Walking Closer

"The Photoshoot"

2007-06-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

"Don't ask."

"Interestin'..." (She was being a punk.)

"...And then there's my horse."

"Just a Short Ride - No, Really, I Promise!"

MAGNUM - Arabian Gelding"Magnum Loves his Girl."

"Exotic."

"All Eyes."

DAKOTA - Quarter Horse Gelding
"The Horse and his Girl."

"Pose - no, not like that! Just stop!"

"Affection."

FORD NOBLE - Mustang Gelding
"Just Cute."

"Black and White Satin."

"What?"

"Truly Noble."

"Acknowledgment."

"A Study in Contrast."

2007-06-11T18:35:00.001-07:00

Old Pictures I Found

2007-06-06T19:08:00.000-07:00

Four-Mile Farm

2007-06-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

“Chris! Here he comes! Ready – Grab him! Left, left... no, your other left!”
I pitched around on the deck, first right, then left, trying to catch the sorry little piece of fuzz they call a goat kid. As it dodged my hands and escaped my grip, my 14-year-old cousin was doubled over with laughter. This was entertainment! Not often did his “city-slicker” teen cousin come for a visit, and watching her slip around on the wet deck, especially doing something he would otherwise have to do, was great.

I would like to be a fritter-head and go off onto another tangent to tell you that I do not live in a city, nor do I take after the ways of a... city-slicker, as they get way too much fun out of calling me. In fact, we (rather, my grandparents) have our own 90 acres where my horse (along with a five or six other horses) abides, and a few mangy looking cows. We even have an orchard and a large garden, where the handful of skinny little chickens who haven't been eaten by the coyotes like to root up the vegetables and eat them for breakfast (unbeknownst to us).

The goat on the deck looked rather like a chocolate-dipped vanilla ice-cream cone, minus the cone and plus four legs. Actually, they called it a Boer Goat, and it really is cute, when it's not hungry. However, when it is, it turns piranha, and it's a terrible thing to behold. Thankfully, goats never grow top teeth, except at the back of their mouths, so you don't have to worry about learning to function with three less fingers any time in the near future.
Anyway, I finally managed to get the kid (the goat kid, not Chris) to settle down long enough to shove the bottle into his mouth, and soon, he was sucking along quite jovially. Needless to say, I was ready for a nap at 7:30am.

As I write this, I've only been here one day, and though I've been here many times before, each time there's one more adventure I've not yet had. Such as playing baseball with three people, not counting the fact that two of us can't bat worth talking about and only one of us can pitch worth mentioning. More on that later.

My cousins are curiously early risers. Perhaps it's because they're trying to get started early on a good habit, or I suppose it could have something to do with the fact that the cartoons they watch every morning air at 6 o'clock AM. In any case, I'm usually up before I like to be, and they are always rarin' to go before I am. For me, I have a tendency to be a bit like one of those mummies they talk about in the ancient Egyptian times, minus the white wrappings, plus the frizzled hair and two black eyes.
The normal day starts out with them completing their chores while I emerge from my mummy-stage, then us going out to have a good game of “Whatever-we-can-think-of”. You've probably heard of it.

The first morning, it was sword-fighting with those evil narrow poles you can cut by yourself from the many trees that surrounded their house. This was no regular sword fight. It was defined by the fact that there were no rules, that it was every man for himself, that you could stop the game at any time, even if your excuse was because your nose was itching.

Chris's eleven-year-old sister Erinn is very different from Chris. If she'd been out there with the goat kids that horrid morning that I went slipping around like a moron trying to catch a goat kid, she would have helped, instead of laughing herself helpless.
Just now, Erinn was yelling for me to move over because Chris was about to land a good one on my leg. Ouch. I didn't move fast enough.
I howled and overreacted, grabbing my leg and hopping around like a personless pogo-stick. Chris got a big kick out of my act and decided to hit me again, but I was ahead of him this time. I did one of those cool-looking twirls that you see awesome ninjas do sometimes and landed a hard thwack on his shield.
After the sword fight, during which there were no casualties, surprisingly, we headed inside for some school. After fifteen minutes of working on Science, I would rather have gone to get a root canal with no medication. I hate Science, Biology, whatever. The only fun part in school is spelling. Then I get words like dephlagisticate and absquatulate and others along that line.

Lunch next. That's usually uneventful: no food fights yet.

Ah, yes. Now for baseball! Forget rules. Who needs those, anyway? We used a bat that couldn't really be called a bat unless you had a really vivid imagination, a dead mitt, and a few little league baseballs.
As pitcher, I was constantly being lectured on how the goal was not to kill the batter, that I needed to throw more to my left, and no, not that far left! Throw lower!
Chris eventually became designated batter and I designated pitcher, as we both spent probably a good twenty minutes each on getting good at them. When we finally did switch, I ended up hitting the ball on accident and having it fly up in the air, and as I wondered where it had gone, it came down on my head.. That hurt. And Chris thought it was hilarious. I think my pride was injured worse than my head, though a slight bump was growing up there. Erinn simply stood behind whoever was unlucky enough to be the pitcher at the moment and caught any balls that the batter actually managed to hit.

