Music Inspiration

So, I’d like to let you all know, that in the moment I am sitting here typing up this post our internet is down.  Now, when I first heard this, I thought, “This is great.  No distractions, no internet.  I’m going to be writing with no interruptions for hours!”  After hearing this, I took out my laptop, and made my way into my little cove, ready to power through some stories.  I open up my laptop, and I open up all the tabs for my stories that I needed open, I took out my notebooks, then I opened up the music…  It didn’t turn on.

  Of course, I forgot that the music I listen to while writing is on the internet.  All the Lindsey Stirling, Piano Guys, and Peter Hollens, waiting to ooze inspiration and emotion, just wasting away in the cyber world of computer chips.  You know, I thought that it’d be fine.  So I go back to my story, and read the last sentence I wrote, readying myself for some serious writing.  I put my hands over the keyboard, and… they didn’t do anything.  My fingers just wouldn’t dance for the story.  Then I realized, you can’t dance without music!  So, of course I’m not writing.  After four months of getting use to listening to this music while writing, I have forgotten how to write a story without the little songs in the background.

  Now, I know what you’re thinking.  You’re probably asking yourself why I couldn’t just turn on the radio, or a cd.  Or why I couldn’t just use Itunes.  First of all, I don’t have Itunes in my bedroom.  Second of all, I don’t have any Lindsey Stirling, Peter Hollens, or Piano Guy cd’s.  And third of all, the music I have on my computer is sorted in several different categories.  For example, if I am wanting to write an action scene, I will listen to my ‘action music’- you know the fast upbeat stuff.  And the same with everything else, a sad scene, I listen to my sad music, a happy scene I listen to my happy music, and you probably don’t need me to explain any further.

  Anyways, I did not realize how dependent on I’d become on music, so I veered away from my stories, and wrote this post instead.  But alas, I must go back and try to power through writing without music.  Just hope I can suffer through.

Editor’s Note:  The music came on!

I See Fire

 Crystallize

Skyrim

Mission Impossible

Charlie Brown Medley

Realm Walkers: Banishment Day 1

Here is the new installment of the Realm Walkers. This one post is titled, Banishment Day 1. Hope you enjoy this new installment of Addy and Thacia's adventures.

Addy and Thacia still couldn’t believe that Arthur had chosen to banish them. Though they were in shock, they packed their (small) bags and went to say goodbye to the knights. Addy walked into the armory first. She saw all of main knights standing together in the middle of the room. They all turned towards her and Thacia as they entered. Gwaine walked up and hugged Thacia goodbye. “I can’t believe my little sister got herself banished,” he said and Thacia punched his arm hard.  
Addy knew it was for calling her ‘little’. “She’s following in the steps of her older brother,” Merlin teased as he walked into the room.  
“We’re going to miss you guys.” Leon stated.  
Addy shouted “Whaaat?!” as Thacia leaned backwards and gasped. 
The Knight all nodded in agreement with Leon, and Percival said “We will.”  
“Well that is earth shattering news.” Addy stated sarcastically. “Oh and Merlin we need to talk to you for a minute.” She added. 
Merlin followed her into another room and Thacia trailed behind. “I just thought that before we left we should let you know that we know that you have magic.” 
Merlin looked shocked. Then Thacia added, “And Addy has magic too.” This only added to his surprise.   “Well, we’ve got to go now, being banished an all. Bye!” Addy said and they turned and left a very stunned manservant. He shouted after them 
“You can’t just leave after saying something like that.” Addy thought, Well we can, and we are.

As Addy and Thacia walked through the tall grass leaving Camelot, they talked. “Banishment day 1,” Addy started. When Thacia nodded, she continued, “We have about ten gold coins, no horses, and little to no belongings.”  
“Just another day of adventure!” Thacia added. “So we’re banished from most kingdoms, were do you want to go?” “Cenrid’s kingdom obviously!” “Good choice,” Addy said as she nodded.

