The Purpose of Friendships

What do you think is the true purpose of friendship? Why should we bother to become good friends with people? Is it just because we share a common interest or like being around them? What should be our purpose in developing friendships?

Here are my thoughts on the purpose of friendships:

To Sharpen. Prov. 27:17 says “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another”. By our words and conversations we can sharpen one another!

To Encourage. Friendships are good to develop “that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith”. (Romans 1:12)

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up”. 1 Thess. 5:11
“We...encouraged you ... to walk in a manner worthy of God” 1 Thess. 2:12
“Therefore encourage one another with these words.” 1 Thess. 4:18

To Exhort. “He exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose” Acts 11:23. 1 Tim. 4:13 tells us to “devote yourself to… exhortation”. Heb. 3:13 even reminds us to “exhort one another every day”. What a great goal to set—to exhort someone every day!

To Hold Accountable. Everyone needs accountability. So use your friendships to ask questions and hold each other accountable!

To Challenge. How can you challenge your friends today? Is there a specific situation going on in their life that you can challenge and encourage them in?

To Learn From. Phil. 4:9 declares “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things”. No one is perfect, and we each have different strengths and weaknesses. But we can each learn from one another in so many ways! This is especially true with those older than you; make sure you listen to those who are older and wiser to learn! And don’t forget that there are always those younger than you, and you are the person that those younger friends are learning from!

To Inspire. 1 Timothy 4:12 “But set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” Through discussions and example we can inspire one another towards godliness! Isn’t that an amazing thought?

To Minister. Friendships should not be selfish, thinking of what you can get out of the other person, but instead giving. Think of how you can minister to those around you, the ones God wants you to be friends to.

Do you have other thoughts? Other reasons why you think it is healthy to develop godly friendships? Practicals on how to develop godly friendships? I would love to hear your thoughts. :)

Do I have to understand what I say I believe?

The topic of “worldview” is frequently mentioned and discussed in our home. Because every single thing you read, watch or listen to has a worldview, we have to be careful to not passively allow anything to fill our minds. We need to closely analyze and determine whether or not the things we fill our minds with are in line with what we believe, because they do have an influence on us.

Another thing to note is that we need to know and understand not only what we believe but why we believe something; whether doctrinally, theologically, or practically. The reason it is important is because if we do not understand why we believe something we cannot refute it, nor can we stand against the many philosophies the world will throw at us. (Col. 2:8)

I have a sorrowful example of this. Everyone knows Charles Darwin as the “founder” of the theory of evolution and natural selection. But at a point in his life Darwin actually believed in God (the extent or depth of this belief I do not know) and intended to become a clergyman! If you are exclaiming “Unbelievable!” right now, allow me to disclose how someone could go from a belief in God to the complete opposite...

After discarding the ideas of becoming a doctor or clergyman, Darwin, aged 22, was invited to go on the voyage of the HMS Beagle as company for the captain. Darwin used this time to study specimens and the environments of animals. Because of his weak understanding of the Bible, he gradually began to doubt the doctrine of creation and started speculating that animals could have changed from one species to another. Darwin read the writings of Lyle, who believed that new varieties could only be formed within the species. Making a huge jump, Darwin claimed that animals could evolve into new species. Likewise he read Malthus’ theory that population exceeds the amount of available food, and thus asserted that there is a continual “struggle for survival”. Darwin’s repudiation of the truth of the Bible initiated when he doubted the first chapters in Genesis. In his autobiography he stated:

“I had gradually come by this time, i.e. 1836 to 1839, to see that the Old Testament was no more to be trusted than the sacred books of the Hindoos or the beliefs of any barbarian”.

A miserable decline continued as he rejected the gospels, the New Testament, and eventually God completely.

Did you pick up on that? Because of his weak understanding of the Bible, Darwin began to doubt the truth of Scripture. My friends, Scripture is infallible! If there is anything that we are uncertain about when it comes to whether something is the truth or not, we should immediately turn to Scripture and allow God’s Word to teach us. The reason I can assert that Darwin had a weak understanding of the Bible is because of his statements regarding it. Let me give you an example:

Darwin declared:

“I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created parasitic wasps with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars.”

It may sound like a reasonable statement, but it reveals a weak understanding of the doctrine of the Fall and sin. The reason we have sin and death is because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God and giving into the temptation of Satan. God originally created everything “good” (Gen. 1). He did not desire for the world to be full of evil and suffering, but a holy, just, and righteous God could not allow disobedience without consequences. Since the Fall there has been sin, destruction and death.

I hope that if you didn’t already comprehend the significance of knowing why you believe something that you’re beginning to grasp it. I am not suggesting that you come up with great ways to debate your opinions. Instead, please turn to Scripture, the source of all truth, and study it! Also ask your parents or pastor questions to help you understand difficult truths. We need to actively study the Bible and learn what we mean when we say we believe something so we can refute the worldly philosophies that are thrust upon us, especially the ones under the title “Christian” that sound pretty good.

The Power of the "Delete" Button

I’m generally not a saver, of material stuff or electronically. If I don’t need it, I get rid of it. Sometimes I’m a little too hasty, because I’ll get rid of something only to wish I hadn’t. Some of my friends know that I’ve deleted things on my computer with the intention to “save space”, without realizing that I deleted something important.

Well, it happened again.

You see, I like to write down my thoughts for blog posts, even if they are never developed or published. On my computer desktop I have multiple folders, one titled “Blog Stuff” (which reveals my lack of creativity). Here I would type post ideas, posts I’m working on/thinking through, and sometimes I would just write, with the intention of developing something later. I had many, many documents, some written many months ago that I didn’t post, others started that I didn’t develop enough, and others that I was working on with the intention of posting them in the next few weeks.

Well my dear readers, all my plans for posting have changed, for I accidentally deleted my blog folder. Gone. Vanished. All my work never to be seen again. It’s a long story, and I’m still not positive how it happened! I was very dismayed because I can’t retrieve all the time and work I put into those blog posts. Unfortunately I haven’t backed up my computer in over a year, so the documents backed up are very old.


But don’t think I’m telling you this to pity me, no, the reason I’m informing you of this is so that you can understand if my posts are scattered few and far between. Because of this “dilemma”, I may not be so quick to rewrite all the things I had before; in fact, many will probably be forgotten forever. I had fully intended to post at least once a week this summer, but because of this, it will largely depend on how much time I have. I do hope that I can still manage a post per week, but we shall see how all goes.

