The Good Old Days

Hello everyone! I'm back. Yup, still alive. :)

I am going through one of my books right now and writing the 3rd draft, (I wrote the 1st draft when I was MUCH younger) and I have been having the time of my life reading it. :D

Anyone who has looked back on old writings of theirs, old paintings, whatever it is, will know what I mean when I say I took one look at the page, burst out laughing, and threw it across the room.

There is a part that I am cutting entirely, not revising, but cutting out because it does not relate to the story at all and quite frankly, is just ridiculous, that I could not help being a little sad to be getting rid of. It was just so...so...well, you will see what I mean. ;)

Do you want to read it?

Here goes, I am just slightly embarrassed to be putting this out there, but bearing in mind that I am much older and improved, I will give you the privilege of reading it. Just as a heads up, it is all in a fictional land that I made up.

This is all the original spelling and punctuation.

Peter was getting very frusterated, "I probably have the lousiest ten men in Nuvrea!" he thought. Many times they had complained about exhaustion, tiredness, hunger, lousy traveling mates, and other things. So Peter finally decided to do something about it, he led them to a clearing in the middle of many trees, so no random pedestrians could see them. He ordered them to get off their horses and said, "okay, I've seen what great men you are in the past five days, therefore I'm putting together a little camp for you. Any questions?"
Michael raised his sword, "Yes Michael?" Peter asked. "What kind of camp?" Michael asked.
"Toughening camp," Peter said, "Now, to start off, give me all your weapons." The men hesitantly handed their swords and bows to him. Peter placed them on a log, and then, without warning, punched Michael in the stomach. "Ow!" Michael cried, and clutched his middle. Peter turned on the next, and hit him over the head, on the back, and then tripped him. The men started to defend themselves but Peter was much too fast for them, by nightfall they were all laying on the ground in a big heap.
"You guys are the saddest warriors I've ever seen," Peter said, "okay, everybody bedtime! Early tomorrow same thing." The men groaned in reply.

"You!" Peter said, the man he was pointing at snapped to attention, "what do you want to eat?" "Eat?" the man was stunned, "well I, I'd like some fried fish." "Okay," Peter said, "you have exactly five minutes to catch it, fry it, and be eating it. Okay, three, two, one, go!"
The man grabbed his arrow and ran to the stream, the rest of the men laughed at his feeble attempts to catch one. After ten minutes he finally caught it, he ran to make a fire, now the men laughed even harder. After twenty minutes he finally lit it, in the making of the fish, he burnt it, and realized after he had already taken a bite, that he forgot to skin it. The rest of the men were rolling on the ground laughing now.
Peter rolled his eyes, "attention!" he yelled. The men jumped up and saluted.
"Which of you were laughing?" Peter asked. No response. "I saw which of you were, so if your lying, I'll know. Now, if you were laughing, raise your sword.
All of the swords except two raised, Peter walked over to the two that were not raised, "I saw you two laughing, YOU catch some fish and cook it. When your done it had better be perfect cause the rest of you are eating it. Now go!" The two men ran and did as instructed. Peter turned to the othe five, "you will serve this man in any way he wishes for the next two days." He turned to the first man, "and you will wrestle me again." The man's face turned pale, and Peter hit him in the stomach.

(later)

"Okay, now do a pushup," Peter commanded.
Michael collapsed. He had just crawled thirty yards with Peter on his back, and doing a pushup was just too much. "Now lets see how the others are doing," Peter said. He got up and nudged one of the crawling men, he collapsed as well.
"Okay! Break time!"
All of the men scrambled to there feet, "you have exactly six minutes to make dinner. Three, two, one, go!"

