Crocheted Dish Cloth Pattern

Here is the pattern for the Circular Crocheted Dish Cloths:

Materials:

1 Skein acrylic any color yarn

G Hook

Stiches/abriviations used:

Chain-Ch

Single Crochet-Sc

Slip Stitch-SS

Double Crochet-Dc

Ch 6, SS in the first Ch, Sc all the way around.

Row 1 - Sc in every Sc all the way around.

Rows 2-4 - Ch 3, Dc in the first stitch, Dc in the second stitch, 2 Dc in the third stitch, repeat pattern all the way around (1,1,2,1,1,2).

Row 5 - Ch 1, Sc in the first stitch, Sc in the second stitch, 2 Sc in the third stitch, repeat pattern all the way around (same as rows 2-4 but sc instead).

Pull enough yarn out to make a loop, and cut. Tie the loose end of the yarn to the dish cloth to make a loop.

To make it bigger just add more rows in the "rows 2-4" area. You don't have to do just Sc and Dc, I have done plain Sc, and I have substituded Double Crochet with Triple Crochet. You can do tons of different patterns.

The Square/Rectangular ones are really easy, you just chain however long you want it and they you can do whatever stitchet you want.

I created the Circular dish cloth pattern so please do not sell it. :)

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to wish all of my visitors a Merry Christmas! And remember during this holiday season why we celebrate. Don't take Christ out of Christmas, it is His birthday. Thank you all for reading! :) I hope you all have a very, merry Christmas!!!

Quotes

Here are some quotes that I had to write down in my Copywork book, I enjoyed writing and reading them and I hope you do too. :)

"It is your attitude at the beginning of a task that determines success or failure." - Bryan Tracy

"Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God." -Leo Buscaglia

"There is no failure except in no longer trying." - Zig Ziglar

"Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs." - Henry Ford

"Personality can open doors, but only character can keep them open." - Elmer Letterman

"Faith is not merely you holding onto God - it is God holding onto you." - E. Stanley Jones

"It's not the hours you put into your work that counts. It's the work you put into your hours." -Sam Ewing

I hope you liked them! :)

VIsion Forum CD's for sale

My Mom is selling these Vision Forum CDs at a great price.

These are still shrink-wrapped. Sell for $10-$15 new, she is selling these for only $6 each:
The Blessed Marriage
A Home School Vision of Victory
The Joy of Family Worship
The Wise Woman's Guide to Blessing Her Husband's Vision
Sleeping Beauty and the Five Questions
Jennie B. and the Pilot
Strength and Dignity for Daughters
Rebuilding a Culture of Virtuous Boyhood
The Journey of Daughterhood
Hollywood's Most Despised Villain
David and Bathsheba
What's a Girl to Do?
Defending the Fatherless
The Promise How to Pass on Convictions to Your Children
How to Avoid the Destructiveness of a Wrong Self-Image
What to Expect from a Twelve-Year-Old
How to Develop Character in Your Children
How to Keep Children from Becoming Bitter
Seven Bible Truths Violated by Christian Dating
Discipline: The Biblical Doctrine
Hospitality: The Biblical Commands
Can the Western be Saved from the Hollywood Marxists?

Comment on this post if you are interested in buying any of these, and I will get back to you. :)

Goal Reached!!!

We have reached our goal!! The well in Africa can now be built!! We are all so happy that we finished it before Christmas!! You can go to our page on the Ambassadors for Life website to see all of the people who contriputed to this project. In the list you will find people who not only gave money toward the project, but hard work, and their own time(especially Saturday mornings:). We had $400 left to raise, and we really wanted to get it done before Christmas so that next year we could start another well. Then Dad told his friends about it and two gave alot. One of them gave $800!!! So we are already on the way to the second well!!! God has really blessed this project. To God be the Glory!!!

A Homemade Christmas, w. 8

This is the Eighth Homemade Christmas week and my second time to post about it. You can click here to see my first one. Miss Emily Rose is the host of A Homemade Christmas, you can go to her site here or just click on the icon above.

This week for A Homemade Christmas I am posting about the acrylic-yarn dish cloths I crocheted for my Grandmas and Aunts last year. And they really liked them. I like making up my own patterns better than following other peoples patterns. So I designed this dish cloth that is great for dishes and wiping countertops and stovetops. I have also used it for cleaning up spilled stuff on the floor. It is an all-around-the-kitchen helper. It is acrylic though so you cannot get it too hot or it will melt! :) But you can wash it in the washer.

