Established Goings

Sep. 25, 2008
The Simple Woman's Daybook and a note...

NOTE: Check out the new guestbook thing in my sidebar!!!!!!

This is something I found on Anna93's blog! It looked fun, so I thought I'd give it a try.

FOR TODAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2008

Outside My Window... It is dark, but a few stars are shining.

I am thinking... of friends and family; of NaNoWriMo; of tons of different things!

I am thankful for...God's joy, which flows even though the toughest of circumstances.

From the kitchen... It is quiet now, but we had cream chicken and biscuits for dinner today!

I am wearing... polyester jammie-type pants and a gray t-shirt with a flag on it.

I am creating...stories in my head!

I am going...crazy?? Well, maybe, but hopefully to the HSA reunion at some point. And a dozen other places...

I am reading... "Dream of Freedom" by Michael Phillips

I am hoping...for my dreams to come true (within God's plans). But then, God has something planned for me beyond my wildest dreams. So I guess it should be I am hoping for God's dreams for me to come true!

I am hearing...cars on the road, Khan barking at something, and someone down in the kitchen.

Around the house... most everybody is sleeping.

One of my favorite things... driving when I know where I am going. :-P

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: finish a letter to Vanessa, probably do school with Gracie tomorrow, and spend time with my family on Saturday.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

My siblings and I at the zoo...

Find more about The Simple Woman's Daybook here: http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/

Sep. 22, 2008
Tick, tick, tick....

...tick, tick, tick...

Do you hear that?

That is the sound of my brain. It is like a bomb. Waiting to go off. It will go off. But until then, I am at a loss as to what to write.

So I will just try to think of some interesting things. Let's see...

Had a wonderful and way too short visit with the H family on Sunday!!!

I found my dream house!!!!!! Click here: www.simondale.net/house It is amazing!!!

I am prepping for NaNoWriMo again. I have an idea, and it is a good one. I am going to try to finish it this year.

Aaaaanndd...I am going to make sourdough bread and shoot my bow tomorrow.

So that is about all the interesting things I can think of right now. Despite the fact that life is crazy here.

But I am tired now, so goodnight, sleep tight, and don't let anything bite.

Love, Hannah

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Sep. 6, 2008
ONE HUNDREDTH POST!!!!!!

This, my friends, is my 100th post!! I've been watching my number of posts go up and knew that I had to announce this one when I got to it. Aren't you proud?

I think I'd do a dance...

(Note: this picture is from Christmas 1998, and those are my brothers.)

So there you have it. I made it to one hundred posts. Or rather you all made it. Tell me...how has it been so far, my bloggingness?

Love, Hannah

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Sep. 6, 2008
Prayer requests

A few prayer requests:

Please pray for our dear friend, Mrs. Janet P and her family. Her husband is having some heart trouble...badly clogged arteries that were close to a heart attack...so they all are going to need strength as he recovers from surgery.

Also for little Colton W. He is about 2 years old, I believe. He and his big brother, Garrett, were sliding down a big blow up ride at the fair and somehow, Colton's leg got caught under Garrett, and his tibia was fractured. Especially pray for his mother... :)

And please still keep my family in your prayers. It is so very much appreciated. :)

Love, Hannah

Aug. 24, 2008
I swallowed a bug

And it is stuck in my throat.

Earlier this evening, while my family was making a meal (after we had spent the afternoon helping the D's and had a visit with Matt H. :) ), I was chopping onions, and I sneezed, muffling it on my shoulder. Well, I almost always sneeze twice, so I inhaled sharply before the second sneeze came. That's when I felt something go into my throat. I sneezed the second sneeze, but that didn't help any. Suddenly, I stood there coughing and choaking and trying not to get onion juice in my eyes, I realized I had swallowed a bug. I guess it was on my shoulder.

Yucksh.

Do you know how awfully terribly a bug tastes? Ugh. It gives me shivers thinking about it.

So right now, I am sitting here with a rather sore throat, still gulping and swallowing and coughing, trying to get this bug to go one way or the other. (and trying to remember how to spell throat...throught, throuat, troat...oy.)

