Winter says "Hello!" with Snow!

We recently had a big snowstorm pass over us and we got quite a few inches of snow. (Not sure how many, exactly) So everything is covered in a soft blanket of white. I guess it's winter's way of saying "Hello!" to us. I haven't been out there yet to play, but Olivia, Claire, and Gabe have, and they said it's fun. I hope we'll have snow for Christmas, I would love to wake up on Christmas, look out the window, and see snow. Well, we'll have to wait and see!

A Turn For the Worst

We got a call about my Poppy yesterday. Apparently he's been moved back into the ICU after taking a turn for the worst. (He had been moved out...for less than a day) He wasn't waking up, and was unresponsive. My dad says that they found out he has cancer of the blood, or the beginning stages of leukemia. They did a catscan and found the cancer in his lungs, very close to his heart. They're trying to figure out what to do because they could give him a medicine that would help, but it might aggravate his condition. So we all really need to pray.

Emergency!

We've been in Cincinnati this past week because of a family emergency. Last Monday we got a call about my grandpa. (on my dad's side) He had something called a hematoma in his brain. (I think a hematoma is something like a blood clot) Apparently, they're pretty dangerous, and they said that he needed brain surgery. So we rushed down there on Tuesday, and were staying at my Grandma and Grandpa's house. (On my mom's side, they were very nice to let us do that! :D) We just got back yesterday. Well, my grandpa (or Poppi, as we call him) got his surgery, and is now recovering in the hospital. We were all praying very hard for him, because the survival rate for that type of surgery is like 50% or something. Meanwhile, my Grandma on my dad's side was put in a nursing home, we got to visit her there, she's doing fine. There was some silver lining though, we got to go see some of our cousins and aunts and uncles that we hadn't seen for a while, that was fun! Oh, and we got to take a dog home with us! My Grammy and Poppi had two dogs, and we took one home with us, his name is Danny, he's a golden retriever, and he's very sweet.

Winding down...

Woo hoo! Today was Olivia's last Nutcracker performance, and we won't be so busy.
We all went to see the Nutcracker yesterday, it was good. The party scene (what Olivia was in this year) hasn't changed much at all because they used the same choreographer as last year. It was still good though. My favorite scenes in the Nutcracker are the party scene, and Mother Ginger. (The scenes with all the kids! :D) Oh yeah, I got to go backstage and say hi to everyone, that was fun. (Remember, I'm a retired Nutcracker dancer, heh heh!) Anyway, back to the performance, Uncle Bob came, and all the Blanchards came, and so did Hester and her mom. (friends from church) Parker Blanchard said that he didn't see Olivia at all on stage, so afterwards, he goes up to her and says, "good job!" And she's like "Mmhmm, thanks...NOT!" It was funny. We went out to Forbidden City afterwards, (our FAVORITE chinese restaurant, pig out everyone!) we all had lots of fun.

So now we have Nate's birthday, Christmas, and my birthday to look forward to! :D

Kongregate rocks!

I found this great website today! (Actually, it was in one of the gaming magazines I get from the library.)
It's called Kongregate. It's an internet gaming website, but there's twist. All the games on it were made by people just like us. So people make their games, put them up on that website, and then you can rate them, favorite them, and even vote for them to be the best game of the month. Sounds like the YouTube of internet gaming. You can even submit your own games, sounds hard, I'd rather just play games other people have made. :D You win points for rating games or winning games, and you can use points to buy collectable cards. Eventually, Kongregate is going to let people battle with the cards. They've described it as, "card-based, tag-team, rock-paper-scissors Street Fighter with +10 awesomeness!" You have to create an account before you can do any of this, but here's the best part. It's totally free! Yeah!

There's all sorts of games there, puzzles, strategy, action, you name it! There's even multiplayer games. One of my favorites is called, "3D Logic." It's a puzzle game where you have to connect colored squares to each other. The squares are arranged on a cube, like, well...a Rubik's cube, I guess. There's over 1,000 games, and apparently it's getting popular, even though it was just started last year over 600,000 people use it. It's really fun, so go check it out if you have extra time on your hands. (Something we don't have too much of around here...) Here's the link, if you want it.

http://www.kongregate.com/

Hit the ground running!

So did everyone have a good Thanksgiving break?
We did, it gave us a chance to relax a little bit, and we got to put up the Christmas tree too, That was fun, but no time for that, because now...

off we go into the busiest week of the entire year!
Olivia's Nutcracker rehearsals start today, her HEAVY DUTY rehearsals!
Well actually, tonight all she has is a spacing rehearsal, where they go over to Clowes Memorial Hall, and do a rehearsal on that stage, and every few minutes they stop the music and tell a person to stand in a different place, it's very boring.
It'll all be over in one week though, whew...
Anyway, in the mean time, all of us will be running around like little mice, or, as my mom says, we'll have to wake up and hit the ground running!
And since my dad is working now, it'll be even busier!
Everyone pray for us this week please, and especially for Olivia, that God will give us the strength and patience for this week!

What People Will Do...

Wow! Can you imagine paying $13,000 for a pair of tickets to a concert?
Well, apparently someone can and did! The tickets to a seat at the
Hannah Montana: Best of Both Worlds tour are near impossible to get, selling out minutes after they go on sale. But a stay at home mom from Indianapolis shelled out $13,000 for 4 tickets and backstage passes to the show. The tickets were auctioned off on the radio, with the proceeds going to the Peyton Manning Children's Hospital, (Which I've been to before for my asthma) So at least she can feel good about spending all that money!
Another parent spent 6 days hanging from a statue to win some tickets for his kids!
What people will do!
I knew Hannah Montana was all the rage today, but I didn't know she was THAT popular!
Would you spend $13,000 or spend 6 days hanging from a statue for tickets to a concert? I wouldn't!! It's scary even!

Here's the link to the story,

http://news.yahoo.com/s/wrtv/20071116/lo_wrtv/14616597

And here's the link to the story about the man hanging from a statue.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/hannah_montana_contest

Shadowing...

Yesterday, Olivia and I had our shadowing at Herron High School.
The person I shadowed with was really nice to me, he introduced me to all his friends. Olivia said that the person she shadowed with was nice to her too, she even got her e-mail address.

They only have 4 periods, I thought they'd have a lot more.
Well, the first period was Algebra 1. Since Olivia and I are taking Algebra 1 this year, it was just like what we are learning. I was even able to figure out all the problems! The classes are pretty small, most had less than 10 people.
Next was homeroom, my mom thinks that it's a waste of time.
All you do is sit there for 20 minutes, waiting for the next period to start.
Then I went to 3D art, which is modeling with clay and stuff like that. The students were working on relief carvings.
After that was lunch, the cafeteria food was so-so. (Translation=GROSS!):D
The milk was frozen! I saw Olivia there. After lunch I went to study hall.
Completely boring. If you have homework to catch up on, that's the place to do it!
The last thing I took was Latin. Better study up! Good thing the teachers don't give out too much homework!

Everyone was really nice to us, the people we shadowed (and their friends) said they'd look for us if we go there next year. I liked the school, it seems like a place I'd want to go.

Surprise Visit

Yesterday, my Grandpa surprised us and came up from Cincinnati to visit.
We went out to Forbidden City for lunch, it's one of our favorite restaurants, and my Grandpa's too, They don't have them in Cincinnati. We had just gone there on Sunday, and one of the waiters remembered us! It was kind of funny.
Yeah, so we all had a good time.

