Kisses From Katie Book Project

Kisses From Katie by Katie Davis

         Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis is told from the point of view of-- yep you guessed it Katie Davis. Katie decides that she wanted or no better yet needed to go on a mission trip for a year after she graduated from high school. She travels over three thousand miles from her hometown in Tennessee to the bright blue skies and rusty red dirt soil of Uganda. Leaving behind her wonderful life of a loving family, gracious boyfriend, and not to mention tons of delightful friends, Katie is ecstatic about what God has in store for her on this trip. What Katie wasn't expecting though was how quickly the children would grow on her and how after her year was up she couldn't find herself wanting to leave.

         When Katie returned to the States she just didn't feel the same. She felt as if the glamorous life she had left from before wasn't like it used to be and longed to be back with all the loving children she had met in Uganda. Convincing her parents to postpone college for one more year, Katie once again returns to Uganda, but this time she is teaching a group of kindergarteners.

         Katie makes a connection with the children of Uganda and decides that she wants to live in Uganda and start a ministry to help kids in need go to school and provide the supplies needed for it. After discovering how much some of these sweet, loving children had never had in their life (some of them never even having the luxury of having a mom) she instantly fell in love and ended up adopting them. Thirteen children later Katie is not only a single mom raising all these girls but she’s also running a full time job with her growing ministry called Amazima. So many people ask her how she does it all, and there is only one explanation for that: Jesus Christ. He has provided her with all the resources and ability to make this happen, and she couldn’t be happier to do it all for Him.

Writing option 2:

Create an epilogue, showing the characters’ lives after the novel ends.

         The wind blew stirring up the rusty red soil making it look like a bright orange mist was coming from all directions. It was one of those days where the temperature is just right, there isn't a cloud in the sky, and the sun filters down making everything shine. As I walked up the front steps of my home I couldn’t wait to see my sixteen beautiful daughters. Yep that’s right we’ve had several new additions to the family, and I’m overly blessed to be able to have every single one of them in my life.

         Josie is five years old and our most recent add on to the family. She loves just about anyone she has the opportunity to meet. She is one of the most gracious and giving people I have ever met-- did I mention that she’s only five?! Just the other day Josie was outside playing with her favorite doll in the front lawn, across the street was sitting a little girl who had just fallen over and hurt her knee. The little girl started sobbing immediately Josie who had just witnessed the whole thing got up,went across to the girl and gave her her favorite doll and helped her find her mom. My heart smiled as I watched how kind my little girl is, and the wonderful future she is going to have with Jesus Christ.

         Christina and Caroline are identical twins and thirteen years old. I’ve never quite understood the term “two peas in a pod” until I met them. The two are inseparable. They go everywhere together spreading joy to every person and animal they come across. Caroline is extremely smart and plans on starting a ministry of her own when she gets older, and Christina has such a marvelous personality and can make anyone laugh. The two have both recently accepted Christ into their lives and I’m so excited for the plans God has laid out for them.

         Amazima has also had some recent changes as well-- we are now sponsoring over three hundred children! We provide them with an education, food and basic necessities, and teach them the love that Jesus has for them. God is reaching down and touching the lives of all these wonderful boys and girls and bringing them hope of a bright future.

         I am beyond excited to see what the future holds for not only my family of sixteen wonderful girls, but also my family of Amazima with over three hundred boys and girls. The light of Jesus is shining down on all the people of Uganda and I am delighted to watch their lives with Him unfold and transform them into something new.

Character option 6:

Provide a famous poem that relates to the character. Highlight the lines that relate. Explain in well-developed paragraphs how the poem relates to the character. Use textual support from both the poem and the book.

Life’s Car by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

'Hurry up!'

No lingering by old doors of doubt -

No loitering by the way,

No waiting a To-morrow car,

When you can board To-day.

Success is somewhere down the track;

Before the chance is gone

Accelerate your laggard pace,

Swing on, I say, swing on -

Hurry up!

