Christian: What it Means to be One

This week I'm studying Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire. He tried converting the entire Empire to Christianity by passing a law that said everyone had to follow the rules of the Church or the would be put to death. Not exactly a good way to get people to look kindly on Christianity.

Being a Christian is much more than just going to church and attending the services. It is more than tithing to the church, or even being baptized. It is thoroughly believing, with your whole being, that God sent his Son Jesus Christ to be the Savior of mankind and take away our sins. You have to believe that Christ's blood has cleansed your soul, and that God will accept you as his child if you repent of your sins and ask Him to lead you on the path of righteousness.

Obeying a law that decrees you to follow the rules the Christians follow is not the same as being an actual Christian. When you merely obey a law that requires you to do that, you are merely stepping through the motions, not actually doing them. I think that the Lord does not like enforced Christianity. When someone is forced to do something, they generally do it with a grudge. The Lord doesn't want you to serve him with a grudge. He wants you to serve Him with all your heart and soul and mind, and love him while you do it.

I don't think America would be the same if everyone were forced to be Christians. A majority of the people would be unhappy about having to worship against their will. Also, it would be against what America was founded for if a law like that were to be passed. America was founded so our forefathers could worship the way they wanted.

November 8, 2011

Well, time for an update on my life and what I've been doing. To make a long story short, DANCE DANCE DANCE!!! In the last 8 days, I've danced 8 days. And I have dance all week (including the weekend) this week and next, unless something comes up. A lot of it is because of Nutcracker. I am the Prince this year, and I have pas de deux rehearsals almost every day to make sure the choreography looks good. Also, I have Russian and Battle scene rehearsals on Sundays.

In Scouts, I just made Life Scout, so now I just have Eagle to go. Also, we just had elections, and I am the Patrol Leader of the new Venture Patrol. We are still working on a name. My friend Alex and I want to be called the Seagulls, but we're waiting on the other two in the patrol for ideas and input. So I have more responsibility as the PL, but I enjoy it so far (one meeting :P) and am working on getting the boys in the patrol motivated and working on some merit badges. So far, we are planning on doing the Communications badge (Eagle required), so I'm looking forward to it.

Then there's band. The three of us that were in band last year are all playing first on multiple pieces. We also have three more trumpets, so we have a wide range of technique and ability, making it a lot of fun. We are also doing more work with the Homeschool Strings this year. We are doing three orchestra pieces this year: Salute to the Cinemas, West Side Story Suite, and Procession of the Sardar.

So that's how life has been for me for the last month or so. A lot of people call it over-scheduled, but I call it doing what I love. :)

Now for more recent stuff. On Sunday, the Dance Driven Youth Ballroom team went to Tacoma to perform in the Instep Dance Showcase. As a group, we did a Lindy Hop to I Can't Stop It, a Cha Cha to Dynamite, an East Coast Swing to Crazy Little Thing Called Love, and a Waltz to Flying. A lot of people gave us congratulations and said they really enjoyed watching us. My friend Jonathan's mom said we completely stole the show, so I personally feel really good.

Still in progress, my friend Alexa and I are working on a Swing routine to take to performances and stuff. So far, it looks really good and I am having a blast. There are some fun lifts in there. During the first private, Ms. Christine (our teacher) had us try a lift called the Tower, where the girl does something like a handstand on the guys shoulders, but on her forearms instead of her hands. I'm really hoping we get to do that in our dance. If we can get it right, it will look really awesome.

And to round everything out, I'm turning 16 in less than two weeks! I'm really looking forward to it, even though I'm not doing anything fancy. I am hoping to do a Magic tournament at our house, followed by pizza and cake. I only have four friends that play Magic, though we are teaching another. So I'm not going to have many people coming over. However, I think it's going to be a blast.

My birthday list is not huge, but the things on it are somewhat expensive. Among them are Inheritance, the final book by Christopher Paolini; a decent pocket knife; Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke; Magic: the Gathering cards, be the boosters or decks, or just awesome single cards; an iHome with a radio; an iTunes gift card; and a Barnes and Noble gift card. Again, not a whole lot, just expensive.