The circular ones are the ones I made for family.

Since I have a bunch of them, I am giving away one of each(circular and rectangular). So if you would like one then just leave a comment on this post and tell me which you would like and which color. (only the colors pictured). If you would like to make your own then I would be glad to give you the pattern. :)

The givaway ends next Thursday. Sorry for not telling you sooner. :)

Awesome video

This is really awesome!!!

Song of the Wave

"Rolling, rolling, o'er the deep,

Sunken treasures neath me sleep

As I shoreward slowly sweep.

Onward Peacefully I roll,

Ever thoughtless of the goal,

Sea-bells round be chime and toll.

There is peace above, below,

Far beneath me sea-weeds grow,

Tiny Fish glide to and fro,

Now in sunlight, now in shade,

Lost within some ocean glade

By the restless waters made.

Pushing onward as before,

Now descry the distant shore,

Hear the breakers sullen roar;

Quicken then my rolling pace,

With glad heart I join the race

O'er the white-capp'd glittering space,

Thinking naught of woe or grief,

Dancing, prancing, like a leaf,

Caring not for cliff or reef.

Lo! black cliffs above me loom,

Casting o'er me awful gloom,

And foretell my coming doom.

O1 that I might reach the land,

Reach and lave the sunny sand,

But these rocks on every hand-

Seem my joyous course to stay,

Rise and barmy happy way,

Shutting out the sun's bright ray.

I must now my bround crest lower

And the wild sea roam no more."

Hark! the crash and might roar,

Then the wave's sport life is o'er.

By Robert Frost

The six unspectacular

I have only been blogging since August so I have never been tagged before, but today Breezy posted about six unspectacular things about herself and did not tag anyone in particular. So I am going to post about six unspectacular things about me.

1. I can't live without crocheting or reading

2. I love Mexican food

3. I have only gone out of country once

4. I have lived on a boat, in an apartment, and now in a house (now all that's left is to live in the sky :)

5. I love playing word games such as; Scrabble, Boggle and Up Words.

6. I love Blogging!

I hope you liked it! I am going to tag my sis Poppy, and Emily Rose(if she wants to). I don't really know anyone else so if you want to do this tag then go right ahead. Comment on this post and tell me if you do it! I would love to hear from you!

Gospel for Asia Christmas Video

This is a great movie! Watch and see what we can do this Christmas! Please watch. :)

How Great is our God!

We are always singing songs and reciting verses that say "how great is our God." Sadly most people don't know how great our God really is. Today my Mom found this site (here) that has a movie and some pictures on it about outer space. It is truly amazing! I could hardly believe my eyes and ears as I watched and listened. It really shows that it was wonderfully and carefully designed for His glory.

After the movie I became a firm believer in millions of years. Not the kinds of millions of years you are probably thinking of but the millions and billions of years that it would take to travel only a small amount of the outer space. :) And what is even more amazing is that we don't know of very much of the outer space, there is still so much more to be discovered. Isn't God so awesome!?!

How great is our God!

2,000 Year old Earring

Israeli archaeologists have discovered a 2,000 year old earring dating back to the time of Christ! I am sorry I could not post the actual pictures, but you can click here to see the two pictures and read the article. Here is the first sentence:

"JERUSALEM — Israeli archaeologists have discovered a 2,000-year-old gold earring beneath a parking lot next to the walls of Jerusalem's old city, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Monday".

When my Mom showed the article to me one of the first things that went through my head was that if you had to say that it was either in support of evolutionism or Creationism, then I would say that it would be in support of the Creationists theory. If people way back to the time of Christ could make something so beautiful (just like some of the earrings made today) then why say that people 3 or 4,000 years ago or more were not just as smart? I love to see examples just like this, it shows even more that people were made "smart from the start". You can probably tell that from what I just said that I am a 110% Bible believing, Creationist. :)

Comment on this post and tell me which you would say and why. :)

A Homemade Christmas, w. 3

Today is the third week of A Homemade Christmas, click the icon above to learn more about A Homemade Christmas, and it's host Miss Emily Rose. Today she not only posted about a Christmas gift, but she also is having a giveaway. Click the icon below to learn more about it. If you would like to participate in A Homemade Christmas and/or put an icon on your blog or site then visit her blog by clicking one of the icons.

Last Christmas we wanted to make something for each of our cousins, so we made aprons for the girls and marshmallow guns for the boys. (We have alot of cousins :) Both the apron pattern and the marshmallow gun instructions we got online, click here to get the apron pattern and here to get the marshmallow gun instructions.

