6-Thursday's Acronym's

                                 So..yeah....I FORGOT!! again..

                            

                              G-R-E-A-T

                                                -Get
                                               -Really
                                                -Excited 
                                                -About               
                                                -Today

Have a good day!!

I Got me Some Goals!!! +misc..:)

Do you??? I hope so!! :) 

Set your goals high, and don’t stop till you get there.Bo Jackson

Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment. Jim Rohn

People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going. Earl Nightingale

Do more than is required. What is the distance between someone who achieves their goals consistently and those who spend their lives and careers merely following? The extra mile.Gary Ryan Blair


                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just think--It ALMOST 2014!!! I''ll be FIFTEEN in 10 months!!!!--OKAY--So I am getting a ways into the future..:)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On New Years Eve we are going to the Stafford's for games and finger-foods! I am still debating staying up till 12pm or going to bed earlier to start the new year off good..haha...


AND

One of my best friend's birthday is on the 31st!!
Happiness! We have been friends since I was about nine! She is such a sweet person!
 I'll save the rest for another post!! Lol~



Have a wonderful New Year!!! (:>D>

{End Of The Year Photos}

So today we got some pictures made of the sisters, singles, group ones, ect!! Enjoy~

Lindsey Rhea

Abigail Brooke

Heather Grace

Candace Elizabeth

             

