When the cold of winter comes/starless night will cover day

It snowed!!! Last night, like over 3 inches!!!!!!!
And of course I couldn't play in it 'cause I was sick. And then it started "almost raining." You know - it's kinda snow but getting warmer so kinda rain. And I said it would snow again and it did for like 5 minutes, and then it didn't do anything and it's still here only it's frozen over so it's more ice now than snow but it looks really pretty and I ate a lot of it and it helped my throat (which still doesn't feel much better but it did then) and it's so pretty now with the moon shining onto it!
Did anyone else get any snow? I guess it mostly hit here, but I haven't been anywhere in the last two days, so I don't know what the rest of the world looks like.
I'm officially in love with my MP3 player!
Oh Lego - there was a category on Jeopardy tonight (I don't know if you saw it or not but...) it was "Characters in Dante's Inferno." I knew you were reading (or had read) that but seeing that I hadn't I didn't think I'd get any of them, but I think I got two or three. I didn't know it was so much Greek/Roman history, which I'm sort of getting into, and we studied it two years ago for like a month, so it was kind of cool.
Our house is undecorated. It's sad. :'(
Well, I guess that's about it. Merry (two days after) Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
Namarie

16 days.

Officially. I haven't posted in 16 days.
Well, I'll try and put a lot in this post. I don't have any excuse not to because:
it's the day after christmas and everyone's home and doing nothing.
i'm sick and have nothing to do anyway.

yep. Just a sore throat, but it's really crummy. I'm having fun though, messing around with my new MP3 player!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the first thing like this I've ever had, and I think I've pretty much got it down. I guess Mom suggested it to my grandma for Christmas (because I was always commondeering her portable CD player this summer when I was weeding at my neighbors). So Grandma got it for me! Then we set it all up at their house (where we were for Christmas) and we were looking online to see where the best deals were for downloading songs (if you're looking anyone http://musicdownloads.walmart.com is great - just $.88 per song and like $9 per CD) and my grandpa's like 'pick 10 songs and I'll buy them for you!' That was really cool. And I got my dad BarlowGirl's first CD, so of course I had to put that on too.
Ok, I'm rambling...How was everyone elses' Christmas? What did you do? What did you get? What are you doing today?
The other things worth great mention here that I hope to talk about without boring you stiff - mom got me a Middle Earth map that's a tapestry...and it's so beautiful! I don't know if any of you knew this, but I collect foreign coins, and also spoons from around the country and around the world. Dad found something that he's been looking for for a long time - an old spoon that's from B- (my last name, also a city in Germany) and has the B- lion on top; and also a 7th century coin from Gujarat - the place I went to in India! That was super-special.
So our exchange student from Germany sent us a package, and we're picking it up today! We sent her a package too, with lots of stuff. Coffee. Very important. ;)
Ah, I'm rambling again. What am I going to do today? I want to just veg and watch a movie. i'm thinking a high-tech spy/theif movie, but I just saw National Treasure this week, and I don't really want Oceans 11 or 12 because I'm just not in the mood....Sneakers is just a tad old...high tech isn't really high tech anymore....
indecisiveness flows/like all my scattered thoughts

I guess that's really it. Not a lot has happened since I last posted actually. I had my mom's family's X-Mas party, which was actually a lot better than I thought it would be, all things considered. We all do this drawing for the kids (I'm still a kid actually, so I shouldn't say 'we') and get each other presents, and we got my cousin who's just getting into sewing, so we got her a started sewing kit thing. And guess what I got? PotCII piano music!!!whichididn'tevenknowwasoutyet!!!!!!!!!!!!
ahem. yeah. it's super good too. i'm in love with the Davy Jones theme. totally.
Hmm....what else? My aunt and uncle from Oregon were spending the night before the party at our house, which is neat, because they're the only other Christians in the family (excepting an uncle who became a Christian a few years ago). It's the same aunt I went to India with, and we all get along really well. I'm making an Indian outfit and my aunt helped my put the zipper in, so it's almost done now and I can actually wear it! (You're right Lego, zippers are a real pain!)
Then we all played cards for a while and watched PotC II which they hadn't seen yet, and my dad made popcorn, and it was all really cool!
Party was good. I brought piano music that I didn't play, but I also brought my guitar, becuase I knew my second cousin had his (he taught himself and has played for like 13 years and he's sooooo good) and my uncle who because a Christian has one too, and he's also very very good. It's really cool too because he totally uses his talents for God: playing on his church's worship team, and he's also composed several of his own songs inspired from the Bible, some instrumental and some with words. He's got access to a recording studio, and he told me that when he gets the time he's going to record some of his songs, and he'll give me a copy. He's got one called "Selah" that is so incredibly peaceful I was just so rested and in awe listening to it. We played a few songs together, and he played and mom and I sang some stuff together too...Third Day and a couple other worship songs too. Do you hate Third Day too Sam? Soooo sad....

