5 weeks? Eeesh...

     Yeah it`s been about five weeks since my last post. Pretty sad I know. Just thought I`d let you all know I`m still alive and well. =) In the past few weeks, we have been up to things such as homeschool co-ops (learning about things like how to say the word "orange" properly, and how to come up with a fairy tale twist in 30 minutes. Yeah that`s what we homeschoolers do in school.), turning 16 (crazy, I know), basketball practices and games, Thanksgiving, my sister`s 19th birthday, air-soft wars, school, meeting my sister`s CollegePlus! friends, school, getting sick, Black Friday shopping with Oggie, Bugg, and Mrs. Henn (never did find any boots that I liked), school, and we went out to lunch at McDonald`s with three of the awesome Nobises yesterday with lots of awesomely awkward conversations and comments and laughing til our cheeks hurt. Sorry, if ever there was a really bad run-on sentence, that was it. But I kind of like run-on sentences. Anyway, overall it`s been a good few weeks. Although it did snow yesterday. I was kind of sad, but it`s ok, I guess. Enough rambling though. I would like to share a verse or two with you guys that I found to be rather awesome.

Check out Isaiah 57:15:
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite."

That`s so awesome. God, who inhabits eternity! God who is high and lifted up! God whose name is holy! He who dwells in the high and holy place and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit. He is all these amazing, incomprehensible things and yet He still dwells with the person of a lowly spirit. He still reaches down as our Father and revives us. He is so good!!

And I`ll just leave you with Isaiah 54:10, one of my favorite verses:
"For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

What an awesome promise! Hope you all have a great rest of the weekend!! :)


--Rye Bread

Dental Care

        So, I`m getting my wisdom teeth out tomorrow. Or, to sound cool, I`m having oral surgery. But either way, I just couldn`t help but think of this Owl City song. Have a listen.

Just some lyrics,
Have a seat, he says pleasantly
As he shakes my hand
And practically laughs at me
Open up nice and wide
He says peering in
And with a smirk he says
Don`t have a fit, this`ll just pinch a bit
As he tries not to grin

I`ve been to the dentist a thousand times, so I know the drill
I smooth my hair, sit back in the chair, but somehow I still get the chills


So, anyway, sorry I haven`t posted in awhile. Seems like I`ve just been busy busy busy...but that`s not much of an excuse. Oh and before I sign off, I just have to share these couple of sibling things that happened recently.

So, Eddie Joe (8) told me this joke that goes like this:
Have you heard the joke about the three holes in the ground?
To which I responded: No.
Eddie Joe replied: Well, well, well...

 I have confidence you guys will figure that one out. I did, after all. =) And then just this morning, The Big Fella (9) comes rushing into the room where Sunshine and I were. He then declares with fury: "Erik (Eddie Joe) called me a burglar!!!" Sunshine, trying to regain composure after stifling several laughs, replied: "What? He called you a burglar?" Big Fella, still quite upset, said: "Yes, he called me a burglar!!!! I am not even kidding!!" It was pretty funny. So, then we explained to both him and Eddie Joe what a burglar really was and all was well.

 Well, I hope you enjoyed reading, and please, have a great weekend. :)

 --Rye Bread

The Plea of a Former Orphan

      Just a couple of days ago we had our re-adoption court hearing for our Peaches. It`s basically the legal process of adoption in the US. As we were in the courtroom, Peaches grew more and more reserved. And as my parents carried her with them up to the witness chairs, she began crying quietly. After the hearing was over, the tears fell more profusely and sobs began to shake her little shoulders. We were wondering, why is she so upset?? Then, snuggled in Sunshine`s arms, she said through her tears, "But--but I wanna stay with you guys." We finally understood. She was scared that this hearing meant that she would be leaving our family. But we explained to her that it was quite the opposite. We continued to console her, saying, "You will always be in our family. We love you. We love you. We love you. You will be in our family forever. That`s why we had to do this." She seemed to understand to some extent and we left the courthouse for some yummy Perkins. Soon, bacon was clenched in her hand, and thus, a smile spread across her face. What an awesome little sister I have. You can read about this in more detail at our family`s blog, here. Have a great weekend!!


--Rye Bread

Something Greater video...