So here’s a reminder for you…backup your computer! In fact, I might be good to go do it now if you haven’t done it in a while. Especially if you have important things like schoolwork and such, for losing it would be disastrous.

Courtship thoughts

Last night while we had a group of friends over we had a discussion on the topic of courtship, so I thought I would add to my previous post with some more thoughts on this subject.

My dad defines courtship as: the process by which a couple seeks to determine their readiness for marriage and seeks to discern God’s will for a covenant marriage that will be God honoring.

An important distinction in courtship from dating is that courtship is for those who are ready for marriage. It is not a romantic thrill-ride or for someone who simply desires a relationship, but for a man and a woman who desire to honor the Lord by exhibiting a godly relationship without emotional attachments before they make a lifelong commitment. In this way you experience the great blessing of saving all feelings and expressions of feelings until you are married.

There are also many different ways that families choose to court, and that must be determined by each family. I believe however, that the general vision is that instead of just getting married to be married that we actively prepare for marriage now and when God brings us the right person we commit to them permanently. Remember, the person you choose to marry is who you will live with the rest of your life, so you don’t want to make a wrong decision that could be avoided!

So what are the requirements of courtship? Mr. Bill Gothard explains that you must have:
• A life purpose bigger than marriage
• A “one-man, one-woman” commitment
• A restraint of affection
• A loyalty to parents
• An ability to deal with infatuations
• A readiness for marriage responsibilities

Girls, one thing you must understand is that you must marry a man who you can joyfully submit to and follow his vision. So what is your vision for life? What do you sense the Lord wants for your life? Begin to think and pray through these questions even now. In marriage you (as girls) are to complete your husband and help him further his vision in greater ways than he could do alone, ultimately bringing all glory to God.

As an end note, I must clarify that while I highly esteem courtship as the biblical process before you marry, I do not declare it to be a perfect process in any way. In our world of sin there is nothing perfect. You cannot trust that because you choose the process of courtship that you will have a great marriage or a wonderful spouse. But I believe courtship is the best decision because the parents are actively involved in determining whether the two of you are compatible in crucial areas so that your marriage can be to the glory of God alone!

Representative of Christ

When you see someone with a Christian t-shirt but who is (in your opinion) not acting in a God-honoring way, what do you think? Do you think of how they are poorly representing Christ? It’s easy to do that, because many people claim to be Christians yet do not glorify and honor Christ accurately in their speech and actions. But instead of looking at others, let’s search our own hearts…

What do you think people’s first impressions of you are?

When someone who has never seen you before notices you—in a store, playing in your yard, taking a walk, or anything else, what do you think their first impressions are? Do you think it’s clear that you’re different? Does the love and joy of Jesus clearly shine through you?

This came to my mind this weekend as my family and some families from our church attended a homeschool conference and wore matching shirts with our church logo. Of course, since we all matched and a handful of us were seen walking around often, my thoughts were directed to the question, “What kind of impression am I giving for our church when people see me?” But even more importantly, my thoughts were turned to the question, “Am I properly representing Christ in everything I do?”

The purpose is not to give people a good impression so they think you’re such a great person. On the contrary, anything “good” seen in you should be to the glory of God the Father and all praise and honor should be directed to Him. But if we want others to see the difference Christ has made in our lives and want to make an impact, we have to be on guard to not do things to disrepute the name of Christ!

So let me leave you with a question and a couple Scripture verses…
Are you actively making sure you are representing Christ in an honorable way?

“For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing” 2 Cor. 2:15

“You yourselves are our letter…to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ… written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God” 2 Cor. 3:2-5

Recent Happenings...

School is officially over for us, so especially because I don’t presently have any more CLEP tests to study for, I have some time to write a post!

May was quite a busy month, partially because Luke and I had two hard CLEP tests to take, and partially because May always ends up being a busy month! You probably remember my mention of a post on 4 Homeschoolers that I directed you towards. The one on failure. After failing two CLEPs in a row, I took my own advice and began to try harder and work diligently so I would be more prepared for my upcoming tests.

I can’t attest to my great knowledge or wonderful test taking skills, but rather to my amazing God and the power of prayer. Right now my heart is just overflowing with joy and gratitude for God’s goodness which I am so undeserving of. Luke and I both passed the Government and Biology test, which are generally known as harder tests. Because of my mom’s diligent work with us, her encouraging us to persevere and work hard and the many, many people who prayed for us while we tested, God heard and gave us the grace to pass! To God be the glory!

Saturday we took the Biology CLEP, which is why my last post informed you that I wouldn’t have time to post in the upcoming week. The reason being of course, because we were quite busy studying!

The day before we took Biology the Lord brought the verses in Philippians 4:6-7 to mind:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Whenever I would begin to become anxious before or during my test, I would pray and the peace I had during my test was clearly not from me!

So let me encourage you that whatever you are facing is not bigger than the mighty God we serve. If you feel anxious or worried, lay those anxieties at the feet of the Father and ask Him for His peace. God wants to use any trial or blessing you are given to turn you to Him and bring you to complete dependence and reliance on Him.

New Poll!

Even though the end of May draws close and school is inching its way to completion, I'm still not done and I doubt I'll have time to post in the next week. So how 'bout taking a moment and filling out the new poll on my sidebar? I'm interested in learning the age range of my readers and where a majority of them fall. Don't worry, I won't ask you to tell me your specific age!

Have a blessed day,

floral pictures

Because I choose not to post my family's faces on my blog, I thought I'd share some floral pictures I've taken with my new camera.

This one is a bit bright, but the colors are so pretty!

Gradual Exposure to Evil?

It’s very common to in our culture to hear the complaint directed toward homeschoolers—“You’re too sheltered”, or if it’s towards the parents, “You’re sheltering your kids too much”. Culturally, it’s a well known thought that in order to not be shocked when you “go into” the world, you need to be gradually exposed to evil. Is this a biblical thought? I don’t believe it is. God’s Word says that we are to be “wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil”. (Romans 16:19) We don’t have to “know” or “experience” evil to know that it is wrong. Such logic states that in order for me to know that drinking alcohol is bad for me, I need to taste a little. We as God’s children should desire to stay as far away from evil as possible; we don’t need to experience it or see it to know that it is bad. In contrast, the more we study God’s Word and know what is RIGHT, the more we’ll be able to recognize what is evil. So make sure that you are hiding God’s Word in your heart, meditating on it and studying it!