The men did these excersizes and routines for days, until finally, the could do five pushups after crawling thirty yards with someone on their back, catch fish and cook them (without burning them) in six minutes, since they were never a match for Peter at wrestling, at least dodge his blows, and many other heartwrenching painful things.
When they could finally do it all, Peter said, "you may be happy to know, I only have three more things for you."
The men cheered, "this is the first one," Peter said holding up a bottomless bowl, "fill this up with water." One man walked up and held it, another came to try to fill it up, they used the water from the stream.
"Here are the rules," Peter said, "no helping eachother, no talking, and no letting the water touch yourself."
He handed out the bowls to all of the men, "and no sleeping."
The men poured and poured and poured and poured, until they clenched their teeth in frustration,  strained to stay awake, and several of them quit. The next day they were still at it, but to no avail. Peter watched them in amusement, and when nightfall came, one of them said, "there is no way!"
"Wrong," Peter said, "you just haven't found it yet. And you just cheated, sixty pushups."
At last, one of the men became so frusterated, he left, and came back with a large peice of bark. He covered up the whole in the bowl, and then filled it up.
"You may all stop now," Peter said, "he has figured it out."
The men started mightily protesting, and one said, "why did you tell us to do that anyhow?!"
They all waited for his response, it came, "one, to teach you a lesson, and two, to see how long it would take for you to figure it out."
"What was the lesson?" The man who had figured it out asked.
"The lesson was this: Sometimes the answer is the simplest thing," Peter said, "now for the next thing, you must find the one tree that I marked in that forest. Hey you!" he pointed to one of the men.
"Yes?" the man asked.
"You are only allowed to look up. You!" he pointed the next one, "are only allowed to look down. You! You are only allowed to look to the right. You! Are only allowed to look to the left, You! Are not allowed to open your eyes at all. You! Have to run backwards. And the rest of you can see normally."
They all nodded, "okay, go!" He watched them run to the forest, and he ran after them, so he could "supervise." When they reached the forest, they switched there head posisions and started running to find the tree. These were the noises Peter heard,

"Ow! You numskull! Look where your going!"
"I can't see you idiot! I can't run forwards!"
"Hey! Ouch!"
WHAM! "Ooooohhh....."
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" Bam! "Oh! I think I broke something!"
"YOU'RE complaining!"
"Ow my head!"
"Watch it you nincompoop!"
"Hey!"
"My poor head!"
"Oh shut up!"
"I think I found it! Peter! Did you mark it in red?"
Peter: "Nope. But I think we found the reason for Tom's headache."
"My head!"
"Eww!"
"What?!"
"You touched m...Ouch!"
"Am I about to run into a..." POW! "Ow!"
"Yup."
"Hey! You can actually see! Help me out!"
"No! I have to find that tree!"

It went on like this past sundown, until finally Peter said, "bedtime! We'll pick it up again tomorrow."

Basically the same thing happened as before. Those who could see, looked for the tree, while being rammed into by those who couldn't, and those who (mostly) couldn't, rammed into trees, and altogether, had no idea where they were going.
Finally, someone suggested they team up. So half of the seeing men joined ranks with the one who couldn't see, the only who could only look up, and the one who could only look to the right. The other half teamed up with the one who could only run backwards, the one who could only look down, and the one who could only look to the left.
Unfortunately, neither teams had ever teamed up before, so things went pretty much the same way.
At about ten o'clock that night, Michael spoke up, "this is insanity! It is truly impossible to find the tree like this! So if anyone wants to find it, the teammates had better work together. We can have leaders, we can have rules, we can have whatever. But we need to help eachother. All in favor say aye."
A chorus of 'Aye!'s rang out from them, and because of the dark, no one saw the smile on Peter's face.
So these were the new sounds,

"Look out Tom! There's a tree in front of you!"
"Thanks!"
"Ouch! That hurt!"
"I'm sorry, I'll try not to next time!"
"Look out Jack!"
"Good! Now go three steps to the right, and...ya! That's it!"
"Good work Tom, keep it up!"
"Stay with me! Don't step there you'll hurt yourself!"
"Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! You look so...so..."
"I know! I know! Numskull!"
"Guys! Remember! Teamwork!"
"But he's not my..."
"Peace, brothers."
"I'm not your..."
"haven't you ever heard of kindness?"
"Or The King?" *
"I found it!"

"Okay, good work men," Peter said smiling, "however, Philip, your attitude just earned you thirty yards worth of crawling with Jack on your back."
Philip groaned.
"As for the rest of you," Peter said, "you now understand why I did this right?"
All of the men nodded. "Good," Peter said, "now for the third thing, he reached behind him, and one by one handed the men back their weapons.
"I also have something else for you," he pulled out small lights, "guard these well," he said, "protect your families with them."
"What are they for?" Jack asked.
"When the sun comes up in the morning," Peter said, "what happens to the night?"
"It leaves."
"Right, when you light a torch in a dark passage, what happens to the darkness?"
"It leaves."
"Right, the dark cannot stay in the presence of light," Peter said, "evil is darkness, good is light, does that answer your question?"
Jack nodded. "Good," Peter said, "Jack and Philip, get read for the thirty yard crawl, the rest of you, get your things on your horses, we'll leave soon." 

*The King is the character for God in the story, hence the evil and good part as well.

I hope you all had a good laugh, I would love to hear what your favorite part was in the comments!

