MEETING 8, 2011YOUR STORY HOUR ®

A Message fromAunt Carole & Uncle Dan

Welcome to CLUBHOUSE Online!®

Aunt Carole

Uncle Dan

Here we are, right in the middle of summer’ssunshine! Maybe you’re enjoying fun swimming, likethe boy in the photo to the right. Maybe you’revacationing. But we also know that you’re alreadygearing up for school, so we both hope that you’llstudy hard and have a terrific year. And don’tforget to ask God to be with you every single day!

2 3

The day was sun-yellow as Miguelset out to cross the land. He wouldtravel to where he could feel cool ocean

breezes and see gulls soar in the air.He would become a sailor.

After many days of walking, Miguelstood on a grass-covered ridge. He

saw a great ship’s sails billowing in thewind as the boat came into port. Heran toward the bay, laughing.

When the ship set sail again, Miguelstood at its railing, looking out to sea.

The waves split and slapped the bowand Miguel, the new cabin boy, was

happy. He did not care that he wasaboard a pirate ship.

“Miguel...another portion of themeat!” the captain barked as he wipedhis mouth with his hand.

Miguel held out the silver platterwhile the captain took his fill. When the

other members of the black-hearted

crew left the cabin, the captain sighed

and held out his goblet. “More wine!”he barked.

Miguel poured the wine, and thecaptain’s eyelids drooped.

“Why would such a willing boy join

a pirate crew?” the captain asked.Miguel shrugged. “To learn. There

was no hope of my ever being a torea-dor, and I have no family.”

“As long as you serve me,” the cap-tain said as he drained his cup, “I willteach you.” He turned the golden gob-

let in his hand and smiled. “This is whatcounts, lad...gold! As long as you have

gold, you will never want for anything!”Time passed and the ship’s hold filled

with treasures from other ships. Thena dot of land appeared on the horizon,

and the pirates gathered at the rail,pointing and shouting. Suddenly, a

great storm cloud rolled before them

and rocked the ship. At first the sails

only strained against the rigging, butsoon they began to tear loose. The men

scurried for cover as lightning boltssplit the heavens. Gigantic wavespoured over the deck. Panic reigned.

Miguel huddled in the passageway,terrified, as the pirate crew broke into

the treasure hold and fought to fill theirarms with jewels and coins. A sack of

golden goblets tumbled and rolled withthe rocking ship to where it restedagainst Miguel's bare feet.

Miguel’s heart raced wildly. Withineasy reach was more gold than he could

ever hope to have! Dragging the sack,he scurried on all fours, darting between

the scrambled legs of the fighting pi-rates. He made his way up the stairs

and tried to stand on the swaying deckas rain fell in torrents.

“Boy!” someone called from behind

him. “What do you have there!?”Miguel looked down the passage-

way into the black eyes of a fierce-

looking pirate. He glanced quicklyabout the deck as the pirate bounded

up the stairs, sword flashing. Clutchingthe weight of his treasure to himself,

Miguel ran toward the rail. Quickly, hescrambled up and clung to the edge,looking first at the sea, then back at

the pirate.The pirate held out a greedy hand.

“Give me that, boy, and I’ll do no morethan cut off an ear!”

Miguel looked at the raging sea, thenleaped forward, dragging the treasurewith him.

Instantly, his ears gurgled and hiseyes stung with the salt water...and all

was silent. Miguel tugged the sack withboth hands. Slowly, he struggled to the

surface, gasping for air. Again the trea-

sure pulled, and Miguel disappearedunder the water’s surface into inky

silence. He remembered the captain’s

By Betty Lou MellIllustrated by Jon Woodard

5

Jr. Detective

4

words...”As long as you have gold, you

will never want for anything.”Miguel had the gold, but he wanted

air for his lungs and land for his feet–things gold could not buy. Slowly, andwith regret, Miguel let go of the sack

and watched it sink in slow motion to-ward the bottom of the ocean. Miguel

bobbed to the surface again andlooked in all directions.

The storm still raged and the pirateship listed to one side, rocking crazily

back and forth on the waves. Thesound of gunshots and shouts of angrymen mingled with the thunder, and

Miguel swam toward land. As hedragged himself onto the rocky shore,

he collapsed.When Miguel awakened, he looked

into the kindly face of an old man.“My family found you after the

storm,” the old man explained.

Miguel shrank back, afraid. “Rest,”the old man said with a smile. “No harm

will come to you. The storm is over,and you will share all we have.”