"I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you."
Psalm 119:11 (ESV)

My New Camera!

I love photography and have been saving for an slr camera for many months. Finally, after much searching, prayer, and waiting, I was able to purchase a Canon Rebel xsi! My old camera served its time well and was of good use and practice, but I wanted to upgrade to an slr so I could improve my photo skills.

Pictures below are of my old camera and new. Of course the pictures of my new camera were taken with the old point-and-shoot, so they aren't as great...

Canon A570

Rebel xsi with 28-135mm lens

Most of my future pictures posted will be taken from this camera. :)

Sending you to 4HS

God has used some recent CLEP tests to refine and shape me. I encourage you to hop over to our homeschool blog and read my recent post. :)
Hopefully this blog will be updated within a week!

field trip

Wednesday my family took a day trip and drove a couple hours to take pictures in the Texas bluebonnets, tour the Blue Bell factory and visit the Rose Emporium. Here are some pictures I took (unless otherwise noted)...

(picture above taken by dad)

Rose Emporium:

Luke and I decided to have some fun with the cameras :)

Tagged again!

Thanks to Lindsay for tagging me! Now I shall attempt to answer the following questions...

What do you enjoy most? Talking, laughing, photography, being with close friends and family, teaching piano

What are some lessons you have taken? Gymnastics, swimming, ballet, tap, tennis

Your favorite authors? Hmmm… Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin, Pastor Voddie Baucham

What do you like to sing in the shower? Haha! Well, when I sing in the shower (which actually isn’t too often) it’s just whatever random song is stuck in my head

Have you ever broken any bones? Yes

What languages do you want to learn? Sign language

What Jane Austen movie is your favorite? I’ve only seen three…Pride and Prejudice maybe?

What are your favorite books of the Bible? Such hard questions! Two of my favorites include Deuteronomy and James.

Your favorite singers? Chris Tomlin, Paul Baloche, Phillips, Craig and Dean, my mom (she doesn’t have CDs though…)

Your favorite types of music? Specific. I’m very picky! Certain praise and worship songs, certain hymns, classical.

Your favorite animals? Rabbits

Your favorite things about nature? The beauty that displays God’s handiwork!

If you were suddenly dropped into a movie, which movie would you like to be in? No clue!

If you could go back to any time period, where would you go? Colonial America probably

What are your favorite writing projects you have done/are doing? Narrative/short stories, some of my worldview writing

Your favorite fictional characters? Never thought about that! Perhaps Millie Keith.... I’m not sure who else.

What phrases do you say/write most often? lol, we need to clean up (my middle brother informed me that I say this often)

How tall are you? 5’4” I think

Your favorite piece of jewelry? I don’t have an absolute favorite!



I know my answers are pretty pathetic. I either try to think too much on tags thus making the question way more complicated than it was meant to be, can’t choose an answer or simply don’t know! Oh well. Perhaps you learned a tad more about me through this!

I will not tag whoever reads this and would like to participate! If you have a blog and decide to do this, leave a comment, and if you don’t, do it in the comment section! :)

The Widow's Might in Theaters!

From today through the 18th, the film The Widow's Might will be in select theaters nationwide! This is the film that won the Best of Festival award and the Audience Choice award at the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival. If you have not seen this film, go see it!! You can view the trailer here.

Here's what Mr. Geoff Botkin said about the movie:
“The Widow’s Might is a groundbreaking film, even though it is a first feature film from a young director. It is one of the most original high-concept features in recent film history. The story is innovative in ways that can inspire the next generation of filmmakers, many of whom are looking for ways to break out of tired cinematic clichés, especially the weak theological clichés of the Christian ‘altar call’ movie. This film attempted and achieved a wholesome family message, illustrating the difficult-to-capture functional family environment. Its message addressed a very complex theological issue which is a defining issue of our generation: a form of taxation that asserts the state's presumed authority over God‘s. The clash over sovereignty between man and God is a topic Christian filmmakers will be exploring for decades to come. The film employed a clever story line to make rich use of complex subplots, including an illustration of the abusive use of media. Finally, the film used aesthetic elements to set new standards for taste and humor, charting a delightful course for tomorrow‘s filmmakers who will make a clean break from patterns of discourse that have taken American culture in the wrong direction for several decades.”

**John Moore, director and actor in The Widow's might, noted the following about the theater playings:
"Some theaters are not showing every day 13-18, and some are showing longer. Some showtimes are not yet listed on Fandango. If a showtime is not listed, you can call the specific theater in your area to confirm showtimes. We recommend that you call your local Carmike cinema to confirm the times and dates of The Widow's Might. "

Abundance of pancakes!

One of the ladies in our church is due with child #9 any day now, so Katie and I mixed up a whole bunch of pancakes and I flipped 108 pancakes for them. Most we've ever made at once, although I was hoping to get about 130-140 out of the batter. We stuck them in the freezer so they'll be able to pull however many pancakes out when they'd like to eat them.

big bowl of batter

cooking on the griddle, 8 at a time

We had a lot of fun, and made a game out of "how many pancakes we could fit on one plate". ;)

bagged & cooling

Carpetball

For my brother Luke's birthday, my dad and our visiting friend built a carpetball table. It's an exciting and entertaining diversion with pool balls! We had played at a family camp we've attended in the past and loved it, Luke especially. So he received a huge birthday present this year!

Your goal is to knock your opponent's balls into the hole on their end. Normally you use a cue ball to knock the others in, but since we don't have one we've been using one of the normal balls.

But before we could play, they had to build it. If you purchase one, they can cost $1,000 or more, so building saves you a lot of money!

After building the frame, they glued the carpet down

It's pretty long!

To play, set up your 5 five balls however you prefer on your side of the table

A common way is to line them up on the edge because it's more difficult to knock them into the hole

Then you roll the ball to hit your opponent's balls in!

Loads of fun!!

Sorry, our table looks a little dirty in some of the pictures. Pollen has been falling from the trees over it!

