No, I'm not dead....

Just been really busy. :)

Wow, it's been a while since my last post. Been meaning to get something up here, but I keep getting distrac... oh look, a puppy! :P

Actually though, there really is a puppy. :) I just got my new puppy last Saturday. Her name is Stormy, and she has beautiful merle coloring! I haven't taken any pictures of her myself yet, but the breeder we got her from had this one on their website. http://shadylanekennel.net/our_girls/zena

(Zena is Stormy's mom) (the picture is under Stormy's old name-Ellie)

Isn't my baby just ADORABLE!!!! I love her!! She's so sweet, cuddly, and very smart! (and I'm using way too many exclamation marks when I talk about her... :) ...)

On a different subject, we had our local Bible Bee meet back on August 27th. And ALL FOUR of the National level competitors in our family have been invited to compete at Nationals!!!!

(Lyss, Isaiah, Eli, and me) It's being held in Nashville, TN this year, so thankfully it won't be as long of a drive as last year. (up to Illinois) I'm very, very, very excited about this, since this is my first year to be invited as a competitor.

I'm also so excited about being assistant Sunday school teacher for the 4th and 5th graders at my church. The kids are so smart and most of them seem to really enjoy the class. We've only had a couple weeks so far, but I'm looking forward to the rest of the year.

And another new thing! (wow, stuff really builds up when you don't post for three months :) ) Soccer season has begun! All four of my brothers and I are playing this season. :D I'm loving it, even though I'm one of the worst players on the team. :) Hopefully I'll have improved by the end of the season.

Well, I guess I won't write any more right now, since I should get back to studying my bible verses. :) [I make no guarantees that there will be any future posts, though I will try to update about Nationals :) ]

I'll leave you with a verse from Nahum...

The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. (Nahum 1:7)

With much thankfulness for many blessings....

~EmmaLee

A Birthday and Trust

Had a good, day today. It was Isaiah's 11th birthday.. yeah!!! So we had a little party, complete with dough-cakes*, noisemakers, and presents. :)

The presents... well, there were quite a few, but I remember some toys, cars and stuff from the boys, Lyss gave him a coin**, and I gave him a blanket with a cross and bible verse on it, and a pocket knife with a wolf painted on it.

We wrapped up the party with watching The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, VeggieTales.

I think he had a good time.... I know Eli and I had fun planning it. :D

That's all the birthday stuff... now for the bible bee....

We took a partial break from studying, since it was a birthday, but still worked on some verses.

Our group has another meeting coming up this Tuesday. Everything isn't ready yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again.

A verse for today...

Psalm 118:18

It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.

Trust in the LORD!

Serve and Sing

Psalm 100:2

Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

Serve God, Be Glad, Sing to Him... that's basically what I got out of it.. :)

~Emi

Brothers!! -1st Peter 5:8-10

I'm sooo proud of my brothers!!

Isaiah, 10, Eli, 8, Joe, 6, and Sam, 3, all memorized 1 Peter 5:8-10!!!

^{1 Peter 5:8-10}

⁸Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

⁹Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

¹⁰But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

~Emi

Peace....

I'm not feeling too well today, so I'll just post a quick verse.

Isaiah 26:3
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

Perfect peace... from trusting in Him.

~Emi

Shield of Faith & a Refuge

Hello again! :D

Our group had another local Bible Bee meeting this morning. It went well I think. The kids got to finish their treasure boxes and decorate shields. A cross was a popular design. :)

The Shield of Faith was our focus point for today... Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. [romans 10:17]

We also talked about some different ways to memorize verses and used two of the methods to learn two verses in small groups.

One of the verses was Psalm 9:9,

The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.

I like that verse... the LORD, our God, truly is OUR refuge in times of trouble....

The LORD our God, maker of heaven and earth, bless and keep you all!

~Emi

Bible Bee - Rejoice

The Bible Bee materials were released today! www.biblebee.org

Verses: 800, (from all over the bible). Focus Book: 1st Peter

I'll be posting some of the verses and things that I learn throughout the summer.

Here's the first one....

Philippians 4:4

Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.

That seems pretty clear... :)

REJOICE!!!!

