Rebekah here! Hi!
A couple of weeks ago, we had the privilege of going to two nursing homes and performing on our instruments for everybody there. Several families from church went as well. I brought my harp; quite an experience since it is taller than I am and very heavy! I played "Be Thou My Vision" with my mom accompanying me on the piano. At the second nursing home though, there was no piano so I did a solo! It went well though, with only one mistake. I hope we can go back the next time our church goes!
While we're talking about harps, I can tell you a little bit about my lessons. I am going to a nunnery down the road, only five seconds away. (Really!) I am learning from a nun named Sister Mary Margret. She is a wonderful teacher and I have been taking lessons since the beginning of September. In a couple of weeks I will have group lessons with four other harpists. I will also be performing with Christina for the Christmas service at our church. We are doing "The First Noel" with her playing the melody and me doing melody and harmony. I am a little bit nervous but excited at the same time. In March, I hope to play in a Latin Ensemble with a group of other musicians.
Also during the past month I have had the privilege of getting braces! For 3-4 months they are only on the top and then I will get them on the bottom for 2-3 years! When my dad heard this he joked that I might be driving before I get them off! It didn't make me feel better but it is definitely worth it! When I was having them put on, I hadn't realized that the dentist was putting them on because I thought they were still cleaning my teeth. The braces, at first, did not feel like what I imagined they would, but now I sometimes forget they are there! For a couple of days my teeth hurt but now they do not. While I have them on, I can't have popcorn, gum, certain types of caramels, uncooked carrots, and I can't bite into apples. I'm mostly disappointed about the popcorn and gum, but like I said, it is worth it!
We have had maybe a foot of snow already! And it's perfect for sledding. We have three sleds and a tarp. The tarp is blue and fast which is why we named it "Blue Streak" We also have a sand box that is really just four logs in a square with sand dumped in the middle. When it snows, it makes a sort of ramp. Very fun! We also had a snow tussle with my dad. It was me, Christina, and Elijah against him. After that we went inside and had hot cocoa. Don't you just love the snow?
Hi! This is Christina writing now--
We have had a cat that has been visiting us. We don't know if it is a girl or boy. So...we decided to name it Bella. That's cute huh?? Bella is very patient... most of the time. When she is not hungry that is. We think she is from our neighbors...who have 24 cats! We put a heating pad that she absolutely loves to sleep on.
If you put your hand flat up in the air and wave it she will stand up on her hind paws and bat it or scent it. (But I think she is a boy,because she is huge compared to our other cat who is a girl.)
I'm also taking violin lessons. I am taking lessons with my friend from church, named Rebecca, and Isaac, a friend I have known since I was three. I take the lessons at Rebecca's house and I enjoy them very much. I have been taking lessons for about two months. I am going to play "The First Noel" with Rebekah (my sister) in church! And "Silent Night Holy Night" with Rebecca (my friend) and Isaac in church. Rebecca plays the cello and Isaac plays the string bass. (A pretty big instrument!)
Some of us and our friends get together and have a Bible Study every Wednesday night. We have been doing this for almost a year! We are reading through the book of James right now. The children take notes about the chapter and the things that stand out to them. When we started James the adults thought that it would be fun for the children, to memorize a verse and present it to the group every week. So we have been doing that and we've chosen some awesome verses! We also take turns reading the verses for the chapter.
We have a creek. There are lots of toads and frogs in it, and in the summer we will take buckets, put sand and rocks in them, and put the toads and frogs in the buckets . There are some tiny little frogs that are so cute!
We also catch trout and put them in with the frogs. The trout are about 2 1/2 inches long. The little trout are very fast and are very hard to catch. Just by luck Rebekah and I have been able to catch them very rarely. One day when Rebekah and I were looking out the window together, and after a while we spotted a Great Blue Heron. It was fishing in the creek! We watched for a few minutes. Then the phone rang right when the heron swallowed a huge trout!
We also have certain little frogs in the creek that are gold . They are very fast and speedy fellers! I once caught one, but it was hurt badly (before I caught it). It was cut on the legs. I did not know this until I showed Rebekah. So we put it by the bank so it could jump in. Hopefully it lived.
That's all for now!
P.S. We now have an update on our new cat. Bella is a boy! His name is Patches. We found this out when my mom was taking a pie plate back to our neighbors--who own him:) Mom saw him on their porch eating food. He still spends two thirds of the day here because he loves the heating pad!