I guess that really is it. I've just been sewing and getting ready for Christmas, then doing Christmas (always interesting), and now bummin' around trying not to cough or sneeze and FINALLY blogging!

lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala................iminheaven

watchingpotc2. right now. at my friends' house.
And blogging. Sorta. I just wanna know if I'm the only one blogging this month, because no one except Lego posts anymore...
So yeah. what's everyone been doing?

Hello world...I want my jar of dirt

which doesn't make sense if you haven't seen potc2 yet
I have it, I officially have it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well, actually I own one DVD and mom owns the other, since we split the cost, but I made it pretty clear that I own disc 1. I still haven't been able to watch any of disc 2 yet.
ok, so I could have tonight, but I watched the Matrix instead, for the first time, at my dad's suggestion. and it was good. i liked it a lot. kinda gross, but that can be cool at times...
isn't it strange how you can totally tell how a person is feeling by how they're typing? Like, a little of what they say, and then how they use punctuation and smileys and email talk and stuff. like right now I'm kinda blah. and indecisive, but mostly content. blah explains why nothing I'm currently typing is interesting, indecisive is why there's almost no capitalization, and mostly-content is why my punctuation is all in the right places. if I were super excited (like on Tuesday when potc came out) the it would be a lot of capitals and exclamation points, and probably a lot a phrases but few complete sentances. and I would be in a hurry so there would be a lot of typos. if I were depressed then it would all be uniform, and not extremely interesting and I'd probably use more peotry and song lyrics. blah is totally the layout - no capitals, all one long paragraph like I'm doing now...
I could probably stop now, huh? (if you happen to be Canadian, that translates to "I could probably stop now, eh?")
My dad got a new cell phone. it's called...something like triangle or three or tri-something. it's basically a phone and palm with some computer qualities (Word, Excell, e-mail/internet, tiny little keyboard, etc.) and it's really cool but for some reason I couldn't talk him into giving me his old phone...hmmm, can't imagine why ;)
so now he's downloading a whole bunch of awesome ringers, like:
"Me I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest - honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly...stupid."
"Where's Elizabeth?" "She's safe, just like I promised. She's all set to marry Norrington just like she promised, and you get to die for it just like you promised, so we're all men of our word really...except for Elizabeth who is, in fact, a woman."
"Stop blowing holes in my ship!"
And lots of other ones that I can't remember. he's got the MI theme song...and some other things. HeatMiser song. he loves that.
yeah. my dad's weird. like me.
once he had me totally convinced that it was Saturday when it was really Friday and he was staying home for some reason. or maybe it was really Saturday and he made me think it was Friday...no, it was really Friday. i think.
my dad's awesome. you can debate this all you want, but he's the best dad in the world. and I know we all think that about our dads, and wouldn't get anywhere arguing, so let's just not even start ok?

we just finished watching part 2 of Horatio Hornblower, something something something about a fire ship I think...any takers? It was pretty good.
or course part 1 last night was pretty good too. English-French (and now Spanish) wars after Napoleonic reign thingy. All about the navy. it's cool. i've always liked that era (since Anna got me started on the Count of Monte Cristo, which seemed like forever ago since I'm taking my sweet time finishing it, so it might as well be always), and i for the most part like watching movies about it, this was not an exception. Master and Commander is an exception.
enough of that...what's everyone doing for Christmas? We're here early morning, then going to Seattle for my mom's family's brunch, then spending the day with my mom's parents. how about you guys?

what else was I going to say...can't remember. maybe it wasn't anything. it's funny, but when you don't post for long enough, you forget "all those things" you were going to talk about.
Namarie, melloni nin.
~Verya
oh BTW, Comet got 2nd place in her class at our cat show last weekend, and I got third in Fitting and Showing, and I got first in Cage Decorations (!) and also third in Knowledge, which is a written test thingy. Then I met Anna!!!!!!!!