   Yeah, so just last night we went to our drummer`s house and rocked it out. And no, this is not our only song, we have many more, but this is probably our favorite one just to JAM to. I think that`s why there`s so many videos of this song, but here`s another one for you. I encourage you to watch it. It`s fairly entertaining. I think South Pole even drops a drum stick.






--Rye Bread

John Piper sermon jam

     Ok, so I know by personal experience that people don`t usually watch the videos that people post on their blogs. And if they do watch it, they only watch about the first few seconds or so. But I really really really think that you should watch this one. It`s really good. It was something that I needed to hear and I didn`t even realize it. Oh, how sweet it is to KNOW that God is sovereign over EVERYTHING. Lately it`s been kinda hard for me to really trust and rest in this awesome truth due to my bro`s situation for the past six months or so. But it seems that every time I have just a little doubt, or I`m scared, God shoves the truth of His sovereignty right back in my face again. There is not a square inch on this planet that Jesus Christ does not declare: MINE. My God is so good!!! He makes plans to prosper us and not to harm us!! No matter what it looks like to us. So, I know this video is kinda longish, but please give it a listen.





      Cheers,


--Rye Bread

Rye Bread`s Random Rambles

      As you might have been able to tell from the title, this post will be a bit rambly. I don`t think that`s even a word, but it sounded cool. Anyways, so, it turns out that we did take pictures in Colorado. Haha. Whoops. Not very many though and not really any good ones, so, I will spare you. :) Oh, and this morning as The Big Fella was eating breakfast his tooth fell out. He also lost one a couple of days ago, so, he`s pretty excited. Yeah, I know, really random. And it was also Eddie Joe`s 8th birthday rather recently. He invited his friends to go to the Ice Cream Capital of the World (yeah, Le Mars) and play at the park and, of course, eat ice cream. I actually had quite a bit of fun myself.  And the ice cream was wonderful. Here are some pics of that:

All twelve of us crammed in the 12 passenger van. We didn`t even plan that either. Good thing it worked out. =D

At the park. Playing monster.

Keeping an eye out for the monster...

The birthday boy.

ICE CREAM!!!!!!!!!

Mmmm...

Funny seeing those two together...

Present time!! Thanks for all the great gifts guys. He`s lovin them!

          Well, that`s all the pictures of that. Pretty sure he had an awesome day. :) So, summer is over, school begins for us on Wednesday, and then we`re back into the flow of things. Ah, sad. But, it`s gotta start sometime, right? One thing that I am super excited for is Lifelight this weekend!!!! Whoohoo! It`s always a blast every year, and if you haven`t been, you really should come. The band I`m probably most excited for is Tenth Avenue North. They`re probably just about my favorite band. We just bought their new album and it is reeeaaallly good. I recommend it highly. I will now leave you with a couple of the songs from the new CD. Thanks for reading!!!












--Rye Bread

"A Surprising Suggestion"

    A quote for anyone who loves reading as much as I do.

    From "The Mysterious Benedict Society".


   The others fell silent and looked at him. Reynie had begun to pace and whisper to himself.  "Become what we're not...to become Messengers faster...and Mr. Benedict KNOWS that we're not,because...yes, I think I have it!"
   Kate shone her flashlight at Reynie, who stopped in his tracks.  His exultant expression shifted into one of doubt, and he squinted uncomfortably in the flashlight beam. He cleared his throat, hesitated, and cleared his throat again.
 "Well?" Constance demanded. "What's the big idea?"
  At last Reynie managed to come out with it. And it was no wonder the others hadn't thought of it themselves, for what Reynie suggested was something that would never have occurred to them, something quite foreign to their natures, something none of them had ever attempted.
  They must learn how to cheat.


  Chapter 17, "A Surprising Suggestion" page 224.




--
T-bird

Colorado and cousins and stuff

     Hello again. Well, Colorado was AWESOME but I`m horrified to say that we did not take a single picture. Not a single one. So, sorry about that. I really wish we would`ve because we had such a grand time, but no. T-bird and I had a crazy, but awesome time with our cousins whom we have been pretty much best friends with since birth. :) Ever since we were little we`ve had the the nickname the Peanuts, and it just kinda stuck. So, even now when almost all of us are in high school (Lauren`s got one more year in middle school), we four cousins are still the Peanuts. Pretty awesome. Haha. Here are a few pics that somewhat capture our weirdness when we`re together.