I don't know what it's stuck on, I thought my throat was smooth.

So, anyways.

Like y'all wanted to know something that disgusting and ungraceful.

I really oughta find something more interesting to blog about. Oyksh.

Guess what? A little bug just landed on my computer screen. Know what my first thought was? Don't. breath. in.

Love, Hannah

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Aug. 23, 2008
I feel like blogging.

Truth is, I have nothing to blog. I just feel like wasting space here.. But there is something supremely gratifying about typing out a blog post. Even if it filled with unworthy ramblings.

Well, let's see. I should be able to find something interesting to talk about. Okay, here I go.

I've been redoing Gordie's blog (arrowsoflightning on my friends list). Looks pretty cool now. I'm almost liking it better than mine.

And...umm...Mom and Gracie and I went garage saling last weekend. And had a blast! I got a bunch of shirts, a denim overall jumper, a couple pairs of jeans, a bunch of books, and whole lot of other goodies.

Today, Mom, Dad, Gracie, and I went to Walmart for food and oil for Dad's truck. Well, the oil is for Dad's truck...the food is for us. Then us kids (funny how I still refer to us as kids, seeing how 3 outa 5 of us a teenagers) spent the evening watching the Olympics, Johnny Quest and Dick VanDyke. And playing the Jedi somethingerother game on the computer. Actually I just watch. The boys play.

Anywho.

I think that is about it.

Oh, and we are not moving. I mentioned before that I thought we were, but that didn't work out, so here we are and here we shall remain for now.

And on that note, would y'all keep us in your prayers? God is so good, but sometimes life tries to take a few punches. We've yet to be knocked out, but a little extra thought and prayer on our behalf never hurt. Thanks so much!

Well, I better go for now.

Love, Hannah

Aug. 22, 2008
Cora and Duncan ---Big Brother and Little Sister, part 2

Sorry this is so late...I wanted to get these up last week, but late nights and s-l-o-w dial up speed were in the way a bit. You wouldn't believe how long it takes me to upload pictures!! Oy.

Anywho. Here are the brother and sister pictures from a couple weeks ago. After their game of injun, Gracie decided to play something a bit more feminine.

So she had a tea party.

Gordie as her guest of honor. Excuse me, Duncan.

And make it Cora's tea party.

You see, Gracie loves the movie "The Last of the Mohicans" (with Daniel Day-Lewis...we fast forward through all the gorey and mushy parts.). So her tea party was based off the one that Cora and Duncan have in the beginning of the movie.

With my help, dressed up in her frilliest dress, got her hair put up really pretty, and (if I remember right) put on a pair of red sparkly Wizard of Oz tyoe shoes, hand me downs from Katie H. I helped her make herbal rasberry tea, cut up a pancake and a piece of bread for cookies, and let her use my special itty bitty tea set. We set up the little picnic table as you see in the pictures, and Gordie came out decked in part of the reenacting costume he made, complete with a period tri-corner hat (made out of a bent up brown cowboy hat.)

And they had tea.

Despite the two monkeys (coughCharliecoughDanny) who were sitting up in the tree snickering. I'm positive they were simply jealous of the tasty feast they had not been invited to.

All in all, the day was perfect for a tea party, and Gordie was an awesome sport.

All I can do is smile.

Love, Hannah

Aug. 11, 2008
Respite? Sabbatical? Uhh...No. Survival.

First the rained knocked out out phone connection. Then my computer went kuh-poot. So was without either for almost a week. I felt like a kid who's lost his blankie or favorite teddy bear.

AAAAHHHH!!!!

But I survived.

Wonder of wonders.

And I am back. Wheew. I thought I was a goner there for a moment.

Turned out our phone connection box is buried in a swamp up the road, so every time it rains...like it has all week long...the swamp floods and there goes our phone connection. Yeah. Fun. And as for my computer...they said it had a bad wireless card, so they replaced it. Which I don't understand cause I don't even have wireless interent, so what's the wireless card for?? But really, I don't care...it works and so long as it works, I am happy.