Once they were within walking distance of Cenrid’s castle, Addy and Thacia unsaddled and let their ‘borrowed’ horses free. Addy watched Thacia as she examined a bunch of trees. Suddenly Thacia stopped. “Aha!” she said barely above a whisper, “That one.” She pointed to an old pine with unusual markings throughout its bark.  
“Are you sure” Addy asked in the same volume Thacia had used.  
“Positive.” Thacia replied. Then they both took the shovels they had taken off of the horses and started digging near the base of the tree.  
“So what exactly did this strange, random, disappearing magician tell you?” Addy asked as she dumped a shovel full of dirt behind her. 
She then stopped, leaned on her shovel and awaited the answer. “Well,” Thacia started and Addy resumed digging. “He said: ‘You there! Yes you!’ He had a raspy voice and a long white beard.” Thacia used a raspy voice when she quoted the old man. “‘You look like the kind of lady in need of a quick escape.’ I sort of nodded so he said ‘Well, long ago there were two brothers who went by the name of Grimm – two m’s. They trained a man you know in the ways of magic.’ He went on but I got distracted by the awesomest sword ever! Then when I listened again he was saying ‘Before they left, they gave your friend a gift.’ He said—”  
“Wait a second,” Addy interrupted. “Friend? I thought he was just someone we know.” “Yeah, I wondered about that . . . Now let me finish! ‘This gift,’ he said, ‘gives the owners—for there must always be two—the power to escape any kind of trouble they are in.’ Then he explained what the tree looked like and where to find it and—” Thacia was interrupted again, but this time by the sound of Addy’s shovel striking something metal. 
Addy got excited. They both bent down to dig the metal thing out the rest of the way by hand. It turned out to be a little box. “That’s the box that he described,” Thacia said, excitement edged her voice. “The old man said that only a magician could open the box . . . unfortunately . . .” Addy reached for the box and Thacia reluctantly gave it to her. 
Addy grabbed the lock and it crumbled in her hand. “Well that’s convenient.” 
Then Thacia reached over and tried to yank the box out of Addy’s hands. “Now I can open it!” Thacia shouted.  
“But I want to!” Addy countered.  
“Who cares! I’m going to open it!”  
“No!” “Yes!”  
They wrestled with the box for a few minutes in the same manor. Then suddenly Addy felt something very sharp poke her nose. When she looked up she found it was an arrow, the man holding it had his bow drawn back. Addy heard Thacia start to unsheathe her sword. She glanced over and saw Thacia was in a predicament identical to her own.  
“Well, well, well. What have we here?” A man said as he stepped out from behind a tree. 
He, like the other men, was clad in dark, mostly leather clothing. Upon seeing him, Addy recognized him as Cenrid’s head guard. As he walked closer Addy slipped her hand into the box and dropped its contents into her pocket in one swift motion. None of the guards noticed. The main guard took the box and opened it. “Wow, you two are stupid,” he said, “Fighting over an empty box.” The rest of the guards laughed. 
Addy turned her gaze back to Thacia who started to protest, but was promptly gagged. The guards led them to the castle to be put in the dungeon. “It wasn’t just an empty box,” Addy said on the way back. “Oh, really?” The head guard asked sarcastically. “Then what was in it?” Addy didn’t like that he used sarcasm against her, that was her thing.  
“It held a spirit,” she said, “The spirit of Muhammad.” 
Once she saw the look on his face, she was pleased with how well it was working, so she continued. “He was a great and terrible man, when he was alive, and the only way they could stop him was to trap his soul in that box. Why did you think we came so easily, and was fighting over who got to open the box? Whoever opened it gained control of his soul.”  
The head guard got a look of power and shouted, “Great spirit! Come prove yourself to me and strike down this man.” And he pointed to a guard near him. Addy couldn’t stop herself from laughing and Thacia did the same through her gag. “And we’re the stupid ones!” she said through burst of laughter. 
The guards shoved them along.

Addy was surprised that Cenrid’s guards let them share a cell. “I can’t believe the metal box was empty!” Thacia said.  
“Oh! I forgot to tell you, I grabbed the stuff inside and put it in my pocket before stupid number 1 saw.” “What?! What was in it?” Thacia jumped up and over to Addy.  
“Uuuum . . . .” Addy pulled it out, “It’s just a rock . . .?”  
“A rock!?” Thacia grabbed it and Addy stood up.  
“Apparently. And it didn’t even work.” Addy held half of the oblong rock and Thacia held the other side. “Let’s throw it at the wall,” Thacia suggested. Addy thought it was as good an idea as any, so she nodded. As they threw it she vainly said “Get us out of this.” 
When the rock hit the wall there was a flash of light and when Addy looked the wall showed part of another place she didn’t recognize. Suddenly a guard came and shouted, but before he could get into the cell to grab them, Addy looked at Thacia, who smiled, and they jumped through. It felt like hitting the wall, but they landed on the ground somewhere else. Addy glanced back just in time to see the portal close, right before the guard got to it.