I've discovered I like British spelling

It's true. I've spelled things the British way for a long time. I used to spell color with a "u," I just spelled yogurt with and "h" the other day, I spelled "cozy" "cosy," and I don't know what else. It just looks right to me. It's really weird.
Anyway I took that dumb test thingy again to try and figure out what I am. Which was kind of stupid. Like I though anyone could actually describe me! So the first time I came up as INFJ, and then I was thinking about it, and thought that really there's not so much "F" in it, because some of the time I base decisions on feelings, but some of the time I don't, so I went back and retook it and took out some of the "F" stuff, and then I came up INTJ like I did way back when, and then I was being indecisive, so I read the profile thingamies for both of them, and (sorry about the run-on sentance, but we all need them once in a while don't you think?) decided that I am officially and INt/fJ. Which is weird because one's a rationalist and one's an Idealist. I think I've become a bit more of a Rationalist over time just be living with mom, because she's definitely a Rationalist, and I kind of have to be to survive, but I think inside I'm more of an Idealist. Maybe. Can I be both?
Anyway, enough of that. ONLY 5 MORE DAYS UNTIL POTC II COMES OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Still a little bit excited. My aunt and possibly my cousin are coming over to watch it.
*gets up to get ready for bed and put cats away and try to warm up freezing fingers and toes*
I'm back. The first two were successful, latter not so successful. Maybe this blanket *dons blanket* will help a little. I've been trying to warm up ever since finishing giving Comet a bath for her show on Saturday, which I'm freaking out about, which is kind of weird because I'm normally nervous, but just a bit and not til the day of. Anyway, I attribute it to me being a Senior now, and I'm nervous about them asking me a question I don't know from the new book. Or asking me a question I've forgotten from the old book because I've been studying to much from the new one since I'm a Senior now. Well, I guess all I can do is study. And pray!
There is a point to this post. Em was saying on her list of thankfulnessthings (well actually in the comments) that she was trying to think of a way that we could help people in third world contries. If you guys like this idea, it would be like an answer to prayer for me:
After I got back from my mission trip to India, of course anything about India caught my eye (well it still does but that's beside the point), and one day I saw this stand somewhere for Gospel for Asia. You may or may not have heard of it, but it's this organization that was started by an Indian man named K.P. Yohannan, who has a heart for the people of Asia. God told him to start this organization, and use it to help get American's focus back where it should be: namely, on the Great Commission, and spreading God's Word to every nation.
The basic idea is that most of the contries that have the most need of missionaries are either closed to foreign missionaries, or view Christianity as a Western Religion. They don't trust the Westerners who bring it, and are about as enthusiastic about being converted as we would be to a Hindu monk who tried to convert us. We would automatically view Hinduism as an "Aisan Religion." The truth is, white missionaries introduced Christianity in countries where it had never even been heard of, but now the focus of western missions has changed. I don't want you to get the wrong idea - western missionaries are still vital in many places, but can't try to control places that are closed to them. Also, I don't think that social work is a bad thing, but one of GFA's biggest fears is becoming a social missions organization. Em, you mentioned helping a third world country in some material way. That's not bad at all - they really need it! But I think GFA can offer something even better.
While there's nothing wrong with doing good social work deeds, it is wrong to call it mission work. What most white missionaries are doing nowadays is building hospitals and such things in Christ's name, and not seeing any results in regards to converts and lives given to Christ. What GFA wants to do is get the focus back onto fulfilling the Great Commission, and only that. This is an exerp from a book I just finished by K.P., called Revolution in World Missions:
"Feeding programs can save a man dying from hunger. Medical aid can prolong life and fight disease. Housing projects can make this temporary life more comfortable - but only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can save a soul from a life of sin and an eternity in hell! To look into the sad eyes of a hungry child or see the wasted life of a drug addict is only to see the evidence of Satan's hold on this world. He is the ultimate enemy of mankind, and he will do everything within his considerable power to kill and destroy people. But to try to fight this terrible enemy with physical weapons is like fighting tanks with stones."
Gospel for Asia's solution? Send out the natives! Their entire organization is devoted to training natives to go into unreached parts of their own country and live out the Great Commission. This is the best way to do it economically, native missionaries living on $1080 - $1800 per year, while western missionaries cost up to $100,000! It is good stewardship of God's money to do it this way, and also, native missionaries do not have to overcome cultural obstacles, and are already accepted in their community.
The whole point of a Christian's life is to fulfil the Great Commission. Other than that, why do we live? To die. There is no other reason. So how can we help if it is not the best option to physically go, or if we aren't called to physically be a missionary?
GFA is raising an army of native missionayies all over Asia, but it still costs the $1080 - $1800 a year to support them. GFA is calling on Americans to use our many blessing that God has given us to support the native missionaries in fulfilling God's call to them. People can help support a native missionary for $30 per month, and for almost a year now I've felt led to do this. But as of right now I haven't got a steady income large enough to support one, so I've been waiting to see when I will be able to. I think that this might be the answer. If any of you think that God is laying it on your heart to help support a native missionary, why don't we make it a group thing, and together support one? If even two others besides me were willing, we could do it, and we would all split the cost, from $10 - $6 dollars a month depending on how many people helped.
If you want more information, go to www.gfa.org, or I'd be happy to let you borrow my copy of Revolution in World Missions which really challenged me to re-evaluate how Americans view missions, and how we can change that view and help in a practical, real-life way. They also have a free quarterly magazine, SEND! that you can get for free, with all the news about native missions and missionaries. I can give you more information too, if it's something you're interested in. I highly recommend reading the book if you're at all interested.
This is something that's been on my heart for a while now, and I think this is truly a way that we can help, in a practical way, but one that will make a huge difference. One of my favorite illustrations in the book is this: picture one day standing in Heaven before God's throne, standing next to your native missionary, and thousands of people who are in Heaven today because you supported that missionary.
Native missionaries go through a three-year Bible training school in their own country and learn how to evangelize and be pastors, and often plant 3-5 churches every year! for only a fraction of the elaborate costs we spend on our church buildings, and these churches grow and soon support themselves.
If you're interested and/or want more information, please let me know and we'll get this started!