Miguel looked around the humble

house. “You don’t have much,” he

muttered.“We have all we need--all that is

given by God,” the man replied.

The days passed, and as Miguelwatched the sun rise and the moon

set, he was at peace. As he watchedthe old man, who had no money but

always wore a smile, Miguel’s heartwas strangely content. Slowly he be-

gan to understand.

1.2.

3. 4.

5.6.

Which two bees are exactly alike?

Solution on page 19.

76

Jokes and riddles sentin by readers. Send

yours to:Clubhouse

P.O. Box 15Berrien Springs, MI

49103

Clubhouse Kids

Send your poem, drawing or joke to:Clubhouse,

P. O. Box 15,Berrien Springs, MI 49103.

(If you submit a picture, be sure it ison white paper without lines. Other-

wise we won’t be able to use it.)

1. What bird is at everymeal?

2. What can you put in aglass but never takeout?

3. What’s worse thanraining cats and dogs?

4. What is the biggestjewel in the world?

5. If a cat won an Oscar,what award would itget?

RaiRaiRaiRaiRainnnnnRain smells like freshness.

Rain looks like falling piecesof glass.

Rain tastes like water.Rain feels like a shower.

FFFFFootbaootbaootbaootbaootballllllllll

–by Teri Fisher, TN

1. A swallow2. A crack3. Hailing taxis4. A baseball diamond5. An a-cat-emy award

Tom: I can lie in bed and watchthe sunrise.

Bill: That’s nothing. I can sit inthe living room and watchthe kitchen sink!

“I’ve never tasted suchgarbage! I simply must

have the recipe!”

Mom: Why are you jumpingup and down, Paul?

Paul: I took my medicine andforgot to shake thebottle.

What did one loom say to the other loom?

Weave me alone!

Q:

A:

–by Katherine Brown, WA

Football smells like torn-up ground.

Football tastes like pain.Football looks like

power.Footballs sounds like a

raging bull.Football feels like joy

and sadness.–by Cody Rathbun, WA

SummerSummerSummerSummerSummerStormStormStormStormStorm

Clouds gather.Rain splashes.Wind rises.

Lightning flashes.Everyone runs.

Thunder crashes.

Doors slam.Mothers call.

Children shout,And cars stall.

Showers end.Skies clear.

Everything glistens;Rainbows appear.

The LieThe LieThe LieThe LieThe LieI once told a lie,

But not without a sigh.It was cold,It was bold,

And it made me want to cry.–by Katie Jolley, WA

Bible Snapshots Illustrated by Jim Bowser

Based on God Cares by Doris Burdick

Where to find the story: Genesis 25: 20-34

Jacob, his mother Rebekah’s favorite,was born second. He enjoyed caring forthe flocks and gardening. He was morespiritual than Esau and wished hecould inherit the spiritual responsibili-ties and blessings of the birthright.

One day, after a hunt, Esau returnedhot, tired and very hungry. He smelledthe food Jacob was preparing. “Let mehave some,” he cried. “I’m starved.”So Jacob decided to make a dealwith him. “I’ll trade you this food forthe birthright.” Esau easily agreed.

Jacob made him swear to the deal andthen he gave him the food. Before thetwins had been born an angel had toldRebekah, “The elder shall serve theyounger.” Even so, Esau was almostrelieved that the responsibilities of thebirthright were off his shoulders.

Abraham had twin grandsons, Esau,who was born first, normally should haveinherited the family “birthright.” Esau hada ruddy complexion, lots of hair, andgrew to be a big, burly, adventuresomehunter. He was his father’s favorite.

9

Puzzle Power1. Puzzle Search: In the puzzle below, the word JACOB is found17 times. See if you can find them all. Look up, down, backwards,forwards and diagonally.

2. Which twin was it? Match the statements on the left to thetwins. If the statement is about Esau, write the letter of the statementin his circle. If it is about Jacob, write the letter in Jacob’s circle.

a. Was the first twin born.b. Was his mother’s favorite.c. Became a hunter.d. Traded away his birthright.e. Wanted the blessings of

the birthright.f. Liked to garden and take

care of the sheep.g. Had ruddy complexion.h. According to the angel, this

twin would serve his brother.i Was tired and hungry after a

big hunt.j Was relieved not to have the spiritual

responsibilities of the birthright.

J A C O B J J C B J

A A J A C A A B O A

B C C A C C C O C C

O O B O C O O C A B

C B B J B O C A J O

A O B A J J B J J C

J C O C O B A B A A

J A C O B B O C A J

J J A B O C A J O A

A C J O B J A C O B

ESAU

Pu

zzle

Po

wer

So

luti

on

s o

n p

g.