Other than that...I had a nice week, even without my compy. On Wednesday, I started treating a wart on my left hand...at least I think its a wart. I really don't know. But that's what it looks like, and I have had it for several years. So I have had bits of banana taped to it since then. Oh, man! Does that smell! I have changed it twice a day (for those of you who might think I've kept the same piece of banana on my hand for almost a week...Nuh-uh!), but those of you who know me well will know that I despise bananas. So this is torture. Every time I go to scratch my face with that hand, it smells like *shivers* b.a.n.a.n.a. . Oyyucksh! But...the wierd-thing-that-I-call-a-wart seems to be getting smaller. So hopefully it will soon disappear all together and I can get rid of this banana wrap.

Anyways. Like you really wanted to know that.

Got to watch the movie, "Hidalgo", um when was that? Last week? No, two weekends ago. Anywho, watched it and loved it! It was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. Also, Dad and Mom bought "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium"!!!! *Ecstatic* So Love that movie!!!

I have another set of pictures to post of Gordie and Gracie, as soon I get them uploaded...so cute! But I'm not telling what they are about! hehe! So just stay tuned. ;)

But, I better go for now.

Love, Hannah

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Jul. 30, 2008
Playin' Injun---the story of a big brother and a little sister

One day last week, Gracie, age 6, got all dressed up in her cowgirl outfit,and asked Gordie, (or "her Twin" as she loves to call him) age16, to "play injun" with her.

So Gordie got dressed up and went outside to play with her. (And he was kind enough to let me post these pictures on here!)

the cowgirl

Gracie the Kid.

searching

Searching for the Injun.

battle

The battle...in which Gracie the Kid's most favorite weapon was her foot.

surrender!

The Injun finally surrenders...after a lengthy duel in which he stole her hat, lost it, found it, returned it, and was shot multiple times. Here Gracie the Kid holds himat gun point, yelling "Keep walking!" which spontaneously turned into *singing* "Keep walkin', cause you won't knock down our wall! Oh, keep walking..."

Gracie the Kid

The Triumphant Cowgirl. Although the Injun got away, she was satisfied that she had gotten his loot and "all his injun stuff".

Thus ends the tale of Gracie the Kid and the Injun. But ever continues the bond which Gordie creates with his little sister by humbly playing along with her many whims and fancies and lending his vast imagination to her.

~Hannah

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Jul. 30, 2008
May I present...

This was from Gordie's birthday...

Purely for the sake of entertainment, and cause its funny, I give you...

Riley Poole.

My brother.

Charlie

Charlie, age 14, is often said to look and sound like Riley Poole from the National Treasure movies. Those of you who have seen the second one, Book of Secrets, will appreciate this picture. :D

Smiles,

Hannah

Jul. 28, 2008
Pants!

What I do for my pants. I have, as of right now, only two pairs of beloved blue jeans...one pair are overalls with blue butterflies on them, and the other pair are Old Navy stretchies. Today I mended both pairs, but I mainly want to talk about the Old Navys. The overalls just required a bit of stitching on one of the seams. However my stretchies were a little tougher.

Before I fixed them, they were about six inches too long and had big holes in the knees and one starting right next to one of the back pockets. Last week, I wanted to wear them, so I just rolled up about a foot of material to make them sorta like capris, only with big bulges around my knees. So today I cut off around six inches from the bottoms of the legs and used the material to patch the holes.

You should see them now.

HA!

They look so trendy! My goodness, I could probably sell these things for, like, forty bucks on Ebay! They're worn around the pockets, faded and stained on the legs, plus my gorgeous patch jobs, and since I didn't measure them on me before I cut them, they went from being six inches too long to being about a half an inch too short!

But they are comfy and now they don't have any holes in them, so I am happy.

And who knows, maybe someday, I'll make my fortune in selling "designer jeans"!

Love, Hannah

Jul. 23, 2008
Lessons in Poetry...sort of...

I love poetry. Writing it, reading it...no matter what, it thrills me. And I always try to lure my siblings into that love of literature too. Sometimes I succeed. Sometimes...well, let's just say I am far less successful.

