One thing I saw in the book Unspoken by Francine Rivers is greed.

When Bathsheba is a little girl, she dreams about King David.  She knows that she wants more than anything to marry him, even though he has married many others already.  She can’t think of anything else.  But when she is married to King David’s best friend, Uriah, the problems start...  David finally sees what a beautiful woman Bathsheba has grown into, and wants her.  But now she is married to Uriah.  He is not allowed to have her.  Meanwhile, David’s messengers are coming back, and they are not happy.  A surrounding king shamed them in front of his entire court.  David declares war, but instead of going into battle with his troops, he decides to stay home.  And now it is time for Bathsheba to take her yearly purifying bath.  She starts bathing on her roof, and David, who is bored, happens to walk out onto his balcony at the same time.  He sees Bathsheba naked, and wants her more than ever.  She has never lost her love for him.  He is filled with lust.  So David calls Bathsheba to his court and they commit adultery.  When it is found that Bathsheba is pregnant, David will go to all costs to cover up their sin- and to protect Bathsheba, who is blamed with it.

One thing I saw in the book Unspoken by Francine Rivers is greed.

 Edward Longshanks ruled from 1272 to 1307.  He was born at Westminster in June 1239.  He married Eleanor of Castile.  He appointed a man named John Balliol to help rule over Scotland, but later, John Balliol rebelled against Edward in an attempt to gain all rule.  Edward defeated Balliol, but that did not stop the people of Scotland-  they hated Edward, and often rebelled against him because of his harsh punishments and evil ways of rule.  One day, Edward got very angry, and he ordered a cage to be built—once the cage was done, he locket the captured Countess of Buchan inside, as well as Robert the Bruce’s daughters- one of them was only 11/12 years old!  The daughters were held as ransom against Robert the Bruce.  Edward was, even after all this cruelty, still a strong ruler and was considered as one of the best and most successful monarchs of England.   Accomplishments in both war and law earned him the nickname ‘English Justinian.’  He was a both dangerous and clever man, and he continued to fight for more land.  He didn’t want to choose sides in the Baron war, but when his father was captured he gave his allegiance to Henry.

Think of a real life situation in which success or failure has depended upon the performance of a single person.  What goes through that person’s mind at a moment like that???

I would say that it depends on what the person is like.  If they are arrogant, and they are so prideful that they ‘know’ that they are going to succeed, then I would think that they would not be worried at all.  But if they are not that prideful and sure, I would think that they would be worrying their heads off.  They would be thinking, what if I don’t make it?  What if I fail?  Everyone will be mad at me, yelling at me!!!  What do I do???  Everyone’s hope is on ME now!!!  I hope I make it!!! But what if I don’t…. On and on like that!!!  It would be crazy!!! And if they make it, they would be so happy, but if they don’t, they would be so upset!!!  I hope everyone can come out of that tight spot a little wiser, though.

  A little happier, a little sadder, a little older, a little younger, and a little bit wiser.

Should we expect professional athletes to be role models, or should we judge them only on their athletic performance?

I say neither.  We should judge people by the content of their character, NOT because of their athletic performance.  I think you should look up to them as a role model ONLY if they are a good person, if not, then DON’T.

Prejudice can be found anywhere, from the most unlikely places to the likeliest places, from school, to a new park!  One thing we all know, though, is this: prejudice hurts people.  In the story we read, The Scholarship Jacket, Martha had earned the ‘scholarship jacket’ because she got the highest grades for 8 years.  The principle wanted to give the jacket to someone else, though, because her father was a very influential and important person in the economy, and to the school.  (-SPOILER ALERT!!!-) In the end, Marta did get the jacket, (-spoiler alert ended-) still, do you see how that could hurt someone’s feelings?  That is what prejudice does- it hurts feelings, reputations, and in Martha’s case, dreams!  It can affect lots of other things, too.  Don’t do prejudice.  It’s mean.  It usually only leads to trouble.  And it affects other people, NOT in a good way.  Do what is right, and fair, and don’t let power or money or anything else get in the way. 

