Art by Ethan

2012-01-01T10:58:00.000-08:00

Years ago my spiritual mentor told me this story and it had a profound effect on me. You may have already heard it, or you may have heard a different version of it, but I’ll share the version he told me.

Once upon a time there was a village. All of the people in the village got along very well. There was kindness, love, compassion, and justice. Every person in the village owned a special bag. It was given to them by their parents at the age of 3. Inside this bag were hundreds of warm fuzzies. were soft, cuddly, cottony little puffs. When you gave someone a, they felt warm and fuzzy inside. People in the village gave each other warm fuzzies anytime they wanted to let someone know they were loved. When someone received a warm fuzzy, they put it in their bag.

One day, an evil sorceress came to town. She saw that everyone was giving out these warm fuzzies from their bags and she didn’t like it. She went up to one villager and said, “Why do you keep giving away your warm fuzzies? Aren’t you afraid you’re going to run out? Here, take this bag of cold pricklies and give these to the people in your village instead, and keep all your warm fuzzies for yourself.” The villager took the bag because he believed the sorceress’ tale. The next time he ran into a friend, he handed him one of the cold pricklies from his new bag. A cold prickly made someone feel cold and prickly inside, like they were swallowing a pin cushion. Soon all the villagers went to the sorceress and asked for their own bag of cold pricklies since they didn’t want to be the only people handing out warm fuzzies if everyone else was going to hand out cold pricklies. Once you had a cold prickly, you wanted to give it away to someone else as fast as possible.

The sorceress was pleased. Her plan was working perfectly. Now the village was in a state of fear and panic. Everyone started avoiding everyone else so they wouldn’t be given a cold prickly. People hoarded their small supply of warm fuzzies and didn’t give them out to anyone anymore. But no one was happy anymore either.

One day a prince arrived in town and almost immediately someone handed him a cold prickly from their bag. The prince, recognizing the cold prickly, refused to take it. The villager was surprised and tried again. The prince handed the person a warm fuzzy from his bag. The villager was surprised, and a little ashamed that he had tried to give this warm prince a cold prickly and instead received a warm fuzzy.

The prince addressed the crowd and said, “Why do you give each other cold pricklies?” One villager said, “Why should we give away all of our warm fuzzies? Shouldn’t we keep them for ourselves?” Other villagers agreed. But the prince said, “Every time you give away a warm fuzzy a new one is created in your own bag. Don’t you see? The more you give away, the more you will have.”

To demonstrate, the prince had everyone put down their bag of cold pricklies and retrieve their bag of warm fuzzies from their homes. He asked everyone to take out a warm fuzzy from their bag and hand it to a neighbor. This they did, but warily. Then the prince told them to notice that they all still had the same amount of warm fuzzies in their bags as before. People started giving away more warm fuzzies and noticed their bag was never empty. There were indeed enough warm fuzzies for everyone.

The sorceress was very upset and tried to interrupt the prince and get everyone to give out cold pricklies again. But the villagers didn’t want to listen anymore. They threw all their bags of cold pricklies into a wagon, set the sorceress inside it, and sent her out of town.

The villagers realized they’d learned a valuable lesson.

When you give someone a warm fuzzy, they in turn will give it to someone else. Eventually, it will come back around to you.

What do you carry in your bag?

The Legend of Terrawin Not

2011-11-30T13:04:00.000-08:00

The legend of Terrawin has been discontinued
on this blog. Hear is the new legend of Terrawin Home

The legend's New Home

Zoocube

2011-09-12T19:22:00.000-07:00

Hi! how are you all doing? I've made a new blog called Zoocube here is a http://zoocube-ethan.blogspot.com/

Redwoods

2011-04-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

Redwoods are very cool. They are my favorite trees. This book about redwoods has very good pictures and illustrations. Redwoods are the tallest living things on earth; they regularly grow to be more then 200 feet tall! They live in the rain forest in California. Many birds live in the tops of redwoods, including bald eagles, ospreys, and woodpeckers. Two endangered species of owls too! Bet you didn't know that there can be an entire forest of redwoods in just one tree!

"Now do you see why I like Redwoods?!"

