Another moving update

We still haven't closed. The people buying our house have been having trouble with their loan going through. We are supposed to close sometime in the next 10 days. We are going to be renting a place in this area for the winter while we build on land that were buying about 20 mins from our house here. Plans sure have changed alot in the last couple of months..I'm not thrilled with staying right here, but it's way better than moving to Kentucky, so i'm not complaining :)

Moving update~

Well it's been a month since I blogged last. We have 6 days until the house closing and then a few days after that to move. We still haven't found the place were going to buy..My parents have a lot of requirements..so that's a drawback. Anyway because of that we may be staying with friends in a 5th wheeler for a couple of months until we find something. Currently I'm trying to stay up in school and pack at the same time..fun fun! not

Finally after at least 2 months of it raining almost every day the weather is starting to clear up. Its so good to see the sun again! Fall is my favorite season and with all the rain i didn't think we were going to get a fall..but we are getting one, it may not be the prettiest or the longest..but its still fall!

Anyway..other than school and the info. on moving not a whole has been going on I guess..so I'll finish up. Just thought i would post a quick update.

Goodbye Tennessee..Hello Virginia! err E. TN/S. VA

Well we sold our house and are moving to either E. TN or S. VA. The contract is signed, and the closing is set for Oct. 26th. My parents are looking at land right now up in the areas i mentioned..
Its still sinking in that in a month we'll be moving!..I'll post a little more in detail some other time. Just thought i would mention that were moving!

Kentucky Memories

I was itching to write something..so i thought i would write about what it was like to grow up surrounded by old order Mennonites.

My family moved to Scottsville, Kentucky when my mom was about 6 months pregnant with me. They bought an old Mennonite farm. The house had no electricity and no plumbing. When the wind blew hard enough the windows would rattle in their frames.The entire farm was overgrown with a plant that's called "pig weed",obnoxious stuff!! Anyway, I was born 3 months after my family moved into the house in Ky. The house was remodeled somewhat, they put in plumbing as soon as they bought it. We never had electricity there and I remember the Friday ritual of cleaning those horrible black, smoky oil lamp chimneys. It sure was one special day when we had solar installed and lo and behold, we could flip a switch and light! Ahh, that's when you really enjoy simple pleasures like that.

We had an organic farm. We grew all of our food organically, farmed it with Belgian horses and sold the produce to the local Mennonite produce markets, who in turn sold the produce at the markets throughout the community or were shipped to stores in the neighboring towns and cities. To take the produce to the market we would use a dirt road that cut through a Mennonite neighbor's farm. We had to go through a creek with our load of watermelons, cantaloupe, pumpkins, or whatever the load was in the steel wheeled produce/hay wagon. You really had to have a good hold or you'd go up in the air and boy it didn't feel good when you came back down! Ouch!

I never had a real fear of horses because I grew up around big ones. Most of our horses were such big babies. Belgians are pretty broad, and my 6 yr old legs weren't that long, so when I would ride them, my legs would practically stick straight out, and to stay on I had to have a good hand hold in their manes. It sure was fun to go riding down the road , or better yet, guide one of them while dad plowed the garden.

When I was born my sisters where 14 and 12. Yup, there was a pretty good sized gap! I was a pretty energetic, inquisitive toddler and man was it fun to get into my sister's or anyone else's stuff. For about the first 5 yrs of my life there where no doors in the bedrooms, just blankets, and so no way to keep me out! Pretty early on in my life my sisters or any of the other teenagers staying with my family at the time had come up with my nickname and a name for my raids. I was dubbed Pooh and my raids-"Pooh Raids". Once my brother Seth was old enough, he was usually my partner in toddler crimes. One time my sister Alina had just put a new role of film in her camera, I thought it would be pretty cool to finally get to use that camera. It was always off limits to me, So with my Seth, or anything that caught my interest as my model ,I proceeded to snap picture after picture after picture.The only catch... my crime was caught on film. Alina yelled "Pooh Raid" at the top of her lungs when she got her pictures developed.