The apron pattern was very simple, and you only need one yard of fabric to make it. The marshmallow guns were alot of fun, we had to test them you know. :) I am just kidding, we made a few for us too. I am sorry I don't have any pictures to show you. :( We are still trying to figure that out. Thank you for reading my post!

Cool Video

This is a fountain inside a mall in Japan! Watch closely!

Conference

The Conference in Austin was great! My sis, uncle and I all got t-shirts, books, and together we got a DVD of the conference. There was a slight change in the speakers though, Saturday night there was Brett Harris, Greg Harris(his dad), and Rod Conner. Sunday Morning the speakers were: David Sitton and Dr. John Piper. Alex Harris ( Brett's twin brother) was going to be speaking with him, but he has had some major health problems, so he could not attend. Please pray for him. To Every Tribe Ministries wants to make this conference annual or at least biannual, and I really hope that they do. It was amazingly life changing, it made me think about some things a way I had never thought about them before. You can go to the To Every Tribe Ministries website to learn about this awesome ministry. I put the links in my last post.

Conference

I get to go to a conference in Austin Texas this weekend! I can't wait! My uncle is taking my sister and I. It is Saturday night and Sunday morning. The conference is called The Purpose Driven Death. The conference is by To Every Tribe Ministries (TETM). It is their first missions conference. The speakers are: John Piper, David Sitton, and Alex and Brett Harris. If you want to learn more about the conference click here or here or both for the most information. :) I will write more about it afterwards. I hope you come!

Garage Sale Fundraiser Yesterday

God blessed us yesterday! The garage sale went great, we made about $437! My friends, family and I had alot of fun. Though I am really tired. Not just because we did an all day garage sale, we stayed up 'till three in the morning playing and talking! Then got up to move the boxes at seven thirty:) It was soooooooooooo fun! Once we send the money in, you will be able to go on to our page and see exactly how much we made. Thank you for you prayers!

Garage Sale Fundraiser

Well, we are having another garage sale this weekend to raise money for the well! If you don't know what I am talking about you can go down my first page to LABELS. There you can click: family project or fundraiser, and it will take you to some of the details of our last garage sale fundraiser. This will be our third fundraiser garage sale.

Like the first time, Mom is letting us have some friends spend the night Friday night. So they can help with the garage sale the next day. That will be so fun!

All of the proceeds are going toward the well. If you want, you can donate by going to our page on the Ambassadors for Life website. This time we are only doing a one day sale (all day) since we have our homeschool co-op on Friday morning. Please pray that we will make a lot of money!

Dad Leaves :(

My Dad left two Sundays ago, so we have all just been trying to get back in the groove. That is why I have not blogged in 2 weeks! Soooo sorry! His R&R went way faster than we all planned, and we did not get everything done. But man! we loved having him home! He will be back home probably in the middle of February. Hopefully he will make it back home in time for my birthday(it is the end of February), and my Mom's, whose birthday is in the middle of February. :) I Love You Daddy!!!

Thank you for your comments, I enjoyed hearing from you! :)

Not-So-Secret Service

Not-So-Secret Service, the co-op class I am taking, is about "serving the Lord through intercommunication." So on the first week, we did a personality test. It was set up with 40 sections, in each section it had 4 words. You had to pick the one word in each section that described you most. I thought it was pretty cool. This Friday we were talking about how to read someones feelings through their body language. Like, different things people do with their face, to show that they are angry, happy, embarrassed, sad, joyful, etc. Or how you can show someone that you are listening by leaning forward. It is a really fun class, and I hope I learn a lot of useful things out of it.

Hurricane IKE

There is another hurricane hitting southern Texas this weekend, it is hurricane Ike. And it is going to be a big one. We have friends down there that are coming up to our house today to evacuate. If you want to get an update on hurricane Ike you can go here. Right now it is a category 2, and they think that it will go up to a category 4. I hope it doesn't. The south is also supposed to get 2-5 feet of rain. Please pray for the people down there, they are in need of your prayers.

2nd Homeschool Co-op Starts

Our 2nd homeschool co-op started on Monday, and it was so much fun! My classes are: 1st period: Tae Kwon Do, 2nd period: Microscope Biology, 3rd period: Volleyball. So, this semester I have two sport type classes and one study type class. I am so glad that I got those classes, those were my first choices. Now I will describe each class to you like I did on Friday.

Tae Kwon Do is basically a type of karate. I did it last semester too, so I am already a gold belt. I was really sore on Tuesday since I had not practiced or done the stretching like that all summer. This semester I am going to try to test for my Orange belt.