My 19 Minute Survey

Caleb tagged me with this survey a couple weeks ago and I finally filled it out! Actually, I filled this out yesterday but didn't take the time to post it.

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The longest survey you'll ever fill out! Do the world a favor: fill it out and post it for all your friends. Do this because the person who sent it to you didn't sit here for ages for nothing. Answer all the questions honestly, no lying to avoid stuff.
___
Starting Time: 6:57
Name: Allison
Sisters: 1
Brothers: 3
What are you wearing? Purple hoodie with black shirt underneath, jeans, jewelry and a hair clip :)
Favorite Number: none (no, I don't mean the number zero, I have no favorite number)
Favorite Drink: Dr Pepper, Sunkist or chocolate milk :)
Favorite Month: In Houston, probably March or April because it’s usually pretty nice outside and we have park days with our church!
Favorite Breakfast: something homemade—crepes, waffles, baked oatmeal—it’s all good!
Love someone so much who made you cry? I don’t quite get why this question is on virtually every tag. But to answer it, I don't believe so.
Broken a bone: yes
Been in a police car: I don’t think so
Been on a boat? yes
Came close to dying: no
Been in a hot tub: yes
Swam in the ocean: yes
Fallen asleep in school: Almost, but no
Cried when someone died: Can’t say that I have, no one has died that I’ve known well
Fallen off your chair: yes


***********What is****************

Your room like? Peaceful, organized (most of the time), beautiful, blue

What’s right beside you? a CD
What is the last thing you ate? applesauce


--------------------------Ever Had--------------------------------

Chicken pox: no
Sore throat: yes
Stitches: no

-------------------Do You------------------------------------

Like picnics? Church picnics? YES!
Like School? I enjoy learning new things, but some subjects aren’t so fun. So most of the time I like it.

------------------------Questions----------------------------------------

Who was the last person you danced with? I don’t dance, except when my sister and I are acting really goofy, so Katie would probably be the person and that would have been a long time ago
Who makes you smile? Almost anyone I'm friends with! But my family especially.

--------------------------Who---------------------------------------------

Who Did you last yell at? Umm…Seth probably. But I hope I'm not known to yell often!
Do you like filling these out? Most of the time
Do you like yourself? Yes, too much at times!

-------------------Final Questions---------------------------

What are you listening to right now? My sister messing with her stamping stuff, my brothers/dad playing baseball outside
Do you hate someone in your family? No way!
What car do you wish to have? Don’t care about cars
Good singer? “Good”? I think so
Indoors or outdoors? Indoors, unless it’s beautiful outside.

----------------------------Today did you------------------------------

1. Talk to someone you like? Yes, it would be a sad day if you did not talk to someone! And I pretty much like everybody.
2. Get sick? no
3. Sing? I’ve got to sing at least once a day, so YES!
4. Miss someone? yes

--------------------------Last person who---------------------------

7. You talked to on the phone with? Mrs. Head
8. Made you cry? No clue
9. Went to the mall with? My mom, sister and I went to a store at the mall recently, but we didn’t go through the mall…
10. Been to Europe? No
11. Been to Asia? No
12. Been to Russia? No
13. Been to the Bahamas? No
14. Been to Mexico? Yes
15. Been to Canada? No
16. Been to Africa? No

----------------Random-----------------------

17. What books are you reading right now? Bible (2 Peter, Psalms, miscellaneous other passages). That's all I'm reading consistently.

18. Best feeling in the world? Peace and joy only the Lord can give!
19. Future kids name? Where’s the apostrophe supposed to be in that question? :) Honestly, I don’t know because I can’t choose names for future children on my own! I like names with great meanings, or Bible names. A few names I like include Emily, Timothy and James…but I like many names and have no particular favorites.
20. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? no
21. What's under your bed? Shoeboxes that include scrap paper, boots, cosmetology supplies, and probably other junk
22. Favorite location? home or church

23. Who do you really hate? Satan
24. Do you have a job? Teaching piano and babysitting, but I prefer to refer to them as ministry or teaching
25. Are you lonely right now? Nope!


Time Finished: 7:16

With however long it took you to complete this, post as
"My _ Minute Survey"

I tag...
Vanessa
Lindsay
Kristen

If you have the time, please do this! I'd love to read your answers. If you were not tagged but would like to do this, I tag you--just make sure to leave me a comment so I know you've done it! :)

Fun filled weekend approaching!

Hello!
I'm sorry I've neglected my blog as of late, it's been a little crazy. I have a thousand ideas floating around in my head for posts, but not the chance to write any! Tomorrow morning (Friday) a good family friend is visiting us, and he'll be with us until Wednesday. So I'm afraid I won't have a chance to really post until late next week. Hopefully you'll see at least one post by next weekend!
May the Lord bless and keep you!

Dirty and Callused Hands...

....are signs of hard work. (and sunburns too if you're me!) Today we took off school to plant some citrus trees we bought Saturday. Naturally, we ran into some issues. As we struggled to dig through the clumpy, hard black gumbo we struck some concrete. Yes, we found some large chunks of concrete about 4 inches below the grass! Working through that problem we eventually dug the amount we needed and shoveled 5 loads of dirt from dad’s truck to raise the bed for the trees. We planted 6 trees today!

Here are some pictures from the day...

shoveling the dirt

getting there...

watering

5 of the trees

One of our small orange trees already has blossoms!

Sorry, some of the pictures are not the best because I just took quick snapshots and did not bother with taking multiple or trying to get better shots. Someday I'll probably post more pictures of our "orchard". :)

Two awards!

Wow! I've been blessed to receive two separate awards about the same time! :)

First I received the "Excellence in Blogcasting Award" from Lindsay, and then Katie. Thank you both so much!
Rules are:

1) Post the award on your blog;
2) Pass it on to some friends, up to 15; and
3) let them know they've received the award.

Although I haven't quite determined who/why you give this award, I choose to award:
Vanessa
Kristen


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And my second award was the Lemonade Blog award, which is presented to bloggers who show thankfulness and gratefulness. Thank you very much Faith for blessing me with this award!
You are supposed to tag up to 10 bloggers. Here are the ones I believe have demonstrated the qualities this award is designed to go to!
Kristen
Vanessa
Katie
Rebekah

I'm very humbled to be given these awards. I'm very grateful for my readers! To those who I awarded, thank you for your wonderful posts! For those who I did not award, please do not think I do not enjoy your blog, I just chose to limit the number of people I awarded, and some of my friends have already been awarded! :)

Re-post #3

As I was thinking about what type of post I should do next, I browsed through my old posts and decided this was a good one to repeat (for me!). Originally posted here.

