And here is the second part of our writing challenge! I hope this inspires someone to find a few friends and do a writing challenge of their own. 😊 If you email me I can send you a document with all the questions that we used, and you can go from there!

6-Write about somebody who was kind to you today, how they made you feel, and how you can be kind to someone else so they feel the same way.

Mrs. Leah was kind to us when she let us come to her house. She took us to Abide and bought us drinks. She took us to her house and served us supper. She lent Airrihanna a dress for prayer meeting. She made us feel special, cared for, and loved. 

We could make someone feel special, cared for, and loved by inviting them to our house and serving them supper. We could help them with their kids or just show an interest in their lives. We could hold the door for people, smile, and compliment them. Today we will help each other cut a dress. 

~Airrihanna and Abigail

7-If your pet could talk, what would it say? Tell a story from your pet’s point of view.

Hi, my name is Pumpkin. I heard a car, then I saw it. I spooked across the road being blinded by the car’s headlights. Suddenly, I was floundering toward the ditch. I could hardly walk. My right back leg was hurting very badly. Now I’m crippled and have a baby. I was walking up the road toward Peter and NaDean’s. Yay! There are several deer at the feeding station so she must have food out. Oh, no! I can tell by their looks they won’t let me have any. A lady comes out of the house and the deer scatter. Come on Hostah! She has apples for us. Fall comes and I eat Marylin’s pumpkins. In the winter I ate the corn that Rhoda and girls put out. Next spring I had twins…

~by Pumpkin the Dear Deer

( actually Grace and Ava 😊)

8-Write about something you are good at doing–and give us a few tips so we can do it better too!

I am good at making cakes. My favorite recipe is a hot milk sponge cake. I like the vanilla flavor best. My favorite part is frosting and decorating the cake.

One of my tips to decorating a cake is to put a crumb coat on the cake first. This is a thin layer of frosting that keeps crumbs from getting onto the outside layer of frosting and it will help you to have a beautiful cake.

~ Hannah

9-Tell about something you learned this summer.

This summer I learned how to speak in front of a crowd without falling to pieces and stammering and blushing… how I learned? I just did it.

I have always feared public speaking. Even talking in Sunday school feels scary, and when I have to give a public testimony I start getting nervous hours ahead of time.

So when I found out I had agreed to teach a class in front of more than 100 people, I was afraid I was making a mistake. My husband, however, had made it his personal mission to see me though this speaking engagement. So he planned practice sessions for me, in front of real people, and I gave that speech no less than five times before I ever got in front of the crowd. I even gave it into a mic. I stammered over the parts that were hard to share and then practiced saying them again.

And by the time I found myself talking into a mic in front of an auditorium full of people, I knew my speech well, and I was no longer shy about it–it had been critiqued by so many people that it no longer felt personal or sensitive. I gave that speech, and I messed up a few places, but I didn’t freeze, cry, or even stammer very much.

And now? I no longer feel like I will take drastic measures to avoid public speaking in the future. I have learned that I can do it, and I will be okay. I might mess up, but that is okay.

For this I am grateful.

~Alison