What the barbarians brought to Europe

When the barbarians from Asia invaded the Roman Empire, everything ground to a halt, including trade, learning, and civilization. The barbarians essentially ground out everything Rome had been building for hundreds of years.

However, many good things were brought at the same time. Instead of one massive empire, the barbarians split into separate, independent civilizations. They allowed for Europe to become what it is today, with its diversity in countries and people.

Had the Romans continued to rule through today, Europe would be a massive pit of debt, just like the Roman empire was becoming towards the end of its time. Instead, many European cultures flourish, producing magnificent pieces of art and architecture to name a few things.

Monday, October 10

Just thought I'd put a bit about what's been going on lately.

We got our Nutcracker roles yesterday, and I managed to get Prince this year!! :D It's been my goal since we started at this school, and it's been that way because the Prince gets to do a lot of lifts. When I was Prince with Academy of Dance, I was a toothpick, and couldn't do a lift to save my life (not that I tried, due to the fact that they weren't choreographed, or even an option). But, I'm really excited. Should be a hectic two months trying to put the Nutcracker together.

Was enjoying the sight of the rain in the trees earlier. I love watching the leaves when they seem to spontaneously move around. It's almost like the tree is waving at you. Despite the fact that all we have is grey skies around here, and that it will remain like that for most of the next 3-5 months, I enjoy seeing little things like that. Kind of lifts my spirits.

Busy busy schedule now that dance and band are in full swing. I'm dancing 5 days a week, and at least an hour and fifteen minutes every day. The most hectic is band, when I have band all morning and dance from 3 until 7. It's definitely worth it though. I'm doing a swing duo with my friend Alexa, and we are having a blast with it.

Wednesdays I have a ballet private with my friend Samantha. She wanted to work only on ballet partnerwork, and Jonah, the only boy at Academy of Dance old enough to do partnerwork, isn't very good according to her. So we work on it for a half an hour every Wednesday.

Also, I am going to homecoming with Samantha. We are going to go hang out and just have a good time. She and her friends, according to Samantha's grandma, want me to teach them a bit of ballroom, so it should be pretty fun. :)

Well, that's about all I've got so far. Ballet and scouts tonight. Hoping my Scoutmaster can fit in enough time to work on my Citizenship in the World and get a Scoutmaster conference done tonight. Fingers crossed!

The Corvus

In ancient Rome, battles were not won on the open sea as often as on land. This was due to the military power of Rome's soldiers. During the First Punic War, Rome invented a device, called the corvus (crow in Latin), to board Carthaginian ships and use her disciplined soldiers to win the battle. The corvus was a bridge mounted on the prow of the ship. It was lowered onto the deck of another ship by a system of pulleys, which also allowed the bridge to be brought back up if needed. On the bottom of the bridge was a large spike, much like a crow's bill. This pierced the enemy's deck and allowed a good connection for the Roman soldiers to cross on.

The drawbacks to this device were 1) it weighed about a ton, which drastically decreased the ship's maneuverability, and 2) it was of no use in stormy weather, for it could seriously damage either the Roman or the enemy ship.

Test Summaries

While I studied the Greeks, I learned about their politics, mythology, and the way their leaders turned them into one of the most influential militaristic and economic forces of the ancient world.

During my study of the Hebrews, I learned about the time from when God helped Moses lead his people out of slavery in Egypt to the time of Solomon and the building of the great temple.

Studying the Egyptians was interesting because I learned about the food they ate, the way they worshiped their gods, and the mythology that was ingrained in everything they did.

Roman Disease

This week I have been reading the book Ancient Rome: How it Affects You Today. It talks about how the Roman empire and it's ideas can poison modern day culture and affect us and our futures.

Fascism+Roman Model = Roman Disease = "Whatever is necessary" = to protect our interest.

Fascism is a government "philosophy" that is really nothing more than saying the government does whatever it wants if it thinks it is necessary. The Roman Model replaced common law (see my last post) and is a central government that controls every part of citizens lives. They adjust the taxes, pass laws on whatever they want, and the citizens have no choice but to obey. These two things added together create the Roman Disease, which caused the fall of many great empires including those of the Romans, Russians, and Nazis.

