Frog Hunting!

I know, isn’t the title awesome? I LOVE frogs! They are...well, they’re...just...ah... Hmm. It seems frogs are so amazing it is hard to even explain it! They are just...well...WONDERFUL! I would say ‘cute’ but I think some people would then beg to differ (but I still think they are!) I don’t know exactly what it is about frogs that is so attracting for me but they ARE. I find them absolutely fascinating. Maybe it is the way they live in water like fish but you can hold them and squeeze them and call them George with out accidentally suffocating them (well, sometimes.) I’m not sure why, but I like frogs.

So, naturally, I went frog hunting when three of my male cousins, my brother, younger sister and I went to the creek. It all started with cleaning the yard. I guess that sounds slightly strange in a ‘Frog Hunting’ blog but it is true! Before we could go to the creek my cousins (Cousin A, Cousin B #1, and Cousin B #2,), my sister (Jules) and my brother (Peter) had to do some yard work for my mom. You know: mow the lawn, move some wood, pick up trash...so on and so on and so on and so forth. When Jules and cousin B #2 (who is Jules’ age) claimed to be ‘done’, I was sent to inspect. I’m very good at inspecting. In fact, I’m so good at it that my siblings came up with a saying: ‘WWMS’ which, being translated is ‘What Would Mandy See?’ I’m not sure what planet my dear sister and Cousin B #2 were on but it wasn’t the same one I was on! I quickly put them back in order and gave directions to the moving of various pieces of wood and trash pieces.

And that is where the mention of the creek comes into play. Mom had already told them they could go when they were done. Everyone else had already finished their chores and were waiting on Cousin B #2 and Jules, both of which were giving me murderous glances and complaining of the heat as they did the chores I set forth for them to do. To tell you the truth, I felt sorry for them and would have gladly let them go but for the fact that it really did need done – desperately. There was nothing for it! They would have to clean it.

But, FINALLY, they were done and we all dashed inside to...eat lunch. Nope, still no creek. Food had to be eaten first (but I notice that no one was giving me evil glares when I told them to eat!) And THEN we were off to the creek! Our swimming holes aren’t far from the house (half a mile at the most) and when you ride bikes it takes no time at all. The first thing we did was get wet and swim for awhile, look at the creek bottom with goggles and such (we even dunked each other a bit) and then Cousin A (who is my age) told me to go hunt frogs with him. We were off. We found some right away, the place being crawling with them, but catching them was going to prove not to be easy! Oh no, definitely not. Frogs are slippery, cunning...and GREAT swimmers. Your only hope is to get one on the land. Cousin A spotted one and crouched down very slowly. Slowly, slowly, slowly....DIVE! GRAB! And he had it. And then... he didn’t have it. Gone, slipped right out of his fingers. Gone forever into the water and mud and grass (which, you may be interested to know, was above our heads it was so tall).

Oh well, time to try again! Up and down and around we went. Sometimes we’d see them go under rocks and think we’d have them, just to find they’d escaped by means unknown to anyone but the frog kind! And there was the dog, running up and down, making enough noise to scare away a herd of elephants. My bare feet (yes, indeed, they were bare) dug delightfully into the mud. It really is a very good feeling. I know, some of you are now screaming, “EWWWW!” but you really should try it!

I was the first to catch one, but I also have years of experience in frog hunting. It was a rather small frog and I decided to call it Buddy, because I could. A little while later Cousin A caught one, which he gave to me to hold (he is always passing me things to hold for reasons unknown to me.) So there I was, a frog in each hand, walking up and down and up and down and over and under the whole creek with one frog in each hand and likely smiling a little crazily. It really was very fun!

Then I got lost from my group of cousins and siblings. I was told by one set that another set was farther up creek (yes, creek, not river) and so I headed that way on the path (thinking to myself, “It is easier to travel by path than creek,”) and somehow managed to go AROUND my cousins and get too far up creek. So, this time I thought, “Well, they surely can’t be very far down river and I’ll just go that way this time.” BIG mistake. There was a huge fallen tree (yes, it was a TREE not a LOG) and it had dead branches sticking up everywhere all poky and stuff. So, I decided to myself to just climb up on the bank and go around it. NOT a good plan! The bank was on a very steep hill that was covered in trees and scratchy grass and ROSE BUSHES. Have you ever seen a rose bush? Spikes, thorns, things that scrap your legs and cut your bare feet (actually, my feet did not get cut, I have very tough ones) and are very terrible to walk through. And you must keep in mind that I had a frog in each hand that were squeaking at me in the most betrayed, injured squeaks imaginable!

