On Saturday, we decorated out house for Christmas! We set the mood by turning on some Christmas music, and then we got to decorating!We pulled out all of our ornaments, candles, angels and anything else Christmas-y. It was a lot of fun decorating, and I really got into the spirit if Christmas. I'm now officially "ready" for Christmas to come!We also got our tree that day...and not just any old tree, but one from our yard! My dad and Caleb scoped out the yard and found the perfect tree, but it was just a bit to big, so they just chopped the top off of it, and that's our Christmas tree! Mom and I then decorated it, while watching "Christmas with the Kranks"! Now I'm all cozy inside our warm, decorated house...all that's missing is some snow outside! :)
My time in the States was great! My brothers, my mom and I flew in to Chicago on Wednesday and stayed at the JV house (the Geneva house) while we were in the U.S. Then, Thursday evening, we went to the JV vision night! It was so cool!!! My Dad and all the other people who came up front did a great job. If I weren't already a missionary kid, I'd totally want to come out here. God is working in powerful ways in Eastern Europe!Friday, was our SHOPPING day! We went to Old Navy, TJ Max, JC Penney's etc. My favorite things I got that day is a really nice blue coat at Old Navy, some pink Converse shoes (Tyler's idea! Thanks Tyler!) and a pretty scarf. It's so much fun shopping in the States, there are so many stores to choose from! :)
Saturday, was our family day. We drove downtown Chicago to the Museum of Science and Industry and were there for a while. We got to see how a whole bunch of things work, we saw some of the first airplanes built, a mini fairy castle and beautiful Christmas decorations in the main hall! Our family really enjoyed each other's company since we hadn't been all together in 4 weeks!Sunday, we went to Grace church and did more shopping, and then Monday, we left! So it was a VERY short trip! But I am SO glad that I could go, and I feel very blessed! Thanks God, I had a WONDERFUL trip!
Here are some of the highlights of this fall so far, and some things yet to come.-I had my birthday, which was really fun!-This fall the leaves have been absolutely beautiful, the colors have just been brilliant!-A rock band called Dizmas came to play music and do concerts for the Exit tour. They are leaving back for the States on Friday. We saw them quite often during these past eight weeks they have been here, so we really got to know them!-School has been pretty hard in ninth grade, since this is our last year of primary school. If we want to get into a good high school, we have to get a good grade point average, so we have to work really hard!
Things that are coming up:-We are flying to the States this Wednesday to see the JV Capital Campaign. We get to see my Dad talk about JV, and experience all the work he's put into this! I'm really excited!-Thanksgiving JV conference happens late November. It'll be so fun to be with my JV family!
Here in Czech, there are these things called "pamatnik", that are popular with littler kids in elementary school. They are books (kinda like notebooks) with empty pages, which then are filled with drawings from people you know, friends, family, teachers etc.Well, when I was in third and fourth grade, I had a pamatnik. A pretty cool one, I might add, and it was FILLED with drawings from other people that I was very proud of. I had everyone draw in it for me, and that pamatnik was my treasure. But, one day I gave it to a certain person to draw in it...and I never saw it again...until now.I had given it to Becca M. three years ago to draw something in it. She then forgot about it and put it in a pile of books and other things. Meanwhile, I had no idea where it had gone, 'cause I couldn't remember who I had given it to. For those three years, I looked for it, but never found it and then just forgot about it as well.Then, on my birthday, I went to see Becca, and we had an "art day". That was the day I was reunited with my pamatnik. She brought it down from her room laughing, about how she had had it for so long and STILL hadn't drawn anything in it. She said she found it while cleaning out her room. I got to look at all the old pictures my friends drew, it was a special moment for me. :)So, after three years of being seperated from my pamatnik, I now have it back, WITH a drawing for Becca, and I will treasure it for long times to come. And that's the end of the story of "The Lost Pamatnik!"
On October 8th I celebrated my 14th birthday!
