A Treasured Skill

I like to paint.  They say good artists paint everyday.  It's like 

playing ball, or singing.  You have to practice to 

be good at it.  

I paint a lot.  I love painting water, and reflections on water. 

My watercolor for my Art Class

It takes many practices to get my work right

I am entering this piece in a
local Civic Club Contest
In January. 

Finding Treasure in Hobbies: Playing Legos

I love to work on LEGO things.
this is an "AT-AT" from Star Wars

I work hard every day.  

I have chores, school work, and I have my own small business.

Plus, I have goals.   

But a kid needs time to relax, too.

     One of my favorite things to do to relax is to play with Legos.

 They capture my imagination.  I love to build stuff.  I love to look at  a magazine, and them build what is in there with Legos.   I get little breaks during my school day, and lots of times I do Legos then.  I hope to help other kids with my animated LEGOS videos some day.  I want other boys (& girls) to know how to build this stuff, cause it is so easy.  

I thought this was cool and I liked
it from the Star Wars book

Super Scooby and the Spider Flyer

     I say that Time for Legos is a Treasure because time is precious.  At the end of my LEGO breaks, I always say, "Aw, it can't be over."  It's like I never get enough time for fun.  And I am supposed to have fun, because I am a kid.  But I have so much work to do because of my Goals.

Some of my Goals are to make You Tube Videos that help kids who can't read.  They could watch my videos, and learn how to do stuff, like LEGOS, or building Bungie Swings, or doing Science Experiments, or Cooking.  All these things are important, and that is why time for Legos is Treasured.  Everyone has only 24 hours in a day.
     

Super Scoob

The Bible talks about this topic, too.  In Matthew chapter 6,  it says, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on Earth where moth and rust destroy, and thieves break in and steal."  Treasures are NOT just money or diamonds!  TIME is a Treasure, too!   God cares about the way I spend my TIME.

When I spend time building these LEGOS and making Videos to help other kids, I am storing up treasures in Heaven.  I don't have tons of money.  But I do have TIME.  And I can share what  I know, and if it helps other kids, then I think God is glad!

Crazy Dave's Fapping machine

Crazy Dave from Plants Vs Zombies

The Sled Car 

Front of Sled Car

For when it snows 

I am working on an animation
right now.  It is a recorded video where
my creations will look like they move. 

A list of my favorite Books 

My Distorted Face
Source:  My DS

The Treasure of a Good Deed

I am planning to do many more good deeds this year. 

My Mom and I brainstormed and I wrote down ideas for 

people and places that might need a Good Deed. 

We decided that today, we would serve our 

Dentist and his workers. 

Today for the Good Samaritan Project,
we took food and hot cider to
our Dentist's Office 

They really loved it!  



In the same way, good deeds are 

obvious,

 and even those that are not obvious

 cannot remain hidden forever.



******I Timothy 5:12*****

Hard Work is Good

It rained really hard this past week.  We got water in our basement, I mean a LOT of water.  We had to get the shop vac out and suck up all the little streams that we going across the floor down there.  

Now it smells moldy, and my Mom is really upset.  I sketched out a plan to drain the water from the back yard into the alley beside our house.  The back yard is kind of at an angle that lets the rainwater flow down to our patio.  My Dad says that the people who designed our house did not think ahead.  

Now we get water in the basement every time a flash flood comes.  So I drew out a sketch, and today Mom and I dug out canals and put in drainage pipes to get the rain water to flow out to the alley instead of into our basement.  

I was pretty tired and sore after we dug up 

all that dirt and put in the pipes. 

Now I am kind of excited for the next flash flood, 

to see if my ideas and sketches will work

to keep the basement dry. 

Luke 14:28 says, 

"But don't begin until you count the cost. 

For who would begin construction of a building 

without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it?"

It did not cost much to do this project, 

and I hope it works! 

  

Treasuring Up Good Times

We Decorated our Porch Today

We have a lot of fun at our house. 

 There is always someone coming over, stopping by, or visiting.  

We stay super busy in the Fall.  

My Mom and Dad like to make the house look fun with Decorations.  

We have people here from church nearly every weekend, and Missionaries sleep over in our Guest Room a lot.  All of this stuff brings many good times here at our home. 

I made this bird
It is a Black Bird for Fall

It's not that we have a lot of money, because we SURE don't!  But we use stuff like leaves, nuts, and nature to decorate, and to do crafts.  We grow our own vegetables for meals with Family, and friends.  We shop at ALDA and my mom uses coupons like crazy.  

And we always have enough.  It's like the verse in the Bible that says, "The Son of man is going to come in His Father's glory with the Angels, and then He will reward each person  according to what he has done"(Mt 16:27).  

We collect Leaves in Fall and
do all kinds of Crafts with them


That is what I mean about Treasures.  

