Raphie Learns a Big Word

Ralphie!" called his mother. "I need you to pick up your toys.!"
"I will in a minute , Mom" said Ralphie as he raced out to play  He soon forget what his mother had asked him to do and was so involved playing with his friends that he didn't hear his mother calling him for dinner 

When Raphie didn't come in for dinner, his mother decided to teach him a lesson and let him play. Later, Ralphie got very hungry and went into his house to eat, but dinner was over and only his older brother was there to baby sit. He couldn't cook. The only thing that Ralphie knew how to make was a peanut butter sandwich. He made the sandwich and went outside and sat down by a large rock to eat it.  How lonely he felt!  As he leaned back against the rock, his eyes became heavy.


Soon he heard strange voices saying, "Wait-a- minute, pretty soon and I'm going to".  "Let's shake him! cried one. "No, let us take him to  the king," said another.  Then they wound long webs about him, and lifting him up from the ground, they flew away with him.  For miles and miles they traveled through the air, until at last they stopped at the entrance to a cave.  They went inside, and Ralphie heard many voices buzzing about him. 

"Where am I" he asked timidly,  "You are safe at home," said wait-a-minute"

"This is not my home," said Ralphie, beginning to cry with fright.  "Yes it is it," said many voices; "There are more fellows like you here"

Ralphie saw rows of boys and girls with sad faces, repeating over and over, "I'm going to!"  "Pretty soon!" "In-a -minute!" In a corner by themselves were unhappy fellows who were called "Too late."


"Oh, please let me out!  I want my mother," wailed Raphie.  "No you don't," said wait-a-minute. "You don't care much about her. Anyway, this is your home--The Kingdom Of PROCRASTINATION"  Raphie didn't even know what procrastination meant. It was too big a word and besides what kind of a Kingdom was that? 

The king came into the room  and looked at Ralphie from head to foot, and placed him at the end of a row of children who were saying just as fast as they could, "going-to, going to, going to! " "You may say "Going to" only a thousand times today.," said the King "tomorrow you must say it a million times."

"Raphie, Ralphie,' called a familiar voice, "Where is my boy? You still need to pick up your toys."  Ralphie opened his eyes and looked about him.  It was his mother's cheery voice, and how glad he was to hear it again!  This time he didn't say "I am going to" but jumped up and ran into the house so fast that his mother looked up in surprise.  All his toys were put back into the toy box faster than ever, and he was in his pajamas, ready for bed before his mother even asked him.  From that time on, Raphie quickly responded to his mothers  requests, because he never wanted  to be haunted by the voices of PROCRASTINATION ever again.

The Happy Heart Family

Mr. and Mrs. Heart

Faith, Hope and Love

I would like to introduce you to the Heart family, who love each other very much.  They live in a peaceful garden among many beautiful, colorful flowers and butterflies that visit their garden in the Springtime.

Mr. and Mrs. Heart loved each other very much and were very proud of their three little girls, Faith, Hope and Love.   The three little girls loved their mommy and daddy and always wanted to

obey them. Every day their daddy would remind them how important it was to keep the garden safe by their obedience.


In the morning before daddy left for work he would remind his girls, " Faith, you will have faith as long as you obey me but when you don;t you will become fearful."  "Hope, as long as you obey me you will have hope, but when you don't you will begin to doubt."  "Love, oh please always obey me because if you don't I will lose you in unbelief and you will want to leave the Garden."


Daddy had only one very important RULE, and it was that the girls were never to let any one into the Garden without his permission. Their safety depended on their obedience. Faith, Hope and Love played happily in the Garden every day without any arguments.They knew how to share their toys and to speak kindly to each other


One morning Hope  was up before her sisters and went out into the Garden for a walk, when she heard a knock at the Garden gate. "Who is it," she asked.  "It is a friend of your father and I have a message for him."


