Joy Anna's World

Tonight, Joy Anna took her first steps! And they were because she was walking to me. *big grin*

Also, during family devotions, Joshua was laying backwards on the couch so his head was where his feet should have been. Joy Anna got excited to see him, scooted over to where he was, smacked him across the face, laughed, and scooted off saying "Uh oh! Uh oh!" She's an absolute nut.

Yesterday, she discovered the joy of Cheerios. There's no going back now.

Anyway, she's an absolute hoot and everyone absolutely dotes on her. She's going to be one spoiled goose when she gets a little older!

You Know You're a Wilson When...

You Know You're a Wilson when...you can make a loaf of bread without consulting directions, yet have absolutely no idea how to make a pot of coffee.

You Know You're a Wilson when...a kissing scene plays across the TV and everyone looks away and says, "Ew!"

You Know You're a Wilson when...the wheat grinder breaks and all the kids under the age of 10 get excited since that means we get highly processed store bought bread.

You Know You're a Wilson when...you take up a whole row of seats at Church.

You Know You're a Wilson when...your pregnant mom's late in deciding to leave for the hospital and call the midwife.

You Know You're a Wilson when...you buy an ice cream cone and receive a lecture about how with the money you spent on that one dessert, you could have bought an entire quart of ice cream.

You Know You're a Wilson when...your whole family walks almost single-file down a side walk and look like they're a parade.

You Know You're a Wilson when...a lazy Saturday afternoon means working on left over school work instead of mulching or weeding.

You Know You're a Wilson when...you invent new verbs which make people look at you strange (ripsticking, saucing, cheesing, etc).

You Know You're a Wilson when...bats live in your attic.

You Know You're a Wilson when...it's nearly impossible to find a summer dress that will meet all the requirements.

You Know You're a Wilson when...you listen to your parents talk about what a guy must do in order to get Mom and Dad's permission to court you and you start to feel sorry for him...

You Know You're a Wilson when...all the animals in the house are either stupid or neurotic.

About the State of the Union Address

If I were Warren Buffet, I'd fire my secretary when she got home from the State of the Union Address.

You get the pink slip, my dear.

If you don't understand this, then go watch the 2012 State of the Union address. Barf!

Happy National Peanut Butter Day!

I just found out today's National Peanut Butter Day! I'm SOOO Happy!!! :-D Peanut butter is my favorite food! So enjoy your peanut butter today!

Image from Google

Image from Google

Image taken from Google

Anyway, I just wanted to tell you:

Happy National Peanut Butter Day!!!!!

No Need for Words

I need to hear this every stinkin' day...

Where Do I Start?...

I've been pretty remiss these days on the blog about what's actually going on in the Wilson home. School started back two weeks ago, and I started a second AP class, so I have been very busy. But hey, it's my LAST SEMESTER OF HIGH SCHOOL!!! *I do a happy dance, Mom cries.* I'll do an update on everyone, youngest first.

Joy Anna has figured out how to get her way. Everyone is wrapped around her little finger. When someone she wants walks into the room, she begins the tear-less cry since she knows they'll look for her and come pick her up. Another thing is she has started solids. We were looking for Zwibak, but apparently that isn't made anymore, so we found something called Baby Mum-Mums, processed rice rusks. She loves them. Her latest exploration is discovering that if she puts enough pressure on the corner of one of them, it'll launch up to five feet. Joy Anna has also discovered the hilariousness of slap-stick humor. For instance, last night we had popcorn. When the popcorn maker finishes, we unplug it and there is a moment of calm. Then one or two of the kernals always explode through the top. Joy Anna thinks that is the funniest thing ever.

Joshua has turned into Rudolph. If you've seen the picture of his face-plant, everything but his nose has heeled. One funny thing about him is he'll repeat himself over and over again until he's acknowledged, like a broken record. It goes like, "Mommy, what's for dinner? Mommy, what's for dinner? Mommy, what's for dinner? Mommy, what's for dinner? Mommy, what's for dinner? Mommy, what's for dinner? MOMMY, WHAT'S FOR DINNER?! MOMMY, WHAT'S FOR DINNER?!" And it repeats until he is answered. Like right now, it's "Daddy, is that sausage? Daddy, is that sausage? Daddy, is that sausage?" You get the point. He's a true boy, getting into everything and screaming at the top of his lungs.