First impressions

Well, we went to that open house for that school last Friday.
I still don't know what to think. If we go there, it's going to be a lot different.
The building is kind of old, but it has "character," as my mom says. It used to be an art school, I think before it became a high school, so that explains it.
They had the students be the guides for the night, so we got shown around by a person that's gone there for a little while. The school isn't all that big, it has three floors, but it's easy to find your way around. The classes are small, I think I only saw about 15 or 20 chairs in each class. The teachers were all very nice, that's a good thing! :D
The school just opened last year, so it's not like everyone's been there forever.
They have lots of classes, physics, math, (we're doing geometry next year, ugh...)
music, art, history, and drama and choir are electives. (The drama department is putting on a production of "The Christmas Carol" this year, my mom says that we'll go see it, actually, the student that was our guide is playing, Fred, Scrooge's nephew in the play)
They also have cross-country and basketball, if you want to do it.
Some people we know might go to Herron with us, there's our friend, McKenna Baker, who used to live down the street from us.
My mom said that Olivia and I looked "shell-shocked" the whole time during the open house, and I have to admit that my first impressions of the school were kind of negative and I was very skeptical. It's not that I didn't like the school, I guess I was scared of going to an actual school for the first time. I guess I really don't like change. But now that I've had time to think about it, I'm curious about the school, everyone seemed nice, and I want to go back and check it out. It sounds kind of fun, it's just going to be different. But anyway, we'll know more after shadowing.
Oh, and I got the date wrong, Olivia and I are shadowing a week from this Tuesday!
I feel a little nervous about it. And another good thing! My dad says that we're not required to take P.E., he thinks, so I won't make a total fool of myself! Yay!
But we do have to wear uniforms, I have to wear khaki pants and a black or white shirt, which isn't that bad, but Olivia has to wear a black and red plaid skirt, she HATES plaid, and she's already thinking of ways to jazz it up a bit. Good thing they have Casual Fridays! Well, I'll write more about it after our shadowing day.

New School

Tonight, we are going to an open house for a school that Olivia and I might be going to starting next year. It's called Herron High School. It's like the charter school we were thinking about doing, (the public school at home sort of thing) but it's actually a school. It's in downtown Indy, but school doesn't start until 10 AM on Mondays and 9 AM Tuesday-Friday. I'm excited! Sometime next year, Olivia and I are going to "shadow," we are going to follow some students around and see how the classes are for a day. I'm going to be nervous for that. I wonder what it will be like, Olivia and I have never gone to a public school before. Actually, the school is kind of small, about 300 kids, my mom said. Well, I'll write more about it on Monday! Oh great, I just realized, we'll be "the new kids!" Oh man...

Ahhh, Fall Break...

We had a good fall break, it gave us all a little chance to relax and take a breather for a few days.

On Friday night, our cousin, Brittany, invited Olivia and I to this church youth group called Northbeach. It was tons of fun! There was a little free time before the worship service started. They had skeeball, and those car racing machines like you see at Chucky Cheeses. They also had air hockey and video games. The service was shorter than I expected, it was about an hour long. We sang some songs, and the leader spoke about how we should "stink" like a Christian.
He also spoke about God's will for us, and how we should listen to Him, so that when the time comes that God will use us for His glory, we'll be ready.
He used some funny comparisons. We bought dinner there, we had chicken nuggets.
We also got free soft drinks! Then some people got up on stage and did karaoke, and there was more free time. It ended at about 9:30. Olivia and I both liked it a lot, but we have to miss it this week. :(

The rest of out fall break was pretty boring, in a good way. ;)

Don't kill the little babies!!!

We went to church yesterday.

Mrs. Blanchard talked about some hard subjects such as abortion and other things.
She also talked about how the Bible says those things are wrong, like when people abort a baby, they're actually killing it. The baby is formed and can feel. How sad is that? When a baby gets aborted, it screams silently in the womb. She says that she'll bring in a movie called, "The Silent Scream." An apt name, don't you think?
It shows a baby being aborted in the first trimester. I saw it online, and it's so sad, but it also shows some very graphic pictures of aborted babies AFTER they come out of the womb. Let's just say that it's not for all ages, I got freaked out and I watched it on a two-inch screen. I've always thought that abortion was wrong, I knew it was killing a baby, but I didn't know how they did it. But now I think abortion is completely wrong and should be illegal EVERYWHERE! It's so inhumane how they kill those little babies. And as gross as I thought it was, it still made me want to cry.
Mrs. Lanna said that people have come to think that abortion is no big deal. That people think that the babies aren't alive until they come out of the womb. That's so sad...

Okay, moving on, I got to pray for lunch.
And after Bible study, the Blanchards and us went to Moe's.
It's like Taco Bell only a LOT better. We had lots of fun.

Go hither!

*Let's go to Ye Old Root Beer Shop*
*It's just over yonder hill*
*No, go hither and yon*
*Okay*

On Saturday, we went to, "The Feast of the Hunter's Moon."
It was pretty cool, after we all finally got there. (Lesson learned: Don't believe Mr. Blanchard for directions!)
We also had to park a far ways away form the entrance, in the so-called "handicapped parking." (Right...)
It was CROWDED!!!! I didn't think there were going to be that many people there!
Then we couldn't find the Blanchards anywhere, and we couldn't call them because we had no signal on our cellphones.
So we looked all around for them, meanwhile, my Mom is mad at my Dad because he didn't bring enough money.
Olivia and I went off to look for the Blanchards, and THEY FREAKED US OUT!!! They came up behind us and jumped on our backs! After that, we all stayed together. We got to see a person swallow fire, which was cool. We also saw a clown.
The whole place reminded me of an outdoor market with a twist. (It's set in the 1700s, you know)
There were shops-a-plenty. Olivia bought a ring, and Claire bought a yo-yo. We got to share a bottle of non-carbonated root
beer. It was good! I got to keep the bottle. We saw these old men who were yodeling, or singing, or something, they scared me and Olivia. And...We got to see a cannon firing off! It was really, really loud. We also saw this sheepdog who herded some sheep, and at the very end, before we left, we saw these people juggling knives, balls, and bats. Not so extraordinary, eh? Well they did that while they were balancing on teeter-totters. They were pretty funny, too. They kept cracking jokes and making people laugh. Oh, and Mr. Blanchard kept telling us to go hither and yonder. He's silly.After we left, (and went back to civilization and the 21st century) we went to Pizza Hut for dinner with the Blanchards. Overall, the day was fun!

Yay!

On Saturday, we are going to this historical reenactment at a park in Tippacanoe County. It's called, "The Feast of the Hunter's Moon." Sounds really fun. Let's jut hope it won't be completely freezing outside! :) The Blanchards are coming too.
I hopw we have a good time!

A Family Reunion

Yesterday, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house
because our cousins from New Jersey were there. We hadn't seen them in a year!
We got to leave in the middle of the church service!
Our cousins Anna, Betsy, and Paul were there, so were my Aunt Patti and Uncle Jon.
Paul and I are very similar, we like most of the same things, and we even look a little bit alike. My Aunt Jenny came too. We hadn't seen her in a while either. It was like a family reunion! She brought all these blankets and bags over that she had made. The girls picked some out to take home. She loves to sew and make things. Also, she thought that I was Paul! Can you believe it?! It was kind of funny. Of course, she hasn't seen me since I got contacts. We had sandwiches for dinner,
and jello with whipped cream for dessert. Yum! We watched a little bit of
"Who Wants to be a Millionare" and "Law and Order."
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. My cousin who just got married came over with his wife and son. Him and the babies played baseball in the backyard. We all had a great time.