My brother Seth was born when I was a little over two, from the start he was "my baby". As I've already mentioned, he was my accomplice in crime, my buddy, and for sure my best friend! When he was a toddler, he constantly had the rest of my family in a panic. He loved escaping to the creek!If someone's back was turned, off he'd go through the pastures,and down to the creek. Usually, he was caught before he reached the creek though. I could never understand why on earth it was so all fired important to stop him though, or why everyone would get so excited when he vanished. Now I do..

My close friends from babyhood were my Mennonite neighbors, Darla and Melissa Martin. I was sandwiched in between them in age and boy did we have fun together! From our "mailbox" by the creek, a crack in a rock where we would put little notes for each other, to playing tag in Mr. Martins field corn..You could say I had a very unique experience growing up there. By the way, anyone who has never tasted cane has really missed out! I'ts in the sugar cane family and sorghum molasses is made out of the cane. One of our favorite things to do was to get to ride along in the wagon with Mr. Martin and Darla and Melissa's older brothers to the cane fields and then sit in the bottom of the wagon munching on cane until we were sick of it! We would also go and get sugar baby watermelons and drop them from the high platform in one of the sheds, which broke them, and then we would eat the heart out of the watermelons-the best part!!-.In case your wondering, we did do other things other then eat. We'd spend hours picking cukes, to make into pickles or sell them, tomatoes, blueberries, strawberries, etc. and of course not in that order..I think they come into season the other way around..

Matthew Klein was basically like a brother to me, He came to live with my family when he was 16, the year I was born. He was the most interesting person to be with for a toddler ( we were on the same level a lot of the times!) although sometimes he made me mad enough to want to smack him. he would hide in trees and taunt me, drag me through the snow, or walk around in a sleeping bag and growl at Seth and I until we were crouching and quivering on the couch.
He was only one of the many teenagers that lived with my family over the space of about 4-5 yrs. Joel Baker suffered at the hands of my unmerciful sisters .Give them some rotten tomatoes and boy he came in looking like rotten tomato sauce..but I guess he did lob the first tomato. I won't go into the story of how he was left hanging in a tree by his suspenders.

When the weather was hot and sticky and you sure didn't want to be outside..well that's when it was time for haying! Haying, that dreaded word when it came to the farmers, and for Seth and I the magical word! Haying meant unending amounts of lemonade and riding in the hay wagons high above the ground in the hay! Sometimes..I even got to drive, and that plus lemonade equaled a pretty awesome day for me! My sister Sarah usually drove though and Alina, Dad, and an older Mennonite man, Marvin, would pitch the hay from the hay loader into the wagon so it would be a more even load, then onto the barn we went and we would use the hay fork to unload the hay into the high hay loft! Man was it fun once the hay loft was full of hay and you could go rolling from the top to the bottom! And of course I cant forget our attempts at hay tunneling..those usually didn't turn out to well and I would come up coughing from all of the dust. But it was still fun!

When thrashing time came around some English(that's what the Mennonite people call outsiders, and its stuck with me..)people with a steam engine thrashing set up would come to our farm and thrash the wheat. They couldn't go to the Mennonite farms because anything with an engine(including steam engines) are against their beliefs..So they came to our farm. Usually some of the different Mennonite men ended up coming over to "help" and somehow some of their wheat ended up getting thrashed also.. It was always a fun day filled with friends and neighbors, good food and work!

In the winter we would make maple syrup. On our farm there was a sugar shed(where you can cook maple sap down). We had a sugar bush on our farm and we would tap them every year and go around in the wagons collecting the buckets of sap. It was always cold, of course, because it was usually around January. We would make maple syrup with the Shirks, a neighboring Mennonite family. We would make a couple of gallons of syrup per family, and it sure tasted good on pancakes!
The Mennonites love children and they were always very affectionate towards Seth and I. The Mennonite guys used to say I had "Tease Me" written on my forehead, and strangely that seems to still be printed in bold letters on my forehead to this day. We had a special place in that community. Not very many "English people" have had that close of contact with an old order community like them. I had a very unique childhood and I'll always treasure those memories!