Mexico: What I Learned

Psalm 100-

Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all your lands!

Serve the LORD with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the LORD, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into his courts with praise

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name

For the LORD is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations

  The thing that hit me the most while down in Mexico was how happy the kids were.  In order to understand what they did, let me paint the canvas for you.  Imagine living in one building for almost your entire life, day by day, with the same people, never able to leave.  You have no family who wants to come visit you (some of them do, though), and you have some physical disability.  You are stuck in either a wheelchair, or helping someone who is in a wheelchair or who can’t walk or talk on their own.  You have other people doing everything for you- brushing your teeth, (sometimes) feeding you, changing your diaper, getting your clothes, getting you out of bed, getting you into bed- while you are in one room coloring the same coloring books, playing with the same people, and watching the same movies all the time.

  Now, that sounds pretty boring right?  It’d get very boring, you’d probably complain.  You probably would not be very happy- I’m sure it is hard to be joyful in those circumstances.  But now, let me paint the canvas from the kid’s perspectives.  They see themselves living in a very fun area with a playground, a tire swing, and trampoline.  Everyday, they get to wake up to play with wonderful people, and they know for a fact, they’ll get to be with them the next day.  They see themselves surrounded by their brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, and they have all the family they need.  

  They get to play like little children, and have the most fun time simply drawing and talking to their family in Christ, while others have to go and do the hard jobs for them :) - of course, they’re grateful.  They know that someday they’ll be in Heaven with their entire family, able to walk, and talk, and be with the Lord Jesus.  And for now, they’re praising God here on Earth, for the future they’ll get to spend with Him.

  These kids have everything against them- their family, their lifestyle, the limit of their abilities- and you would not believe how happy they are.  Magali is laughing simply from playing on the tire swing, Karina is smiling from only talking to others, and Ema has joy written across her face the entire time.  And so many more examples, that I simply do not have enough room to write about.  So, what I learned in Mexico is this:

  It doesn’t not matter your circumstances, or your abilities, or what people might think about you, or anything.  Because God will always be there, and at anytime you can go to Him and praise Him for His mighty works.  And you can do this with the assurance that everything will be okay, and if not here on Earth, then in eternity in Heaven, where we will be with our Creator.  So take joy in the suffering, because you have the gift of eternal life.

 These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.  John 15:11

(This is the crew that went down- minus Tommy)

Mexico Trip

Hey!  So this is the next installment in the Mexico posts.  Today, I will be telling you as much as I can recall about the orphans.  Hope you have fun reading this, and I’ll be writing on emore post next week.

Ana- Ana was one of the girls, and she loved to draw.  She was really good at it too compared to the
other kids there.  She drew in her Frozen Disney coloring book all the time, or she played with her dog, Gracie.  She was very helpful, and whenever it was time to eat, she would help Nilse up to the Casino.  She loved the outdoors, and was on the trampoline and tire swing a lot.    

Angel (On-hill)- I didn’t get to work with Angel much, because the girls aren’t really aloud to help with boys, same way the guys aren’t really allowed to help with the girls.  But whenever you saw Angel, he had a smile on his face.  

Eddy- Whenever you saw Eddy, you would see him with his his hands behind his neck, as if to say, “Hey man, I’m just chill’n!”

Ema-  Ema always had a smile on her face, and she loved it when I would greet her and say, “Hey Ema.”  Then she’d greet back, and say, “Hi Emma!”  Then she’d start laughing.  Ema enjoys watching movies, and she loves people.  She loves to worship God, and get up in the early mornings.  When you see her, you can tell she 
loves a lot.  

Jena-  I’m afraid I didn’t get to hang out with Jena much, but I do know she loves to play with chalk and laugh.