Imitating Christ's Humility
Serving should be a characteristic of every believer. However, teenagers especially need to be encouraged to use their time wisely, and serving is one way of doing that. Here is a definition that I think is appropriate—

Humility: Recognizing that God and others are actually responsible for the achievements in my life.

“Jesus Christ is the ultimate example of selfless humility.” –quoted from The MacArthur Bible Commentary.

Philippians 2:5-8 says this, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!

These verses give a beautiful picture of Christ’s selflessness. But wait; there’s even more to those verses! It continues in verses 9-11, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” You can see here the blessings Christ received for humbling obeying the Father. The Scripture also says in Matthew 20:28 that “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Wow! So if Christ, the spotless Lamb of God, demonstrated humility, shouldn’t we? “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' ” 1 Peter 5:5

Serving could be connected to numerous other virtues. In order to serve, you must love, first God and then others. Also, you must be humble and meek. You must be joyful in the tasks you are given and choose to do. These and others are all, in someway, connected to serving. Of course, the only example we need is Christ, as displayed in these verses: “When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. "You call me ‘Teacher’ and 'Lord’, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” John 13:12-17 (emphasis added)

So here’s what I think teenagers need to do: 1) conduct themselves in godly manner, imitating Christ’s example so that younger ones may find nothing bad to imitate in them; and 2) live lives of humble servant hood. “Serve one another in love” Galatians 5:13

Here is a poem taken from Through Gates of Splendor, by Elisabeth Elliot,that rightly fits in with the subject of serving.

Do all the good you can,
By all means you can,
In all ways you can,
In all the places you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.

This was a public college?

I love to read things such as this—the requirements for Yale University in the 1700s that encompass character qualities that must be evident when you begin college, as well as daily obligations. Read these outstanding conditions for Yale that were written and utilized less than 300 years ago!

Requirements/Regulations for Yale 1745
Chapter 1
Concerning Admission into College
1. That none may expect to be admitted into this college unless upon examination of the president and tutors, they shall be found able extempore to read, construe, and parse Tully, Virgil, and the Greek Testament; and to write true Latin in prose and to understand the rules of prosody and common arithmetic, and shall bring sufficient testimony of his blameless and inoffensive life…

Chapter 2
Of a Religious and Virtuous Life
1. All scholars shall live religious, godly, and blameless lives according to the rules of God’s Word, diligently reading the Holy Scriptures, the fountain of light and truth; and constantly attend upon all the duties of religion, both in public and secret.

2. That the president, or in his absence one of the tutors, shall constantly pray in the college hall every morning and evening; and shall read a chapter or suitable portion of the Holy Scriptures, unless there be some other theological discourse or religious exercise; and every member of the college…shall seasonably attend upon penalty that every undergraduate who shall be absent (without sufficient excuse) shall be fined 1 d.

3. The president is hereby desired as he has time and opportunity to make and exhibit in the hall such a public exposition, sermon or discourse as he shall think proper for the instruction of the scholars…

[emphasis mine]

Can you imagine what it'd be like to have such regulations for a public college now? Unthinkable, but amazing!

50 Things

My sister tagged me with this adapted version of tags she's seen. Hopefully some of the information in this will be new for you, but some you probably already know!

Rules are: Try to come up with 50 facts about yourself as you can. If you're tagged you must try to do it! Its o.k. if you don't make it all the way to 50. You may use things from previous tags. Just have fun!

1. I’m a firm believer in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
2. I’m a Reformed Southern Baptist
3. I really, really, really, really don’t like Algebra (can’t say hate!)
4. I love getting college credit through CLEP tests!
5. I love fixing grammatical errors
6. I’ve cut two of my brothers’ hair before
7. The first time I cut my brother’s hair it took nearly an hour!
8. I’m an extrovert
9. If you don’t know what “extrovert” means, I’m a people person and draw my energy from being around friends/family
10. I’ve had the same favorite color (light blue) for many years
11. I think everyone looks good in blue :)
12. I’m practical
13. I love everything to be organized and clean
14. I have many folders inside folders on my computer to keep my documents organized
15. I used to be a minimalist (I still can be, but not as much). One summer I boxed up all but 4 or 5 shirts and wore the same shirts every week!
16. I love baking for my family
17. I had braces for a little over a year
18. I played in homeschool band (clarinet) for three years
19. I hate spicy food and my taste buds are really bland
20. I love to have worship music playing while I clean up. When our parents are gone, my siblings and I turn it up loud and sing merrily while we work! :)
21. I have a number of pen-pals and email-pals, but I’m terrible at consistently writing! (even though I love it!)
22. My family will tell you that I have a general dislike of dogs and cats (because I’m allergic). That’s kind of true, but I don’t hate them, and actually think some are cute—it’s the work and trouble they (cough…our dog) cause(s).
23. I’m a rule-follower!
24. I attended a Monopoly tournament at the library and surprisingly won even though Monopoly is one of my least favorite games. I received a Borders gift card, which made it worth it. ;)
25. I’m not the person to ask about how a movie is the first time I see it. I think most movies are great the first time I see them because I miss so much!
26. My very best friends are my siblings, but I have a lot of other best friends outside of my family that follow behind them
27. I’m not funny, but…
28. I love to smile and laugh!
29. I’ve always been homeschooled and am convinced it is the biblical way of discipleship and training
30. I don’t watch T.V. (it’s a VERY rare occasion if I do), but I sometimes watch movies
31. I like my laundry to be folded a particular way—and read in a book how to fold “correctly”
32. I think trinkets are a waste because all you do is dust them. Teacups are okay because you use them, but they are the only “trinkets” I have
33. I like to throw things away. Seriously. When we clean and someone asks “What should we do with this?”, I say, “throw it away.” :)
34. I’m a city girl. The country doesn’t really appeal to me.
35. Caleb taught me some basic HTML, and I’ve taught myself a little as well
36. My sister has curled my hair using perm rollers
37. I have a Hope Chest, and it’s full!
38. I “ran away” from a family that was babysitting me when I was 18 months old and took their little girl with me. We left out the open back door and roamed the streets of L.A.
39. I love to play duets on the piano—or sing in parts
40. I usually have 3 or more tabs open while I’m online. Sometimes I’ll open too many and it will freeze up my computer.
41. My parents planned to go to Russia as missionaries when I was a baby, but God kept them in California church planting
42. I participated in a Dr. Seuss writing contest in 1st grade and won second place prize-a thousand dollar scholarship plus got my story published in the paper.
43. I love to collect great quotes
44. The one time I broke my wrist I was running backwards—racing a friend who was on rollerblades
45. I wanted a violin when I was younger and begged for one. When I finally got one for my 8th birthday, I played for a few months then decided it was too hard.
46. I have always been really picky about reading books in order. I read a majority of the boxcar children books in order, until I realized they weren’t written that way! Many other series I have also read that way, unless I couldn’t find the next book.
47. I really want another sister! :)
48. I took a Safe Sitter class at the hospital when I was 11.
49. I am a morning person; I am usually wide awake, cheerful, and think well in the mornings.
50. My name means “truthful one”. And guess what? I cannot tell a lie—even joke—without it being completely obvious!