Today, as I was reading to myself from the book "Anne's Anthology" (a collection of poetry that Anne of Green Gables quoted from in the books), I came to the poem "Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight", and there was an illustration of the girl swinging from the bell clapper. Gracie, who was sitting beside me, saw the picture and asked me what it was. I tried to explain the story to her, but since I had not read it yet, I really couldn't. So she asked me what the words said. And I, being the poetry lover I am, read it to her. All, what...two and half pages of it? It was a rather long poem. But I enjoyed it, and it was a good story. However, by the end of the poem, Gracie was talking to herself and and looking at something else. When I ended it, she looked at me and said "So what happened?" "Well," I said "Her true love was going to be killed when the bell rang, so she stopped it from ringing, and saved his life!" Gracie looked at me blankly. "Oh. That was boring."

Then, after deciding on a piece of poetry for her to memorize (which was a selection from "Peep of Days" by Jane Taylor, from "Anne's Anthology") , Mom wrote out the words on index cards and helped her learn the first line. A few minutes later, when Mom asked her to recite it, she picked up her cards and said "Peep Days, by Randy Travis..."

Whadda ya know...Anne Shirley quoted Randy Travis! ;)

Oy...

So much for a thrilling literary experience.

Jul. 21, 2008
The Strength of a Nation

This is the essay I wrote for the senior homeschool essay contest. I got third place (almost second place...one point away!). The theme was the 2008 Presidential Election, and what character strengths we thought the leader of our countryshould have.

Enjoy!

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The Strength of a Nation

By Hannah M.

A famous poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson states that a nation's strength lies in men who are willing to work hard for the sake of others and bravely stand for truth and honor. By this description, I am able to envsion men who are, or were, strong, fearless leaders. A picture forms in my mind of such men as George Washington and Paul Revere, who dared to rebel against all they had ever known for the sake of liberty. I see Abraham Lincoln, a man who was murdered because he cared about the freedom of a people. And I see the hundreds of thousands of young men who have sacrificed their lives valitantly in protection of their families, fellow countrymen and God-given liberties. Yet, in the same thought, I have to wonder if such men still exist.

With another presidential election dawning upon America's horizons, I find questions rising in my heart along with it. The candidates have surfaced and the campaigning has begun. Convincing speeches are being given and the pros and cons of each presidential prospect are being exploited. This year, more than ever it seems, I have a keen intrest in following this race to leadership. Perhaps it is because I am finally old enough to take part in the choosing of our nation's leaders by casting my own vote. However, I believe it is truly because I now have a better understanding of what is at stake.

In viewing the statistics of each candidate, I've found that none really stand fast for the values that I hold dear. The only major issues that I am seeing are pivotal points of election decisions are the economy and the war---who will bring more jobs to America and end the war in Iraq. No one, so far, has discussed the the things I am most passionate about. It would appear that no one cares about the protection of the unborn, the reforming of our nation's morals, and the preserving of our freedom to openly express our faith in God, all of which are being jeopordized daily.

What I am seeing, as each election comes and goes, are not the strong, fearless leaders of yesterday. To my dismay, I am seeing generation after genration of men and women so filled with pride and selfishness that they will do anything and say anything in order to reach the proverbial top.

I know that I shouldn't be surprised at not finding dignity, integrity, or truth in politics; but each election year, I find myself hoping and praying that someone honorable will step up to the plate and be the strong, fearless leader that this country need to help it back to its feet. However, there is Someone that America needs even more than a strong leader.

The average American (and his wife) works day in and day out in order to reach that high climax of success that he dreams of. He raises his average 1.5 kids, mows the lawn on Saturday, and goes to church on Easter and Christmas. Like every good patriot, he votes every four years, and complains about whoever got picked afterwards. He sends his kids to public school to give them "the best" education and buys them all the latest iPods for their birthdays. He strives with all his might to be a good father and husband, but on the fifty-fifty average, finds himself failing miserably. He usually ends up in a heartbreaking divorce, with his children rebelling against him and landing themselves in heaps of trouble. He doesn't know why his life falls apart, except for the fact that it is happening to everyone else around him as well. All he knows now is that there is a valley to be crossed, a summit to be reached, a paycheck to be enlarged and taxes to be paid. So he picks up the pieces, whatever ones he can find, and goes on being a good old American.

