Pictures

  Hello to you few who will see this:) I am writing this from my ipod so we shall see if it turns out ok. I haven't anything to tell you. I am done with blogging for now really. I just am not into it anymore. The beginning of Summer came but my inspiration fairy left for a long walk and hasn't returned.  I went to Canada this september. I do have pictures. I will try to post a couple today. Hopefully this works. Wow that was way to hard. Im only going to put a couple on plus some other random pics. No captions or anything yet. :)

Hello

                                              Hello. :) I don't miss blogging at all. :):):)

 

 

Graduation slideshow.

 

 

Alright, so this is the slideshow my dad made for my graduation. Sorry if you didn't make it on there. He cut a lot of pictures;)  OHHH and the video at the end....I was a brat. I am sorry for my behavior. ;P

 

 

 

 

May Seventh

 Its been a while. So, hello.:) I have nothing interesting going on at all. No words to make you read. Amelia turned 8 on the 5th and that was exciting. I'm graduating on the 26th. I'll be 18 at the end of the week. Mother's day is coming up. I'm going to Canada in September. We don't have to move out of our house after all, thankfully. It has been a bit rainy here. I've had extreme writer's block...I'm not a writer, but I do feel a block. Maybe someday, I'll get back into regular blogging. BUT...now is not that time. Too busy. I miss you all though. ;) I am sorry for my absence, to those who are wanting me to talk a little more. Talking isn't that enjoyable right now. At the end of May, I'm sure there will be more to say about graduating and the sort. Love to all, Madeleine (Creative, huh...great title, great post..hehe...;);)) OHHHH and it's my 50th post. hooray. I've had this blog for over a year now. Fifty posts seems to hold a lot of words. hm.

~Book Recommendation~

      Helloooooooo and happy March to all of y'all! I am so extremely happy that Spring is nearly here. I was just telling some friends that I have had Spring fever since December. I'm even wearing a summer skirt and a tank top right now. It is 45 degrees outside. BUT, the sun is smiling and so am I. :) Alright, so I have had some time on my hands lately. Not really a lot of time, but more than I have had all school year. At any rate, I have been reading a book(gasp...no, really???;P). This book is Chosen By God by R.C Sproul. It is one of my favorite books ever. I have had a hard time getting into theological books in the past. Not that I don't love theology, because I definitely do. But, I have found that this book is really easy to get into and the subject matter happens to be one of my favorites: election and predestination. There are so many questions that come up about Arminianism vs. Calvinism. It is one of the most discussed issues among the Church. Most people seem to want to avoid the topic because they don't want their view of God to be challenged. That is totally wrong. I mean, if you love God and want to know His will and His words to YOU  (that are meant to be understood, by the way..why would God give us the Bible and not let us understand it?)then you have got to search out the hard things! I know I have been guilty of this same wrong, but I have always been glad when I have been challenged...it has built me up every time. SO anywayyyyyyy...This book answers those questions and gives a whole new angle on Christ's sovereignty and plan of salvation. I highly recommend it.If any of you live near me, I would be more than pleased to lend you my copy. I am totally going to keep you guys accountable on reading this. I might bug you every month until you read it. Really, I am not kidding. :) Those of you who HAVE read it know exactly why I love this book so much. Please comment and get others interested in this book! If this topic is new to you and you DO end up reading the book...it will change your life. That's dramatic, I know. For real, though, it probably will.  It sure changed my view of God and the whole Bible after reading it! Alright, I will quit rambling. I totally don't write in paragraphs, I know this. Deal. ;P Also I am not adding a picture which irks me, but I don't feel like going through the extra steps. Lazy day.
 

For Hanna

Oh Hannnnaaaaaaaa! Hanna Morton!!!!!! Look what I dug up! You remember these days, right? The days of Polly Pockets, Newsboys, American Girl dolls, flowers, choker necklaces,and lime green/pink/orange everything? Well, I do.  I miss seeing you!!

~Maddie

 Man, we were all so little and squished in this pic, this doesn't even count. That is why I am not asking any of you if I can put your picture up...;)

     Alright, well I realize that my blog posts haven't had much substance to them as of late.  So, I will work on that. It just isn't valentines day any more, so I had to do something quick! 

