What You Get When You Combine Rootbeer, Fear, and Exhaustion

I do apologize for not posting recently... This past Wednesday I traveled last minute down to West Virginia to visit my very good friend Olivia Howard. Some of you may remember a like visit last year in July/August. I was going to go on Thursday, but then we discovered that Mr. Clarke was in town, and going home that night! It would save plenty of gas for us. (The Clarkes only live 30 minutes from the Howards, and the distance from our house to the Clarkes is 3 hours... to the Howards, 3.5). So... having 15 minutes to pack, I did that.... and then...

(okay, short interruption for apology... I know I make long introductions! sorry!)

I went down to Southern Ohio with Mr. Clarke. We had a very interesting conversation that involved math/engineering, politics, government, prison, poor people, the abolition of the slave trade, history, and all sorts of stuff. :D It was very intelligent and fun.

So here I am at the Howards.

And now on to the actual post...

The Howards have a little apartment attached to their garage. It includes a kitchen/breakfast area, and then upstairs is the main room they use for schooling, or sewing, a library, bathroom, and a big bedroom. So during the time I'm here (till July 4) Olivia and I are staying in the apartment! The other day we bought rootbeer and ice-cream for - can you guess? Yup! rootbeer floats! So we had some one night... and then last night decided we needed more. There was enough ice-cream for us each to have one. We brought the stuff from the kitchen to the bedroom, and prepared and enjoyed them (thoroughly) there.

When I was little I watched a rather scary show on tv.... I don't need to go into specifics about it, but for years I had a dread of windows at night. I hated them... unless they had curtains or blinds. Even though I'm older now, whenever I pass by a dark window at night, it makes me nervous and giddy. What I saw when I was little terrified me to such an extent, that it never really went away.

Now, when we were done with the rootbeer floats, there was still a little more than a third of a 2 liter bottle of rootbeer left... It needed to go down to the fridge... but it was rather late, and Olivia and I both were exhausted from working in the garden all day... hauling 50 pound rocks from a creek up a hill to the car... plus a number of bricks... for landscaping... and a whole bunch of things.... In short, neither one of us felt up to getting up and taking the rootbeer downstairs to the fridge...

And also...

I was nervous about the windows....

"We'll just leave it and put it away in the morning," Olivia said.

"But Olivia... if we don't take it down, it will get flat, and lose it's fizz, and then tomorrow it won't be good!" I argued.

"Well... it's okay... just leave it..."

So I left it.

But after fifteen minutes, the bottle of rootbeer was bothering me. There wasn't any point in letting it get flat, was there? That would be a waste of good rootbeer!

What were we going to do?

...

I looked at the rootbeer. My martyrdom was drawing nigh. There was but one option, and one only (that we would consider) to save the rootbeer from flatting and that was....

to drink it myself.

I took a deep sigh as I submitted to my fate.

And then....

Drank all that was left of the rootbeer...

...experiencing the consequences all through the night.

Cemeteries of Hickville

Today Rachel, Gabriel, Asher and I went on a confused ramble with the ultimate point of getting to an old graveyard. With every quarter mile or so we decided to change the direction we were taking. But we finally got there, after all. It wasn't even a cemetery, as you can see... Just a few graves scattered here and there, battered, old, unreadable, and probably forgotten by most people. They drifted from early 1800's to the 1900's. Gabriel immediately sobered down and observed, "It seems like we're being watched." Of course this was rather absurd, but we got that kind of feeling. I guess it was because we were on the top of a hill, surrounded by old barren trees, a bunch of dark clouds coming together, and the wind blowing ever so hard. But we did have fun after all, AND GUESS WHAT?! On the way home, it started raining really hard... And we weren't anywhere near the house at all. We got soaked, obviously. But that was really fun. :)

Gabriel meandering thoughtfully around with Asher "for protection against the ghosts" he said.

Okay okay... Gabriels the only one who really LOOKS like he's crying... Rachel and I don't really have a general idea of what we're trying to accomplish. :P

Explanation needed? Well... I was trying to fix my hair... Only place to hold my hat was... there. Gabriel thought maybe sitting on Asher would be fun. But he didn't end up doing it after all, despite of the picture.

"FINE RACHEL! BE THAT WAY!"

Little boy on a country road.

Just finishing telling Rachel what sort of place this really feels like.

Couldn't catch the full name, but this was our favorite grave. The poem underneath read:

"An obedient child,

A Sister dear

A faithful wife

Is slumbering here."

Studying the graves... Trying to read the dates, but this one was so weatherbeaten it was almost just a blank stone.

"Guys... Is this place haunted?"

Good ol' Asher.

He's straying from the straight and narrow path....

Rachel and I.

I really like this picture. She was laughing at... *cough*... Gabriel. He gave us enough to laugh at. :P

No comment.

