Christmas Gifts!!

Guess what? I was blessed with a lot of Christmas gifts!

 

 Every Christmas Eve we go downstairs to a party with my grandparents and they give us gifts. I got some winter crocs (I can wear crocs all year long!!!!) and the boots were on Christmas day.

 Lately these years we've been going to our cousins' house (This year my other grandparents' house) on the 29th of December. There we have a Yankee Swap and another gift opening! I got the T-shirt from there, while the sweater was on Christmas Eve.

 You couldn't see what the T-shirt says so here it is. Funny, huh?

 I got some thinking putty from an early gift opening. It changes color depending to the heat.

 Sophie gave me this wallet early, while my grandparents gave the glasses fixing kit a couple days after Christmas.

 I got some Adventures in Odyssey albums. The first two (The Lost Episodes and Daring Deeds, Sinister Schemes) were on Christmas Eve, while I got the third one (Darkness Before Dawn) with a gift card for Morning Star I got on Christmas day.

 And I got this cool Sonic the Hedgehog Roller Racer in my stocking on Christmas day.

 I got an Angry Birds toy (game which includes cards) on the early gift opening, and at my grandparents' house, I got a Star Wars ReColoritz coloring book. (I really hate to say this, but I gave it to my sister, Sophie because I had no interest in it. :P) And on Christmas day, Sophie gave me a Mad Libs book she made.

 At my grandparents' house, I got a random LEGO minifigure. Although I don't know what it is, it's cool.

 On Christmas Eve, I got a $25 ITunes gift card, and at the Yankee Swap, I traded for another gift card that was $15!!! With both gift cards combined, that's a lot of money to buy songs!!!

 And best of all these gifts... A NINTENDO 3DS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had wanted this for years and I even started a savings account (which ended up as a game for the 3DS) to save up for it because I thought my parents couldn't afford it! This is an awesome machine! It is backwards compatible with regular DS games and it even has a camera!!! (which is the camera I have been using for this post!)

 The front (in a mirror)

 And the back (in... you know)

 A couple of days after Christmas, my Grammie gave me this case to go with it

 ...which is where I keep all my DS games! (From left: Mario Kart DS, Sonic Classics Collection, and...)

New Super Mario Bros.! This I got on Christmas day along with the 3DS! 

 

 

 

The things you don't see here are lots of candy (Mom had to put it away sometimes) gum, a Slim Jim, and beef jerky. It is no doubt that God has blessed me with tons of gifts! But we shouldn't forget what Christmas is all about. The greatest Christmas Gift of all is Jesus (the Son of God) who was born in a manger. John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." Amen! I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!



My Newest Adventures in Odyssey Album!

This post was meant for yesterday, but I kept procrastinating.

I saved up $5 for this new album, and it just came in the mail yesterday! Well, it's not exactly new. It's from 1994, and I found it on Amazon for $1.00 (plus $3.99 shipping) and it was used, and in "very good" condition. The seller was right! It barely had any scratches, except when you listen to the opening theme, it skips a little, unless you put it in the computer! Enough of the technical talk! Let's talk about the details! This album, Joy to the World, is a special collector's item for your AIO collection because the episode included is what you won't find in any other album! It's called Christmas Around the World, Parts 1 and 2! Possibly the reason why it was unreleased is because it's mostly a lot of Christmas songs. The only drawback is that it's all in one track, making it hard to skip to the part you're on. I decided I would put it away until Christmastime. This is a pretty good album!

Odyssey Adventure Club!

Guess what? There is a new Adventures in Odyssey thing called Odyssey Adventure Club! For $15 a month, you can get a free subscription to Clubhouse Magazine, The ENTIRE Adventures in Odyssey audio library (That's 738 episodes!), a brand new episode every month, and more! When did they get so generous?!?!?! I think it's a Hulu for Odyssey! It's gonna be in January 2014, and I am gonna save up for it! I listen to the commercials every day, and I even got it memorized! (quoting the commercial "Come along for our greatest adventure yet! It's the Odyssey Adventure Club! Grow in your faith and imagination with the entire Adventures in Odyssey audio library! That's 700 episodes! 24-7 on your iPhone, tablet, or laptop! Plus, monthly activities, and more! Family time just became mobile with the Odyssey Adventure Club! Preview it now at Whitsend.org/oac!") 

My New Blog!

Check out my new blog! It's got Adventures In Odyssey reviews, and I started with FP 01 -  Whit's Visitor. Link Here.

Adventures In Odyssey!

Sorry about the delay for 2 mondays. I forgot to do it on that day, PLUS I got grounded for 4 days.

Adventures In Odyssey. Have you ever heard of it? It's a series of christian radio dramas that have gone for 25 years! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!?!?!?!?! There's this old guy called John Avery Whittaker (everyone usually calls him Mr. Whittaker or Whit) who has appeared in about 95% of the series. (he used to be in 99.9% of the series, but when his first actor, Hal Smith died, Whit went to live at the Middle East for 2 years, until the crew found Paul Herlinger, the second Whit actor (his third and current actor is Andre Stojka (STOY-ka))) and he gives really good advice.

Here's a history:

Adventures In Odyssey started when it's first cassete album and first 13 episodes were a test series called "Family Portraits."

Here's where Whit was introduced for the first time in the series.

You can listen to it while you're reading this post.

Anyway, after it got so popular, and it got it's own time slot, it chnged the name to "Odyssey USA." where the "truely first" album was made.
Shortly after, they changed the name to Adventures in Odyssey, where another "first" album was released.


Right after that, the team got some negative letters fom parents who disliked a silly police officer called Officer David Harley (due to his lack of authority). after that, the crew scanned the entire series for episodes with Harley so they could eliminate him from albums. Unexpectedly, he still appears in a few episodes that are in albums. also fortunatley, his first episode, "Lights Out At Whit's End" is being offered as a free download on Community Audio.

In 2008, to celebrate the 20th anniversery and the 50th album, they made an album called The Best Small Town. It brought back old characters such as Lucy Cunningham-Shultz and Jack Davis.

Next post: Libraries V