'Step lively!'

Belated souls are following fast,

They shout and signal, 'Wait.'

Conductor Time brooks no delay,

He rings the bell of Fate.

But you can give the man behind,

With one hand on the bar,

A final chance to brook defeat,

And board the moving car.

Step lively!

'Move up!'

Make way for others as you sit

Or stand. This crowded earth

Has room for every journeying soul

En route to higher birth.

Ay, room and comfort, if no one

Took double share or space,

Nor let his greed and selfishness

Absorb another's place.

Move up!

'Hold fast!'

The jolting switch of obstacles

With jarring rails is near.

Stand firm of foot, be strong of grip,

Brace well and have no fear.

The Maker of the Car of Life

Foresaw that curve--Despair,

And hung the straps of faith, and hope

So you might grasp them there.

Hold fast!

           I chose this poem to represent Katie because It sums up and covers a lot of the major things going on in her life. Katie is a strong and courageous girl in which God has been working through for quite sometime now. Her life was simple and easy one day and then after traveling to Uganda, deciding to live there for her whole life, and becoming a single mom of thirteen daughters her life became very hectic. But before any of this happened she had to make one very big choice:to keep her simple, luxurious life, or to hop on the “Life Car” and follow God’s will for her.

The poem talks of this “Life Car” that is moving fast and you have the decision to hop on or watch it pass. The car is bringing you to your destination of where God wants you to be in order to be successful. and follow out His plans for you. “No lingering by old doors of doubt - No loitering by the way, No waiting a To-morrow car, When you can board To-day.” After falling in love with the loving and grateful kids in Uganda Katie listens to what God is telling her and decides to move there. This is a very big and stressful decision for a nineteen year old to make-- especially when this involves movie three thousand miles across the world.

Katie is fearfully and wonderfully made, she sees hope in the future that God has presented her with. She is faced with many obstacles and hills to jump over bust she has great perseverance and pushes through to do what God has asked of her, “Stand firm of foot, be strong of grip, Brace well and have no fear.” (from poem) she knows that her Lord and Savior would not give her too much to handle without helping her out.“Many days I am still overwhelmed by the magnitude of the need and the incredible number of people who need help. Many days I see the destitute, disease-ridden children lining the streets in the communities I serve and I want to scoop them up every single one of them, take them home with me, and feed and clothe them and love them. And I look at the life of my Savior, who stopped for one.” (page XIX of introduction from book) Katie follows the path that He has laid out for her and knows there will be a spot with for her in heaven, but meanwhile she’s enjoying the life God has made for her.

NPR Military Interview

NPR Military Interview

        In the article I read and listened to, Thousands of Returning Soldiers Face a New Enemy, Guy Raz interviews a military veteran named Colby Buzzell, Dr. Gregory O’Shanick the medical director for the Brain Injury Association of America, and NPR'S Daniel Zwerdling. Colby was an infantryman in the United States Army in the Stryker Brigade and was in Iraq late 2003 to '04.

        At 26 years old, Colby arrived in Iraq in the late fall of 2003, about five years after President George W. Bush announced the end of the fight. Colby was sent to a base in Mosul where he didn't stay for long, his tour wrapped up in late 2004 and he was soon on his way back home. Once he got home though Colby started drinking heavily which soon became a serious problem. Colby would get terrible nightmares, and he soon received a letter saying that he was to report back to Fort Benning three weeks from when it was sent. Suspecting that he had PTSD, and after receiving this letter he just knew that he could not return to Fort Benning, so Colby later visited a V.A. hospital to get evaluated by a psychiatrist. Colby was later diagnosed with PTSD and the psychiatrist sent a letter with him to Fort Benning which later resulted in the Army saying he was not deployable, so he never again returned to Iraq.

