"Finally!"

Isaac lost his very first tooth tonight! He is very excited to have "finally lost a tooth."

No, don't shoot, don't shoot!(complements of Daddy)
Nice front yard find by Mom.

A Horse!

Well, I finally have a horse in the pasture.=) We don't own him yet, right now we're just "trying" him, to see if he'll work for us. I think Mom said something about how this came about, so I won't tell you the whole story over again, but I can tell you about the horse. First of all, his name is Bourbon(apparently like Bourbon Whiskey), and he's a registered American Paint Horse. He's about 19, but still young at heart. I guess he used to be a stud till they gelded him a few years ago and that's why (as Mom said) he doesn't get along w/ other horses. Actually, it's just other geldings that don't work, he gets along w/ mares just fine...till you try to ride him away from them. That's pretty common though. When our friends brought him over, Linnea(the guy's granddaughter) and I rode around the property a couple times, the first time just walking, then we cantered some. It was fun.=) He hasn't galloped yet, but I don't think he's up to that quite yet. He's kinda out of shape right now, but then, so am I.=] Today my entire family wanted to ride of course(they were being kinda weird about it too, but I guess that's what families are for), so I walked them around one at a time. Then I got to ride and B pretty much took off as soon as I got on. Not super fast, but I could tell he wanted to go. Btw, sorry if this is really boring for you, but for those of you who like horses...

Anyways, he didn't listen super good the first time around and he wanted to sprint around all the turns(did I mention he's done barrels?) in the brush area, which is not very safe, so I got him a little slowed down on some of them, but as soon as the path had a section(no matter how short) anywhere near straight, he'd shoot off again. It was kinda thrilling, but I'd rather he listened to me a little better. When I got back after a short, very quick ride I let Dad go for a bit of a ride. Same thing happened to Daddy. I think Bourbon was feelin' frisky and wanted to explore...quickly. When Dad got back, Mom was going to ride, but I think we kinda scared her off unintentionally when we told her he wanted to go, explore, and wasn't listening amazingly. She decided to wait till another day. So I got to go again. Again, I didn't go very long or far because he's not in shape, it was the first day, and it was starting to mist cold. He listened a whole lot better the second time around. I took him at a walk(he even walked around the turns!) through the brush trails so he could start to learn them, and then after I let him canter along the back stretch, he slowed right down when I asked him to. It was much more fun when he listened to me.=) We'll see how he does tomorrow.

The little kids love 'im though.=) Especially Isaac. He's out there all the time petting him or something, probably picking some ticks off to. Bourbon is loaded w/ ticks! He also needs a bath...I think I might save that for Tuesday depending on the weather. Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see how this works out for us. Keep your fingers crossed!;)

Zeke

I just remembered I never posted that embarrassing picture of Zeke. You've probably seen it before, and it's really not that embarrassing, but o well..........

Becky

Becky's birthday was yesterday. She turned 18. I now consider her as "old". =) It's actually kinda scary to think of my big sister as an adult(though she's acted like one pretty much all her life). So I guess there's a whole bunch of stuff out there that you can do when you turn 18. She googled it and there were a lot! I doubt she'll do all of them though.=) Anyways she's been a pretty good sister through the years...well, when she's not being bossy.=) Naw, she's not super bossy any more, but she used to be! I love her anyways(even when she says I can't sing...). <3

Love ya sister!! Hope you're 18th-wait that'd be 19th- year of life is amazing!!=) Thanks for being a good role model for me(and showing me what not to do too.=) Like getting a boyfriend right before you go off to college...;) ) Anyways, hope you'll have fun every time you come home whether it's your birthday or not.

your lil' sis,

Abby

Sunset

I love how artistic and creative God is! I have never seen two sunsets that look exactly alike. Why most change so fast it's hard to get a picture in!=) I think these are pics of the same sunset Mom and Ashley posted.

I'm boring.=(

OK, so a lot(ok, most) of my posts have been marked 3 or so times as "boring." Is there something I can do to make my blog more interesting for y'all?

