Fiji Trip / City 1 - Lautoka (3 days)

       First, if you were wondering why I didn't post for quite a while was because....well..... just keep reading.....
       Bula (Aloha/Hola/Hello in Fijian)! For two weeks, my pastor, his WHOLE family, and some other members of our church went to the island of Viti Levu, Fiji for a mission trip (there were 15 of us all together). But like my pastor says "A missionary is not one who crosses the sea, but one who sees the cross!" The theme of our trip was 'True Worship.' We stayed  in three cities: 1)Lautoka, 2)Navola, and the capital of Fiji - 3)Suva.
       In Lautoka, for three days, we stayed in one of  the Youth With A Mission aka YWAM bases. And right when our team (from now on out, I'm going to call our team.... Team HI *Hawaii*) got there, I could tell why the Fijians are called the friendliest people in the world. Everyone was laughing, hugging, smiling, and just being joyful! :)
       That first day, and every-other day in Fiji, we had about 2 worship seminars EVERY DAY! But you know what? It was worth it. Changing the fate and the hearts of a nation was one of the greatest things I could help with! So, the first night. When we got to the seminar, all of the Fijian teens came over to us and introduced themselves. After that, we hung out every day that we were in Lautoka. We played rugby and Volleyball, we danced and ate Fijian tea while drinking Fijian tea...Wait.....SEMINAR. The first thing we did was of course-worship. But as followers of Christ, we didn't worship anyone other than God, because HE is The One and The Only, The True Living God! During our time in Fiji, I learned not to just let my 'cup' brim to the top, but overflow with love for God and Jesus Christ! Pastor Qalo shared about God's love and being in His presence. This seminar went on for two more days.
       During the afternoons when we weren't at the seminar, we would go in to the streets and the villages. One day, us girlies went to a home for single mothers and their children. All the girls from Team HI spoke, and I believe that this was the first time I spoke from the Holy Spirit. We talked to them about what God was doing in us in Fiji. I was very touched when the moms were telling us their stories and their lives. We prayed for them and just hung out together. A very peaceful day!
       New things we learned in Lautoka, Fiji-

• Food
• Fijian Tea- YUMMM!!
• Fijian Bread
• Indian Curry and Roti (like a tortilla)
• High population and influences of Indians in Fiji
• Very rich, creamy ice cream, which was stored in a cardboard box. 
• Language
• Bula - Hello
• Tulou (pronounced choolow)- Excuse me. Used when trying to get passed someone
• Vinaka Vaka Levu - Thank you very much
• shortened= Vinaka - Thanks
• Lailai - little
• Levu - much/big 
• Fijian Culture
• It is rude to stick out your feet, like when you are sitting down. 
• It is disrespectful and very VERY RUDE to touch a Fijian's head
• They drive on the left side of the road, and the driving wheel is on the left side of the car.
• Fijian drivers DO NOT stop if you would like to cross the road. Not law, but just what they do.

Well, I shall blog the rest of my Fiji days in the next couple days. Thanks for taking the time to read all the way until here! You guys are AWESOME!

The Fiji national rugby union team is one of the best in the world!!

Happy Thanksgiving/Turkey Day!!!!

Hey everyone!  I just wanted to tell you how THANKFUL I am that you guys read my blog! You all are so awesome! Here are some other things I am THANKFUL  for:

1. I am THANKFUL for loving, supportive parents.
2. I am THANKFUL for caring siblings that keep me accountable.
3. I am THANKFUL for  a loyal pet.
4. I am THANKFUL for a house over my head.
5. I am THANKFUL for food in the fridge.
6. I am THANKFUL for clothing on my back.
7. I am THANKFUL for encouraging friends.
8. I am THANKFUL for our freedoms in America
9. I am THANKFUL for Turkey, green bean casserole, sweet potato spoon pudding, and all those other yummy Thanksgiving foods! :)
10. I am THANKFUL for an education.
11. I am THANKFUL for clean water.
12. I am THANKFUL for  books, books, books, and more books!
13. I am THANKFUL  for our merciful creator- God! 
14. I am THANKFUL  for Jesus, who washed away my sins!

The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted three days. The heaviest turkey ever raised was 86 pounds, about the size of a large dog.

How Long Has It Been?

