The Mushroom Feast #4

I am sooo excited about this part–and next part!!!

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Amelia sat outside her house cutting chewed holes out of leaves to get what the beetles had left untouched, when Ryan came swooping in. He had his knife and his bow, and there were three pine-needle arrows stuck in his belt, and an quiver-full on his back that were tipped with poisonous wasp-stingers—the most lethal weapon the fairies used. There was a coil of rope made from braided grass hung over his shoulder. He started talking before he hit the ground.

“Such fun, Amelia! Come and see!”

Continue reading The Mushroom Feast #4

The Mushroom Feast #3

I was going to schedule this post yesterday to be sure it got up, but I forgot to!  Well, turns out I have time before we go, so here it is:

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Amelia walked away from her house, in the opposite direction of the river; slipping between beetle-chewed flower stems (that were as thick as tree trunks to her) without a path. Her steps were light and bouncy—as they always were—regardless of the famine, and she swung a bucket in her hand as she skipped along.

She stopped next to a massive milkweed stalk and fingered the lowest leaf (the only one she could reach). It was punctuated with holes. Amelia carefully held her bucket under it, then snapped it off, and watched the thick, white milk pour down.

Ryan flapped up as she stood holding her container under the rich, milky flow. “There you are!”

Continue reading The Mushroom Feast #3

??? {Mystery Quote #17} ???

Our church is doing an outreach this week, so I’ll be gone in the afternoons.  I will do my best to get things posted!  Anyway,

Last week’s quote was from the Bible!  It was 1 Kings 20:11.

Becca, Ellen, and Jaidyn guessed the Bible; and Becca also guessed 1 or 2 Kings.  Great job, that was a tricky one! :-)And now:

‘Surely you see it, my friend?’ he said, turning now suddenly back to [him] again.  ‘You say that you are afraid.  If it is so, the boldest should pardon you.  But is it not really your good sense that revolts?’  ‘No, I am afraid,’ said [he].  ‘Simply afraid.  But I am glad to have heard you speak so fully.  My mind is clearer now.’

This is a longer one.  And (hint for those of you who know me well) it’s from one of my favorite books!  And both the he‘s in brackets are the same person.  The the one that is not in brackets was simply ‘he’ in the book.  Sorry if that’s confusing!

Happy guessing!

Monarch

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Our first Monarch came out of its chrysalis this morning!

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I asked if I could have a turn holding this one.

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Isn’t she beautiful???

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I forgot how much fun butterflies are! 🙂

Dream jobs. . .

A friend gave us these little cards recently.  They have questions on them, and we’ve been reading one question a day at dinner, and then all answering it!  (When we remember!)

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“What is your dream job?”

Some of these I saw coming, some of them I didn’t!

Becca: An ESL teacher. Oh, she already is. Mission accomplished! :)
Spencer: A computer programmer, a chemist, a pastor, or a statesman.
Me: An author! :)
Lucy: A bridal shop owner.
Michael: An "ice cream cooker".

Priceless!

The Mushroom Feast #2

I can post more of The Mushroom Feast!  I am soo excited about this story!  Can you tell? 🙂

Enjoy!

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Jerry crawled around the small house—his antennas bouncing gently—as Amelia flew swiftly into the crowded ferns. Her translucent, blue wings flashed in the sunshine as she darted between the tall, lacy fronds.

Hearing a fly humming softly behind her, Amelia instinctively turned her head—just in time to crash into someone, also flying, and both fairies tumbled into a fern. The frond bent down under the weight and dumped them both on the ground. Amelia recognized the young man she had hit. Though the son of the fairy King and Queen, she was not frightened by the idea of having bumped into him any more than the idea of crashing into anyone else. Prince or no, he was often out flying in the forest; and she knew him well.

Continue reading The Mushroom Feast #2

The Mushroom Feast #1

So:

The Sacrifice is coming along very slow, but I finished my science story thing!  I’m really excited about posting it!  It isn’t like my other science stories, at all though.  There’s much less science and much more action.  I mean, don’t gear up for a bunch of battle scenes or anything, because more action than my other science stories is still not much action!  I just mean that it’s more of a story and less of a science lesson.

Disclaimer: there are some things in here that I kind-of just made up.  The only information that is purely scientific is the the part about mushrooms at the end.