On the second day, it was almost identical to the first, so I don't even have to tell you about that one, except that we played Nintendo 64. (When was the last time anyone play N 64?! That thing's old.) We bickered over what to play for a while, then decided on Bomberman. Raise your hand if you've heard of that, because I can assure you, not many people have.

The third day, we planted vegetables in their 2000 square foot garden (not really, but it felt like it) and dressed up Erinn's horse, Grand. We took her out to the roadside, where there was a lot of grass, and while she grazed, Erinn and I braided flowers into our hair. That was peaceful, until Chris came along and tried to ambush us. I saw him ahead of time.
“Your dwarf breathes so loud I could shoot him in the dark.” I hollered, faking an English accent and quoting from the Lord of the Rings.
He frowned and as his blonde head appeared over the rise, he called back, “What? I was just taking a walk.”

The last day there was pretty uneventful. We had clean-up in the morning, which usually results in listening to the Quebe Sisters Band and dancing with the broom. But hey! We had fun, and that's what matters, right? You can't let life pass you by. Dance with the broom. Have at it.
I got my violin out and Erinn and I played a duet with her on the piano. That was great. Then we played Heart & Soul, as I played the low part and she played the high part, occasionally switching out. I love that song!
Anyway, my time at Four Mile Farm was great, and I can't wait to go back. (I'm still sore.)

MODESTY: A Matter of the Heart

2007-05-29T19:53:00.000-07:00

As a writer, I always find it of utmost importance as to the way an article is started. However, I couldn’t discover a nifty way to start this particular subject, so I’m going to jump right in there.

Modesty is a matter of the heart. When you dress modestly, are meek and quiet on the outside, but on the inside, your heart is black with resentment or hate, the modesty is a put-on act, and avails to nothing.

If you’re like me, you hate reading really long articles that drag on and on about everything in general and nothing at all, so I’ll make this short and to the point.

The way you look at life is colored by how right you are with God. Modesty is colored by what’s in your heart, and what’s in your heart is colored by how right or wrong you are with God. It’s all one large circle – circular logic, as my uncle calls it. It just goes around and around, and if one thing is out of place or wrong, the rest crashes to an end very quickly.

You can be a girl in a skirt and be just as worldly as the girl next to you wearing spray-painted-on jeans that look like they’ve been rolled in the dirt once or twice before put on the sales rack and a too-revealing shirt. You can be just as foolish and dress just as loudly as that girl. You can be just as loud and attention-demanding as can that girl. And worst of all, you can be just as wrong with God as she could be.

What I’m emphasizing here is: It doesn’t matter what you wear if your heart isn’t in tune with God’s call and plan for your life.

Guarding the heart. What’s that mean? You hear it all the time and I’m sure you’ve read articles on it. I’ll boil it down to three things that we don’t do in our family so as to guard the heart: 1) we don’t date, 2) we don’t dress to attract attention and 3) keep every thought captive! That’s a bit ambiguous, so I’ll say it like this: Control your thoughts. It IS possible with God’s help! Really, if you think about it, you can stop yourself from singing that dreaded song, “This is the song that never ends-” or from singing “There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza,” etc. But do you control those thoughts of the cute boy in class next to you? No! You say, “Why should I? It’s not like thinking of him is going to get me in trouble with him or anything.” And I say, “YES IT DOES. Basically, what you think about now is what you think about after you’re married. If you spend time fantasizing about cute guys you see, will you be loyal to your husband?”

“…and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:7 NKJV

Summer Evenings

2007-05-26T12:16:00.000-07:00

“Summer time… and the livin’ is easy….”
That is, unless you live in Texas . Somehow, I have a feeling that the person who originally wrote that lived in a Nothern state. :-)

Summer… that time when it’s smart to duct tape the screen door because the flies are pouring in like crazy. But it’s also the time of year when we females are quite happy to sit down at supper time and enjoy being with our family. We’re grateful to be able to rest! (That is, until someone asks you to pass the ketchup and you realize that there’s none on the table so you have to climb that Mt. Sinai stack of groceries in front of the pantry in order to get IN so you can come OUT with that darned bottle of ketchup!) :-)

We sweat all day in a hot kitchen, work outside in the garden, and by 6 o’clock pm , we look like we live in Egypt during the pyramid building era. In other words, sloppy. Our hair is falling down and we probably stink to high Heaven. But hey! We’re happy because we’re sitting down – the family is happy because we made supper – and we’re all one big sweaty, stinky family!

Hmm… Isn’t there something wrong with that picture? Aren’t we, as the women of the house, supposed to be clean and neat and ordlerly and all that stuff?

Now don’t recoil in horror, y’all. Come back. I’m simply suggesting that we clean ourselves up BEFORE supper, not BEFORE bed. Perhaps the whole mentality of your family will change, just because you decided to make yourself look good for them! Doesn’t THAT make them feel good? That they’re actually important enough to you that you want to look nice?