I read a book about Hudson Taylor, a great missionary to China.  

He said, "The less I spent on myself, and the more I gave to others, 
the FULLER of happiness and blessing did my soul become."  

We gather up acorns in the fall, and then
when it snows, we throw them
out into the backyard for the
Squirrels to have a Snow Feast

It doesn't matter if you are helping animals, people, babies, or anything else.  When you give, it makes you happy inside.  God feels really good, too.  

What about you, do you like to treasure up good times?  Do you give of yourself?  I would love to know what you think about this topic... you can leave a comment if you want. 

Where is my Treasure?

    I have been thinking lately about the Pope.  He came to Philadelphia this month.  Everybody was so excited about him coming.  They made him into a Rock Star!  I was confused about that.  They closed down highways for him.  They got all these police sent to Philadelphia for his safety.  He got a lot of people excited about him coming here.  

     Then I saw this photo on the internet.  I made me feel so sad.  It reminded me of our Theme in L2L this year.

       Look at the Pope.  He is wearing beautiful clothes.   He is sitting on a Golden Throne.  Look at the kids in the other picture.  They are so skinny.  Sorry one of them is Naked, but that is because he doesn't even own clothes. 

Source:  http://www.worldconvention.org/resources/profiles/ghana/

     Jesus said to a rich man in the Bible, "Go and sell everything you have, and give it to the poor" (Mark 10:21).  I have thought about this verse more this month than any other time in my life.  

When I see photos like this, it makes me kind of mad, and sad, also.  But then,  I think about all the things that I have, and how I hoard them, and don't like to give them away.  So I shouldn't be mad at the Pope for not giving to the poor.

Source:  Dayspring.net

     And so I am thinking more about how to help the poor.  This summer, I worked on my small business by taking out the trash of some of my elderly neighbors.  I made good money doing that.  I saved some, spent some, and gave some.  I have 3 banks in my room, one for Spending, Giving, and Saving.

Source:  The Children's Bible Online

     I give to all kinds of organizations, even though I am only a kid. 

 I give some to my congregation in the church plate every Sunday.

  But my favorite thing to do is to give to the poor people.  I sent money to Harding to a thing called Smiles for Christ.  They go to Honduras and help disabled, mentally delayed kids each summer.  I was able to give them lots of my profits from a Lemonade Stand I had in July at the Soccer field across the street.  

This is the School in Honduras where I send money to help

Source:  MarandaHowthorn.net

Treasured Traditions in our Home: Rosh Hashanah

We have TONS of Traditions in my family, 

but we started a very different tradition this year.  

We loved doing it so much, my parents say we are going to

make it an annual Tradition!  

We read about the Jewish Holiday of Rosh Hashanah.  

Then we acted it out in a dinner.  

We even fasted the day and night before the feast we made.  

We definitely are not Jewish, but we wanted to learn more about Jewish Holidays 

since we read through the whole Old Testament this year. 

I thought it was cool, because Jesus and his apostles all would have 

celebrated this Feast many times in their lives. 

I think it would be good for all Christians to do this! 

It made me think about so many things! 

Like when we were making the feast---the unleavened bread.

This is taken every Sunday at our Church, 

but do people really know what it means, and why we take it?

Jewish kids would have known, because in the Feast, 

the father tells the history of the Jewish People!

We had Grape Juice instead of wine at our dinner.
The wine/Grape Juice reminded me of Jesus's blood that
was shed on the cross.  It also reminded me of the
Last Supper!

My Dad pours the Fruit of the Vine for our Feast
It was kind of fancy, because the Jews made a big deal
out of drinking it.  We put it in fancy glasses. 

We made fish with lemons (on the grill), and unleavened bread.
I spilled the fish juice on the floor before our feast began.
That smelled bad!
But it was quickly cleaned up, no harm done!

We did not eat the head or the eyes on this guy!

These were little fish we ate.  

Our table for Rosh Hashanah.
We had Apples to dip into Honey, just like in the Old Testament
That was their Dessert!  

I never dipped apples into Honey before, but it was Good!

At sundown, we "broke our fast" and had a Feast

I have never fasted before this day.  The food really tasted good
to all of us after our fast.  The flavors came out more. 

My Dad and Mom wore Jewish caps and Veils like
the Jewish parents did

I blew the Shofar a lot, it was fun!
The Shofar is supposed to be a Ram's Horn, but this hollow stick was the best thing I could find. 

I was glad that Roasted Chicken was a
Jewish Feast Food, and not just Fish!

We ate by candle light and read the scriptures that they
read in the Old Testament times

I was breaking the bread 

Here is a website that gives a lot of information about this Feast:

http://www.aish.com/h/hh/rh/

I learned so much from having this Dinner!

Next year we are going to invite some of our Elders to join us

for Rosh Hashanah.