I tag the following people:
Vanessa
Kristen
Sara
Kira
Taylor
Lindsay

I do not require that you do this, but I would really like it if you would!! :)

Obedience, part 2

In my first post, I discussed how it is critically important to obey your parents in all things. But does that mean you have no say in anything that pertains to your life? That you have to obey even though you are convinced you have a better alternative?

An appeal is where you approach your parents, suggesting something because perhaps you don’t agree with what they are asking you to do. This is appropriate only if you do it respectfully. Demanding anything from your parents or arguing with them is not what God desires.
For instance, if your parents wanted to go somewhere or do something, but you thought you had a better idea, you could approach them and say, “Dad and mom, may I make an appeal?” Instead of saying, “But I have a better idea!” or “That won’t work! This is better”, asking to make an appeal is a respectful way of giving your input to your authority. However, once you give them your suggestion, you still need to submit to their final decision. If it’s not what you suggested, you need to be content with whatever they choose. On visionarydaughters.com Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin say:

“Don’t panic if your father makes a decision you don’t agree with. Have faith in God’s ability to lead through your father, imperfect though he is, knowing that God will bless your obedience.”

They also encourage whole-hearted obedience in their book, So Much More, by stating:

“Obedience is more than outwardly obeying with a resentful, grudging attitude. Obedience means inwardly obeying, from the heart, with eagerness and cheerfulness. True obedience means obeying even when it’s hard. But obedience doesn’t have to be painful. When we have a deep, abiding inner reverence for our parents and their wishes, it can become a joy to obey them with our whole hearts.”

Proverbs 20:20 reveals that “If a man curses his father or mother, his lamp will be snuffed out in pitch darkness.” Anna Sofia and Elizabeth address this verse by articulating:

“When we reject [our parents’] opinions, their restrictions and their punishments, that lamp, that blessing that God gives us to guide us, is snuffed out, leaving us blind and unable to see that we are stumbling around, making a mess of our lives.”

Lies Young Women Believe, by Nancy DeMoss and Dannah Gresh, encourages that

“Submission places you under God's protection. Rebellion opens you up to the influence of Satan in ways you may not even realize. When we place ourselves under the spiritual covering of the authorities God has placed in our lives, God protects us. On the other hand, when we insist on having it our way and are stepping out from under that protection we become vulnerable and give the Enemy a new opportunity to attack us.”

“My son, keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your mother’s teaching.”
~Proverbs 6:20

Fantastic Reads...

The ladies at Girl Talk posted a thought-provoking article about developing skills and learning while you are young.
Here are some questions they asked:
"-Which do your parents hear more: complaints about schoolwork or gratefulness for your education?
-Are you diligently working to improve the skills God has given you for His glory?
-What gifts has God blessed you with and how can you develop them for use in the local church?
-How much time do you spend reading? Do you read books that teach you about God and His creation?
-Most importantly, are you daily studying the Bible to learn all you can about God’s character and how to walk in His way?"
Click here to read the entire post.

Also, Ms. Nancy DeMoss has been doing an incredible series on deception. Here is the main page for her programs, where you can read what comes on the radio each day.
A couple quotes from this series...
"Deception doesn’t usually come through this big, huge, ugly monster. Then we wouldn’t buy into it. It’s more often subtle, alluring, attractive, enticing, just little distortions of the truth, but you get off by a matter of degrees, and before long, you’re way, way off. They disguise themselves as angels of light and servants of righteousness."

"If there's some relationship, some connection, some habit, some reading, some types of movies you’re watching, if they’re sending you in a wrong direction, they’re pulling you away from the truth that is in Christ, if they’re diminishing your heart for holiness, cut if off!"

And here are a couple of my favorite programs from the amazing series:
January 29th and
February 4th

Instead of being deceived by the empty philosophies of this world, we need to carefully examine and filter everything--Christian or non-Christian, book or movie-- through God's Word, the ultimate standard!
Please take the time to at least skim these articles; you will find them helpful!

P.S. I'm working on completing part two of Obedience; hopefully it'll be posted this week, or at least by early next week!

Obedience, part 1

We all have to choose at times to joyfully submit and obey our parents’ directions. Yet sometimes we don’t realize exactly how critically important this actually is. Do you know that even our first president, George Washington, had to choose whether to submit or follow his own wisdom? Consider this story…
It all occurred when George Washington was at the ripe age of 14. Friends aroused the interest in him to pursue military service, and George Washington was ready to hop on a ship. Although his reluctant mother was persuaded to allow George to join Navy, she later had apprehension. Willingly, George submitted to his mother’s authority and did not pursue his dream to be in the Navy. What a fantastic example of submitting to authority! Think about it… what if George Washington had joined the Navy, how would our history be different? But not only did Washington submit when he was 14, submission to authority was a principle that he maintained throughout his life!

God brings blessing when we obey our authority, even if we don’t like what they are doing or disagree. If George Washington had done his own thing and followed his dream, God would not have blessed him because he would have been ignoring his wise mother’s advice. He would have been rebelling against his mother’s authority, and I Samuel 15:23 states, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as the sin of idolatry.” Similarly, Proverbs 12:15 states that “The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.”