September Update

Well I guess I havent blogged in a while:S but..like i said before im determined to stick with blogging this time!

An update on my Grandma is long overdue..She's doing fine now. Got out of the hospital the 30th of Aug, and my mom came home Sept. 2. Were so thankful she pulled through it! Now shes back to being herself..

Schools in full swing..I've been juggling school, finishing up an online home business course, working for my neighbors,music lessons(a lady in the neighborhood is giving me piano lessons, i know how to play the piano but just want to learn how to play a little better:) anyway..shes close enough that i can just ride my bike to her house..which is nice), off and on n the the regular stuff around the house.. makes for a busy day:D

We were actually having some sunny days here..but now the grey days seem to be back with a vengence:( ick!! seriously i think we've had enough rain to last through to next yr too!! haha..

Anyway, i just thought i would post a quick update..i'll finish my rambling up now:P

Contest

My friend and I called the contest off because it was getting really boring..So now i wont be posting so many boring things..lol

This weekend

Well I had a nice weekend..It was awesome to see my friends again!

My camera was broken over the weekend..which wasnt to good..but thankfully my warrenty covers it and im going to be able to get it replaced!

Sabbath was nice..We went for a walk in the afternoon after lunch. It was really nice to see the Olivers again..Sun. the McCrillis's, Mr. Dwight(sp?),Meg, Matthew, My Dad,Bro. and I went canoeing at Price Lake which was alot of fun! And then mon. morning we came home.

Heres a pic of the youth group-

God grant me..

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

Cool Sayings

Laugh your heart out, Dance in the rain. Cherish the moment, ignore the pain. Live,Laugh,Love. Forgive and forget, Lifes to short to be living with regrets.

Distance means so little when someone measn so much.

I am the author of my life. Unfortunantly im writing in pen and cant erase my mistakes..

No matter what happens always be happy:)

Haha.Wait.What?

Our eyes are placed in front because it is more important to look ahead then to look back.

Finding friendship like ours is like nailing jello to a tree. impossible.

Dont worry about the people in your past. There's a reason they didn't make it to the future.

Take a chance because you never know how absolutely perfect something could turn out to be.

I dont forgive people because im weak. I forgive them because im strong enough to know people make mistakes.

Learn from yesterday. Live for today. Hope for tomorrow.

Be who you are and say what you feel cuz the ones who mind dont matter and the ones that matter dont mind.

God is writing my love story.

Stand for what you believe in..even if it means your standing alone.

Live.Laugh. Love

I love this crazy,tragic, sometimes almst magic,awful, beautiful life.

Those are just some of the quotes and sayings I like..

Whats going on this weekend

My family was planning on going up to Roan Mountain Tn this weekend..but then like i posted about before my mom had to go down to Charleston SC since my Grandmas in the hospital(Mom hasnt called to tell us how grandmas doing yet..when she does i'll post an update on how Grandmas doing)..So now just my Dad, my brother Seth and I are going..

My friends Matthew, Meg and I are finally gonna get to all be together again! We havent all been together since early June..Also we'll be seeing our friends the Olivers which'll be nice.

Anyway..so thats my weekend basically..

Random post

Heres a pic of me in my friends fireman gear-

Contest Update

This post will tie us 23-23. The contest is going until sometime next week. We havent picked a date for it to end yet.

In case anyone didnt see my first post, and is wondering why im posting so much.

Im doing a blogging contest, and so im posting anything i can think of! Once its over i wont post so much, and then i wont sound like im sooo boring! lol

School work

Like im sure most of you know, My brother and I are homeschooled. Since my mom had to go down to Charleston im going to be doing my schoolwork and helping my brother understand his. I dont have the greatest patience sometimes..so please pray for me!

