Joke & Riddle Corner #4 - Tongue Twisters

Special Edition ~ Tongue Twisters

Try out these fun (and silly) tongue twisters on your friends and family...

Dick the Duck ducked on the dock.

Dig, Doug the Dog, Dig!

Carl can't quite keep quiet.

Give Bubba the Bug a HUG.

Puck and Chuck are bucks in a truck.

Rose knows NO prose.

And just for the fun of it....

A joke from the editor's sister, Shiloh, age 5...

Q: What did the roasted rooster say to the hen?
A: You're lucky, and I'm not!

Short Story: The Duck that Was a Kitten

On a very special April morning, at a farm in Springfield, Illinois, there were twelve ducklings born. Next to the pond, in the barn, there was also a kitten born. The kitten's mother moved to another farm soon after its birth, leaving the mother duck to take care of the young kitten. Soon the cute, little kitten did everything the ducks did.

One day she tried to eat some corn. It was very strange to the kitten, and it was too hard to crack. Instead of hard corn she drank warm milk the kind farmer offered her. The funny, little thing tried to share it with the ducks, but they did not care for milk, much to the kitten's disappointment. So she pushed her share of the corn to the hungry ducklings, who appreciated this very much.


When the ducks had finished eating, they followed their proud mother into the pond. Seeing the ducklings splash into the pond, the curious kitten thought that looked like fun. So she pattered away on her dainty four paws to the pond. When she put her little paw in the mucky water, she quickly drew it out again. The water was freezing cold! After dipping her paw in time and time again, thinking it might get a little bit warmer, she saw the ducks getting out on the other side. She leaped up to follow them. They all went into the barn to play. They played tag, and enjoyed it very much.

Soon the kitten got very tired and fell into a deep sleep. She woke up with a start and felt herself being carried! Then she saw it was only the kind farmer who had been looking for her for quite some time. He carried her to her bed and gave her some warm milk. Then she crawled over to where the ducks were sleeping and slept next to them.

In the morning she woke before the ducks, and saw something run across the barn. She followed it out the door and she saw that it was a mouse. She crept up to it very quietly. Then she pounced, but it squealed and got away. This woke the ducks. They ran after it, but got very frightened and ran back to their scolding mother.

The kitten caught the mouse and laid it at the mother duck's feet. They all looked at it for a long time. Then the mother put it in a faraway corner. The kitten lived with the ducks for a long time before she realized she was not a duck. Some of the ducks were sold, but most of them stayed at the farm. The farmer kept the kitten, that was now a full grown cat, in the house with him. Sometimes she had kittens, and whenever ducklings were born she was the first to see them.

Thanks to the editor's (former) kitten Chessie, who was the model for the picture :)

Honey Lemonade, Anyone?

Written by Miss Jocelyn, 17

Who doesn’t just love a cold glass of lemonade? Oh I do! I love it. It’s an easy refreshment and very inexpensive. We don’t ever buy lemonade mixes because, well that’s not really lemonade. Instead we use freshly squeezed lemon juice or lemon juice you can buy in bottles. I went to make some today and we didn’t have any sugar, so I decided I would see how lemonade tasted made with honey.

Let me tell you it tasted excellent. The honey and the lemon juice mixed together gave it a rather tangy taste, instead of just sweetening it. At first it was a little different but it definitely tastes better and is healthier for you in regards to having to use sugar.

I saw one time on a cooking show where a lady used honey to make lemonade. She heated up the water and honey in a pan so the honey would dissolve better. Then she let it cool, added the lemon juice and ice before serving. Sounded weird to me at first, but it’s not.

We try to use honey in placement of sugar in everything we make and so far everything has turned out just fine. I’d encourage you to start using honey in recipes than sugar. Not only is it healthier but it does taste better.

Here’s our lemonade mix we concocted:

3/4 to 1 cup of honey
1 cup of lemon juice
5 1/2 cups of water
1 cup of ice

Just pour the lemon juice in a pitcher with the honey and stir until the honey has dissolved. It didn’t glop up too much and was fine after I had stirred it enough. Then add the water and ice afterwards. Enjoy!

Put anything extra in your lemonade? I once heard of putting vanilla and cinnamon in it, heating it up with the water and honey.

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Check out Miss Jocelyn's blog...