19

.

JACOB

10 11

The Title of MySpeech Is:

“Girls Stink!”

Let me say, right up front, thatgirls stink! Ask my older brotherRolin. He got hornswoggled byour cousin Becky who visited usfrom the city last summer.

Becky’s folks had to go on atrip and didn’t want her along.(Who can blame them?!) Any-way, she came to our house fortwo lo-o-o-o-ng weeks and ruinedour lives.

I knew it would be a disasterfrom the minute she arrived.Rolin and I were sitting on thepatio cleaning out our fishingtackle box. Becky got out of thecar wearing a dress and carry-ing a briefcase. Who was shetrying to fool? She’s only twoyears older than me. And she

brought three suitcases, for cry-ing out loud.

After her folks left, we sataround on the patio.

“Want to go fishing in thelake?” I asked her.

“No thanks.”“So you know how to water

ski?” Rolin asked her.“I’ve never tried.”“Want to try now?”“No thanks. I think I’ll prac-

tice my piano pieces. Mom saidyou have a piano.”

Then, just as cool as youplease, she took her briefcase(which turned out to be crammedwith sheet music) inside andplayed for two whole hours, forcrying out loud.

Rolin and I went out to thepier and tried to catch the bigbass that’s hung around our dockthe last two years. We never gota nibble. I think that fish wentout to deep water to escapeBecky’s banging on the keys.

“Not bad, huh?” Rolin asked.“What?”“Becky—she can really play the

piano. Maybe I’ll go watch herfor awhile,” he said. And he putdown his pole and marched rightinto the house, for crying out loud.

The next day was hot. Rightafter breakfast Rolin and I puton our swim trunks to go turtlehunting. Becky, of course, had topractice the piano.

We got back in time for lunch.Becky was helping Mom makepeanut-butter-and-bananasandwiches.

“Becky, I’ve got a surprise foryou,” I said, holding out an oldcoffee can. A big old crawdaddyskedaddled out of that can ontothe counter.

“Lee, get that out of here!”shouted Mom.

“It’s all right, Aunt Sherry.We dissected these in scienceclass last year. Actually, it’s kindof neat to see a live one.” Andcool as a cucumber, she pickedup that crawdaddy with her fin-gers and looked him over care-fully—like I said, with her fin-gers, for crying out loud!

After lunch we all went swim-ming at our raft. Rolin and I areterrific divers in deep water. Weshowed Becky our best stuff–running leaps, cannon balls andbelly smackers. Becky seemedimpressed. Then she got up anddid a couple of basic dives—nothing fancy like ours, but wetold her they were great. Thensuddenly she did a cartwheel offthe raft, then a no-hands backflip, then she walked on her handsacross the raft and flipped in.

“Wow! How did you learnstuff like that?” asked Rolin.

“I take gymnastic lessons.”“Could you teach me?” he

begged.And then that show-off spent

1312

the afternoon teaching Rolinthose fancy dives, for cryingout loud!

One day I decided to take herwater-skiing. I’ve been skiing forthree years, since I was 7, soI’m pretty good. And Rolin isterrific. He can slalom and turnaround on trick skis.

By the time I got everythingready, Rolin was giving Beckysome pointers on crouching andpulling up out of the water.

Rolin and I got in the boat.Rolin drives (Mom won’t let meyet), and I was lookout.

“When you fall, just drop therope, and we’ll circle around andcome back for you,” I shouted.

We idled out, the rope tight-ened, and Beck yelled. “Hit it!”She pulled and wobbled and tee-tered—and stood up. She got upher first try and stayed up, forcrying out loud!

Finally “D-Day” arrived(Becky’s departure day, that is).Rolin and I were fishing off thepier. Becky wandered out whileshe was waiting for her folks.

Rolin said, “Hey, you never didany fishing while you were here.”He handed her his pole. And justthen she got a strike.

Cont. pg. 18.

By Jane K. Priewe

When you’ve been to the ocean, river,lake or mountain stream, have you everwished you could stay under water andwatch the creatures and plants for a longtime? If only there were some way you could see whatgoes on without having to come up for air. Then youcould watch a hermit crab creep from an outgrownshell and move into a larger one. You could watchcrawdads crawl along a stream bed. You could actu-ally watch a starfish pry open a clam and watch thetadpoles swim. You can view all this andmuch more with an easy-to-makedepthscope.