Promise has become the family comedian. She says - or does - something hilarious and everyone starts laughing. Then she'll get offended. It's funny to watch. Recently, she was watching Joy Anna try out some solid food called "Baby Puffs" which were strawberry apple flavored. She had already asked Mom twice if she could taste one and had been denied twice. So she was just sitting next to Joy Anna watching her eat. At one point, she stretched and said enthusiastically, "I can just imagine how good they taste." About a minute later, Joy Anna dropped one on the floor and Promise dove (and I mean dove) for the food. Then she put it in her mouth, chewed, and said, "EW! That's disgusting." These days, the running joke in the family is looking at Promise at meal times and saying, "I can imagine how good they taste." She's a nut.

Isaac has been busy with school and chores. He manages to drag fifteen minute's worth of chores into an hour...Sometimes longer. He loves the zip line and is another family comedian. I love to sneak up on Isaac and poke him when he's not paying attention. The other month, he was standing in the hall with his back to me dancing and singing, totally in his own little world. I snuck up on him and poked him with a "Boo!" He jumped and screamed. Ever since then, he's been looking for a way to get back at me. So far, he hasn't succeeded. Yesterday, he went and was tested for school. He was definitely tired when he got home. Every single pair of pants he owns has a hole in the knee. Go figure.

Grace hasn't changed much except that she has glasses. Sorry, I haven't taken any pictures yet, but when I do, I'll definitely post them for everyone to see. She's really cute in them. Her usual outfit these days is jeans - with holes in the knees - and her Hurricane's sweater. She loves piano and is pretty good at it. In the past year and a half, she's progressed through two lesson books and is about to start her third. She absolutely loves the zip line and is an absolute dare-devil. Basically, she does whatever Nathan does. If Nathan runs and jumps onto the zip line instead of just sitting on it and going, she has to do the same. If Nathan holds onto the handle bars without sitting, Grace has to do the same. She's a tom-boy but loves anything fufu and frilly.

Nathan is no longer playing hockey on a team, which he sorely misses. Hockey is still pretty much his life and he's trying to merge into ice hockey. However, the time for ice hockey is from 11:45am-12:45pm on week days. I don't have time to make that two hour commitment in driving him, so he hasn't played much. Right now, he's working on animating a movie trailer for the book The Foundlings written by his friend, Matthew Christian Harding. So far, he's released the teaser trailer. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYIE6CE80SY&feature=g-all-u&context=G2ccea43FAAAAAAAABAA 


I am very busy with school, like I mentioned earlier. On Thursday, I turned 17. We decided to celebrate on Friday with the dinner and dessert of my choice and a family movie. We ate broccoli braid (my favorite!) and for dessert Mom made me the white chocolate peppermint cheese cake from the Southern Living magazine. It was a lot of work, but boy was it worth it! Once I download my photos off the camera, I'll post a picture. After dinner, we watched Dolphin Tale which was a really cute movie.  


Grammy came out Thursday night and took me shopping yesterday. Our goal was to find a summer dress that would meet the approval of me, Mommy, and Daddy. I wasn't really expecting to find anything since Mom's rules are that it can't be tight or form-fitting, can't be above the knee or show any part of the knee, and it must have sleeves. It's nearly impossible to find anything with sleeves, and what does have sleeves is six inches above the knee. Dad's rules are that it can't show a lot of chest or draw attention to myself in a way that would cause anyone (especially a boy) to look at me. My rules are that it must be pretty and attractive. I want to look pretty in it and not look like I'm wearing a tent. After about an hour's worth of searching at the mall, Grammy and I found several dresses at Belk that would work. We couldn't decide between two of them. They were both tank-top dresses with cute jackets. One was black and white, was just at the knee, and had a really cute black shrug with ruffles. Mom said that dress was too short since she saw the bottom part of my knee. The other dress had a purple, black, and white pattern and was a little longer. However, the neck was low and I didn't like the jacket too much. However, we decided to keep that one. It's really pretty! ;-D


I know this post was kinda long, but I hope you enjoy reading what we've been up to! 