        No, I'm serious, how long has it been since I last blogged? September? Wooowwww...... I am terribly, super-dee-duper, really, really, really( and 1,000 more reallys) sorry for not blogging sooner! My meeshpatakh (hebrew for family) has been really asook (hebrew for busy) with school ond other stuffs.
        Can you tell I took a Hebrew class? My teacher and her son are aWeSoMe teachers! I learned soooo much from them. :)  The Old Testament (1st section of God's Holy Bible) was written in Hebrew.
        My church is having a missions trip to FIJI and thing #1 and myself are going to be leaving in less than a week! I am very excited. Why?!? I am going to help change a nation!! I just learned that my family is also teeny tiny Fijian and Tongan on my mother's side. Cool, huh?
         What I didn't blog-

• My BIRTHDAY!!!! I am ** years YOUNG!
• In the last speech tournament, I took 3rd place in my Dramatic Interpretation!! Yipee!!
• Our volleyball season came to a close. I hope our coach decides to do this again next year!
• School started up again. 
• In our co-op we have started writing the script for our play.

Well, I hope I haven't bored you to death and that you are not reading anymore.  Well if you are still reading, kudos to you and hope I post something again sooner than a month! ;)

If you had enough water to fill one million goldfish bowls, you could fill an entire stadium.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Originally from: Jamie Cooks It Up

       These scrumptious delightful cookies may look like brownies, but they are ABSOLUTELY and MOST DEFINITELY C-O-O-K-I-E-S!!! This is an easy dessert to make and bring to a large/small potluck dinner. I love using this recipe and other people love eating them!

Ingredients:

• 12 TBSP of butter or 1 1/2 sticks (melted)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk (make sure that it is a different egg than the above ingredient)
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 1/8 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I made this recipe less sweeter than the original)

Procedure:

1. Preheat at 325°
2. Melt your butter in the microwave and put into kitchen aid
3. Add the brown sugar, white sugar, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla to the butter and mix well (make sure that the dough does not turn out too liquidized)
4. In a separate bowl combine the other dry ingredients
5. Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until combined
6. Fold in chocolate chips
7. Line a 9x13 pan with foil and spray with cooking spray (when doubling, use 2 pans or a LARGE)
8. Press cookie dough into the pan with foil
9. Bake at 325° for 24-28 minutes
10. Cool pan on wire rack and pull out foiled cookies onto cutting board
11. Cut cookies and eat!  Enjoy! :D

"Barbie Millicent Roberts" is Barbie's full name.

P.S.~ I will update later with pics....sorry for my procrastination!

Y'all come on over. Ya hear me?

         So catch this- last week, we had ELEVEN people at our house!!! So it was pretty noisy. My Dad's brother from the mainland came with his family. They have three kids- a 6 year old, a three year old and a 3 month year old, who is super cute! My Dad's other brother came to the house, too, but his family came later this weekend, and then they stayed at a hotel.

       We had a looooot of food this week. I feel like I put some weight on, maybe like 3 or 4......... Anyway, we went to I believe a total of four buffets this week, and we ate out a lot. I have to go to the gym!

 
The 57 on Heinz ketchup bottles represents the number of varieties of pickles the company once had.

Go Avengers! Go go AVENGERS!

       So for the past two weeks, my brothers and I have been involved in a Volleyball camp, run by Mrs. Tara Qalo. Thing 1 is a group leader, while Thing 3 and I are in the camp. During the camp, we practice our bumping, setting(also called volleying), setting, and playing games as a team. Last Friday, we started playing games. There were the Spartans, the Thunderbolts, the Mustangs/Tigers, and my team, the AVENGERS! Although I am still not sure what we are avenging.......... Our practice was awesome! All of next week's practices are going to be tournaments. 
       Some kids need more practice, but hey, we all need some more practice. Like my revised quote says "Practice= greatness(instead of perfect)." I changed the quote because it was a false statement. No one on earth is perfect; only God is.
       So back on discussion, our practice is early in the morning, which is a blessing, because it is very breezy and cool. I mastered my underhand serving, but I have almost gotten my overhand serves down. I have the height, I just need the length for my volleyballs to go over the net. I have gotten the ball two times over, though. Woo Hoo!
       Volleyball is my favorite sport. I guess it is just from playing for a long time, but I love playing
volleyball. Thank you God for helping me increase my volleyball skills!

The most money ever paid for a cow in an auction was $1.3 million!!

Shark's Cove

       From this post on, I am going to use Uncle John's Bathroom Reader's idea of putting a random fact at the end of every page. Instead of at every page, it is going to be after every post. This is just to help you have non-useless information in your brain. This was proven by my younger brother, who can tells us the most random facts.