Isn't there something terrible wrong with this picture? Isn't there something more to being an American than our dear politians are telling us? The Bible says, in Psalm 127:1, that "Except the Lord build a house, they labor in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." To me this sounds exactly like what is happening in this country of ours. Our leaders tell us what is important, and according to them, it's the economy and the war; namely, the economy. So we work, they get paid, and the gas prices go up! We build and build on the foundations that our polititians are laying, trusting their judgement most of the time. And all the while, only a few good men are realizing that something very crucial is desperately missing.

What America needs more than a strong leader, more than good jobs, more than more money and way more than more know-it-alls running for president is Someone that they are trying very hard to throw out. To put it quite simply, America needs God. God doesn't need America; actually He would probably be a lot happier without her. But the fact is that America needs God! Just like Rome, Tyre, and Babylon needed God, because America is on a rapid decent to following them down the same path of extinction. Remember what happened to all the citites in the Bible that turned from God? Insert "America" into any one of those passages, and you've got the inevitable future.

Psalms 46:1 states that "God is our refuge and strength...". In my most humble opinion, what a leader of this country needs is not a hefty wallet or an impressive college degree, but instead an ardent faith in God and a willingness to lead the people to Him. We don't need promises of a better economy or an end to a war. We don't need a popular face or a convincing speech. We need a revolutionary revival of the hearts and morals of our leaders and citizens.We need God! We need Him, or else we will die too soon.

America will eventually die. I hate to be a voice of doom, but it is truly a fact. America is not in the Bible past, and it is not in the Bible future. God's focus is ulitmately on Israel, but He has graciously allowed the U.S. to play the part of the boistrous, annoying rebel in His story. America will someday fade into the dust, and join the ranks of the great lost cities with Rome, Tyre, and Babylon.

I am truly sorry to my readers that this is not the stirringly patriotic essay that it was supposed to be. I tried to think of something to write that would convict the hearts of my fellow Americans. I tried to write an essay that would reflect the patriotism that I know people want to read about. America is a very patriotic country, but America is not a God-honoring country, and to me, honoring God is more important that making my neighbors cry. I apologize that I am so cynical, and that some may find this essay offensive. I am very glad to have been born an American. This is probably one of the only places in the world that I could be both grateful and cynical about my citizenship in one breath and get away with it! Seriously, however, America has freedoms and a heritage that not many other countries have. It is simply heartbreaking that the freedoms we hold so dear are being bought at the cost of our morals, and our heritage is being shamed by our lust for those freedoms. If the founders of our country could see us now, I shudder to think of what they would say.

I am planning on voting this year, but the choices just keep getting worse and worse. Politics really make it hard to be a Christian in America. However, with the desperate hope that our nation will right its wrongs and find God as its ultimate strength, I will keep praying for our leaders and in my ever nearing future, keep casting my vote to help choose them. There is something good in this country, hidden deep inside. But only with God's strength will it ever become reality.

Jul. 20, 2008
Some witty title that describes my weekend in five words or less since I can't think of one

Okay, just quickly, my weekend in review...

Friday was Gordie's 17th birthday. I got him the book "Do Hard Things" by Alex and Brett Harris...and yes, I resisted the urge to read it before I gave it to him. :) I only...just a little...peeked. ;)

Mom and Dad got Pirates of the Carribean #2 sorta for Gordie's birthday. :) Very funny...we were laughing SO hard!!! I had gotten the impression from my informants(coughKatiecoughKayla) that Davy Jones was really disgusting and creepy. But actually he just made me really sad. He reminded me of Captain Nemo on Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Same story...same organ thingy that he plays. Anyways....I honestly think my Dad likes the movies more than any of us! Every other sentence around here ends with "savvy?"! Oy! I'm doomed.

