A Good Reward

Natalie Hagel

January 20, 2012

            

         Once upon a time there was a massive, ferocious golden lion. Because it was a very hot day in the jungle, he decided to take a long peaceful catnap. All of the sudden out of nowhere a little fuzzy brown mouse with a pink nose came and scampered up his super colossal back and down his flat nose which made the honorable lion angry. He caught the poor mouse by her tail and the wildly frightened mouse squeaked, “Please forgive me for I am too small to eat and I will truly try to help you in the future if you don’t gobble me up.” The lion delightfully laughed and took pity on the frightened mouse and exclaimed, “Well, you wouldn’t even be a mouthful.” So the lion let the joyful mouse go.

            One day the lion quickly got trapped and tangled in a thick rope set by skilled hunters. The lion roared madly with anger. The mouse heard the frightened lion and raced to where he was roaring. She warned, “Stop! Stop! You can’t roar or the hunters will assuredly come and they will kill you.” With her sharp little teeth she quickly nibbled the rope to pieces. When she was done she bashfully smiled. The lion purred, “Now I know weak ones can absolutely help strong ones.”

The Boy Who Loved Bananas

Macy Joi Hagel

January 20, 2012

The Boy Who Loved Bananas

            Once upon a time in a tropical jungle in Africa there was a friendly boy named Nasi. He was mostly black with brown hair and had a gentle and kind nature. The only clothing he wore was a scratchy goat-skin cloth that started at the waist and hung loosely above his knees. He dwelt cheerfully in his village, but Nasi just couldn’t stop eating bananas. Bananas were a special treat to everybody in the village to hungrily munch on. Nasi started stealing greedily when he was only three years old; it was a very bad habit now. Villagers would remark to Nasi, “No bananas today,” but he would gobble ten after that phrase.

            One day somebody finally stopped him. It was a sunny and unusually boiling hot day. Nasi strolled secretly to the banana patch to pick a snack from the shady trees. All of the sudden there was a rustling in the bushes nearby. As he stared, his sister speedily popped out of the bushes, a stern look on her childish face. He hung his head guiltily. His sister strictly advised, “You should not steal, for it hurts others that they do not get any bananas.” Nasi sighed sadly. He recognized that the villagers were notably grieved that they didn’t get any. He sighed again, and then mournfully trudged back to the village, his head hung sadly. Someone had evidently stopped him after all.

Moral: Even when you refuse to stop doing bad, someone will stop you in the end.

Paper Wreath Mirror

I have wanted a sun-burst mirror for several years. Lately I have seen several 'home made' designs that were really clever, but not quite right for us. I also have been seeing paper crafts from old books. Last summer I picked up several old falling apart books just to have on hand for crafts. Anthropologie had a stunning display several years ago in their store in the Pearl (Portland) and ever since I have wanted to replicate in my home. Enter this amazing German book from 1946. Not that old, but it has had some serious wear. My German isn't good (das haus is brun is about as good as it gets) but this is clearly a Christian book. The font is Old English and very difficult to read. There was a lot of underlining and notes in the book, super cool. Jon is German (Hagel = Hail) and I thought it would be cool to use this, a Christian book with Jon's heritage as a focal point in our home (We also have the Hagel family bible in German, which is so beautiful). I started seeing paper wreaths and loved how simple they are, and so unique. Dad advised me on where to get my circle mirror and even bought it for me, Thanks, Dad! 

So now just need to put my mirror in the middle, and viola, new centerpiece. Cost: about 50 cents. (Dad treated me to the mirror- Thanks, Dad!

Christmas Cheer

We had an early snow, and this cute little snowman was happily made by the kids.  

The girls made wreaths this year. We got wreath frames from the dollar store and the rest from the local thrift store. This is Macy's wreath. I love the vintage tinsel. 

This is Lindsey's wreath. So sweet! 

Natalie's wreath turned out beautifully, too! She gave it to my mom, and it went wonderfully with her decor. 

The kids' gingerbread men.

Christmas Morning! We had to wake them up early to make it to church on time.