       Okay, now on to the real post. Last Tuesday, Mom, Micah, Aidan and I went to Shark's cove with our homeschool co-op.  Now for someone who has not  been to Shark's cove, I will give you some info:

• Location: North Shore, Hawaii
• Correct name: Pupukea Beach Park
• There are no sharks. I PROMISE! This beach is called Shark's cove because the rocks, are sharp and spiky, like shark's teeth
• Bring reef walkers if you want to go there because, and as I said the rocks are sharp and going barefoot HURTS! 
• There are tide pools on the right side of the beach
• The water is deep, about 20 feet at the deepest

The water was remarkably clear and was at an extremely low tide. After a couple jumps from the rocks and into the water, I was not that scared of the water as I usually am. Because most of the time I snorkel, I have to be with someone, and I have to be holding someone's hand the whole time…because I become afraid that there’s a shark underneath ready to chew on my body. Later in the afternoon, my Mom and I went snorkeling,  and I did not have to be close to her or hold her hand. I dove  down considerably deep, and for the first time, I was not afraid. I also know that God helped me with a lot with calming my fears! The fish were beautiful, and I saw a rock fish (scary!), a humuhumunukunukuapua'a (our state fish), and this beautiful fish that was all black with orange spots(if anyone knows the name of this fish, please comment, because I do not know it). Overall, my time at Shark's cove was incredible! We try to go to Shark's cove at least once a month, and every time I go, I am in awe of the beautiful, colorful creations that God had made for us!

President Kennedy was the fastest random speaker in the world with upwards of 350 words per minute.

Happy Birthday M-O-M!!!!

"Happy Birthday to you!  Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to mommy,Happy Birthday to you!"
This is what we sang this morning to my mom, Amanda Wong a.k.a Jeanine. Like most moms, she cooks, drives us to where we need to go, and does all those other things that moms do. But the one thing that I love the most about my mom is that she is a Jesus lover! She praises Him when we recieve blessings and seeks the Lord! My mother is one of my role models. She loves us and comforts us! She shows me the right when I do something wrong. She is my teacher. LITERALLY! We are homeschooled so she is our teacher, while my Dad is my principal.
I LOVE MY MOM!

Movie Review: Battleship (the MOVIE)

            Battleship, the game, has turned into a movie. Ok, I know what you must be thinking. "WHAT??? A game into a movie???Is this even possible??" Well, director Peter Berg thought of a way. This movie was AWESOME!!! The special effects were awesome, especially the aliens from the PlAnEt-G.
            Now you want to know the coolest thing about this movie? Thing 1, Thing 3 and myself were in the movie!!! We were in the scene where the Admiral is giving a speech to the Navy on the Mighty Mo, all the way in the middle back. The only problem is, you could only see Thing 3, in his little speck of blue. That day, we saw Rihanna(singer) and Liam Neeson(Qui Gon Jin from  Star Wars I) ! It was soo cool!!!! We had to play the preview again and pause it right at that scene.
             Peter Burg did an awesome job with this film. He made the connection between the game and the movie! I would give this movie 4 stars!! At first, I didn't think any one could've turned a game into a movie. So if one player is the humans, than the other must player be the aliens. I know one thing for sure, I wouldn't want to be the alien!

A Morning on Wheels

Aloooha! This morning was one of my best!!!! Since about two years ago, I've been really wanting to bike every morning. And guess what???? Today was my first morning bike ride! It felt soo good to just go around the neighborhood, feeling the sun on my face and the wind in my hair- just like everywhere else you go in Hawaii ;). I am super-dee-duper happy that it didn't rain today, because often over the past couple of weeks it has just been POURING cats and dogs!! ........I am also happy because I woke up early to ride my bike and when I came home, no one was up, so I started to do my school. Now, I am done with today's school!!! Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ROYGBIV!?!?!

     Because of Noah's obedience to make the ark for the flood, when the ark landed, God gave Noah a promise. His promise was to never flood the earth again and the sign of His promise was......the rainbow! Now, whenever you see a rainbow, instead of thinking about the leprechaun and his pot of gold at the end, think of God's promise that He has kept over thousands of years. We can see through these rainbows that God keeps his promises!

     When you first saw my title to this post, some of you probably didn't know what it meant. Here's what it means:

• Red
• Orange
• Yellow
• Green
• Blue
• Indigo (a mix of blue and violet)
• Violet (purple)

ROYGBIV is a mnemonic for the colors in a rainbow, in order. Well, now you know what colors are in rainbows and what order they're in. Yeah You! And now you can thank our creative and colorful creator for making these one of a kind masterpieces...RAINBOWS!!!