Saturday...um...I think we just relaxed and hung out. Gracie and I watched both versions of Little Women...the Kathrine hepburn version and the Wynona Ryder version. I've come to the conclusion that the Katherine Hepburn version is way more acurate to the book, but my siblings and I like the Wynona Ryder version better because it has Christian Bale in it. The Katherine Hepburn version actors are, well, I'll just say they aren't as good as the newer ones, even though they do portray the original book characters very well. Anywho....

Today we went down to the Spillway. We went to the little wildlife center and then watched the fish for a wile. It was so humid! But we had a lot of fun anyways.

But that's about it, and I need to go to bed...G'night!

Love, Hannah

Jul. 8, 2008
My Graduation Speech

Sorry it took me so long to get this posted, but here is the speech I gave at the graduation ceremony!

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The Funny Side of Homeschooling

There are three especially amazing things about homeschooling. One of them is that there is enough individuality in our education that we are free to excel in whichever field of study that we are most gifted in or find most interesting. Another is that we learn most of our best lessons through life, as opposed to sitting in a classroom all day. The last, one of which I am particularly fond of, is that there are no constraints to learning in the homeschool. I am sure that many will agree with me that we often find methods of education that the public school system would consider quite unorthodox.

Today, I would like to give you a few examples of all three points; individuality, lessons learned through life, and freedom of learning. I want to share with you some of the crazy, roll-on-the-floor-laughing moments of my homeschool life, because homeschooling isn't just about getting a better, purer education than the world can offer. It's about building strong family ties and learning in the way God intended us to. It's about understanding that we are so not perfect, and that we have days when school is considered impossible. And it's about cultivating the most important vocal expression in the world---laughter.

My brother Gordie was the quiet one when he and I were toddlers. He was the type of child that you could sit down in one place, walk away from him for fifteen minutes, come back and he would still be there. I, on the other hand, was the type of child that my mother did not take her eyes off of for more than thirty seconds. On the rare occasion that I did get out her sight, when I was about three years old, I managed to pull Gordie into my mischief as well. When Mom realized that the house was too quiet, she went looking for us. When she found us in the upstairs bathroom, she also found that we were perfecting the art of plastering the bathroom wall with wet toilet paper. Actually I was doing the plastering (I mean, dipping and flinging), but Gordie's gut laugh gave me away. I haven't attempted it since.

My mom likes to tell a story about me when we went to a fire department field trip, and the folks there put on a reenactment of a real live car crash, in which they showed how they saved the victims. As the car was engulfed in flames and the firemen rushed dramatically around, I turned to my mom and asked, "Where's the marshmallows?"

Danny has a lot of quotes to his name. Most of these happened when we was about five years old. Upon getting a letter from his friend, Katie, he declared, "Bills, bills, bills...that's all Katie ever sends me!" And we know he watched way too many episodes of Little House on the Prairie; when he got hurt one day, he cried, "I need Dr. Baker!" We still tease him about the time he knowingly declared, "God is bald...bald, bald, bald!" And we can't forget the summer he was totally paranoid at anyone touching pieces of moss, because a friend had told him that they were bear pillows and if he touched them, the bear would come out and eat him! Of course now, moss is affectionately known as "bear pillows", but Danny really didn't think it was very funny.

His absolute funniest quote, however, happened just about a year ago, when our Uncle Greg was visiting us and entertained us by telling a joke. He said "There was this magician, who claimed he was the greatest magician in the world. At one of his shows, he called for a big strong volunteer, and ended up getting the biggest, burliest guy he'd ever seen. The magician handed him a sledgehammer and said, 'This is the best trick ever! Now, I want you to hit me on the head with this sledgehammer as hard as you can.' 'Really?' the strong man asked. 'Are you sure?' 'Yes! I'm absolutely sure!' said the magician. So the strong man hit him on the head as hard as he could. The magician fell unconcious and was rushed to the hospital. When he woke up from a coma ten years later, he shouted, 'Tada!'" Of course we laughed, but Danny was literally rolling. We started laughing at Danny laughing! When Danny regained his composure enough to talk, he asked, "What's a coma?"