Juan Carlos-  Once again, I didn’t get to help with him, like Eddy and Angel, but I did hear that he loves his name.  Whenever someone would shout across the room to him, “Juan Carlos!!”  He’d start bobbing his head all joyfully.

Karina-  Karina is very strong, whenever she holds someone’s hand, they have to hold themselves back from crying out in surprise.  Karina loves to color, and calls everyone ‘sweetie,’ and ‘honey.’  She acts as if she is the big sister of all the girls, and makes sure they’re in line, telling them not to do things.  She’s very sassy, and always is keeping secrets from Grace (one of the staff).  Whenever she is telling Rachel (another staff member) about secret plans for Grace, and she walks in, she shouts at her to go away.

Laura-  Laura loves Disney princesses, and has several books of the Disney princesses.  She also loved the new shoes she got.  She enjoys singing.

Lucy-  Lucy is sixteen years old, and loves to color.  She loves the trampoline, and the tire swing.  She loves puzzles, and she had a very big heart.  She loves singing to God, you should see her in the morning during worship.  She also- along with several other of the girls- loves Frozen.

Lupe-  Lupe loves to color, and is like the second big sister of the family.  Whenever someone does something they’re not supposed to do, she quietly goes to a staff member, and says, “They’re not supposed to do that.”  She loves green apples, and loves to play with all the girls, and on the tire swing.  She also loves Anne of Green Gables.

Magali-  I’m afraid I didn’t get to hang out with Magali much, but I know she loves the Slaydens (They’re part of the crew who went down to Mexico), and she loves the tire swing.

  

Mari-  I didn’t get to hang out with Mari much either, but she loves it when people feed her her food.

Nilse-  Nilse loves to make noises, and throw things.  She’s very helpful when you’re trying to help her do something- as in when you do something for her, she’ll do something to make it easier for you.  She loves her food, and she loves Ana.

Ponch-  Once again, I don’t know much about Ponch, because I didn’t get to work with him.  But my dad told me, he’s blind, but when he eats he feeds himself, and makes the smallest mess out of any of them.  

Sela-  Sela is a very happy girl, who loves it when you feed her.  She kicks her leg, and makes sounds whenever she’s happy.

Mexico Trip

Hey everybody!  I’m back from Mexico!  Actually, I was back a week ago, but I could not force myself to write a post up until now.  So, I’ve decided to write to you all about how my trip to Mexico went, and chose to make it a three part series.  The first is a day-by-day description on what I did.  The second post will be about the disabled “kids” I got to work with.  And the third post will be about what God showed me while I was down there.  Hopefully, some pictures will be sprinkled about also.  I will blog one post per week.  Anyways, I do hope you enjoy, and here is the first post.

Saturday-  Saturday we drove all day and night down to Mexico.  I drove with the Slaydens, and Eli, Tanya, and Andrew.  Pretty much the entire ride down I read, although Ronita (Mrs. Slayden) was able to pull me away every once in awhile.  We were probably an hour away from Cottage Grove, when the other van decided they needed a new vehicle, because there's kept breaking down.  So, we had to drive back to Cottage Grove, get a new van, and get back on the road.  On the way down we got a little separated from the van, and when we finally caught up to them, we saw they were helping some people out, because they had gotten into an accident.  Apparently, they saw the whole thing, and one car hit the tail gate of another, which rammed into the tailgate of another.   Then, that car flipped into the air, and landed hood first on the side.  So, the van got out to help them.  But we were back on the road again soon, and everyone was fine.

  Then a few hours later, I look up from my book to find out we’ve separated from the van, and can’t find them.  I’m not exactly sure what we were doing, but we eventually found them, and continued.  

Sunday-  When we crossed the border and was in Mexico, we stopped by a really good restaurant.  It was called Los Ponchos, and they had really good tortas.  They were spicy, but DELICIOUS!  We got to the orphanage about six o’clock, and I met up with Audrey and Taylor, and watched as they ate some dinner.  Around seven, they gave us orientation, and Audrey introduced Hana, Tanya, and I to the orphan girls.  