   Happy Valentines day! I'm not sure about you, but for me this day has never been a big deal. Except we get chocolate (usually) which I appreciate immensely. Mum is always Dad's valentine and the rest of us just have to sit tight and deal. Chocolate is a comfort...who really needs valentines when you have chocolate? ;P Just kidding. Well, this year we have collaborated some valentine poems to give to no one.  I thought you might like to read them.  We can be mushy, I guess. It is permitted and called for today...even if you don't have an actual valentine.

                                                     A poem for one whose love is far away:

Love, I feel so empty when you're not around

To you, my dear, my heart is bound

Memories don't comfort me

I can hardly wait 'till you I see

Oh, Darling, I need you now

By Sophie

I am yours,and you are mine

I feel strange saying this to a Pine.

By Sophie (this poem needs explanation. But you aren't going to get it.  Some of you will understand, though. Email me if you want an explanation. It is rather entertaining.)

Dogs bark and frogs croak

I am yours and you are my Oak.

By Sophie  (this one has the same explanation as the previous one)

Green is the rain

Pink is your cow

I'm color blind

And I can't rhyme

by some of us from Lifesmarts. We know who we are.

Birds can sing

they also fly

I am your girl

and you are my guy

By mostly Maddie

Roses are red

Violets are blue

vacuums don't work

and neither do you

by some of us at Lifesmarts again
There are more, but I don't feel like typing them all out. I'm afraid we aren't very good poets.


Here. If this could be put into a valentine poem, it is what I would want to say.

 

 I love this. I very much do. It is exactly how I think of it! ;P I'm sorry it's a little off centered. It won't move, I asked it already. It said no. Leave it to Doctor Suess to make a big impression.;P

So yesterday, Soph and I made a few videos to put on the blog. I am not on the right computer to where I can upload them, though. So someday I will do a video post...that will be embarrassing and entertaining.

Maybe, by the end of the day there will be some valentine related pictures that I will post on a later date.

Today is the day of love. Love from darlings, love from family, love from friends.
Love from God.
That is the most important part of today! Remembering God's love for us. We all are miserable, hateful wretches at heart, but God chose to save us out of our depravity and call us sons and daughters.I am very thankful for God's love for me. Because He loves me, I can love Him. Because I love Him, I can love others.  I pray that the Lord would increase my love everyday. I know that I do not love as i should.  When I am not having a loving attitude, then obviously, I have lost sight of the forgiveness that Christ has bestowed upon me.  I pray those instances will decrease in my life.

So today while you are giving sweet little declarations of feelings written on hearts, eating chocolate, hugging everyone, kissing everyone, eating more chocolate, etc., remember our God who IS love.

P.S- happy birthday to Annie and to Elley.

Love,
Madeleine <3



(insert elaborate or witty title here)

So I was going to just post a few cute and old pictures of my siblings.

 Pictures like this.

 And this.

 And this.

Then I abruptly ran into THIS. Hi Chase. I am sorry, but I totally had to post it. This was an interesting time. Just so you know, I actually own a full size guitar now instead of that little red ukelele thing.;P So my dad used to give us lessons. Then is turned into just giving Chase lessons. Now I take lessons again and enjoy it. That is my guitar life.Then end.

Now a few words about the Super Bowl. I didn't get to really watch much of it. I was frying wings for hungry men. Plus, my teams weren't playing so...I just ditched the idea of getting into the game. I had this dumb idea of making a bet. I just figured the 49ers would win. I told Isaiah that if they won, he had to do me whatever favor I asked him to do, but if the Ravens won, I had to do him any favor he chose. 

The Ravens won. 

Isaiah is happy. 

That is all of that story I am going to say.

Pray for me.

Now a few words about choir and Les Mis. 

I wasn't too thrilled to be going back to choir after that horrendously time consuming and health straining semester. Now, I am very excited. It is my very last semester with this choir and boy will it be a good one! 

We are doing this 32 page long medley of Les Mis hits!!!!
We get to dress in rags and put coal on our faces and act miserably depressed and desperate. It is going to be cool, I hope. I am excited...and I'm NEVER excited about concerts. This time I am.

