"Joy to the World! . . ."

I think someone around here is ready for Christmas. A few minutes before dinner, Dad put in John Rutter's Christmas Collection, and it's still playing. Over dinner, he was asking us if we were anxious for Christmas to come and how we wanted to do presents. I, on the other hand, can't believe that's it's already the end of September! Where has this year gone? I thought we just celebrated Christmas a few months ago! It feels that way, anyways. I think Daddy is just looking forward to the cold weather.

So....our porch is about 12 or 14 feet wide by about sixty feet long, which is almost (could have been a bit wider) the perfect size for a four person soccer game! Whoo-hoo! Some of us found this out last night when we needed to get rid of some energy. Oh, what fun! We had some slick moves, too! And not just where the porch was wet! Bouncing off the walls, off the ceiling, off the posts, off someone's knees or nose... It doesn't take much to entertain us, does it?

Need a good book to read? Right now I'm making my way through a book called The Real Lincoln by Thomas Dilorenzo, and wow! I was mad before I even reached the halfway mark in the introduction! But let me back up a bit. When I was younger and learning US history, more specifically "Civil War" history, Lincoln was the good guy, the hero of the war, and the North was the right side (duh! they won the war!). I remember someone loaning us a book called The South Was Right, and I though this guy was nuts! C'mon! Didn't he know that slavery was bad and that the North was fighting against that? How in the world would could someone think that those rebels were right? So that's my background. Not long after our friend loaned us all of his southern rights reading/listening material, we all started to realize that, indeed, the South was right and that the "Civil War" was not one against slavery, but rather the War for Southern Independence was one of States' Rights versus tyranny. Still, I never understood what made Lincoln such a bad person. Till now. If everything that Dilorenzo says is true (and I have more faith in him than in some of my history books), it's astonishing how warped our history and our understanding of "Honest Abe" is! So if you need an interesting read, this sure is one.

Some people in our church would say that lame jokes rock. Most of the time, I am somewhat in agreement; however, there are a lot of lame jokes out there that are just plain dumb. For example, I was driving through town today and passed a sign that read. . . .and it was so lame that I can't remember what it said. But as I was driving back the other way, the opposite side of the sign read, "Once you've been to one set of shops, you've been to a mall." That one was a little more creative, and that one made me smile.

Our summer/year is beginning to settle down somewhat. Just in time for the holidays, huh? Well, hopefully we won't have to travel anywhere for awhile. School is back on the schedule, and it's good to get back into my studies, though it has taken some getting used to after a summer of getting up in the morning and working outside. Kenan's big 13th birthday party, or I guess I should say Coming-of-Age party, is coming up quickly, and we are having fun preparing for that. Then it will be Reformation Day, a couple of birthdays, and then we're into the holiday season! I hope it snows this year.

Oh, I now have a new favorite topping for ice cream. I made a chocolate sauce, but instead of making it with the usual milk (or some people use water; I just don't get that), I used some strongly brewed coffee! And it was sooo good! I'm really coming 'round with this coffee thing. I used to not even like something that had the faintest hint of coffee in it, and now, I actually want to put coffee in recipes. It goes so well with chocolate. ;) I remember the first time a friend introduced me to chocolate covered coffee beans. He thought they were the greatest things in the world and made me try one. I thought they were disgusting. Now, though, they're not so bad. I'm sure it's the chocolate that's key. Chocolate can make just about anything taste good, right?

Well, it's getting late, and I am unintentionally acquiring the nickname "Computer Hog", so I think I had better go.