Merry Christmas, yesterday we opened all the presents as usual after we got back from a Christmas party. We celebrate Christmas because God sent Jesus down to us while we were yet sinners to die for us so we could be free from sin. Though this probably isn’t the date when Christ was born, it is a good date to celebrate it and shine your light before men. So while you are busy eating and opening gifts stop for a minute and to thank God for Christmas. Tomorrow my family and I are going to California to spend the week with my grandparents; it should be interesting riding in the car with all of us kids in the car for 15 hours. In a little while my sister and I are going to decorate sugar cookies we have been planning to do it for several days so hopefully it will happen.

The verse of the day is James 1:19-20 “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”

The random historical fact of the day is on December 25 1818 "Silent Night" was performed for the first time, at the Church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorff, Austria.

Merry Christmas

Gavi   

Christmas Eve

Today is Christmas Eve, which is very weird, I think I have already said that but I just can’t realize it. : ) I should probably explain that Christmas Eve is basically Christmas for us. Because my Mom has Portuguese heritage we open all the presents on Christmas Eve and at Portuguese sausage, when we are at my Grandparents for Christmas we have marinated crab as well, but when we are not there we do not because crab is expensive and we live in the middle of Arizona, so that is kind of impractical. On Christmas morning we open our stockings and eat pork Vinho d’alhos for breakfast. This year we are staying home for Christmas, but the day after Christmas we are going to my Grandparents’ house. My sister is practicing her viola and my brother is on his computer while Mom and Hazel cook I don’t know what my dad is doing but it is nice that they are all home. Tonight we are going caroling with some friends of ours that will be fun. But I don’t know if we are doing it tonight, because a friend of ours is having an open house tonight and I think we are going.

The verse of the day is Isaiah 55:10-11 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it bear and sprout,
And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;

So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

Speaking of snow it snowed at our house last night but it did not stick, sadly. : (

The random historical fact of the day is: on December 23 1880 Thomas Edison incorporated the Edison Electric Light Company of Europe.

Merry early Christmas,

Gavi

 

My Brother

For the past two days I have been writing about my siblings and I wrote about all of them except my brother, so today I will write about him.

My brother is 8 years older than me and when I asked for a name to put on here he didn’t say anything so he will not have a name on here. He is the oldest of us kids, he is after Weasles. He is a junior in college and is a journalism major. He plays the saxophone occasionally, and in his free time he reads books plays around on his computer or goes out with his friends and does random things. He works with electronics and enjoys doing tech stuff. This post makes my brother sound very boring but I assure you that he is not in any way shape or form boring. He is funny, interesting, exasperating, and annoying all at the same time.

Can you believe that there are only 3 days until Christmas Eve? I can’t, it seems that summer just ended. In honor of having only 3 days until when we celebrate Jesus birth, this post and the posts after this post will be shorter, so I will have more time to spend with my family.

Gavi 

Weasles

Because I wrote a post about my sister Hazel yesterday, I will now write a post about my sister Weasles (that is not her real name).

Weasles is the next sibling after Hazel. She is 7 years older than I am and is a senior in college. Weasles is a music major, she plays viola, violin, bass, piano, and also she sings very well. When she is at school she really doesn’t have much free time; unlike Hazel who has tons of free time. Weasles works hard to get A’s and she freaks out if she gets B’s, unlike Hazel who rejoices if she gets B’s : ) my brother is a whole other story. When she is home she works at McDonald’s and when she is not working she sleeps or reads books. Occasionally she does something fun with the rest of us. She is very sweet but opinionated and you can see that the first time you meet her, unlike Hazel who is opinionated but she doesn’t display it very much. Weasles and I are pretty close. I really am just as close with her as I am with Hazel but I am with Hazel so it seems that I am closer to Hazel.

My Mom and Hazel have been baking lots of cookies and such, and I just had a big Chocolate espresso meringue cookie. As a result I am kind of hyper. : )

1 John 3:8, “The one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.”

The random historical fact of the day is: on December 20, 1803, The United States purchased the Louisiana Territories from France for $15 million.

