My new look!!

My dear brother Tyler Patty redesigned my blog! Doesn't it look so cool!?

By the way, if you were wondering...the picture in the background (the colors), those are actually strands of colorful beads! I took that picture the other day and I really liked the colors, so I asked Tyler if he could fix up my blog, and he did!

So, to Tyler...THANK YOU!!

If you would like to have your blog done by TJP (Tyler), click on the little icon on the side of my page that says TJP.

Christmas in The States!

This year my whole family flew to the states for Christmas. We haven't been back here for Christmas in 13 years! I was just a baby last time we were here!

We've had an amazing time in these past couple weeks. Here are some highlights of our time here!


Of course, being with my grandparents (and uncle Mike!) is the main highlight of this trip!
Picking out a Christmas tree!

Putting Christmas lights up outside with Uncle Mike!


Having my special day with Michelle! Can you see I got my ears pierced???!!

Here's some more pictures!

Getting a hot chocolate at Starbucks! I'm not a big fan of coffee... :o)
Christmas finally came!

Look at our beautiful Christmas tree!
Opening presents!



Here's all of us eating a scrumptious Christmas dinner...well, actually, lunch!

So, the conclusion is...we've had an AWESOME time here!

Write@home

I'm in eighth grade as most of you know, and I go to czech school. But there is one thing I don't get out of school here, and that is ENGLISH WRITING!!

So last year my mom decided to enroll me in a online writing class. We always get a lesson, a theme on which to write about and then we get it corrected. On most of the assignments we get three revisions and then after the third revision, the teacher grades it. So I thought I'd show you one of my favorite papers I've written!

This is one I wrote last year - enjoy!

My giraffe, Susie Rose, and I are the best of friends. I found her when the local zoo in Rindapple flooded and needed temporary homes for their animals. I rushed over as soon as I heard about the offer, because I knew I wanted the giraffe. Sure enough, they handed her over to me and said they would come for her in about two weeks, after they repaired the zoo.

Throughout the two weeks I became more and more attached to the giraffe. I begged my parents to buy it from the zoo, and finally, they agreed. The zoo sold it to us and I named her Susie Rose.

People say I’m weird to have a giraffe for a pet. They argue that giraffes should stay in the wild. I can prove them wrong. It is very useful to have a giraffe for a pet!

Susie Rose helps me all the time with my chores. Since she measures nearly four meters tall, she helps me put away dishes on the highest shelves, change the light bulbs in our hallways, dust the surfaces of my dad’s tall bookshelves and even clean the gutters out.

If they still don’t believe me, I tell them all the ways she helps me in everyday life. For example, the other day, I went over to my friend’s house who lives across the creek. I had just come from school, so still had nice clothes on. Luckily, I took Susie Rose with me. As I came to the edge of the creek, I noticed that if I crossed it, I would get my nice clothes wet. Susie Rose had no problem with this. She stepped forward, leaned down so I could climb onto her back, and lumbered across the creek with me riding on her. My clothes stayed perfectly dry!

Last summer, I went with Susie Rose to pick cherries at my grandpa’s farm. He told me that the best cherries always grow at the tops of the trees. I wondered how I could climb to the top to get those cherries without falling out of the tree. With Susie Rose’s help, the task turned out “easy as pie”. We picked twelve full buckets of luscious, ruby red cherries and baked twenty pies for the annual fair in my grandpa’s town. If I didn’t have Susie Rose with me, I could never have brought any pies at all! Those townspeople were sure glad for my pet giraffe.

Going to the store with Susie Rose also makes life easier for my mom and me. Not only can she carry us to the store, thus saving gas money, but she can boost my mom up to the highest shelves to reach the products placed there. If I get lost in the store, I climb up onto Susie Rose’s head and call out to my mom. She sees me immediately and comes to my rescue. People sometimes give me strange looks when I am up on my giraffe’s head, but that doesn’t matter because I never have to worry about getting lost!

People question my parents and me about the health and nutrition needs of Susie Rose. Not to worry. My dad read that giraffe’s prefer to eat leaves from the acacia tree. Believe it or not, we already had a grove of acacia trees growing on our property! Susie Rose enjoys strolling through the grove and eating leaves from those trees every day. She also likes to eat herbs, shrubbery, buds and leaves of other trees, so she gets plenty to eat. By following my dad’s carefully planned diagram for her eating schedule, she keeps our yard trimmed and looking neat throughout the year.

Having Susie Rose for a pet has truly made my life happier and easier. I think more people should consider having giraffes as pets!

THE END

Thanksgiving

This year, as always we spent Thanksgiving with our "extended" family of Josiah Venture.

On Thursday, we all gathered around for some Turkey and pumpkin pie (of course there was more food too!). We had a great time spending time together, and thanking the Lord for all the good things he's given us.

On the last night of conference we had our annual JVK (JV Kid) talent show! This year, I thought the talents were exceptionally good. Every JVK had a unique talent to share like playing the piano, singing, karate, dancing, comedy acts and much more! I played a piano duet with my mom that we had been practicing for over three weeks - it was great to finally perform it. If anyone was wondering, the people in the picture are Corey and Lindee Anderson.

After the talent show on Saturday, we had what we call "Midnight Movie Night"! We call it that because we start a movie at around ten thirty and it usually goes to around midnight. We split into our groups (Journey with Zeteo, Akiko with Frogs, Ducks with Beauties) and we watch our own movie. This year our group watched Shrek 3! We all piled our blankets and pillows together, to form what we call "Cozy Hoff". It's Akiko's (my group) special tradition for movie night. We all find our spot in the pile and that's where we stay for the movie. It's so fun!!

Although it was sad when the conference ended on Sunday, I felt really filled up and satisfied! I'm so glad I get to be a part of this!

This is my cousin Becca and I, with a gingerbread house she decorated herself! They are also JV and I love spending that time with them!