Innocent or Pure?

You know those times when there is something so simple, so plain, but it takes you years to realize, and when you do, it is so profound?

I had one of those moments a few months ago, and it has stuck with me and been really encouraging, so I thought I would take a few minutes to tell you about it.

Here it is, plain and simple, Innocence and Purity are not the same.

I became a Christian when I was twelve. This may come as a surprise to some of you, as I have grown up in a Christian family with Christian morals and may have seemed to have been a Christian for a long time. (I am fourteen, for anyone who didn't know that) When I was twelve, my view of life changed so radically and I was sure of my salvation. Positive. There was no question about it, no more fear, no more doubt, I was saved.

I knew that the only way to be saved was by grace, since waaaaaay before I was a Christian it has been drilled into my head through Sunday school and other places that you cannot be saved by works, that it has to be all God. So I know this. However, sometimes I view myself as still being what I was, sinful, unsaved, imperfect, so I feel that I have to work and be good enough, measure up to God's standard, to be His child.

Have you ever felt that way?

One day I was outside, I don't remember what I was doing, taking garbage out or something like that, and I was trying to convince myself that I don't have to prove myself worthy, and in one moment I nearly lost all hope. That was the moment that Satan decided to take advantage of my moment of weakness and tell me, "You have sinned. It doesn't matter what God does, you will never be innocent. You are innocent when you have done nothing wrong, not when your wrongs have been forgiven. It doesn't matter if you are forgiven, you can NEVER be innocent again."

I turned my face to the sky, I knew God couldn't have lied to me, but this was true, I never would be innocent again. I had sinned.

Then, out of the blue, a verse came to me from the Beatitudes, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matt. 5:8)

I still didn't see the difference, I just sat there and despaired, "I will never see God. I am not innocent. I can never be innocent."

But then words came into my head, "Innocence and Purity are not the same thing."

That simple sentence was all it took for me to realize, God never said 'Blessed are the Innocent.' True, no matter how many times you ask for forgiveness, you will still have your past behind you. The difference is that it does not matter anymore. Because Innocence is what was, while Purity is what is.

When God forgives, He doesn't take you back in time, He gives you a chance to become new, to be pure now. Your identity is not in what you were, or what you did, but in what you ARE.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Cor. 5:17)

Praise Report

I just have a quick thing to update you on, a few days ago I got The Blue Screen of Death on my laptop, and it refused to work since then until today.

I tried over and over and over and eventually got it to work for about five minutes at a time, after so many tries I eventually gave up hope that it would work again and just hoped to be able to be on here long enough to save my books onto my email.

So I had successfully gotten three books saved and just kept trying and trying and trying and trying and trying and trying and trying and trying and trying and trying.....

Until today! I kept praying that it would work, which, I know, praying that my computer will work...I don't know about any of you, but to me that sounds like kind of a stupid, selfish request. But looking at it on all angles, I have a business that I am trying to build and promote online, as well as this blog, and a few various other things.

So I really do need to have a computer, so I kept praying. I was figuring I would have to somehow buy a new one though, this one was really not working.

But then today I got it out again and tried and tried and tried some more, until it worked. I hurriedly saved my books, (all of them, which surprised and delighted me) and I still had time. I hadn't shut down. So I quickly emailed my cousin and told her what was going on, then I sent a few more emails, and it still hadn't shut down.

And here I am a few hours later writing this, it is working as though it had never stopped. :)

I know this is an answer to prayer, whether it will shut down again or not tomorrow I don't know, but I have already gotten way more than I expected, so I am happy. :)

Leaves and Why We Love Them

Each season does have a charm of its own. :)

We have a really big front yard, and an even bigger back yard. It would not be exaggerating to say that our front yard was at least three times the size of our neighbors' front yards. We have two big trees in our yard, one of which is a very beautiful tree, a very rare tree, called a Ginkgo Tree.

For anyone who doesn't know what this fabulous tree is, I have heard that there are only twelve in Canada, and only two female trees, one of which happens to be in our front yard. So..... how did it get there? Let me tell you. Once upon a time there was an old man in Japan, who--

Just kidding. ;) I have no idea how it got there, and I don't personally really care, I just wish it never had gotten there.
Well, that is not entirely true, in the spring and summer I love it, it is a huge, gorgeous tree with bright green Chinese fan shaped leaves, and the leaves are actually quite interesting to chew on.

(Don't ask me how I know that :P)

This is what it looks like at its finest,

These are its leaves on a less overcast day,

But what I failed to mention was why I mentioned this tree in the first place.