\

Naomi Pearl

 ~~~~~~~~~~~

In twos!!
(So they did not only get photos with me :] Each sister got a photo with each sister)

 

 

 

 

 

Group ones-

 

:)



Sisters Forever
BTW-Lindsey and Heather are on a steeper part of ground---I am the tallest, they're CHEATIN'!!!--LOL!!


Have a ~WONDERFUL~ new year!!

Merry Christmas!!!

{What'd you all do??}

*<:>)

Yay!!

{Me}

(So we started something a few years back: 

What we do is put all the parent's and older kid's names in a hat..we normally all get the little ones something...we [the older ones and parents] draw a name..and that is our special person! )

~My special person was Heather Grace~
I got her a coffee cup with some candy...and a bit more! :)

And now---GUESS WHO HAD ME!!!!!!

*drumroll please*


Daddy!!

And he "gave" me a really nice present! *just one more drumroll*

DINNER AND A MOVIE!!!
By myself---o' course

I am not sure what movie I am gonna see..?? Ideas? So far all that is out (that I can watch) is The Hobbit 2-I have seen that- and Frozen...not so sure that that is the cleanest movie..:(
And WHERE shall I eat?!?!?!?!? There is a place where they serve a variety of foods (Chinese, Italian, Indian, ect.), there are a few places within the cinemas, where the theater is, but I don't really have a favorite place to eat...:) I am not very good at making decisions as you might notice....hehehe!!!


We went to the Sean and Anita Hochdorf's for Christmas "Sunch!!!"
(lunch at 2pm:)
It was really good!

In the front: Heather, Abigail and I

In the back: Stuart, Naomi and David

 

 

 

Have a "Super Duper Merry Christmas!!!!"

 

<3

 

 
 

Its The Time of Year:

to set up the tree

to play X-mas music

to give gifts

to spend time with family and friends

to eat so many desserts you get sick

 

 

{Yay}

  

I Love Sunday~

Well, we start off to church today, ten till 9:30-Bible Study time-Not wanting to go our normal route, (rains had added a few deeper ditches and all, that mom would prefer not drive our van through), we tried a way around the school..BUT...the road was WAY TOO muddy...so next one up..we tried our "used to be GREAT and normal route...until someone put a HUGE pile of thorn bushes in the way a few months ago...:/ Yay...:) So we go BACK to the School in order to walk over..we didn't want to do that at first..cause we have to carry -almost 40 pound- Matthew..It is a bit uncomfortable and all...because he can't hold his head up very well, and he moves ALOT..he is one of the sweetest kids though!! I love him to pieces!

 

 

Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky!!

 

 

 

So we got to church!

 

Afterwards we go to lunch..dad wants to try a new restaurant...a Mediterranean one..okay..that can't be ALL BAD...I was wrong...I mean it wasn't HORRIBLE, but it was not satisfying..yeah!

 

So mom leans over to Dad and asks, "Where are we going next?" As in..."Where are we going to get our ACTUAL lunch?" Haha..

"Impala" Dad answered.

It is a restaurant that has a variety of foods..Chinese, Italian, ect! So we quickly finished our "food" [lol..] and went down the road apiece to EAT AGAIN! And it was REALLY good! :)

 

On the way back, dad wanted to buy some box water...which long story short (yeah, I know your tired of my long explanations!) we had to go to 4-5 different "dukas" ("stores" in Swahili) to get it! :)

 

 

I will most likely finish up my X-mas shopping TOMORROW!! Yay..I LOVE holidays!!

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mimi (me-me) -Swahili for Me

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5-Thursday's Acronym's

And once again---I forgot. :(

 

                          S-M-I-L-E

                           :)  [My sunshine smile] 

                                                 

                                Special 
                                               Magic
                                                 In
                                                 Living
                                                 Everyday                       

                                     

Bible&Fun&Friends!

Our theme this year was:  

~Walking Hand in Hand with Jesus~

 

I had a lot of fun with everyone!

Those who came over to direct and assist with the camp:

 Ben Thompson,

John,  Denise

       & John Tyler Rice

                It was Mrs. Rice and John Tyler's first trip over, and her first time to fly! John Tyler has gone with his father to other countries. :)




Mr. and Miss TCC
Celine and Lazaro~

John Tyler Rice, Abby Gaines, Me, Heather and Abigail

(BTW-Check out Abigail's blog: http://abigailsadventuresinafrica.blogspot.com/  !!)

Mr. Rice, Naomi, Lindsey and Elijah,
 singing "You Get a Line and I'll get a Pole.."

Abby Gaines, Me, Happiness and Heather sang, "If I Let You Go" by Westlife.

If you haven't heard that song...LISTEN TO IT! The Official Music Video! :)

 

Decorating shirts!




{Just a few pics from camp this year!!}

 I had a good time, got to spend time with past acquaintances, old friends, and I made some new friends!
{Yay!}
 

 

4-Thursday's Acronyms

        Yeah, so I'm late and it's ALL camps fault!

{JK--I LOVED CAMP THIS YEAR!!

I'll write more about that later though!!}

 

  ACT

A-ction

C-hanges

   T-hings

 

 

That pretty much sums it up!

Camp Starts Monday!! :)

Yay!! I can't wait for it! It will be nice to meet new people and spend time with old friends! It'll be good to spend time with the Rice Family (Mr. John, Mrs. Denise and John Tyler) and Ben Thompson!

Us and Happiness!

Back in April or so of this year!!

I will post a recent one after camp!