I said come back, please. Sit down, please. READ. (Please.) It’s just my two cents. You don’t HAVE to follow my really good advice. :-)

Perhaps it’s best if you change your outfit in the evenings – after all that work in the garden or whatever you do before supper, it may be stained. Re-apply your makeup. Fix your hair. For me, I just throw it up in a ponytail out of the way – but even re-doing my ponytail makes me feel more cheerful and ready to conquer… supper. Or something.

Try this! See if it works. For one thing, I’ve found that I’m more inclined to be happy and respond to others joyfully and cheerfully.

Working with George

2007-05-15T12:47:00.000-07:00

Funnies from "The Trip"

2007-05-09T08:41:00.000-07:00

Let me set the stage by saying that Katie and I always record as many of the funny things said during a day with friends. At the Frontier Days thingy in Breckenridge, there were quite a few funny things that were written down - and many more that were forgotten. Of course, if you hang out with the Lawless clan, you get some interesting things to record.
Oh, and remember - Katie and I are in our ball gowns (with hoop skirts) this entire time. Some of this revolves around those.

BRECKENRIDGE, TEXAS - FRONTIER DAYS 5/5/07
"I hope I'm not the only one that's going to crash when I get into the car." -Allie
"Why don't you go play bumper cars?" -Camden
"Bumper cars...? Why on earth?"
"Well, I figured since you were dressed for it and all..." -Glancing at our hoop skirts

5/6/07 (The trip to NM)
"Katie, is your heart racing or feeling unusual?" -The Grandfather
"No sir, why?" -Katie
"Why? Because I care about you and want you to survive! Of course, if you die, we're still going to Carlsbad Caverns..."

5/5/07
"I despise that jeans-tucked-into-the-boots style. Especially as they don't think twice about doing it." -Allie
"It bothers me too. But I'd do it to annoy you. Now that'd be funny."
"No, what would be funny is if I stopped and stuck out my fist and you ran into it. Now THAT would be funny." -Camden

5/6/07
"What's something else that's funny that I forgot to write down?" -Allie
"Your face?" -KT

5/5/07
Walking past a playground at Frontier Days, Katie says to Camden, "Oh, we gotta stop. Allie says she wants to play."
"Well, alright, but be safe! We'll stand right here and watch you. Go, shoo, go on!"

5/5/07
Mrs. Lawless, to Allie: "You're starting Devil's Dream with chops. Chop, chop!"

5/5/07
Camden, pretending to be a federal agent or something, starts talking into his wrist: "HELP!" then realized that he was talking into the wrong wrist. Switching wrists to talk into his watch, "Oops. HELP!"

5/6/07
"I've tried writing from a boy's perspective, but it hurt." -Allie to Katie on writing books.

5/6/07
"What do you spy THAT'S BLACK?!" -Allie, in frustration at playing I-Spy with Katie on the way to NM.
"A field of cows about a mile back." -Katie

5/5/07
"That time we played it, I didn't cry!" -Allie
"What's that supposed to mean?" -Camden
"We didn't sound half-bad!"

"The" Trip.

2007-05-07T12:04:00.000-07:00

Katie, announcing. She did such a good job!

There were these two girls in the audience that just LOOKED like it was pulling teeth to make them sit there. (We're not THAT bad, are we?)

Having fun.

Aaron, Camden, Allie, Mrs. L, Katie

This was when we hadn't even pulled out of the driveway yet. (About 8 in the morning.)

Yuck. (Not the picture. Just the memory. LOL)

We kept switching around our standing positions. I think we need to figure out ONE way to stand - in what order - and keep it that way.

The wind was HORRID.

I don't know what we were playing here...

This was a very hard performance. Right next to us, there was a VERY large generator, and we had to move off of that white "stage" to right in front of the audience. Miserable.

Scenery.

This was the best part. (Joke.)

We played at Denny's in Carlsbad.

New Mexico.

Gr. These pictures won't go in the right order. But this is Breckenridge, Texas. Frontier Days. L to R: Camden, Aaron (both Lawlesses), Katie, Allie, Mrs. Lawless, and a girl whom we invited to play with us on the last song, Amazing Grace. She's playing a half-size viola. She was pretty good for having only played a little more than a year!

Wasup, homo sapien?

The scenery was GORGEOUS.

Taken through the lens of my sunglasses. This was a really cool photo.

And again.

Katie being cool - Allie being mature.

Outside the caves.

More cave photos.

Caughtcha having a good time!!

Katie and Allie in Carlsbad Caverns.

Carlsbad. Those things are HUGE.

Fairyland. So cool!

Hobbs, NM.

The flowers in front of the courthouse there in Hobbs (I think) were beautiful!

Allie's caption, as she pointed to the gun, was: "I want one!"

Getting down on Katie's level.

This was awesome. It told about the first explorers and everything.

I thought this was interesting.

The sky was beautiful on the way home, if a bit darkened.