Well I've decided not to play basketball after all. I'm actually just taking a break from sports, giving my body a rest. I had issues w/ my back during VB season, and towards the end of VB my ankles started bugging me. Mom and Dad just thought a change in sport would do the trick. Well after a couple weeks of basektball practice, I realized that my back had started bugging me again, and I kept hurting my ankles (mainly my right one, but my left one's been bugging me some too). So I decided (w/ some parental advice) that I wouldn't play basketball this year. I'll probably do what Becky ended up doing- score-keeping and such at most of the games...Now my problem will be to stay in shape over the winter. If all the days would be as nice as today was, it'd be easy to get outside and run. But, I guess even Missouri has to get cold sometime.

Dance!

For all of you who care, there's an ECLD on Saturday (the 14th) at the Salem commons. Dancing starts at 6:30, but you can come earlier to learn some of the basic steps. They like to be done by 10 I think it is, and bring a finger food to share.=) If you need directions, let me know! Hope to see you there! Oh yeah, this is a 12 and up dance, so hopefully, we'll do some really fun dances!=)

Debate!

So, I'm in this Co-op thing and one of the classes I'm in is speech class(my Dad's the teacher). For the last assignment we got to do a debate. We finally picked a topic- Is it OK to Lie in Some Situations? Or, Should You Never Lie?? Kelsey Q2, Josiah Nisbett, and I were on one team, and Sarah Hickle, Kayla Brown, and Laura Cook were on the other team. Me, K, and J argued that while lying as a rule is wrong, there are some situations that it's OK. The other argued that there's never a time to lie. We won.=) Well, no one officially won, but I think our arguments were better and we smashed there arguments better than they tapped ours.=) It was kinda fun once we got into it...we ran out of time though.......oh well.

VB vs. BB

Well, volleyball is over and basketball begins. This year I thought about playing club volleyball instead of basketball, but I decided to stick w/ basketball so I am "well-rounded" as my daddy likes to say. I hope I remember to post when our home games are so y'all can support us!=) We are charging admission this year to cover costs(like refs), but it'll be very minimal, like a dollar a person w/ $5 family cap. OK, I need to go do school now.....I have a debate coming up plus I'm hosting a book club and enlightening everyone in that about literature during the French revolution. Doesn't that sound fun?! TTFN!

Rodents

Now, most rodents I don't like. Especially mice. But, I stumbled on these pictures on the computer and even I have to admit, they can be super cute.=) These aren't very good pictures, but, oh well. If I'd have taken the pictures I'd have taken about 30 then had to delete all but the best 2 or 3. That could take awhile.=/

Basketball

Yeah, I know volleyball isn't quite done yet, but I did want y'all to know RHAA is starting basketball. We had an open gym tonight, and there'll be another one Thursday- Girls from 6-7:30, Boys from 7:30-9. Hope you can make it! Oh, yeah. It's at the Junior High in Rolla.=) I think Practices Start the first week of November.

VB

Well Varsity played pretty well last night, and I know I had a ton of fun!!=) JV played great in the first game and won it, then didn't do quite as well and lost the next 2. I think the other team got a bit warmed up. Especially one girl, wow! She had an amazing spike. Anyways, Varsity won both games.=) And after both teams were done playing a bunch a the fans came out and started a game, and that was super fun!!=) Too bad I didn't serve as amazing in the real game as I did in the pick-up game..... o well........Mr. Hamacher had some awesome serves too, and Elise and Jenny.=) The other team had a few good serves, but those are just some of the amazing peoples on my team.=) Thanks to everyone who made it to the game!

I'm FINALLY done w/ Algebra I!!!!!!

Ugh! Algebra is terrible! Anyways, I'm done! Procrastination is a terrible thing, but I'm finally done w/ last years' Algebra!! Geometry isn't nearly as bad as Algebra was.