Andy and Ky

I just got two new foster-brothers on Friday.
Their names are Andy and Ky (short for Kynan). Andy is 5 and Ky is 3.
Andy is sharing a room with me. Mom says that this is like a "missions trip"
for me, only I don't have to go anywhere. Because I can be an influence for Andy.

Ky is sharing a room with Gabriel. They sometimes fight over toys.
Andy loves dinosaurs! They both love Spiderman and Buzz Lightyear. Andy and Ky are very similar to eachother.

Andy has blond hair and blue eyes, and Ky has brown hair and big brown eyes.
Ky looks a lot like his parents, I think. Ky loves to give people hugs, it's so cute.

The day that they came, they went out with Dad and bought some new toys.
They got a car that has a snake in it, (it pops out) and they got this wooly mammoth.
Andy says that he's been looking for it.
Boy, were they were both excited, you should've seen them!

We brought them to the park, and people wre like, "They're so cute!"
I think it'll be fun having them with us.

Here comes Yo-Yo Ma!

Yo-Yo Ma is hitting the road — the Silk Road to China.

It's the first time since 2001 that the cellist has taken his Silk Road Project to that key region of the ancient trade route, which stretched from Europe to China.
This time, they'll be playing at the opening ceremonies of the Special Olympics in Shanghai on Oct. 2, five days before Yo-Yo-Ma's 52nd birthday.

Over the next 10 days, Yo-Yo-Ma and his more than dozen colleagues will give concerts and workshops in Suzhou, Hong Kong, and at Beijing's Forbidden City, performing some of the songs on their newly released, best-selling CD "New Impossibilities."

Yo-Yo-Ma who was born to Chinese parents in France, moved to America as a boy and studied anthropology at Harvard, started the Silk Road Project in 1998 as a way of discovering similarities in diverse cultures and increasing understanding.

The ensemble has performed in 23 countries, and recently completed a yearlong residency in Chicago.

In a recent telephone interview with The Associated Press, Ma spoke about music's role in communications and how the Silk Road Project has affected his playing of the classical repertoire. Here is the interview,

AP: Are you trying to show that diverse cultures have much in common?

Ma: I think so. This is not ideological. We're trying to just find out things. If we find something that has no connection to anything and it evolves on its own, that's great. We're not trying to prove anything. But it seems to us so far that the more we dig, the more you find there are connections.

AP: How did you get into this?

Ma: Well (laughing), I was in a pizza parlor. I was tired of practicing and said, "You know, I can't play in tune. What else can I do?" No! I got this from traveling, from learning, also from the core values from what I was taught. That, essentially, is to find the voices — first of all finding your own voice, finding another person's voice and advocating for it. The other person (can be) someone either whose music I'm playing, or from a different era. ...

If music is a great way to express our inner life, do we have access to another person's inner life? And if we had access, does that actually develop more of a sense of empathy for people around the world?

AP: Are you playing Islamic music in China, which is sensitive about its large Muslim population in the west?

Ma: Oh yeah, sure.

AP: Are you making a point of doing it?

Ma: No. Again it's not so much Islamic music. ... If we play mugham music, which is classical music of a lot of places including Azerbaijan, the art of mugham music is not unlike the art of Indian music, which is meditative. It starts quietly, it develops until you get to a moment of transcendence. It could take four hours, it could take 40 minutes. It's also what Beethoven tried to do. You get to the first movement of Beethoven's violin concerto. You get to that moment where you break free. You earned it! ... You get to the divine! You get to the clouds! And that's what Sufi poetry and music tries to get to. Not so different.

AP: Would you play Jewish klezmer music in Iran if you had the opportunity to go?

Ma: Of course.

AP: What do you think the reception would be?

Ma: I don't know because I haven't been to Iran. It's such a hypothetical question because I would always look at something on a case-by-case basis. ... We always look at it from a respectful point of view and also from our core philosophical point of view. So I can't comment because otherwise it would be ideological.

AP: Is the Silk Road Project going to continue indefinitely?

Ma: I don't know. So much of it is funding. ... We're actually going to celebrate our 10th anniversary in '08. ... It's possible that I should not be artistic director and someone else takes over. I'm not gunning for a job in the best sense of the word. I'm not holding on to say this is the way it has to be. I love the ensemble. It's like family to me. We've really had so many incredible adventures and experiences together. And I've learned so much from my friends, and I hope, I think my friends would say they've learned a lot from me, too.

AP: Do I read you as saying you are disengaging from the Silk Road Project?

Ma: No, no. I'm actually happily engaged. What you are reading is that I don't have a plan. Because I think the best plans are made when everybody listens to each other and gets the reality check from each place that we know. So I think if I ever felt very strongly about something I think we must go and do this.

AP: People have written that you are tired of the standard classical repertoire. Are you?

Ma: Absolutely not. I am so excited every time I go on stage because to me it's a sacred moment, this communion with people and you are trying to share something with people that you deeply believe in. I've learned that from playing with Kayhan (Iranian musician Kayhan Kalhor), the guy who wrote "Silent City," because Kayhan (has held) onto these traditions. When he plays a note on his bow the kamanche — it's an ancestor of the cello — you hear the difference between sound and silence and noise and breathing. I look at it and I'm trying to do his motions and just get into his space, and that space is so wide. And then I'm thinking, "OK, I can bring that to the second theme of the Dvorak Cello Concerto."

AP: So you really learned a lot from the musicians of the Silk Road Project?

Ma: Absolutely. Not just in terms of an informational way, ... but also in terms of approach and the deep respect and spirituality for something. ...

None of this stuff is not emotional. It's about meaning, it's about life. It's where you put yourself in life. ... I'm trying to express it in a number of ways but it always comes back to the same thing — how much we care.


Here's some links,

http://www.silkroadproject.org/

http://www.yo-yoma.com/

Fall Time!

Here we go, into fall.
The giant, raked up leaf piles call!
Time to get out long shirts and jeans.
It's time for Thanksgiving, and Halloween!
Columbus Day too,
In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue!
At Halloween, it's time for witches and ghosts,
I bet we'll get more candy than most!
The leaves change color, from green to red,
and all the flowers go to bed.
It's fall!

Going once...Going twice...Going three times...SOLD!!

An art collection belonging to the late cellist Mstislav Rostropovich was sold to a Russian billionaire for over $40 million!

Alisher Usmanov, one of Russia's richest men,
said he bought the trove of Russian artworks in order to return them to their homeland.
This is especially meaningful to Mr. Rostropovich's wife, Galina Vishneskaya and her family.
In a statement, Ms. Vishnevskaya's family said they were delighted the collection had been bought whole.

"It is especially meaningful for our family that the new owner will bring it to Russia," the statement said.

Mr. Usmanov, who is involved in mining, telecoms and natural gas and was ranked 278th in Forbes magazine's list of the world's richest people in 2006. He recently bought a 15% stake in London's Arsenal soccer team for $150 million.

Mr. Rostropovich, who died in April at age 80, was considered one of the finest cellists of the 20th century.
He fled the Soviet Union in the early 1970s after sheltering the dissident writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, settling in Paris with his wife, soprano Galina Vishnevskaya.

The couple amassed one of the world's finest private collections of Russian art, including glassware, porcelain and works by leading painters such as Ilya Repin and Boris Grigoriev.

After Mr. Rostropovich's death, Ms. Vishnevskaya announced that they would sell the paintings for the benefit of charitable foundations.

Mr. Rostropovich and Ms. Vishnevskaya set up a foundation to raise the standards of healthcare for children in Russia.

Here's the address of the news article.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070917/ap_en_ot/people_rostropovich_sale;_ylt=AiwGlbbGeWJnW67.Gdt55BC2GL8C

and here's the address of the Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich foundation,

http://www.rostropovich.org/

We're back!

