I wrote what is below last week and forgot to post it.

12-16-03

Well, hello, hello and how are you? I'm doing GREAT because as of last night I am a

GREEN BELT!

Yes, yipee and yahoo! Yay, wow, and wonderful! *super big huge grin* I guess the reason I'm so thrilled is that green has always been the color of a real martial artist, in my mind anyway. Anybody can make it to orange belt: it's when testing for green that you do your first really hard board breaks, your first back to back fighting and your first plural fights.

Well, I guess I'll tell you about the test. Last Monday night we tested on kata, techniques and Bible verse. I did real well on kata and techniques and only messed up a little on the verse. I don't know why I did, but my mind went just completely and totally blank. I know that verse so well I could say it in my sleep, but I still couldn't remember the first few words. I got it after a minute though. Our group finished our stuff before the other groups, so they asked if anybody had brought their boards to break. I had thought something like that might happen so I had brought ours and we all did our breaks. I had four breaks: a ridge hand, a hammer fist, jumping front kick and spinning back kick. All had to be done with two, 1 by 12 by 12 boards. The ridge hand was the one that worried me the most: the striking area is the side of the first nuckle of your pointer finger. But I managed to go through on the first try with very little pain. All my other breaks were pretty easy to do: I did them all left sided because I knew that I could do them with my right hand or foot: I wanted to know if I could do it with my left. BonnieJean had to break four baords: one each with a punch, a knife hand, a front kick and a side kick. She had broken boards quite easily before with her feet, but had never been able to break with her hands. A few days before the test she finally managed to break a board with a descending palm strike, but she was still pretty worried. Well, she went to do her knife hand break and BAM! went right through it, like a hot knife through butter. Punch, BANG! Perfect. Side kick. WACK! No more board. Front kick: dull THUD. No break. She tried again. THUD. Again. THUD. The dumb board just wouldn't break. Finally she tried it on a differant board and went right through. Anna, Ethan and Joshua got through their breaks with no problem, but poor Naomi really had trouble. She had to try multiple times on all of her breaks and really bruised her hand up good. But she didn't quit and broke them all herself! I was so proud!

Then last night we did all of our fighting and those who hadn't broken boards last week did theirs'. I had three, two minute fights back to back with no rest. It was actually really fun. My second fight was against a guy I had fought a few weeks ago and not done very well against, but I did much better last night. I even got him with a very good hook kick, which is really cool, 'cause I hardly ever score with that. On my last fight our head Sensie came in and fought, which of course was really cool. I scored on him a few times. But of course he wasn't really fighting with me, toying with me would be more like it. I won two of my three plural fights: one of the two on one fights and the three on one fight. BonnieJean and Ethan fought very well. Anna did ok: she really been having trouble gaurding herself lately. I didn't get to see Joshua fight much (he was in a differant group) or Naomi. But I did see Naomi do her last plural (3 on 1) fight. She had trouble picking which person to fight and instead tried to fight all three at once, so she got hit a good deal. A couple landed pretty hard in her gut but she kept on fighting!

12-23-03

Good heavens, I had totally forgotten about this post I'd started to write! Sorry about that!

I worked yesterday. We are on Christmas break, but since we were snowed out a few weeks ago we had to do a make-up day. I was there 8:30 to 2:30, teaching most of the time. The last half hour or so there were very few people left at the gym and several of the upper level gymnast and teachers did tumbling. I tried a couple new things and I think I'm finally starting to get a handle on two standing back hand springs.

Saturday I took the ACT. I need to get a 31 or higher in order to apply for a full tuition scholarship at ORU. Last time I got a 28. I'm pretty confident I managed to raise it the needed three points, but I'm not certain. Guess there's no use worrying about it now. After the test, while waiting for Mom to pick me up, I went to a nearby Denny's and ordered a milk shake. Stupidly I didn't ask what the price was: that silly milk shake cost me $3.50! I could have bought a whole gallon of ice cream for that much! It was highly annoying.

Mom, Anna, BonnieJean and I pooled our money and bought the soundtracks for Pirates of the Caribbean, Attack of the Clones, The Two Towers and The Four Feathers. Pirates and Attack of the Clones have arrived and we are enjoying them alot. In fact I'm listening to Pirates of the Caribbean right now: man, that is a cool soundtrack! I need to see that movie again. The problem is that it's not a movie we want the little guys to see, what with all the walking skeletons and all, so I'm not sure when we'll get a chance to see it.

I can't beleive it's only two days until Christmas. It doesn't seem like it. Maybe because the weather is so warm: yesterday I went running in sweat pants and a T-shirt. Anyway, I hope you all have a merry, wonderful Christmas and a great new year! God bless y'all!

Well, hello there. I'll be you weren't expecting to see another update for at least a month! Ha! I fooled you!

BonnieJean is in Tulsa taking the CLA exam right now. It's today and tomorrow. She's not too stressed out about it, but she's still worried.

Ethan and I will be spending most of the afternoon helping get things set up for the chess tournament tomorrow. Ethan and Joshua will be competing. I'm going to do some strolling in the morning and then do a twenty-minute Christian show during lunch. It should be fun.

Monday is karate testing. I just finished getting our boards cut. I'm not so worried about my ridge hand break anymore (I have to go through two boards with the side of my hand). The boards I got a very good breaking boards...so it shouldn't be too hard to break them.

Next Saturday is the ACT. I've got to raise my score to 31 (from 28) in order to apply for the full tuition grant at ORU. I'm about to pull my hair out. I simply don't think I'm ready for the math part...there's so much of it I simply don't know. AHHH!

Interesting debate about online dating on the RI...personally, I think the whole thing is silly. Even if you're being totally honest with the person, they still don't really get to know you. You don't get to see each other in real life situations. How does he treat his mom? How does she react when her car doesn't start? These are things you just can't learn through instant messsenger.

I'm getting excited about bringing a group of people to TeenPact next year. We've got a 15 passenger van and as long as we're going, why not get a bunch of people, right?

Well, I can't think of anything else to say. So bye!

One day short of two months...wow, that's a pretty good record! *dodges rotten fruit*

Well, Memphis was a blast. They kept us extremely busy (I could never manage to live there for a full year like some of the Character Choaches do) but I think it was worth it. BonnieJean did really well in the schools and working with the kids. She had some problems with some of the other Character Choaches at first, but things got better towards the end.

A couple weeks ago BonnieJean and I went to ORU's college weekend. I'm looking at taking their Multi-Media major and BonnieJean is thinking about something math based, possibly teaching math. We've sent in our application and should be finding out yea or nay soon. I'm taking the ACT again in December in the hopes of getting a 31 or higher so I have a chance at a full scholarship. With my current score (28) I'd get $5,500 a year and with one more point it would be $6,000 a year.

Well, I'm not going to be testing for my green belt until December (the 8th to be exact). I just didn't have enough time before going to Memphis to learn what I needed so I could work on it there. I'm thinking I might possibly test for blue half-way through this next period and then test for purple at the next all-school testing date (in other words, advancing two belts in three months...hard, but not impossible).

BonnieJean is going to be working in Taiwan from late January to mid August of next year. In fact she'll be getting back home one week after classes start at ORU, but they said that would be fine. It's going to be hard for her to be gone for so long, but I guess we'll live.

Work is going well. Naomi almost has her back hand spring by herself (I just have to apply a little bit of upward pressure on the small of her back to give her an extra half second to her hands down). Tumbling classes are a blast. I've got a round-off back hand spring by myself and a standing back tuck by myself (although I only land it about half the time...) I can also do a punch front (front flip) and front hand spring by myself.

Dad has this week off and is working hard on the remodel. He's going to be buying the sheet rock today and we'll start putting it up in the next few days. He's hoping to get the brick work done this weekend. It's actually starting to look like a real room.

Well, I have to get off now. Bye, God bless y'all!

Hello, hello, hello! I know I should have posted a long time ago. And it will probably be a good while before I post again, 'cause I'm leaving tomorrow for Memphis to spend five weeks working in the schools there. It's the same thing Anna and I did in Feb. BonnieJean is going with me.

Our computer is driving me nuts. It won't stop freezing on us and I think I'm going to shoot it with a machine gun.

I got my orange belt at the start of this month. I hope to test for green in Nov. when I get back from Memphis. We went to a "She-hi" (workshop) a few weeks ago and learned some really neat katas. In fact I plan on using one of them in the tournament in May as my competition kata.

Work is going well. I'm having a little trouble with one of the ladies I teach with, but other than that I enjoy working with all the people. I've got a few kids in some classes that make things difficult, but I've also got some really great classes as well.

Pray for us while we're in Memphis. Pray that God will use us and that we will stay healthy.