The Legend of Terrawin XIII

2011-02-16T05:07:00.000-08:00

Chapter 13

Terrawin went back to the castle. When he got there, the guards let him through. He immediately went to Princess Rose and gave her the ruby. She placed it in her crown and told him to go to the flying fish where he would find the third jewel. Terrawin went out of the castle and ran and ran and ran for miles and miles. When he got to the end of the field, there was a lake. The lake was coverd with fog and you couldn't see the bottom. There was a big wood pole fence that wrapped all the way around the lake. "Wait, what's that?" wondered Terrawin. There in the clearing of the fog, was a crack on the other side of the lake.

"God's World" by Ethan

2011-02-09T09:16:00.000-08:00

In the beginning, there was God, and there was shadow.
God said, "Let there be heavens and let there be earth."
And they were.

Then God made light, and grabbed it, and formed it to a ball,
And made the sun.

God blew on the sun, and from it came the stars.
And there in the darkness a glow from a rocky mirror shined out it's light,
There the moon.

God threw out lightning and broke water from water.
There was land.

A wave from the sea cracked up fish and the birds.
The land gave birth to all living creatures.
And God gave birth to man.

This was inspired by Genesis 1 and "The Creation" by James Weldon Johnson.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

2011-02-03T09:32:00.000-08:00

I watched The Sorcerer's Apprentice. It was so cool. My favorite part is in
this video where he blocks the fire without having his dragon ring.

The Circus

2011-02-03T08:34:00.000-08:00

For Christmas we got circus tickets. Yesterday we went. It was so cool. The jugglers juggled fire. There was a big gated area. In the area were white and orange tigers and a really cool lion tamer. There were really cool tight rope walkers, and one of them almost fell.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-THE END_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

The Legend of Terrawin XII

2011-01-31T05:27:00.000-08:00

Chapter 12

All of a sudden, the mountain started to shake, rocks fell, and they floated on the lava. On the rocks, there are giant lizards. "Wait! Where's the rocks and the ruby?" said Terrawin, as a hydra shot up from the lava. The monster blew fire into the lava, and it began to rise. Then she shot fire at Terrawin. Thinking quickly, Terrawin ducked behind a rock, then grabbed the rope, swung it around, shot it at the monster's tail, and yanked. The monster swung over close enough to touch. Terrawin then embedded his axe into the monster's tail. The monster screeched; then it burned. When it was nothing but ruby and bone, Terrawin climbed up the monster and took the ruby, then climbed the rest of the way up to the top of the monster where it's head fell back onto the top of the volcano. He looked down the volcano and there gorons gathered.

The Legend of Terrawin XI

2011-01-27T08:54:00.000-08:00

Chapter 11

"Before I left, Princess Rose told me to go to the Mountain of Fire," said Terrawin, looking at his map. According to the compass, the mountain should be just west of here, thought Terrawin. After hiking a mile or two, he saw the mountain. He hiked a few more miles and came to the mound of hot stone. He got to the mountaintop, and there was a rope. Terrawin took one end of the rope and tied it to one of the rocks. The other he tied to a stone and threw it down. At the bottom was a platform. All around the platform was boiling hot lava, and in the lava was the ruby on top of a pile of weird red rocks.

The Legend of Terrawin X

2011-01-26T12:09:00.000-08:00

"The other two were taken from me, one from the lizards and the other from the flying fish," said Princess Rose. "Please go and get them for me. Oh, and take this. Show it to the general of Gotha, General Fell." "It will keep them from arresting you," said Princess Rose, handing him a letter. Terrawin took the letter. While he was being chased by the guard, he passed a door that read General Fell, so he went to General Fell. But he wasn't very happy he almost pulled his sword out but Terrawin calmed his wrath. Then he gave him the letter and the general gave him a map and compass and sent him on his way.

Keyboard art

2011-01-25T14:45:00.000-08:00

My mom was writing an e-mail and added a smiley face. When I asked how she did it she googled keyboard art and found this website for me. I copied their owl - this is the one I did:

( \____/ )
/ 0 \ / 0 \
\____v____/
/ : . . : \
\\: : : ://
----"--"----

The Legend of Terrawin IX

2011-01-25T08:46:00.000-08:00

Chapter 9

"My emerald!" the girl gasped. "Th-the emerald the Orks stole from me. I've been looking for it. Oh! I'm sorry. I got carried away and didn't properly introduce myself. I am Rose, Princess of Goatha. What is your name?"

"Terrawin".

"Will you please give me the emerald?" said Princess Rose.

"Yes," said Terrawin and handed her the emerald. She placed it in her crown. And both the crown and the emerald stopped glowing.