Our Weekly Ensemble Practice

2007-04-01T19:57:00.000-07:00

Pictures!

Courtney, Aaron, Camden, Allie, Peggy Lawless, and Becca.

Trip to Oklahoma

2007-03-18T14:27:00.000-07:00

Masef, Aunt Mela, Ni, Lolo, and Ruth-Jeanette.

Aunt Mela and Ni.

Lolo and Aunt Ruth-Jeanette.

Lolo after the speech.

We stopped at Braum's!! :-D

Yours truly.

He wouldn't turn around for the picture. Can you believe that?

Yes, the OK roads ARE as bad as rumored.

SCV Confederate Christmas Party

2007-03-06T15:41:00.000-08:00

Picture!
This is Katie and I at the Sons of Confederate Veterans Confederate Christmas Party in 2006. We got a Stone Mountain Award that night for promoting Southern heritage.. I won the dress contest, and we both got coins and 5 dollar bills from the 1800's. We were excited!
We enjoyed that night.
We have another gig to play at on March 17th, Dublin, Texas, for St. Patty's Day there. We may even ride/walk in the parade. They said it's a "You can do either: play on stage and ride in the parade while playing, or you can do the stage without the parade." So, we haven't made up our minds yet. :-)

Also, the website is finally PERFECT. LOL At least, I think it is. I still need KATIE to tell me which pics she doesn't mind having on there. We're still working on putting up nice pics of us. I think we need Halc to take some really good photos of us sometime. -'Iloveyou' grin towards Halcy-

Aaaand, More Fine Music!!

2007-02-04T12:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was our second ensemble meeting. It was great and I had a WONDERFUL time!
This time, we had 2 violins, 2 flutes, 1 cello, and a harp. The harp and the cello reallllllly filled out the sound and it didn't sound so bad. LOL
My favorite song that we did was Irish Washerwoman, and afterwards, Kris (Shafer) and I played around with San Antonio Rose and Faded Love and stuff like that. Like I said: it was great. Mrs. Lawless insisted that she play one note and I play two - so she'd play one, I'd play two - she'd play the upbeat and I'd play the down-beats. I told her she was mean. She told me I'd missed my math lesson so she had to make up for it. :-)

Ni took a video of it, so I'll put it up on YouTube, then post it on the blog so you can watch it!
<3 Allie

PS. Monday night, we went to the organizational meeting for the new community orchestra of Stephenville! Is that not awesome?! So now, I'm involved in two music happenings a week, not to mention fiddling lessons. *poor Ni*

Hamilton County Fine Music

2007-01-28T13:55:00.000-08:00

We got an email from some of our friends the other day telling us about a string quartet performing in Stephenville... it was free! And so, we went, even though I'd had a lesson with Sherry earlier in the day (violin) and we were exhausted, we went anyway.

Here's the link to their website - you really should listen to the sound samples they have of themselves. You might get a glimpse of what a fantastic evening we had!
http://www.carpediemstringquartet.com/cdsqgllry/sounds.html
(Autumn is my favorite. It sounds so much like the Lord of the Rings sound track!)

Well, the Carpe Diem String Quartet inspired us, and so, we got the homeschoolers together for a jam session. Actually, it's mostly classical, so I guess it'd be called the Ensemble Practice. That's what I'm going to call it, anyhow. We had a harp, 2 violins, and 2 flutes. Next time, we -should- have 4 violins, 1 viola (me), 1 cello, 2 flutes, and 1 harp. I think that's it. LOL
Hey, look! Our dining room is CLEAN!! YAY!!!

Various...

2006-12-10T07:57:00.000-08:00

Hello to all! Whew, it's been a while since anyone posted, so I thought I would!! :-)

Last night was Crossbows' last Christmas performance, hopefully, :-) and we made out like bandits. LOL I won the best-period-time-dress contest, Katie and I together got "Stone Mountain" Awards for promoting Southern Heritage... and we sold lots of cds. How many I don't know yet, as I haven't counted, but we got lots of donations too. Our stage presence is finally improving.. Thank goodness. It really bugs me to stand there like a lump on a log. Really, that's what we do. :-)

Currently reading a book called Myths & Realities of American Slavery - The True History of Slavery in America, by John C. Perry. We traded a couple cds last night for that book. It certainly appears to be well-written literature! Quite good.

Pictures!!
I've actually forgotten the names of the little kids, the little girl grinning and the little boy (maybe Peter?) holding George about two or three years back, but I just ran across the pics and thought they were so cute (or coote! as Gabs says) that I had to post them. The fiddle is a five string viola, actually, not a fiddle, but it's only 1 inch larger than my fiddle. It can do everything a fiddle can do and everything a viola can do. :-) I love it.

-Allie

2006-11-25T01:06:00.000-08:00

Twinfants!

2006-11-21T19:32:00.000-08:00

The "Twinfants" are home! Is that not cool? We're so excited. Now we can cuddle them whenever we want to! Yay!