Have a great day,

Gavi

Hazel

Today is the beginning of the Christmas vacation, YAY!!! I don’t know what to do with myself. When everybody was gone I had forgotten how much they pester me. The first day that my brother was home and he was pestering me my Mom said “Remember you missed this”, I replied, “I missed them, not their pestering”. Because I am trying to find more things to write about I decided to write about each of my siblings.

Today I am writing about my sister Hazel. She is the sister right above me; she is 6 years older than I am. She likes to take pictures and is a lot better at it than I am; you can see a lot of her pictures here on her blog. She is probably my closest sister but my other sister is very close to me in different ways. She is going to college and is an early childhood education major. She is perfect for that job because little kids (especially little boys) love her and always have. I asked her what she likes to do in her free time and she didn’t know, but this is what my mom and other sister said about her. She likes to always be on the go and be doing things and going places. My sister said that she sits around listening to music but she refuted that. Hazel plays guitar, trumpet, and drums, she just started playing drums but she is very good and is getting better. She plays trumpet in pep band at her school. Although when you first meet her it seems that she is kind of quiet and easy going, though she is easy going she is not quiet at all.  

The verse of the day is Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”

The random historical fact is, on December 19, 1903, The Williamsburg Bridge opened in New York City. It was the first major suspension bridge in America.

Gavi

I am not feeling very well today and I found out that I had a fever about 5 minutes ago, I am bummed because my siblings are home now and I don’t want to be sick, but I am kind of glad that I am running a fever because that means I don’t have to feel horrible for nothing.

 The verse if the day is Hebrews 4:15-16 “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

The random historical fact of the day is:

On December 17, 1903, The first successful gasoline-powered airplane flight took place near Kitty Hawk, NC. Orville and Wilbur Wright made the flight.

The definition of the day is goosecap: a silly person. That’s kind of random but it was all I could find.

In the post about myself , I said that I like to read, here are the books that I have been reading lately,

The Saturdays

The Four Story Mistake

 Then There Were Five

Spider Web for Two

Gone Away Lake

Return to Gone Away

Bells on Their Toes

Away From Home

A School of her Own

Wedding bells Ahead

At Home in North Branch

I have been reading more but this was all I could think of   

Hope you are doing well 

Gavi 

As I have told you, my brother came home last night. He came in at 12:45 AM, which gave us some problems because the airport is two hours drive away from our house. Originally Dad was going to go down to the airport and drive my brother back, but Dad wasn’t feeling well so we thought that my Mom and I would go down and pick him up. My Mom didn’t want to have to drive that road in the dark, so that would require going down before dark and finding something to do while we waited for my brother’s flight. That didn’t seem very practical so we all decided to go down and pick him up. We left at 9:00 PM, got home at 3:00 AM and promptly went to bed. Meanwhile, before we left  Dad was registering my sister’s flight which was supposed to come in on Saturday, Dad looked everywhere for her flight number but could not find it online at all, so he called the airline and asked, and they said that that flight had been canceled. They had to switch the flight for a different time anyway so Daddy just asked them to switch the flight to tonight when my other sister is supposed to get in. It worked out that both of them are coming in tonight around the same time. That way we don’t have to make two 3 hour trips to their airport.

The verse of the day is James 4:6, “But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

The random interesting historical fact is: on December 16, 2000, Researchers announced that information from NASA's Galileo spacecraft indicated that Ganymede appeared to have a liquid saltwater ocean beneath a surface of solid ice. Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter, is the solar system's largest moon. The discovery is considered important since water is a key ingredient for life. And also on December 16, 1901 The Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter, was printed for the first time.

The definition of the day is: Reverbaratorey which is a furnace with a kind of dome that reflects the flame upon a vessel placed within it, so as to surround it.

Gavi

Christmas tree

On our home page we have a verse of the day thing and an on this day in history thing and so I just put those on here to make my blog more interesting, and I decided to do the definition of the day too. Daddy wants me to actually write something instead of copying and pasting the verse of the day and the on this day in history, and finding a word in the dictionary to define. So that means I actually have to find something to write about. : )

The verse of the day is Proverbs 16:16, “How much better it is to get wisdom than gold!
And to get understanding is to be chosen above silver.” That was written by Solomon, and as you probably know he was the richest man in the world as well as the wisest. Because he was the richest it is kind of amazing that he said that wisdom surpasses riches don’t you think?