But, finally, after much maneuvering, I found my way back to the creek and, finally, to my cousins who were playing with their frogs in the creek. All in all, it was a pretty good day! :)

Kids Against Hunger Event Update

Well, our packaging event went WONDERFULLY. We had eleven more people than we needed so we opened another line so more people could get involved. :) Thirty six people in all arrived and everyone said they had a good time. One of my dear cousins (Will, age 9) commented, "Who knew saving lives could be so easy?" And it really was easy!

If you'd live more information on them you can visit their site at: kidsagainsthunger.org.

Mandy

My Brother

Last night we were out watering plants for people. It is a great way of making money if it stops raining and the grass dries out and no longer needs cut! It is dry, so let it be know you are willing to water flowers! :) Anyway, we were just coming up on the last place (a rental house with a small flower bed). There were three men there, siting in lawn chairs inside the open, drive in garage. My brother said, "Okay, I'm going home," and started off.

"But what if we need you?" I called.

He did not pay any attention. We told the men what we were doing and did our job, finishing by putting the hose up. As we were leaving the drive way, I saw Jon, sitting beside the road, watching the house intently. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"If they'd done anything, I would have made my move."

I have an amazing brother. :)

God's Creation

"And God said, Let there be light and there was light" (Genisis 1:3.)

Have you ever really thought about creation? Maybe some of you have but it didn't hit me until today what really happened that day. I mean, I understood that God breathed out light, he molded a earth out of nothing but... It didn't click how huge it was until I got this strange picture as I memorized this verse for my camp. In my mind I saw God floating around over the vast expanse of waters (as in the verses before the one above) and God thought to himself in my picture, "Hmm, today I should make something. Light sounds like a good name. What will light be? Particals and waves of some kind. And what if there are many kinds and some go into some things and some are reflected and it makes things different colors? Yes, I like the idea of colors, too."

I mean...can you think of how incredable a mind it would take to think of the idea of particles and colors and light and waves and...all those other things? How do you come up with that? How could you possibly think of atoms and minerals? It goes on and on! I mean, just think of it. Did He plan it out first? Did He just decide to make something and did it? Did He want someplace to go on vacation and decided sunlight would make it look cheery? It is so hard to comprehend.

God is beyond our comprehension. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts," (Isaiah 55:8-9.) God tells us that we can't understand Him completely. He is so much bigger than we are.

Still, I think that it would make a wonderful dinner topic in Heaven someday. "Hay, God, how did you come to think of light?" God is so wonderful, so big, so amazing. I think it is enough to know Him and to stand in awe of Him.

I hope you all still feel small when you think of God. I hope you all still feel awed by His magesty. I hope you are brought to earth by His glory every time you start to think of yourself as big. And I hope the same for myself. My biggest fear is to become vain or prideful. I am small. He choose me because He could, not because of how important I am. I am nothing in comparison...and yet, He loves me.

Mandy

Kids Against Hunger Event

My church and I are doing a Kids Against Hunger Packageing event on the 23 of June. I've done it once before and it has amazed me how much you can do in such a short time. In one and a half hours, thirty of us packaged 4,356 meals! That means that 4,356 people were fed by our efforts! It doesn't take long to help, people, and ANYONE can do it. My church raised the money in three weeks ($1,150) just by taking personal donations! Then I got in contact with our local 'satilite' and set up an event. If you are interested in doing the same, you can go to their website: kidsagainsthunger,org and learn what 'satellite' is closest to you. You can just donate or you can ask about putting together an event of your own! 20% of your proceeds will stay here in America. 80% will go to countries all over the world! You can make a difference. The more money you raise, the more meals you can package and the more kids you can save! I have learned that by summer their packaging events slow down because schools go out of session and are no longer contributing! That shouldn't happen with so many of us with free time on our hands! Two hours, three hours, it isn't that much to sacrifice for such a good cause. I am still in my teens yet and I cordinated an event! If I can do it, you can do it too! You can make a difference!