OK,so I have a good friend. Her name is Rachael. I will post on her some other time, but I just wanted to tell you about her blog.  Confessions of a Homeschool Geek   She is one so very funny and I think you all would enjoy her blog. She said you are all welcome to read it and comment on it and she would love to get to know you. I think you would like to get to know her too. You are missing out big time if you don't. So look around her blog and if you want to comment on something, go ahead:)

~Alright. That is all I have to say for now. Oh, guess what.. I'm wearing shorts right now to break the monotony. It isn't short weather  here...most of the snow has melted, though. I hear wind chimes, though(my favorite sound in the world), and that means lazy summer days, hammocks, sun, falling asleep outside, arnold plamers, and shorts. I can't wait for summer.

{Madeleine}

SuPeR bOwL!!!!!

    (Pre-post because this has nothing much to do with anything from previous blog posts or this one. So my Papa and Helen came to visit and we all had a really good time. I have pictures that I will post someday when they get put onto this computer. It was really nice to get to know Helen more. I hadn't seen her or Papa since the wedding. I was pretty nervous about seeing her again...not sure what to expect because I had hardly even met her. But she is a really wonderful lady and she loves us and she loves God and she is happy with Papa and he is happy with her.I am thankful that God worked everything out, though we will always miss Nana incredibly. I am glad to have Helen in the family and we all love her very much. God has willed her into our family for His good and our good and I am thankful for that. I hope we will be a blessing to Helen and Papa and they to us as well.
   Hello! Alright, sorry I haven't posted in a long time...pictures don't count as much of a post. You won't be getting any for a while maybe...because we haven't taken any since December I don't think. My family was giving me a hard time about the fact that I put myself in any of the pictures...because I hate being in pictures. I felt I owed it to you for the lack of pictures in general..plus I happen to be attached to some cute pictures of my siblings...isn't that a bummer? Anyway, then I felt bad about it, thus the post that got accidentally posted, then deleted. I'm one for drama, I suppose...I care too much about what people think so I freak out wondering if I did anything wrong.  Push me in a lake if I ever do that again...because I am too dramatic. Yep. Alright, this is unnecessary to discuss. On to a more important topic.....
THE SUPER BOWL
Certain members of my family including myself make a big deal of the game. Really it is the best part of February unless you have a Valentine to do stuff for and ham it up with mush...some people..psh. (Just kidding!!)  Here are some simple reasons why we love the super bowl:
-Food(I put this first, I know..) Wings and chips and junk...what more could one want???
-Friends and family. This is not a time to sit quietly with hands folded and eat daintily..so we hang out with the people who won't be alarmed when we sing along with the commercials and yell at the players and get wings all over our faces and spill water cups.
-Football.(!!!!!) I don't know everything technical about it, but I really do love football watching...more of the sounds of football and the sounds that people make when they watch it.  They are sounds of carefree and fellowship and playful competitiveness.
    Alright now.....so this year, none of my teams are playing(errrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!)(P.S you don't get to know my teams..tiz a secret;) Except that a couple of my teams are my favorite simply because I love the Mannings.), so I am not sure who to root for. I don't extremely care. I guess I would rather the 49ers win because they are California..I guess once my teams are out, I just focus on the food and friends and sounds of football rather than the actual game. So...I am wondering...who should I root for? . If you all don't chip in, I will just go for Cali. K? Anyone object? Oh boy what am I getting into. Perhaps none of you are big football fans...haha..just thought I'd ask.

 

This is old and not irrelevant to Super Bowl, but I don't care:) This is church camp in Wawona 2009.  Several of my favorite memories come from church camps, and if your church isn't small enough to do these...then I pity you. It is such a wonderful time. Dirt, fellowship, dirt, friends, dirt, campfire, singing, dirt, water, dirt, and more fellowship. What more could you want???? Fellowship in the dirt is hard to beat. Just sayin';)

                                                  

Pictures..

Hello! I know I haven't posted since last year. Sorry ;) Alright here, well I have promised some certain friends a picture post. Here it is.. We have been experimenting with this camera...we haven't the slightest clue how to use it...I have proof: These pictures.

 

Some serious peppermint bark. It was over an inch thick. Yikes!

 

My pretty Mum<3.Amelia and I were NOT ready for that one.