The random historical fact of the day is: on December 14 1799 the first President of the United States, George Washington, died at the age 67.”  : ( Sad!!

The definition of the day is, purl: to murmur, as a small stream flowing among stones; It is applied among small streams only. Doesn’t that sound poetic? : )

While preparing this post I wondered why we have Christmas trees, and I was sure that there was some reason why so I decided to look it up. It turns out that there are many legends as to why we have Christmas trees, this is one of them. In the second century the evergreen tree was a symbol of life in the midst of winter. Romans decorated their houses with evergreen trees and branches around the winter solstice, because they believed that the evergreen trees would help the sun god many early Christians were understandably hostile to such practices. Eventually missionaries tried to change the practice of evergreen trees for pagan practices so that it somehow was Christian, and started doing Christmas around the winter solstice with evergreen trees to illustrate God’s love and grace for us. By the early Middle Ages the legend had grown that when Christ was born in the dead of winter (though there was no evidence that he had been born in winter) all the trees throughout the world shook off the ice and snow, and grew green shoots.

I hope you found that interesting,

Gavi

Tomorrow night I have a Christmas piano recital. I am playing God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and Sing We Now of Christmas. This was the last week of piano for the year so my teacher gave me a lot of songs to play over break, she gave me six new songs to add to my three old ones, it is crazy! Thankfully I don’t have to play all of them; she said she just wanted to make sure I had something to do. Lately I have been wondering why I like to take pictures so much, because I take pictures of all sorts of random things and a lot of the time I wish I had a camera with me to take pictures. It seems like photography has become more and more popular and more and more people are going into it, it didn’t use to be that way but I might be just noticing it.

There are only two days until my brother comes home, three days until my sister comes home, and four days until my other sister comes home. I wonder if in a week I will be as excited about it as I am now. : )

The verse of the day is: Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

The random historical fact of the day is: on December 13, 1913 The Sunday New York World printed a puzzle called a "word-cross." The puzzle was a success and became a weekly feature. The name eventually evolved into "crossword." Personally I like the name “word-cross” better than “crossword”, but I didn’t have any choice in the matter.

The definition of the day is: ambuscading: lying in wait for; attacking from a secret place.

Have a nice day : )

Gavi

About me

If you haven’t noticed I have been trying to reach my goal of writing 5 good blog posts a week for a month. Last week I did not post 5 blog posts because I wasn’t feeling very well, but my Dad said that just this once he would let me post twice in one day to make up for missing it last week. As I was trying to figure out what to write about I realized that I really haven’t said much about myself except the little bit I said on the first day I posted. So I decided that this second post would be about me and what I like to do. I am 13, homeschooled and a freshman in high school; my favorite subject is Literature even though I don’t particularly enjoy picking apart perfectly good stories and analyzing them. I like literature because I like books and reading and it is the closest thing to reading fun books that I can get away with during school hours. In my free time when I am not reading I do different things on the computer, listen to music, or listen to Adventures in Odyssey. I have a dog, her name is Chocolate and I play with her sometimes but not as much as I should, she is an Australian shepherd/mutt mix. I have 1 brother and 2 sisters they are all at separate colleges. I like to bake and cook when I get the chance, but that is not very often. I like to take pictures and most of the pictures on this blog I took myself.

That is about all I can think to say about myself but leave a comment and tell me about you.

Gavi

 P.S. Here is a random picture I took,

Yesterday night the little kids in our church put on a Christmas musical. I had a friend that helped put it together, so I heard a lot about it and saw it come together. It turned out very well despite my friend’s worries over it. : )

The verse of the day is Psalm 145:18-19 “The LORD is near to all who call upon Him,
to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He will also hear their cry and will save them.”  

The historical fact of the day is: on December 12, 1792, in Vienna, 22-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven received one of his first lessons in music composition from Franz Joseph Haydn.

The definition of the day is Reboation:  which means, the return of a loud bellowing sound. That word was kind of random but it is really hard to find a word to define and put on here.

There are only 3 days until my oldest sibling comes home for Christmas break : ) YAY!