Monday-  I had projects all day on Monday.  And starting at seven thirty, Sherri, Andrew, Arianna, Ethan, Taylor, and I, all cleaned up the casino, swimming area, and classroom.  All the others on project did painting and concrete at the infirmary.  At twelve we broke for lunch, then forty-five minutes later we started up again, and I went to help my Dad because my group was done.  Dad had me clean out gutters until four, then I got my break.  Tommy was gone all day because the van broke down, so he had to go back to the states to get parts.

Tuesday-   I had projects until twelve o’clock with Audrey and Ronita, detailing wheelchairs.  We talked for a long time about “deep” stuff.  Then we had lunch, and Ronita and I got to take care of the kids.  I fed Nilse for lunch, then I colored with Lupe and Karina for the first two hours..  And the entire time Karina was talking about how we should not draw on ourselves, because she got in trouble when she did.  She calls everyone ‘honey’ and ‘sweetie’ and ‘baby’.  And she acts like the big sister of the family.  Then I overheard her telling Rachel about throwing a surprise party for Grace in December, and that it was a secret!  

  For the next hour I played puzzles with Lucy, and actually we mostly just sorted through them, because it was five different puzzles mixed together.  Lucy’s sixteen years old, and she’s very sweet.  Then after I got off, I barged in on a dancing lesson of Audrey, Taylor, and a girl named, Sarah.  Sarah does ballet, and Taylor was trying to teach her dubstep, but she kept mixing the positions with ballet.  Then Sarah tried to teach Taylor ballet, which was also interesting.

Wednesday-  I had dishes with Taylor and Mary.  So each time we got done with our meals we spent the next hour and a half rinsing, washing, bleaching, cleaning, and drying the dishes.  About half an hour into it, the orphans would start eating, and we’d get their dishes.  After the breakfast dishes Taylor and I went into the bedroom, and she sorted her clothes and listened to my ipod, while I did my devotions on identity.  Then Audrey called us over and said they wanted us with the cameras because they were going to give the shoes out to the kids.  So, we went over, and I put shoes on Laura, then I started taking pictures.  After awhile the excitement calmed down, and everyone went back to their jobs.  Except for Taylor and I, who played with the kids and Hana (Hana’s job was the kids).  I took pictures of the girls and everyone else on the tire swing.  

  Then, I started taking pictures of them on the trampoline coloring.  Eventually one of the staff member’s kids started playing with us, and he was like four or five, his name was Aiseth.  We ended up all lying on the trampoline together, in order of, Aiseth, Taylor, Lupe, Hana, Lucy, me, Ana.  Then suddenly, Lucy sat up and started tickling Hana and I, and we both screeched from surprise.  But we got her back later.  Then we had to go to lunch, and we did dishes again.  Then we went and helped part of the crew on projects and raked leaves, and pulled weeds.  We ended up having to get the ant spray and killing some ants, because we found a bunch a sugar ants, and Mary thought they were fire ants.  

  Then for the last forty-five minutes before dinner we went swimming.  When we got out of the pool, it had ended with Hana, Audrey, Taylor, Ronita, Brett (Mr. Slayden), Mr. Murray, and I all swimming.  Then at seven-thirty we all went out to the amphitheater to do a teaching, and we couldn’t find Hana.  At first we just waited, but then we started yelling, and then looking.  And we eventually found her with Sarah.

Thursday-  I had projects in the morning, and my crew finished up the raking we didn’t get done the day before.  Then I had the afternoon off, and so did the rest of my crew since we got done.  So, Dad, Tommy, Hana, Tanya, Jacob, Nicholas, Amanda, Eli, Arianna, and I all went into town to look around.  Dad and I bought Riah, Sarah, and Leah a backpack each.  Then a xylophone guitar for Tessah.  Eventually, we went back and Arianna and I got the kids for the evening shift.  We hung out with them as they watched Anne of Green Gables, and I watched as Lupe colored some green apples.  She said that she liked green apples, and I told her about the apple tree full of green apples in my backyard.  She said, “Send me a picture.”

  So, I told her I would.  Then a whole bunch of people came in all at once, and started talking with the girls.  Apparently, they were YWAMers, who knew the orphans, and came down to Mexico to work on a house nearby.  So they stopped to say hi.  Then, Karina asked me to wheel her to the next room to hide a picture for Grace.  A little while later, I went to dinner, and quickly scarfed down my food, then went to finish my shift with the girls.  This time I sat on the ground with Ema, and just hugged her the entire time.  Whenever I would say, “Hi Ema,” to her, she‘d laugh and say “Hi Emma.”  Because she thought it was funny we had the same name.