The Legend of Terrawin VIII

2011-01-21T07:48:00.000-08:00

Chapter 8

Terrawin said, "Thank you,"and ran toward the castle. When he got there, he had no intention of doing anything... but those guards looked like they needed to be paranoid. So Terrawin slipped past all the guards, and when he got to a place above the guards, he picked up rocks and threw them at unsuspecting guards. After a few hours, one of the guards saw him. Uh-oh. He chased him through the castle. Terrawin took a right through a small crack. He was outside! To his right, was a pedestal and on the pedestal was a girl. When Terrawin was on his feet, he saw the girls crown glowing. Enill started crying, and then Terrawin gave a big, "Yeeeeeeeeelp! Hot!" and grabbed Enill out of his backpack. Then he grabbed the Ork king's axe. At the bottom was a glowing emerald.

The Legend of Terrawin VII

2011-01-20T07:44:00.000-08:00

Chapter 7

After dragging the mayor out, the mayor said, "There is a castle a few miles from here to the west." So Terrawin set off for the castle. When Terrawin got there, he was amazed; and when I say amazed, I mean he was amazed. It's so big, thougt Terrawin as he went in. He was getting really hungry, so he looked for something to eat. As he looked for food, he heard a man say, " Come and get it! Come and get food for half price!" He ran over and bought some. He asked the man where he was. The man said "Well, you're in Gotha!" Terrawin asked, "Where's your mayor?" The man replied "There's no mayor here, but there is the king and his daughter." Terrawin asked, "Where do they live?" "Right over there," said the man, pointing at a castle.

The Legend of Terrawin VI

2011-01-19T06:27:00.000-08:00

Chapter 6

When Terrawin got to the mayor, the Orks were getting ready to boil him! As they put him in the pot, one of the Orks said,"He's to fat." Another one said,"Oh well, I guess that's history. Why don't we burn him?" " Uh, I think we should ask the king," said the general. He went into the forest and the Orks with him. Terrawin jumped down and untied the mayor. Then the mayor began running toward his house, but Terrawin grabbed him and dragged him out of the forest.

The Legend of Terrawin V

2011-01-18T17:53:00.000-08:00

Chapter 5

"Now I can help the mayor," said Terrawin. As he went into the forest, he heard a crack, and whipped around to find the Ork king standing right behind him! "I'm not afraid to fight you," said Terrawin, feeling quite afraid. "Ahr, ahr, ahr, you're not scared? Well you should be! " said the Ork king. He pulled out an axe and so did Terrawin. They fought for hours and hours. Terrawin finally killed him. He took his axe and then set off for the mayor.

The Legend of Terrawin IV

2011-01-17T10:38:00.000-08:00

Chapter 4

As the king stepped out, the Orks made a line for him to walk through. At the end of the line there was a tent. The king stepped in. On the tent it said Ork General. Terrawin heard the general say, "My lord, we draw near to the mayor." The king said, "Kill him." The general stepped out, " WE SHALL KILL HIM! " He jumped down and ran into the forest and all of the Orks with him. But the king did not. Terrawin climbed down the tree, ran over to the generals tent, grabbed a stick from the fire, and lit the tent on fire.

The Legend of Terrawin III

2011-01-14T06:29:00.000-08:00

Chapter 3

In the land of Gotha, the thick forest trees intertwined. Terrawin climbed up a tree and crawled across the thick branches from tree to tree over to the Orks camp. As he was crawling, he looked down, and there was his axe! He climbed down and took the axe. Then once again, he climbed across the trees to stay hidden. As he got to the camp, he peered through the branches, and was just in time to see their king step out of his tent.

Children of the Heav'nly Father arrangement

2011-01-13T06:24:00.000-08:00

Children of the heav’nly Father
Safely in His bosom gather;
Nestling bird nor star in Heaven
Such a refuge e’er was given.

God His own doth tend and nourish;
In His holy courts they flourish;
From all evil things He spares them;
In His mighty arms He bears them.

Neither life nor death shall ever
From the Lord His children sever;
Unto them His grace He showeth,
And their sorrows all He knoweth.

Though He giveth or He taketh,
God His children ne’er forsaketh;
His the loving purpose solely
To preserve them pure and holy.

I have a children's choir at church. Our choir director's husband had a new choral arrangement commissioned in her honor. We are working on this song for it's world premiere on January 23.