Anyone who has ever raked a yard decorated by a female Ginkgo Tree must have been laughing at my explanation of the tree, note: I said I love it in the spring and summer.

It not only has gorgeous leaves, but, I lament, it also has fruit. I have also heard that they are a delicacy in Japan, (the fruit) so if any Japanese people want to come buy them off of us, please do, we would love to be shed of them.

They are the only fruit I know of which reek so horridly in the harvest time that if you accidentally step on one, your shoes are forbidden to enter the house until they have been thoroughly washed. Did I mention that their nickname around here is Stink Bomb?

So, in leaf raking season, not only do we have 20+ leaf bags in front of our house, about a third of them have been attained at the expense of many a person's poor nose.

But, the way I look at it, it's good for us. It builds character, as Calvin's father would say. (From the comic, Calvin and Hobbes) Yes sir, we will all grow up to be good strong leaf rakers/baggers, and will be able to stand any kind of horrible smell. :)

And now it is all done. (Mostly) We just finished bagging 99% of the leaves in our yards, and have come back in to a nice warm house with rosy cheeks and cold hands, with the promise of hot chocolate coming to us.

Yes, every season does have a charm of its own, and this one has marshmallows. :)

I hope you enjoyed this post, and come back to read more about me and my adventures some more. ;)

A Day to Remember

I know I just posted two days ago, so you may be wondering why I am bothering to post again so soon, so I will make this a short, but meaningful post.

To start off, I said on Facebook that "Remembrance Day has a whole new meaning to me now." That is because this morning my niece/nephew was miscarried. We have been dreaming about this baby for so long, he/she has filled us all with joy ever since we found out about it, and so, when the news was delivered to me, all I could do was sit in shock and wonder, "Why?"

My day was pretty much shot from that moment onward, all I could think about was the cute little baby hands I would never get to hold, how I would never see him/her smiling up at me with big blue eyes.

But then I realized that I couldn't just sit there wondering why, blaming God for this. This had a reason, so I decided to turn my eyes on Him and ask Him to show me the blessing in it. He did. :)

I was reminded of a verse I had read earlier in my personal devotions which said, "For He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living, for all live to Him." (Luke 20:38) I realized that my little niece/nephew is alive. He/she is more alive than could ever be here, waiting for her/his aunt to meet him/her in Heaven.

That made me smile.

He/she is not dead. Just alive in a different place. A wonderful place.

The Sky's Song

Sometimes I write books. Actually I write books a lot.

So I have just started this new book, I don't know what it is going to be called yet, but in it there is an old man who tells a story to a little girl when she is afraid of a storm, and I thought I would share it with you. It is called The Sky's Song. :)

“Let me tell you a story,” he began, “There once was a little girl who had nothing. She lived in a cardboard box, she had no parents, no friends, no food, nothing. But she was always happy, because she loved to sing.” He smiled, she was no longer clutching his arm, her hand was just resting on it, she was not paying attention to the storm anymore, only to his story. “One day she saw a bird sitting on a tree branch, but it was not singing. She frowned, birds are supposed to sing. She scolded it, 'Bad bird! You are sitting there enjoying yourself, when you owe the world a favour!' 'What is that?' the bird asked. 'It is your duty to sing. You have a voice, so use it! What are you doing just sitting there?' 'Everything has a voice, why do I have to sing?' The bird asked. 'Because your voice is beautiful.' She said. 'So are the others,' the bird replied, 'but it is because my voice is different that they don't sing. They are taught to think that their voices are not as good as mine, so they never sing. I think that is more a crime than me not singing.' 'You are right,' the girl said, 'I never thought of it that way. Why, everyone should sing!' The bird smiled, 'Yes, everyone should. But first we must get rid of the notion that they can't, because if they go on thinking their voices are inferior to mine, they will let me and never try it themselves.' The girl did not reply, she was too busy thinking of a way to get them to sing. 'I've got it!' She exclaimed, and hurried off to try out her idea. She ran to a field full of flowers and sat down. She waited. And waited. And waited some more, but not once did they sing. She looked at them with tears in her eyes, 'You wretched flowers! I came all the way here by myself on foot and you did not welcome me. I shall tell my friends never to come here.' She stood up, and heard a faint voice, on of the daisies calling out, 'Wait! How should we welcome you? All we can do is sit here and wait to be picked!' 'That is very wrong of you to say that!' She scolded, 'You could sing for me.' 'We can't sing,' another one said. 'That is wrong, I have heard you. You have beautiful voices.' 'Really?' One of them asked. 'Honest!' She said, then she waited again. Presently she heard a humming noise, thousands of daises all singing in chorus, just a slight whistle, she had to strain to hear it, but they were. She clapped, 'Lovely! You should always welcome people to this field by singing, it is the most wonderful sound.' She then went to a stray cat in the alley, then the dogs in the neighbourhood, she spent her whole day spreading joy and singing to everyone who would listen. When the sun began to set, singing a happy tune, she sat down, Now, is there anyone I have missed? 'Well done,' she heard someone say. 'I can almost sing again.' 'Why don't you?' She asked the bird. 'Because,' he said, 'Everyone is singing but the sky.' She felt raindrops on her head, 'See, he is crying because he is left out. He still believes he does not have a good voice.' She grinned, and then looked up to the darkening sky, 'Naughty sky,' she whispered, 'Why are you not welcoming me?' It began to pour, her grin widened because she knew it was tears of happiness. Then she heard a sound she had never heard before, thunder. The sky's song. It was so happy to be singing it flashed, and this was called lightning. She loved all of the songs of the day, but the one she loved the most was the Song of the Sky. The bird began to whistle and fly away. The End."