1st 2011 Bible Bee meet

We just had our first Bible Bee local group meeting tonight.

I'm so tired now, but it was a lot of fun.

Info: Place - Our church. Time - 6-8:30pm. People - 70+ in all, about 50 or so kids.

Mom and Dad were talking to the parents - trying to prepare them for the summer ahead :) - while Lyss and I took all the kids in to one of the larger rooms to make a craft. We had purchased a bunch of little cardboard "treasure boxes" for the kids to decorate and then use as a storage place for their memory cards. It was a bit (okay, very) crazy at first, but they all settled down, at least mostly. :) I think they all enjoyed it, which is good. I just hope the rest of the meetings go at least that well.

We'll all be getting our study materials tomorrow, so we're all very excited about that. I can't wait to find out what book of the bible we'll be studying this summer.

Well, I'd write more, but I really need to get some sleep....

Good Night, and God Bless You....

~Emi

A Storm and more....

So tired, but very glad it wasn't as full a day as usual.

Early this morning Mom woke everyone up to come downstairs since we had a tornado watch with tons of lightning and bad thunderstorms. Thankfully there were no tornados in our area.

We've had rain off and on all day. Our yard has turned a thick lush green... from weeds. :/ lol

Voice lessons got moved to Friday to accommodate my teacher's schedule, so I didn't have that at least. And due to the major storms last night and this morning soccer practice also was cancelled. yeah! :) (I'm always tired by the time it gets to practice time)

I did have my piano lesson however, and it went very well I believe. I've almost memorized all of "Fur Elise" for a recital in May. Eli might also be playing "Minuet in G Major" as my student! :D

I recently took my 11 college level test. I am now into my sophomore year! I think it's funny that I'm a sophomore in both high school and college at the same time. :)

This test was "Intro to World Religions", and was my first dsst test (rather than clep). Though it may just be that it was a higher level test than I had taken before, I did find the questions phrased more confusingly and more difficult to answer. I'll be taking another dsst test in a couple weeks so I guess I'll be able to compare them then.

One of our dogs, Beauty, recently had a litter of five gorgeous red puppies. Two girls and three boys. Bianca, Bella, Brewster, Bryce, and Brady. There will be some pictures of them on www.sugarandspicecockapoos.com soon.

Hmm, well, I think that's about everything, and I need to go take care of my dogs and puppies. :)

Grace and Peace,

~Emi <3

One Full Saturday + A Long Thursday

Wow! I finally just got a chance to sit down and relax today.

This morning Mom and Liss and I tried to go out to some yard sales, but the weather got really bad before we got too far, so we came back home. We did get some nice dog toys and stuff, and Liss found some nail polish -which we're both now wearing :) - so it wasn't wasted time.

Then we all cleaned and got things together for meeting my grandparents at Costco. Our nearest Costco is about 1 1/2 hours away from us, and 45 minutes away from them, so we like to meet there a lot. Anyway, then we drove there, dropped Dad and the boys of at Costco with Papa, and went Kohls with Nana. :) Found some nice t-shirts and new swimsuits... Kohls is so expensive though! Well, that was most of my Saturday...

Soooo, Thursday... As usual, I had voice, piano, and soccer. Voice lessons went pretty well. I've been having trouble with getting some sounds just right. I always enjoy going though, since my teacher, Mrs B, has horses. :) I like to bring apples or carrots to give them before and after my lesson. It helps me relax. :D

Piano was awesome. I've been learning several new songs and having so much fun. :)

Soccer, we all had fun, but we only had two other kids on Sam's team show up. Although, having just three kids there made it easier to give one-on-one attention. Joe's team didn't have a practice, but he and Isaiah got to join in Eli's practice, so everyone played.

Ok, I think that was just about everything...

En Christo,

~Emi

These Busy Days...

These last few days have been soooo busy!

Overview... :)

Thursday: Rushed through school, left for voice at 1pm, then straight to piano (3pm), and then back home to pick up the boys for soccer practice (5pm). ...Ahhh!!!!

Friday: Catching up on everything that was skipped on Thursday.. and supper with one of the church elders and his wife to talk about membership.