Microscope Biology is going to be really fun I think. My teacher has a few really good microscopes for us to use, which I think is really cool. I did not think that I would like it very much, but I love it and it is very interesting. I am taking the class with one of my sisters.

This is the second semester I have taken Volleyball, 'cause I loved it! My Mom played Volleyball when she was little, so I thought that I should try it too.

Doing two co-ops a week sometimes gets hard, but I love it because I get to be with my friends that don't go to the same church as me. A plus to being homeschooled is that you are not under the influences of other kids, that don't share your same beliefs, and I think that is so important. The Bible tells us not to be "yoked together with unbelievers." Or in other words, don't hang out with people that don't believe in God. They are bad influences. I will update you on co-op as much as I can. I hope you enjoy reading about it!

1st Homeschool Co-op Starts

Today was the first day of Co-op! It was so much fun! These are my classes: 1st period-Southern Hospitality, 2nd period-Not-So-Secret Service, 3rd Period-Drama. And those were all of the classes that I wanted, so I am so happy. I am now going to give you a description of what the classes are about.

Southern Hospitality is basically a cooking class. Today we decorated our aprons, wrote down a recipe in our personal cookbooks, and made four dozen muffins! In one hour! We sold them to the families in co-op. And we sold almost every muffin, we had one left over. We were selling them for fifty cents each. Over the next 7 weeks we will be learning things like cake decorating and baking. It is a really fun class!

In Not-So-Secret Service today we really did not do very much, because our teacher had a sick child, so I can give you a better description next week.

Drama was really a lot of fun today! This is my second semester to be in this drama class so I already had been taught the things she talked about today, but we got to play a few improv. games, and that is always really fun. I love Co-op!

I Was Wrong

Well, remember how I told you in the last post that we were planning on "just hanging out today"? I was wrong, very wrong! Dad got here as you know, at three o'clock a.m. And it is now about five o'clock in the evening. Since everyone got up(which was around 6:30 or 7:00, we have: fixed the vacuum, fixed the sink leak, pulled up the dining room carpet, returned the rented car, pulled up some of the foyer tiles, and now Dad and one of my sisters are out fixing the cars! Do you think that sounds like "hanging out"? I didn't, but now I sorta do. When you think about work, it always sounds more fun to do it together, so we have all had a great day. I love our family! :)

Dad is Home!

Dad is home! Finally! His plane got delayed, so that is why he did not get here yesterday morning. He got here at about three o'clock this morning, so when I woke up he was sitting in the computer chair talking to Mom. I was the first one up(besides my baby sister). I am so happy! I wish he did not have to go back in a few weeks, but he will be home for good in about five months. We plan on just hanging out today, that will be nice. I am SO glad he is finally home!

Dad is Almost Home!

I am so excited! My Dad is almost home for his R&R! He left yesterday, and since it takes around two days to get here, he is going to be here tomorrow night or Monday. I wish he did not have to go back to finish this tour, but he will be back again(for good) early next year. Having my Dad gone for so long is hard, and we miss him soooooo much, but we all know that we are doing a good thing by serving our country. I love the signs that they make now that say: Come Home Safely, Come Home Soon. And that is the prayer of all who are waiting at home for their Soldiers to come home. Dad, I love you!

Science

Today I am going to narrate to you about what I read yesterday in my Apologia Science book. Apologia is a cool science curriculum, it thoroughly explains everything talked about. This week I am doing the 4th module, but I did not schedule it right, so since it is already Friday, I studied for the test today and I am going to take the test Saturday. Oh well, one test on a weekend is o.k.

In the module I am on(4th) it is talking about Simple Machines. The six simple machines are: the lever, the wheel and axle, the pulley, the inclined plane, the wedge, and the screw. Yesterday I read about the last three.

The inclined plane is better known as a ramp. It is used to more easily move a heavy object. And the effort or force is placed parallel to the slope. The wedge is used to split something, such as a piece of wood. Have you ever tried to use an ax to chop a piece of wood? If you have then you have used a wedge. If you have not, then you get the idea, right? The inclined plane and the wedge look exactly the same but the effort is placed at the vertical edge of the wedge. The best way to show you without a picture is with a >. Good enough? I hope that gives you an idea of how the inclined plane and the wedge look alike, but are used in different ways for different things.