Common Law

In Roman Times, common law used common sense and believed that there was a higher law than the government: God.

Common Law = 1) Do all you have agreed 2) Do not encroach on other persons or their property

Common Law = 1) Do all you have agreed 2) Do not encroach on other persons or their property

Common Law = 1) Do all you have agreed 2) Do not encroach on other persons or their property

Intergalactic Dance Show 2011

Yesterday concluded our week long dance show rehearsals, pictures, and performances. We had a lot of stuff to do! On Monday, our acting class was practicing on stage for Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. Tuesday was an extra rehearsal for our hip hop class. Wednesday brought around Tech rehearsals for several classes, especially those with black lights (Mom's and my tap classes), props (my tap class and acting), and smoke machine (musical theater and Mom's tap class). Thursday and Friday were both dress rehearsals from about 2:00 until 8:00 or 9:00. On topof dress rehearsals on Friday, we also had class pictures, which took up most of the morning. And then came our performances on Saturday and Sunday. It was a blast, although dancing from noon until nine can be rather tiresome. Here are some pics from the various days.

This is from our mini-production of Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. From left to right: Charlie, Grandma Georgina, Grandma Josephine, Willy Wonka.

My brother Evyn played Willy Wonka. He had a speech of sorts in part of the play where he essentially spoke a bunch of mumbo jumbo. He was very enthusiastic about it.

The President and her staff after Wonka's speech. From left to right: Chief Financial Advisor, Chief Interpreter, President Gilligrass, Vice President Ms. Tibbs, Military Chief of Staff.

Our Hip-Hop dance was to a combo of Rocketeer by Far East Movement and Show Goes On by Lupe Fiasco. It was about a minute and a half long, but was a lot of fun to learn.

Our class was an all boys one, and there were five of us in it, if you don't count the teacher, who was also a boy(?). He turned 21 middle of the dance year, but acted like an goofy teenager, just like the five of us.

While Hip-Hop is not my strong suit, I had a lot of fun in the class, and wish our teacher was going to be back next year. Sadly, he's going to go teach at another studio.

Our tap dance was to Grim Grinning Ghosts. For those of you that don't know the song, it is the one played on the Haunted Mansion Ride at Disneyland/Disney World. We got to dance in a black light, and during tech rehearsal, we goofed off a bit. One of us started doing the arms for jumping jacks and we all caught on, and this was the resulting picture.

We all wore white gloves and put socks over our tap shoes so they would light up in the black light. Sadly, the ghosts on our hoodies didn't light up until they had been painted with glow in the dark paint, which two of the girls from the class were able to find and supply.

We got to suggest ideas for the end of the dance, and we came up with a kick line. I personally think it would have been cooler in a black light, but we still had a lot of fun doing it. It took a few tries to get right and synchronized, but we eventually got it.

We also got to choose our final pose (sort of) and my friend Jonathan (far left) and I made a tent over the two girls in between us. We ended up having four of us do it and groups of two in between each pair doing their own thing. Again, probably would have been cooler in black light, but oh well. We still had a ton of fun.

My second favorite class this year was my ballroom class. We did a swing routine to Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen. I think swing is my favorite ballroom style that I have learned so far because it is fast paced and has a lot of lifts and tricks, which I enjoy doing. Dips I have a bit of trouble with, but the one our teacher put into the dance was more of a lift than a dip, and it was pretty easy to do.

Again, lifts are one of my favorite things about swing. This lift, I think, is called a cherry basket, but I might be thinking about something else. Jonathan took classes at another studio with the teacher, and he kept telling me about the lifts and showing me pics, so I might be mistaken about the lift names. I am hoping to join the performance team with him next year and do a lot more ballroom. I have found that I really enjoy it.

My partners and I had a lot of fun this year in ballroom. Hopefully, both will return next year. As a thanks for a great year, I gave each of them a pair of earrings that I made myself.