Last fall, it was my family's turn to take a treat to church. So amongst a few other things, we decided to take my all-time favorite food...popcorn. And to make it even better, we air popped it and seasoned it with our favorite toppings; olive oil, salt and pepper. That last ingredient was not a good idea though, because we ended up having half the church congregation sneezing!

My siblings and I competed in a youth archery club over the past two and half years, and were surprised to find that at least half of the kids participating were homeschooled. Once, after discussing several silly things about homeschooling, one of the public schoolers stated, "Homeschoolers are weird." We laughed, and eventually came up with the reply, "We're not weird...we're homeschoolers!"

And maybe it's true. Maybe we are weird. But truthfully, I just think we're blessed. We have the individuality to learn at our own paces, with our own caring parents choosing the appropriate learning material until we are old enough to help choose it ourselves. We have the ability to learn the most important life lessons through God's Word, through the examples of our parents, and through our own discoveries. And we have the freedom to learn whatever we choose, above and beyond the basics if we want to. My siblings and I have always had learning right at our finger tips. We have often read history, reading and literature books well before the school year starts. Librarians have always loved us, because, on average, we take out at least a dozen books apiece each time we visit a library.

And still people ask me if I ever wished I had gone to public school, or if I plan to go to college. That alone makes me almost want to laugh. My answer: Never. Never in a thousand years would I give up the individuality, the freedom, and the lessons of life, love and laughter that I have learned through God's precious gift of homeschooling.

~Hannah

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Jul. 7, 2008
Happy Belated 4th of July!

Howdy, all. I had a nice, busy fourth of July weekend. Now you may wonder how busy can be nice, but truthfully, I like busy, so it's a good thing.

Anyways, Friday we hung out, the boys went fishing, and we had a nice little picnic together. That evening we went to see some fireworks!! I was thrilled, which is something I will explain later. :) We got to sit pretty close and the fireworks were REALLY good, so we had a lot of fun.

Saturday, we went to the NE Marina, and Dad, the boys and Gracie fished in the lake (I couldn't fish, cause I didn't have my own license and I'm too old to fish under Dad's) . In between fishing, the boys and I climbed on the rocks, looking for beach glass and stuff. We only found a couple little pieces. :(

On Sunday, Dad changed the oil in his truck, we used all our resources to keep the dogs cool and fly-free, we watched Cinderella Man and Miss Potter that evening, and the H's stopped by so Kayla could drop off a DVD and CD for me. ( Thank you again so much, Kayla!)

And Today....the boys mowed the yard, then went back in the woods to work on their "pool" in the creek. I took Gracie back there to swim, and she loved it. It's terribly muddy, but...hey...to each his own!! Then before Dad came home, we watched the movie Kayla had brought me..."The Return of the Daughters" by the Botkin sisters. Amazing movie!!!!! LOVE IT and recommend that EVERYONE see it!

I have to go for now, and I hope all your weekends were fun too!!! God bless!

Love, Hannah

Jun. 23, 2008
Prayer Request for DixieBeauty

Please pray for Jordan (dixiebeauty) and her family. I just learned that her Dad was killed in a motor accident a month ago.

And if you can, stop by her blog and give her a cyber hug. Her whole family is going to need a lot of prayer and love in the future. Let's do what we can for her here....

Love, Hannah

Jun. 20, 2008
Then she realized...something....

So I was sitting at my desk today, working on my laptop. I opened up a story that I have been trying to work on for several months, and scrolled down to the last line that I had written, which was about a week ago. The line was "Then she realized something. Something so profound...". There I had stopped, because I was needed downstairs.

I sat there for about fifteen minutes, trying to refresh my brain. Then she realized something. What did she realize?

Do you think for the life of me I could remember what is was that she so profoundly realized? Uh, NO!

So I'm thinking about finfishing that paragraph like this: "Then she realized something. Something so profound that she forgot what it was a week later. So obviously it wasn't very profound, and this story is going to be a complete disaster if the author doen't find her brain here pretty quick."

Oh, man. That is so not a good way to start out my graduated, adult life.

