Moving the Photography

If any of you fellow readers love/enjoy my photography, I will be making a specific blog for them. The website url is www.snapsbybrookie.blogspot.com

Thank you for reading and please be praying for the Sandy victims,
Brookie

Veggie Tales and Remembering a Promise

           This morning, after I finished packing some clothes for my big trip this week, I decided to watch a veggie tales movie before I moved on to other tasks of the day. If some of you do not know, Veggie Tales are delightful cartoons of vegetables created by Focus on the Family to teach children biblical lessons and stories from the bible. The one I watched this morning was Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Noah's Umbrella. 

          At first, I thought it was rather silly since umbrellas weren't in the bible, let alone invented. But, despite this, the message of the cartoon was that although others may laugh at you for doing things such as saying prayers before you eat or singing a song about the bible is that to not think of what others say or do but to want to please God instead. In Acts 4:19 Peter says,"Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye." 
               
           This message is not only for children but also for adults. Many Christians are too ashamed or embarrassed to profess their faith because of what they fear what others would think of them. But who should we want to please more? God or man?

            For the rest of my post, it will be a continuation of a story I had promised to show some more long ago. So with further ado, here is the rest of the first chapter. 
(If you think it is rather silly, I am sorry. I wrote this about three years ago so I might have to change it in a few places. And there is more of this story. I had wrote about 8 or 9 chapters.)

“Goodness child!” she yelled in surprise as she stared at Abigail’s feet, “no young lady should be prancing around in the mud in bare feet!” “I’m sorry,” Abigail replied back cordially,” but you know how much I love to feel the grass under my feet.”

“That is true, my dear” she said warmly and gave her a quick embrace,” but when you were off you forgot to eat your breakfast! No one should start their day without a good ol’ bowl of oats.” Abigail nodded in agreement and accepted the bowl of warm cinnamon oatmeal. “Thank you, mama,” she said between mouthfuls. Her mother gave her a, “You’re welcome” and went back to taking care of her quaint flower bed. With a picturesque smile, Abigail skipped merrily underneath an old pear tree and sat down. 

She set all her art supplies at the stump and put her portrait under the tree carefully so it could dry. After she was done wither precious art pieces, she said her grace and began to eat her oatmeal when all of a sudden a pear landed right on her outstretched legs. She looked up to see a young boy with a mischievous grin sitting above her. His thick golden blonde hair was ruffled, almost covering his hazel green eyes. “Hi’ya Abbey!” he said with a smile as he jumped down next to her. He leaned his head back on the tree and plopped a handful of blueberries into his mouth.

          

          “So how are you, Will?” Abigail asked as he finished munching on his berries. “Mighty fine so far, Abbey, just wish your momma would give me a big bowl of that oatmeal!” he replied back as he stared hungrily at her food. “Sorry, pal, but these were meant for me and only me. Besides, you probably already had three breakfasts so far,” Abbey said with a snicker,” but any who, did you bring the paints?” He gave her a puppy dog, look but as it never worked on her; he gave a sigh and pulled out a small blue sack with a ribbon tied around it. 

            

            “You know, these are mighty hard to come by. I would only get them for someone who was mighty close to my heart.” Abigail did not hear the ending of his sentence, but was excitedly opening up the bag to find all kinds of vibrant colors.  “Oh Will!” she gasped in surprise, “these are just what I have been needing!” There were about twenty paints in all of blues, whites, purples, reds, and every other color under the sun.

         

           “Anything for you Abbey,” he said as he scooted closer to her. Now, Abigail was a young girl and not knowledgeable in the art of love. She always viewed boys as friends, nothing more. So naturally, she took this action as brotherly affection and did not bother to think any more of this spontaneous feat. That day was to be the first of her learning what love is. As she chatted away with her friend under the pear tree, a young vagabond came walking towards them.

Will immediately jumped up in front of Abbey, ready to defend her for life or death. The young man looked at him in surprise and gave a bow. He had dark brown hair and his grey eyes appeared friendly to the young Abigail. “Will, wait,” she said as she stood next to him and put her hand on his arm. ‘No, Abbey! Haven’t you heard of the stories lately of kidnappings and robberies?! I’m not taking any chances with this hobo!” He then lunged at the man but the vagabond moved swiftly and held Will’s arm behind his back which caused him to cry out in pain. “Will!” Abigail gasped as she ran up to them. She looked at the man’s eyes and he looked into hers. 