Bye now!

Hello my adoring fans, I'm just posting a very fast blog to say that I will be updating soon! Honestly!

Well, as of yet, there is not winner in the opening lines for my blogger contest, so I am currently deprived of any form of greeting.

Yesterday was quite a day. We (Mom, BonnieJean, Anna and I) went to the rec center in the morning and I ran and juggled some. When we got home (after stopping b QT for a 49 cent quart of fountain drink!) Ethan told us that Sam B. had called saying they were going to be doing another demonstration up by RSU. But he couldn't remember when it was. So we called her and got a busy signal. We did finally get through and learned it was going to be 2-3:30, so BonnieJean, Anna and I headed up there at about 2. Sam gave us all signs and flyers. I had a sign that said "Kangaroo court at RSU" and had a picture of a kangaroo with a gavel on it. I took up position on a concrete triangle in between the exit from RSU and the road (if that makes any sense). It really was a good spot, because everybody leaving the campus had to stop at the stop sign and there I was, holding out a flyer. I think between me and the lady standing on by the stop sign (across the road from me) we passed out more flyers than everybody else combined. At one point "everybody else" totaled about thrity people, so we had a pretty good turn-out (turnout? turn out? turn-out?) The only problem was that we forgot to get any sunscreen and I was standing in the direct sun for about two hours, so I am now beet red. Not fun. But other than that we had a great time. There is something very fun about handing a flyer to an RSU administror and telling her that we're here protesting the violation of student civil rights. (For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, try visiting www.rsusaga.com and you'll find plently of info. there.)

We headed out for karate right after getting back from the demonstration. I didn't do too much during the first class: just streched out and fought Ethan and Anna a little bit. Something I find very interesting is that Ethan is a very defensive fighter who throws no combination and lots of very obvious kicks. The odd thing is that when we fence, he is a very fast and versitile fighter, excelling partitularly at hitting me in the legs. And although he doesn't have a defense to write home about, he can manage pretty well when I come at him with a stick. Yet when we're sparring, he's almost without a prayer when I come at him. He can block most of my kicks, yet if I come in with four or five things in combination I almost always get him.

During class we didn't do much of interest (other than lining up in time, so the black belts did push ups...it was fun to stand there and watch them do it) but afterwards I fought Jordan, a brown belt who's a friend of mine. He was also an interesting fighter in that he is TOTALLY defensive. At least Ethan will come at you every once in awhile: Jorden didn't come at me once. And every time I moved in close to him, he'd back up. In fact I chased all the way across the dojo once, without him doing anything but backing up! It was actually kinda humerous. He does have a mean snap kick though, and would hit my arm repeatedly. Another interesting thing that happened was I knocked him the ground once and tried to come in with a punch to the cest. Notice I said TRIED. What happened was he came up with several ridge hands to my chest and I half ran, half fell right over him. It was rather funny.

After fighting Jordan I fought his sister Rachel, also a brown belt. She is a much more agressive fighter and was very adept at hitting me in the side whenever I came at her. She was also very adept at hitting me in the face: three times in fact. (You're not supposed to have any face contact unless both people are brown belts or above.) I think I did pretty well against her though: I managed to slip several side kicks under her gaurd and get her in the side. One of these was perhaps a little too powerful, so after we were done fighting she kicked me in the stomach when I wasn't looking at her. *shakes head* I think she has a tendancy to go a little bit far. Still, it was a fun fight.

Well, Saturday I went to the tumbling clinic and I am now certain that the fellow teaching it is not gay. In fact he acts a whole lot like BonnieJean's Sunday School teacher. I worked mostly on back hand springs and back tucks. I'd never even tried a back tuck before, but he had me doing them into the pit and I actually didn't do that bad. We had the pit built up almost level with the floor and I was still able to land it about half the time. I also got a punch front on the floor and did some front hand springs. Oddly enough, I find front tumbling much easier than back tumbling. Most people are the other way around, because all your front tumbling has a blind landing. I guess I'm just a wierdo.

Sunday the water pump on the new car went out and Dad had to replace it. He went ahead and replaced all the hoses while he was at it. I went out and helped him towards the end of the day and we finished about 11 o'clock. Then on Monday Dad didn't show up at karate because he had to go home and pull out the radiator because it was leaking. Hopefully once he gets that fixed there won't be anymore problems.

Sorry about the last post being posted twice. I tried several times to delete one of them, but couldn't figure out how to do it. The problem with blogger is that although it works great when things to right, when things go wrong, they are very hard to fix. Oh well. I have to get off now. Math is calling!

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The following is my last post that somehow got deleted.
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Hello, hello, hello! Do you think I need to get a new greeting? It's gotten kinda boring to say "hello, hello, hello!" at the front of every blog, but I can't think of anything else to write. So, I am happy to announce the first annual international blogger greeting contest! To the winner will go hundreds of $$$!!! Along with instruction on how to make much more $$$ on your own! There is no selling involved and no cost! It's all pure $$$!
Today was a tiring day. Dad stayed home to get the refrigeration lines installed for the new A/C unit and I spent the morning and half the afternoon up in the attic or out in the heat working with him. We used 3/4 in. copper tubbing that was very difficult to bend without kinking. In fact the first two hours of work were wasted because the pipe kinked too many times and we had to pull it all out and get new pipe. Not fun.
Tomorrow I'm taking a three hour tumbling clinic at work. I've been planning on taking a tumbling class this fall and figured this would be a good way to get ready for that. The interesting thing is that I've heard from several people that there is a guy at work who is "obviously gay". There are only five guys who work there (counting me) and I know four of them (counting me). I'm certain that none of them are gay. This clinic is taught by the one guy I don't know. Although I haven't worked with him, I have seen him working before (he taught a cheerleading class at the same time I was teaching a 6 and up class one night a week) and he is not "obviously gay". Everybody says that you can tell from a mile away that who their talking about. So I'm wordering if they might not be all wet. For one thing I doubt my boss would hire someone who is obviously gay. So anyway, I guess I'll know tomorrow!
Monday night I got to fight one of the black belts, the younger Mr. G. Interestingly enough, he isn't actually all that great of a fighter. He did score more points than I did, but all his kicks were very obvious and he hardly used his hands at all. And I made multiple scores by simply throwing a single roundhouse to his chest. Next week I'm going to be sparring Jordan (a brown belt who we've met through ATI and various home school events-he's a cool guy) and the younger Mr. M. I don't know if Jordan is a very good fighter but I do know that Mr. M is very good, so I'm looking forward to that. It's actually funner to fight somebody who is better than you. I also like sparring the upper belts because although you get hit more often, you get hurt far less. We are going to be tesing for our orange belts at the end of the month. That includes six minutes of sparring (three-two minute fights) with no rest. I've been running for about five minutes every day and should have it up further by that time, so it shouldn't be a problem. BonnieJean will be testing for her yellow belt at about the same time.
We're going up to Chicago at the end of the month for my cousin's wedding. It will be fun to get to see Dad's sisters and Grandma again.
After leaving Chicago we'll go over to Memphis and spend two nights and one day there. It's going to be so fun to get to see everybody again! We'll be there for the first day of school and us older ones will get to go with the couches and help some. And the really fun thing is that we'll get to go to Speedway! Speedway is a church in inner-city Memphis were they do a Good News club and a English as a Second Laungauge class. We do the first club and then watch the kids of the parents taking the class. It's really cool. Mom called Miss Karen today and she said that they were kinda counting on BonnieJean and I to be there in the month of October and we're really hoping that doesn't cause complications because....
KIWA IS COMING TO SEE US!!!!!!!!!!! She emailed saying she was hoping to come in October or next spring. We're hoping we can get her to come at the end of September or the beginnnig of November. It'd be such a blast to have her over here again!
BonnieJean is applying to go on a mission trip to Tiwain next year...for six months! I'm still not sure what I think about that. If it's God's will, then of course she should go, but...SIX MONTHS!!!!!! is a long time! What am I going to do without my sister for six months?
Speaking of BonnieJean, she will be graduating from the paralegal course right after we get back from Memphis! We get back on 4th and she has finals on the 5th and 6th and then she's all done! Yea! I'm very excited and I'll be I'm not nearlly as excited as she is!
The 15th through the 17th BonnieJean and I will be going on a retreat with the college and career class. BonnieJean went to the same place last year and really enjoyed it. I'm really looking forward to it.
Well, I'd better get to bed now. Talk to y'all guys later! God bless! Jude 24-25

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Well hi there! How are you on this fine day? The picture you see above is me as Darth Maul. Saturday BonnieJean and I went to a costume party for the college and career class at church. So I decided to be Darth Maul. At first I was thinking that I should just do the make up and the outfit and that I wouldn't try to do the horns. But Mom said that if I was going to be Darth Maul then I should go ahead and do it right, so...we shaved my head, except for in the places where we wanted horns! Between the haircut and the make up it took Mom an hour and a half to get it all done and the end result was very good. At first not everybody at the party realized it was me! I recited a poem called "I don't hate" by Darren Collin (so of course it was outrageously hilarious) and it was well received. But of course I only plan on doing something this wild with my hair about every twenty years, so I had to keep this look for at least a little while. So this morning I showed up at church with a totally bald head, except for in spots where there were big spikes sticking up. I got some very good reactions. Mr. S said that if I showed up at chess like that (which I plan to) he'll pretend he doesn't know me. Aaron got out his knife and wanted to shave the rest of it off right then. Mr. H told me that he was praying for me.