Everybody likes to save the best for last, and I am no exception. My hands-down favorite class this year was Musical Theater. Our teacher Ms. Stephanie combined her three Musical Theater classes for one dance to Time Warp from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It was by far the most fun I had this year. We all learned the words to sing as we danced. Evyn (top) got to jump over me in the beginning of the dance. The words were "But listen closely . . . BUT NOT FOR VERY MUCH LOONGGEER!" I came forward like I was going to say something, and he came jumping in disrupting the whole secretive effect.

Towards the end of the dance, we did a jump called a Barrel Jump. To do it, you jump with your leg up at waist level or so, and bring your other leg over the top of it. It was a challenge to learn, but we managed to finally get it. There were several twisted ankles in the process of learning it, but it was all worth it.

This pic is another version of the Barrel Jump, but this time, we had the smoke machine going, so it created an awesome effect.

After the three boys (Evyn, Jonathan, and me) from our class and the Intermediate Musical Theater class came back up on stage from dancing in the aisles in the auditorium, every one in the whole group (all 36 of us) did one more chorus of Time Warp. The final pose took about fifteen minutes to set up, due to the amount of kids. The final effect was rather astounding in my opinion.

As with every other summer dance show we've done with Just For Kicks, we ended the Sunday night with a pizza party at Godfather's Pizza, one of the studio's sponsors. We spent about an hour or so their. During that time, I gorged myself on pizza and soda, kicked butt at multiple games of Ninja, and did one more round of Time Warp. Several of our classmates were there, and we all started singing at the top of our lungs and dancing on the patio of Godfather's. It was sort of like a flash mob, except there were only about 5 - 10 of us.

Before we dispersed for the night, we all gathered for a group picture, which included just about all the kids that came to Godfather's. I am in the back of the picture on the wall with my arms raised. I could name everyone in the picture if I tried, but that would take forever. Suffice to say that just about all of my friends were their and we all had a blast over the last week.

Summer Plans

Ok, so other than the fact that school is not on my list of things for the summer, I have a few other plans for the best time of the year.

1) Get a job.

2) Get my learner's permit.

3) Hang out with friends and otherwise have a good summer.

I already have the first plan set in motion. I have applied for a job at the Candy Shoppe downtown, and I think I have a good shot at getting it. They are looking for help with candy buffets at weddings and stuff, as well as help at manning the store. Also, I am hoping that Ms. Tanya, who owns the studio, will let me teach a few classes next year.

Mom and Dad have agreed to get me my permit after I finish school, finally. I have in Geometry, if I don't do more than one lesson a day, 3 weeks of school left. But I don't have three weeks. I am doing 2-4 lessons a day and will finish within a week and a half, especially if I work on weekends. Fingers crossed I can get it done before things get too hectic with the dance recital.

I was talking with Mom about joining the dance troop at the studio, and I asked if, if I can pay my way through the competitions, could I join troop. She said talk to Dad, and I am hoping that I can, because the troop kids get more challenging dances, as well as seeming to have more fun. Here's hoping.

Wisdom and Knowledge

There is a big difference between wisdom and knowledge, even though many people count them as one and the same. Knowledge is merely knowing various facts about a subject. With knowledge, we take exams and use what we have learned in school.

Wisdom, however, is using common sense and logic. Wisdom is knowing when and when not to do something, and how it might affect those around you. With wisdom, we go about our everyday life, judging our actions and others.

Pythagoras' Secret Cult Religion

Today I focused my activities on the one's based around Pythagoras, the famous mathematician, who brought us the Pythagorean theorum, a squared + b squared = c squared. Despite his fame, he believed that only a select few should be allowed to study the secrets of numbers and that mathematics should be kept secret from the general public. So, he formed a cult of sorts with which he shared his secrets.

Personally, I think that keeping knowledge like what Pythagoras discovered away from the public is wrong. I think it should be shared so that everyone gets a chance to grow mentally. I believe that all knowledge that could be useful in helping a community grow should be shared. That way no one can say that they are better than someone else because they have a secret knowledge that only they were entrusted with.

Philosophical Questions

This week is all about science and philosophy. Zeno, a scientific philosopher, had two problems which he gave to his students that have been passed down to us since then. I am going to ask them and post the answer tomorrow. Please comment with your answers.