Well, we are back from our camping trip!
The first night there it was so hot and humid!
The next day, we got to go to the pool. It has this big waterslide,
Olivia and Dad played a trick on me and told me that it was
really tiny, barely a slide at all. Boy was I surprised when I saw it was huge!
They are so dead! The pool was really fun, mom didn't go, she stayed at the cabin to write her book.
We made smores that night at the campfire, and it started raining right afterwards.
Olivia, Claire, and I played in the rain, fun!
Oh, and we got chased by a bee!
We had fun though!

Ginn Family Vacation!

We are going camping this weekend! Woo hoo!
we are going to Shakamak State Park, it's near Terre Haute.
We'll be staying in a cabin instead of a tent for the first time.
Oh! and there is a pool, and it has waterslides! Yay!
This is our chance to relax and have fun as a family.
Olivia and I wish that the Blanchards could come with us,
but they went to Pensacola for their vacation. This sounds really fun.
We leave on Friday night.

Oh, and we're not moving into the donkey house after all.
Our realtor didn't put in an offer fast enough, and these other people did, so we didn't get the house.
Darn! My parents were so mad. I'm bummed, but I guess that God didn't want us to move there.

In His Hands...

Well, we went to go look at a house in New Palestine a while ago.
It's amazing! It has a stone fireplace that goes from floor to ceiling.
The house is handicap accessible so if my dad or Nate ever went into a wheelchair, it would be fine.
There is one and a half acres too. And it has donkeys! Oh, and two dead people. A mother and a baby buried in 1918. Eh...
There is a barn too. The great room is gigantic! The whole house is just amazing. I like it much better than the one in Pendleton. My parents love it too. And it's only ten minutes away from the church. So, we went to look at it on Friday, and my parents wanted to put in an offer right then and there, but our realtor didn't make on fast enough so some other people made an offer and it was accepted!!!
Maybe God doesn't want us to have this house, or he does but He's making us wait. We could still make an offer if we sell our house quick. Speaking of that, we've all gone into heavy-duty cleaning mood. We emptying out the house and stuff.
I wonder how this will turn out. Only God knows. we should trust Him that He'll show us what he wants for us.

Not Impressed...

Well, we went to visit that house yesterday.
I'm not impressed by it.

The downstairs has more rooms than our downstairs, but they seem tinier.
There is a fireplace in the dining room that's covered in blue tiles. It doesn't work, but it looks really nice.
The kitchen is tiny, very tiny, good luck trying to fit a table in there. And it doesn't even have a dishwasher!
There is a sunroom that looks out to the backyard. There is a fountain in the backyard.
Oh, there's tons of closets too. Everywhere!

The upstairs was nice, it had two bedrooms and a bathroom.
The two rooms were big though. The stairs are very steep! You could fall easily.
There was stained glass above the doors too.

I like our house a lot better than that one. Our house seems brighter and roomier.
Easier to get around. I do like some parts of that house. Maybe 30% of it. Though I seem to be outvoted.
I think everyone else likes it. My mom is going to go see a house in New Palestine tonight though.
I wonder how she'll like that house.

His Will be Done...

My parents are thinking about moving out to a historic Victorian house they found in Pendleton.
We're going to see the inside of it tomorrow. It has a huge yard.
We've driven by the house a few times, it's really old, built in 1899, I think.
Pendleton is a LOT smaller than Noblesville.
It's quieter, not as much hustle and bustle going on. Not as much busy traffic either.
I guess I would describe it as quaint, it reminds me of the historic district in Noblesville, though not as busy.

There is a park nearby to the house, we could ride our bikes over to it.
I don't really want to move, I like where we are now, but maybe I'm just not giving it enough of a chance.
I guess Pendleton isn't so far away, but I just like that we are settled in here and everything.
We'd have to make new friends too. I just don't know...
I guess it would be nice to have a big yard, (poor Olivia, she'd have to mow it)
I'm sure I'll have a better opinion after we see the inside.

Well, if God wants us to move, He'll tell us, I'm sure.
I think that those words from the Lords Prayer apply here,
"Your Kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven"

Happy Independence Day!

Yesterday was the Fourth of July,
happy 231st birthday America!
We had tons of fun, we went to TWO parades,
set off our own fireworks, AND watched the fireworks at the high school!
We went to the Carmel parade in the morning. It was kind of, well...boring.
Then we went to Cici's Pizza for lunch. They have the BEST Macaroni pizza! It was so good!
After that, we came home and acted lazy for a few hours, then we went to the Noblesville parade.
It has better candy than the Carmel one, we all agreed. (Just how spoiled are we that we can debate which parades have better candy?!) Anyway, the Noblesville parade was a lot more interesting than the Carmel one. Want to hear something funny? We sat right on top of a sewer! It was very stinky. We moved away from it. Our friend Kaitlin was in the marching band. She was waving flags. It was fun to see her in the parade. We went and bought our own fireworks. Olivia and I went a bit overboard! ;) We got some really cool ones! We set them off right after dinner. The fireworks at the high school were pretty good too. All in all, it was a fun day.

Alaska+me=NOT HAPPY!

Would I rather live in a cold climate like Alaska, or a hot climate like Florida?

Well, this is a no-brainer! I would MUCH rather live in Florida! No offense to the people who live in Alaska, but living in a place where it's lucky to reach 50 degrees in the summertime is NOT my cup of tea!

Alaska is full of natural splendor of course, much of it unspoiled, since there are less than a million people living there.
There's a lot of wide open space, but, I would much rather be getting a tan than freezing my buns off when it's 3 degrees outside! Alaska seems cold, barren, and even forbidding to me. Harsh winter climate for most of the year followed by a short summer, well... it's just not my thing.

Florida has beautiful beaches, Oh! And Disney World! Who doesn't want to go to Disney World?!
Anyway, it's probably warmer in Florida in winter than it is in Alaska in summer!
Of course, you have to deal with sunburn, (ouch!) hurricanes, (yikes!) and being hot and sweaty. (ehh...)
I'd rather be warm than cold any day, wouldn't you?

Freedom Symbol

I stand on the boat that will take me too see her.
She is the Statue of Liberty-
the guardian of New York Harbor,

New York City has already disappeared
in a misty cover of grayish-white clouds-
Oh look! I see her, Lady Liberty,
silently watching the world go around
from her high perch on the pedestal.

I step off of the boat, and see booths,
booths selling postcards and souvenirs with her face on them.
The Statue of Liberty,
one of the symbols of the United States.
I see tourists, like myself,
walking nonchalantly around her,
Some are sitting down,
or taking pictures.
I look up and I can see Lady Liberty's torch.
The torch that she has held for decades,
her treasure that she will not part with for eternity,
I look higher,
and see birds soaring lazily
around her head and crown.

As I step back onto the boat,
I look around,
and realize just how much America
has changed in the past one-hundred and fifty years-
What would this spot have looked like
Lady Liberty made her voyage across the sea?
Oh well, no more time for contemplating now,
it's time to leave...

As I take one more look at the Statue of Liberty,
I think that even Lady Liberty has changed herself,
on the outside,
her gleaming coat of copper has faded
from shiny-as-a-new-penny bronze,
to a bright sea green,
but through this, she has remained herself,
always watching-
I take a last look ,
and see her fading into the distance.
The world's symbol of peace and freedom.
Bobbing and sputtering across the choppy waves,
the boat that I am standing on carries me away.