She got her hair done..:)

             {SO I won't be writing again until Saturday or so!!}

Big-10#

David turned a big 10 on the 2nd of this month. We celebrated on the 3rd so dad would be there.
We had cake with vanilla icing and a pan of apple crisp also. He is flying up there! It seems like just a few years ago he was three! Time gets away from you sometimes....

We should cherish what time we have with our family and friends...our life is like a mist [James 4:14].

And because it is said "pictures are worth a thousand words"...:)

Sorry these are from a few years ago....I will update these pictures later when I get them off mom's phone!

David Emanuel

 

Brotherly Love~


I love you David!!

 

Sweet Agape

::More on Agape::

So I was holding her and her sister and asked their mom their names.

She told me and I realized I had met Agape before. I remember when I was around ten. It was announced that "Helena had a baby" so mom and several other ladies went to go visit. I was allowed to go. Picking up the women, driving down and back up a STEEP hill like thing, we arrived at her home. So we come in and I sit down, and thinking because I was the young "child" of the group (respect for elders here is a big thing, and a good thing) I would most likely not hold the baby for awhile. Well she comes over and hands this baby to me..FIRST...so I hold her for probably five minutes or so. and then give her to mom. This baby happens to be who four-year-old Agape is today. So I was ten when I first met this sweet girl and now I am fourteen and realize who she is and how much she has grown! I was holding a new-born and now I am holding a 4 yr. old! It's so neat how you don't realize who people are until quite a few years later!

 

If I ever let go of her hand at graduation, she found it again...:) Later, I took her back to her momma, cause I had to leave. Lingering some more..haha..she found me AGAIN. She got upset when I seriously had to leave. We had another boy take her back to "momma" and it looked like she was about to cry...awww...:'(

 

<3

Graduation Day

So we attended the 2013 Graduation on Saturday for ACSOP and ABS students

I don't have much to say on it..except it was the SHORTEST graduation I have EVER been to. 
(I went to a friend's one time..it lasted FIVE WHOLE HOURS...FIVE!!!! From 12pm-5pm!)

These normally last a lot longer too..:)

They combined two school's graduation's to make it a lot simpler. So Arusha Bible School's three students joined them. Fourteen ACSOP students graduated.

Here are some pictures:

The valedictorian of the ACSOP students: Albert Donesia
Sitting down on the right is: Charles Herbeth and Christopher Mwakabanje. Both very helpful to the TZ 2000 Mission Team
In the back are the Tanzanian and Kenyan flags. Alongside them were the Ugandan and American flags
Sorry it is not very clear!.

 

 


Maurice Gasper

Left to right:

Ahimidewe Kimaro, Tom Brandon (from Meridianville AL), Dad and Cy Stafford

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures from afterward:

 

 

Neema Martin

with an ADORABLE baby!

These two girls, sisters, just loved being around me, especially the one in purple.

Her name is Agape. I will talk more about that later!

Me and Agape

Not the best picture of me, but a real good one of Agape.

She has such a sweet smile..:)

\

Maurice Gasper and Philemon

Fellow students, friends, but more importantly brothers in Christ.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that's 2013's Graduation Day!

 

 

 

///Thanksgiving///---A day late...

So, we celebrated a day late. :( I'm pretty sure it was so that dad and Mr. Stafford would be there..I guess they couldn't come any earlier because they had to teach. :)

It was held at the Stafford's home just down the hill from us. :) We had turkey (of course!) ham, 'taters', macaroni, a few salads of sorts, rolls, fruit bowls, pie (yum-yum), cookies...chocolate chip and peanut butter, not together though..., and tons of other stuff! It was so yummy!

 

Pretty table..

 

 

Lil' ole' me!

 

The kids table on the porch!

 

Handsome Josiah Gaines

The kids watched 'Oliver and Company' while we waited for everyone to arrive.

 

 

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!

Sorry it's late!!!

 

 

Daddy's home and watermelon is "in season!!!"

Yeah...that's a weird title..:)

Two of the most wonderful things happened the day after Thanksgiving!

1-Dad came home (after being gone for two weeks!)
::WE MISSED YOU::

2-and Abigail brought a watermelon home from town...A BIG FAT, RED ONE!!!
It was 'MAZIN!!! I had pictures...and some person deleted them...waaaahhhh!!!!



Daddy
SO--The dad's home and everything is pretty much back in "routine."

 

This is a very similar picture though...! Except it was not sliced so finely...I cut it...:/

YAY!

For The Love of Riddles----

This is known as "Einstein's Riddle"...I think he came up with it...I mean the title implies that...right??...It is put in the "owner form"...you know with the apostrophe before the "s" and all...what ever that is!  (guess what! I knew how to spell it..A-P-O-S-T-R-O-P-H-E.*confession time*...no...it's called spell-chek [OK...if you didn't just catch what I did, and the fact that it was on purpose...I'm sorry you don't have a sense of humor... :>] SPELL CHECK did it for me..it spelled "apostrophe.")   Lol... (Yeah, just go ahead and say it...I'M RIGHT!!! Bahahaha!!!)


NOW....FOR WHAT I AM WRITING THIS WHOLE POST FOR...THE.... riddle...*shuffling feet*

•There are five houses in unique colors: Blue, green, red, white and yellow.

