My Turn

By Rebekah Aardsma

At some point in the week, Rachel inevitably comes to me asking: "Beka, what am I going to write about in the next Weekly?"
This week, I happened to be peeling potatoes when she came with the fateful question. I grabbed another potato and replied helpfully,
"Well, why don't you write about what we did this week?"
Rachel sighed heavily. Leaning against the counter she said,
"But nothing interesting has happened. I don't want to write another general article. That's boring."
I sliced through another potato and began to chop it into pieces.
"Well," I said again, racking my brain for an interesting idea. "Why don't you write about what it is like to have lots of siblings?"
Rachel thought for a minute.
"No," she finally replied. "That would be lots of work, and I don't have time to write it before Sunday."
"Well," I said for the third time, getting desperate. "I could write an article."
Rachel was instantly enthusiastic.
"What a great idea! It would give a whole different perspective, and everybody would love to read it. Besides," she added, laughing. "I won't have to come up with an article idea!"
I laughed, and spent the rest of the morning trying to come up with an idea for this article as I fried pork chops to go along with my potatoes.

Hi! My name is Rebekah, but all my family calls me 'Beka. I am 15, and Rachel's older sister by two years and two months.

Rebekah Jean, on Thanksgiving 2007. Photo by me.

Some of you probably have wondered, "What is Rachel really like?" Since I get to write this article, I will tell you. (I haven't told Rachel about this yet.)
I guess the primary thing about Rachel is that she is almost always talking (to me, mostly)! She loves cats, cooking, writing, taking pictures, and collecting books by Louisa May Alcott. She also plays the piano a little bit, has begun learning to play the clarinet, and loves to sing. She is the literary one, and writes short stories, novels, poetry, and the Weekly.

Rachel and I are about as opposite as you can get! We are different in the ways we dress, the types of food we like to eat, how we spend our leisure time, our habits, etc. etc. But hey, it makes for very interesting conversations!

Rachel has just looked over my shoulder and said I should write something about myself, so here goes: I love the outdoors, astronomy, our farm, the peace and quiet of the country, the military, big families, and walking for exercise! I enjoy music, and have taken piano lessons for over six years. I also love cooking for my brothers, especially when they come inside just before lunch and say they are going to starve, ask how long it is until lunch, pretend to faint away, and then fully revive when I tell them to sit at the table, it's time to eat. :)

I mentioned that I love the farm. We have a big garden, but I really enjoy working with the animals. Matthew has rabbits, sheep, cows, pigeons, turkeys, pigs, chickens, and pet birds. I enjoyed bottle-feeding our calves this spring, as well as mothering an orphaned lamb.

I dislike Science and Math. Learning about chemical compounds isn't very interesting when the beautiful fall days are slipping away. I don't like dishwashers, muddy boots on clean floors, muddy dogs that like to sleep on the couch, and waiting for Spring.

Well, I think I have done my duty. Hopefully Rachel won't make too many edits on this! Goodbye. Maybe someday I'll come back and write another article. Perhaps about how hard it is for somebody like me to write an article like this...

The Weekly Bible Verse

Philippians 4:8: Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Bits and Pieces

Can you believe it is actually December already? Christmas is just around the corner, as every store in town loudly proclaims with huge blown-up Santa's and candy-canes in the windows. Presents and secrets are flying thick and fast all around. I have a few large, lumpy packages stowed away myself...

So far all we've done for Christmas is take the boxes of decorations out of storage and start playing a Christmas CD or two. It feels good to sing Christmas carols after so long without them, but I'm already getting tired of them. It seems like I can't turn the radio on anymore without hearing a Christmas song. But as Beka points out, when you have only one month in the year that you can 'legally' play carols, you play 'em.

A Word About The Weather

What a cold, cold week! As I write (on Saturday afternoon) it is raining and freezing outside. Everything is under a slick coat of ice. We have to be careful when going outside for any reason. Our driveway is like a skating rink! We haven't seen much snow yet (about five snowflakes have been spotted, and it was debated whether they really were snow), but as there is plenty of time, we're not worried.

A Word Of Wisdom

There are few things in life as bad as brown rice.