Make a depthscope from two largejuice cans (or three of the next smallersize). Remove the top and bottom ofeach can Then soak the labels off–oth-erwise the paper will wash off the firsttime you use your depthscope, and whoneeds more litter! Paint the inside of eachcan black for better underwater viewing.After the paint dries, make a long tubewith the cans by binding them tightly to-gether with waterproof glue or water-proof tape. Lower one end of yourdepthscope into the water and lookthrough the above-water end. You cannow watch underwater life for hours with-out getting your face wet!

14 15

By Toni FulcoIllustrated by

Victoria Twitchell

I couldn’t believe it–my par-ents actually said yes. I couldhave my first pair of hamsters!Oh, I had them picked out al-ready. The blue male (eventhough his fur looked more greythan blue) and the red-and-whitefemale. The pet store ownerpromised to buy all the babiesI could give him, so I was veryeager to start my hamster-rais-ing business.

Of course, it wasn’t as easyas it sounded. I had to convincemy father that I had a properplace for them. The room in thecellar that had once been a pan-

try was perfect. It already hadshelves and a sink, lots of light(but no direct sunlight), and itwas warm enough in winter andcool in summer.

As for cages, I had alreadycollected five fish tanks with acrack in the glass that peoplehad thrown out. Dad agreed tomake wooden frames for the topof each tank and cover them withwire mesh so Mother wouldn’t bescreaming and jumping on a chairbecause a hamster got loose.

The manager of the producedepartment at the big supermar-ket said I could have all the free

greens I wanted every day. Thatwould be part of their diet. Theremainder would be laboratoryfood, high-protein hard pellets. Ialso needed cedar shavings, wa-ter bottles and exercise wheels.

The next thing I knew, Dad washanding me a notebook to keeptrack of the money I spent to getstarted. And it had to be my ownmoney, too! It seemed like I hadbeen saving up my spending moneyforever, so I was all prepared.Then came the one big condition:keep a record of all money spentand earned for six months. If Iwasn’t showing a profit by thattime, I was out of business forgood. Wow!

The next stop was a laboratorysupply for water bottles and ex-ercise wheels at wholesale prices.Great savings there!

Then I went to the feed storefor 50-pound bags of laboratoryfood and cedar chips (muchcheaper in large amounts). Now Iwas ready to begin.

I could hardly hold in my ex-citement, as my last stop was thepet shop to pick up “Blue” and“Red.” Not very original names,but they seemed to fit.

I wanted to just sit there allevening and watch them set uphousekeeping and run in theirwheel. They were so organized—pantry in one corner, bedroomacross the way and bathroom inanother corner. I promised Momthis wouldn’t interfere with myhomework, so enough hamster-

watching for one night. Theywould be up all night and sleepall day, so it would work out wellwith me being at school all day.Tomorrow I would start tamingthem—getting them used to myhands in their cage.

About a week later, it wasbecoming obvious that they hadmated. Red looked fatter andfelt heavier when she climbed onmy hand. By the second week, shelooked like the Goodyear blimpwith eyes and ears. On the 15thday, she left her nest to greetme, and I saw a pile of five pinkhairless babies all cuddled uptogether. How tiny they were! Iraced up the stairs into theliving room.

“I’m a grandma! I’m agrandma!” I shouted. Mom andDad looked at me like I had justarrived from outer space. But Ireally did feel like I was agrandma.

When my parents finally fig-ured out what I was shoutingabout, they came with me to lookat the new arrivals. Mother wasquite impressed, and Dad re-minded me that now was the timeto start keeping a careful recordof each litter—date of birth,how may males and females, whatcolor fur, and what I did witheach one. Of course, I could onlywrite down their date of birthand number from 1 to 5 rightnow. I’d have to wait anotherweek or so to know what colortheir fur would be, and prob-

1716

ably three or four weeks be-fore I could tell the males fromthe females by the little bumpunder their tails.

I decided the day they wereborn to keep all these babiesand probably the next litter,too. Then I would have quite alot of their babies to sell. Icould sell the babies when theywere four weeks old and eatingon their own. It would be a whilebefore I received any money—and at some point I would add afew more unrelated adults tobreed, so my babies wouldn’tget inherited defects. But I didhave six months to prove my-self, and I knew I could do it.

From Blue and Red’s firstthree litters (21 babies) I kept12 of them (6 pair) and gaveeach pair their own cage.The other nine were sold to thepet shop.

