The Year Of 2015

In the year of 2015:



I went to a new school,


Had a new foster sister


lost a new foster sister


Saw my sister as Peter Pan in Peter Pan


Saw Star Wars for the first time!


Went to camp YoliJwa for the first time

Try, Try, and Try Again

I started playing violin when I was 4 years old. Sometimes I would wish I could stop. And others I wanted to just quite playing the violin, but I always decided not to. I kept going. I'm so glad I didn't stop playing.When I play the violin I am surrounded by music coming from MY own violin. I practice the same section of the song I'm playing until I play it perfectly. Sometimes it takes forever and I  want to give up. But I always say to myself, keep going you WILL get it. I always get it in the end and I am proud of my little accomplishment.

If anyone reading this is doing something hard, keep trying because you WILL get it and even if you don't, you will know that you did your best.

Deborah Sampson!

Here is Something I wrote about Deborah Sampson for a History contest. I hope you enjoy it.

Dear Mother,

Today General Henry Knox discharged me from the army. I guess to understand why and how this happened I should start from the very beginning. Ever since the Revolutionary War started I thought about joining the army. The only problem was that I am a women and woman are supposed to do cleaning, cooking, and they are to raise a good proper family. I never stopped thinking about joining and becoming a great soldier even though I could get in huge trouble.

I still remember those months when I couldn’t make up my mind. I became a teacher in 1779 in a Middleborough public school. On May 20, 1782 I finally decided to enroll in the army. I was very handy when it came to knitting so I knitted a scarf and wrapped my chest. I dressed in men’s clothes and walked out the door to visit you.

Remember that day when a man named Robert Shurtliff came to your door? It wasn’t a man. It was me. My heart was pounding louder than drums being trampled by elephants. I decided the best way to test my disguise was to test it on you. Who would know me better than you? If you didn’t know who I was than I knew my disguise was perfect. As you know it was perfect. I went down the street to enroll in the army.

I remember my mind racing as I signed not my name but the name Robert Shurtliff. I was so afraid that someone would see me and know it was me! I knew the risk would be worth it. I would be doing something that no other women I knew would dare to do. They would be too scared and run off like wild chickens being chased by dogs. I felt very proud that day and was the happiest person alive.

I went through so many ups and downs. More than once I felt so tired and ready to give up that I couldn’t stand it anymore. I felt as if I just had to give up. All I had to do was tell someone I was a girl and I know they would not have let me stay. I decided to stay and keep going no matter what.

Once I was with a group of soldiers and we were loading our bags with food to take to our camp. All of the sudden a group of Tory soldiers came and started shooting at us. I was so scared I could barely move. I was shot in the leg and I got a cut in my forehead. The doctor healed my cut but I never said a word about my leg. I knew that doctors made you undress to take a bullet out of your leg and he would for sure find I was not a man. I couldn’t back down so I drank the alcohol the doctor gave me for the pain and I pulled the bullet out of my leg. The pain was worse than I ever felt in my life. My blood was gushing all over my hands.  I nearly fainted from the pain. I kept going. Never stop, I kept saying to myself. Never stop. My leg never fully recovered and it still troubles me today. All I can do is keep going and trust that I’ll be all right.

Like I said, my leg never fully healed and in 1783 it caused me to become ill. The doctor who was taking care of me found out I was a woman. He never told anyone because he believed in my cause. The trouble was his niece fell in love with me and the truth had to come out.  I told the general that I was indeed a girl and he gave me an honorary discharge from the army. I dressed back into my old clothes and one of my friends from the army saw me and had no clue who I was. I felt proud of how I had such a good disguise that a soldier who I lived with never knew who I was.

I know you may not be happy with what I did but I want you to know this: I am very proud of my history. I am proud of my country and proud of how I never gave up. I hope people will one day talk about me and feel brave to deal with whatever they face in life.

Sincerely,

Deborah Sampson

Go Daddy Go

I hope you all liked my last blog. If you like learning about my family, you will love hearing about my dad.

When mom and dad were first married, dad wanted two kids, my mom wanted twelve. You decide who is winning. Anyway this is the way most arguments go with my parents, mom wins.

Dad is also very forgetful. One time, we all asked him to go get some ham at the grocery store. He came back with turkey. We all said it was ok but for some reason we needed ham. So he went back. Guess what he brought back. Turkey.