1) If a man shot an arrow at a target, and every second of travel the arrow went 1/2 way to the target (1/2 of the distance it had left to go), how long would it take the arrow to reach the target?

2) If a man had a boat, and as the boat began to wear out, he replaced each worn out part with a brand new part until at last teh entire boat was replaced with new parts and all the original parts were gone, then would his boat be the same boat he had in the first place? At what point could you say he had a different boat and why? What if he had licensed the original boat, would he then have to re-license the boat at some point? If someone asked him how long he'd had his boat, what would he say?

Other teachings of Zeno were that is was foolish to try to change things from the way they were to the way we would like them to be. He believed we should just accept things as they are. These were the beliefs of the Stoics. I think that this might be true about some things, but others, like war, or poverty, or other problems should be changed and not just accepted. I think it is important to accept some aspects of life the way they are. But we should always strive to better the bad things of life. That way everyone is able to bask in the glory of the world God gave us.

Spartan View of Life

When Spartan women had children, they had to have them inspected by the authorities. If the child was sickly looking, weak, small, or had birth defects, it was thrown off the edge of a cliff. This ensured that only the strong and vigorous were allowed to live. They did this so the Spartans developed a shield against guilt for killing another human being. It also encouraged a contempt toward those that weren't perfect.

In today's society, we do not kill people to create a callousness against others, but we develop one just the same. Slamming those that are different than us, or do something wrong, builds a contempt in us towards someone that does those things. Some people teach their kids that people of a certain color, race or tradition are bad and therefore are inferior to them. All these things do to us exactly what throwing a kid off a cliff did to the Spartans: we just don't care about those that aren't like us or aren't perfect.

Spartan Helmet

This week, as I study Sparta, I was tasked to make a Spartan helmet. After three days of work, I finally finished it. It looks pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

Here is the first part of it.

Finished. The visor is a little small, but I might be able to adjust it.

Greek Final Project

As of last week, I began working on my final project to show what I learned in Greece. If all goes well, I will have a 7-10 page report about ancient Greece's battleships, battle tactics, and overall naval power, several models of the above described items as well as army weapons, and a feast comprised of food they would have eaten in ancient Greece. I was debating about a slide show, and I might still do it to illustrate the either items I don't have models for or pictures from battles. Fingers crossed it all turns out well.

Know a Person Before you Judge Them

It is important that, when you portray someone in a book, or a poem, you know them from facts instead of rumors. Dante showed what happened when you judge someone off rumors in his Inferno, in which he portrays Odysseus (Ulysses) as being the exact opposite Odysseus he is in Homer's writing. If you judge someone off of something someone said to you, chances are that the judgement is wrong. It's just that person's personal opinion. To get to know a person's character, you need to know more than one thing about them. I personally have never known someone that has had this done to them, nor do I think anyone has ever done this to me. Before you speak out against someone, check with other people about them, or see if there is anything on the news about what they have done. Do a background check if the person is well known. If it is someone at school or something, check with teachers or other kids in the school.

Father-son relations

This week, (week one of my study of Greece) I am studying a lot of the Greek myths. Two of them were those of Daedalus and Icarus and Theseus and the Minotaur. The assignment is to write about the father-son relationships of Daedalus and Icarus Aegeus and Theseus.

Daedalus and Icarus' relationship shows a lot of the disobedience most boys develop as they grow older. We boys are trying to prove ourselves and are trying to be more independent. Our fathers advise us and tell us what to do often. They don't do it for their health. They do it to steer us in the right direction. Daedalus tried to do this with Icarus, but Icarus' disobedience kicked in and he ended up dieing because he didn't listen to his father's advice.

The relationship between Aegeus and Theseus shows how much fathers love their sons. Aegeus loved Theseus and therefore didn't want him to go to Crete to defeat the Minotaur. Theseus, however, who was impulsive and loved danger and adventure, wouldn't listen. He promised his father that, as a sign that he had lived, he would fly white sails instead of black when he returned. However, as he returned home, he forgot to change the sails. Aegeus, believing his son was dead, killed himself by jumping off a cliff. In my opinion, he did this because he had never really known Theseus, having left before he was born, and he believed he would never be able to. I think he regretted leaving.