•In each house lives a person of unique nationality: British, Danish, German, Norwegian and Swedish.

•Each person drinks a unique beverage: Beer, coffee, milk, tea and water.

•Each person smokes a unique cigar brand: Blue Master, Dunhill, Pall Mall, Prince and blend.

•Each person keeps a unique pet: Cats, birds, dogs, fish and horses.

 The following facts are given:
1.The Brit lives in a red house.
2.The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3.The Dane drinks tea.
4.The green house is on the left of the white, next to it.
5.The green house owner drinks coffee.
6.The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
7.The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8.The man living in the house right in the center drinks milk.
9.The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10.The man who smokes blend lives next to the one who keeps cats.
11.The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
12.The owner who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
13.The German smokes Prince.
14.The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15.The man who smokes blend has a neighbor who drinks water.

If you figured it out, let me know...Einstein said only "two percent of the world can solve it."
If that is true...you just hope you are of the two percent...:)
I think I have figured it out...hope so...but I am still going to work on it. I have been using my paint and notepad on the computer...Lol..I like figuring these thing out....unless it has to do with math...

THIS is how I see a math word problem:

Q-
If I have 10 ice-cubes and you have 11 apples, how many pancakes will fit on the roof?
-Answer-
Purple, because aliens don't wear hats.

Bahahaha! You HAD to LOVE THAT!!! (OK...I didn't come up with it!! Blah blah blah!!!!)

I'll write about ACSOP'S Graduation, Thanksgiving and watermelon (haha) tomorrow!!!

3-Thursday's Acronyms

                                                                  Live
                                  It
                                  Fully
                                  Everyday





                                  “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”
                                             ― Mae West

                                        It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”
                               ― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone          


                                 “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
                                 ― Albert Einstein
                                            

-C-H-O-C-O-L-A-T-E -C-H-I-P-S- and Socialization

Randy Pyle and Tom Brandon arrived on Saturday.

They attended Kisongo the next morning.

We walk out shaking hands...

~They were so nice and brought us 4 BIG BAGS OF....CHOCOLATE CHIPS!!!!! That doesn't mean cookies, that means me and Heather behind the fridge with chocolate melting in our hand...hehe...~

ahhhhh....

They also brought us other stuff....food mixes, a few books for dad (you know, the boring Hebrew, Philosophy stuff.....B-O-R-I-N-G) ect.

We will be feeding them throughout the time they are here. Yay...I love having visitors...I get to use my "socialization" skills..."Oh!---But wait I don't have any!! *sniff...sniff* I'm HOMESCHOOLED." I mean, SURE, I live in Africa and have grown up knowing of  several different kinds of people (Dutch, Indian, European, ect) But I am NOT socialized! AND when we DO go home, I travel to different States, meet new people, and all....but that doesn't count for socialization....or does it? :) Lol! Jk..maybe...Idk..

And just because you forgot what I looked like..

Me and Naomi!

Cause I NEVER, HARDLY EVER, post pictures of myself...Haha...

 

*nervous laugh*

 

Who reads my blog?? I'm not sure..but I know the ones who do are in their right mind....I mean...I'm funny...right? I have a way with words...yes...and I'm just lil' ole' me!

Inncocent little me..

Day with the kiddos!

Today mom had a hair appointment at TGT...a recreation center with a pool, park, a few businesses, a restaurant, ect. So---Stuart, Naomi and Elijah and I, went to the park and rugby field! I spun the little ones 'round some, along with the spinning "contest"...where you spin...*obviously*...until you get so tired you fall down with a merry laugh and bump of the head. The last person standing wins! :)

 



~It brings back memories of when I was little, I was around five. In Zachery, Louisiana, when we took dad his lunch, went to tell him something, give him something, or had too wait on him to do something, ect.

Us girls would spin in the foyer...I remember one specific night in particular...walking in dads office, seeing his apple paper weight, the owl letter-opener (I kept it...its special to me:)...in the leather pen-holder with a buffalo on the front (from TZ). Then going out in the foyer, the faded lavender carpet, going round in circles..and getting dizzy..fun...:)~

Stuart Densil

 

A few minutes later, we played a semi-game of "tackle football"...okay...with a MINATURE ball....yeah. And here we have a fourteen year-old girl, one eleven year-old boy and two seven year-olds...:) So of course Stuart goes to tackle me...it felt like he was trying to break my back and foot and give me a concussion to the head.

Me and Elijah Thomas

 

 

For awhile, Stuart, Elijah, and I...

 

HAD NAOMI FOR PRISONER....

*evil laugh*

 

in the Little Tikes castle...did I say Little Tikes??...why, YES I DID!

(It was a "tight squeeze" for me...haha!!!)

 

My logic was: "We got there first, you're the only one left...so you're our prisoner...." Makes sense right?? RIGHT!!