What do you think? :)

Smiles Never go up in Price, or Down in Value

Today was a huge mess of happiness for me, and since I am so bursting with happiness, I thought I'd share about my day, and hopefully it will put a smile on someone's face.

So this morning I got up at 6:00, (not my favorite thing to do on a Sunday,) to go to a Craft Show to sell bracelets for our business. I was feeling, I confess, a little upset, confused, and scared. I did my personal devotions, and seemed to get nothing out of them, so I just quickly prayed for a good day at the show and closed my bible. I looked down and breathed deeply, I didn't like feeling this way, but I didn't know how to change it. Being slightly more detailed in what I was feeling, I felt very not peaceful about my salvation. :P
When I became a Christian I was overwhelmed with peace, but sometimes, I become anxious and stressed about things, and it pushes away that peace. So I prayed for it back again. Something told me to open my bible journal, and there was a verse that said, "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name, you are Mine." (Isaiah 43:1) This was so perfect for that moment, and I felt perfectly at peace again.

So then we went to the show, I didn't have Anna and Tabithah (my two little sisters who also sell bracelets) with me, and people don't usually buy bracelets from me, they like to buy them from my little sisters cause they are cuter. So blessing number two was that sales were really good! My prayer for a good show was definitely answered.

Then the lady next to us gave me a date square. Which just made me happy. ^_^

Then, just to make it all even more exciting, a reporter for Cogeco TV came around and asked for an interview with me, so I am going to be on TV!

I was asked several times to look after the booth that belonged to the lady next to us, which was not hard at all, but then she surprised me with a little gift, a cute elephant necklace that I have wanted for a long time, "For my babysitting services." :D

But that wasn't even it. God wasn't done making me smile, my older sister Becky showed up then and gave me a hot chocolate from Tim Hortons.

I cannot say this was just a fantastic day, it had JESUS written all over it. Thank You Lord!!!

I can't even express how good He is, I feel so overwhelmed, and all I can do is say thank you. :)

Life

I love life!

This is my first blog post, so I felt that the first words should be important, they should reflect me, what I feel, who I am. The best way I can express this is simply through those three words, I love life.

Take a moment and examine this moment, what do you have to be grateful for? Honestly take a moment and just think, you have so many things. I am not directing this at a specific group of people, I am not saying your life is in order, I am not saying you have everything going for you, I am not saying really anything is right in your life. You may be at your wits end, you may have broken relationships and debts that need to be paid, I don't know what your situation is. But what I am saying is that you live in a world with four seasons, each as beautiful as the next. You live in a world where the rain falls and grows plants of all kinds, where there are hidden blessings all around you. Just look around, you will find them.

There was a time when I could not find beauty in these things.
If this is you, you still have something to be grateful for, and this is the secret to my happiness, the reason I love life.

Someone loves you.

His name is Jesus. He loves you.

He can look past your mistakes, He can look past your wits end, and tell you He loves you.

Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." (John 10:10 b) I do love this life, I love its seasons, its joys, its lessons, I love it because it is a gift given to me by my Father, but it is not just this, I love the life that I have because I am a Christian, because now all of those things in this life are given to me more abundantly.

This is life. Learning to accept the love that He has given to you, learning to love Him back. And it is beautiful.