Saturday: Soccer games from 9:30-11:30am. 3 wins, 1 loss. :D .... stopped at a church yard sale on the way home and got some great deals. Lots of toys and games for Bible Bee prizes!

Well, that's pretty much everything in a nutshell...

Here's an awesome song I've been listening to lately...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIZTnX2UgU0&feature=player_embedded

more information about the group on their website:

www.anniemosesband.com

In His Love,

~Emi

English Riding

I got to go riding Sunday afternoon with one of my friends.

It was soooo much fun! :D

Her riding instructor/neighbor only does english riding,and I've always ridden western, so it was rather different for me. I enjoyed it though. Got to try posting and some lower level dressage stuff.

I really hope I'll be able to go riding with her again sometime.

Horses are just so beautiful and graceful! I always feel so in awe of God's creation when I ride them.

~Em

A Dog's Purpose

Hey y'all!

You should totally check out this website. http://www.adogspurpose.com

There are tons of cute dog pictures and videos, my favorite being the talking husky, Mishka. :)

They have a competition going on right now - thus all the pictures :) - and I entered one of our many adorable puppy pictures. ;)

(the cute little heart-breaker featured here)

Please vote for it at:

http://www.adogspurpose.com/index.php?option=com_hotornot&task=show&id=812&source=hotornot&Itemid=54

The link should bring you directly to the page.

thanks..

~Emma

www.sugarandspicecockapoos.com

March 10th....

I just got home from my first voice lesson, and my second piano lesson.

Both went pretty well. I need to work on my posture and breathing though.

Sang "Victory in Jesus" for voice, and played "Shout to the North" for piano. I love getting to learn using Christian songs!

Mom drove to the first lesson, but I drove everywhere else from there. I have almost all my hours of daytime driving for my license, but I still need a lot more in interstate and night-time driving time.

In the words of "Cinderella", "It's been a long day and there's still work to do..." :)

Laterz!

Emma

"Cinderella" -Steven Curtis Chapman

She spins and she sways
To whatever song plays
Without a care in the world
And I'm sitting here wearing
The weight of the world on my shoulders

It's been a long day
And there's still work to do
She's pulling at me
Saying "Dad, I need you

There's a ball at the castle
And I've been invited
And I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone...

She says he's a nice guy and I'd be impressed
She wants to know if I approve of the dress
She says, "Dad, the prom is just one week away
And I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone

She will be gone

Well, she came home today with a ring on her hand
Just glowing and telling us all they had planned
She says, "Dad, the wedding's still six months away
But I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone

My writing assignment on Humpback Whales

This was my writing assignment from this week. Drop a comment and let me know what you think.
~Emma

Humpback Whales
Humpback whales' bodies have several unique features. One of the more noticeable of these singular features are their long, wing like flippers. While hunting, Humpbacks use their flippers to powerfully scoop prey in front of their mouth. Once a Humpback has filled its mouth with thousands of gallons of water, and potential food, it uses its muscular tongue to press the water out of its mouth through baleen plates. The black baleen plates are approximately 2ft long, and covered in bristles. The baleen plates hang from the roof of whales' mouths like vertical venetian blinds. As the water flows out through the plates, the whale's food is caught in the bristles, and the Humpback then swallows it. When there is a shortage of food in an area, the Humpbacks will migrate to a better feeding ground. On these long journeys, the Humpback whale uses its strong tail fins, called flukes. Humpback whale flukes often grow to be as large as 12 feet wide, and can propel them through the water at speeds reaching over 15 miles an hour. Humpback whales often have white and black markings patterned on their flukes, which allows them to be recognized during their travels. Humpback's fluke markings are as unique and identifiable as human fingerprints.

A long time later....

Hey Everyone,
Sorry it's been so long since my last post.
...pertaining to that post however, both my siblings advanced to the National Bible Bee competition, although neither of them made it into the finals.
The 2011 Bible Bee will be starting June 1st. We're all very excited already! You can see a video of my family and some of our friends singing a song about the Bible Bee at www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwUrcaw6Xb0
Also, I have now taken a total of 10 CLEP tests, which makes me, officially, a college sophomore.
Well, off to watch a movie with my brothers.
Chao!
~Emma