On Wednesday, the eighth, I celebrated my birthday with Lucy, Grace and Lisa in the afternoon by taking some fun fall pictures, drinking tea together, and just hanging out. I really love those friends, they're awesome!
Then in the evening, I had a small birthday party just with my family. I had Shepherd's pie for dinner, and Key Lime pie for dessert, YUM! Some of the presents I got included, a Bible, Crocs, a Starbucks thermos, clothes and books. 
I also took some birthday/fall pictures with Caleb and Tyler too. Then on Saturday, I had Hayley over for the night to celebrate my birthday, and I took some pictures with her too. So it was a picture taking birthday this year! :)
I feel very good now as a fourteen year old. I don't feel much older though than I did on the 7th of October, but I feel a lot older than my last birthday, when I turned 13. I have changed my style of clothes a bit, changed my hair, gotten taller and am now in ninth grade.
Here are some of the big things that have happened since my last birthday:-I got braces
-I went to the States for Christmas and in the Summer
-Caleb was sick and him and mom had to be in America for a while, while Dad, Tyler and I were at home
-We went on vacation to Hvar, Croatia-I am in ninth grade, the last year of "Zakladni Skola" (Primary school)
-I went to Venice for the first time last February
So as you can see, I have had a busy year! I hope the next year is just as good, if not better than the last.
Today, I made my very first pie on my own!I was really bored today, and thought it would be really fun to make a pie. So I did! My parents were going to be gone for the afternoon, so I was on my own. I had made a pie with other people before, but never by myself. I did everything according to the recipe, and it actually turned out great!
By the end, I had a very beautiful looking (and tasting!) apple pie, that I shared with everyone at our house. I enjoyed myself a lot, and am thinking pie making may become my new thing!
Do you think I can eat it all in one bite???
Well, I am back in school now, after an almost 3 month Summer vacation. Ohh...those were the days!
We are done with the first week, and now we really start to learn and write tests. This year, I am in ninth grade, the highest grade in our school! It's so weird to think that I am the oldest in the school! This is my last year in "Zakladni Skola" (Basic school). I have had many great memories in that school. I have been there since second grade!Every year, my mom has a tradition of taking a picture of us three kids, she has done it since we were little. This year was no exception.Here are some of our earlier pictures.Here we are in 2004.
This one's taken in 2005.
Here's 2006.
And this was last year, in 2007!
So, as you can see, we've grown a lot since 2004 (And so has Lily!). It is so fun to look back at each year and remember the great times we've had!
It's been two weeks since we returned home from being in the States for five weeks. It feels so nice to be home again! I enjoy every single day of just hanging out and not having to do anything in particular(except maybe clean my room...)! I love Summer!
On Sunday, the 20th of July, Tyler had his 18th birthday! We celebrated on Saturday by inviting some friends over for dinner and dessert and then went to go see Get Smart, a new movie with Steve Carrel and Anne Hathaway...I thought it was a funny movie, and overall pretty good.This past one and a half week we've had some guests staying at our house. Some "former" JV kids (The Jones', Corrie and Hudson) came from the States to do an English camp and brought a couple of their friends over from the States. So we've had Hudson and his friend Seth staying at our house. But now they are leaving and heading back to the States, it'll be a while before we meet up with them again! It's been great seeing and spending time with them, it's like a family reunion! :o)Now I'm just relaxing, enjoying the laziness of Summer! I love those kind of days!
We drove from Chicago to Gull lake, Michigan (a four hour drive), and arrived Saturday evening at Gull lake ministries family camp.At this camp there were so many things to do, and all free of charge! There's swimming in the lake, jet skiing, inner tubing, rock climbing, zip lining and more! I had lots of fun doing all of those things but I also enjoyed the children's program called High Tide.High Tide is a group of kids from 12-17. We play games together, have Bible studies and learn more about how to live a life like Jesus. I made some really good friends in High tide. Girls my age were in a small group and I love each and every one of those girls. But I especially connected with girls named Danielle and Ashton. They are both really great girls and I hope we'll stay in touch!We went to this camp because my dad was invited to speak on the book of Ephesians there. Everyone said he did great(I was in my program during his teachings), and guess what?! He got invited to come again in 2010! It would be AWESOME to go there again!