Naomi Pearl


......For lunch we had cheesy pizza and coke (BUT water first....we were good kids)......

Sipping cokes, gulping water,

and me and Naomi running from tackle-ready boys, then Naomi running from us...yes, 3-1, we all survived.....thankfully!

 

 

It was a fun day...

 

I love the little siblings...

 

 

 

Why are Firetrucks Red??

 

WHO in the WORLD came up with this????
                                                   :::::Very interesting answer::::

2-Thursday's Acronyms

So, I forgot about doing this on Thursday...so I will do it...today...yeah. :)

 

L-isten,

   O-bserve,

V-alue,

    E-mbrace

 

 

Beginnings are usually scary and endings are usually sad, but it's everything in between that makes it all worth living.

 

 

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart" - Helen Keller

 

 

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” - George Eliot

So I'll give you a glimpse of something...:)

Wanna know what I'm up to???

Yay! I knew you would!! Lol~


         So, I enjoy writing, but not actual writing, like with a pencil and paper...that's not fun! I like writing on the computer, writing books on the computer. I always thought it would be so cool to write a book!

So, I tried to start one and it's going purdy good. Would you like to see a piece of it?
Yes?
That's great!

Here goes------



"Best Friends Forever~"


.......Ridge was ten and Ana had recently turned eight. He and his family had just moved there, to Louisville, Kentucky. 

Mrs. Stanton heard about their new neighbors and whipped up a batch of cookies, Chocolate Chip, Ana’s favorite.  She and Ana carried the cookies and some ice-cold pink lemonade down the road a-piece.

When Mrs. Hanson opened the door, Ridge stood beside her, seemingly happy to have visitors. “Come in, come in ….uh….Mrs.…
 “Stanton”, Melissa quickly put in. She thanked her for the cookies and put them on the dining-room table. “I’m Melissa and this is Ana,” she said patting Ana’s back.

“Ridge, how about you go outside and play with Ana?” Mrs. Hanson suggested.

“Okay, come on Ana!” He said with excitement in his young voice. Running down the back steps, he stopped in his tracks. "Friends forever? A vow."

Ana paused, "Yeah, friends forever" she said after a second.

 That would be known as their beginning, that bond as friends. And they would be friends, maybe more than that, for the rest of their lives. Ridge had called it "a vow".........

 

 Another bit of it...

...A cool breeze blew in the barn door. Ana walked towards her horse, Freedom’s, stall. He was a brown and white speckled stallion. 

Once she had saddled him, she rode out into the pasture. She gazed around her, at all the fifty acres. The land had been in her family for over seventy years. She was in love with her surroundings.

  She rode on onto the woods, the leaves of the Cedar and Oak trees were now orange, red and brown...it was Ana’s favorite season, Fall. 

Her dark brown hair, with blond tints, and Freedom’s brown mane, blew in the wind. It was so peaceful for those few miniscule seconds.

 Brought back in to the real world, Ridge, her best friend was riding toward her. He had dark brown hair; he was six foot one and eighteen years old.  Talking in his deep southern drawl, How’se it goin’ Ana?”

“Pretty good,” she answered, glad she now had someone to share in the “wonderfulness” of it all.

“Come on”, Ridge said, grabbing her hand. He led her to the edge of the woods. They were now back in the beautiful open field..........

 

So, that's only a little bit of it...I have a good-bit more...:)

Like it?? Okay, so I'll break it to you...I AM NOT A VERY EXPERIENCED WRITER...WHEW!
JK...JK...JK!!!

I'll take input...:)

 

Electricity and Water.....we don't have it...

{Well we have electricity, but we pretty much only have it when the generator is run. Which costs because we have to buy the expensive petrol!}

SO----

The electricity company, Tanesco, told us a few days ago, that we would be out of....well, ELECTRICITY....*duh*.....for the next ten days! Well, that isn't HORRIBLE! But...it gets better!
In a few days, it will have been almost four weeks without power. It will come on occasionally though for a few hours. :)

Yesterday we were told we would be without water for the next three days....easy...call a water truck.....(which costs a nice 100,000 TSH. [$160] Yay!) RIGHT!

Well, it just so happens that the water truck can't pump WATER without ELECTRICITY....it gets better by the minute...doesn't it?

So, we have had a few people hand-washing, because when we do have the generator on, the washing machine doesn't like to work, for some odd reason...????

Me, Elijah and Naomi washing towels!

It sure did rub my "skeeter" bites right off my fingers! They HURT for a good few days!

 

So in order to conserve a bit of water and wash clothes at the same time, we take our rinse water once the wash is too dirty and use it for wash water and on and on, then we use the rinse-converted-to-wash water for...mopping...and we DO NOT RE-USE that water...well, OKAY...here goes...we WATER PLANTS with it!!!! *Whew...got that one out....*

 

But I am thankful for what I DO have....:) God has blessed me with good parents, several siblings and a good many friends. And of course food, and water and electricity (which is working most of the time. Only occasionally does this happen!)

 

We recently had a girls night.

We watched 'Brave' and ate Heather's amazing brownies and home-made ice-cream!!

Here are a couple of the girls that came over!

Have a wonderful day!!!!