The screw is something you have probably used before. It has a head(the top part of the screw), a shaft(the long straight area), and the threads(the long string type thing wrapped around the shaft). The screw is used to connect two or more objects together, such as two pieces of wood, or a screw could be used to hang up a picture frame or other home decor object( you usually use nails though).

Have you ever tried to screw a screw in with your fingers? Kinda hard right? So what do you use? A screw driver. A screw driver is used to screw a screw into something, but why is it easier to screw it in with a screw driver? Because with a screw driver you can get more of a mechanical advantage, which is how much effort it takes to turn, lift or move something. The bigger the mechanical advantage the less effort it takes to move it. I don't want to go in too deep, but I just wanted you to get the idea.

I hope I explained everything clear enough, and I hope you enjoyed learning about it with me :)

"Chores are Fun"

"Thanks for letting us do our chores, Mom. Chores are fun, I like mopping the floor," my little brother said a few days ago. Wow! He has never said that before! We usually have assigned chores to do, but yesterday Mom decided to try something new. She had ALL of us do ALL of the rooms together! So we set the kitchen timer for five minutes and started cleaning the den. (Now, remember that I have five younger siblings, and we make big messes.) And we got it done right as the timer went off. We did the same thing with the living room, the dining room, the hall and foyer, and the kitchen. It worked great! And we got the main part of the house done in record time.

As I already said, we had assigned chores, so now we are working together to clean the main part of the house. I say the main part, because we are not working together to clean our bedrooms! Personally, I like working on my chores by myself, so I didn't think I would like doing this. But getting it done that fast was awesome, so I think I like working together on chores better now.

History

For History this semester I am doing British history. I am reading Our Island Story by H.E. Marshall. I read the sixth chapter today, it is titled: The Last of the Romans. So far in this book it has talked about many mighty Roman men who could not defeat the Britons for nearly 500 years! In the chapter I read today it told about a Roman man who tried a different approach...

Julius Agricola came to Brittan to fight, but he soon saw that he could not physically beat the Britons so he tried something else, you see, the Britons were very wild and illiterate people. None of them could read or write, they only thought of battle and war, and they were pagan. But when Agricola came to Brittan he fought two wars then tried kindness, he took away taxes, built schools, court houses, and other important buildings. He even built forts all along the British coast, to protect the Britons from invaders! This person, Julius Agricola, totally changed the Britons way of life.

But it did not last very long, because a new ruler came to the throne of Rome, and was very jealous of Agricola, because he had made friends with these "barbarians." So he told Agricola to come back to Rome, and he obeyed. This new ruler then told another man go to Briton to rule over the Britons, but this man was foolish, so the Britons rebelled against Rome again. Then a man by the name of Hadrian came to Briton, he was just as good as Agricola, but he did not stay very long, so when he left, the Britons rebelled again! So the Romans finally, after over 500 years of fighting, left the Britons alone.

And that is the story of The Last of the Romans.

Daily Narration

Daily Narration of my school books is something that my Mom likes me to do after school, but I rarely get it done. So now I am going to try to do both oral(to Mom) and written narration(on my blog). I will be writing about: History, Science, Missionary Biography, and more. I probably will not do every book, every single school day, I think that would be a little too much:) I hope you enjoy hearing about the books I am reading.

School Starting

We just started school Monday! I am so glad it started, I love summer break, but I was getting really bored! I don't know which I was more excited about, the new school year or the beginning of summer break. As you know I am Homeschooled, so my Mom does all the planning for the school year. As you also know, my Dad is deployed, and he is getting home on R&R (break) in the middle of our Fall school semester. So we are starting a few subjects before he gets home, then we are going to take a break when Dad is home, then we will start school again.

Now I have a question for you :) Are you more excited about the first day of summer break or are you more excited about the first day of school? Please be honest! Honestly, I don't know which I like better.

Do Hard Things Quote

Today I read a couple chapters in the Do Hard Things book, and I found a really cool quote that I wanted to share with you all. It is on page 120, they said, "This verse (Proverbs 13:20) reminds us that friends can be a curse or a blessing depending on whether they are wise or foolish. It also tells us that we become like our friends. You've heard the old saying, ' you are what you eat.' It's probably just as accurate to say, ' you are who you hang out with.' If we want to be wise, mature, and godly, we have to make friends with people who have those qualities." I really like how they put that, and it is so true. If you hang out with people who don't care about God, what kind of influence are they going to have on you? They also say further on that you have to be careful to chose your friends wisely, the Bible says not to "hang out" with evil people. They can lead you in the wrong direction.

I am about half-way through the book and I love it! I encourage all teens to read it also.