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In Watching the Storm

~Journal entry from April 25, 2008~

I stayed up and watched a storm roll in this evening. When I stepped outside, I immediately was caught up in the expectant thrill that trembled in the sweltering air. Lightning lit up the sky to the North, illuminating the night with its flash. Thunder rumbled in the distance; far away it seemed, yet every moment it grew nearer. Like a symphony, the thunderstorm was gathering power, approaching the climax. Wind whipped through the trees, tangling their branches and wrenching them apart once more. The first few drops of rain were hurled upon the earth at the mercy of the ruthless wind. Soon they grew in size and number, and the lightning flashed forebodingly nearer, while the thunder was increased to a drumroll. Loath to go inside, I stayed until the wind threatened to pound the rain mercilessly into my face, though I stood under the eaves. Indoors, the volume was less, but still exciting. As the storm broke in its full force, releasing the storehouses of the clouds and filling the sky with brightness, I thought of the word 'awesome'. Awesome surely best describes this wonder of God's nature, yet how we abuse this word in our culture! Watching this storm gave me a sense of the true meaning, and I was filled with awe at the omnipotence of its Creator.

Turning back to the storm, I fixed my eyes on the heavens and anticipated the delightful shiver brought by each lightning flash. It illuminated a blue, mystical world, hazy and shadowed, with the rain falling in sheets and obscuring familiar landmarks. Hail was mingled with the rain, and added further to the magnificent volume. The thunder continued to rumble, seldom releasing its full potential, but threatening all the same. When it did crack, everything else, wind, rain, and hail, seemed to hush for a moment, intimidated, and then resume louder than before.

Now there is a quiet lull, yet it is just as beautiful. It is as if it was a movement in a symphony, written for effect. Don't we wish our human composers could dream up something even close to being as wonderful! But nothing can equal God as a Master Musician, God as an artist, God as an author. We try and we fail. But, ever gracious, He is always there, revealing His glorious works of art just when we need to see them. And in seeing them, we see Him. For He is ever present in creation, in history, in our lives.

This made me think of some amazing verses from Job. I love that book, it is so encouraging and it makes me feel very small and insignificant. (Which I need sometimes!)

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"Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?
What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?"

"Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunder bolt, to bring rain on the land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man, to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass?"

"Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?
The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen."

"Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood may cover you?
Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go, and say to you, 'Here we are'?

Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind?
Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens, when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick together?"

"Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it."

Excerpts from Job 38.

Amazing, isn't it? That the God who is the Lord of the storm, of the heavens, of the earth, of all creation, all that is seen and all that is invisible; that He should stoop to raise me up with His right hand! That He should consent, should invite me to serve Him, to be His forever! I will never understand. It is altogether beyond my power to comprehend. I can only worship Him with my whole heart, and offer up to Him the only thing which I have to give: myself.

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Check out Grace's blog...

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Apples & Apple Dip - Dippin' With Some Fun

We use this recipe a lot whenever Dad brings home some big juicy apples. It's great if you are going to have a cookout, or having a get-together, or if just want to enjoy a little sweet, but healthy treat with your family. It takes hardly anything to make, and it so good, you'll want to make it again!

The Dippin' Dip

3/4 cup of sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 (8-ounce) package of cream cheese
1/4 cup of chopped nuts (walnuts work best in this)
about a tablespoon of vanilla

Now, if you have let the cream cheese sit out, you can do this with your hand, but if not, you can put it in the electric mixer and do it.

Put the cream cheese in a bowl, and start mashing it with the fork. Or if you are using a mixer, do it on low speed. Next pour the sugar in, one at a time, mixing it well before adding the next. Next you mix the vanilla in. That way it's a little bit softer. Now the last thing is to put the nuts in. Now mix all that up really good, making sure the sugars have not clumped anywhere. There's your apple dip.

I want to let you know something - if you are having a get-together and want this to be a part of the food, and you are making it ahead of time, do not cut the apples too. They will turn brown. It won't hurt if you do, but if you don't have to, make sure they are freshly cut.

Now, time to cut the apples. My favourite way to cut them is with a sharp knife. But if you do this, ask an adult to help you with this. If not, and you have an apple-corer on hand, use that. It will be quick to use it.

Once, you have done this, you are finished! Now, you can place the bowls of apples and apple dip on the table and set out some plates for people to come and get their own. Hope you enjoy this as much as we do. When we make, it doesn't last very long once you get the Littles started!

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Check out Rachel's blogs...
A City on a Hill
The Milk and Honey TeaRoom
Rachel's Reasoning

The Shed

The Shed

By Eliza, age 14 - Featuring artwork by her sister, Kate, age 18

There it stood

Unnoticed by passerbys

Ignored by humankind

A haven from this world

There she stood

A pencil in her hand

A searcher of beauty

Hand aching for grace

There she found it

In that small, neglected shed

A grace like no other

A charm never before

There she waited

Contemplating

Fingers fiddling the pencil in her hand

Oh, how to capture it!

There she sat

One moment sketching

The next unmoving

Always creating

There she stood

A smile on her face

Grace, charm

She had done it

There it stood

Unnoticed by passerbys

Ignored by humankind

A haven from this world

- THE END -