I don't know what the title should be...

So this is Ellie writing. It was kind of funny last time I wrote, I had asked Dad to publish it after he read it because Mom wanted me to get off the computer.


Anyway, yesterday was my 14th birthday. I'm going to have a birthday party, a sleepover with some friends, on February 29th to March 1st. In the evening we went to GFA to have dinner and then an illusionist guy did his show. It was open to all the staff so there were lots of people there. It was fun. And really interesting. He did a bunch of tricks, but explained or showed us how to do most of them, so that was nice. All my family gave me presents too. Melissa made me an apron which was really amazing, Amy gave me a Starbucks travel mug, Clara gave me homemade slippers, and Mom and Dad gave me this huge stack of paper for like scrapbooking, cardmaking, and all kinds of things.


On Wednesday Mom had gum surgery. Amy and I went with her and did school in the car while she had the procedure done. She has to have her "Silly-Putty bandaids" on for two weeks, so she can only eat smoothies and cold things.


I started getting sick yesterday, and today I have had a fever, a headache, and a sore throat. But right now I don't feel too bad. But being sick will prevent me from going to a church retreat that me and my sisters were going to go to. Anyway, I hope my sisters have a great time! The retreat will be at a hotel in Frisco, and the teaching times will be at the church.


Today Mom let me not do a lot of school, so I started reading the Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. I have already read more than two-thirds of it! It's kind of funny.

Did I ever say that Amy got a mac? She bought a refurbished laptop off the Apple website. It's fun when she lets me use it :) It's nice for her too to be able to do school on it and stuff.

Well, bye!

Our Life as of Late

I haven't written for a while. Anyway, recently we have been exploring a new Korean Market- it's called Super H Mart. It is near our house and is where the old Mervyn's was, and if you were inside you wouldn't be able to tell that it had been a clothes store. They have all kinds of crazy food. And great prices, according to Mom, for vegetables. They have a whole section devoted to kimchi and another big section for raw or alive fish. Some of they crazy things we found are these: shrimp meat balls, raw squid, bean cakes, green bean popsicles, fish sausage, giant calabaza squash, and lots of other things. There are neat dishes, and all kinds of things ranging from hair straighteners to rice storage units. When we bought 3 little bean cakes, we were expecting them to be like doughnuts, but they were squishy and chewy.
I (Ellie) finished today a pair of pajama pants that I was sewing. On Tuesdays Mom and I volunteer at the office. I helped in Dad's department today, which was fun. I stamped letters and scanned letters. I am planning to have my birthday party on February 29 to March 1 since it is a sleepover. My birthday is on the 21st. I'll be 14.
Tonight we went to GFA's Tuesday Night Prayer. I (Jeff) organized it. Which means I have to plan who is going to share prayer requests and how long each person's time can be. Tonight went well but it didn't go like I planned it. Sister Gisela (most of us call her Auntie Gisela) just got back from Germany and her sisters funeral. She asked if she could share a little about that, so that was a last minute change. I was also asked to give some time to another person to share some prayer requests. Everything worked out in the end. We got to hear some very encouraging things about how our brothers and sisters on the field are bearing up under the persecution. The church is growing in spite of all the attacks Satan is throwing at the church. We are more than conquerers through Christ!!

Tiredness

We are nearing the end of an ECC day. The ECC part is over, now we're into the evening part. Dinner was really good. We had beef roast and potatoes that I burned. The kitchen and the living room were really smokey so mom turned on fans and opened the door. Then it got cold because the door was open but it wasn't smokey anymore so I closed the door and turned off the fan.
Anyway today we had a Valentines party at ECC so we got all sugared out. I made Mema's recipe of Santa Claus Cookies, except they were hearts. :)
Right now we're watching the Pursuit of Happyness. It really is spelled that way. It's kind of part of the movie. The movie is based on a true story so that is cool.

More Valentines Day

Dad is so nice! He surprised us all with little bags of chocolate tonight. I love my family!

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day, y'all! We haven't done much for Valentines Day- I just made cookies, and Dad took Mom out to dinner last night. Clara and Melissa have made cards for their friends. Anyway, Mom and Dad went to an Indian restaurant in Lewisville. I had Mom's leftovers for lunch today. They were really good! Amy has been getting her newsletter ready. I think she'll mail them soon. She got a Macbook recently. Its pretty cool. Also I was helping a family who is on staff here at GFA. I basically babysit while the mom runs errands.

Oh, we have the coolest chiropractor! Today they sent us Starbucks giftcards. It's kind of fun getting gifts like that from your doctor. :)

Mom took some pictures of me icing the cookies today so here they are.

Me icing a cookie

Letting the icing harden

I really didn't eat that cookie- I just posed, and breathed all over it. I kind of feel bad for the whoever gets that cookie.

Starting

We've started a blog! Now you (our family and friends) can keep up with us while you surf the net. So I, Ellie, am the one who will mostly be posting since everyone else is so busy :) I also persitently asked dad if I could make one. So I hope people actually look at this!