-Parker Ginn

I wrote this poem quite a few months ago, November of 2006, I believe.
Olivia and I were in writing class, and our writing teacher asked us to write a poem about, well, anything.
I chose to write about a place we had gone on our vacation.

Summertime

School will be out in a couple of days,
We can spend our summer in so many different ways.
Going to the pool swimming our hearts out,
or watching TV, rotting our brains out!
There are so many things that we could do,
like watching the the movie, High School Musical 2!
In July, when it's swelteringly hot,
we'll celebrate Claire's b-day, we all love her a lot!
Now it's time to go outside and work in the yard,
Whoo, I'm getting warm, this work is so hard!
Now it's August, vacation's almost done,
well, it's back to school, we've had tons of fun!

Back in Action!

Well, I'm back! I haven't written in my blog in a long time.
I've been really busy! Summer vacation will be starting soon! Yay!
We'll get to go to the pool and have fun! The summer's just begun!
My little brother, Gabriel, will be two on May 26th! Happy Birthday Gabe!
My little sister, Olivia, is now a teenager! She doesn't like it when I call her my little sister. :)
Claire is the same, doing good in school, playing with her friends.
My mom and dad are doing fine too.
Our house is no less noisy, still too loud for most people, I think.

I'm really excited because I'm going to get a new game for my Nintendo DS soon, hopefully.
It's called Trauma Center: Under the Knife. Morbid title, I know, but it looks fun.
It's a medical sim where you play a rookie surgeon straight out of medical school.
It's an action game where you not shooting people, but helping them instead!
It didn't get sucky reviews either. That's good.
Normally, I steer clear of medical shows and the like, because I hate too much blood, but this game doesn't look too graphic.

Overall, I'm doing just fine right now.
Gotta go make plans for summer!

Well, I just finished "Call of the Wild" by Jack London,. and I must say that it is very good, but it can be confusing at times. I liked it, but it wasn't my favorite, as it didn't hold my attention. Which is rare.

If I BANG MY LUNCHBAG IN YOUR EAR!!!!

This silly poem was one of my favorites when I was younger.

Making Faces

Don't you know
that if you make
that awful face,

you know the one
eyelids pulled down,
nose pulled up,
tongue between your fingers-yuck!

and if I tiptoe up behind you on my ghost-feet sneakers,
and I

BANG MY LUNCH BAG IN YOUR EAR

Hah!
your face is going to stay that way forever!

By Michael Spooner

Get ready, Superman fans!

You've read the comics, seen the TV shows and movies, and maybe you've even worn the costumes for Halloween.

Now you can visit the American Super Heroes Museum in Indianapolis. The museum opened on March 31.

Its founder, Dane Nash, was fascinated with Superman as a child. He opened the museum to showcase his large collection of Superman, Batman and other memorabilia - including costumes worn on TV and in films from the 1930s on, according to The Indianapolis Star.

Mr. Nash also plans to eventually display his replica of the Batmobile — a Corvette engine and a capsule over the driving compartment that pops up and slides back. I'm sure people would come from far and wide to see that!

The museum, at 20 W. Louisiana St., is open Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. and Sundays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Details at http://www.heroesmuseum.com/ or 317-687-1938. Admission is $5; free for kids under 8.

If you want to feel like a bird...

*I'm scared.*
*Why are you scared? It's so cool up here.*
*We are 4,000 feet above the ground!*
*Get me off of here!*
--------------------------------------

Walking gingerly across the translucent surface, visitors hear the glass layers creak. Far below, directly underfoot, they see the Colorado River as a pea-green ribbon.

"It felt wonderful; not exactly like floating on air," said former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who once walked on the surface of the moon and on Tuesday became one of the first to stroll onto the Grand Canyon Skywalk, a massive glass-bottom observation deck perched 4,000 feet above the canyon's floor.

The deck, which juts 70 feet beyond the canyon's edge, will accommodate up to 200 guests at a time, and offer a bone-chilling vantage point more than twice as high as the world's tallest buildings!

The Hualapai Indian tribe invited Buzz Aldrin, fellow former astronaut John Herrington, and others to the unveiling of the horseshoe-shaped deck last Tuesday for an advance showing of the Skywalk, which opened on March 28th.

The Hualapai (pronounced WALL-uh-pie) allowed Las Vegas developer David Jin to build the Skywalk, which took two years to construct. Mr. Jin provided the money to build the $30 million structure, and will give it to the Hualapai in exchange for a cut of the profits, the tribe said.

"To me, I believe this is going to help us. We don't get any help from the outside, so, why not?" said Dallas Quasula Sr., 74, a tribal elder. "This is going to be our bread and butter."

The Skywalk has sparked debate on and off the reservation. Many Hualapai worry about disturbing nearby burial sites, and environmentalists have blamed the tribe for transforming the majestic canyon into a tourist trap.

Tribal elder Dolores Honga, 71, said she remembers riding horses in the area when it was a remote patch of grassland. Her grandparents once herded cattle here.

"I still don't agree with what's going on here," she said. "There's so many memories here. This was my playground."

Here is the official website.

http://www.grandcanyonskywalk.com/

and here is a news page with more about the Skwalk, including pricing, and information about accomodations. It's also very well written, I think.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20070329/ap_tr_ge/travel_trip_grand_canyon_skywalk;_ylt=AnJ_MN2iVUc2enrs7RsMRhQ8sM0F

If you go...

PRICE: Visitors must pay anywhere from $74.95 to $199 to walk on the Skywalk, depending on what other activities they do. (The tribe advertises a $49.95 rate on its Web site, but that just lets you "view" the Skywalk, not walk on it.)

The Hualapai also offer Hummer tours and helicopter trips, a museum of Indian houses and a cowboy town. You also can take a ride to another part of the canyon called Guano Point, where a hiking path will take you over a thin strip of land with cliffs on either side. Details at http://www.destinationgrandcanyon.com/inclusive.html or 877-716-9378.

LOCATION: The Skywalk is far from the canyon's South Rim, where most visitors go to visit the national park. The Hualapai live on the remote western edge of the canyon, about five hours by car from the South Rim and four hours by car from Flagstaff.

Macedonia: a gem undiscovered

Macedonia is a landlocked country in the heart of the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Serbia to the north, and Bulgaria to the east. The capital city is Skopje, with over 700,000 people. Macedonia declared it's independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.

Famous Macedonians include Alexander the Great, and his father Philip II, and Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, better known as Mother Teresa. The Egyptian queen, Cleopatra has also been credited as being born in Macedonia.

Macedonia is home to scenic mountains and lakes. Macedonian cities, Skopje and Bitola especially, are home to some of the world's most beautiful buildings, mostly old churches and towers.

Skopje is the largest city in Macedonia, and it is also the administrative and political center of Macedonia. Skopje plays a vital part in the cultural and academic life of the country. It is home to the Macedonian Academy of Science and Arts, many universities, the National Library, and many of the country's Drama, Opera, and Ballet companies. The Philharmonic Orchestra of Macedonia, and the Museums of Macedonia (archaeological, historical, ethnological) are also located in Skopje.
The academic achievements of the Maceonians are very impressive. Macedonia is in the 25th place out of 38 countries in the international achievements of mathematics and science.
Skopje was hit by a devastating earthquake in 1963 that killed thousands of people, as the country is very seismically active.

As to the political side of things, there it isn't so strong.
While Macedonia has strong ties with Turkey and Bulgaria, it's gotten into skirmishes with Albania, and that has ravaged the economy, leaving the government very weak. Macedonia is a member of the UN, and is seeking to join NATO and the European Union. I love the flag!

The Macedonian Orthodox Church is center of religion, meaning that most of the people are Christians.