       Thousands of Returning Soldiers Face a New Enemy relates to All Quiet not only for its main subject of war, but also the thoughts that the soldiers have about coming home once their time in the war is over. Like Colby, Paul and his comrades would often sit around and think of how wonderful life would be for them after the war, if only they would have known how different it would be from that of their imagination. When Paul returned home he was taken aback by how people treated him, and how little people actually knew about what went on in the war. I believe this might have been how Colby felt when he returned home as well.

        Realizing how differently you view things after being in the war and then coming home to see that the war doesn't affect anything going on here can do a drastic toll to the mentality of someone. Once Coldy was diagnosed with PTSD he quit drinking and decided to put all of his time and thought into something else besides Iraq and what he did there. Colby started attending school and letting it take over every morsel of his brain. He wanted to begin a new life after the gruesome one he left behind in Iraq.

All Quiet Final Revised Essay

All Quiet Final Revised Essay

Question: Show how the meaning of life and the chance of death hangs over the soldiers heads during the war.

        All Quiet shows the importance of purity and the corruption of youth. Running from Death on a day to day basis, and relying on luck to stay alive, Remarque shows us how war has only one outcome for soldiers like Paul, to lose their souls, because they no longer have anything to live for.

        Paul and the other soldiers live in a world of suspense, never knowing when each footstep could be their last, “The front is a cage in which we must await fearfully whatever may happen. We lie under the network of arching shells and live in a suspense of uncertainty.” (101) they walk with fear of a new day. “Over us, Chance hovers. If a shot comes, we can duck, that is all; we neither know nor can determine where it will fall.” Chance is capitalized as if it’s a name of someone who can either help or hurt them. The soldiers depend on Chance to get them through everyday. Paul leaves a dugout one day to visit some friends in another dugout, he later returns to the previous one only to find that it had been blown to bits. With the battlefield often looking like an impossible obstacle course of weapons and destruction the men soon learn how great of a blessing it is for them to live another day.

        Sometimes the image of death is put right in front of them, sometimes on purpose, “On the way we pass a shelled school-house. Stacked up against its longer side is a high double wall of yellow, unpolished, brand-new coffins. They still smell of resin, and pine, and forest. There are at least a hundred.” (99) the horrific image in front of them is unforgettable and terrifying. The thought of all those tiny lives suddenly coming to an end is unthinkable, yet the soldiers make comments like “They’re for us...” and “You be thankful if you get so much as a coffin...” that puts thoughts of wondering when death will succeed them running through their heads.

        Remarque reminds us all of the chance the soldiers take every day by putting their lives at stake, and the many encounters of near death experiences.The soldiers accept the fact that they might not make it to tomorrow, they feel the truth of their comrades falling one by one before them, and they hope to see the truth of tomorrow, “But every soldier believes in Chance and trusts his luck.” (101)

This I Believe

This I Believe

I believe in love. I also believe there are many types of love. The love shared between two siblings, the love shared between two best friends, and even true love that every little girl dreams of when they read all those cute fairy tales. Then there’s the love of  a Father. The one that is everywhere all the time, the one that loves you no matter how many times you mess up or do something wrong. You will always be good enough for Him.
Being kind to everyone is very hard, I struggle with this on a day to day basis. From my mom lecturing me, to my obnoxiously loud dog barking, to my soccer coach yelling his head off at me for being offsides, it’s hard not to lose it. But I’ve learned that I need to learn my place and listen to what my mom says, ignore my barking dog, and pay more attention to what my coach instructs me to do.
I’ve also learned that I have trouble with keeping my mouth shut and have a  really bad habit of talking back to my mom. When an argument starts between my mom and I, I can’t seem to stop myself from going on and on and becoming more and more angry with her. I don’t take losing arguments easily, I know what you’re thinking-- future lawyer. But these angry arguments put a space between my mom and I that I don’t like.
This is where love comes into play. Over the past few years I’ve learned a lot from this handy dandy little thing called the Bible. If only I could have realized sooner that  if I would actually stop and listen to what people were telling me, and react appropriately to what they were saying, my relationships with those people would have grown in such a positive way! Sometimes listening to what people actually say can not only change your perspective, but you could have just made their day as well.
I believe in loving and listening to everyone I get the pleasure to meet. Just as He did.