My goals are these:

·      I want to get better at Language Arts (nouns, verbs, adverbs, etc.) and take ALL of the practice quizzes.

·      I want to get closer to God.

·      I want to be nice to EVERYONE, ALL THE TIME, EVERYWHERE.

I am going to study LA each week with mom, (especially the nouns, verbs, adverbs, etc.) and I am going to remind myself each week- TAKE THE PRACTICE QUIZ!!! (And actually take it!!!)  I am also going to read the Bible, asking my mom questions about the things I don’t understand, and listening to what she says.  I am also going to try to only thing POSITIVE thoughts, only the good things about each person I encounter… I will try to be happy all the time, nice to everyone, and not annoying.  I will try to help out.

I am going to try to meet these goals by:

·      The end of the school year (LA)

·      January 1, 2013 (Closer to God)

·      July 4, 2013 (Nice)

I hope I achieve these goals, and I hope that you achieve yours!!!  

Catrina woke up both scared and excited for her first day of Kindergarten.  Her mom walked into her room and said, “Hey honey, time for your first day of Kindergarten.”  “Okay, mommy,” said Catrina.  As she got dressed she thought about what would happen on the first day of school.  Her mind was racing about the different things that could happen on her first day of school: She could be bullied, the kids could be mean, all these bad things could happen.  She thought about these things when she was ravenously eating her favorite cereal, Frosted Flakes.  The only thing that snapped her out of her trance was when the car roared to life.

It was a humid day outside, Catrina noticed, as she stepped out of the car.  Her mom squeezed her hand tightly and walked her through the front door.  She walked through the door and every feeling of nervousness diminished. Everywhere was filled with toys and other fun activities. She heard some boys yelling, “Bakugan Brawl!”  She walked around and then looked back to wave goodbye to her mother with a big smile on her face. She turned back around and she was facing a little boy with black hair and blue eyes. He was playing with the blocks and was looking at her. She smiled and in a casual gesture waved at the little boy with a slash of brown freckles across his nose. He smiled and motioned her to come over.

After a couple minutes of playing, the teacher swiveled in her chair, stood up and said, “Everybody, come gather round”. Catrina left her and the boys tower so they could return to it.  Then the teacher declared, “My name is Mrs. Ingrid and I will be your new teacher.” She had a loud yet affectionate.  As she turned everyone had stifle a laugh because she had splendid hot pink bun of hair behind her head. She wrote her name in the board and said “ I have a surprise for you, I brought cupcakes.” They are on the back table.” At this the children stampede to the table, putting the block tower in jeopardy. The boy appeared by the girl side and accompanied her to the table with cupcakes. As they got there Catrina say vanilla cupcakes. Then the boy said, “Cupcakes don’t really appeal to me.” “What, you don’t like cupcakes?” another boy said. “Nope, the boy said.”   The other boy sneered.  “That’s weird, you’re a weirdo.” The boy said, laughing, and started persecuting the boy. “Let’s go.” Catrina said, as they transferred to another table.   Then the teacher said, “Okay, boys and girls, do you know what segregate means?”  The boy that Catrina had met raised his hand.  “Yes?”  The teacher said.  “It means to separate or divide.” “ Correct!” the teacher said.   Then the bell rang, and the teacher said, “Okay, time to go!”  Catrina’s mom got there, and so did the boys. “ Bye” the boy said “Bye” Catrina said. All of a sudden she remembered- “Wait, what is you name?” “Chase,” he replied “What’s yours?” “Catrina.” He smiled and left. So Catrina got in the car, and when her parents asked what happened today, Catrina replied, “after all the pomp and ceremony, Im just happy to have made a friend.”

And Catrina’s friendship with that little boy was perpetual.

THE END.