Rach was telling me today that Mooky had a GREAT day! That's so neat! I'm so glad for him. I hope he has more like that. Send pics of Erinn's Grand!

Welp, I guess I'd better go call Katie and see if we can get her any time this year. Literally. Since next year isn't very far away.

*GASP* (NEXT YEAR ISN'T VERY FAR AWAY!)

LOVE TO ALL! -allie

I did Okay

2006-11-12T08:35:00.000-08:00

My sweet friend Katelyn.

Me, Misty Cloud, and Katelyn Boone.

Me competing with Marty Elmore on the left and I think the guy on the right is named Riley.

I suppose I did okay. Yesterday was my fiddle competition in Glen Rose! It was a bunch of fun, but I was shakin' like a leaf in the wind when I got up there to play. My tunes were Allentown Polka, Kentucky Waltz, and Temperance Reel (my personal favorite). I messed up at the key change in the middle of Allentown, but recovered, so it turned out okay. Sadly, the judges caught it, duh, and it cost me a couple points, I'm sure. After all that practice, I only got 4th. Grr. Oh well. The girls that beat me were: 1st place, Lesley (Ward?), 2nd place, Maleika Nugent, (she beat me last year.) and Faith Nugent (Maleika's little sister). I think that if I hadn't messed up on that one part in Allentown, I could have gotten 3rd, not 4th. But that's okay.

Husband Brag

2006-11-09T18:48:00.000-08:00

Recently Rowdy's current bosses and former bosses (in Nacogdoches) and probably others got together for a fishing trip. His current boss, Sean, has only been here a few months and he came home and told Rowdy that former boss, Jerry, got to telling "Rowdy stories." Rowdy's reaction, and later mine when he related it to me, was one of confusion. What on earth kind of stories are going around about Rowdy?!

Here's what Jerry said: There are two things you can always count on with Rowdy. One, he'll always have a bottle of ketchup in his truck. (Take some time to laugh!)

And two, if you need a job done, give it to Rowdy.

I am so proud of my husband!!!

Thank you, Allie!

2006-11-05T14:23:00.000-08:00

Wow, Allie! I just got finished looking at your re-done website and I was touched to see that you credited Tana with the picture she took of you! That means a lot to me. Thank you!

Crossbows Online

2006-11-03T07:32:00.000-08:00

Our website is up and running (again) after a lot of change!!
Yay! I love the new look - go check it out. (I KNOW. I've told you to do that so many times, but really! check out the pictures page. I like that page the best.)

Love to all, Allie

PS - if you want to listen the music, it takes, like, 5 minutes to load. :-) Sorry.

http://crossbowsmusic.com/

2006-11-01T05:23:00.000-08:00

Men O' War Final

This is great - created by the Botkin Family, who actually live in New Zealand. Good job, Botkins!!

Another Kiwi!!!

2006-10-31T20:00:00.000-08:00

We had a bull-riding on Sunday and I met a teenage girl named Kiwi! Who knew?

Daily Devotional, Oct. 29th

2006-10-30T07:22:00.000-08:00

Yes, only the Holy Spirit can convict and convert the soul - but He is pleased to use us as His instruments. What a responsibility and privilege! -TBC

Now then we are the ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we4 pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. -2 Cor. 5:20

-Taken from Apples of Gold, a daily devotional.

Beautiful Day!!

2006-10-23T12:38:00.000-07:00

I haven't felt a bit tired, sleepy, or sick all day! This is wonderful! I've kept up doing schoolwork ALL morning, I've gotten MOST of my housework done, and my Anne of Green Gables - the Sequal DVD arrived in the mail today! :-) It's such a beautiful day. AND, I've almost gotten my competition fiddle tune DOWN PAT. At least, I hope I do. Watch, I'm probably doing something totally off, and Sherry's gonna have a fit. LOL

So, Rachel, you and the kids are all sick?! That's sad! I've taken silver and stuff, so I'll be fine. Poor Koepkes! Oh, how did Mook and Erinn take the sugar?? Did they react too terribly??

www.crossbowsmusic.com is up and running! Thanks to Joe's efforts and mine. I'm excited!! :-)

Love to all!! <3 Allie

2006-10-22T04:52:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed having Mum, Alex, and Gabby over here for a few hours yesterday!!
I was reading a little book about goats to Gabby and it showed a kid nursing from a doe and she knew the kid was getting milk. She looked at it real close and said, "But your goats have big.... BIG... uh.... big panties!" LOL A big udder, where the milk comes from? "Oh yeah! A big udder."

Alex, what happened to your daily posts????

2006-10-19T03:17:00.000-07:00

Woot. :-)

2006-10-17T04:24:00.000-07:00

Katie and I in our hats that we wore to the festival. Ha.

Clan Keith - is that sign not awesome?!

Ceildih Country Dancers, Ft. Worth, Texas.

I love bagpipes!! He played a medly of Rowan Tree and Bonnie Blue Flag.

The clan Cameron.

Boyscouts with some flags.

Rain!