(The view out to Gull lake)I think that throughout that week, our whole family enjoyed themselves, and we made some really good friends. I can hardly wait to come again in two years!
These are my new friends from camp!
On Friday morning, I woke up at 2:30Am and we headed to the airport in Katowice, where we caught a plane and started our journey to Colorado. We flew from Katowice to Frankfurt, then Frankfurt to London and London to Denver, where my Uncle Josh picked us up.From there we drove to my cousin's house in Denver. We stayed at their house until Sunday morning and then all of my family, my Patty grandparents, the Patty family, and the Schroeder family drove eight hours through beautiful scenery, arriving later that evening in Telluride, Colorado. We walked into a beautiful condo and settled in for the night.When I woke up on Monday morning I looked 
out my window and saw the most gorgeous view of the mountains. I walked downstairs and just enjoyed the pretty view. All day I just relaxed, talked with my cousins, listened to music and also checked out little Mountain Village (yes, that is the name of the town). The town was just as cute as can be. After walking a bit through the town, we found a climbing rock, which we climbed and then headed back to the condos.
It's been really fun hanging out with family. I love them all so much! :o)
On Saturday, I went to my first czech birthday sleepover!It was so so much fun! The girls (Klara, Kaca, Anetka-all Czech's and Lucy-American) are all from my church and are just some of my favorite people. They are really fun, talkative and all around happy girls. Anetka and Kaca were celebrating their 16th birthdays, and they invited me! I was so excited, because this was going to be my first sleepover at a Czech's house!Lucy and I got to Anetka's house at around four and then from then on, we never stopped laughing and having fun. We ate food, played games, talked...ate more food! (there was a LOT of food :)We gave our presents to them and celebrated with a cake. Then I slept the night along with everyone else, which was also fun...we were awake 'til 2 in the morning!I'm so glad that they invited me and that I got to know them better. And to Anetka and Kaca....HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Going from me to the right:Claire, Klara(in the red), Anetka, Lucy and Kaca( In the orange)
Last weekend, we wanted to do something special, so I suggested we go horseback riding! It was a blast! We went on a trail through the mountains. I rode in the front the whole time, so I really got to see the view. I really love horseback riding!!!Yesterday, the Till
family, the Lobel's, Dad, Tyler and I went to see the new Indiana Jones Movie: Indiana Jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull. I thought it was pretty good, even though I'm not an official fan of Indiana Jones. (I've never seen any of the other movies:oD)But I thought it was pretty interesting.
Mom and Caleb are getting home on Monday! I'm so glad, and I just thank God for all the help we've had while they were gone. Caleb is taking some pills that are helping with the healing of his intestines and he's already feeling better! Praise God!!!
This week we had Josiah Venture Spring conference! And this year, CYT (Christian Youth Theater) came to do a play called Godspell! It's a play reenacting parables from the bible and the death of Jesus. It was really great. I even got to sing a duet with a girl named Meagan(in the picture to the left), we had fun singing together.We started conference on Wednesday and ended today, Sunday. In that short of time, we learned the WHOLE play! And it was really amazing, everyone did such a good job. We learned dances, memorized lines and song lyrics!
I was in the scene of the parable of the Sower and The Seed, The Good Samaritan and then parts where the whole cast did things.I had so much fun at conference! I really enjoyed getting to know the JV kids better and spending time with the people I 
don't see too often!