Results & Up-date

I'm proud to say both volleyball teams won their games. It wasn't a super hard team, but I did feel that we played a bit better than we have been.=) Since Jenny is still hurt and Martha had to work(she couldn't change her schedule last minute), I got to play middle hitter! And we still won! And this is remembering that I started this post like 3 weeks ago......=)

So, Jenny's better now, but a couple of the other girls are sick. Please keep both VB teams in your prayers!

Since the State tournament was canceled, we get to go to nationals!=) It's gonna be fun.=)

O yeah, the JV & Varsity have games tonight(Oct. 16th). JV plays at 5 @ Redeemer & Varsity plays right after, about 7. I think we're playing Maranatha, a team we haven't played yet this year. I think we beat them last year, but I have no idea how good they are this year....so... come watch some volleyball and support the team!=) Hopefully we'll be awake today.

Dr. Manuel& Company

As many of you know, our family has been involved in some mission work down in the country of Ecuador, where my grandparents were missionaries when my mom was a kid. One of the missionaries names is Dr. Manuel, and he has asked for prayer, reagarding regarding road closings that have occurred in at least seven of the Ecuadorian provinces.

The road closings, demonstrations and marches are being undertaken by the indigenous nationals in protest to the government and concern water rights, etc. They are setting up roadblocks with burning tires and other means of blocking the highways. You can check this out on www.OSAC.gov. Because Dr. Manuel works as a traveling doctor/missionary, he heavily relies on being able to travel to the areas in which he works. He was in Tombo yesterday where the International Church Planters (ICP) from Arkansas are about to complete the pastors six weeks of training. The main road (rt. 35) was closed so he had to travel very dangerous roads to reach Tombo and back. This coming weekend a team of 24 will be arriving in Ecuador to do evangelism and medical care. I believe they will be based in Tomba and will need to be traveling in some of the provinces where roads have been closed. Dr. M. will need to travel back and forth between Cuenca and Tombo several times, over these very dangerous roads.

Please pray for the safety of Dr. Manuel, Juan, Pastor Lucas, and mission team who will be working and traveling.

In case you were wondering, I copied this off Becky's blog. She's a much better writer than I.=)

VB Tournament!

Wow. We did so much better this weekend than last weekend!! The tournament was down in Springfield again, but there were more and different teams. And I must say we played much better than the previous weekend. We were all in a good mood most of the time and therefore got along w/ each other and therefore, played as a team, and much better than when we play as individuals. Great job out there girls!!!! The Pizza Inn fundraiser went great too! Thanks to everyone who came.=) I'm actually procrastinating right now, so I should probably go do school....=/ Ta, Ta!

Jenny

Up-date on Jenny, she sprained her hip and has been out a few weeks, but she was at practice Tues. and played a little. She's hoping to be able to play this weekend in the Springfield tournament. Keep praying for her!=)

Isaac

One of the threats I received for not playing 'Go Fish' w/ my little bro Isaac.

" I will cut your back in half and destroy your lungs. I'll destroy your kidneys and all the kidney beans!" -Isaac

Boys are so violent.

RHAA Volleyball Games

For anyone who enjoys watching a game of volleyball, both JV and Varsity have matches tomorrow(Tuesday)!=) The JV game starts @ 7 w/ the Varsity right afterward. Both games are at the Redeemer gym. I think admission is $1 family cap. $5. Or something like that.=) There's also concessions. Oh, btw, I'm on Varsity this year.=)

Oh, yeah.....volleyball reminded me. We need to be praying for Jenny Williams. Right before our home game Friday, she dove for the ball and in landing, jarred her knee/leg/hip in such a way as to rearrange something and make it hurt. Not quite sure what's wrong, but she said it felt like a nerve was getting pinched when she moved in certain ways. I'll try to get some more current info., but I thought she would appreciate our prayers. Hopefully it is a fixable problem and she'll be able to play the rest of the season. But more importantly she's a great friend and a child of God.=) Thanks!

I & E

Isaac and Elizabeth.... Oh, my. Give those two random articles of clothing, some cool hats, a few accessories, and they're set for at least an hour.=) Here's a few pictures of their latest original outfits.