Do Hard Things

Do Hard Things is a book for teenagers by teenagers Alex and Brett Harris, 19 year old twin brothers. Mom had me start reading it today, and I am already on the second chapter, but I plan on reading a lot more of it this weekend! It is a great book that every teen should read.

Chuck Norris wrote the foreword of the book, and here is some of what he said, "Their book is far more than a how-to book. From an insightful historical overview of the teen years to personal plans for helping teens hurdle tough obstacles, the authors sound a battle cry to raise the cultural bar on teenage potential and to challenge young people to reach for their God-given best."

Alex and Brett Harris have a website where you can chat with other teens who are going through the same things as you. It is www.therebelution.com. They also do conferences all over the United States. I have never gone to one, but I would like to! I will keep you posted on my progress with the book, I hope you read it too!

Baby Quilt #1

Today my Mom, two of my sisters, and I are making a baby quilt for our baby sister. We are making it out of old baby blankets that Mom cut into squares, first we laid out the squares the pattern we wanted. It took a little while to do because we did not have the same amount of each color or pattern of squares. After we put it out the way we wanted it, we took turns piecing it together, one square to another, then those two squares to another two squares, and so on.

Now we have seven rows, and we still need to put the rows together to form the top of the blanket. But we still will not be done :) After that we will put the edge and the back on (and maybe some batting). We have 49 squares. When finished it will be 56" x 56" square. I'll keep you posted on our progress :)

Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking is one of my most favorite things to do! I probably could not live without it! I love scrapbooking because: I love crafts, it is a fun and cute way to preserve memories, and it so much fun! You don't have to have experience to be able to scrapbook, but I admit that is does look better when you have had some practice:) Scrapbooking is a hobby of mine, so I do it just whenever I want to. Like yesterday, we have not started school yet, and I was really bored, so I did some scrapbooking, I did two and a half pages.

You can get scrapbooking supplies at most craft stores, I get most of mine at Hobby Lobby, they always have great sales on scrapbooks, paper, stickers, and other page elements. For my birthday a friend gave me a scrapbook with about fifteen pages, I think, and I have already filled it up! So next time we go to Hobby Lobby I am going to get a pack of refill pages. There are different kinds and sizes of scrapbooks, so you can't just get any scrapbook refill pages, you have to know what kind of scrapbook you have(the different scrapbooks are bound differently) so all you have to do is take your scrapbook and lift the flap that holds the pages in and see : #1 how many holes there are , #2 see what shape your holes are. It is really easy:)

Scrapbooking is so much fun! I hope that if you have never scrapbooked that you will try it, and if you have I hope that I did not bore you too much! :)

Interior Design

Interior Design has been just a "cool thing", now it is becoming a interest and hopefully a hobby of mine. Today I did some interior designing to my bedroom, now keep in mind that I share this room with two sisters, so I could not do exactly what I wanted to do with it because they did not like me changing the room very much. But I did do a little.

My sisters and I have Polly Pocket dolls that we make cardboard houses for, it is really fun to design each bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, etc. I use scrapbook paper to paper the walls, and sometimes the floor. We also sew our own mini blankets , pillows, couches, etc. Designing these mini rooms is really fun, and it does not cost much at all! If anyone has any ideas on where I can learn more about interior design, please comment on this post:)

The Whole Duty of Children

The Whole Duty of Children

A child should always say what's true
And speak when he is spoken to,
And behave mannerly at the table:
At least as far as he is able.

By Robert Louis Stevenson.

Funny Poem

I found a really cute and funny poem that I would like to share with you. I will warn you, it is also a riddle:)

When people call this beast to mind,
they marvel more and more,
at such a little tail behind,
so LARGE a trunk before.
By Hilaire Belloc.

What is it? An Elephant! The title for this poem gives it away, it is called The Elephant. I hope you liked it!

Verses

Remember how I told you about the class we had on friendship? Well, here are some more verses that she put in our folders.

1 Timothy 4:12 Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

John 13:15 "For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you."

Ephesians 5:8, 15-16 For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of the light ... Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

Psalm 19:7-8 The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making the wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

Psalm 119:9-11, 33, 60, 63 How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping (it) according to Thy work. With all my heart I have sought Thee; do not let me wander from Thy commandments. Thy word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee... Teach me, O LORD, the way of Thy statutes, and I shall observe it to the end...
I hastened and did not delay to keep Thy commandments..
I am a companion of all those who fear Thee, and of those who deep Thy precepts.