Oh by the way, Kayla and Emilie...I came home a plugged my laptop in...it turned on fine. I plugged it to check the battery power, and it was full. So I have no idea what was up.

Oy. Just another day in the life of me!

Love, Hannah

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Jun. 16, 2008
And so I return, happy, healthy, and with drooping eyelids...

Wow...it has been...what...a whole week since I have been online??? Yikes! And even longer than that since I have blogged! Boy, that's gotta be a record. :) Well, I guess its high time for an update, huh?? I suppose I could let you all live in blissful ignorance as to my internet absence....but I'm not that mean. (Really!)

Trust me, though...I do have very good reasons for not being online. So let's see...we'll start with Saturday the 7th.

Drumroll, please....

I graduated! Well, officially anyways. I was priviledged to be able to participate in the Homeschool graduation ceremony, and boy, was that a blast! We had the caps and gowns and tassles and the whole shabang! I got to give my "Homeschool Humor" speech (which I'll post here later). There were sixteen graduates including myself and two of my very dear friends, Whitney and Rachael. I was especially excited when someone got up and sang the song "Find Your Wings"! I was really hoping someone was going to sing that song, because its one of my favorites and it is so perfect for a graduation. After the ceremony we had some fellowship time, and then my family went out to eat at my favorite restaurant...Chick-Fil-A!!!!! We had milkshakes as a special treat, and boy were they the absolute best!! (Yeah, I suffered for it a few days later...sugar headaches are no fun. But it was worth it! :} )

On Tuesday, I went out and bought a laptop! Yes you read that right. I BOUGHT A LAPTOP!!!! I had gifts of money from graduation and Mom and Dad helped me with the rest, so I got me a laptop! I am typing on it right now! It is so much fun. It's not one of those fancy shmancy brandy new ones. It's a Compaq, with a Windows XP OS. I think it is used, and revamped, but it works and I love it. So that was partly the reason I haven't been online. I took my computer in so they could transfer all my data to the laptop, and that took them about two days. Charlie has my desktop now. :) My laptop also has a CD/DVD player/burner so I am soooo happy!

And...we are possibly moving. My Dad's job got transfered so we are moving about two hours south of here. I know I know....two whooooole hours. But really its not that far away. It's a nice drive. Very pretty scenery. So you can still come visit me. We are hoping to move sometime the first week of July. But nothing is set in stone. This may not even happen, so don't get too excited! We've been packing...in fact I went to put away some pictures my dear friend Vanessa just sent me, and guess what....I packed my photo album yesterday. So I will have to find a safe place for them till I unpack.

Oh yeah....all the puppies are gone. They all went to their new homes on Sunday. That was a busy day. Wow! I am missing them all, but we just got a call from one of the ladies that bought a Lab, and she said that he is doing so great and she just loves him. So that was really nice to hear.

And so I am finally online today. I couldn't get online till I loaded Norton on *my* lovely laptop. So I did that today while my siblings and I watched a couple episodes of Bonanza. Yesterday, we took a little road trip, and then came back up here and went to the funeral home for Kayla's family. In case you don't know her, she's xxPATRIOTICxx on my friends list and her grandfather just passed away. Her family really needs prayers. So I was glad we went. We all (my brothers, Gracie, Me, Kayla, Katie, Matt, and a couple of the cousins :) ) sat and visited for a long time. That was so much fun (despite the circumstance)! (p.s....hope to see you all again soon!!!)

Today we ran a lot of errands...went shopping, did this, did that. Got cuts on the corners of my mouth from trying to eat yogurt in the car without a spoon...yeah, that was interesting. I used the foil top like a scoop, and well...foil is sharp. So now my mouth hurts. *whine* What was even more interesting was watching Gracie eat hers. She tipped the little container up and slurped it like a glass of water...of course ending up with a big yogurt mustache! *Sigh* Just like old times...all of us kids crammed in the car, eating lunch and making a mess...boy do I love being homeschooled. Of course, in "old times" Gordie wouldn't have been begging to drive. (oy.)

So here I am....I haven't disappeared. Just suffered from a little internet deficiency....I'm all better now! I'll post more later... :)

Love, Hannah