If you want more information about Macedonia, visit these websites.

http://www.mymacedonia.net/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Macedonia

Here is a poem I wrote about our dog, Owen.

Owen is the family dog, he is so cute!
He makes us laugh, he is a hoot!
When he wants to play,
sometimes we say, "go away!"
When he wants to eat,
he comes and whimpers at our feet.
when he goes to the door,
get the leash, he knows what it's for!
So when in doubt,
take him out!
He's hyper and merry,
and sometimes he's scary!
We're lucky to have him,
the little ball of fire,
Let's just hope that soon he will tire!

An act of generosity

Dorie-Ann Kahale and her five daughters moved from a homeless shelter to a mansion Thursday, courtesy of a real estate mogul who is handing over eight of his multi-million dollar mansions to low-income Native Hawaiian families.

Billionaire Genshiro Kawamoto, who hails from Japan says that he plans to open eight of his tewnty-two mansions in Kahala, Hawaii to benefit needy Hawaiian families. They will be able to stay in the houses for up to ten years. He also gave each family $1,000 to help them move in. For Dorie-Ann Kahale, this is a godsend! Many tears of thankfulness spilled down Ms. Kahale's cheeks as the key to her new home were handed to her personally by Mr. Kawamoto.
Ms. Kahale became homeless two years ago when her landlord raised her rent, putting it out of reach with her current salary.
"What we need to do is appreciate," Ms. Kahale said after getting the keys to her new house. "As fast as we got it, it could disappear." She was one of over three thousand low income Native Hawaiian families picked by Mr. Kawamoto to move into his mansions. She certainly was grateful! "I'm shocked. I'm overwhelmed," She said. "From the little box we had to what we have today."

Her house is worth over five million dollars! Although that amount must seem like pocket money to Mr. Kawamoto.
Mr. Kawamoto faced criticism after evicting tenants in his rental homes so he could sell the property, as in 2002, when he gave California renters 30 days to leave. He has done this three more times since then. So whether he is doing this out of the goodness of his heart, or just to improve his image, I don't know. I should hope it is the former! However it is, some of his neighbors are accusing him of doing this just to drive down real estate values and snap up more homes. Mr. Kawamoto countered that "The people who don't want to live near Hawaiians should move." His arguments seem genuine, but I do hope this isn't for publicity or anything. Not that he really needs it...

Mr. Kawamoto owns many offices in Tokyo, Japan, and has been buying and selling real estate in Hawaii and California since the 1980s. Ms. Lyn Worley, who moved into another Kawamoto house said, "We prayed so hard and cried so much for God to drop something from the skies, and he did." "He did, he really, really did."

My Reading List

What's on your reading list right now?
At the moment, I've just finished "Bridge to Terabithia," because I want to go see the movie.
I hear it's gotten good reviews.
I'm reading, "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn," and "Tribulation Force," the second book in the "Left Behind Series."
Next up on my reading list is "Call Of The Wild." (my dad suggested it)
I also like the "Elsie Dinsmore Series". They're kind of old,
and sometimes they use Old English language! (Thee, Thy, Thou, etc.) not very often though...
But, they're really good, and the main character is a Christian.
And, call me weird, but, I like reading Consumer Reports! Ha Ha!

The Find of a Lifetime

*What is this thing?!*
*It's huge!*
*I think it's mica.*
*Me too.*
*Walks over to a park official*
*Excuse me, what is this? We think it's mica.*
*Uh boys, that's not mica...OH MY GOSH!!! IT'S A DIAMOND!!!!*
*It's a diamond?!?*
-----------------------------------------------------

A pair of eight year old twin boys have made an amazing discovery!
The Duncans were at the Crater of Diamonds State Park, located in Arkansas for a weekend vacation.
Little did they know that there, they would make the discovery of a lifetime!
The Duncan twins found a 2.50 carat raw diamond!
At first, the twins thought it was a piece of mica; but when they found out it was a diamond,
"There were many 'woo hoos and high fives exchanged," said Rachel Engrecht of Crater of Diamonds State Park.

Another park official said that the stone could be worth several thousand dollars. (Or more!)
He described the stone as, "having a metallic sparkling look, and almost heart shaped."
The diamond has been named, "The Duncan Twins," after the boys who found it.

A Living Nightmare

*AHHH!!! We're about to crash!*
*Huh? What?!*
*Rubs eyes*
*CRASH*
*I gotta get out of here!*
*I can't move!...I'm losing conciousness...*
-----------------------------------

Kyle King, a survivor of the bus crash that killed four of his Bluffton University teammates,
remembers everything about the crash, including the scream that woke him just before impact.

The bus driver's wife's scream penetrated his headphones.
Then came the sound of tires screeching, and the impact,
as the bus slammed into the concrete barrier on an overpass and plummeted to the ground below.
The bus driver, his wife, and four students died, and others were seriously injured.

Kyle made it out of the bus through the shattered windshield before collapsing completely on Interstate 75.
Once he was out, he found stopped cars all around him. "I felt like a deer in the headlight" he said later.
He then fell into unconciousness.
Kyle said later that he honestly thought he had died.

Kyle recalls the entire scene later in front of reporters.
"I woke up to the driver's wife screaming, and it was all slow motion,"
he said, with tears rolling down his face. "She said something like, 'This isn't the exit ramp'
and then I remember the bus driver saying something, and I actually heard the tires squeal in front of him, trying to get it back under control. And then I felt the bus turn into the guard."

Kyle made it out alive, but with a broken back. It required over six hours of surgery to correct.
With therapy, he is expected to walk again.
several of Kyle's teammates remain in critical or fair condition at a couple of hospitals scattered around Atlanta, Georgia.
The rest of the students escaped with bruises or broken bones, and returned home to Ohio last weekend.

I can't imagine what Kyle has gone through. Imagine a little trip to go play baseball turning into what sounds like a living nightmare!

School on the world wide web

"What school do you go to? I go to school on the computer."
Imagine your grade-schooler going to school on the computer!
Parents will now have another option when choosing a school for their children, a new public virtual school.
Teachers, students, and The Children's Museum of Indianapolis board members showcased the new program on Tuesday morning. (At the Children's Museum) A similar program is already in use in Ohio. Textbooks and workbooks are part of the program. (Blah!) They are shipped to the student at no cost. The program is web-based.

G*A*S*P!!!!
The sky is falling!!!
No, not really.
The moon will turn shades of amber and crimson, in the first total lunar eclipse in three years.
The eclipse will be at least partly visible from Asia to the Americas, although residents of Africa, Europe,
and the Middle East will have the best view.

Lunar eclipses happen when the earth passes between the sun and the moon, blocking the sun's light.
This is rare, because the moon spends most of it's time either above or below the plane of the earth's orbit.

Although it will pass completely under the Earth's shadow, light from the sun will still reach the moon after being refracted through the Earth's atmosphere, giving it an eerie dark-reddish tinge.
eastern Australia and New Zealand will miss the show all together.
The next total lunar eclipse will occur on August 28th.

If you would like more info, visit these sites.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070302/ap_on_sc/lunar_eclipse;_ylt=AqY2Eby3PO.F46V9fiW8jzlxieAA

or,

http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/lunar.html

Is it Jesus' tomb?

Could it be? Have they really found Jesus' tomb?
Ten ossuaries, or limestone bone boxes found in a tomb in Talpiot, Jerusalem are now being credited as holding the bones of Jesus and His family. They were found by a construction crew building an apartment complex.
They were found on March 28, 1980. The names inscripted on the ossuaries were, Jesus, Mary, Matthew, Joseph, Mary Magdalene, and Judah. Note that those were common names for the first century B.C.

