Free Rice

I just found a very addictive game that is educataional! You answer vocabulary questions to end world hunger. The website is www.freerice.com. For every correct question, you "donate" 20 grains of free rice. There is no catch or fee. The only problem is that it is very addictive!

Christmas Party

Here are some pictures I took at our homeschool's Christmas Party. Floodgate played some music and it got pretty loud. But overall, fun was had by all. One of the games that I did not get pictures of was the game of Duck Duck Goose. We sat in a HUGE circle, and instead of running, you had to skip. Hilarious!!! I wish I had pictures of that! It was especially fun to watch the big guys like Thomas, Andy, Justin, Andy and Jordan try to skip! By the end, the guys were so intent on catching the opponent that they started running and it usually ended as a race. Enjoy the pictures!

Random Thoughts & Some Christmas Traditions

I know it has been a long time since I have blogged, but there really has been no time to blog. For my exams, I have been cramming all the things that I should know, and for some reason don’t, into my head until I think I am going to pop. I have successfully taken two of my exams, and have my last one on Tuesday. (Chemistry) I am glad that Mom is not giving me an exam on History/Geograhy and Math.

Yesterday I worked at the Scholastic Book Fair with Mom, Mrs. Laura and Mrs. Ginger. By the end of the day I was very tired but happy. By working yesterday and another day last week, I was able to get most of my Christmas presents there, 50% off! Even with the 4 boxes of books that we brought home between us, Mom and I had to go at the last minute and try to find something that we wanted to buy. I never have had trouble spending money on books.

We have been slow about getting ready for Christmas this year. Normally, we have the real tree up, decorated, the house decorated and getting presents ready by the mid of December. Here it is December 16, and we just put up our fake Christmas tree and got it decorated yesterday.

I don’t have anything for Grandma Pat yet for Christmas. Any Ideas?

Our family has a couple of Christmas traditions that I enjoy. #1 Whenever we get the tree up and decorated, Mom and Dad give each of us kids an ornament that symbolizes something that we had done that previous year. For example; last year, Mom, Caleb and I went to DC for almost a week. And so I got an ornament of the Abraham Lincoln Monument that plays America the Beautiful. This year we all got cherries that say Door County on them. We went there this summer for our family vacation, and in case you didn’t know, Door County, Wisconsin is known for their really good cherries. #2 Around December 1st Mom starts an Advent Story that she reads during the month of December and we finish it on Christmas morning. I have heard the stories many times, but each time she reads it, I find myself being just as intrigued as if it were my first time to hear it.

It is almost 7 and I haven’t had dinner. So I better go eat before I waste away and starve. :)

Post Oral Surgery

I am back among the land of the living, to a degree. All of the nurses and the doctor were very kind and considerate. The “surgery” went fine and Mom says that we were in and out of the office within an hour and half. I was still very loopy and don’t remember the recovery room or leaving. While I was in the recovery room, Mom jokingly asked me if I wanted her to take a picture of me with the cell phone. Now you have to understand that I have 4 to 8 pieces of gauze in my mouth and a large white sock thing with two ice packs in it strapped around my head. I look pretty funny. So when Mom asked me if I wanted her to take my picture, she expected me to say NO! But for some crazy, demented reason I said yes, so I could show it to Emma later. Now, I have no memory of this, and when she told me what I said, I thought that she was pulling my leg. But no, she has a picture on the phone to prove it. There is no telling what I said in the recovery room.

The first couple days were kinda painful, but tolerable. The pain medicine was controlling the pain and I was eating a lot of ice cream and mashed potatoes. On Saturday I ate Mac and Cheese and was able to go longer with out the medicine. So Dad and I decided to take Motrin instead of the pain medicine because I wasn’t hurting that bad. Big mistake. The Motrin didn’t help and I started to hurt worse. By the time Mom got home, I was hurting so bad. I cant even describe how bad it was hurting. Because I had taken Motrin, I couldn’t take my pain medicine for 2 hours. It was an agonizing 2 hours. During that time I started to run a fever. When Mom talked to the nurse on call, she told Mom that the fever was probably not related to my teeth and gave Mom instructions on how to give me my pain medicine along with Motrin and how to rock the medicines. That helped. Once I was able to take the Lortab and it got in my system, I was better.

Yesterday I was having breakthrough pain (pain that is not controlled by the medicine) and so Mom took me in to see the doctor. He said I had a dry socket and probably an infection. So he packed two of my holes with NASTY tasting stuff and gave me a stronger antibiotic. I go back tomorrow for the post surgery checkup thing. They are going to show me how to clean and care for my holes. ☺

Mrs. Laura, Mr. Steve and Dad have all encouraged me to post this picture of me after the surgery. I will humor them and post it.