To my surprise the owner paidme twice what he had promised,because the babies were al-ready hand-tamed. The sixpairs were seven different col-ors, and I couldn’t wait to seewhat colors their babies wouldbe. This was not only fun–it wasgetting downright interesting.

By the time these six pairspresented me with 50 babiesfrom their first litters, Momwas calling me Grandma all thetime, and I was beginning to seethat I needed some advice forkeeping my breeding records.Just names like Fluffy, Goldie,

Freckles and Coffee weren’tenough. It was getting too com-plicated.

The lady across the street wasa teacher at a secretarial school.I showed her my book, explainedmy problem, and she set up a sys-tem for me to follow so I couldtrace every litter back to itsparents, grandparents and so on.I labeled each cage with thenumbers, and it straightened outall my problems.

By the end of six months, myfirst 12 “grandchildren” alonehad produced 211 babies, someof which I kept to enlarge mybusiness. My expense book wasshowing a profit large enough tomake Dad grin from ear to ear.I’m supplying four pet shops now,and I just discovered that TeddyBear hamsters (long-haired) willbring three times the price ofshort-haired ones. So I justbought my first two pairs ofTeddy Bears, and I can’t wait tobe a grandma again!

Thumb-ThingBy Michele Aprias

Try to write your name withoutusing your thumb to hold thepencil. It’s hard to do, isn’t it?

Now...try to hold a glass,button your shirt or tie yourshoes without using yourthumbs. All these things wouldbe hard to do if your thumbsweren’t there to help you out.

Now, look at your thumb. It’snot very big. It’s not even verynice to look at. But it’s still animportant part of your body.

Try to count all the differentparts of your body. There aretoes, ears, muscles, veins andbones, just to name a few. Eachpart is different, but each onehas a special job to do, like thethumb. We need all these partstogether so that our bodies willwork properly.

Special

The Bible talks about anotherkind of body—the Body ofChrist. The Body of Christ is aspecial kind of body. It’s madeup of every person who believesin Jesus, from little children togreat-grand-parents.

Sometimes we feel likewe’re not very important. Weforget that God made each oneof us special, the same way thatHe made each part of our bodyspecial. No matter how large orsmall, slow or smart, weak orstrong we are, we have aspecial place in God’s Bodyof Christ.

If you don’t believe it, look atyour thumb. Wiggle it. Now try toimagine how your life would be ifyou didn’t have thumbs. Godneeds each of us the same waythat we need our thumbs. That’sbecause every person is“thumb-thing” special in theeyes of God.

(How to always hit a bullseye!)

1918

CLUBHOUSEVol. 60 No. 8

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“Girls Stink” cont. For Geniuses OnlyBy Elaine Hilowitz

Look carefully at the five wordsbelow. Then look at the three wordsin the list below them. Which of thethree goes with the other fivewords?

PERPLEXEDBETTERMENT

CEMETERYDECEMBERLETTERER

CHEESEBURGERCHEMISE

CHEYENNE

Puzzle Power

That pole bent down like anupside down letter U. Rolincoached her on landing the fish,and I crouched down andnetted it.

“Our bass!” I cried. “Youcaught our fish, for cryingout loud!”

Just then we heard a car inour driveway. Becky turned andwaved to her folks.

“I don’t like fishing,” she said,handing Rolin his pole. “Thanksfor everything.” And she left,just like that.

In closing, I would just liketo say that my brother Rolinhasn’t been the same since. He’seven taking piano lessons, forcrying out loud! And that’s whygirls stink. Thank you.

Body ShopWhat is

the

crystal

clear

wonder

drink that

doctors

suggest

you have

6 glasses

of each

day?

WATER!!!

And it’s

yours

absolutely

free!ESAU’s circle:a, c, d, g, h, i, j

J A C O B J J C B J

A A J A C A A B O A

B C C A C C C O C C

O O B O C O O C A B

C B B J B O C A J O

A O B A J J B J J C

J C O C O B A B A A

J A C O B B O C A J

J J A B O C A J O A

A C J O B J A C O B

Answer: Cheyenne. All of thewords in the first list have three E’s,just as Cheyenne does.

JACOB’s circle:b, e, f

Jr. DetectiveDid you findthe two “alike”bees? Bees 1and 5 are “it”!Bee 2 has differentantennae, bee 3has extra lines on it’swings, bee 4 has a buttonon it’s jacket, and bee 6has different eyes.“Mom, can Billy stay

for lunch?”“Were you a frog when

you were little?”