I was looking through some writing assignments from highschool the other day. I found this one and wanted to share it. I have so many happy memories of my big brown home in Missouri. Our yard and everything else seemed absolutely gigantic to me. I thought the road, separated by the "woods" in our front yard, must be a whole mile away. We moved away when I was seven to serve the Lord as missionaries. Except for saying goodbye to my kitty Socks, I don't remember being very sad, just very excited. I'm so thankful for memories... I'll always think of my big brown home in Missouri, surrounded by beautiful green oaks, with a happy heart.
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| '96 or '97, Me, Little Brother* & Big Sister (and Sassy under the swing) |
My family’s house is big and brown, surrounded by hundreds of enormous oak trees. Their limbs seem to stretch out like arms, as if giving our home a big hug. It’s a warm, sunshiny day in the spring. The snow has melted and the ground has dried. Leaves have begun to come out of the thousands of branches of the oak trees. Little sprouts of grass stick their pointy heads out of the brown earth, and flowers are just beginning to fill our yard with small spots of color.
I have a big sister and a little brother. We love to play outside together, using our imaginations to entertain ourselves. Under our little patio at the side of our house is our “kitchen.” Our favorite thing to bake is “cookies.” We prepare them by gathering various shapes and sizes of green leaves from around our yard. We carry them by fistfuls in our hands and place them inside our kitchen on the grassy floor. Then we find a mud puddle and, using a stick as a “spoon,” put some “cookie dough” on a “plate,” which is a piece of rough bark from a tree. Now having all of the necessary ingredients for making “cookies,” we proceed to stir the dough on the plate with the spoon until it is smooth. We lay our leaves (molds for the cookies) on another piece of tree-bark, and then spoon some cookie dough onto the molds. The dough spreads and covers the molds nicely. Now the cookies have to harden. While we wait, we run off to entertain ourselves elsewhere.
I have a big sister and a little brother. We love to play outside together, using our imaginations to entertain ourselves. Under our little patio at the side of our house is our “kitchen.” Our favorite thing to bake is “cookies.” We prepare them by gathering various shapes and sizes of green leaves from around our yard. We carry them by fistfuls in our hands and place them inside our kitchen on the grassy floor. Then we find a mud puddle and, using a stick as a “spoon,” put some “cookie dough” on a “plate,” which is a piece of rough bark from a tree. Now having all of the necessary ingredients for making “cookies,” we proceed to stir the dough on the plate with the spoon until it is smooth. We lay our leaves (molds for the cookies) on another piece of tree-bark, and then spoon some cookie dough onto the molds. The dough spreads and covers the molds nicely. Now the cookies have to harden. While we wait, we run off to entertain ourselves elsewhere.
(Note: Once Little Brother actually ATE a "cookie"! Big Sister and I were SO scared. I think we cried. We thought he was going to die from poison! =D)
We race each other across the yard to our mom’s pretty dogwood tree, just beginning to bloom with fragrant blossoms. Little bits of white peek through the green buds sticking up all over the many limbs. Little Brother is too little, so he watches Big Sister and me climb the “tall” tree. Big Sister can climb higher than me; I can only climb to the third branch.
We’re finished playing “monkeys,” so now Big Sister, Little Brother, and I go on a hunt for “lions and tigers” -- our two cats, Sassy and Socks. We run back across the yard and sneak around the side of the house. We creep up the front steps, crouching low, and tiptoe up to the little red wagon where our ferocious kitties slumber peacefully. All at once, we “attack”! We pick them up into our little arms and cuddle them, squeezing them tightly. We carry them over to our porch swing and sit down, swinging back and forth. We scratch their soft, furry heads with our tiny fingers and they purr happily.
We carry our kitties with us back to our kitchen under the patio, checking on our cookies. We tap them with our fingers; they’re not hardened yet. Thinking about food makes our tummies grumble. We drop our kitties to the ground, deciding to go inside and ask Mom for a snack. She gives us each a freezer-pop, then we go back outside to sit on the steps of our front porch and eat our little treat.
We play some more, staying busy all afternoon, and before we know it, it’s time to go inside to eat supper. Big Sister, Little Brother, and I go inside and wash our hands, sit down at the table, close our eyes and thank the Lord for our food. Mom’s home-cooked meal tastes especially good after a long day of hard playing outside in the warm fresh air.
Before we know it, it’s time for bed. We change into our jammies and brush our teeth. Mom tucks us into bed, prays for us to have sweet dreams, and kisses us good-night. We drift off to sleep, dreaming all over again the wonderful day of playing we enjoyed.
* I have no idea why Little Brother was crying in the picture. Judging by my pose, I was probably trying to make him stop. =D
We race each other across the yard to our mom’s pretty dogwood tree, just beginning to bloom with fragrant blossoms. Little bits of white peek through the green buds sticking up all over the many limbs. Little Brother is too little, so he watches Big Sister and me climb the “tall” tree. Big Sister can climb higher than me; I can only climb to the third branch.
We’re finished playing “monkeys,” so now Big Sister, Little Brother, and I go on a hunt for “lions and tigers” -- our two cats, Sassy and Socks. We run back across the yard and sneak around the side of the house. We creep up the front steps, crouching low, and tiptoe up to the little red wagon where our ferocious kitties slumber peacefully. All at once, we “attack”! We pick them up into our little arms and cuddle them, squeezing them tightly. We carry them over to our porch swing and sit down, swinging back and forth. We scratch their soft, furry heads with our tiny fingers and they purr happily.
We carry our kitties with us back to our kitchen under the patio, checking on our cookies. We tap them with our fingers; they’re not hardened yet. Thinking about food makes our tummies grumble. We drop our kitties to the ground, deciding to go inside and ask Mom for a snack. She gives us each a freezer-pop, then we go back outside to sit on the steps of our front porch and eat our little treat.
We play some more, staying busy all afternoon, and before we know it, it’s time to go inside to eat supper. Big Sister, Little Brother, and I go inside and wash our hands, sit down at the table, close our eyes and thank the Lord for our food. Mom’s home-cooked meal tastes especially good after a long day of hard playing outside in the warm fresh air.
Before we know it, it’s time for bed. We change into our jammies and brush our teeth. Mom tucks us into bed, prays for us to have sweet dreams, and kisses us good-night. We drift off to sleep, dreaming all over again the wonderful day of playing we enjoyed.
* I have no idea why Little Brother was crying in the picture. Judging by my pose, I was probably trying to make him stop. =D
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