Mandy

Conversations with the Characters #2

I wrote this for a friend and decided after a little thought that I wanted to post it. I wrote three 'conversations' prior to this. These are what I would say to my characters if I were to meet them (well, maybe.) They are funny anyway. So here you go.

Conversation #4:

Cherish: *knocks the sword out of Sam’s hands and sends him to the ground.* “Beat you…again.”
Me: *Falls out of nowhere* “You’re pretty good.”
Cherish: *Turns towards me, having not seen that I dropped out of thin air* “Thanks.”
Me: “You’re welcome. Hello, Sam.”
Sam: *gets up and looks at me closely* “Do I know you?”
Me: “No, but I know you.”
Cherish: “Isn’t that what the evil person always says in books before killing you?”
Me: *Frowns and thinks about it* “On second thought, I’ll take that back.”
Sam: “So I don’t know you?”
Me: “No. Maybe I should introduce myself. Hello, I’m Mandy, your author.”
Cherish: “Our what? Oh, I get it; Tess put you up to this.”
Me: “No, I was going to go see her and Jamie next.”
Sam: “Why?”
Me: *Thinks about it a moment then shrugs* “Because I can.”
Cherish: “You still haven’t told us who you are.”
Me: “Yes I did. I’m your author.”
Sam: “Sure.”
Me: “You can think I’m crazy if you like.”
Sam: “Deal.”
Cherish: “Sam, be nice.”
Sam: *Blushes* “Sorry.”
Me: “That’s okay. I’m just leaving. You can say I had an ODD episode if you like.”
Sam: “Odd? What is that?”
Me: “Overly Dramatic Departure, of course. Bye.” *Literally goes up in a poof of smoke*
Two minutes later: Me: *Smiles to herself* “I bet they believe me now.”

A Crazy Drive

A nice quiet drive through the nice quiet city with a nice quiet navigator and a nice quiet driver… No. Not even close.

“Turn!” screams the navigator.
*Driver screeches around the corner.*
“Stop!” she yells.
*Driver slams on the break.*
“That was our turn!” she cries.
*Driver swivels into the parking lot to turn around.*

This was how my day went. My mom, the navigator, trying to give directions to our neighbor, the driver, as me and Melissa sit in the back in a state of near panic. (Near panic isn’t quite the same as panic but something between panic and excitement. If you’ve ever gone on an amusement park ride, you know what I’m talking about. It was something like that, only a little more dangerous.)

It all started with a trip to the chiropractor and ended with a very car-sick person (namely: Me.) The trip to town wasn’t so bad because our neighbor didn’t need directions. Once we got into town was when the trouble started. The trouble really had nothing at all to do with their lack of driving and navigating skills, it had to do with their talking skills. The whole trip they talked to one another and the whole trip my mom forgot to give the directions to our neighbor until we got to our turn. The dialogue went something like this:

Mom: “The small tiller might not work so well because… Turn!”
Neighbor: “Here?”
Mom: “There! Turn, now!”
Neighbor: “Why wouldn’t the tiller work?”
Mom: “You could use it but it would till in all the grass seeds on those plants…Stop! That’s our stop!”
Neighbor: “You should tell me before hand, honey!”
Mom: “And you don’t want all those grass seeds where you plant your garden.”
Neighbor: “I hadn’t thought of that. This lane?”
Mom: “No, the next one… Wait! That was it.”
Neighbor: “What…?”
Mom: “Turn in there! Turn around and go back.”
Neighbor: “Okay.”
Mom: “No, never mind, that wasn’t it.”

And then there was the left and right issue. My mother, who can’t tell the two apart, kept saying ‘left’ for ‘right’ and ‘right’ for ‘left’ which only caused more confusion!

This might sound fun to all those like my younger siblings but by the end of the day I was wondering whether the chiropractor had done any good! Needless to say, it was interesting. I’m not sure you could call a single moment boring!

Mandy