The Legend of Terrawin II

2011-01-13T03:19:00.000-08:00

Chapter 2 "I'm--I'm all alone. No one to help me. No one to love me," said Terrawin in a deep deep sob. Then he heard a rustle of leaves. "Woof, waaaa, meowww!" went the leaves. Then in the clearing, was his cat and dog holding Enill. Terrawin was so happy he ran over and gave them a huge hug. Then he herd the Orks and a rage as hot as fire rose over his face.

Princess

2011-01-12T17:46:00.001-08:00

I drew this for my sisters, Anna and Rose.

Colors

2011-01-12T17:45:00.001-08:00

The Legend of Terrawin I

2011-01-12T16:29:00.000-08:00

Chapter 1

Terrawin is 10 year old boy. He has a dog, a cat, and a baby brother named Enill. Our story begins while Terrawin is chopping down firewood for his home. When he came home, he was terrified to find his house burning and covered in these wild men from the tribe of Ork. He stayed there watching the house burn down with his brother inside.

Snow

2011-01-10T10:17:00.000-08:00

Today we got a foot of snow.The girls took root beer and snow and mixed them together AND MADE A SLUSHIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New and Improved Link

2010-12-09T07:09:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas

2010-12-07T16:41:00.000-08:00

A Visit from Saint Nicholas
by Clement Clarke Moore

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

I'm back

2010-02-12T15:47:00.000-08:00

Hi, I'm back. It's been six months since I last posted anything.

Link

2010-02-12T15:36:00.001-08:00

A Prairie Dog for President

2008-05-02T19:06:00.001-07:00

Lewis and Clark: A Prairie Dog for the President is a true story, hilarious, and your kids will love it. Order it at your local library. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

Purple People Eater

2008-03-21T10:02:00.001-07:00

Purple People Eater
by Sheb Wooley

Well I saw the thing comin' out of the sky
It had the one long horn, one big eye.
I commenced to shakin' and I said "ooh-eee"
It looks like a purple people eater to me.

It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater.
(one-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater)
A one-eyed one-horned, flyin' puple people eater
Sure looks stange to me. (one eye?)

Well he came down to earth and lit in a tree
I said Mr. Purple People Eater don't eat me
I heard him say in a voice so gruff
I wouldn't eat you cuz you're so tough

It was a one-eyed, one-horned flyin' purple people eater
one-eyed, one-horned flyin' purple people eater
one-eyed, one-horned flyin' purple people eater
Sure looks strange to me. (one horn?)

I said Mr. Purple People Eater, what's your line
He said it's eatin' purple people and it sure is fine
But that's not the reason that I came to land
I wanna get a job in a rock and roll band

Well bless my soul, rock and roll, flying purple
people eater. Pidgeon-toed, undergrowed, flyin'
purple people eater (we wear short shorts)
Flyin' purple people eater
sure looks strange to me.

And then he swung from the tree and lit on the
ground. He started to rock, really rockin' around
It was a crazy little ditty with a swingin' tune
(sing aboop boop aboopa lopa lum bam boom)

Well, bless my soul, rock and roll
flyin' purple people eater.
Pigeon-toed, undergrowed, flyin' purple peopleeater.
Flyin' little people eater
Sure looks strange to me. (purple people?)

And then he went on his way, and then what do
you know. I saw him last night on a TV show.
He was blowing it out, a'really knockin' em dead
Playin' rock and roll music through the horn in
his head.

Pilgrim's Progress

2008-03-21T09:57:00.000-07:00

This is Christian and his friends.

Color Twister

2008-03-21T09:54:00.001-07:00

Brown, purple, dark green, light green. All the colors of things are beautiful.

A dwarf

2008-03-21T09:50:00.000-07:00

Say nothing.

King Under the Mountain

2008-03-21T09:44:00.001-07:00

The King Under the Mountain was the king of the Dwarves. His name is Thorin Oakenshield.

Gandalf

2008-03-21T09:35:00.000-07:00

Gandalf is a wizard. He can make the sun go up and down. He can make it day and night. He can disappear. He can go through time. He's my favorite.

He's my dad's favorite, too.

Bilbo Baggins

2008-03-21T09:29:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Bilbo. He fought Smaug. Smaug is a dragon.

Another dragon

2008-03-21T09:26:00.000-07:00

You see the guy on the right? He's got fire on his bottom, just like Bilbo.

Dragon

2008-03-21T08:34:00.000-07:00