La Sonya

Dad chickened out. The rooster will live on.

I know that Christmas is over and it's passed the time that people will listen to Christmas music, which is why I'm not posting a Christmas song right now. This is a new holiday classic. It will spark the joy of the giving season and put you in the mood for sharing. The one thing I ask is please Don 't actually watch the video just listen . It's ridiculously stupid and makes the song look dumb and the song isn't dumb it's a new classic! Enjoy,

In case you can't make it out to Granbury, Texas to see the magical music lights for yourself you can check it out here. It's true we do make things bigger and better in Texas.

Okay, it's not dead yet but will be tomorrow. I know this might sound strange to some, this talk of killing animals for meat but while I was living in Tchad I became used to the killing of our animals. If we were to eat chicken for diner it had to come from somewhere, so it would come from our yard. If we were to eat our Christmas lamb it also had to come from somewhere, which was of course our yard. After that year of free range, organic meat I also decided that if I ever did eat meat in America then it would have to be of the free range variety. I would often help Clarice or Ama pluck the chicken in the afternoon before supper. It wasn't that bad, in fact I found it to be very educational. I learned about how feathers grow, where their joints are and how intricate the design of the chicken is. I never did the actual killing but I was there when the Christmas lamb was slotered. It was a new experience for me. Tomorrow I am going to do the whole job, partly because I want to p

She is out there. My Cinderella. She is real. She exists. I pray for her constantly. May God satisfy the desires of her heart, draw her close, consume her. May He claim her passions, her identity, her refuge, her hopes, her strengths and weaknesses, every fiber of her being. May she treasure and cherish her Savior more than anything of this world and cling to His will with every ounce of her stamina. By all that she is, does, and strives to be, may He draw near to her and she to Him. Written by Adam Young, of Owl City fame, on his blog .

Grønvold, my beloved Norwegian house. *My bedroom is the small window to the left. *This is my porch and kitchen and bedroom (back) window. *My living room/kitchen/dining room *My bedroom. My flat in Norway burned down to the ground early this morning (Dec 26). The whole building is gone. Gone. I loved that house. I know it's only a place but it was so cute, warm, cozy, colourful and it held so many great memories. Now that's all it is, memories. No one was hurt in the fire, most all the students were gone home on holiday. Aparently the fire started in the living room. As with most all Norwegian houses they are built completely of wood. This particular house was really old, they told me last year that it didn't even have indoor plumbing until the last 10-15 years. So the wood was really old and easily burnable. It's strange to think how this would effect me if it had happened 12 months ago.

H e r e 's t o C h r i s t m a s C h e e r ! 25 days of wearing Christmas joy. *it's hard work, I can't say I'm not glad it's over. Click to see a larger view.

Merry Christmas. Norway's giant gift of a Christmas tree to Berlin, Germany. Brandenburger Tor, 2009 I've grown so much in these last few months. My understanding of how people function has increased greatly, my knowledge of survival in the world, both wilderness and city, has grown and I've been challenged to see things from different perspectives and I've been stretched in my cooking skills. I've gained confidence in areas I have wanted to for a long time. like dirt biking, driving big yellow machines and stating my overall opinion. I feel like I really have been in the school of life. Thank you God for this gift. Thank you that I have friends to share life with. Thank you that you haven't forgotten about me or given up on me. Thank you for reminding me of all that I have been given and all the people who care about me. May they be blessed with more good memories than they can count and so many smiles their face hurts. Amen.

Something I really like about coming home is the evenings. At my mom's house we always sit around the table and play a game. My grandpa, brother, mom and me. We play for hours and hours. Tonight the game of choice was golf. My aunt and cousin came over for early Christmas celebrations and the 6 of played two rounds of 9 'holes' of golf. It was great fun. I didn't win any over all games but I came close on the first hand. After the other family left my brother, mom and I played Settlers of Catan. I love that game. We played ALL the time in Tchad towards the end of our time there. So tonight I shared the Tchadian rules with my family. My brother won, but I almost did. If it hadn't been almost 1:30am I might have beaten him, but I was getting distracted by the clock. (a silly excuse I know) There have been times when I didn't want to play games in the evening. Times when I was not in the mood, I was on break from college or had just gone through an emotional time

The beautiful Sierras capped in snow, o ut the window of my plane. Things I think about or do when traveling. Sometimes I like to touch the outside of the plane as I step into it because it touches the air at really high elevations and some how it feels like that should be dangerous to touch. Sometimes I like to NOT get a drink from the flight attendant. I think that maybe I'm making things easier and that I'm brining the overall cost down one soda at a time. I used to imagine great stories to tell people about myself, but I've realized that the truth of my life is much more exciting. Talk to my neighbor On that note; let me tell you about the great conversations I had yesterday. On the first flight I sat next to a woman from Clovis, CA. We both chatted it up. It started as they usually do, with me talking about how I live in Yosemite and how awesome that is. We talked about lots. Yosemite, marriage, family, travel and God. While talking about church and how she fel