Monday night only BonnieJean, Anna and I went to karate because Naomi wasn't feeling well and Ethan, Dad and Joshua had to go to ALERT Cadets. I got to spar against Mr. G (a black belt and a really cool guy) and actually did fairly well against him. I scored a few times and defended myself pretty well (considering).

After class we were driving home and the van died in the middle of the highway! We couldn't get it started for anything and to top it off, the flashers on the back wouldn't work! So we decided to try and walk to a gas station, call Mom, have her call Mrs. J, and get Philip's cell phone number, call us back and give it to us (Philip is a fellow home schooler from our town and does karate at the same school we do). It was a long way to the exit, but a kind man gave us a ride and allowed us to use his cell phone. We finally managed to get ahold of Philip and he was still in the area, so he and Steven (his brother, also a home schooler and karate guy) came and got us. We squeezed into his five seater pickup and drove home. Mom and Dad drove into Tulsa at the same time and Dad got the van started and driven home.

Last Tuesday Martha came over! Yea! we had a blast. Her sisters dropped her off at our house and she stayed for about two and a half hours. We (of course) made the traditional joint post on the RI and I enjoyed showing off my various blackmail pictures of RI'ers (she particularly liked the picture of Brian brushing his teeth!)

Thursday Philip and Steven (the same guys who drove us home on Monday) came over to have supper and sparring with us. We had a really great time. Steven is amazingly quick: he can throw a lead-leg round house to my head and I don't even see it coming half the time. Philip isn't as good as Steven, but he is still a very, very good fighter. We also worked on kata a good deal.

Last week was the last week of summer camps at work. Naomi took the regular camp and Ethan did the mini-camp (trampoline that week-he had a blast). Two girl got their back handspring for the first time by themselves. We worked really hard with them all week to get it, because they had to get it that week in order to go on to the next level on the team. They both finally got it on Thursday, which was cool. I'm not going to be working next month, because the only night they have anything going on is team practice on Monday nights and I have karate on Monday. I will be working the cheerleading class on Tuesdays for the next three weeks though, but that's only one hour a week. I think I'll enjoy the break and use it to try and get some stuff finished up before the school year starts.

I've got to go now. Bye! God bless!

Hello, hello, hello! I am writing this from my brand spanking new computer! Yes! It arrived today and I took it over to Josh's house and we got everything running. It's a 2 Ghz with 1 gig of RAM and a 120 gig hard drive running Windows XP. I have a 17" CRT monitor. I'm so excited! Some time soon I plan on buying a DVD burner for it. I can't connect the camcorder to it yet though, because I need to get a firewire cable.

Goodness, have I really not updated since the first of this month? I can't beleive it! I guess I'll start with my trip to TN.

It was awesome! Except for the 23 hour bus trip there and back. I did about ten minute at chapel each night and taught some juggling during the free time. Other than that I was basically one of the counslers. I spent most of my time with the group of boys under Joel (his sister is Rachel C. who I met in Memphis and who pestered the camp director until he called me). The only real differance between me and the other counslers was that they knew where things were and how things were normally done and I didn't. And they were well, while I, on the other hand, was sick.

Ick! That was the one part of the trip that really bothered me. I had a really bad sinus infection, which put pressure on my upper right teeth, which HURT! I had to take medicine one every six hours or I simply could not function. The roof of my mouth was so swollen that it was covering the backs of my upper right teeth! Not fun!

We had about 40 campers (20 guys/20 girls). I spent most of my time with the boys from "Uncle Paul's" cabin. Out of ten boys we had three Nathan's and two Ethans! It did tend to get rather confusing! I also spent a fair amount of time with the girls from "Sharyon" cabin. Whenever my guys would go do something I wasn't really feeling up to (which was fairly often towards the middle of the week!) I would hang out with them. Some of them were really crazy, but we had a good time together.

After I got home things settled down to normal (normal being defined as "not normal"). I had the week off work because we take the July 4th week off. On the 3rd we went to a party at BonnieJean's Sunday school teachers house and had a blast. Everybody but the pastor and his wife were thrown in the pool (and they very narrowly escaped!) I put a pretty good fight when they came after me, but was thrown in none the less.

On the 4th we went out to a friends house for their annual 4th of July party. There were a ton of people there, mostly home schooled families from the area. We had a blast (literally!) The fireworks that Mr. J (Tamera's uncle, btw) had bought were very good and he seems to have spent about three million nine hundred forty-two thousand, eight hundred sixty-five dollars and seventy-four cents on them. It made a very good display. The food was great (and there was lots of it) and the people were all a blast. I had Rickly Lee (a very tall guy) get on his knees and I did a round-house to his head. I am now bragging whenever I see anybody from karate that I got a round-house all the way to Ricky Lee's head!

And speaking of karate, I'm having a blast (I seem to be using that word a lot). I'm hoping to test for orange belt in a few weeks, but still don't know if I will be able to. We got to sparr some a couple weeks ago. I did pretty well. We did "King of the Hill" stlye. I defeated three guys and was finally de-throwned by one of the "older yellow belts" (meaning he has been a yellow belt longer). He beat me 4 to 5, so I think I did pretty well. Then, after class, I got to sparr against one of the black belts. Of course, she wiped the ground with me, but I did manage to score on her several times (and no, she didn't let me hit her). Next week I'm going to be trying to get together with a couple blue belts (both very good at sparring) and fight them a little bit. Yes, I know it's more fun to win when you sparr, but you learn alot more when you fight someone better than you.

Cool! I was just looking at some of the new visulazations on Windows Media Player. Some of them are very sweet!

Work is going well. Next week will be the last week of summer camps. In Aug. they don't have any classes and only have team practice on Monday nights. Since I have karate on Monday nights I won't be able to work then, so I'll have Aug. off. That doesn't bother me much: I have other stuff I need to get done before Sep. (like finishing school!) so Aug. it going to be pretty busy for me. The group of kids I had this week was rather challenging. The more the week progressed, the tireder they got and the crankyer they got. When they went to beam (the one rotation I didn't have them) they gave their teacher a really hard time, so on the next rotation I sat everybody down and read them the riot act. They behaved fairly well after that.

I get to meet Martha next week! Yes! She and some of her siblings are coming over to visit their grandparents and are stopping by our place on Tuesday. Cool, huh?

Well, I need to close this now. Talk to y'all guys later! BTW, David, if you're reading this, post a reply and let me know! God bless y'all!

I wrote the following during my five and a half hour lay-over in Nashville. It was 1 o'clock in the morning, so it probably doesn't make much sense. In fact I don't even know why I'm posting it. I'll post later and tell y'all about my trip.
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What does one write when you don't know what to write and yet have been feeling the need to write something about it for weeks? I really don't know what I'm writing. All I know is that it hurts.

It hurts. Such pathetic words. The same thing I say when I get a papercut.

I can still see exactly how she was sitting there on the Floor. The outside sides of her feet on the carpet, her knees spread apart, her elbows resting on them, her fingers holding on to each other. Her hair was streaked and let down. She looked zonked. Everything about her said one thing: tired.

In fact I even asked her about it. Something along the lines of "Tamera, are you alright? You look terrible!"

It's strange how you remember some things and not others. I don't remember much about teaching floor that night. But I remember almost exactly teaching bar with her.

Teaching bar with Tamera was always fun. She didn't teach bar like the other teachers: she always seemed to have some new little thing for the girls. She was cheerful and relaxed when teaching bar and we would have an unhurried conversation: about five minutes of talking strected into twenty minutes 'cause we would only talk while waiting for the next kid.

That night we talked about the trouble she was having with her boyfriend. First thing she said was "I don't think I like boys anymore." I asked her why she had decided she didn't like one half the population of the earth and she laughed.

Am I going anywhere with this? I have no idea.