Speech, Speech, SPEECH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey everybody! Today I started my second Hawaiian Heat Speech Tournament! It was a usual speech tournament......... Right when I arrived to the campus, I had to help set up the student lounge. Oh yeah, just to let y'all know, my mom was in charge of the student lounge area (snacks, tables, tents, etc....); sooooo awesome! After we set up the student lounge area, we had student orientation, which is when we learned about the rules of the new college campus. Then the rounds started! I had my Dramatic Interpretation first and then my impromptu. For my Dramatic Interp, I used to do a Dear America piece, but that didn't have enough dialogue. So my new piece is Just The Way You Are by Max Lucado. For Interpretation pieces, the maximum time is 10 minutes, but my average time is about 8 minutes. Now Impromptu..... Preparation time is 2 minutes, and talking time is 5 minutes, but you can go over talk time. Limited Preparation events (impromptu, apologetics- defense of the christian faith- and extemporaneous- discussion on current events) are very challenging for some people.....INCLUDING ME. You have to think on your feet, AND you only have 2 minutes to think up a whole speech with a hook, introduction, 3 strong points with examples, and a conclusion. It's not as easy as it seems. So today we had to do 2 of each thing that we're doing, so I had to do 2 of Just The Way You Are  and 2 impromptu speeches. The first impromptus were abstractions- words like, red, brick, compassion, window, death, etc... The second were quotes. I was really, really, really embarassed during my quote speech because there were like 10 people watching me do my speech, of only 3 I knew, and I was so nervous when I looked at them that I blanked out in the middle of my speech!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo embarassed!! Well, gtg (got to go)! Wish me good luck tomorrow, wait there's no such thing as luck, so pray for me that I'll not forget my WHOLE speech! ;)

5 boys in the house.....AAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

       Howdy y'all! Okay I know I don't write often so I will make you readers a deal- I will TRY to blog every Thursday.  And I know you might be thinking, "Wait. She said she will blog on Thursdays. Will she be blogging only on Thursdays?"  And the answer is............... No/Yes.  No-I will blog as much as I can, because I want to tell you guys about mwah and J-E-S-U-S, so I want to blog always, but also Yes- I have a LOT of school to do every week so I might not be able to blog every day, and Thursdays are my most free days.  Sooooo from last Saturdays in the house: the older Calderwood boys, Dad, Thing 1, Thing 3, and Scruffy!!!!!  It was so CRAZY!! Now I know what the Calderwood's sister feels like! (P.S- She has 5 brothers and 7 kids altogether!!)There was so much noise in the house and everyone seemed to be running everywhere. It was very LOUD!!!!!!!!
       Friday through Saturday was our first ever Speech Tournament!!!!!!!!!!!!  I was so happy for Micah be cause he made it into the finals in his Extemporaneous and his Dramatic Interpretation(Lone Survivor by Marcus Lutrell)!!!!!!!! He even got 2nd place in extemp!!!!!!!!!!! Woo- Hoo!!!!! Yeah!!!!!!  I did not make it to the finals, but I am ok with that because I know that this is my first tournament and mostly everyone else has been doing this longer than me.  But......... I got high scores on my individual rounds!  Ok, see you later alligators!

ORANGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey everyone! It's meeeeeee again.  Sorry you have to go through meeeee talking again!  Today I am going to talk about............ O-R-A-N-G-E!!!!!!!!!!! Woo Hoo! Yeah Orange!(As you can see I looooove orange;P)  I looooove orange at about 5pm when the sun is starting to go down, and the sky is a mixture of pinks and blues and orange. My family and I think it looks like cotton candy. It looks gorgeous!!!!!!(Also you can see I love using exclamation marks!!!!!!!!)  Also I love orange in a nice, plump, and juicy fruity orange!! Especially when there is condensation on the orange, so it looks very juicy and sweet!  But coming back to orange(the color 8:D), here are 7 reasons why I love orange:

1. Orange is a bright color
2. Orange is a relaxing color
3. Orange is very beautiful in a sunset
4. Orange is very beautiful in an orange
5. Orange helps me calm down when I am too hyper
6. Orange gets me motivated to do things
7. Orange is a unique color like none else!!!!!

What do you like about the color orange?

Welcome, Welcome!

Hey everyone out there! Here is my blog! I made this blog because I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE colors, especially ORANGE, and do so much in my life!  I want to thank my family because they actually helped this blog be here on the web.  After my other blog got shut down( I have no idea why), I thought I was never going to do another blog ever again.  But they encouraged me, and here is this blog!  I also want to thank God for all his blessings in my life, for especially giving me a loving, caring family! Also, for sending his SON (JESUS!!) to die on the cross for our s-i-n, so we can spend eternity with him in heaven!!! Well, I really don't know what else to say, so I will just say this loud, proud, and clear, GOD BLESS!