2006-10-16T13:44:00.000-07:00

It has rained all day here! In fact, it started last night. Praise the Lord! I wonder, though, do people really forget how to drive safely when it rains after a long dry spell? Halcy, does Erich have any insight about that? Because somebody crashed through the fence into the bull patch this afternoon. His car looks totalled! Thankfully, Rowdy arrived home immediately afterward and moved the bulls and horses to other pastures, so nothing got on the road. Just thought I'd share our little bit of excitement for the day!

Fish Update (as if you cared.)

2006-10-14T20:15:00.000-07:00

We now have 10 baby fish! They're adorable. We took both of the grown fish out, not knowing which was male and which was female, or if they would eat the babies or not. So! Now the younger fish don't stay at the bottom of the tank in fear all day long; they rather swim freely about the tank! Yay.

I'm reading Jane Eyre and it's so sad! :-) I cry just about every time I read it.

Katie and I went to a Scottish Festival with Lolox today; picturestofollow. (Moretofollow.) :-) I have to download them tonight, and I'm really tired and lazy and all that jazz and I just won't get up right now. LOL

G'night!! -Allie

My Fish

2006-10-13T04:27:00.000-07:00

Katie got me two fish for my birthday. (Lolo said, "Does she dislike you that much?!" hehe) She's been bugging me NON STOP to name them. And it had better be before she gets here this evening. (Says she.) So I did!

Thud & France.

Thud is a big fat bully and you can imagine what France is like. ("Welcome to France, we surrender.")

-Allie (Sorry, Ni, I didn't want to log you out.)

MICE ARE BAD!

2006-10-12T19:11:00.000-07:00

I dont like mice. Why do they like our house so much? I'm a really mean person. I kill them when ever I can but they just cant seem to learn to stay out. (stupid stupid mice!!)
Mooky had a really bad day, but he went to the cabin this evening with us anyway. He usually LOVES to go, but really just didnt feel good. In the end, he was glad he went. Probably just gettting out of the house helped. We just had to check on the water and animals for Tommy because they've gone to Kentucky for two weeks.
Erinn had a really good day because her Silkie chicks started hatching under the Silver Dutch (banty) hen that was setting on them. They are so cute. She really was excited. :o)

Deer picture.

2006-10-12T13:10:00.000-07:00

Hey, Mum! Here's the deer pic I was talking about a while back. Do you remember the NZ man who gave it to me?

2006-10-09T13:58:00.000-07:00

Thank you for wishing me a sweet sixteenth birthday!! I had a wonderful one!!
(ahem... that picture of me when I was little is exceptionally bad.)

-Allie

Messiah's Mansion

2006-10-09T09:15:00.000-07:00

We went to Tyler to see a life-size copy of the Tabernacle. What a great learning experience!!! The tour took 75 minutes and we each learned a lot. If you can make it to Tyler before this next Sunday, I urge you to do so. You can also go to www.messiahsmansion.com to learn about the group presenting it.

Tana said, "When we get home I want to learn all about the tabernacle!" {Smile} So we are learning to do lapbooks a la Cindy Rushton.

Dalton is currently absorbed in Michael Pearl's new book, "Good & Evil", a cartoon-style depiction of the Bible. He wants to learn to draw like that, he says. He just now said, "Hey, here's the tabernacle!... But the tents aren't half a mile away like they're supposed to be." Hee, hee! Yep, we all learned something!

Happy Birthday to Alex!!!!!!!!

2006-10-08T03:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to YOU!!!

How do you like this old picture taken right before your surgery???
How was your day?
Did you get any stage presents?? LOL

2006-10-07T15:48:00.000-07:00

Tana and Erinn - April 06

Playing dress up!

2006-10-07T15:36:00.000-07:00

Mooky and JonJon~
This was taken about 2 weeks ago on a rare day when he felt good enough to ride the four wheeler for a while.

MacDonald Family Singers

2006-10-07T04:58:00.000-07:00

This is really neat! I love their music - we have one of their cds, but I just now had the thought to link to them so that others can enjoy their music as well!

THE MACDONALD FAMILY SINGERS

Visit it! Hehe, and watch one of the girls yodeling. It's great.

Allie

Pictures of the Girls!

2006-10-05T03:44:00.000-07:00

Gabriella and Erinn walk down-town!

Archery anyone?

2006-10-04T21:06:00.000-07:00

Tana came bouncing in the house Tuesday night saying, "You said no guns for Christmas; could we have bows and arrows?!" LOL She was so excited by it, all doubt was gone. And Rowdy said she never hit the target even once. But she was not discouraged, no, not even by the fact that Dalton hit a bulls' eye! I'm so proud of her.

And I'm proud of Dalton for continuing to try even though his first few shots were nowhere near the target. Rowdy could tell he wanted to give up in disgust, but he didn't, and was rewarded with the aforementioned bulls' eye.