The Peanuts. And Eddie Joe. From L to R: T-bird, Lauren, me, Abby, and Eddie Joe.

Abby. Haha.

The Peanuts goin` swimming at the legendary Johnson Lake.

In the kiddie pool.

TUBING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D

Our band. The Peanuts.

Yeah. Don`t ask.

Peanuts in the brig.

Us singing some sort of song in one of our "concerts." ;) Not sure why we were wearing toilet paper.

DISNEY WORLD

At the pool. :)

JOHNSON LAKE!!!!

Takin` Lauren down!

Yeah. No comment...

      So, yeah, sorry we didn`t take any pictures while we were there, but I hope you enjoyed looking at all the wacky pics of us from the past several years. They are such awesome cousins!! Anyway so the wedding was great, Eddie Joe and Peaches nailed it (close enough anyway), and we played telephone pictionary. Fantastic game by the way, you should definitely google it and play it sometime. Alright, I will now leave you with a skit that me, T-bird and my cousins did last year. Again, beware the weirdness.           








--Rye Bread

Back again...for now

  Oh boy. It`s been awhile. Sorry about this. We`ve been getting ready to go to Colorado and stuff, but, that`s still not much of an excuse. Although we found out about three days ago that Eddie Joe is to be the ringbearer in my cousin`s wedding (the reason we are going to Colorado) and Peaches will be the flower girl. And the wedding is on Saturday. So, we have been frantically trying to find the right clothes and stuff for them, but it`s all good. =) It`ll be fun to see them both in the wedding. Well, anyway, I apologize again for not posting for awhile, but by now I think everyone is used to it. ;) We leave today for Colorado and we will be back on Monday, so until then, see ya. :) Oh and I just want to say that me and my family are probably the biggest Nebraska Huskers fans you will ever meet. So, I`m pretty pumped to see them wear these new uniforms when they play Wisconsin this season. GO BIG RED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!







--Rye Bread

A Quote

   "The fear of hell and judgement is the only backdrop on which our appreciation for forgiveness and mercy will shine."


    ~John Piper~

 We can`t fully appreciate forgiveness until we fully appreciate what we truly deserve. Have a great weekend.


--Rye Bread

Mr. Nmit: Back in Pink

   So, I assume you all have watched the legendary Mr. Nmit a.k.a. "Pink Freak" video made by us Twinkies, Bertrum, and Katie. But...have you seen the sequel?? I will post both of them for your viewing pleasure. And before you watch them I have to say that the first one was pretty much impossible to top, so, the second one isn`t as good, but still, please watch it. :D









   Hope you enjoyed these!! ;) =D Have an awesome rest of the week!!!!!





--Rye Bread

Summer, Part 2

  I think this is the first time I`ve actually done a Part 2 when I said I was going to. So, I hope you enjoy reading about and looking at pictures of our family vacation!! :D Here goes nothing.

Okay, so we left Saturday, June 23, and headed on our way to the Badlands/Black Hills. On the way, we stopped at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD.

Yeah, I know. It`s a pretty corny picture. Haha, for you, Mr. Henn, if you read this. ;)

Then, we continued on to the Badlands. It was pretty cool.

It was really bright.

That`s us. =)

Next stop: Wall Drug.

      I don`t think we got very many pictures there, so, moving on to the next day with Mount Rushmore and, well, more. Haha, ok that wasn`t very funny. Moving on.

  There were many more pictures, but, they pretty much all look the same, so, yeah. It was really awesome. After that we went to a place called the Cosmos or something like that, I can`t quite remember. But it was really cool. You`ll just have to look at the pictures to see what I mean.

  Now, I know it looks like we`re standing crooked on purpose, but we`re actually standing up perfectly straight. Bizarre I know. It was pretty cool. And really dizzying.

    It was a pretty weird place. But very interesting. After that we went on a train ride that rode through the Black Hills.

  It was pretty fun. Not a lot of pictures of that, so, on to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park where we were for the rest of the week.

The Teton Mountains. We got to see those every day. They were pretty amazing.

The Big Fella, Eddie Joe, and Dad went on a car ride in the morning and they came across some...

...buffalo! Right in front of them.

We also saw a few moose.

And deer. We also saw a wolf, but it was way too fast to get a picture of it.

Lots of hiking.

Peaches and Eddie Joe dipping their feet in the ice-cold water. Brrrr.