Youtube Video that Represents Me

Video that Represents Me

Video link: http://pinchmysalt.tv/videos/ then scroll down to “still filthy bonus/body wash”

      This video is of a guy named Sterling Silver who decides to go through a carwash and pretend to be a car. He pays the men working at the carwash to give him a “body wash” and insists that he is indeed a car. The men then give him the usual cleaning and he goes through the carwash. After this Sterling then proceeds to run home on the road as if he was actually a car.
      This quirky, funny, just plain weird video perfectly sums up my sense of humor. I could see this being something that my sister and I or me and a group of friends would do. I often believe that I almost have sense of humor of a guy, I always find myself watching a lot of the shows that they watch and I think that they are just as funny as they do. Some of my friends find this sort of stuff weird and gross and always say “why would you do that?”. But thats not me! I'm always finding weird new funny things to try.
    

Passage from All Quiet on the Western Front

Passage from All Quiet on the Western Front

       “One morning two butterflies play in front of our trench. They are brimstone-butterflies, with red spots on their yellow wings. What can they be looking for here? There is not a plant nor a flower for mies. They settle on the teeth of a skull. The birds are just as carefree, they have long since accustomed themselves to the war. Every morning larks ascend from No Man’s Land. A year ago we watched them nesting; the young ones grew up too.” (page 127)
       This passage resembles an important point on how much the setting in the story changes over time. At the beginning of the book I remember a passage (on page 9) where it talked how beautiful two butterflies were when playing in a meadow. Then in the midst of war two of the same kind of butterflies settle on a skull. The "butterflies playing" puts an image of happiness in my brain, meanwhile they are in the gloom of war. The lyrics "In the midst of the darkness your the light that guides me through" is from one of my favorite songs and it instantly popped into my head. I think that even in the worst conditions a spark of light is possible.
       This passage has such a great emphasis on the light and darkness of war. It also has a good choice of words and a deep and meaningful voice. I love the little touch of nature, with a pinch of sadness for the soldiers.
      

Chapter 8 Big Idea

Chapter 8 Big Idea

In war there is typically two sides. There is the country or side from which you are on, and the other other country or side which you are opposing. You don't know the people on the opposing side. Yet when you are told they are your enemies you believe it. And when you receive the command to fire at them, you do. You begin to spray bullets across the battlefield at mere strangers whom you’ve never had the pleasure to meet.
“A word of command has made these silent figures our enemies; a word of command might transform them into our friends.” (page 194) Every person has a story and a life that most people don't get the opportunity to learn about. People have families, wives, children, jobs and even pets they want to be able to return to. “Fire!” And instantly that is all taken away from them forever.
Paul returns to a training camp that is located directly next to a prison full of Russian soldiers. They speak little German and beg for food most of the time. “In the evening they stand again at the wire fence and the wind comes down to them from the beech woods. The stars are cold.” The Russians are like aliens or creatures that deserve no attention. How can humans just like you and me be treated with such awfulness? I believe the golden rule could solve a war. Would you want to be treated the way they are being treated? Wouldn’t you fight for what they want if you were in their place? So why not make a compromise.
In war you are given instructions for everything. When to march, when to salute, when to charge, and even when to kill. Your enemies are even chosen for you. There is only one thing that deep down inside everyone would like to have and after this thing was declared there would be no more commands or things dictated for you. This one thing is peace. But in a war like this peace seem sos foreign and an unreachable dream. So in the meantime why not kill another stranger? I mean they were ordered to kill you too.