For conditioning that day she had the girls hand from the low bar and hold a tuck as she counted to ten. I can still remember how bug-eyed Kendel got as Tamera counted. And as soon as she had gone to the next station Tamera did the same thing for twice as long. Tamera loved bar. She would always jump up and do something while waiting for the next kid.

She had invited me to come to youth group with her the Sunday before she died. I told her no, not this time, maybe in two weeks.

After we taught bar we went to tramp. It was while teaching tramp that we had first started getting to know each other. Now, whenever we do jump rope on tramp I think about how that night she told her pet peeve was people not putting the jump ropes away properly. I'm always careful to put them back just like she wanted it.

The last I remember of her everybody was sitting on the floor by the beam. Tamera had the cards and was calling off the kids names while I put a stamp on their hands.

Next time I saw her it was only her body, laying in the coffin. Oh Tamera, why didn't you go home and get some sleep?! Why didn't you sit down during tramp at least? I could have taught it by myself! Oh Tamera, why couldn't you have stayed awake for just a few more minutes?!?

It hurts.

Hi there! How are y'all guys doing today? (Notice that you cannont answer that question unless you hit the little thing that says "comment". Almost nobody has been commenting the last couple days!)

Wow, things have been really nuts around here! Monday we started summer gymnastics camps. We teach from 8 to 11, 45 minutes per event. It has certainly been streching me as a teacher: normally we have 25 minutes max per event, so I've had to start doing all sorts of interesting stuff to make it more interesting for the kids. We then have a mini-camp from 11:30 to 12:30: this week it's a boys only camp. Jamie and I have been teaching it. Working with the older kids is pretty easy, but working with the younger guys (5 and 6 year olds) is next to impossible. Not only do these guys have absolutly no idea where they are in space, they don't listen to me, and when they do, they don't understand the simplist instructions. How hard is it to straighten your knees? Is this a hard thing to understand? How about "Sit next to Jake"? Man, they sure can try your patience!

I'm really tired. Monday we had camps in the morning, then I worked a day care, came home for about twenty minutes, went to the library to study, came home for 30 minutes, left for karate and got home at 10:30. Tuesday I worked all morning, came home and took a nap (yes!) and then went back to work at 6. I worked with Tracey on a class that was pretty good to teach and then I helped with a cheerleading class. Ok, so the people getting together this cheerleading thing told my boss they are bringing at least 50 girls. We had 15. My boss was pretty upset with them: she had paid enough teachers to come out for 50 girls and we only had 15. Anyway I worked with three third graders. They hadn't the slightest idea what they were doing, but we did manage to teach them some stuff. Then this morning I worked camps again and took another nap this afternoon!

I got an email from Rebekkah today in which she mentioned that we first met when we were both 15. For some reason that struck me as very strange. It doesn't seem that long ago.

Monday Dad's aunt Helen came over for a couple days to visit. She was a blast. I sure hope I'm as full of energy as she is when I'm her age. She went with us to karate Monday night and then they took her to the gun museum on Tuesday. She left this morning for home.

I had a really good time at karate Monday night. After class they brought out some plastic boards and were doing some breaking. (The plastic boards are just as hard (or harder) than normal boards, but you can put them back together after you've broken it!) I broke a board with a right hammer fist, a right knife hand, a left hammer fist, a left knife hand and with a knee strike. I also broke one with my head (no, it didn't actually hurt much at all). The break I was really proud of was one were I held the board in my left hand and struck it with my opened right hand and broke it. Both a green belt and a brown belt tried to do it as well, but couldn't do it! I was so proud of myself! :)

BonnieJean is doing finals this week. In fact she is having two of them right now and she'll have the other two on Friday. She's fallen behind this quarter, but I think she did manage to get all her lessons done by this afternoon. But I don't think she had that much time left for review, but we're hoping she does well anyway.

And on the 14 I'm going to be taking the ACT! AHHH! I'm pretty sure I'll do well on all the sections except math. I stink at math. But I guess I'll live.

I need to get off the computer now. Talk to y'all guys later!

1. What facial feature do you find the most attractive on others?: Hmm...it depends, because each feature is so affected by the others.


2. Would you vote for a woman candidate for president?: It would depend on her views.



3. Would you marry for money?: Nope, but I wouldn't mind marrying a rich person either!



4. Have you had braces?: Yep, for nearly a year now. They are annoying, but not as bad as I expected.



5. Do you pluck your eyebrows?: Nope.



6. Do you ever cut or hurt yourself?: Good heavens! People who do that are in need of serious help. No, I do not.



7. Removed


8. Could you live without a computer?: lol....are you kidding? Here I sit, filling out a totally mindless survey to post on my blogger while I could be doing something productive!



9. Do you use ICQ, AOL Buddy list etc..?: I use AIM and Y!IM, by way of Trillion.



10. If so, how many people are on your list(s)?: 109



11. If you could live in any past time period, which would it be?: Pre-flood.



12. Do you drink enough water?: Yep, I do.



13. Do you wear shoes in the house or take them off?: Barefoot rules man!



14. What is your favorite fruit?: Grapes.



15. Do you eat wheat bread or white?: Wheat taste way better and is way better for you.



16. What is your favorite place to visit?: Maybe the Okanogan (sp?) Valley in WA.



17. What is the last movie you saw?: In theaters? Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.



18. Do you kiss on the first date?: Never been on a date and don't plan on kissing until I'm married.



19. Are you photogenic?: Not really, but I look out in pictures.



20. Do you dream in color or black and white?: Color, I think.



21. Are you wearing fingernail polish?: No way! Finger nail polish is a waste of the money that God has intrusted you with.



22. Do you have any dimples?: Nope.



23. Do you remember being born?: No, I don't think anybody does.



24. Why do you take surveys?: I have no idea. I think it's probably because I like talking about myself (who doesn't?) and it gives me a chance to talk about myself without boring people to death (they don't have to read it if they don't want to).



25. Do you drink alcohol?: Nope. The one time I did, I was about 6 and thought it was Sprite..ick!


26. Did you like or do you like high school?: Yes, learning is fun.



27. What is the most beautiful language?: Elvish.



28. When you are asleep do you like being kissed awake?: never happened, I don't know.



29. Do you like sunrises or sunsets the most?: Sunset in the TX Panhandle...you can't beat that!



30. Do you want to live to be 100?: Of course!



31. Do you think women should be expected to shave their body hair?: No, it's silly. Woman in Europe don't and they don't seem to have problems with it over there.



32. Do you like salty food or sugary food the most?: Depends. I like both.



33. Is a flat stomach important to you?: No, a full stomach is much more important to me!



34. Do you or have you played with a ouija board?: No, I have no reason to go for the weaker spiritual powers that Satan has to offer.



35. Are you loyal?: Yes, once you're my friend it takes a lot to change that.



36. Are you tolerant of other people's beliefs?: What exactly do you mean? I don't scream at people and refuse to talk to them when they disagree with me, but I am a very firm beleiver in absolute truth!



37. When you watch movies at home, do you like the lights on or off?: Off!



38. Do you believe in magic?: Yes, certainly.



39. Do you have nightmares frequently?: not really.



40. Do you like your nose?: Never really thought about it...I suppose it's good enough.



41. Do you like abstract art?: Some of it.



42. Do you think you can draw well?: No, I certainly cannot.



43. Do you listen to music daily?: Yes, lots of it.



44. Do you like to watch cartoons?: Not really. But VeggieTales rocks!



45. At what age did you find out that Santa Claus wasn't real?: I never thought he was real.



46. How many pairs of shoes do have in your closet?: Goodness...I have no idea! Four?



47. Do you like to wear the same shoes everyday or do you like a variety?: I could wear the same set of clothes every day for the rest of my life and it wouldn't bother me a bit.



48. Do you write poetry?: Not very often...I have to be in the mood.



49. Do you snore?: Not that I know of.



50. Do you sleep more on your back, front, or sides?: on my front, with my arms by my side.



51. Would you rather have a poodle or a rottweiler?: neither.



52. Do you lick stamps?: if they need it, of course!



53. Do you use an electric can opener?: nope, we don't have one.



54. Have you ridden in a hot air balloon?: nope, but I would like to.



55. Which hurts the most, physical or emotional pain?: I've never been in real intense physical pain, so I wouldn't really know. I don't like either.



56. Do you think balding men should shave their heads?: If they want to, that's ok, but if they don't, that's ok.



57. Do you know anyone who is clinically depressed?: I don't think so.



58. Do you prefer a piano or a violin?: I like viola better. Is that spelled right?



59. Removed



60. Do you know someone who has cancer?: I don't think so...



61. Do you hunt?: As in right now? Not physically, but I've been feeling kinda depressed about Tamera lately...it's been almost a month since she died and I've been kinda upset..