This article says that if the evidence supports it, that Jesus could have been married to Mary Magdalene, and they could've had a baby boy named Judah. This theory was popularized by "The Da Vinci Code." I don't think that's true. Now, there has been a lot of controversy because some scientists belive that the baby Judah was the baby described as "sleeping in Jesus' lap" at the Last Supper in the gospel of John. I don't really know what to think of that. The Bible says that Jesus welcomed the little children, so the child could have been someone else's, but I don't know how many people present at the Last Supper had children. Of course, all these theories are completely opposite of what the Christian faith states. As I am a Christian, I can't help thinking these theories are wrong. The evidence stated in the Bible just doesn't support it.

Amos Kloner, a scholar, states that this is a tomb of a well to do Jewish family. He says that the names are just a coincidence.
He is adamant that there is no evidence to support claims that it was the tomb of Jesus. I believe he is right on!
He said, "There's no way to take a religous story and turn it into something scientific."

If you want more information, visit this website.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070226/ts_alt_afp/usisraelreligionchristianityarchaeologyfilm;_ylt=AmnD0pIkJiSu9.5lDV98ylBH2ocA

Wonder of Nature

It's a wonder of nature!
A beaver was spotted in New York City for the first time in two hundred years.
The beaver was found in the Bronx River, the once dirty river that runs through the Bronx Zoo.
Biologists named the beaver, Jose; after U.S. Representative, Jose Serrano,
for his work to revive and clean up the Bronx River.
Mr. Serrano had secured over fourteen million dollars for the Bronx River cleanup.

New York City (or New Amsterdam, as it was called when beavers had still lived there)
was once full of beavers, but amid heavy trapping, their numbers dwindled.
In fact, beaver trapping was the driving force of New Amsterdam's economy in the eighteenth century.
All the beavers were gone from the New York City area by the early 1800s, and they were almost extinct by 1930.

Jose's twig and mud lodge had been spotted on the shores of the river earlier.
The beavers have been making a comeback into the area east of the Mississippi River, where they haven't been in over two hundred years. In the words of John Calvelli, "If you give wildlife a chance, it will come back."

I'm blind! I can't see!

I can't see? Wait! Why can't I see!
My sight is failing! I'm going blind!
No, you're not crazy, it could be glaucoma.

Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that gradually steal sight without any warning.
About half of the people affected by glaucoma don't even know they have it.
Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness. Around three million people have it.
Everyone is at risk for glaucoma,
but African-Americans and senior citizens are at a higher risk.
Vision loss is caused by damage to the optic nerve,
which carries images from the eye to the brain.
Glaucoma sometimes accompanies people who are near or farsighted.
Or people with lots of pressure on the optic nerve.
People usually don't know that they have glaucoma until, a. they start having significant vision loss,
or b. they get tested at an opthamologist and are positive.

Heureux Mardi Gras!

Happy Fat Tuesday everyone!
And for all those people who don't know what Fat Tuesday is, (like me, for that matter)
I'll go do some research on it.

Parker is entering research mode. He will be back momentarily.

...

Parker is entering broadcasting mode. Starting initialization...

Okay! Well, Fat Tuesday is the beggining of the climax of Mardi Gras.
For the non-french speakers, Mardi means Tuesday, and Gras means Fat.
Fat Tuesday always occurs on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.
The festivities end at midnight, when Lent begins.
So, Heureux Mardi Gras!
Translation: Happy Fat Tuesday!
(Not sure if I used the right French saying for happy, there are too many!)

end broadcast...

Winter Fun

Yesterday, my dad took my sisters and I sledding. I think it was the most fun I've had this winter. We went to a park near where we live; where there are a few gigantic hills. From the top, the trees looked as if the had been put in a shrinking machine.

Our sleds, with us on them, flew down the hill, spinning round and round like tops. It was as if we were on a roller coaster! Only more exciting, because there were no safety bars. It gave me the butterflies! Then comes the long climb back up the hill, after being dumped unceremoniously into the snow. We are so anxious to get back to the top, the climb seem to take forever, like trudging up a million stairs. My legs felt like cooked noodles. The place was crowded with other families, looking for a day of fun. I was a big klutz in my snowsuit, and half of the time, I ended up flipping upside-down into the snow! My sisters wiped out a few times too. One of the hills had the most horrible speed bumps! I went down, and didn't see the bumps, and when I hit the ground, I'm sure I heard a crack. (Hope it wasn't me) My bottom hurt so bad!

The time seemed to fly by, and before we knew it, my dad was calling us back to the car. Our bottoms hurt, and our legs were as wobbly as noodles, but we had a fantastic time! After that, my Uncle Pete came over to our house, and we had KFC for dinner. What a treat!

What do you like to do during the cold winter? When it's cold, there is only one other thing that I like to do more than going sledding. Guess what it is. Do you give up? It's going to the library! The library has to be one of my favorite places to go.

Happy Birthday!!!

Three rare white tiger cubs were born at the Buenos Aires zoo on December 23rd.
The tigers made their public debut on Thursday.
The tiger triplets do not yet have names, but visitors to the zoo are asked to contribute ideas.
There are only 250 or so white tigers left in captivity.
These tigers are a genetic variation of the better known bengal tigers.
Their used to be over 100,000 white tigers in the wild,
but poaching and deforestation have reduced those numbers down to about 5-7,000.
The cubs's mother and father are Bety and Conde.

Here is two news websites,

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070209/ap_on_sc/argentina_white_tiger_cubs

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070208/sc_nm/tigers_argentina_dc

Doomed love...

It's Romeo and Juliet from prehistoric times!
Archaeologists in Italy have found the skeletons of a man and a woman people hugging!
The archaeologists say that the skeletons are over five thousand years old!
"It's an extraodinary case!" says archaeologist Elena Menotti, who led the team on the dig near Mantova, in northern Italy.
This is the first double burial found in the Neolithic period.
Ms. Menotti thinks that the couple was young, because their teeth were not worn down.
Near the couple, archaeologists found a few flint tools, and a knife.
Archaeologists say that the pose the young couple was found in suggests a sudden and tragic death.
Experts will now study the artifacts, and try to determine when the couple died.
I would totally freak out if I found two skeletons! (I hate dead bodies!)

Here are two news websites.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070206/sc_nm/italy_embrace_dc

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070207/ap_on_sc/italy_prehistoric_love_7;_ylt=ArIbNVEwELAtA5.ZQLPF3boiANEA

Being a good sport

WOO HOO!!! WE WON THE SUPERBOWL!!!!!!!!!
Everyone here in Indy is going crazy about it!
I think it's very interesting that Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith are both Christians.
Being a Christian changes the way you look at sports.
It's not just about winning, but more glorifying God in the way you act.
Like, not swearing when something goes wrong, or being a good sport when you lose.
I really think that the way that a coach acts around his team influences the way they play. It's just an opinion though.
At one point in the game, one of the Bears started a fight, and I'm really impressed with the way Lovie Smith handled it.
He took the player aside and told him that was not the way they did things around there! Good for him!
Actually, even the way you act around your family influences how they act, I've noticed...

Here is the address for a website about Lovie Smith's and Tony Dungy's viewpoints.

http://beyondtheultimate.org/

It's not a cold, it's RSV!