The Reason People Choose Evil Over Good

I think someone would choose to do evil instead of good only if they had a very specific reason, such as revenge for a past crime. Or maybe they are just dumb and think it would be fun. I, personally, do not remember doing anything wrong while knowing the consequences of my actions. If I did, it would be lying, as that poses a problem to me to this day.

I think what causes someone to choose doing evil over doing good is temptation. Temptation to do something and see what happens. And Satan is the one who causes temptation. Therefore, by default, Satan causes people to do evil.

The Choice Between Good and Evil

This week is studying the difference between good and evil, and the choices they present. To me, the choice between doing good and evil is not always clear, but it is usually. Despite that, I tend to do things either reflexively or instantaneously, and I don't always consider the options I have on how to react. So I sometimes make evil choices, especially when angry or hurt, as that is when my brain goes into overload and I want to hit something, generally the person who hurt me or I am angry at.

How do we know what is good and what is evil? I don't know how we first learned it, other than Adam and Eve both ate from the tree or the knowledge of good and evil and since then we have been punished for the wrong things we do. I know what I consider evil, such as vengeance, hatred, and stuff like that, but I don't know everything God considers evil. In fact, I don't think anyone does. Just another question to add to the post-bucket question list.

Justice and Mercy

To me, justice and mercy are a pair of ideas that, while they don't always work together, they can be two of the best partners in judgement. Justice, to me, means upholding the law and punishing wrong-doers. However, mercy is being kind and compassionate to those in need. Because of that, it makes giving judgement to a person who is down on luck sort of difficult to one who has not done it before. Sometimes though, all it takes is a tender heart to give proper judgement and punishment to those who deserve it.

The Lord's Plumb Line

In the book of Amos, the Lord uses a plumb line as an symbol of his law. It is always straight, and to truly be with him, you have to walk that straight line perfectly. He used an object we know about and know to prove something 100% straight to signify his law being 100% straight.

Today, the message of Amos is to be kind to those who are unfortunate. Don't beat them down and take advantage of them due to the fact that they are poor. If you can, help them to get their feet back underneath them so they can get back to life. Also, keep with the Lord's law. He didn't write it for His own good. He did it for ours. Because he takes the time to pay attention to us and help us when we ask, the least we can do is follow the rules he has laid down in our benefit.

Becoming an Adult

This week, an assignment has me write about what becoming an adult means for me. It means I will be old enough to support myself. I will probably move out of Mom and Dad's house and into an apartment of my own, get a job, and probably go to college. What I look forward to for being an adult is maybe more freedom. I will be able to do what I want, but I will still go to Mom and Dad for advice for years to come. What I don't want to do as soon as I am an adult is probably get a family of my own. I want to make sure I have enough money to support a family before I even think of getting married. Mom and Dad both did that, and it turned out well for them. Do I want to become an adult now, no. I want to enjoy the last few years of "child"hood while I can before I have to become 100% responsible for myself. I could see myself becoming an adult and becoming independent by the time I am eighteen or nineteen years old. Until then, being a kid is what is important, and I am going to enjoy it.

Honeyed Fruit cake

Today I made a Honeyed Fruit Cake for school. It is a food normally eaten at Rosh Hashanah to symbolize sweet things for the upcoming year.

Here is the dough after I put it into the pans. It kinda looks like chocolate chip banana muffin mix. I blame the light and the fact that the pictures were taken on my Ipod. Sorry.

Here are the loaves after I finished baking them. The upside down one had its bottom burnt to the bottom of the pan, so it was a pain to get out. We will be having at least one of these beautiful loaves with dinner. Can't wait to try them!

Color in my life

This week I am studying the Phoenicians and how they used murex snails to dye clothing red and purple.