I hope everyones school year is going well so far. Mine is going fine, im looking forward to probably attending academy next year..were not sure which one yet. Anyway, God Bless..

My cousins store

My cousin Chastity Arnold is an artist and has a online store-http://www.cafepress.com/CavalierArt. She puts her drawings on clothing, bags, all kinda of things. check her website out!

This is me in a shirt with her artwork on it!

My business

I have a craft business-Rose Cottage Crafts.

If you would like more information on it please go to http://rosecottagecrafts.com/

Thanks!

I just wanted to thank everyone for your prayers about my Grandma! They are much appreciated! I'll post an update on here as soon as we hear anything more about her condition...God Bless!

A favorite bible verse of mine-

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. Ecc 31:2

Pics of my Grandma

The first pic is my Grandma and I and the second is my Grandma, Mom and I.

Prayer request

We just found out this morning that my 87 yr old Grandmother is in the hospital with pneumonia. Its a really bad case of it..were not sure if shes gonna make it or not. My mom is probably flying down(she lives in Charleston SC) either tomorrow or the day after. Her name is Evelyn Ross. Please keep her in your prayers!! Thank you.

Music-

I know this is random..but im just curious as to who some of your favorite artists/musicians are.

So if you want to post some of yours go ahead and post them as a comment! Maybe you will know of some that i dont!

Something to think about..

One day a woman's husband died, and on that clear, cold morning, in
the warmth of their bedroom, the wife was struck with the pain of
learning that sometimes there isn't "anymore."
No more hugs, no more special moments to celebrate together, no more
phone calls just to chat, no more "just one minute."

Sometimes, what we care about the most
gets all used up and goes away, never to return before we can say
good-bye, say "I love you."

So while we have it, it's best we love it,
care for it, fix it when it's broken and
heal it when it's sick.
This is true for marriage ...
and old cars,and children with bad report cards, and dogs with bad
hips, family and aging parents and grandparents.
We keep them because they are worth it .....
because we are worth it.

Some things we keep -- like a best friend who moved away
or a sister-in-law after divorce.

There are just some things that make us happy, no matter what.

Life is important. We only have one.

We only have one Mom, one Dad,
one unique brother or sister or friend.
I received this from someone who thought I was a 'keeper'!
Then I sent it to the people I think of in the same way.

Now it's your turn to send this to all those people who are "keepers"
in your life, including the person who sent it, if you feel that way.

Suppose one morning you never wake up.
Do all your friends know you love them?

I was thinking....I could die today, tomorrow or next week, and I
wondered if I had any wounds needing to be healed, friendships=2 0that
needed rekindling or three words needing to be said.

Let every one of your friends and family know you love them. Even if
you think they don't love you back, you would be amazed at what those
three little words and a smile can do.

And just in case GOD calls me home . . .

I LOVE YA !
:-)

My family

This is my entire family, that is not including extended family.

My Mom, Dad, Sister Alina,her husband Jereld, their son Jonathen( in the backpack that Jereld has on),My sister Sarah and her husband Ryan, my brother Seth and I

Pics

I was bored so i thought i would post some pics.

Friends of mine, my brother and I.

Meg, Sabrina and I

Savannah and I

Sabrina, Meg, Elizabeth and I

Youth group

Pen Pals

I was wondering if anyone knew of a good website to find adventist pen pals? I used to have a pen pal when i was like 8 and then we just stopped writing..I thought it would be cool to have some pen pals again! Anyway, if anyone knows of a good website please leave the link to it as a comment. thanks:)

May God give you..

May God give you..For every storm , a rainbow. For every tear, a smile.

For every care, a promise and a blessing in each trial.

For every problem life sends, a faithful friend to share.

For every sigh, a sweet song, and an answer for each prayer.

