Saturday, April 30, 2005

Jane Austen

Jane Austen is simply amazing. I love reading her. I've recently been reading Northanger Abbey, which is one of the last of her books that I haven't read. The main girls love to read novels. I feel a kinship with them, not surprisingly! Here's a couple of quotes from the book:
"Provided that nothing like useful knowledge could be gained from them, provided they were all story and no reflection, she had never any objection to books at all."
"Miss Morland, no one can think more highly of the understanding of women than I do. In my opinion, nature has given them so much, that they never find it necessary to use more than half."
"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good book, must be intolerably stupid."

She's so witty. She was not afraid to poke fun at her society. I just love it!

Okay, enough talking about books. On to real life...

Monday, April 25, 2005


This is a guy playing basketball. Isn't it a cool picture? Posted by Hello

Then we play. Ben loves foosball! He's pretty good at it. :) Posted by Hello

There's always a few readings and poems. Original and not. Posted by Hello

This is a Chinese instrument. They played and taught us a Chinese worship song. Posted by Hello

Then we have a variety show. There's always a lot of different things. This was alligator wrestling. You have to stay on your hands and feet. When your knees touch the ground, you lose. (The two wrestling are brothers who grew up doing this!) Posted by Hello

At these retreats, first we listen to the speaker. This retreat's speaker was Dr. Steve Long from a seminary in Chicago. Posted by Hello

Church Retreat

Every spring and fall our church has a reatreat. The spring retreat was last weekend.

Tuesday, April 19, 2005


We got to meet Grampa's cousins that live near us in KC. We're going to go to the Landers' family farm for Memorial Day! Posted by Hello

My dad got to come home. It's always fun to sit around and talk with family. Posted by Hello

This is all but two of the great grandchildren.  Posted by Hello

Last Saturday, we had a party for my Grampa Sides 80th birthday. Lots of family showed up. It was great fun! Posted by Hello

Monday, April 11, 2005


Easter with Ben's family. This is the first time in many years that a picture has been taken with everyone. It's hard to get 26 people together and to stand still! It was fun. Posted by Hello

Friday, April 08, 2005


We took a picnic the first nice day of spring. This is in front of the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. I love it! ~Melodie Posted by Hello

House Hunting

So we're going to look at houses on Saturday. Suddenly I feel very grown up...
~Melodie