My little brother, Nathan is in the hospital right now, sick with RSV, which stands for Respiratory Syncytial Virus.
RSV is an infection of the lungs, and is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in infants under one year old.
People with RSV display symtoms similar to the common cold, so RSV is sometimes misdiagnosed, or not detected. RSV is spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes on another person. RSV is more common in infants, but older children and adults can get it too. RSV is more severe in premature infants, or people with compromised immune systems.
RSV can cause damage to the immune system or the lungs if it is left untreated. RSV is highly contagious. Only 0.5% to 2% of people with RSV are hospitalized. Well, I guess my little brother is one of those people!

A Great Leader...

This world has seen many great leaders, such as Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill, among others. But the greatest leader of all was Jesus. He was scorned, mocked, and spat upon, and He could easily have just given up and gone back up to heaven to live with God, but Jesus stayed on earth till His death. Not to mention, He also led His disciples, convincing them when they didn't believe in Him. Jesus had more patience than all of us combined. He had to convince people that He was the Messiah. Not an easy task! He was also compassionate, healing the sick, and caring for children. Jesus was courageous, learning about His death before it happened. I would freak! Jesus also socialized with people that society mocked. Such as tax collectors, and the sick and lame. Jesus set a good example for all who saw Him, He influenced many, and had tons of followers, yet He died the death of a criminal.

Jesus led His disciples on the Sea of Galilee, when they were doubting Him, and at the feeding of the 5,000 when again, His disciples doubted His abilities. These stories are found in Matthew 14.

In my opinion, being a leader is much harder than people make it out to be. A leader has to make split-second decisions, (something I am NOT good at!) and while being a leader is not about being popular, he or she should try to stay on good terms with everyone. Really not an easy task! A leader has to stay calm under pressure, because how he or she acts influences everyone else. A leader is often blamed when things go wrong, even if it isn't their fault. Look at Jesus, toward the end of His life on earth, He was blamed for many things that were not His fault. He was hated by the Jews, and was accused for blasphemy.

I am reading a Christian series called Left Behind: The Kids. It is about the end times, and the series begins with the Rapture, you know, when all the Christians are taken away to Heaven? Well, it follows four kids, three of which have had Christian families and backgrounds, but they themselves never became Christians. Later in the series, there are two evangelists sent by God, and they are blamed when God sends plagues to get peoples attention. I also read this book about Christian Brother Yun, and how he was persecuted by the government of China for twenty years because he led the house churches that the government so despised. Sorry if I'm writing too much! Just tell me if I went overboard!

Letters from the Franks! Read all about it!!

Some letters have been found that may shed light light on the family of Anne Frank.
The letters, sent from Anne's father, Otto, to friends and family, document his efforts to try to get his family out of Holland.
The letters say that Otto had tried to get Edith, (his wife) Anne, Margot, (Anne's sister) and his mother-in-law out of Holland before January 1943. Unfortunately, it didn't work. The Nazi police caught them, and they were sent off to concentration camps across Europe. Anne had left her diary in the annex where her family was hiding, hoping that she would come back.
She never did, but Otto Frank came back and published Anne's diary as a book. It has sold over forty million copies!
Otto Frank was the only Frank who made it out of the concentration camps alive. Anne died of typhus at age fifteen at Bergen-Belsen, a Polish camp. Otto died in 1980, but not before establishing the Anne Frank Foundation, which has turned the secret annex into a museum.

The letters were actually found over a year ago, but YIVO, the Jewish research center in New York where the letters are being held, was afraid to let it be known, fearing legal battles. They will finally be revealed to the public on Febuary 14th, 2007.
The letters themselves were written between April 30th, 1941, and December 11th, 1941.

Here is the news website,

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070125/ap_on_re_us/otto_frank_letters

YIVO's website,

http://www.yivo.org/

and the Anne Frank Foundation website.

http://www.annefrank.ch/

At a loss for words (or topics) to write about...

Well, let's see. What to write about today...
I couldn't find anything interesting in the news. (unless you call someone falling in a lake news...)
The only really big news around here IS THAT THE COLTS MADE IT TO THE SUPERBOWL!!!!! GO COLTS!!!!!
This is the first time they've made since when? Let's just see how far they get...
Peyton Manning hurt his hand a few days ago. I hope he'll be fine in time for the game against the Bears.

My dad's birthday is today! Say Happy Birthday, everybody!!
Well, how was everyone else's day? I've been sick the last few days, so mine have been rather, oh, how do you put it? Boring, and kind of monotonous. Even hazy. I blame it on my headaches.

Sea Turtles' vacation

Some thirty or so sea turtles from Texas are getting a break basking under heat lamps this winter.
An arctic blast caused the water in the Gulf of Mexico to plummet eighteen degrees!
The cold-blooded turtles were comatose when volunteers scooped them out of the water and brought them to the University of Texas marine labratory, and Sea Turtle Inc., a rescue center, where they were put under lamps until they revived. The turtles are now being held in sixty-eight degree water while they recuperate.

The water dropped to the mid-thirties last Monday, and warmed up only to the fiftys by Thursday.
By then, it was too late. The turtles' systems shut down, and they started washing up on shore.
The volunteers named each of the turtles. One turtle lost one of its flippers as a result of a predator taking advantage of the turtles' lethargy.

Here is the site address,

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070119/ap_on_re_us/sea_turtles

Winter=FUN!

This is a poem that I wrote about winter.

Winter Wonderland
By Parker

It's winter, and it's freezing out there,
But's let's go outside, it's cold, but we don't care!
Let's build a snow fort, maybe some snowmen,
Then we'll have a snowball fight, throw snowballs again and again!
After that, rush inside and wrap that last gift,
Because Christmas will be here before you know it!

Now it's Christmas time, and snow's on the ground,
Around the blazing fire we'll all gather around.
Drinking hot chocolate, we'll read a Christmas story,
of Jesus's birth, Oh glory of glories!
Of angels proclaiming his birth up above,
Of Him sleeping soundly like a dove.

Then in the dark, under cover of night,
Santa will come, his footsteps so light.
He'll leave presents under the tree,
And, Oh! How happy we'll be!
Then we'll look out the window and notice the snow, created by God's hand,
And we'll have to appreciate this winter wonderland.

News from United Arab Emirates

My mom wants me to write about a current event in my blog, so here it goes!

Wow! The world's tallest building is going to be completed by 2009! Towering over the rest of the buildings in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the Burj Dubai skyscraper (with it's over three thousand laborers) completed construction of it's one hundredth floor on January 16th! When finished, the Dubai tower will be over 2, 600 feet high! The tower was designed by American architect Adrian Smith. The construction division of South Korean electronics manufacturer, Samsung, is building the tower. The tower is progressing at an amazing rate, the workers finishing one story every three days! Plans have been made for the tower to include an indoor mall, an amusement park complex, and private apartments and offices. Italian fashion designer, Giorgio Armani, has co-developed the Armani Hotel. I'm sure it will be very expensive to stay in!


Here is the news website.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/dubai_tallest_skyscraper

A typical day in my house...

This is my first time blogging. This sounds really fun! My mom, and sister both have blogs on this website. (My mom's blog address is susanginn.blogspot.com, and my sister's is oliviaginn.blogspot.com)
About myself; I love video games, (Like most boys do!) animals in general, (though especially dogs and birds) chess, drawing pictures, playing games on the computer, and reading books. Oh! and did I mention video games?
I have two pet birds, (a parakeet and a cockatiel) a dog,( a pug mix) and two fish.
I also have two sisters, one brother, (soon to be two) and two foster brothers. as you can probably tell, my house is far from quiet. Sometimes, we have babies screaming, radio or television blaring, birds chirping, and a dog barking all at one time!
We've grown used to it, but I doubt most people could live with it for long!
Well, wish me luck as a new blogger!