Fall weather(:

What a nice surprise! Lately we have been having such nice fall weather. Instead of being hot and sticky like it usually is around the end of Aug. we've been having late Sept. early Oct. type weather. You sure don't hear me complaining! I'm lovin it!!

We've been freezing peppers and canning tomatoes lately, the peppers are sure producing like crazy this year! I froze I think 24 one quart freezer bags full of bell and banana peppers yesterday.

Its hard to believe that fall is really almost here, and summer almost over. Even though we are having fall weather it doesn't seem like summer could really almost be over. Its just gone by soo quickly!

We are possibly going up to visit our friends in Roan Mountain Tn. this coming weekend. Usually its so peaceful and relaxing up there..My good friends Meg and Matthew are going to be there also. The three of us haven't all been together since we all stayed there back in May-June. Were all looking forward to seeing each other again! Also our mutual friends the Oliver's will probably be coming the sabbath we are there, it Will be nice to see them also!

As summer winds down, school winds up! School is in full blown revenge for our escape into freedom for the summer...lol. actually its not that bad. I'm taking accounting this year as an elective and I cant say I love it, but its interesting.

Anyway...I just felt like rambling on..I guess I'll finish up now.

Quotes and Sayings

Maybe It's true.Maybe we don't know what we have until we've lost it.

But maybe it's also true that we don't know what we're missing until we find it.

Someone..Somewhere dreams of your smile and while thinking of you

thinks that life is whorthwhile. So whenever you're lonely remember it's true. Someone..Somewhere is thinking of you.

True love is not loving a perfect person,but loving an imperfect person perfectly.

God is my breath of life.

Your the sparkle in my eyes. The twinkle in my toes,

The song in my soul, The kiss on my heart.

I was just wondering...If I could possibly have the combination to your heart.

Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.

Everyone has someone in their life that keeps them looking forward to another day:)

Anyone can hate. It costs to love.

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about dancing in the rain!

God made you an original...don't let the world turn you into a copy.

God is writing my love story <3

Take a chance because you never know how absolutely perfect

something could turn out to be.

Whoever said anything was possible.

Obviously never tried slamming a revolving door.

I am the author of my life. Unfortunantly im writing in pen and can't erase my mistakes.

These are just a few of my favorite quotes and sayings!

Sabbath-

Well, Im sure its starting to seem like im posting stuff about the dumbest things, things that really arent that interesting. I'll be posting things that are more interesting once im finished with the blogging contest.

Anyway, Yesterday after church we went over to some friends house for lunch, and then in the afternoon walked to another neighbors house..And then the people who we ate lunch with came over to our house for supper and worship. It was a really nice sabbath!

So heres a few pics-

Bruno, My brother Seth and I

Natalia and I

Bruno, Natalia, Seth, Mateos and I

You Are Everything To Somebody..

Right now at this very minute------
someone is very proud of you
someone is thinking of you
someone cares about you
someone misses you
someone wants to talk to you
someone wants to be with you
someone hopes you aren't in trouble
someone is thankful for the support you have provided
someone wants to hold your hand
someone hopes everything turns out all right
someone wants you to be happy
someone wants you to find them
someone is celebrating your successes
someone wants to give you a gift
someone think you ARE a gift
someone wants to hug you
someone loves you
someone wants to lavish you with small gifts
someone admires your strength
someone is thinking of you and smiling
someone wants to be your shoulder to cry on
someone wants to go out with you and have a lot of fun
someone thinks the world of you
someone wants to protect you
someone would do anything for you
someone wants to be forgiven
someone is grateful for your forgiveness
someone wants to laugh with you about old times
someone remembers you and wishes you were there
someone needs to know that your love is unconditional
somebody values your advice
someone wants to tell you how much they care
someone wants to stay up watching old movies with you
someone wants to share their dreams with you
someone wants to hold you in their arms
someone wants YOU to hold them in your arms
someone treasures your spirit
someone wishes they could STOP time because of you
someone can't wait to see you
someone wishes that things didn't have to change
someone loves you for who you are
someone loves the way you make them feel
someone wants to be with you
someone hears a song that reminds them of you
someone wants you to know they are there for you
someone is glad that you're their friend
someone wants to be your friend
someone stayed up all night thinking about you
someone is alive because of you
someone is wishing that you would notice them
someone wants to get to know you better
someone believes that you are their soul mate
someone wants to be near you
someone misses your guidance and advice
someone values your guidance and advice
someone has faith in you
someone trusts you
someone needs you to send them this letter
someone needs your support
someone needs you to have faith in them
someone needs you to let them be your friend
someone will cry when they read this