And I know that you’re all probably excited about the story, but I have a little scheduling update.  I’ll try to keep it brief:

As you’ve probably noticed, I’m not getting much inspiration for book reviews, so I’m going to stop doing those and do story posts on Thursdays.  But this is Tuesday?  That’s the exciting part: I’ll be doing two story parts each week!  I might skip days we have Bright Lights, but normally I’ll be doing two posts a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Once is just not often enough.

Anyway, enough of this!  Enjoy the story:

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The sun rose slowly above the tree-tops; and gentle rays of light began to filter through the leaves to the forest floor, where a tiny structure made of mud-bricks stood. Sitting all alone in the shadow of the ferns behind it and thatched with tree-leaves, it stood almost five inches high.

Continue reading The Mushroom Feast #1

??? {Mystery Quote #16} ???

I’m posting this because it’s Monday, but don’t miss the post I did late last night.

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And Susie and Selena came out of their chrysalises today!

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Beautiful, aren’t they?  Well, they look exactly the same!  In fact, I could have just had three pictures of Jane!  We did have three butterflies though, honestly. 😀

Anyways, on to “Mystery Quote”:

Last week’s quote was from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott; Chapter 29: “Calls”.

Hannah V. and Jaidyn guessed the right book; and so did Ellen, who also guessed the right chapter.  I know I’ve done a quote from Little Women before, but I’m running out of ideas!

By the way, I don't include page numbers because everyone's copy could have different numbers--Just thought I'd explain! :)

Now:

“Tell him: ‘One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off.'”

Hint: it's not from what you think it is!  And I haven't ever used this book as a "Mystery Quote", but I have quoted it on my blog before.

Happy guessing!

P.S.  Be sure to check in tomorrow.  I  just might have a post planned that I’m super-duper excited about!!! 🙂

Blessed

We’ve planted dill and parsley in our garden for a long time, to attract Swallowtail butterflies.  We kept Swallowtail caterpillars inside in an aquarium when Becca, Spencer, and I were little; and we did again this summer with Michael and Lucy.

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Jane the butterfly came out of her chrysalis today and was released today!

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She came just in time for Lucy’s Dedication Day!

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Lu was dedicated at our new church building this morning.  Our building was a bowling alley before we bought it, so it. . . needed some help.

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We’ve held meetings there three Sundays now.  Back in February we had a worship night there, in the midst of the construction.  There are all kinds of things I could say about that, but let’s stay focused (for now).

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To tell the truth, I wasn’t really planning on worshiping.  I mean, really worshiping.  To give you some context, I’m usually an “all-out worshiper”.  A hand-lifter.

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But I wasn’t really planning on it that night.  It just hadn’t been one of “those days”.  And the feeling deepened when we got there, and I found that there was dust everywhere that made your nose feel weird, and I was burdened down with a winter coat and purse, since I had nowhere to set them because of aforementioned dust.

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We were there to worship Jesus, and I was letting a ‘mood’ and some dust get in my way.  Anyways, to make a long story short: I got there not expecting to be passionate, and the music started, and Lucy started singing–and dancing.  If she can worship tonight, shouldn’t I be able to?

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Yes!  Of course!  I should anyway!

Lucy has an incredible interest in Jesus, but of course she doesn’t understand everything yet.  But she reminded me to worship that night.

Adoption isn’t easy, but I can’t imagine life without it.  It is such a blessing!  And I’m not trying to say that we should adopt children because they will bless us–far from it.  I’m just saying that they will.

I was helping Michael with something at the grocery store once (I think I was pushing him in the stroller or something while Mom shopped), and a lady stopped and said to me, “He’s lucky to have you, you know that?”  I’m probably the worst in the world at thinking on my feet, and I just smiled and said something pathetic and uninspiring, like “Yeah.”  It was hours, or maybe days later that I realized that the only real answer to that question was:

“I’m just lucky to have him.”

!!!!!!

Sorry, guys, but I don’t think the book review is going to happen today.  You can read this on the family blog instead.  Seriously, read it!!!  Big news!

Actually, I wasn’t that surprised.  I think if you’d asked me if we would adopt again, I wouldn’t have been sure; but I think I kinda’ saw it coming.  This feels normal.  This is just how we operate, I guess!  It’s hard, but I love it!

Have a happy, happy Thursday!