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.

Hello, hello, and happy holidays! Can you beleive it's almost Christmas? No? Neither can I! But it's the 19th, already!

And, that means that the Two Towers came out yesterday. And I can't wait to see it! We will be going on Monday to see it with some friends, and then be having a party at our house. That should be a blast.

Yesterday a friend from Amarillo stopped by. She and her Dad were driving bak from DC. It was fun to get to see her: we hadn't seen her in five years! Her Dad sat on the couch and took a nap, while we talked for two hours. It was a blast!

BonnieJean is taking finals this week. She took two test yesterday and has two more on Saterday. She was really worried about them, but she thinks she did pretty well on the two yesterday. Y'all might want to pray for her though: she's still pretty stressed out.

Well, I've started working at a gymnastics assistant. I've done two classes so far. It's interesting: last night I helped teach floor and we did alot of back hand springs, which I didn't really know how to spot very well...so I had to learn as I went. Several of the girls found themselfs spilled on the floor as a result, but at least there wasn't any blood! The skill range in the class I'm helping with is pretty wide. So I was spotting girls who had to be told to arch their back and other girls who were doing three back handsprings in a row! It's interesting.

Oh, and I am going to dedicate this post to Melissa, who, unlike other people, did not bother me about updating! Ok, ok, you guys were right. I really should have updated a long time ago. *hangs head in shame*

Oh, oh, cool news! Really cool news! Nathan Dorrel (www.crazytieguy.com) wants me to be in his new diabolo instrutional video! Yep! He wants me to do the Joshua and Caleb routine. I'm very excited about that! And y'all might want to pray for them too: Nathan's wife miscarried two days ago. :(

Let's see....what else is going on? My left pointer finger is hurting, 'cause it got hurt two weeks ago in stunt class...I was spotting a guy and he hit my hand really hard. Ouch. Yesterday I got the most awsome run of five clubs I've ever had: it went on forever! I can't juggle rings very well because I cut my right pointer finger, doing a double spin with a hatchet. Yes, that was really stupid, but I didn't think it was sharp enough to actually cut me. And I finally got that stump out of the garden that was driving me nuts.

And now, my dear fans, I will leave you. Mourn not overmuch!

Ha! So there Rebekkah! I did update!

Today I have an appointment with my torture technician, which is good, 'cause I'm almost out of pain bands. And hopefully I can get the neon bands this time, because the clear ones are very hard to find after you put them down on the table to eat.

Found out last night that Dad is going to be gone until Thursday working somewere (not sure were) on a crain or something.

The other day I found Final Cut Pro really cheep on ebay, but it turns out to be a pirated copy. Mice!