The story I learned my lesson from the book The Poisonous Yuck Bugs.  In this story, there were two bugs called ‘Yuck Bugs’, one blue with red spots and the other red with blue spots.  These yuck bugs would call other animals mean things, like to the giraffe: “You stink!” or to the turtle: “Looking bad, today, slowpoke!”  These hurtful words would make the other animals sick, their faces turned green at the sound.  Every animal in the forest stayed away from the yuck bugs, nobody wanted to be with animals who shout poisonous words at you all of the time.  But one day when the yuck bugs were eating their lunch of a leaf, the blue one ripped it, and the red one got MAD.  He started shouting yuck-words at the blue one, and the poison worked it’s trick- the blue one felt sick.  The animals in the jungle had a book of rules, and one of the rules was this:  No Yuck Bugs Shall Use Yuck Words On Other Yuck Bugs.  The red one had just broken this rule and he felt sorry, but the blue one was not forgiving- he was both sick, and MAD.  He started using yuck-words on the red one, and this kept on going on until they were both nearly dead with the yuck-word poison!  But then- just their luck- this butterfly came along (she was a healing butterfly) she rested on their tree-of-a-home and she looked down.  She say the yuck bugs and started saying nice things about them-  that is basically the ‘antidote’ to the yuck words- and the poison started healing, the yuck bugs got up, and they apologized to each other, they thanked the butterfly, she flew away, and from then until now they never say mean yuck words- they say nice words.  To the giraffe: “Spots are the new ‘cool’!” or to the turtle: “Looking good!”   They all lived happily ever after.  I learned from this that you should NEVER say mean things and that you should always be nice and kind and loving.  Because mean words are like yuck words- they have a poison of their own.  

If my name could be anything, it would be…

If my name could be anything, it would be Taylor.  I was almost named Taylor.  I would also change my last name to a shorter name, but I do not know what that would be.  Taylor means Tailor. I am a very good singer and designer/artist.  A tailor is an artsy person.  The arts are: music, drama, and craftsmanship (at least those are the arts that I know).   My family says that I am good at all those things.  The music part: I sing, and I won the music award at 5^th grade graduation.  The drama part: I do skits, and I am very dramatic. Art part: I am a great drawer and I love to design things, especially clothing.   So if my name could be anything, it would be Taylor.

Chapter 2

I woke with a start. How long had I been sleeping?  I glanced at my watch hopefully.  Good.  It is only 10:56. Wait a minute… 10:56!?!?  I need to go!  I ran down to the plane that had the #17 sign on it.  Okay… I am here. I am not late.  I am still on time for going to my dad’s house.  I showed the lady my ticket.  She scanned it, not taking a glance at me. Typical.  I got onto the plane, and turned my phone to ‘airplane mode.’  Then, I put my seatbelt on, and, just as the pilot was saying, “Welcome aboard! I hope you enjoy your flight to….” I zonked.  I would find out later that this put the whole story into motion.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The next morning, when I woke, I got up, got dressed, and started to walk over to the Military Sign-Up.  There was a long line once I got there. Lots of people are determined to help out in the war. But none are as determined as I am.  I will not only fight, but I will become a general, and I will not die, so I will come home and be given a medal, and the US will have been put into it’s right place.  And my mom will make biscotti.  When I got up to the place where you actually sign up, I heard the sound of a copy machine. That is weird- I don’t know anyone in Greece who can afford one of those.  Maybe these people are French.  Then the guy at the desk said, “Vwell, are vou going to zign up, or not?”  “Of course I am!” I replied, ticked off.  “Vwell do it then!” he said sarcastically.  I grabbed the pen he was playing with, and scribbled my name on the list:

Nico Chaconas

There. Now my name is on the list, and there is a chance I will go to war.  I hope I do.  I would fight for my country until I died.

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When I woke up, I checked my phone. No messages, no texts.  Then I heard the pilot overhead:  We will arrive in Greece in approximately 14 minutes.  Greece?  I thought, I thought this plane was going to Los Angeles!  Oh no……  If this plane is not headed to Los Angeles, and I am headed to Greece………  I thought back to the newspaper I was reading earlier:

With France: Greece, Ireland, UK, and Mexico.

With US: Italy, Brazil, and Iran.

That means I am headed right smack into enemy territory.  And I am American.