A Little Brag on my Children

2006-10-03T11:03:00.000-07:00

We had the 4-H Shooting Sports awards banquet the other night and I just have to brag on my children a little. They were both on the junior rifle team that went to district, so they each got a medal for that. (Cheers and applause!) Then Dalton got the award of "Top Gun" in the junior division and received a plaque. (More cheering and clapping!)

They've just started the new season in rifle and tonight they will go to archery. Tana is undecided as to whether she wants to do archery, but she's going tonight to find out.

Facing the Giants

2006-10-03T03:47:00.000-07:00

Watch Facing the Giants if you can and give it good reviews.
www.facingthegiants.com
It looks very, very good. And with good acting.
-Allie

2006-10-02T04:25:00.000-07:00

Good morning, everyone! Here's the new literature site of mine.

Alison McKenzie Writes

I like the layout. What do ya'll think?

Last night we went to some friend's house that we hadn't really visited with for about 5 or 6 years. That was really weird, because I remembered everything about their house. It was so neat. We played Kickball, which is just like baseball, except instead of hitting the ball with a bat you kick it. EVEN MRS. LAWLESS, my Geometry Teacher, got out there and played it, as well as Mrs. Hauck, and they are both in their mid forties, if not early fifties. Gabe said he was counting ladies and thought he would have to give up his chair, but none of the ladies sat but Ni! Very cool! We also played Dutch Blitz, Stare!, and our fiddles. One other boy there played the fiddle, and one played the guitar, so we just 'fiddled' around playing our own little peices. We couldn't figure out what key to play with the guitar in! So frustrating.

Rach, how's Mook doing? What about YOUR headaches and stuff? Is it just getting off caffeine?
And Kiwiwiwiw? How are you?

Love ya'll!! -Allie

Crossbows

2006-09-28T04:29:00.001-07:00

CROSSBOWS ONLINE

Mwahaha. We're almost done with the SECOND CD!! Whoohoo. Can't wait. :-)

2006-09-25T04:02:00.001-07:00

And yet another beautifully COLD morning here in Texas. Brrr! My friend Katie and I are planning on taking a walk, so we need to dress warmly. I'm thinking about getting one of those eskimo outfits with all the fir on the hood and the whole ten yards. :)

Katie and I got our cd done, sort of. There are 15 tracks on it.

My most recent fiddle tune is Martha Campbell, and I'm learning The Butterfly. Very pretty tune. I believe it's a jig.

VISIT: The Christian Debate Forums And Join!! They're great.

-Akatie

(Katie is Kallie and I'm Akatie.)

2006-09-23T03:15:00.000-07:00

Hi, Alex, this is Erinn

2006-09-22T04:39:00.000-07:00

Hi Alex - this is Erinn.
We are reading Caddie Woodlawn, and I am reading Sea Star. It is a very good book!
Did you know that the Crocodile Hunter died? Isnt it sad that he probably wasnt a Christian since he always said stuff about "Billions of years ago..." ...sounds like he believed in evolution.
love, Erinn

What Will You Choose To Do?

2006-09-22T02:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, it rained a little, and as I don't care to get wet, I ran for a tree. The tree was huge, and there was a large dry mark on the ground where the tree had sheltered the ground. I noticed a squirrel hiding under there with me. (Squirrels don't like me. They throw pecans at me. Especially when I'm playing my fiddle outside on the roof.) As I stood under the leaves and looked out at all that was wet, I realized that this tree was something like the mercy of God. We can either choose to take shelter under His wings (and under His wings you shall take refuge), or we can ignore Him and get soaked by the torrents of rain.
God doesn't want us to get "soaked" by the hard times in our lives. If we trust in Him and hide under his "leaves", we will find comfort and dry ground.
Read Isaiah 53 today.

Books (and hello!)

2006-09-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

Kyria, there is a book that you might find very interesting and enjoyable, written by a friend of mine. Her name is Karen Noland, and I *think* the title is Providence. I am proofreading her sequel to it right now and enjoying it a lot. Karen is a very strong Christian who lives in Oklahoma with her husband, two kids, and LOTS of horses. Her books are set in pioneer days.
She's sending me a copy of her first book - when I'm done reading it, I would be happy to loan it to you, if you'd like to give it a try. :o)

Some of My Faves...

2006-09-20T03:53:00.000-07:00

Set Me Free - Casting Crowns

It hasn't always been this way
I remember brighter days
Before the dark ones came
Stole my mind
Wrapped my soul in chains

Now I live among the dead
Fighting voices in my head
Hoping someone hears me crying in the night
And carries me away

Chorus:
Set me free of the chains holding me
Is there anybody out there hearing me?
Set me free

Morning breaks another day
Finds me crying in the rain
All alone with my demons I am
Who is this man that comes my way?
The dark ones shriek
They scream His name
Is this the One they say will set the captives free?
Jesus, rescue me

Chorus

As the God man passes by
He looks straight through my eyes
The darkness cannot hide

Chorus 2:
Do you want to be free?
Lift your chains
I hold the key
All Power on Heaven and earth belong to me
(Repeat)

You are free
You are free
You are free

--I really love this song. I think it's probably one of my very favorite songs ever, besides So Long Self by MercyMe and We Live, We Love by Superchi[k] (...we live, we love, we forgive and never give up, cuz the days we are given are gifts from above, so today we remember to live and to love...).