“I just want to talk, ma’am, that’s all,” he said respectfully. She stared at him for a while, not exactly sure what to do. Something about him was different, and she trusted her instincts. “Alright, I will talk just please let my friend go,” she said calmly. He then let a frustrated Will go, who was about to lunge again, until Abbey convinced him not to until they knew what he wanted. He then calmed down, but gave the man a look of a mad dog.

 “What do you want?” she asked him. He cleared his throat and began,” Well, I have been traveling for an awfully long time and I just want to settle down a bit. The only problem is, I need a job and lately no one has been kind as you have to just listen to my two cents. Is there anything around here that I can help you folks with until I get back on my feet? You don’t have to pay me money or anything, just a roof over my head and food for my tummy.” Abigail stood there, pondering.

“Not a chance! Just look at this guy! He’s bad news, Abigail; I don’t trust him for a second!” Will grumbled. “But you do not know anything about the man, and besides, he just wants a job and a place to stay until he can get up on his own, please just watch him so I can go get momma out here,” she said to him in a tender soft voice.  Her pleading looks and gentle voice calmed Will down as he whispered back, “Fine, but be quick.” With that Abbey ran away from the two men and went to her momma inside of the house. She was actually napping in a rocking chair and Abigail woke her up and dragged her outside. On the way to the where she was, she explained everything to her momma. 

Exclamations of “Goodness Gracious”, “Mercies Alive”, and the occasional gasp are what Abigail’s momma uttered throughout the whole story. When she finished, her momma looked her in the eye and she said,” You did the right thing for getting me, sugar. You just stand by Will and I will talk to this young man.” When she said this, Abigail just walked up to Will and watched as her momma walked to the young man. She stared him down for a moment, and then all of a sudden she started cheering which made Abigail and Will turn their heads to her. “Abigail, this is none other than Peter Bloom!” she said as she gave the man a hug. “Do I know him momma?” Abigail asked with confusion. “Do you know him, by golly you couldn't have! You were only four years old when he and his family moved! Speaking of which, how is your ma and pa?” 

The young man was watching her in surprise too, not sure what to do or think. He looked at his feet for a moment with a sad look on his countenance and then glanced up at each one of them. He then replied,” They died, seven years ago from a fire. How do you know me and my family, ma’am?” Abigail watched her momma as she became very solemn with what he had said,” Oh, you poor child! I will tell you all about it once I get you to sit down and eat a bowl of oatmeal,” she said lovingly as she led him to the house. Abigail walked behind him, not sure what to think or do but watched in silence. “I still don’t like him, Abbey. Not at all,” Will said to her in a sharp tone. They continued to walk to the house, with Abbey’s forgotten oatmeal still under the pear tree.

And that is the end of the first chapter! Stay tuned for my next segment, which I might forget to post soon so I'm going to go ahead and say I'm sorry if that does happen.

Thank you for reading and I hope you all a blessed day! :)
Brookie

Branson here I come!

Hello everyone! Sorry for the slow posts but I just seem to never be able to find times to blog so I apologize to you all. Today, I'll be talking about my favorite city in the U.S.: Branson, MO! Here are some interesting facts about Missouri:

1) Missouri is known as the "Show Me State".
2) The 'Show Me State' expression may have began in 1899 when Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver stated, "I'm from Missouri and you've got to show me."
3) The first successful parachute jump to be made from a moving airplane was made by Captain Berry at St. Louis, in 1912.
4) The most destructive tornado on record occurred in Annapolis. In 3 hours, it tore through the town on March 18, 1925 leaving a 980-foot wide trail of demolished buildings, uprooted trees, and overturned cars. It left 823 people dead and almost 3,000 injured.
5) At the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, Richard Blechyden, served tea with ice and invented iced tea.
6) Also, at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, the ice cream cone was invented. An ice cream vendor ran out of cups and asked a waffle vendor to help by rolling up waffles to hold ice cream.
7) The state animal is the Mule.
8) Laura Elizabeth Ingalls, writer of Little House on the Prairie grew up in Missouri.
9) In 1865 Missouri became the first slave state to free its slaves.
10) During Abraham Lincoln's campaign for the presidency, a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat named Valentine Tapley from Pike County, Missouri, swore that he would never shave again if Abe were elected. Tapley kept his word and his chin whiskers went unshorn from November 1860 until he died in 1910, attaining a length of twelve feet six inches.

I just absolutely love Missouri, especially the Ozarks! If you ever want to go on a fun and family friendly vacation, Branson is the place to go! (And is also where I'll be next week!)

Have a blessed day, 
Brookie

Note: the above 10 facts are from http://www.50states.com/facts/mo.htm#.UHSKOk3A9dc