Youth at Work

Youth Group Work Day

Today was the last official work day for my youth group. So far, we have had three work days over the past two weeks. Our youth group is having a missions trip to Shonto, Arizona, on an Indian Reservation, where we help people there to fix, build, and paint buildings down there. To prepare for the trip, we were required to spend at least one day helping to work at our church. Our job was to clear the cut down all the weeds in the 2 and 1/2 acres behind our church within the three 4 hour periods we had to work on it. To do this, we had three main jobs assigned to us. The first job was to weed-whack, or cut down the weeds. We did this with the church owned weed-whackers, some of which didn't even work. The second job was to rake all the weeds cut down into piles, so that the third group could get all the weeds into bags. Three days we worked, and although we did not accomplish our goal of cutting down all the weeds, we did very good for a small group of teenagers with a few weed-whackers that hardly worked.We will probably have some more work days to finish the job, but we will probably only need 1 or 2 more days before it is finished.

A Balloon for Your Viewing Pleasure

Stuffed Give-Aways

Giving Away our Stuffed Animals

Today, my older sister and I decided that we would give away some of our stuffed animals that we played with as children. We are still keeping some of the stuffed animals, but giving away the ones we have no sentimental attachment for. Bring out all these stuffed animals reminded us of our life as young children. We found our first stuffed animals, three dogs. My older sister has Peanuts, a stuffed dog with half its nose bitten off from when my sister tried to get Jello of its nose, and I have Apples, a dog with no nose because I pulled it off when trying to clean some smoothie off of it, and Chuckles, a dog who had a nose that twisted and that we said needed pills to keep him from laughing. These three dogs were the first three that we decided not to give away. We were also reminded on how we used to always play with them together. Each 'guy' animal had a wife, 'girl', animal. Some of our matches for animals were just strange. We had a snake matched up with a skunk, and a mouse matched up with a spider, but it was always so fun. We found the sunglasses that were put on the bad guys of the day and that sometimes were the bad guys by themselves. We also remembered how we used to tie a rope around each other's waist and climb down the edge of the staircase to get a stuffed animal that had fallen on the ledge between the staircases. We also used to tie a rope to a stuffed animal we didn't like and toss it over the edge of the staircase to keep our sister from coming up. It would distract her, and keep her down there because we would put it just outside of her reach, where she was unable to get it, but was also thought that if she kept reaching, she would get it. The last memory I had was of the first time when my older sister said that she wouldn't play with the stuffed animals with me. I was so sad. After she stopped playing with me, my stuffed animals were never played with each other again, but I used them to make wars. Although I remember sad memories, I also remembered good memories, which make me very happy, and now, with the stuffed animals given away, some other children will be able to create their own good memories.

A Poem Written

Last week, we read a poem in English Class that personified eggs. We then were given the assignment to personify some non-human or inanimate object and give this object thoughts and feelings. I got a 20/20 on this assignment. Enjoy!


The Life of A Pillow

By Brahms Lewis

Like an appliance, the pillow sits,

Waiting to be used,

But like a servant, the pillow hopes

It will not be abused.

On the bed, the pillow lies,

Dreading the nights to come,

For that is when the master comes,

Who thinks the pillow’s dumb.

When down the man lies on the pillow,

The servant gets to work,

Holding the master’s head up high,

Massaging the aches that lurk.

Like an oxen at the plow,

The pillow’s work is hard,

Keeping up a head so large,

Which smells of stale lard,

But when the rooster crows again,

It is a joyful bell,

For the head will rise again,

And the pillow, again, is well.

East Coast - Day 11, 12, & 13

This part of my travel journal is about our last actual sight-seeing day and our two days on our way home.

Tues. June 6, 2006; 9:45pm (East Coast Time) -
We went to the Crayola factory in Easton today. We made clay figures. My mom made a snake, my dad made an Octopus, Miriam made a yo-yo, and Shannon made two flowers and a plumb which she mixed up and made a ball out of it. I made a lasso, a flat crab, and a snail. Miriam got to stuffed crayons today. [I left a lot out of the whole day. The day was actually very interesting. We saw a model of a canal and we saw how canals worked. I also saw the world's longest blue crayon. I also had my first true understanding of stop-motion animation here. If you want to see some work that came out of this understanding, go to my YouTube channel {www.youtube.com/rabkdoomfish}.]

Wednesday, June 7, 2006; 2:30pm (East Coast Time) -
We are waiting for our airplane home. I didn't want to go home. I had a very good time in the East Coast.

Wednesday, June 7, 2006; Time Unknown -
I do not know what time it is. I am on the airplane. I met a man with no legs named George. I got a whole can of ginger ale!

Wednesday, June 7, 2006; Time Unknown -
I saw St. Louis! [Please remember that I was 10 at the time and that my comments might be a little like a ten year-old's comments. We saw St. Louis from the sky. The pilot pointed it out to us.]

Thursday, June 8, 2006; 9:15am (West Coast Time) -
We are back home in El Dorado Hills. It feels so good that we are back home.

East Coast - Days 9 & 10

Sunday, June 4, 2006; 9:16pm (East Coast Time) -

We had a free day today. My mom is truing to make herself think she is checked into The Four Seasons Hotel [A fancy restaurant in Philadelphia]. We saw a quarter glued to the sidewalk. We also saw a cockroach. We saw the original 'Thinker'.

Monday, June 5, 2006; 9:21pm (East Coast Time) -

We went to D.C. today. We saw the Capitol Building, the Library of Congress, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial [From the top of the Washington Monument], the White House, ducks, geese, and squirrels. My dad has gotten 3 Starbucks mugs on this trip: Philadelphia, New York, and D.C. A man said he liked my Princeton University shirt. I played the Revolution Scenario of Civ4.

East Coast - Day 7 & 8

Friday, June 2, 2006; 3:10pm (East Coast Time)
We went to the Barnes Foundation in Merino today. The most interesting picture I saw was of a lady who looked like a chicken and had some food that looked like a fried chicken leg and two chicken nuggets [When you are 10, you describe something as you see it]. There was also a picture that looked as if it was drawn by a kid. We went to the Merion Botanical Gardens and skipped rocks. On the train ride back, two people got into a fight. I heard some words I didn't want to hear.

Saturday, June 3, 2006; 10:34pm (East Coast Time)
We went to Valley Forge today. It was raining a lot. We ate on the grass next to a parking lot. I will destroy the environment by introducing a foreign species, the apple tree [I left my apple seeds on the ground there]. I went across the street while the rest of the family was eating and took a picture. A van was waiting for me to take the picture. After I took it, I signaled to him to go. I hurt my arm. I picked up a blade of grass. I ran a lot. It was all my dad's fault that my mom freaked out. He made us go a different way to the Valley Forge Visitor Center and we had to go through the grass. Many ticks got on us and my mom freaked out. At the store, Miriam got a little army kit. We got Marcus a camp cup. My Dad got a book, I got a Valley Forge license plate, and we got Grandpa a Valley Forge golf ball. I tried squid today. Miriam got a tick with its head stuck in her head! I am going to stop writing.