The Christmas luncheon on Saturday went well and I played well, though the song I played was very short.

Gavi

Today Mom has a women’s luncheon for which I am playing piano. She made sugar cookies for it, they turned out really well, here are some pictures of them.

The verse of the day is Hebrews 12:10-11, “For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

The historical fact of today is: on December 10, 1851, American librarian, Melvil Dewey, was born. He created the "Dewey Decimal Classification" system.  

There is no definition of the day.

Gavi

Lately I have been really tired and my throat hurts, but I’m not sick because we went to the doctor and he said that I was fine, but it is very weird.

The verse of the day is: 2 Timothy 2:22, “Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”

The historical fact is on December 8, 1776, George Washington's retreating army in the American Revolution crossed the Delaware River from New Jersey to Pennsylvania.  

The definition of the day is freisleben: a mineral of a blue or bluish gray color that is brittle and soft to the touch.

This isn’t a very interesting post but here are some pictures to make it more interesting.

Ttyl

Gavi

Hi                                                                                                        

I really haven’t been doing much that I haven’t told you about, but in a week my siblings are coming home for winter break YAY!! : ) It’ll probably be fun to have them home.

The verse of the day is Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”  

The historical fact of the day is: on December 7^th, 1972 Apollo 17 was launched at Cape Canaveral. It was the last U.S. moon mission. And also, on December 7^th, 1941 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was bombed by more than 200 Japanese torpedo bombers resulting in the US joining into World War II.

The random Old English word for the day is, Fomenting: Encouraging, abetting, or promoting. Actually, our Old English word technically is only a word that I had never heard before, and found in the 1828 dictionary, so it may not actually be an Old English word at all. So from now on I will call it The Definition of the Day.

Gavi    

Christmas Tree and Ornaments

On Thursday we put up our Christmas tree. Usually we put the ornaments on the tree the night we put it up, but Mom was out of town that night so we put the ornaments on the tree on     Saturday. Each year at Christmas or thanksgiving when we go to my grandparent’s house, Grandma buys each of us an ornament. This is the ornament Grandma got for me this year,

Some of my other favorites are,

I have more but the computer wouldn't load them

Gavi

mint chocolate truffle kisses

I have a new favorite kind of candy, Hershey Mint Truffle Kisses, they are amazing!  This is how I found out about them. Every time I would talk to my older sister on the phone she would ask me if I had tried them yet and I kept saying no. Finally my mom and I were at the store, and I saw them. I asked my mom if I could buy them, actually she ended up buying them (Thanks Mom) and wouldn’t let me pay her back. I got them and tried them, after the first Kiss I fell in love! : ) You should try them.

The random historical fact for today is: on December 1^st, 1984, a remote-controlled Boeing 720 jetliner was deliberately crashed into California's Mojave Desert to test an anti-flame fuel additive. The test proved to be disappointing.

The verse of the day is: Philippians 4:4-7 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

The random Old English word of the day is: pendulosity, which is the state of hanging, or suspension.

Have a great day,

Gavi   

I have had this blog for 9 months now and I have only written 10 blog posts, but if you are reading this post that means that you stuck with me over quite a few months of not posting at all, I am really curious about you. Please post a comment and tell me who you are, I have a feeling that my family will be the only people that will comment because they are pretty much the only ones that know about my blog. If not, than I will be pleasantly surprised, so please leave a comment and tell me who you are. Today’s interesting historical fact is, on August 24, 1869, a patent for the waffle iron was received by Cornelius Swarthout. Kind of random but it is still interesting. There is no Old English word for today. Today’s verse is: Revelation 3:11-13, “I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Post a comment and tell me who you are,

Gavi

P.S. If you are following the daily verse online on some other site don’t be surprised if they don’t match up because usually I write the posts several days (or months) before I publish them, and of course a post would not be a post without a picture so here it is,

Hi,                                                                                                              

I really haven’t been doing much since yesterday except school, but we’ll see what happens. The random historical fact of the day is (insert drum roll): On August 20, 1977, Voyager 2 was launched by the United States. The spacecraft was carrying a 12-inch copper phonograph record containing greetings in dozens of languages, samples of music, and sounds of nature. Isn’t that cool? The verse that I chose today is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” (NIV). And last but not least, the random Old English word for today is, salubrity, meaning: wholesomeness, healthfulness, or favorableness to the preservation of health; as the salubrity of air, of a country or climate. Who knew, right?