62. Do you like fast food joints, or expensive restaurants?: Burger King rocks man!



63. Would you rather visit a zoo or an art museum?: Art Museum, generally speaking.



64. Do you have a middle name?: Joseph.



65. Are you basically a happy person?: I guess.



66. Are you tired?: No, I'm pretty awake right now.



67. Did you drink anything with caffeine in it today?: Nope. Caffeine doesn't affect me, so I don't ever make a point of drinking it.



68. Have you ever met anyone off the internet?: Goodness! Let's see...Kali, Nikki, Kris, Courtney, Kate, Abbey, Brian, Tasha, Lisa, David (kinda met over the internet), Scott, qwerty, Beth...that's all I can think of right now.



69. How many phones do you have in your house?: two, both on the same line. Their names are Teddy and Madame Blueberry.



70. How long is your hair?: a little too long right now...Mom is going to be trimming it before my show tonight though.



71. Do you get along with your parents?: Mom, yes. Dad, no.



72. What color of eyes do you prefer?: Doesn't really matter to me.



73. Are you an active person?: I guess you could say so...I do stunting and karate.



74. What medications do you take?: None.



75. What does your bedroom look like?: Crouded.

Hello there. I don't have too much time to write this, but I wanted to take a minute and get a least a small update on here.

Last night we had a really big thunderstorm come through. It was pretty fun. But we had a slight power surge that fried the timer on our septic system and so all three of the tanks were filled to the max and the pump wouldn't come on. Anyway, the long short of it is that Dad had to come home early and get it fixed.

Mom, Anna and Caleb went to the bank around lunch time and when they came back they had us get our shoes on and come see the creek, which was very flooded after all the rain last night. The water coming over the little dam that creates the local lake was going pretty fast and was pretty cool. We took the camcorder and spent probably half an hour or more just having fun looking at the water.

Yesterday Dad, Mom, Isaac and BonnieJean went to evening service at a church in Tulsa. The church we're going to right now is rather strange...lots of things about it are great, but we're starting to wonder if maybe we shouldn't be going somewhere else.

I need to get ready for karate class now. We're leaving in half an hour. Talk to y'all later! God bless! Martha, I honestly will write you! I have an email in drafts right now, just waiting to be finished!

If I were a bird, I would be: A mocking bird.
If I were a body part, I would be: The hands?
If I were a car, I would be: An 18-wheeler.
If I were a cartoon character, I would be: Larry Boy! (I! AM! THAT! HERO!)
If I were a color, I would be: Dark green.
If I were a day of the week, I would be: Any day but Saturday.
If I were a direction I, would be: South.
If I were a facial expression, I would be: A sly smile.
If I were a fictional character from book, film or otherwise, I would be: A dwarf in the glory days of Moria.
If I were a flower/plant, I would be: I don't know the name of the flower I'm thinking of!
If I were a food, I would be: Beefy pinwheels.
If I were a historical figure, I would be: Stonewall Jackson.
If I were a kind of weather, I would be: A huge thunderhead.
If I were a liquid, I would be: Mercury
If I were a machine, I would be: A shotgun shell reloader.
If I were a material, I would be: Canvas.
If I were a method of death, I would be: Good heavens! An A-bomb I guess.
If I were a month, I would be: April or May.
If I were a movie, I would be: "Samuel Bavido: A man for his time", the documentary by A&E about me that will be made in 40 years.
If I were a musical instrument, I would be: A cathedral pipe organ.
If I were a mythical creature, I would be: A dragon.
If I were a number, I would be: 3.14....
If I were a piece of furniture, I would be: A bed.
If I were a place, I would be: The Okanogan Valley.
If I were a religion, I would be: Samuelism.
If I were a shape, I would be: A sphere.
If I were a sin, I would be: Do I really want to answer that one? Nope, I don't think so!
If I were a song, I would be: 800 Pound Jesus.
If I were a sound, I would be: The sound of a sizemick charge from Star Wars.
If I were a stone, I would be: Basalt.
If I were a subject in school, I would be: History.
If I were a taste, I would be: Sour.
If I were a time of day, I would be: Late afternoon.
If I were a tool, I would be: A cordless screw gun.
If I were a tree, I would be: An elm.
If I were a vegetable, I would be: A tomato.
If I were a word, I would be: parvis.
If I were an animal, I would be a: A turtle.
If I were an element, I would be: Hydrogen.
If I were an emotion, I would be: Mixed.
If I were an object, I would be: A galaxy.
If I were an RI'er apart from myself, I would be: James.
If I were a light bulb, I would be: A 60 watt.

Well the class last Tuesday went fairly well...I sat down with the girls and we talked a little bit and then went on and did class. I was feeling pretty bad through the whole thing (headache, tiredness and just generally feeling ick) but managed to stick through it. I finally got myself some aspirin in the middle of the second class and started to feel better after that.

Saturday we had the fun meet. I was the coach at vault, which was pretty fun. It was my job to spot the girls and move the mats around. Moving mats doesn't sound like that hard of a job, but they're about 15 feet by 4 feet and velcroed down, so it's rather hard to move them! Tammy saw I was having trouble and pulled Dad out of the bleachers to help me, which was very good for me. Naomi did very well: she got blue ribbons on all the events!

I've been reading through the epistles lately and have been really enjoying it. I've found it interesting to do a little study and find out what the writer was doing at the time of writing it and where he was. It really made 2 Timothy interesting to read once you understand that Paul knew he would be dieing soon.

Monday night we had our belt promotions, but we didn't get our belts because the order had gotten messed up! So I've got my piece of paper saying I'm a yellow belt, but I don't actually have a yellow belt! :) I've been working a lot on the orange to green belt kata, which is very different from the other two I know. It's a pretty fun kata, but there's a couple things that I'm not sure if I'm doing right, so I'll have to ask the Sensei about it at the next class.

Tomorrow is my 18th birthday! Can you believe it? No? Neither can I! I think I want to be 14 again. But the one good thing about turning 18 is that I get to register to vote, which is something I've been looking forward to all my life. We had a little family party tonight with cake and candles and what-not and then next Saturday we will be going paintballing with as many people as I can get to come!

Last night was the last night of class at gym until next school year! I'm gonna miss my girls! I will possibly be working with the summer camps though, so I should get to see some of them there. I'll miss having Shelby bothering me about doing back handsprings every five seconds. *grins* I think she would do those until she fainted if I let her.

We watched a couple interesting movies lately. One was "What about Bob?", which I highly recommend. It does have some language, but is otherwise clean. My fav. quote from it would have to be "GETOWABLAHBLAH!!!!!" (You have to have seen it to get it) The other movie was "The Next Karate Kid", which was moderately ok. It's interesting to see how it had several good ideas and characters, but neither were developed as they should have been. And the holes in the logic were huge. Like when they blow up a car down at the docks and NOBODY shows up! The whole dock is a flaming inferno, and yet for some reason nobody seems to notice! But I did really enjoy the scene with the Buddhist monks going bowling. ("Is called Zen Bowling!")

Sunday afternoon at church they hosted a dinner for the graduates and their families after service. It was a very good meal and lots of fun. Of the 8 graduates, only one is not home schooled and he had gone to a private school.

Tomorrow night BonnieJean and I are going to be going to a party at her Sunday school teachers house. Dad, Ethan and Joshua are going camping with the ALERT Cadets, and they are very much looking forward to that.

I need to get off now. Talk to y'all latter! Thanks for praying for me guys: it helps!


Red/Green/Blue:
To you, the world is logical. Everything happens
for a reason, life is scientific. You like to
find solutions. I doubt you needed to take this
quiz in order to realize this.


What color do you see the world in?
brought to you by Quizilla

Yesterday we tested for our yellow belt. I'm pretty certain I passed, but the black belt who tested me wouldn't say, so I'll just have to wait until promotions next week. We do know that Joshua passed, and are fairly certain the rest of us did pass.

Sunday afternoon Uncle Kirk called and said they had just gone to Eric's graduation and were going to stop by our house! They spent the night and left Monday morning: we had a blast! Meagan and William have gotten so much bigger!

Then last night Rod and Leona came over. Rod had some meetings in Tulsa this week, so they had made a "see the family" trip out of it. They only stayed a few hours but we had a good time anyway.

The funeral Friday was good. The church (which was very large) was packed. The message the pastor gave was very good: he even used the S-word! I hitched a ride with Jamie to the graveside service, which was also really good. There is a really nice view to the East of her grave, which is nice. The interesting thing is that the gym is about half-way between the horrizen and her grave, so it's quite likely she'll meet Christ right over it!

