actually asked her the other day how many mommas she had ever seen and she listed 3. A couple of weeks ago, I caught her doing it on video.  Today I asked her why I'm the best Momma and here is her response:

Cause you give me applesause and vitamins.  (You should here her try to say that word.)  Cause you go swimming with me. Cause you do school with me.  Cause you go on a walk with me.  (Never done that.)  And one day we are going to Africa.  (Oh really.)  And me love you too much.