I hope you have a great day,

Gavi   

P.S. Here is a random picture that I took,  

Random Historical Fact

Hi,

Did you know that on August 2, 1858, in Boston and New York City, the first mailboxes were installed along streets?  I didn’t either, but it was an interesting fact, so I thought I would share it with you. I am going to try to remember to either do a random interesting historical fact, a Bible verse, or a random Old English word several days a week. You might be hearing more from me because I find myself with more and more free time on my hands.

Ttyl,

Gavi

Thanksgiving

Happy Belated Thanksgiving : )

My Mom and Dad and I went to see my grandparents in Walnut Creek California and we just got back on Saturday. Some things I am thankful for are:

1.   My Bible

2.   My family

3.   Books

4.   Chocolate (my dog)

5.   Good friends

6.   Music

While I was on my trip I got a really awesome new hat, I don’t have a picture of it, but I have some other pictures to show you.

Have a nice day : )

Amy

Random pics

Hi
I really can't write much, but I am sorry I haven't written for a while so here are some random pictures : )

Gavi

Random

For women’s Bible study we usually have a meal. Today was the day for me and my sister E. to help make a meal. was in charge of making dessert and I saw these awesome looking cupcakes here so I decided to make them. So I made the cupcakes and put them in the oven, then I cleaned up and when I washed the measuring cups my sister said “hey wait a second this is the ½ cup” And I said “what?!!” I looked and sure enough, instead of the 1 cup measure it was the ½ cup! I was really scared ‘cause I couldn’t remember if I put enough cups in so I waited until the Cupcakes were ready to take out of the oven. I took them out and breathed a big sigh of relief. They looked perfect!! But while I was making the filling my sister looked over and they were sunken badly. I kept on going figuring that the frosting would cover it up. I made the frosting and the filling and put them both in the fridge and let them cool. After the Cupcakes cooled I put the filling in and piped the frosting on this was the first time that I had piped frosting onto something like a cupcake so they don’t look all that great but hey, I figure they will probably taste good and I hope people won’t pay much attention to what they look like : ). But anyway that is my first attempt at making cakes or cupcakes from scratch. But none of my pictures turned out :( so you won’t get to see them.


ttyl,
Gavi

Happy Independance Day

Happy Fourth of July. 

Did You Know that technically July 2^nd  is our real Independence Day ? Because July 2^nd was actually the day that the Continental Congress decided to break away from England, July 4^th was when they printed the Declaration of Independence and everybody read it and made a big deal over it , in fact John Adams wrote a letter to his wife saying that in the future America would celebrate July 2^nd, but he was wrong. So take some time today in between all the food and the fireworks to thank God for our independence and pray for our country to come back to him.

Thanks,

Gavi

pics

Hi

Hi I’m Gavriel (Gavi). The reason I have started this blog is because my dad thinks my writing needs to improve, and if I do five good blog posts a week for a month then he will buy me a small camera. I don’t really have a hobby, but I like to read, play the piano, and take pictures. This blog will not be a kind of blog that has a topic but it will be about everything, I will probably put a lot of pictures on it but overall I will just put down what is on my mind or what I have done recently. The reason my blog is called Misty Castles is because right now I am playing a pretty song called Castle in the Mist and it sounded like a good blog name.

My dad and I took my dog (Chocolate) for a hike up on the mountain behind our house; it was really fun though at the end I got kind of tired. We went to a very pretty waterfall and ate our lunch there.

Here are some pictures I took.

                                           

  This is the waterfall where we ate our lunch.

Because my dog doesn’t go on walks very often she was really excited and was pretty funny. My friend L. was supposed to go with us but she chickened out at the last minute  : ) , actually she had some work she had to do but we missed her. After we got home from the hike we had to go to a piano recital I was in and I played Castle in the Mist, and a pretty piece called Morning Song by Gurlitt.

Hope you find my blog interesting,

Gavi