"But I can't let you in." said Hope.  But then Doubt replied,"Little Hope, your father knows me, He just didn't tell you I was stopping by." Hope began to doubt. She thought it really couldn't hurt anything  He says he is a friend of her daddy's, so Hope opened the gate to the garden and let in Mr. Doubt.


When Faith saw what Hope had done she said,"Now look what you did Hope,  You have let doubt into the Garden.  Now what are we going to do?"

Hope was so sad . She hung her head in shame.  Mr. Doubt went over to the gate to let in his other two friends, Mr. Fear and Mr Unbelief.
Faith and Love raced over and quickly shut the gate. "Oh no you don't Mr. Doubt.  You have to leave right now. "  Daddy heard the girls shouting and immediately went to see what was the matter.

 When he saw that it was Mr. Doubt he didn't waste any time. He confronted Mr.Doubt face to face and he melted like ice in hot water.  He was NO MORE. 

Mr. Heart called his girls together to talk with them. "Faith and Love you did well not letting fear and unbelief into the Garden, but Hope, I am afraid I can't leave you alone without Faith and Love. ever again.We need you Hope in our family to be faithful and obedient because as you grow up your two sisters Faith and Love will need your strength."  Daddy hugged Hope as she humbly responded,"Yes, daddy I will never open the gate again without your permission."   Faith, Hope and Love grew to be very wise and together they kept Fear, Doubt and Unbelief out of the Garden all the days of their lives..

The Lazy Beaver

Bucky, the beaver was a lazy little fellow.  He wanted to play all day and sleep at night. When his friends were busy building their lodges for the coming winter, Bucky wanted nothing to do with it.His father had taught him how to build a lodge when he was younger, but now he thought he would have plenty of time to build a home before the cold weather  However, winter was very early that year and he had to build his dam very fast.


Because he was so late starting to build his lodge, he forgot what his father told him.  NEVER BUILD close to the shore line. But Bucky was in a hurry and didn't listen to his father's instructions. He thought that by building his lodge near the shore he wouldn't have to swim so far to construct his winter home. Bucky built his lodge twice as fast as all his friends and then waited for the cold weather.


Later on, when the cold winter winds began to blow, Bucky headed for his home.  One night, while he was sleeping, the temperature dropped below zero.  Ice began to form over Bucky's home. In the morning, when Bucky woke up and tried to get out of his house, both doors were frozen over with ice.  Bucky was trapped.  He had built his lodge too close to the shore and that is the first place where the pond freezes.

Meanwhile, a little boy, Johnny Achers was up early and heading down to the pond to ice skate.  His friend Philip was on his way to the pond too  When the two boys met, they noticed Bucky's lodge was too close to the shore.  Johnny said,"Hey, Phil, what is this beaver thinking about? Doesn't he know that it is very dangerous to build near the shore line?"  No sooner had Johnny spoken, when the boys heard crying.  "Do you hear crying, Johnny?" asked Phil


"I sure do Phil.  I think it is coming from inside that beaver lodge." Johnny bent down to look inside the door and sure enough, curled up in a ball was the little beaver, shivering with fright.There was no way of escape for Bucky. He had built his house too close to the shore and all the water under the lodge, as well as around it, was frozen.  Bucky was trapped unless the boys could break the ice and punch a hole for Bucky to swim away.

Johnny left to see if he could find a heavy piece of wood to smash the ice, while Phil stayed and talked to Bucky,  "We will get you out my friend.  Just be patient."  Johnny returned with just the right size piece of wood..  Within a few minutes the boys had smashed a large enough hole for Bucky to escape.  

Bucky quickly disappeared through the ice hole into the pond.They never saw him again.  I wonder where Bucky went? Perhaps he was taken in by another beaver family during the cold winter nights.  Whatever happened, one thing is for sure, Bucky NEVER BUILT HIS HOUSE  too close to shore ever again.

The boys put on their skates and started practicing for the hockey game that afternoon. When the guys arrived for the hockey game, Johnny and Phil couldn't wait to tell them about Bucky.

Johnny and Phil  practicing their ice hockey