Also, during conference we had a LUAU!! We set up a big "circus" tent and set up "beachy" things in it. We even had a VW bus in there! We had dances, limbos, songs and even a "Hawaiian pinata"!(Which isn't really Hawaiian but it was fun anyway)
P.S. If you would like to see the video of our performance of "Godspell" go to my friends blog, she has the video on there, it is: http://laurelbugs.blogspot.com/
On Tuesday, the 16th of April, I had my first piano recital at the music school!I have been learning piano since around October and yesterday was my first real recital! I was so excited and nervous, but in the end it turned out pretty good. I didn't embarrass myself or anything, so that was good.My mom and Caleb flew to the States today. Caleb has been having really severe pain in his stomach (intestines) and the doctors here in Czech didn't know what to do, so my mom and dad made the decision that they should fly back to the States. But it was really sudden, (I found out for the first time yesterday), because Caleb needed the help as soon as possible.While mom and Caleb are gone, my dad will be taking care of Tyler and I, and a bunch of friends will be helping out with dinner and things like that. Thanks to those who are helping! It really makes a big difference and will make this whole process much more bearable!Please pray for Caleb and my mom as they go visit the hospital in Portland!
On Saturday my friend Lucy and I gathered up our stuff and headed up to Hotel Malenovice to babysit little kids!Mr. Pitcher (Ken) offered us the job of babysitting kids ages 2-4 for parents at the CBV (it's a KAM/Staz thing) conference.. So Lucy and I happily agreed, and met up at Malenovice at 9:00 in the morning.During that time, we played with and entertained five or six kids 'till 12:30. By that time Lucy and I were exhausted, it's a lot of work! I didn't expect it to be hard, but it was fun all the same. The kids enjoyed themselves and the parents got to enjoy some good seminars in peace. I hope that sometime I can do it again!
P.S. The two kids in the picture are some of the kids we babysat. There's Lia(American) and Tobias. They were both a lot of fun!
Yes, it's true, I have braces! Today, March 6th, 2008 I took the big trip to the orthodontist's office.She put this weird rubber thing in my mouth, to hold it open, and then got straight to work! Sometimes it hurt, but mainly it was only from the pressure she would put on my teeth so that the glue would hold. The whole process took only about an hour. By the end, my mouth hurt a bit, but it wasn't so bad.But about two hours later, it started really hurting. Right now I feel like there is not enough room in my mouth for my braces! Some of the wires are poking me so it feels like they are pushing out of my mouth. :o)So...here's the before and after picture!
Can you see them? Here's another one:
Last week we had spring break and we spent it in Slovenia with our cousins the Patty's!!
We left on Monday and we drove the rest of the day, until we finally arrived at our cousin's house. We unpacked our things from the van and headed straight to bed, because, even though you wouldn't think it, sitting in the van all day is tiring! :o)
The next day, Tuesday, we woke up pretty early in the morning and drove to a HUGE ski slope. It was so pretty there! They had wide slopes, steep slopes, bunny slopes, everything! We had a lot of fun that day as a family skiing and snowboarding. The sun was shining and there were no clouds in the sky, perfect skiing conditions!
Then on Thursday, our family drove to Venice, which was only about three hours away! I loved it there! The canals and everything are so cool. Also, they had just celebrated a carnival, in which they wear cool costumes and awesome masks! So, they were still selling the cool masks. They had them everywhere and in ALL kinds of different colors and designs! I even bought one, it's really cool.
At the main square of Venice, we saw tons of pigeons sitting around a couple of people. We also noticed that the birds were on their shoulders, arms and even heads! We walked over there, and saw a little stand where someone was selling corn to feed to the pigeons. We bought a bag of them and dad put some in his hands and went out in to the pigeons. The came flying onto his hands and started eating the corn, it was so funny! So then Caleb tried it and then
gradually, all of us tried it, even mom! Here are some of the best pictures we took. (We took more than 100 pictures with the pigeons!!)
We got home late that night, with loads of fun pictures and memories of Venice.
That whole week, I really enjoyed spending time with my cousins, aunt and uncle! We talked, giggled, played games and just spent time together, which was all so fun! Thanks for having us, Patty's!
Posts