Matthew 5:16 "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Mark 8:38 "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."

I really want to thank you C., for looking up all of these verses and more for us!

Last Day

Well, yesterday was the last day of our fundraiser garage sale! It was so fun. We raised $722.56 this weekend! We are now have more than half of what we need to build the well! I am so excited! I was going to write this yesterday, but I was totally worn out from this weekend, like everyone else. After the garage sale yesterday we all jumped in the pool, that felt really good!

Thank you for your prayers! I think God has really blessed our hard work.

2nd Day

This is the second day of the garage sale(the first day we have had customers)! It went pretty smoothly. It was just HOT! The friend's house that we are doing it at, have a garage and a long driveway, but no trees. We just had to drink a lot of water! We are also doing the garage sale tomorrow, and I think tomorrow will be busier than today, since tomorrow is a Saturday.
I can't wait 'till tomorrow, I hope we make a lot of money toward the well.

It was so awesome to think, every time someone gave us a five dollar bill, that one person would have water for their entire life!

1st Day (sorting)

Well, today we were sorting everything that was donated to the garage sale. Which was mostly clothes. I thought we would never finish! But by the grace of God we did! We have around thirty good sized cardboard boxes absolutely full of clothes alone! Then of course we have two desks, a chair, a ton of books, lots of baby things(such as: a bouncer, a crib skirt, etc.), toys, kitchen items, craft supplies, fabric, electronics and more! Lots of people have donated these things, and I am so thankful! Well, tomorrow is the first day of the garage sale, and as far as I can see, everything is good. I just ask that you pray for success!

Getting Ready

Remember how I told you about our family project? Well, since it is this weekend we are working hard this week to make sure that all of the kinks are flattened out in time for the sale, we are hoping that everything runs smoothly. To make more money for the Well I am making some crocheted items to sell at the garage sale this weekend. I thought of the idea on Monday, so I have not had much time to make things but I am working on it:) I hope to make 20 headband, 10 round dish cloths and10 rectangular dish cloths, and if I have the time I am going to make a couple purses. My oldest, younger sister is making 18in. doll clothes, my mom is making coasters, and another sister of mine is making bracelets.

Today we are going to be working on our crafts and baking! For our last garage sale we had lots of baked goods and drinks to sell, and they sold pretty good, so we are going to make more for this garage sale. Please pray that we will be successful in this garage sale :)

Family Project

My family has a project for this year and hopefully for the years to come. We are raising money with Life Today International to build a well in Africa or Asia. We are doing garage sales to raise money, so far we have only done one garage sale, but this weekend we are doing another one. Other people around the country are doing different things to raise money to build other wells. You can go to www.ambassadorsforlife.org/leakefamily if you would like to donate to the well we are raising money for or you can go to www.ambassadorsforlife.org if you would like to start raising money to build another well.

I hope you will help us build this well that the people over there desperately need. Please consider helping us in our fight against death and disease.

being a faithful friend

The Church we attend is pretty small , and the youth group is really small . We usually have about eight kids all together. We have youth group on Sunday nights, I usually don't go , but the older sister of a friend of mine was doing a lesson on friendship last night, so I decided to go.

At the beginning of the lesson she gave each of us girls a little folder with some Bible verses, quotes and other things in it. It was a fantastic experience for me, to see how these verses applied to me and my friends, at co-op or church or wherever. Here are some of them:

*Philippians 1:27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

*Colossians 3:12-13 And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

* Titus 2:7 In all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds.

*1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

There were so many other wonderful verses, but I picked my favorites, I will put more out later. Now here are some quotes that she also put in the folder:

*You can make more friends in a month by being interested in them then in ten years by trying to get them interested in you. - Dale Carnegie

*Don't make friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who will force you to lever yourself up. -Thomas J. Watson

*The only way to have a friend is to be one - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I will also post more quotes later. This class was so very well organized and I hope it benefited not only me but the other girls in the class. :)

cleaning

Cleaning is not always fun, especially for the younger kids. If you have kids, they are going to hate me for this. :) But something they figure out is that it can be fun if they make up their minds that cleaning is a good thing to do, not a punishment. Of course you can "earn" extra chores by disobeying or talking back, but cleaning is something everybody needs to do. Because everybody makes the mess. Shocking!:)

Don't you always eat off of a clean dish when you eat dinner? Don't you always drink out of a clean cup? But how do those dishes get cleaned everyday? How can you go to sleep in a nice warm bed every night? Who provided it? Who washes your blankets when they get all dirty? There is someone behind the scenes that does these things and more for you!( or maybe you are the person who is behind the scenes).