I Just Got Elfed!

As I had nothing to do this afternoon, I decided to elf the Bartz kids.
Check it out!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9593499222

Oral Surgery

Just the sound of it scares me, but I better get over it because I leave in 30 minutes to go have all four of my Wisdom Teeth taken out. Because they are taking all four, they will have to knock me out, and that's considered “surgery”. Most of you know that I have a fear (big fear) of needles, and to knock me out, they have to run an IV. I keep telling myself, “ You can do this Kara. You have had blood drawn several times. It can’t be any worse than that.”

We went yesterday and bought applesauce, yogurt, pudding, soup and Lactose free ice cream. Elise has promised to make the puddings up for me while I’m gone, and she and Skye also promised to dust my room for me. Yah! I hate dusting! All of my siblings have been very kind and suportive. I don't know what I would do without them.

There are a couple things I have to get done before I leave, so I better go and do them.

One down, one to go!

The play this year for the 1st – 6th graders at Crossroads Christian was The Great Cross-Country Race or better known as The Tortoise and the Hare. Kimberlee, one of my good friends, directed it. All of the kids have been working very hard for the past 3 months, and their hard work has paid off. Tonight was Opening Night, and they all were INCREDIBLE!!! But we could not have done it with out our audience! Thank you guys for coming and cheering us on! If you didn’t come tonight, you need to come tomorrow night! It is at Community Presbyterian Church, tomorrow night at 7 pm. Tickets are only $2 per person. If you come, be prepared to laugh, a lot.

My brain is fogging up from Chemistry, the play and all of my other school-work. I am having a hard time thinking straight and making complete sentences. I need to go to bed.

Quilting Furies

I am in the process of making a quilt that I designed myself. Yesterday I sewed 8 nine-patches that took a little more than 2 hours to assemble. After sighing with relief with the thought that I was half way done, another thought hit me. “The blocks look a little big. They don’t match the size of the plain blocks. I measured them twice, they can’t be wrong. NOOOO!!!” So I spent the whole afternoon yesterday undoing and correcting all that I had done that morning. Very frustrating! When and if I ever finish the quilt, I will post a picture of it.

Last weekend, as in a week ago, not yesterday, Caleb, Dad, and I traveled to Huntsville for a Missions Trip. Briarwood planned a Missions Trip to Lincoln Village and Caleb and I were allowed to attend. After arriving we took a tour of the Village and then divided into groups and I spent all of Saturday afternoon painting. I think that if I see another can of blue paint, I just might scream. On Sunday we attended Southwood PCA, which is the sister church of Briarwood. That afternoon, we went to “the farm”, cooked hot dogs and burgers and roasted marsh mellows. During the time in Huntsville, I hung out with Abby (I took a poetry class with her), Laura (she says we took a babysitting class together, and she does seem familiar, but I am still drawing a blank), MK (Mary Katherine), Memphis (his real name is Kevin), Josh and Josh’s brother (sorry, I am drawing another blank on his name as well). All together, it was fun and was filled with laughter. Dad took some pictures while we were there and I will post those as well once I transfer the pictures to Dad’s laptop.

Well, if I ever want my quilt finished, I better go get started on it. Again.

Ronja

My cousin Ronja and I have been e-mailing back and forth this past week and I have been strongly encouraging her to say yes and come to the US. For those of you who do not know Ronja, she is one of my cousins who lives in Denmark. She has a brother (Mikkel) who graduated this year, but her decision does not concern him. Ronja and her parents are trying to decide if she should come and be an exchange student for a year. That means she would live here with my aunt and uncle and go to school with Jessie (another cousin) for a year. And English would become her primary language. Tough! Even though it would be tough, I think it would be awesome to have her here for a year! Don't you!?!

The complicated question

I chose my Blog name, Who am I, because that is the question Mom has asked me almost everyday of my life. Who are you? She asks me when I am happy and when I am sad, when I am in a wonderfully cheerful mood, and when all I want to do is cry. I have tried answering the question; I am Kara, daughter of Jenny and Eric, eldest child of four. But the only answer she will accept is, I am a princess, daughter of the King. And it is true. I am a princess, and my father is the Most High God, YHWH (I AM). This, I have come to realize, covers only part of the question Who am I? If you stop and think for a minute, you realize that it is a very complicated question. As every human being does, I am starting to grapple with that question, and what its application are on my life. I pray that in the years to come the answer will become clearer and that God’s will for my life will be done.