Pray for me tonight guys. I'm working the very same class we worked together just before she died and I don't really know how it's going to go. Pray that God will help me be strong for the girls.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

13 But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first;
17 then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Yesterday I didn't get anything done at all...just kinda walked around in a daze. Mom took me to see the body at the funeral home...her right hand looked kinda odd...I think she must have broken it or something...whenever we taught bar she would point with her right hand and say "Look at the high bar!" I went to gym early last night and just sat around. I wrote out the chorus from "No night there" and placed it on the front desk for people to read...that song really helped me yesterday. The funeral in in an hour, so I'm going to get off now and go get ready.

And God shall wipe away all tears
There's no death, no pain, no fears
And they count not time by years
For there is no night there.



----------------------------------------------------------------
Tamera Leigh Judd





Services for Tamera Leigh Judd will be 2 p.m. Friday, May 9, 2003 at First Baptist Church. Burial will follow at Woodlawn Cemetery, under the direction of Rice Funeral Services. Friends may visit until 8 this evening at the funeral home. Tamera passed away Wednesday, May 7, 2003. She was 18.

Tamera was born in Tulsa on Nov. 23, 1984. Her parents are Bruce and Valerie Judd and Laurie and Mike Hixson. She has lived in Claremore all of her 18 years and was looking forward to graduation from Claremore High School later this month. Successful at whatever she undertook, Tamera was an all-state gymnast for five years, a member of the all-state honors choir for three years, and also played soccer. At the age of 15 years, she began as a gymnastics instructor at Gymnastic City. Though not a cheerleader, Tamera was such a skillful gymnast that she was offered a full cheerleading scholarship. She was also considering furthering her education at RSU.

Tamera was tender-hearted, caring and giving. She had a particular fondness for children and animals. Her happy nature, ready smile and concern for the welfare of others endeared her to so many who called her their friend.

Tamera is survived by her parents, Bruce and Valerie Judd and Laurie and Mike Hixson, all of Claremore; her brother, Eric Judd of Oklahoma City; sisters, Stephanie and Andrea Judd, both of Claremore; her step-siblings, Charlotte Richardson of South Carolina, Sam Hixson of Claremore, Nathan Hensley and wife, Amanda of Broken Arrow, and Chad Hensley of Tulsa; paternal grandparents, Earl and Shelba Judd of Claremore; maternal grandparents, Jim and Beverly Watts of Arkansas; maternal great-grandmother, Geraldine Ashby of Arkansas, extended family members and many friends.

(If you haven't read the post below, read that before reading this)

Tonight was tough. Some of the kids didn't seem to quite get it...others just wanted to talk about her...other just needed to be hugged. Everybody working there is taking it hard...several teachers just stood around and never actually got out on the floor and taught. After the lesson were over we all just stood around for an hour and talked and cried.

Below is the article from the news papper.

---------------------------------------------------

A Claremore teen-ager was killed in an early Wednesday morning wreck south of Claremore.

Tamara Leigh Judd, 18, was dead at the scene of the 1:10 a.m. single vehicle crash.

A Claremore High School senior, she is the daughter of Bruce and Valerie Judd and Laurie and Mike Hixson of Claremore.

Matt Wild, Claremore police officer who investigated the wreck, said Judd was northbound on Highway 66 in a 1993 Dodge Saturn when she apparently fell asleep at the wheel, according to a witness who saw the crash.

The wreck occurred just south of the Travis Boat Center, officers said.

Police said Judd�s vehicle veered off the roadway and into a ditch then traveled for some distance parallel to the roadway without Judd taking any corrective action.

The vehicle vehicle then struck the earthen raised portion of a culvert and went airborne for approximately 118-feet.

It landed on its rear and nosed in, flipping end-over.

Police said the vehicle then traveled forward sideways and struck the south entrance curb of the business parking lot entrance and rolled over, coming to rest on its top.

Officers said at some point during the wreck Judd was ejected from the vehicle.

Services will be 2 p.m. Friday atFirst Baptist Church.

Arrangements will be under direction of Rice Funeral Service.

So many things to write. So many thoughts swimming through my head, I can't think what to say. Tamara is dead.

Dead.

How can this be? I talked to her last night. I taught bar with her. Now she's dead.

I went to work with the home school class this morning and everything was normal. But as soon as I walked in, Tammy called me into the back room and told me that last night Tamara had fallen asleep at the wheel, rolled the car and died. It happened about 1 o'clock. I can't beleive she was up that late...she looked so tired when I had been working with her last night that I had asked her if she was ok. Latter while teaching bar she told me about breaking up with her boyfriend and the mess that had resulted from it. She'd only had an hour of sleep the night before...why didn't she go home and get some sleep?

How am I going to teach that class next week? Some of those girl have had her as their teacher for a couple years.

I had to teach the home school class myself: Tammy was making phone calls and just wasn't emotionally able to handle teaching. It was so strange...I was teaching bar and all of a sudden it would hit me: I'm standing right were Tamara stood last night. My hand is resting right were hers was.

I'm going to go to work early tonight and see if I can help any. Everybody is taking it really hard and I don't know how things are going to go tonight.

Good heavens! Bad Samuel! Bad! Behave! I can't beleive I haven't posted in so long! I have no excuse.

I just found out something really cool though...our filter now lets us look at stuff hosted on blogspot.com! Which means I got the first look at my blogger in about 8 months! WHOPPEE! And I just finished reading 'nika blog, first time I've done that in forever. I really need to start reading blogs more consistantly. I need to start keeping up on James' blog as well. He always has the most interesting posts.

Saturday we went to watch a karate tournament in Sand Springs. We stayed several hours and had a real good time. Several friends of our were competing. Our Sensi was promoted to 5th degree black belt the same day as well and his son was walking around telling everybody about it...he was obviously very thrilled! Our school did pretty well in kata: we got two first place medals and two second place medals. Most of our others students did well too. But in fighting (at least what I saw) we didn't do that great. Two of our students were doing very well in their fights but lost them because they hit the other guy in the face twice. :( It's a shame, 'cause they were both doing really good in their fights.

It's turtle season again around here. I saw one yesterday while out for a walk: they're so cool! I also saw a really small yellow chested something or other bird that was very interesting. I don't think I'd seen any like it before.

Let's see, work is going well. I'm working four classes and enjoying them all very much. I can now teach vault and bar by myself. I think I could probably teach floor by myself but we always do floor together, so I've never actually led it. The only problem is that my boss hasn't paid me for the last two months...I think I might mention that to her next time I see her.

Thursday we went roller skating with the home school group. I hadn't done that in many, many years and so I had many an impressive looking fall. All those years of pretending to die and falling from great hieghts as a kid are actually coming in handy. I still didn't manage to save my knees or my hands from getting pretty bunged up, but I had a great time anyway.

I just finished reading through all the minor prophets. Man, after reading about the prophets telling the people to change and then they didn't change and then God judged them, the book of Haggai is like a breath of fresh air. God said to do this, they did it, God blessed them! Cool! :)

I've heard rumors that we might be testing at karate tonight. If we don't we'll probably be testing next week. I'm really hoping we do it tonight, cause I'm ready for the test and want to get on to learning some new stuff.

I need to get off now. Bye! God bless!

Hello, how are you today? I'm doing pretty good. BonnieJean just got her grades in from her finals for last quarter, she got two A's, a B and a B+. Not bad really. The little guys are watching a movie and Mom and Anna are at the doctor because Anna has a really bad ear infection. I am trying to figure out how to use USChessLive, a program which a friend of mine has been bugging me to start using. It actually looks like a pretty good program.

Ah-ha! I got it working! I'm playing a game right now in fact. And I can't think of anything else to say right now, so I shall update at some other time. Bye!

Wow! I feel like I'm alive! Ok, ok, maybe that's not so unusual a thing, but after last week, man, it sure feels great again! Tuesay night I started feeling horrible and then the next day I felt REALLY bad and didn't even go help with the home school gym class, which is my very fav. Thursday I was feeling better, but I could hardly swallow. Anyway, I'm FINALLY feeling better now! Yea! Oh, yes, and I did go to the doctor (see comments on post below).

Let's see, in spite of the fact that I got sick that day, Tuesday was a fun day. I started working two new classes at gymnastics. In the first class (ages 6 and up) I taught vault: not assisted, actually taught. I did have a guy helping me, but I actually know more about it than he does. I think I did pretty well: I was just teaching very basic stuff and I didn't have more than ten kids at a time, so it actually wasn't very hard. The second class (ages 9 and up) is very far behind from where they should be and from what my boss told me, it would seem she wants me to start bringing them up to speed. :0 I suppose stretching is good for you, but sometimes I think she places a little to much faith in me!