Also if you are going somewhere with dad and to the right there is this little fast food resturant called McDonalds, guess witch way we are turning. Right.

If you have ever seen one of the videos you will hear this really loud  voice yelling 

"GO HOPIE GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

My dad is not like most dads in the world, but thats ok. If dad where me, he'd be  saying, 

"GO DADDY GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" 

The NBAEE

When ever I'm talking to someone who is complaining about their one brother, I just say "Imagine that, multiplied by five." Yeah, that is my life.

You see brothers are very hard and complicated peoples. No one knows exactly why they do the things they do such as, being weird, being annoying and well being, something that starts with a s and ends in tupid.

That is why one of my friends (who also has a lot of brothers) came up with the NBAEE. It stands for NO BROTHERS ALLOWED then the two Es stand for my name and my friends name.

Mariana keeps telling me that my brothers will be my friends one day, I don't believe it. My oldest two brothers are my best buds but the next two boys, well I have a hard time believing it about them.

Now please don't take this stuff about brothers personally, it may not be true for all brothers, but it goes for mine.

So crazy, it's normal

Imagine this, you are sitting in your living room and your parents say you are having a new sibling. Do you get the picture? Now I'll ask you this, would you be shocked at the news? I wasn't.

okay lets face it, if your life started out with four other siblings, and since then your parents added three more, you wouldn't be shocked at the news that your parents are adding another one.

Trust me, life with eight other siblings is not an easy job, especially with my family. Here are just some of the things you need to know how to handle when you live with my family.

1. You need to know what sarcasm is.

yes that is totally true.

2. You cannot be surprised when we add another family member.

3. You need to know how to share a room.

There is a very strong chance that if you live with us, you are going to have to share a room.

4. You need to be okay with really loud noises.

5. If you are a boy you will have to change at least one of victors poopy dippers.

It's kinda a rule that mom made so that the girls who are crazy enough to marry one of my brothers, don't have to teach the boys how to change the dippers.

6. If you are a girl you have to know that you are out numbered.

I really don't know why mom and dad have five boys and only four girls but you learn to live with it.

7. Know that dad will embarrass you.

Just trust me on that one.

8. If you wan't dad to do something you have to tell him to do it ten thousand times until he decides to do it .

9. If you play two truths and a lie with someone you just met at camp or something, for your lie it is always easy to pull of "I have two siblings" .

It gets them every time.

and finally,10. Know that when you are talking to someone about your family, just say you have a big one.

If you tell someone you have eight siblings they think you are crazy.

Well know you know just a few things about what I have to live with, but thats okay becouse, to me, it's so crazy it's normal.

MY LITTLE BROTHER

when we first started the process of adopting again I was so exited I was going to have another brother or sister! I knew that it would be hard but I also knew that it would be worth it. But it took a very long time to find the right child.

Two years and two moths ago I decided to pray that on april 20th at 5:00 we would know what child was for us. i remember ridding my scooter around the block and praying " april 20th at 5:00 God you know what I'm praying for." I would pray that over and over. I knew that people would think I was crazy. But I also knew that God can do anything if you do believe that He can. so every day I would pray that God would give us a child.

And then when april 20th came around the day went kinda slow. We had a concert after lunch. When we got home my heart raced as I went to see what time it was. It was about two minuets before 4:00. I knew that in almost one hour it would be the time I was praying about for so long. But when mom sat down to check her email my world seemed to  stop. it was exactly 4:00 now and when she clicked on the first email she tolled me something that was one of the biggest highlights of my whole life! Mom said "Eden! There are three babies here!"

After that mom said that two of the babies where due in a few months and that they will probably be very healthy. And then she said the other one was named Noah and she also said that we will probably not even consider because that baby was born early and in the NICU. Mom and dad said yes to the two healthy babies and decided to kinda put aside the other one. A few days went passed and mom got another email saying that the birth mothers of the two healthy babies said no to our family.

The next few days were full of prayer about little Noah in the NICU. after two days mom and dad said yes to little Noah. Mom and dad got on a plane that sunday after church and they went to visit my little brother. a week later dad came home and mom stayed in the NICU with Noah for three whole months. and then she came home with little Victor Noah King.

And now he's a handsome little boy. Two years old and MY LITTLE BROTHER.