So encourage your younger siblings to obey your parents with a happy heart. Remind yourself that you need to obey your parents in all things, joyfully! If we only obey half-heartedly, and do it angrily or with bitterness towards our parents or other authority, we are still not obeying to the full extent God desires. Proverbs 5:12-14 even says “You will say, "How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction! I would not obey my teachers or listen to my instructors. I have come to the brink of utter ruin”. Many other Proverbs speak of how the wise son listens and obeys his father and mother. May God bless you as you obey your parents!

“Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”
Deuteronomy 5:16

*Disclaimer: The only time when it is biblical to disobey your parents is if they are clearly asking you to sin!

Have a laugh!

I collected my favorite resume bloopers a few months ago. These are hilarious!!!! I find it interesting what people will put on their resumes. :)

* Personal: Married, 1992 Chevrolet.
* Have had littel luck in finding a new and challenging position.
* Proven ability to track down and correct erors.
* Personal interests: Donating blood. Fourteen gallons so far.
* I have an excellent track record, although I am not a horse.
* I was proud to win the Gregg Typting Award.
* Excellent memory; strong math aptitude; excellent memory.
* I am quick at typing, about 25 words per minute, 35 with caffeinated coffee.
* Minor allergies to house cats and Mongolian sheep.
* Thank you for your consideration. Hope to hear from you shorty!
* Please don't regard my 14 positions as job hopping. I never once quit a job.
* Finished eighth in my high school graduating class of ten.
* You will always find me to be an extremely trying person
*Special Skills: Speak English
*I am very detail-oreinted
*Married, eight children. Prefer frequent travel
*Accomplishments: Completed 11 years of high school.
*Am a perfectionist and rarely if if ever forget details.
*My goal is to be a meteorologist. But since I possess no training in meteorology, I suppose I should try stock brokerage.
*Received a plague for Salesperson of the Year.
*It's best for employers that I not work with people.

Quick hello!

I'm still hoping to write a post about the Academy, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. :) School is back, and keeping me busy. My brother and I are studying our English Literature in hopes to take the English Lit. CLEP in a couple weeks.

Other than that, I can't think of much else that is happening. I know it's been a while since I've posted, so I wanted to give a quick update!

Have a blessed week!

"I will exalt you, my God and King; I will praise Your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise You and extol Your name for ever and ever. Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom."
Psalm 144:1-3

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."
Colossians 2:6-7

Newly Renovated Kitchen

Our kitchen is complete! Those yucky looking pictures posted below are no longer a portrait of our kitchen. Thanks to the help of a new friend who is a contractor and knows how to do stuff like placing in a sink and woodworking, we were able to have the kitchen nearly complete in a day! Praise God! Below we have our beautiful new counter-tops, trim, (some) painted cabinets and sink.

New porcelain sink and oil-rubbed bronze faucet, and beautiful windowsill casing

Quick Report

over 500 people attended the Academy

It’s difficult to believe that the week of inspiration, encouragement, learning, studying, examining, analyzing, listening, soaking in and just sitting at the Academy and Festival thinking, “WOW!!” is over. Even though I am not a filmmaker, I was immensely blessed to listen under the teaching of men like Mr. Geoff Botkin and Mr. Doug Phillips on topics like theology and doctrine that pertain to movie making, as well as learning how to produce films that glorify God. While some (okay—a lot!) of the technical details were over my head, there was a lot that I attempted to absorb as I sat and took as many notes as I could scribble down. All the thoughts, ideas and things I learned are still swarming through my head, but I will try to get at least one post written relatively soon. Until then, you can view these posts of bloggers who attended the Film Academy and Festival.
Anna Naomi
Pastor Head
Mr. Phillips (multiple posts)
John Moore (multiple posts)
Isaac Harris (multiple posts)
Nathaniel Darnell (multiple posts)

We're off to the Academy!

Monday my dad, brother Luke, and I are off with some church friends to attend Vision Forum's Film Academy. No, I am not planning on being a film maker, but I am incredibly excited about all that I will learn! Following the Academy we will attend the Film Festival, and most of our families will join us.
Once again, please let me know if you're going, because I'd love to meet/see you there!

Here are the top 10 reasons why you NEED to go to the Film Academy.

Also, Isaac Harris will be live-blogging the Academy & Festival at therebelution.com/blog. If you aren't able to go, you can go there to check out what happens!

We have our work cut out for us…

What was to be a relatively simple job has turned into a huge winter break project. We’ve been dealing with a leak under our kitchen sink for a while (dripping from the faucet), but recently it’s gotten worse. Because we wanted to eventually replace the counter tops and sink, we thought we might as well do it now, since we had to replace the faucet anyway. However, anytime we start a house project it ends up being bigger than we realize. When my dad started messing around under the cabinets, he found mold and water damage from an old leak that must not have been fixed properly. The drywall was crumbling in places around the sink and the bottoms of two of the cabinets were so rotted you could pull the board apart with your hands. Needless to say, we have to replace the cabinets! Right now, we don’t have a kitchen sink or counter tops on one side of the kitchen. I'm one of the official painters of the family, so I have my work cut out for me as well. :)
Here are a few pictures of the mess we ran in to...

back splash and counter tops pulled off--crumbling Sheetrock

rotting base cabinet

closeup

other rotting base cabinet

Please pray that we won't run into any more issues, and that this will be fixed quickly!

Holiday Decor

Between Christmas parties, babysitting, CLEP of this month, church, and other holiday preparations, I haven't had time to work on posts of length! One thing I've done a lot of this month is take pictures. So this post is once again--pictures! Here are some I've taken this month.

Church Christmas party!

Yesterday our church had the most interesting and unique party I've ever heard of. In our church we have three elders, and they wanted the families of church to visit and fellowship in each of their homes. So they separated them into groups and each hour the elders had a new group of families in their homes! It was fun, but it went by so fast. At the end, the families who still wanted to fellowship were invited to come to our home once again!
Here's what we did:

played games (after eating)

ate some more.....

played some more....

and talked!

Doesn't that sound like the perfect Christmas party? ;)
It really was a lot of fun!

Christmas baking

My sister and I did some Christmas baking last night. Here are some pictures of what we accomplished! :)

Gingerbread cookies (not men...)