"Oh, no, I'm not related to him at all. Really... I'm not." :P My wonderful brother...

I get really happy in the country.

We didn't plan that.

"Hi kids!"

Happy Birthday Rachel!!!

(Because, you know, today IS her 14th birthday!)

Hmmm...

Yup, this is what we look like when the Clarkes leave their house to us. :)

Not As Important But.....

Isn't it so beautiful!? "The heavens declare the glory of God! The skies proclaim the works of his hands!"

Patriotic Sentiments

I was just "reminiscing" as some people call it, on a time a few months back, when I was in the most beloved and honoured (by me) town (or not so town-ish) Hickville. I remember that around sunset, Rachel and I "took a walk through the wilderness" as we call it. As we were coming back, we got a rather patriotic feeling within us, or at least I did, and we decided to belt out America's National Anthem. Alright.... Please don't think I'm strange when I say what I was feeling at the time, because I feel like I've gotta tell somebody, but I don't know which somebody to tell, (so why not tell everybody?) and besides, I wouldn't be able to put it in these exact words that describe the feeling as I am about to do now.... Wow, that was a really wordy sentence!!

So, we belted out the National Anthem. We really sang it out, as there was no one to listen but God and the birds around us. We looked across the vast land around us, so desolate, maybe, but so free, and so beautiful in the setting sun. What made the song more astounding, the view around us more spectacular, and being in the place itself more wonderful was the knowledge we had that we have a God, a heavenly Father in heaven, who is supreme over everything, who is all-powerful and in complete control of any little thing that happens. And if he cares for the life of a sparrow, how much moreso the life of his children! And also this thought.... the hymn O Worship The King says in the last verse, "Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend!" If he is all those things, then he certainly will care for us in times of trouble or should disaster strike! Malachi 4:2 says, "But for those who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings." I feel that "we the people" have been very blessed, and have felt God's grace and mercy in giving us, and allowing us to live and flourish, in this free country.

Some people say that we don't have a very free nation... A good friend went to England this past year. She said that a homeschooling mother there said to her, "The law of England states that a superviser must be within our home to watch how we treat and raise our children. They never warn us when they come. Don't let, like we have, the simple freedoms that you posess slip through your hands, because we look and depend on you." I don't know about you, but when I heard that my mind bounced... so to speak. I almost got up and slammed my hand on the table saying, "That's it! First I'm going to the American Government and then I'm going to Parliament to do something!" If only it were that simple! Many of you might have read a post I wrote a few months ago entitled "pray!" I was about to say that the only way we can help our country is by being some great person of state that has great influence on our government. However, I was promptly reminded that, again, we can, and we WILL pray. Prayer is the greatest thing that we can do for our country.

But may I be so bold (in a good way, of course) to urge my brothers and sisters in Christ to pray without ceasing, and to never, ever be complacent! I'm not saying you are, but remember how many thousands of people died for a freedom that they had not yet obtained in the late 1700's! Remember how many sacrifices they made, and how hard they worked, and how constantly the fought for a freedom and a liberty and a country that they could call their own! And just think, after all that they had suffered to make this, our nation America, and after the thousands upon thousands who had died (not even knowing the end result), just think how ungrateful it would be, how entirely careless and thoughtless and defiant it would be to take all those sacrifices for granted, and to stand complacently by while this our country, one Nation under God, reaches a crisis! How in the world can we do that? We must not, and we cannot, stand passively and complacently by and watch the show.

So pray! And watch! And never be passive! (I would greatly appreciate it if y'all would help sharpen me and remind me to do the same thing.)

I feel so much better after saying all this.... :D

Ice-Skating

Thursday afternoon, the Clarkes homeschool group went ice-skating in Wheeling at Oglebay park. :D Sooo... Here's some pictures from that most enjoyable afternoon. :) (I'm kind of in a smiley-face mood... As you'll see below...)

This is Tabitha Simpson, the little sister of the Simpson girls (obviously) who I know. :) You gotta love babies... I do.

Me and Rachel on skates. Surprisingly, there aren't very many good pictures of us. But that just figures when neither one of us looks that great. :P

Beautiful Olivia, :)

Jack. He's actually a really good skater. But then he's also a boy, and boys are good at almost anything. :)

All us girls!! L to R, Emma, Olivia, Me, Jordan, Allison, Rachel.

Me Olivia and Allison. I really like Olivia's hat.

Me and Olivia dear.

Aww, Jordan!

The skating rink. It was actually a pretty good size, and there weren't tons of people there, so it was nice. I love ice-skating.

Emma and me. Ya know, I don't know why there are so many pictures of me and people. Rachel uploaded them all for me while I was playing card games with Mr. Clarke and Jack. :P

Wow, that just looks dumb. :)

And Mrs. Clarke and Catherine will end this beautiful little post. :D