  Then it was six-thirty, and my shift was over.  So, I went around hugging all the girls, and saying bye.  Lucy was the second one I said bye to, and when I did she wouldn’t let go of me, and she was sobbing so much.  Finally, with tears, I said good-bye to her, and went onto Karina.  Who asked me not to cry, and said she loved me.  Then I said bye to Laura, and Magali, then hugged Ema for awhile, and she also asked for my address, so I wrote it down in her notebook.  Then I said bye to Lupe, and told her I’d send her a picture of the apple tree, then went and said bye to Ana.  Then I made some quick good-byes to Sela, Mari, Nilse, and Jena.  Then I said bye to Rachel, and left.  I went and started packing, but then Dad found me, and said there was ice cream up in the meal room, so I went up there and ate a bowl.  Then, I went back down and finished packing, then came back up for another bowl.  

  Then at seven-thirty, we all went to the sign at the entrance and took pictures of everybody, then up to a cross and did the same thing.  

Friday-  We headed out at five forty-five, and as we were leaving we saw Ema waving to us from outside.  We waved back as we drove away.  When we got to the border, we had some trouble when the lady asked if Tommy had crossed the border at all from arriving in Mexico.  He said, “Yeah, I came through yesterday.”

  “Well, then do you remember me?”  she asked.

  “Yeah.”  answered Tommy.

  “I wasn’t working yesterday.”  she accused of him.

  “Oh, oh, it was a couple days ago.”

  Then she asked us all to get out.  So, we all got out of the van, and went through security, showing them our passports, and telling them what we bought in Mexico.  Which was nothing, in my case.  Then I switched into the Slayden’s car again, and read until we stopped at eight fifteen to fix the van.  We had breakfast at Subway.  Then, we headed out again at ten.  At three o’clock we got to Six Flags, and the first ride we went on was Revolution, which was not bad at all.  

  Then we waited for an hour in line to go to Roaring Rapids, which we got really wet for.  Then we waited another hour for Tatsu, where you’re looking down the entire time.  We got a picture and my face was all red.  Then we went to try Superman, but changed our minds after half an hour of waiting.  Two of us had bailed out all ready, it looked boring, and we would have had to wait another hour.  So we went to try Full Throttle, and waited for another hour, then right when we were about to get on, the ride broke down.  So we left.  So, we decided just to look for rides with short lines, because we only had two hours left.  

  We eventually found Goliath which had no line at the entrance.  Andrew ran ahead to see if the line was long- as in less than half an hour.  He came back and said that it was way too long, and to go find another ride, and I was fine with that.  We all started to turn around, but Jessica stopped us and said, “You guys, the end of the line is right there, I can see it.”

  Andrew tried to argue with her, and tell her there were stairs, but she insisted.  “It will only take half an hour at most.”  she insisted.

  So, because of that we sat in the line for another hour, and finally got onto the ride.  Which was awesome!  It was totally worth the wait!  In the beginning, you go up, then there’s a two hundred fifty-five foot drop.  Then twists and turns, and it was AWESOME!  Then we left, and drove for another hour to the motel.  I slept in a room with Tanya, Ronita, and Hana.  We stayed up till one, talking about the trip.

Saturday-  We left the motel at nine thirty, and I was in the Slayden’s car again, except Brandon replaced Eli this time.  I pretty much read up until the point when Ronita told me I needed to put the book down and socialize.  So, I put it down, and we began playing Truth or Truther.  It’s basically Truth or Dare, but we couldn’t play the dare in the car, so we replaced it with truther.  We played that until about twelve, and by that time it had dwindled down, and we stopped.  I began reading again, and about three o’clock we turned music on and rocked out a bunch.  Then we had dinner, and did some other things.  Then when we were an hour away from home we all got up to go to the bathroom, and then we started to play Truth or Truther again to survive the last hour.  Then we were home.

Hope you enjoyed that.  Some time this next week the post about the kids will be blogged, along with pictures!  See you then, and God bless you!