 

                                      My dad, Mrs.Mews, Isaiah, and Mr.Olfers celebrating their birthdays.

                                                                

                                    Thanksgiving morning..Uncle Steve, Emma, Amelia,Nicki, and I.

                                                 Aunt Martha, Nicki, Amelia, and Brianna

                                                          Feeling full...or empty. Not sure which.

           The gang...frightening really. We have fun, but er....we can get out of hand if left to ourselves.

                                                                     The aunts plus my mum.

                                                           Ian, Isaiah, and Tommy

                                    Silly pic...Some of us got the memo and some of us didn't.

                                                               The Gindorf family

                                                                           Em

                                          Me and the tree before it was dressed...I mean...decorated.

                                       I really had trouble figuring out how to use this camera. I'm pretty dense.

                                             Messing around still...boredom makes you do weird things.

                                                            STILL messing around. It is rather fun.

                                                                Some of the littles at church!

                                                                      More girls from church.

                                                         Willow, Annie, and Kayla

                                 Naomi!!! The Wales surprised us and came to church on their way back home!!

                                         Ashley and I....next time we will get a better pic, huh Ashley? ;)

 

The Smiths....who were desperately trying to make their way into the above pic...mischievous grins all around.

 

                                            Mr.Dingman, Koby, Noah, Scott, and Courtney

                                                    Priscilla, Abigail, Naomi, and Janelle 

          

                                        Em with a ribbon, Soph, Me, and Elisabeth McWhorter.

                                                              Grandpa's birthday

                                                  The calm before the storm or after....can't tell

                                          Emma making faces during a performance..great. Real classy.

                                  Torah Orah....a Hebrew song...complete with corny snap at the end.

                                                            Half of the men's group.

                                            All of the choir groups together...in the dramatic church. Too bad we didn't take any picture of the pews..because they are really deep..you can hide in them almost...or just grin up at St.Peter without being seen. I would have rather not had him there, but I was happy and he was looking at me...so I smiled at him.

                                                      Mikayla, Hannah, and Soph

                     

                                                    Morning slump and zoning session

                                                                     She moves!

                                             Aaaaannnnnnddd.. She sees the camera.

                                                                   That's better. Nice, Ian.

                                          Oooooo I wish I could have done the misty mountain justice, but no..

                                                                Shoveling the snow

                                     

                                                uhh...just ignore these if you want to.

       Cold faces.Well, mine was cold. Really cold. I had just come back from adventuring on a solitary walk.

                                       Ian's birthday. Breakfast, dinner, gifts, etc...you know the drill;)

                                               He chose to have the Vickroy family over.

                                         Before our Christmas hymn sing...Emma...the one and only.

                                          Tommy not appreciating my amazing photography skills...;)

            Stockings hung by the chimney with care...I don't know why the mittens were there...drying perhaps.

                                    Morgan, Mrs. Helton, Noah, Mrs and Mr Shute, and Scott.

                                        More people. I don't want to name any more.

                                     Dad being silly, Mrs. Dingman, and Mrs. Stephans.

                                                   Sydney, Drew, William, and Morgan(who wasn't ready for this pic)

                                                           M.E, Hannah, and Bailey

                                         Look who we finally got a picture of!!!!!!!!!!!!

                    Christmas morning with Grandma and Grandpa...he was demonstrating scarf styles to us.

                                            

                                        Beef Jerky chocolate..which turned out to be good apparently.

                               Dad got Mum more of her favorite perfume...it isn't being made anymore actually which is sad...because we have all loved that stuff since I found it at Giftworks in Oakhurst when I was like....12.

              Ian and I had some time to kill...so what do we do? Whip out the camera!!! Duh! What else! ;P

I'm sorry there are so many pictures of me on here, but they were attached to some cute pictures of my siblings, so I put them on anyway.

                                                 Blue                                        Green
Ok, so I was trying to prove to people who doubted that I have a blue eye and a green eye. Here is your proof random citizens. It is a little hard to tell, I know.

 

My coffee....if you visit me, I will make you one of these. If you like coffee, you won't be sorry. ;)

Alright, well there is my long picture post. I promised you it would come someday, Friend...well here it it ;)

Love,

Madeleine