I have graduated from the being the self proclaimed 90's girl to a modern girl with a sliding phone. I almost had to travel from Fresno, Ca to Granbury, Texas without a phone ! How crazy would that be? As if people haven't been doing that for years and years before now. Sheesh. I was, however, kinda looking forward to it. Just think of the adventure, not knowing where my ride was, not knowing if I would ever be found because I had no way of calling anyone. It could have been epic. To bad. So now that I am a part of the Keele Verizon family I can call you if you have a Verizon number or after hours or on the weekend and I can text anyone I want as much as I want. Right now I'm at the Fresno airport and I'm excited to be traveling again. I've decided to make this holiday vacation be very good. To help keep me active with what I'm doing and makeing sure I am doing things that matter to the world, or at least are adventurous, or at least require me to get dressed I

Star date: 121920.10 We've entered into the monsoon season of winter months here at our base camp. The days have been getting drastically shorter and drastically slower. The troops, however, are holding it together boldly. These last few days we've seen many a bold and noble troops leave the base camp for outer societies. Our numbers wavered greatly the day most left, at midday it was just the Commander and Chief, Captain Handal and I holding down the fort. That day we lost half the servicemen and women. However by the next day we had gained the same number back in temporary troops. It's been interesting meeting so many of those passing through. There is a group of three going out to the outer country of Guatemala via a bo-bo bus. Their voyage will start before the rains stop, they leave tomorrow. The others passing through our humble base camp are the family members of the great Maintenance Director, Lieutenant Commander Gabel. They are gracing us with their stories of the

Both the children unsaddled their horses and the horses had a little grass and Aravis produced rather nice thing to eat from her saddle-bag. But Shasta sulked and said No thanks, and that he wasn't hungry. And he tried to put on what he thought very grand and stiff manners, but as a fisherman's hut is not usually a good place for learning grand manners, the result was dreadful. And he half knew that it wasn't a success and then became sulkier and more awkward than ever. ~A Horse and His Boy. Oh how I hate it when that happens! I hate how things go down hill fast when I am in a sulky mood. I'm a tiny bit grouchy, perhaps I'm tired and people don't mean to say anything aggravating but it happens and then BAMB, I try to do something to make my situation better and BAMB, again! I've become sulkier and more awkward than ever. Oy. I do think however it's nice that when I'm at that point in the downward spiral God sends in help, sorta like a shooting star t

It was a bright starry night. The night air was good for sleeping. A woman fell asleep, and she dreamt. There were people at her childhood home. She was there with them. There was to be a wedding, her wedding. She was excited as were the people. As dreams go she found a change. She was pregnant. With twins. She even felt the two heart beats on her stomach. There were people that needed to be told. The fiance, the parents and the friends. It was a strange occurrence and she knew there had never been an act to cause a birth. The people were told, the parents were next. She, amidst the people, turned to her fiance and said, "I want the world to know I love you. I want to still marry you" The dream ended. The thoughts did not. The thoughts did not.

"Many are unable to make definite plans for the future. Their life is unsettled. They cannot discern the outcome of affairs, and this often fills them with anxiety and unrest. Let us remember that the life of God's children in this world is a pilgrim life . We have not wisdom to plan our own lives. It is not for us to shape our future. 'By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.' Hebrews 11:8. Christ in His life on earth made no plans for Himself. He accepted God's plans for Him , and day by day the Father unfolded His plans . So should we depend upon God, That our lives may be the simple outworking of His will. As we commit our ways to Him, He will direct our steps. Too many, in planning for a brilliant future, make an utter failure. Let God plan for you . As a little child, trust to the guidance of Him who will 'keep the feet of His saint

Woman yet as a petal you always tell the wind to sing beneath the moon as a mist blows me to death can i have the man i want love is frantic if you leave a void will take me to crush out spring winter drools white eternity ache not but dream easy live life here sea & sky a watery whisper a rainy garden of roses after bitter storm spray of summer light & shadow shine time. . . trudge. . . worship h e is a gift of love to suit your beauty I think. *written by Andrea and Sonya on the back of their door. **Sponsored by Magnetic Poetry, find your inner poet.

Since college I've had a tradition of wearing Christmas colours everyday of December leading up to the BIG day, December 25. I find it a way to spread the Christmas joy and it's a time where you can wear red and green without feeling like a Christmas ornament. I also like the challenge of finding something to wear that hasn't been worn yet in the last 25 days. So far so good (however it's only day 4). Although I must say it's not as much fun when I know that there are only a small handful of people to appreciate my hard work on finding things to wear. This year however I discovered that my friend Kimberly is also celebrating Christmas with clothing as well. She inspired me to take a picture every day to post. She's inspiring like that :) Here's day 4.

Yosemite Valley, November 2010 by Sonya. For Andrea. "It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily. "So it is." " And freezing." "Is it?" "Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately." ~The House at Pooh Corner Brighten up a little Andrea, at least we haven't had an earthquake.