Soon, Dad and I were in too. So freezing cold.

Old Faithful. That was pretty amazing to see.

  Well, that`s about it. Thanks so much for reading and looking at ALL the pictures you die-hard readers. And all of you who skimmed through it, thank you too. ;) Overall, it was a pretty awesome vacation. Have a wonderful week!!



--Rye Bread

Summer, Part 1

      Okay, I`m back again, this time for awhile. Until I go to Colorado anyway. ;) Anyway, like I said in my last post I will share with you die-hard readers all about my trip to New Orleans and my family`s vacation to Yellowstone and all that jazz. =D But I will only have time for one today. The other will have to wait until part two. So first things first: New Orleans.

Wow. What an amazing trip!! I will briefly sum up what I feel God showed/taught/blessed me those ten days. One of the things would definitely be contentment and joy. The kids we were with at the day camp we ran and the "Challenge Circles" that we did were so happy just to throw a football around with you or even just to talk to you. That just made their day. And they have next to nothing materially. And yet they`re always so content and happy. I look at myself and think, "Wow. I complain and grumble ALL the time!!! And I have all this stuff!! A lot of these kids don`t have one or both parents!!" But the thing that God really pricked my heart with was that I had Christ, and most of these kids didn`t and that as a Christian, I should be one of the most joyful people because I have been given LIFE!!!!! Shouldn`t that make me so uncontrollably joyful?!? Jesus Christ lives on the inside of me!! Crazy. I don`t know if any of that made sense, because I`m not very good at taking what`s inside my head and expressing it clearly to other people, but, I hope you got the gist. Another thing that God taught me during that time was that it is SO important to start off your day with His word. The first couple of mornings, I was like, "Ah, I don`t really have time, we have to leave really soon, I`ll just try and read it tonight." The main reason though was because I didn`t really have a desire to those first couple mornings. But, oh man, throughout those days when I didn`t read my Bible in the morning I just struggled in my spiritual battle. I`m just like, "Why is this happening?? Why am I struggling so much with this?" But then for the rest of the week we started off our morning with our personal devotions first, and then group devotions. And there was definitely a spiritual battle just like there always is, but I felt ready to take on Satan and whatever he threw at me, with God`s strength. And I probably wouldn`t have read my Bible that week, just for lack of desire, but because of those personal devos, I did. I learned that even when you don`t really feel like reading your Bible, it is so important just to do it anyway. Again, I hope that kinda made some sense. There is sooooo much more to tell, but it would probably take up a whole blog, so, if you want to talk to me about it, I`d be happy to tell you guys everything. :) Thanks for reading, and now I will post some pics from the trip.

Luise, Naomi, and Cassandra. Out cold. :)

At the church on the way down in Tyronza, Arkansas. Pretty cool story behind our stay there for the night.

Lots of card playing. This is a rendition of Spoons. Played with pew pencils.

And Ginger turning them into breath-taking art. That`s a cat if you couldn`t tell.

On the road again. FUN FACT: We got over 50 semis to honk on the way down.

The forever bridge. No other name fits it.

Super Dome.

The Yellow House. This is where we stayed the whole week. It`s pretty legendary.

Noah DeRoos up top and Dean in the middle.

FRENCH QUARTER!!

Cafe Du Monde!! Beignets. Amazing.

They were filming a movie while we were there. Pretty cool.

We went inside this really big Catholic church.

It was huge.

One of the guys I met from the Texas group that was there too, Joel. He was a cool guy. And a really good saxophone player. And he hit his head on the ceiling fan spinning at top speed. Yeah. There`s a lot of stories about Joel.

Waterslide at the day camp for Fun Friday. It was actually pretty fun.

And a bouncy house. I didn`t go in there. But I bet it was fun.

Me and one of the other Texas guys that roomed with us named Holden. You can`t really define Holden. Let`s just leave it at that. :D

Picture of all the interns that are there throughout the summer. Amazing, Godly people.

Me and one of the interns, Jordan. Really cool guy.

On the way back home, staying at a college.

   There are a lot more pictures and stories, but those will have to wait. Thank you for reading about our trip and there is a LOT more to tell, so please, ask me or any of the other people who went for more!!! Hope you are all having an awesome summer, and I hope you guys have a great Fourth of July!!!!



--Rye Bread