Oh Dogs

This is something I could very easily see happening, if we had this type of trash can. These days, Troy has been sticking his nose into the trash can, and I'm sure he'd look like this... :-D Also, Staal has gotten a vent caught on him, so yah, if we had this type of trash can, this would totally happen.

Joshua's Story

If you want to hear Joshua's story, watch the video below! :-D

If You Think I Look Bad...

...Then you should see the other guy!

Also known as a face-plant.

Human Trafficking Awareness Day

Human Trafficking Awareness Day

Today is Human Trafficking Awareness Day. I think it's important that someone has actually made a day to inform people that slavery is still around. And it's more plentiful than ever before. And they have been reported in every country of the world except for Greenland and Iceland. There are even slaves in America.

Don't believe me? Well then I highly recommend you research it. In November, I had to write a 15 page research paper on any subject of modernity so I chose modern day slavery. My research was shocking and saddening. Part of my findings is why I don't eat chocolate unless it'sFair Trade. If you're interested in learning more about the subject, which I highly recommend studying, you can e-mail me and I'd be willing to send you my paper, which has a very long list of sources, or I'd highly recommend reading E. Benjamin Skinner's book, A Crime so Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery (Warning: this book is not for the faint of heart!). 


Modern Day Slavery is a huge global problem that needs to be stopped. Luke 4:18 says, "He (God) has sent me (Jesus) to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,"


What can you do to raise awareness to stop this evil?

This girl was rescued from slavery. Photo courtesy goes to photographer.

Human Trafficking Awareness Day

The Ant and the Grasshopper with a Twist... :-D

Dad sent me this e-mail and I thought it was hilarious. It's political, so if I offend anyone, I'm sorry, but I thought it was funny - and true!

Enjoy!

The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

 

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

 

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper

calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be

allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.

 

CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN,

and ABC show up to

provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper

next to a video of the ant

in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

 

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper

is allowed to suffer so?

 

Kermit the Frog appears

on Oprah

with the grasshopper

and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not EasyBeing Green...'

 

Occupy the Anthill stages

a demonstration in front of the ant's

house where the news stations film the SEIU group singing, We shall overcome.

 

Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright

has the group kneel down to pray for the grasshopper's sake,

while he damns the ants.

 

President Obamacondems the ant

and blames

President Bush 43, President Bush 41, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the

Pope

for the grasshopper's

plight..

 

Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid

exclaim in an interview with Larry

King that the ant has

gotten rich off the back ofthe

grasshopper,

and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

 

Finally, the EEOC drafts

the Economic Equity &

Anti-Grasshopper Act

retroactive to the beginning of

the summer.

 

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number

of green bugs and,

having  nothing left to  pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the GovernmentGreen Czar

and given  to thegrasshopper.

 

The story ends as we see the grasshopper

and his free-loading  friends finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is  in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant's old house,

crumbles around them because the grasshopper  doesn't  maintain it.

 

The ant has  disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again.

 

The grasshopper  is found  dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken

over  by a gang of spiders  who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous  and peaceful, neighborhood.

 

The entire Nation collapses

bringing the rest

of the free world with it.

 

 

MORAL OF THE STORY:

 

 

Be careful how you vote in 2012.

 

 

My Face Won't Bruise...

I've always kind of known it from past experiences, but my face won't bruise. Wednesday just solidified the fact for me. You see, on Wednesday I was helping Promise off the zip line and she let go before I was ready and could keep the wooden seat of the zip line from flying up. Anyway, the wooden piece shot up and smacked me in the face. Hard. In fact, it still hurts. And would you believe it, my face didn't bruise in the least.

Later, Promise did the exact same thing again and it smacked her in the face. Lo and behold, she developed a whopping goose egg. What did I get? Nothing.

This is going to sound lame, but seriously, if I get smacked in the face and have to put up with a lot of pain like that, I'd like something to show for it! I mean, even laboring moms have something to show off when the pain ends! And what do I get to show off? Nothing.

I'm sure someday I'll be thankful for that fact, but right now, I can't help but think, "Seriously? I could have had a really cool bruise to tell a really cool story about!" If people asked about it, I could have said, "Wait until you see the other guy." Or something like that.

