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