Outrageous!

2006-09-20T03:36:00.000-07:00

The story of Emmie Rose.

http://www.23weeks.blogspot.com/

And yet another story of starvation. Please read it and pray for little Emmie Rose's parents!!
-Allie

Books

2006-09-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

I have a question for everyone. What book are you reading right now? I'm reading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader to the kids. We'll finish it today and start the next book in the series tomorrow. Whenever we're driving somewhere, I'll read aloud while Rowdy drives and then he wants to hear the rest of the book because he got interested in it! It's a lot of fun.

Mornin'

2006-09-19T03:50:00.000-07:00

Good morning! It's quite cold here in Texas. To us, that is. (mid 50's.)
Welcome, Lady Kyria!! I'm glad you joined.

This morning I read in good ol' Psalms... Quite nice for a change. What's your favorite book of the Bible? Think my favorite would have to be Esther. Esther or 1st Corinthians 13. That's a good chapter.

The Quebe Sisters Band is here in full force! Visit their website: www.quebesistersband.com. They are wonderful Christians and homeschoolers. The youngest one is only 15. When we went to Randy Elmore Fiddle Camp of 2006, we didn't expect to see them there. It was such a nice surprise!

I didn't know what to write this morning, so I guess I'll skip writing a devotional. I'm gonna go read the Rebelution. -TTFN (ta-ta-for-now), Allie

Unequally Yoked

2006-09-18T06:31:00.000-07:00

An exerpt from Debi Pearl's book: Created to Be His Helpmeet, pg. 233.

My Friend, the Queen

When I was a young wife, my best friend had an unsaved husband. She always reminded me of a queen. She had a certain presence about her, in addition to her beauty, poise, and intelligence. She was a pastor's daughter, raised very religiously and with high standards. But when she was 17, she crossed paths with a young man of charm, the first guy to ever show interest in her. She "fell in love" at first sight, and they ran away and married. But, he had several bad habits which included use of tobacco in various forms, cursing, screaming at her when he was mad, and porn. By the time I met her, she had come to repentance and was trying to make a go of this unequal marriage. Through God's grace and growing fear of the Lord, she was able to live out the "love" chapter of 1 Corinthians 13.

"Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave rudely, seeks not her own, is not easily angered, thinks no evil; rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."

When he was rude or insensitive, she did not get puffed up with righteous indignation. When he was mean and cussed at her, she was kind and suffered long. She bore with his sloppiness and believed he would bring home the paycheck instead of spending it on the way home. Most of the time, she was able to endure all things with cheer and thanksgiving.

(This woman is my hero.)

Her husband worked all night at a factory. All his fellow workers were drunks. One early morning near closing time, some of the men started complaining about their wives, telling each other how lazy, no account, dishonest, disloyal, cheap, fat, sorry, and ugly their wives were. My friend's husband, Jim, said nothing. Finally, one of the men asked Jim about his wife. It was the first time he had ever really thought about his wife in comparison to the other men's wives, and he was suddenly deeply thankful, "Oh, I am not going to tell you about my wife, because it would make you all mad." The men insisted, so he told them, "She's beautiful, with long, pretty blond hair.
She is always so sweet, and will do anything for me."

Negative Influence

2006-09-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

My three-year-old cousin is watching The Jungle Book, a movie I used to watch no less than 623 times a week, and yet I am just noticing the talking back and bad attitudes in the movie. Though it's really short, and everything turns out okay, my cousin will record that and put it in the archives of her little brain, later to take it out and use it. She'll use everything she learns now, later.

Our Job

Yes, we do have jobs! I know, "Teens are just supposed to have fun!" and grow up later, right? Wrong. We have jobs, and very, very important ones as influencers. I'm sure you've seen the movie, read the book, and been in a situation where a snotty-nose, grundgy handed little kid with dirty clothes follows you and hangs on your every word. I've certainly been there, and I think that those who haven't, need to be.

Those children are our jobs.

Get that! These kids are worse than mothers and hear everything we say, watch everything we do, and repeat it later. We must take it upon ourselves to be role models to the younger generation. (that makes us sound earth-old.)

I hope I am pressing on you the importance of our situation.

We are responsible for the kid next door!

-Allie

Crossbows

2006-09-17T09:26:00.000-07:00

As fiddlers, my friend Katie and I are constantly reminding ourselves that we are playing for God's glory, not our own. Please visit our website! Perhaps you can book us for your next event!

CROSSBOWS MUSIC
-Allie

Sorry...

2006-09-17T08:26:00.000-07:00

The last address didn't work. So! Here's our new blog. har har. Thanks for visiting!

Dietrich is fine! Sorry about the false alarm! He turn over, so now he's head down, which could very possibly mean a birth a whole lot sooner than expected. We're praying.

-Thanks! Allie