However, I can't do that... Because I never develop a bruise on my face.

Oh well.

Other than that, nothing much is going on in our family except that everyone's got really bad colds and Joshua is a real crab because of it.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to help with Winter Jam, the Christian concert that comes once a year. This year it's at the RBC Center, where the Carolina Hurricanes play, and I'm volunteering with Holt International, an adoption/child sponsorship agency. (It's the agency we adopted Grace through.) They're sponsoring Winter Jam and need people to help with child sponsorship. It should definitely be interesting - especially since I can never remember where I park my car at the RBC Center... I'll make sure I post about what happens when I get back. If I get back. Because if I can't find my car, then I'll be stuck there. And that would be sad. At least I have a cell phone.

Anyway, happy Friday!

Best of 2011

I compiled a video from last year's best photos and videos. It's just a quick re-cap of 2011.

I hope you enjoy it!

It's the Truth

Credit goes to author

Zip Line Fun!

We got a zip line for Christmas! It's 200 ft long and holds up to 250 lb. Dad set it up today. However, it's too loose for us older people to do yet (our legs drag along the ground) so so far only the kids can do it. Dad hopes to fix the zip line for us older ones soon.

Anyway, here's a video I made of Isaac, Grace, and Promise doing the zip line. Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody! I can't believe it's 2012!

Last night, Nathan and I decided to stay up and watch the ball drop in Times Square. To pass the time, we watched a few movies. Around 11:15pm, the movies ended and we decided to see if we could find a TV station showing the festivities in Times Square. After searching through several channels, we found one but it was focusing on Lady Gaga, so we switched the channel. The next channel was reporters talking about what was going on in the square and interviewing people. We decided to stay on that channel since it was rather interesting. We figured that all channels would show the ball drop. We were wrong.

At midnight, instead of showing the ball drop, the station showed an obnoxious female reporter kissing a random police officer. Nathan and I were so furious! Needless to say, we turned the TV off. We were both very disappointed.

I thought it would be appropriate to give a quick overview of the notable stuff that happened in 2011 to our family:

• I turned 16 in January and got my license
• Joy Anna was born at home into Dad and my arms in early March
• Promise, Isaac, and Grace decided that chapter books are cool and interesting
• I got into a car accident...
• Nathan and I almost experienced a tornado, we could see where it was and it was close 
• I got to help photograph a wedding
• We went to the beach
• Nathan, Dad, and I went and watched Captain America in the middle of Hurricane Irene and the movie theater lost power just at the climax...
• Nathan and I finished our first year of Gileskirk (a very intensive history curriculum)
• Grandma Wight and Aunt Tara and Barbara came and visited
• Dad had the brilliant idea to pick Grace up and playfully shake her back and forth while she was shaking the milk. Do I need to detail how messy the kitchen was after that? We were cleaning spilt milk for a while and everyone had to pitch in...
• Nathan took Driver's Ed and got his permit
• Joshua became Dad's little buddy
• Nathan, Dad, and Isaac played a bunch of hockey!
• Our family made a bunch of movies (I think this year held the record for the most movies good enough to put on youtube.)
• I became a doula and have attended a grand total of 12 births!
• Rising Dawn Services was started
• This blog was started ;-D
• Nathan, Dad, and I read the Hunger Games series :-D
• Joy Anna learned to crawl
• I missed Promise's birthday because I was at a birth
• I applied to Newlife International School of Midwifery *scary*
• Nathan started animating a Lego movie of The Peleg Chronicles 
• The whole family went to a hockey game and all got Carolina Hurricanes' jerseys
• I got the DSLR I've been wanting!
• We beat our usual record of how often we've gone out to eat. We've eaten out quite a bit this year.

There's lots more, but it would take a while to detail it all. I'm really excited that it's 2012 since I, at least, will probably have a big year. In May (May 12, to be exact), I'll graduate high school. After that, I'll probably go to the Philippines and become a midwife (I just need to get accepted first). I'm so excited! I guess when I leave this summer, I'll have to give this blog to Nathan, since he'll be around to know what's going on in Wilson-dom, and I'll have to get another blog about my time in the Philippines. 

Anyway, I just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!