Ecuador Part 3

Here's some more Ecuador pictures!=) There kinda random, but all of them are from Banos.

Our hotel in Banos. Btw, we stopped in Banos on the way back from Shell/the jungle.

Our hotel and the waterfall in Banos.

A terrible picture of me by the waterfall.

They had like 14 stalls right in a row that sold exactly the same thing.

A house in Banos. Notice the slide.
A cute fruit bear in Banos.

An awesome flower in Banos. I think my dad took this picture.They had a nice hot tub.
Some of the cool view from the hotel.

Cousins Playin' Pool

The gorgeous waterfall.

I love this one. With the mountains behind I think it looks really cool. Actually it was really cool, temp-wise and otherwise.=)

The view from up by the waterfall. I love panoramas!

A very pretty cathedral.

Kidnapped!

Well Zeke insisted that I post this, and I suppose I should.... We have 2 youth groups in our church, Senior Youth(all the kids that have been confirmed) and Junior Youth(about 5th grade till conformation). Well, we(the people in SY) were trying to figure out a good way to welcome the huge class that got confirmed this year into the SY. Somebody came up w/ the idea that we should kidnap them one sunday and drag them to church in their PJs. Great idea right? Well it worked for a few of them, but some of them decided to get up early and get ready for church......before 7:30(church is at 9). The girls got the girls and the guys got the guys. It wasn't as fun as it could have been, but Zeke did have to come to church in his "PJs"- sweats & a T-shirt. None of the kids had fun pajamas either. Very disappointing.

Shall We Dance!

Hey everyone! A lot of you know about the dances, but I thought I'd let you know anyways.=) I know it's awhile away, but it's super fun! There's going to be a Christmas Ball here in Rolla at Redeemer. Hope you can make it!

Here's the link:
Christmas Ball Flier

BTW, it's the 19th, not the 12th.

Becky

She's GONE!!!!!!!!! She was my personal fashion adviser, hair dresser(for special events), counselor, good friend, and most importantly, my SISTER! I am really gonna miss her! Yeah, I guess it's good that she's going to college and getting to learn all about nursing and life w/out her family *sniff* *sniff*.........I kinda want to be selfish and keep her all to myself and make her stay till I'm ready to go to college. Whoa, one scary thought at a time..... Of course I know I can't keep her here forever...... I am really going to miss her though....=< Becky, I'll try to remember to pray for you, but as you know I'm really bad about remembering that kind of thing. I think writing it on my mirror in big letters might help.=) Anyways I'll finish saying farewell w/ the line I used to give Andy when he was going to public school......Don't smoke, don't do drugs! Love ya!!!=D

Ecuador Part 2

Here are some pictures that were taken while we were in Ecuador. Not sure who all of them were taken by, but o well. Since there's so many pictures, I'll do it chronologically in a few different posts....I'll be putting pictures from every stop we made in Ecuador, so there's going to be a LOT of pictures. You definitely don't need to feel like you have to look at all of them!=)

At the airport in St. Louis. Jan Bloom was so kind as to drive us up in the van the Hickles were nice enough to let us borrow.=)

Elizabeth got to ride in the luggage cart in Miami.
Waiting to be picked up at the hotel in Miami.

We had to wear the masks on the way to Ecuador. Silly Swine Flu.

Nate Saint's house in Shell.
The little plane we flew into the jungle in.

The 5 from our family who went in plus the spiritual leader, his daughter, and another guy from the village. Forgot the names....

A few of the little kids in the jungle.

Uncle Brad was so good w/ the kids.
The beginning of the tour we never got to finish on account of rain.
You can see the super high volleyball net. I guess they play w/ a soccer ball and the rules are a bit different...=) Not much spiking on that net that's for sure!=)
A tree. In the jungle. It's big.

We got to go down to the river...

Zeke, Isaac, & Me in a hand-made canoe.

This is a lemon tree. I guess the jungle makes stuff big(well, except for the people...).

We gave them some balloons!=) The girl w/ the baby was probably only 10 or so.