Helping out with the housework is a fact of life! But there is an age limit for doing chores! When the child starts walking is when, I think, they should start helping with little chores, like cleaning up their own toys. One thing I have realized is that the older you get the more chores you get! Because as you get older you are trusted by your parents more to get your work done.

Another thing I have realized is that the more kids that are in your family does NOT mean a smaller amount of chores, it sounds right, does it not? I mean, the more people you have in a family the less you have to do right? WRONG! The more people you have, the more stuff you will have. So really, the more people you have in a family sometimes means more work to do, because the younger ones can't always be depended on.

Back to the first subject, I have learned how to make myself do extra chores without mom or dad asking me to do it. How? Well, if you live in a house that has flat surfaces, counters, a kitchen bar or island, a table, then you know that they are magnets for papers and just STUFF! In our home we rarely find the "time" to clean off these surfaces. It isn't fun is it? But when it does get clean it looks so nice, doesn't it? So that is what motivates me to clean. Another example is when my sisters and I clean our room(I share a room with two of my sisters) it looks better when clothes aren't all over the floor, so we always say that we will keep it clean this time. But that never happens, one day it will be clean and the next day it will be a complete disaster! How? We always say we will do it later, but in reality, LATER almost never happens.

Cleaning CAN be fun if we make up our minds to it, it is just something we learn over time:).

Crochet

Crocheting is one of my most favorite things to do! I first learned to crochet at a craft day last summer when a homeschooling mom offered to teach me how. And she taught me the first stitch, but I was so anxious to learn the rest( the next time I was going to see her was the next week) that I borrowed a how to crochet book from the library. And I learned the next few stitches from that. There are a ton of different stitches in crochet( slip stitch, single crochet, double crochet, half double crochet, chain, etc.) so I am still learning new stitches. Other tools I used to learn new stitches are the Internet, movies and DVDs, and other crocheters.

Crocheting is done with a hook on the end of a long skinny rod and some yarn, you can find crochet supplies at craft stores, such as Hobby Lobby, or at main "all around" stores, such as Wal-Mart. There are different kinds of yarn, there are acrylic yarns, they are the most common and are used most anything and everything. Then there are cotton yarns and they are used for making dish cloths and towels. There are also wool yarns that are very soft, and they are used for making winter coats and accessories. Of coarse you can always try different things with different yarns. That is part of the fun of it!

You can find patterns for almost anything you want to make and more, at the library or on the Internet are where I find most of my patterns. But I really don't like following patterns, I like to make my own! I have made patterns for purses, hats, headbands, bracelets, and more. After you know the basic stitches you can start crocheting, and if you get stopped by a stitch you don't know how to do, then learn it! By doing this over and over again you will really increase your knowledge of stitches!

I love crocheting! It is so much fun and you can made really cute things out of just a small knowledge of stitches, such as baby booties, hats, then after a little practice you might be able to make a whole baby or baby doll outfit! I don't always just crochet for fun, I make things for gifts, for charities, etc. I think crochet is a worth while skill to learn for anybody!

Homeschool Co-op

I go to two homeschool co-ops, and they are so much fun! Co-op is basically a half day, one day a week school for homeschoolers. A lot of homeschool Moms get together at a church or other large building to teach each other's kids for a few hours. The Moms in the group offer different classes they can teach, then the kids sign up for the classes that they either need for high school credits (older kids only) or they need for their regular schooling or that just interest them. Co-op only goes for about eight to twelve weeks in the spring and then again in the fall, depending on the size of the group and when they want to start. We go to one co-op on Monday and one on Friday, but they could be on any day of the week, depending on what is most convenient for the group.

If you are a homeschooler and never been to a homeschool co-op, then I advise you to try it out. It is a great tool for meeting other homeschoolers in your area and it helps Moms share their skills and talents so that the kids get to learn certain things that their parent(s) maybe could not provide. The Moms meet new friends, the kids meet new friends, and it is so helpful for many homeschoolers across the country. You can usually find homeschool co-ops near you on the Internet.

Counting My Blessings

God has blessed me with an awesome family! I have a Dad, Mom, and five younger siblings ( I am the oldest child in my family). I am almost never lonely. God has also blessed me and my family with a house that we have turned into a home, food on our table, family and friends that love us, and much more. Every time I stop what I am doing and simply count my blessings, I am amazed at what God has done for us, and what He is doing for us everyday of my life.