After gym Mom picked me up and dropped Anna, Ethan and I off at the local coffee shop for their Tuesday chess night. We had a blast. My first game was absolutely horrible, but I did pretty good otherwise. What was really cool is that the highest rated chess player in Oklahoma was there! He was very friendly and showed Anna and I a lot of stuff, most of which we have forgotten already, of course. ;) He said he's going to be there next Tuesday and will try to show me some stuff with the Kings Gambit, which is really cool.

Just recently our library has gotten a very large collection of Jeeves and Wooster movies, and so while we have been laid up with strep throat and ear infections we have been watching several of them. My favorite is Jeeves Saves the Cow Creamer. Their all very good.

While at the library I got a copy of a translation of the poem "Beowulf" and have started reading it. It's interesting.

I read an interesting essay while at the library as well. It was by some "Literary Critic" (ugg!) who seemed to think that Tom B., the Balrog and Shelob were to hard to believe. Not only that, but the idiot showed his wanton ignorance on the subject by stating, with a strait face, that not only was the ring no temptation to the Balrog, but he was also of the sort who would never allow anyone to be his master! Needless to say, I rolled my eyes appropriately and put the book back on the shelf.

I shall leave you now. Farewell!

*sneaks onto blogger, ducking rotton tomatos*

Hello.

*cringe*

It's been a little while since I last updated, huh?

*tries to laugh*

He he...umm...y'all look so...stern. Nobodies smiling. What's wrong?

Ok, Ok, I admit it! I'm a jerk! I'm a lazy slob! I haven't updated since Feb. 16th! I deserve to be shot! And to top it off with, I have no excuse! *sniff* And I'm sorry, and y'all are probably going to shoot me anyway. *blows nose*

Alright, lots has been going on lately! I guess I'll start with getting home from Memphis. Anna and I left the morning of the first of this month and after a nine hour trip (which wasn't fun, be was ok) got home. Dad picked us up and we got home somtime around six or so. We stayed up way to late visiting (of course) and then go up way to early to go to church. After church I repacked my bags and we headed out to OK City. We had supper with my host family (wonderful people) and then they left.

Goodnes, I didn't tell y'all why I was going to OK City. I did a one week state training course called TeenPact (www.teenpact.com) I had to do the homework they require both before I left and in Memphis (ok, I admit, I even had to do some on the bus trip home!) I was staying with family about half an hour from the capitol. Their oldest son, Brad, is 15 and we had a good time together. At TP I was on the transportation committee. We did a mock legislature, in which we presented bills, which were assigned to committees and then brought before the whole "senate" and debated and voted on. On the first day we elected a chairperson and vice chairperson. I ran for chair, but didn't get it, but I did get vice chair. Other than the mock legislature, we did prayer walks around the capital building, had speakers (including the vice chief justice of the OK supreme court!), did "field experiance" (learning about some of the differant offices in the capital and what you could do there, then doing it). It was a blast! I don't have time to tell y'all about the whole thing, but at the end, out of 80 very smart people, I had the highest combined homework and test score of them all! I was so shocked! And thrilled!

Since getting back from TP things have been going pretty well, and are just barely starting to get back to normal. The last couple weeks I've worked several days at the gymnastics place. One day I worked on "Open Gym", in which they simply allowed people to come and have at it to make up for snow days. Basically I spent a couple hours walking in cirlces making sure nobody was killing themselves, somebody else or the equipment. It was actually quite tiring! I'm going to start working on two new classes come Tuesday, which should be fun.

I shall post more latter. I'm starting to get a headache and don't feel all that great right now. Bye, love y'all!

To my adoring fans. Sunday, Feb. 16

My dear fans,
Hey there! How are y'all doing? (Notice that the question cannot be answered unless y'all email me. Just send it to our family account.) I'm doing pretty good. I've been fighting off an annoying cold, or something like that, for about a week now. I thought I was over it, but last night my throat got all clogged up after I laid down.
Let's see, y'all probably want to hear about what we do here. Well, on a typical day (ha!) we get up at 5 or 5:15 and have Bible study with Brother Ronnie at 6:15. Most of the time we leave about 7:30, so you pretty much have to have everything ready to go by 6:15. That means a sandwich for lunch and you've got to have all props, or visual aids, that you will be using in the classroom. After Bible study we go over to Mrs. Karens's house and pack our lunch. She's got chips, fruit, and what not laid out on the table and you take whatever you want to go with your sandwich. Then we leave. Most days we do between two and four schools. We split up into two groups. On the way there you get your schedule. Once at the school, you sign in, and then start teaching. You have half an hour for each class and normally between four and six classes. So far we've been teaching Orderliness and Punctuality, although I will be doing Resourcefulness one day this week. Anna and I work together as a team, which is pretty fun. Most of the other people do solo, since we're pretty low on character coaches right now (hey, any of y'all want to come up and help?) The classes are anywhere from kindergarten to 6th grade. We normally teach a poem, then I do about two minutes of juggling and tie it into the character quality and then a story. I think I like doing the punctuality story best, because we get the kids involved alot (in most of the classes. In some the kids are just barely under control and you can't do anything to get them riled up). Of course things go a little different in each class...obviously you don't do what you would do in a kindergarten class with the 6th graders. We've only had one class that's been difficult so far, but I understand that sometimes they can be really tough.
Our longest day is Tuesday. We leave at about 7:30 and don't get back until 9:30 or 10. After doing two schools a piece, each group meets at a church in inner-city Memphis. There we do a CEF club that lasts about an hour and a half. Then we have a break (yes!!!) of about an hour and a half, and then the English as a second laungage people start to arrive. The adults go to English class in another part of the church and we do something kinda like a CEF club with the kids. Most of them speak pretty good English, so understanding them isn't a problem. We finish with that somewhere around 9 or 9:30 and then head back home. That is a long day! The one good thing about staying out so late is that after 9 you can make calls home for free on Brother Ronnie's cell phone, so I normally manage to make a call home during the ride back. Friday evenings we go to Chinese Church and do a CEF club with the kids there.
Most days we have the afternoons at home and about half of those you spend over at the "center". The Center is the youth center, where Philip (Bro. Ronnie's and Miss Karen's son-in-law) does an after-school character club. We have mostly elementary school kids come. We do a Bible or character lesson, help kids with their homework and play outside with them. It's interesting work. None of the kids we work with regularly have a Dad, and none have a good family life. They're all dying for love and attention. They all know a whole lot more about the world and it's ways than any of us, so we have to be careful. We simply avoid topics like music and movies, and the guys are under orders to just stay clear of a couple of the girls, for their good and ours. It's really sad. The character coaches are all really cool. Counting Anna and I there are nine, four guys and five girls. Then there's Miss Karen and Bro. Ronnie and Phil and Eva (Miss Karen and Bro. Ronnie's daughter and son-in-law). All together 13. They're all a really cool group. The ones I've gotten to know best are Craig (who I knew before coming out here), Eric, Josh, Rachel and Becky.
Well, I'd better be going now. Evening service starts in an hour and I want to call home before then. Love all y'all! God bless ya!

Hello, my wonderful fans! I am sitting in the living room,
writing on a very annoying keyboard. I'm having a great time and I miss
all of y'all. Today we didn't do school because it snowed last night.
We probably will have tomorrow off too, because it's supposed to freeze
tonight and stay cold.
Things are going really good. I've worked in the schools for
three days now and really enjoy it. We have half an hour with each
class, in which to teach a poem, and a story and an object lesson. The
object lesson is mostly me doing diabolo, and the kids really love it. I
got to tell the story for the first time yesterday and Craig said I did a
really good job. Tomorrow we're having a training session with Anna,
another fellow who is new and myself. The plan is to eventually have
Anna and I as a team, which should be a blast.
Well, I think I should probably get off. Maybe I'll try to write
more latter. BYE!

Well, I'm leaving tomorrow morning, so I guess I won't get to post anymore until March! Bye bye!

Step, step, lock, turn sideways, step together, turn backwards, step back, step back, lock in front, turn forwards, down, up, up, good job! Now go to the low beam, but make sure you go around, 'cause those girls are on the big beams.

Alright, sorry, but that is the beam routine we were teaching the kids two nights ago. I was working on the "hotdog beam", and I walked through the routine (me on the floor, them on the beam) with each of the girls at least five times. I probably did the whole thing at least 50 times...let me tell you, I know that routine!

Well, Anna and I are going to Memphis. I'm still not sure what I think of that, but I guess it doesn't matter that much since I'm doing it anyway! We'll be leaving probably on Feb. 1 and getting home on March 1. So that should be an interesting experiance.

And I shall try to update more latter. Farewell!