Colors are important in my life because I don't like everything looking the same. I enjoy a diversity in my surroundings. If I lived like the Phoenicians, in a brown world, where everything was mostly dust, brown buildings, the grass, and then the blue of the sky and ocean, I would definitely miss the other, rarer colors such as red, orange, yellow, and purple. If I was a Phoenician and found a way to make clothing red or purple, like they did, I would be thrilled at having a new color to wear. The Phoenicians added more color to their clothing when they discovered that the dye extracted from murex snails could change the color of cloth and stay that way. Due to the fact that they could only extract drops from the snails, it took a long time to get the dye to color an entire toga.

The final question in this activity is if I would like an environment with more or fewer colors. I prefer more color to add to the fun of life. I prefer to be in nature when the flowers are in bloom, or the trees are budding. To add color in my life, I think I will get some flowers or other plants that have colorful blooms and plant them outside this spring.

Ecclesiastes and Discussions about it

This morning, I read the book of Ecclesiastes and I have to say it is a very depressing book. It sounds like the person who wrote it is a HUGE pessimist and was really down on life. He believes in enjoying life the way it is and not regretting having a good time. You won't take earthly belongings to Heaven, so don't hoard it for yourself on earth. Today's exercise asks me if it sounds like something someone I know would write, and I have to say it doesn't. Evyn can be a pessimist sometimes, but never as bad as the guy who wrote Ecclesiastes. It also asks how I think he felt when he wrote it, like if he's down or a pessimist, and if not, was he giving a realistic point of life. I would say a bit of both, as I described earlier. It is a bit of a realistic point of life, but life isn't a bad as he portrayed it. There is hope in everything we do, and all we need to do is find it.

Another activity is what would I tell a friend who sounded like the author of Ecclesiastes. I would tell them to lighten up and look at the good side of life, the glass is half full, stuff like that. If all you ever do is look at the bad side of life, you will never enjoy yourself. If you have a heavy heart because of something, and that's why you are down, cheer up, because a cheerful soul is more likely to heal faster than a heavy heart.

Psalm 51

Today I had to read Psalm 51. It taught me that God is forgiving if you come to Him with your problems and will help you forget your sins if you repent of them. He would rather you came to him with a heart full of sadness over sins rather than coming to him with sacrifices to try to gain forgiveness. I also now know that no matter how many bad things you do, if you come to God, he will except you for who you are and wipe your slate clean.

The Story of Mephibosheth

The story of Mephibosheth takes place after David's war with Saul. God has blessed David , and David wants to show the same kindness to a member of Saul's family. Only one remains, and David asks that Mephibosheth be brought before him. Because Mephibosheth's feet are hurt, David tells him that he will provide for him and gives him a man named Ziba to help him. Ziba, his sons, and his servants all work for Mephibosheth since he can't do any work because of his feet. By giving Mephibosheth a good life, David showed himself as a Messianic figure, or a symbolic Christ-figure.

I can relate to this story because of how much God provides for me. He has blessed me and my family so much, and I am very thankful to Him because of that.

Christmas and New Years

Well, it's the beginning of a new year . . . 2011. I figured I would start the year with a new post. Since my birthday, I have gotten my iTouch, fixed my laptop for wireless, and celebrated Christmas and New Year's Eve.

For Christmas, Mom and Dad got us a new game called Carcassone. It is a game of strategy where you lay tiles and little wooden followers (Meoples to us) as different jobs to get the most points. Since then, we have gotten another expansion (they gave us two with the original game). We all enjoy it and love playing. We also got a Wii game called Petz sports. On it, I have adopted a Beagle named Hunter and I am training him to be the fasted dog in the game.

Last night, Ethan, Dad, and I all spent at our friends' house until 1:20 or so. The other two and Mom stayed home as Evyn and Amber are sick. They are on the upswing though, so that a good thing.

The next big thing we are doing is our trip to Grandma's over in Idaho. They are having snow, so we will be able to enjoy some this winter. We will be getting up at 2:00 a.m. to get ready to leave since we need to get Dad to the SeaTac airport for his flight to Texas, and then from there we go to Grandma's for a week. Dad will be meeting us there about midweek.

Another big thing I did, before I forget to write it down is that I got my signaling merit badge yesterday. I managed to get it the day before it went away, as it was a centennial merit badge. That means I got all of the centennial badges and ribbons by the seat of my pants, as Mom put it.