Contest

Btw..A friend of mine and I are doing a blogging contest..

Max posts allowed per day are 5
Posts with nothing but quotes don't count
The posts have to be about you or your family. Or something you have done with friends and family.
pictures count also.

It'll be fun, I need something that gives me initiative to actually post on my blog. Hopefully by the time the contest is over I will be in the habit of posting enough that I will continue with it!

Neighborhood fun-

>


Late this afternoon all of the neighborhood kids got together at our house. Whenever they are all getting along and all congregate somewhere, for some reason it is almost always our house..We have a big yard and a basketball hoop so i guess that contributes to the magnetic draw that our house has..lol.
A new family moved into the area this summer and we are enjoying getting to know them. My brother Seth is really enjoying doing things with their son Bruno.
So I thought i would post a few pics of the kids,Oh and a pic of my dog Tia that i took earlier.

Summer news!

Well, I have tried blogging before and just never stuck with it. Im starting over with a new blog and i'm determined to stick with this one!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well this summer seems to have flown by. Its been a busy one for sure!
In May my mom and I went down and visited my Grandma in South Carolina,She had minor surgery and we went down to make sure she took it easy, and of course just to see her! We stayed for about a week.We got home from there and Mom and Dad flew out to Oregon for my nephews dedication and a 10 day visit while my brother and I stayed with friends in the mountains of Eastern TN. We stayed for two weeks with our friends the McCrillis's along with the McCrillis's grandson Matthew Brown and Our good friend Meg Clingensmith. We saw our friends the Olivers frequently during the time we were there also. It was alot of fun, and alot of good memories were made in those two weeks. In my opinion a wonderful way for summer to get under way!
We attended the Smyrna Camp meeting in WV June 17th-21st '09. I was able to meet a few people that i had talked with online before and also made some new friends. It was a blessing in alot of ways!
Our Garden has flourished this summer, thanks to my Dad who has a green thumb. We have already put up strawberries, blackberries, corn, tomatoes( every year i wonder if the tomoatoe plants will ever stop producing! by the end of the season im sick of seeing, smelling or anything to do with a tomatoe!lol)..We have also purchased bushel after bushel of peaches from a local produce market and frozen the peaches. A mennonite family about 30 mins from us have a you-pick blueberry patch,so we picked and froze blueberries also. This fall we will also harvest different varieties of Squash, Sweet Potatoes and the rest of the potatoes from our garden. Im sure im forgetting a number of things that are out in the garden though.
I've worked for different neighbors off and on all summer along with starting my own craft business-rosecottagecrafts.com-. I've enjoyed getting my craft business going.I have my crafts in two stores, and have a website which i referred to earlier.
School has started for me. This is my sophomore year and im homeschooled again. Im possibly attending OHA-Ouachita Hills Academy-next year, and so this may be my last year of homeschool!
Anyway, this summer has been awesome, and i've made alot of good memories and also met alot of awesome new people! The last month or so has been alot quieter then the first months of summer, but all in all its been a good summer!
The next couple of posts just might sound a bit like im rattling on about nothing. Like I said before, i havent been to successful when it comes to blogging. So im gonna try to stick with this one and actually post things instead of just letting it sit there and do nothing with it!
Thanks for reading my idle ramblings, and i hope your summer was as good as mine!