It's 7:45 right now and only us boys are home. BonnieJean is working at a friends house (she works there, baby-sitting and cleaning, twice a week) and Mom, Anna and Naomi have gone into town for a ladies tea that some of the home schooling mom's do. So I made super (turkey leftovers with carrets and onions and corn bread) and now Ethan and Joshua are cleaning up the dishes. Isaac and Caleb are playing in the living room behind me and I'm not sure were Dad is.

We had our first karate lesson last night. It was interesting. The teacher spent about the first twenty minutes just talking about what we were going to be doing and explaining some of the stuff, then we spent forty minutes learning a couple stances and punches. There were several people there who I know and a couple who I have seen at some of the home school group functions.

Last night Dad got a call from a guy who had been a team leader at Life Focus. They want me to go to Romania for a month! Wow! Their doing ministry amoung teenagers at the schools and wanted me to come. I would really, really, really like to go, but if I'm going to go, we have to let them know by Friday! Ahh! So we're praying that if God wants me to go he'll make it clear! If y'all would pray about that it would be great.

Today 'nika (a friend from the RI) was asking who Meriadoc Brandybuck was. So I wrote the following so she would know who he is. ;)

Meriadoc Brandybuck was born in 1382 (Shire reckoning), the son of Saradoc Brandybuck. He was an early friend of Frodo Baggins and helped him to move to Crickhollow in Buckland in September of 3018 (Third Age). He was an original member of the conspiricy to not let Frodo leave alone. He led the company into the old forest. At Bree he was almost captured by a Nazgul, but Nob (a worker at the Prancing Pony) disturbed those plans. He was selected as a member of the Fellowship shortly after the Council of Elrond. Jumping forward a bit, he and Peregrin Took were captured by orcs near the Emyn Muil. After the orcs were destroyed by a band of riders led by Eomer, they traveled in Fangorn Forest and were met by Treebeard and took part in the storming of Orathanc. He was present when Saruman was cast from the order and traveled with Gandalf, Theoden and company towards Helm's Deep. He stayed with Theoden when Gandalf departed for Minas Tirith after the folly of Peregrin. At the Muster of Rohan he was told by Theoden that he could not come with them to Minas Tirith, but with the help of Dernhelm, he traveled with them without the King's knowledge. At the Battle of the Pelennor he was present when Dernhelm was revealed to Eowyn as she withstood the Witch King, guarding the dying King Theoden. He severely wounded him, allowing Eowyn to kill him. The black breath took him, and he nearly died, but by the hand of Aragorn he was revived. He did not take part in the battle at the Black Gate, but remained in Minas Tirith. He later led the rebellion in the Shire against Saruman. In 1484 (Shire reckoning) he and Peregrin Took traveled back to Rohan and stayed with Eomer King until his death. They then went on to Gondor and there he died and was burried in Rath Dinen among the great of Gondor.

This has been a rather short entry, but not all that much has really happened since I last updated, so you'll have to be happy with this. Farewell!

It is 10:40 on Saterday night and I should be in bed. But I'm supposed to take a shower tonight and the hot water has run out, so I am taking the chance to update. Hey, it's only been five days since I updated last! Cool, huh?

Today was cold. Not really all that cold tempature wise, or even wind factor wise, but for some reason it was that kind of cold that no amount of warm clothing will keep from freezing you. Dad was working outside most of the day, but he had Anna, Ethan and I take one hour turns, so I lived through it (just barely).

Friday was interesting. Dad had Thursday and Friday off, and Friday morning he headed into town and rented a trencher. We're going to be putting a new breaker box in when we get the boys room finished, so Dad is going to go ahead and run new wire from the pole (don't ask, long explenation). So we had about fifty feet of dirt to trench, which, supposedly, is not that hard if you have a trencher. HA! Things got started pretty well, but we'd done about twenty feet when Dad realized that we weren't digging deep enough. So he decided to drive the trencher forward and go over it again. Well, that was much easier said than done! The little wheel up in front kept on going into the ditch, and making the sides collapse into it. We finally got the whole trench dug, but it was quite an experience.

Mom and Dad are planning on sending me to a thing called "Teen Pact" (www.teenpact.orga) in Oklahoma city in March. It sounds really interesting and I'm looking forward to going.

We're going to late service tomorrow morning so that we can use the sancutary to film my Joshua and Caleb routine after people have cleared out. I'm hoping I don't have to try and film it too many times: it's got a couple tricks that I don't really have performance ready yet (of course, I perform them anyway!)

And, speaking of juggling, Thursday night I got 16 catches with six rings! I think that's the best I've ever done. I tried seven some, but never got a flash. My pattern really stinks. But I did nail a really cool five ring trick. For those of you who know what I'm talking about: juggle five rings, pull down two, throw a pancake flip, pull down the other two and catch the pancake on your neck. I've only done it a few times, but it's pretty cool when I do. Eventually I hope to start out with a pancake throw and pull the other four down before the pancake lands.

I shall leave you with the following, which I found amusing. This honestly happened to me.

Session Start (AIM - JJFSamuel:lilbaby82289): Fri Dec 27 18:48:37 2002
lilbaby82289: hi samuel
lilbaby82289: do u still juggle
JJFSamuel: yes, as a matter of fact, I do
JJFSamuel: who am I speaking with?
lilbaby82289: myrtle remember we met at bingo
lilbaby82289: you said you had im
lilbaby82289: hello?
JJFSamuel: bingo? The only time I ever played bingo was at a retirment place in WA state
JJFSamuel: did I meet you there?
lilbaby82289: the other weekend
lilbaby82289: at bingo
JJFSamuel: other weekend?
JJFSamuel: I haven't played bingo in a year and a half!
lilbaby82289: last weekend
lilbaby82289: yes you did silly
JJFSamuel: where?
lilbaby82289: the bingo club
lilbaby82289: ;-)
lilbaby82289: remember
JJFSamuel: you are either a: teasing me b: talking to the wrong person or c: talking to a guy who has forgotten playing bingo last week
JJFSamuel: I have never, ever been to a bingo club
lilbaby82289: remember caseys bingo
lilbaby82289: dont you
JJFSamuel: what's the location? (state, town)
lilbaby82289: indianapolis in indiana
JJFSamuel: last time I was in Indianapolis was October and I was only there for a few hours, and then only at the airport
JJFSamuel: I have to get off now, I'm afraid you have the wrong person.
lilbaby82289: i dont
JJFSamuel: goodbye

Ok, I honestly am updating. So much has been going on, and things have been so wild the past couple weeks that I haven't taken the time to update. Yes, and I am aware that y'all are about ready to shoot me for updating so rarely. I don't have much to say to keep you from shooting me, so instead...*BANG! BANG! BANG!* That was just a warning...everybody keep your hands in plain view!

So, I guess you want to know what has happened to me since the last update. Well, the most interesting thing happened on the 23rd. We headed into Tulsa with six friends of ours and went and watched The Two Towers. Which, by the way, was very good and could have been done much better. Oh well. Anyway, we got out of the movie and it had started snowing. Really snowing hard actually. So we ran out to the van and wiped it off (part of it got wiped right into BonnieJean's face, and she wasn't all to pleased about that!) And then we started home. A friend from down the road was there at the theater as well, so we followed her, which was nice, because she new a bunch of back ways through Tulsa that saved us getting stuck in traffic. It still took us three hours the make the normally half hour trip home though! It was kinda fun to get to have some time with the people we had taken along (I don't really know any of them all that well, although I would like to get to know them better) but everybody who was going to the party called and cancled. Oh well. We'll have to do it again next year for the Return of the King.

Christmas was really fun. We didn't really do anything unusaual and didn't have anybody over, but I like having it that way. It's nice to make Thanksgiving into a big production with lots of family and food, but it's also fun to have quite Christmas at home.

For new years we all stayed home except BonnieJean, who went to an all night new years party at her Sunday school teachers house. We stayed up and played Risk and then juggled into the new year. I was planning on juggling five balls into the new year, but I dropped just before the clocked rolled over and ended up doing four! Oh well. Maybe this won't be a year for numbers!

Actually, that's not true. My seven balls has been doing great. I can get a juggle (14 or more catches) with some regulatiry now.

Yesterday Ethan and I went home with some friends from church and spent the afternoon with them. It was really fun. Their oldest boy is quite the artist and I really enjoyed looking at some of his work. We played a bunch of board games (lots of bughouse!) and also got to watch the VeggieTales movie "The Star of Christmas". I loved it! ("Your toilets exploded/your flushing in vain!") We really had a blast.

Today we are going into Tulsa to start Karatie (sp?) class. I'm looking forward to it. There's a very large group of homeschoolers from our area who go, so it should be fun.

And I am getting offline now. Goodbye, my wonderful fans! And don't forget to keep your hands in plain sight.