Chapter 6 Big Idea

Chapter 6 Big Idea

I can only imagine what truly being in a war is like. We’ve all seen those movie with the major war scenes. One or two people will get slaughtered in a matter of seconds and the director does a fantastic job of making it look so real and lifelike. Now imagine that its real life, not just a movie and that those people did actually just die right before your eyes. Not as pleasant right?
       Even my most vivid and gruesome thoughts of war are nothing compared to the real and true thing. Yet teenagers are running around a battlefield taking the lives of others. The main idea of what i'm trying to get to is that these mere children are buried under a wave of pressure to join in on this horrible misfortune called war. They have but no choice to join in after being lectured by every close person in their life because if they don't they will be nothing but a coward in the eyes of those they love.
       So what is that these young adolescents are having their lives ruined for them before they have even had a chance to live it. What the poor youth become is what tugs on my heart the most. On page 113 a passage says “We have become wild beasts. We do not fight, we defend ourselves against annihilation. It is not against men that we fling our bombs, what do we know of men in this moment when Death is hunting us down- now for the first time in three days we can see his face, now for the first time in three days we can oppose him; we feel a mad anger.”  I love how death is capitalized as if it is a proper noun, as if it was truly a real person coming to get them from their miserable lives.
      War does a toll on the body. Not only in a physical way, but in a mental way as well. If you're lucky enough to survive long enough to get home what do you suppose you would do when you got there? You haven't learned the skills you will need to score a job. You haven't had the time to pursue your real dreams. These boys have lost hope for when they go home, because the war has ruined even home itself for them too.

Into the Wild Book Project

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is about a guy named Chris McCandless who ventures out into the wilderness of Alaska just north of Mt. McKinley all by himself. Chris was born into a loving, well-kept family in Annandale, Virginia. Chris had always dreamed about going on a magnificent road trip across the United States, but his father who wanted nothing but the best for him insisted he get a college education first. The day after Chris graduated he set off on this road trip without telling a soul. After eventually ditching his car, McCandless begins to get his way around by hitchhiking. He travels all across the west meeting lots of people and discovering just what its like to get around as a homeless person would. Eventually saving up enough money working for a friend in South Dakota, McCandless finally sets off to live out his dream of going on a true “Alaskan Odyssey”.

Worst comes to worse though when McCandless is out in the wild by himself, he tries to make his way home after being out there alone for several months and realizes the once shallow creek he crossed in the winter had become a full blown rapid moving river in the summer. McCandless returns to where his base camp was hoping to wait it out till winter but gets poisoned and dies from a toxic mold that begins to grow on some edible seeds he has gathered. His body is discovered by a group of hikers several weeks after his passing and unfortunately McCandless learned the hard way of playing a game with mother nature herself.

Character Option 2:
Provide Song Lyrics-- Highlight the lyrics that relate to the character. Provide at least three important examples from the novel that show the relationship from the song and the character.
Lyrics to The Storm & The Eye by Matrimony:

I’ve been looking for some truth to sort out the mess in my head
But I haven’t found it in me or in man
Some say they want truth in order to sound sane
But would they choose to have it if to have truth you choose pain
To be weak is to be human to be humble is to gain

I hide in the open wide as the young forsake the wise
I abide in the storm and the eye
Death removed me from its sight
­­­­­­­­­­­­­
I am longing for the hour when the dark will subside
My hope needs to be strengthened every moment of the light
But I see a haven for my weakened soul
Where I know the shadow has no where to fall
And even in the morning I will wake unto my call

I hide in the open wide as the young forsake the wise
Love again your broken life
Death has turned away its eyes
Death has turned away its eyes
Three Examples from the novel that show relationship between the song and the character:

1. The sun came up. As they rolled down from the forested ridges above the Tanana River; Alex gazed across the expanse of windswept muskeg stretching to the south. Gallien wondered whether he’d picked up one of those crackpots from the lower forty-eight who come north to live out ill-considered Jack London fantasies. Alaska has long been a magnet for dreamers and misfits, people who think the unsullied enormity of the Last Frontier will patch all the holes in their lives. The bush is an unforgiving place, however, that cares nothing for hope or longing. (page 4)
2. When McCandless hugged Borah good-bye, she says, “I noticed he was crying. That frightened me. He wasn’t planning on being gone all that long; I figured he wouldn’t have been crying unless he intended to take some big risks and knew he might not be coming back. That’s when I started having a bad feeling that we wouldn’t never see Alex again.” (page 68)
3. Unlike Muir and Thoreau, McCandless went into the wilderness not primarily to ponder nature or the world at large but, rather, to explore the inner country of his own soul. He soon discovered, however, what Muir and Thoreau already knew: An extended stay in the wilderness inevitably directs one’s attention outward as much as inward, and it is impossible to live off the land without developing both a subtle understanding of, and a strong emotional bond with, that land and all it holds. (page 183)

I chose to do the option with the song lyrics because I find it very fascinating and interesting how characters from a book can relate so much to the lyrics of a song. I chose the song “The Storm & The Eye” by Matrimony which is a favorite band of mine that opened for a Passion Pit concert I went to this past year. The character from my book is a guy named Chris McCandless who has always had his heart set on venturing out into the middle of nowhere in Alaska. In the song the first line of lyrics says “I’ve been looking for some truth to sort out the mess in my head”, in the story Chris talks about how he thinks traveling out into the wilderness by himself will provide some sort of peace of mind and cleansing of the soul. I thought that this struck a strong resemblance to that first line of the song, to me the artist seemed to have a lot going on in her life and just wanted something to get her thoughts straight.
In the fifth line it says “To be weak is to be human to be humble is to gain”, in a way I believe this line of the song could have saved McCandless. Whenever he set out to do something he wouldn’t rest until he got whatever it was he had his mind set on done. But if Chris would have realized that not everything is possible when you do it by yourself and that asking for help isn’t a bad thing, it might have really humbled him and made him see that no human can live on its own for too long.
One line that really stood out to me was line nine which reads “I am longing for the hour when the dark will subside”. In the story Chris finds out about a previous wife of his fathers and how his father had cheated on her and left her even when they had several kids together, when McCandless figured this out he was infuriated but he kept it to himself. Chris never told anyone what he knew and he kept all this rage over his father's mistakes bottled up in him for a long time. He would often lash out on his father and be very harsh and crude with him and yet his father would never know why. I believe this almost resembles what the artist is speaking of in line nine because Chris has all this darkness and awful experiences locked away in him and I think he was just looking for a way to cleanse himself and hope that it would all disappear.   

Writing Option 3:

Create a Prologue, showing the characters’ lives before the novel begins.

The crisp spring breeze lightly twirls the sweet scent of cherry blossoms through the air. It was the week before Chris McCandless's college graduation and the sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon on a beautiful Friday afternoon. Chris had been waiting for this moment for a very long while and couldn’t believe graduation time was finally here. Finals had just ended and most college students were out celebrating and enjoying the beautiful night with their tight knit group of friends, but Chris was getting ready for the trip of a lifetime. He had been plotting and planning for this trip most of his life and was ready to go on his road trip across the country.

The last name of the class of 1990 had just been called and the caps instantly started flying up in the air. The chants and cheers of all of Chris’s fellow classmates were heard everywhere he turned. With nothing but a diploma in his hand and a smile plastered on his face, Chris finally managed to find his family in the swarm of people. His parents eyes glowed with pride and his sister nearly knocked him over when she gave him a humongous bear hug. The moment was perfect, Chris wished he could pause his life at that very moment and soak in how truly happy and close his family was at that moment, but we all know you can’t freeze time.

At Chris’s graduation party everyone was so proud and happy for him, everything seemed so right and to be going smoothly. Chris made sure to tell his mother and father how dearly he thought of them and how grateful he was for them raising him and letting him receive a college education. He covered everything he ever wanted to tell them and made sure not to miss anything, because when his parents would wake in the morning he would be gone. Who would have known that two years later Chris would be found dead in the wilderness of Alaska.