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Black and whites - without the icing

Date bars

Christmas is always such a busy season, so my posts will be more random and not as often these next few weeks! Hope you are enjoy this wonderful holiday season celebrating Christ's birth!

Snowman!

Our snowman was a "man" of many personalities. We tried a number of hats on him. With his snickerdoodle eyes, carrot nose, grass and leaf covered body, and no mouth, he was definitely a site. He was pretty tall with the four balls too!

Our snowman shrunk (we removed a ball) because he was falling over

Cowboy

colonial (kinda)

cowboy again

hatless :)

We've only built one other snowman (I believe), and this was by-far the largest!

Vision Forum's Film Festival in San Antonio!

In January 2009, we (at least part of my family) are attending the SACIFF (San Antonio Christian Independent Film Festival) for the first time! I’ll post more about it later. In the meantime………

Is anyone else going???

Snow!

You can rest assured that when it snows in Houston--even just a *tiny* bit, Houstonians are ecstatic! Yet this wasn't just a tiny bit of snow, it covered the ground with an inch or two.

subdivision entrances

Before it started snowing, we had some frozen rain on our car, and I thought I'd have some fun :)

Remind anyone of Narnia? :)

Building a snowman...

Snowman pictures are coming in the next post!

Christian Psychology?

I know you're probably tired of hearing about psychology by now, but I thought I'd post three more quotes that I found browsing through a book called Christian Psychology's War on God's Word: The Victimization of the Believer by Jim Owen. Read what he says about Christian psychology...

"Christian psychologists offer a gospel that won't make people feel bad about themselves or offend them by exposing their wickedness and worthlessness (Romans 3:12). Their gospel is all sympathy and little judgment, all love and no wrath, a gospel with a cross that slightly frowns and gently chides us into the kingdom. Their gospel never radically offends us or angers us with its crucified Lord nor warns of God's impending wrath upon impenitent sinners (Luke 13;1-5)."

"Many Christians, deeply influenced by psychology, are dangerously close to believing that man's 'victimized past' is more responsible for his sinful behavior and his estranged relation with God than in his wicked heart."

"[Christian psychology] emphasizes man-as-victim rather than man-as-sinner. Such a view radically challenges the biblical doctrines of man's absolute culpability before the cross, the supremacy of the Holy Spirit in the believer's sanctification, and most importantly the sufficiency and authority of Scripture for the believer."

More evidence for the ridiculousness of Psychology?

Read in the Educational Psychology REA study guide [parenthesis are my notes]:

"Researchers studying aging generally agree [does this mean some don't believe we die?] that there is an inevitable process of biological aging than eventually would cause death even in the absence of disease. Evidence for this view is that there appears to be a maximum length of life for humans. There is no record living beyond 110 years or so [this person hasn't read the Bible].... One theory, the wear and tear theory, suggests the human body, like a machine, eventually wears out from normal use."

*emphases mine
My brother, mom, and I laughed when we read this. But it is actually quite sad what you have to come up with when you leave God out of the picture, or that they have to do all this research to figure out that all humans die...
God talks about the wisdom of the world in 1 Corinthians 3:19: "the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight" Psychologists and their theories are considered "wise" and "right", but God does not consider them so.

Do you see why we need to be *so* careful about what and who we believe, so we aren't taken captive by any philosophy that sounds good? For Colossians 2:8 says "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."

THIS is why it is vitally important to understand what and why you believe, and know how to discern what is right and wrong. God's Word should be our standard for everything.

Dangers of Psychology, part 2

Psychology leads to quite a depressing resolution, because psychologists do not have answers for change! If you have what they consider a mental disorder or depression you are given drugs and told you that you must live with your problem. Drugs never solve the problem. They can cover it up for a while, but never solve it. The only hope for change is through Jesus Christ. This is why biblical counseling can be so freeing!

Biblical meditation differs from the meditation psychologists recommend. Biblical meditation has to do with contemplating, studying, and memorizing God’s Word, while secular meditation has to do with thinking nothing. In secular meditation you often repeat the same word until you get into a state where you are not thinking of anything. This becomes very dangerous because you are said to be getting “in touch” with yourself, but in reality you are opening the door to demons speaking to you! Hearing voices (delusions) can also be hearing demons. Romans 12:9 states “Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” And likewise, Romans 16:19 “be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil”. Therefore, we are instructed to avoid any evil. 1 Peter 5:8-9 also informs us that “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith”.

Hypnosis, another method used by some psychologists, is a state of “suggestibility”. You are still awake, but have been lured into a state where you are easily influenced by the suggestions of the hypnotizer. Hypnosis simply leads to role playing and fantasy. Why is it dangerous? Because you are not actively controlling what you do. You are so “zoned out” that you take suggestions and do whatever the hypnotizer tells you. This is a dangerous place for a Christian, because God commands us to, "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ". If we are not controlling our minds, how can we take thoughts captive?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Comparatively, what should a biblical answer look like and a typical pychologist's answer to a problem?
Question: Why am I depressed, bitter, angry?
Psychologist’s answer: You were perhaps abused as a child, or maybe you were not fed properly as a baby
Biblical answer: SIN

Why is it wrong for Christian counselors to use parts of Psychology—the parts that sound pretty good?
One reason is because the basis is evolution. Psychologists do not boldly declare that their theories are based upon the presuppositions of evolution, but the underlying ideas of all their answers clearly reveal an evolutionary base. The human nature presented in psychology is also in direct opposition to Christianity. Psychology and biblical counseling should bring about completely different answers, so psychology has no place in Christian counseling. Using techniques, suggestions, or ideas from psychology for biblical counseling is asserting the Bible to be insufficient. 2 Peter 2:1-2 “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.”

Before we took the Psychology CLEP, I knew nothing about the subject. Now I am glad to understand what and why Psychologists believe what they do. As a side note though, my mom went over the stuff with us, and we discussed it. That greatly helped us to determine what was wrong with the different theories, and compare them to the Bible. You must approach things like this with caution.

On another note, Psychology was not a difficult CLEP test, and both my brother and I passed
Intro to Psychology
Intro to Educational Psychology
and
Human Growth and Development
If you're looking for semi-easy CLEPs, these all have a lot of overlap. I could not have passed the latter two without Intro to Psych first.

Thanksgiving Break

This week I will take off from blogging because of Thanksgiving and some other family holidays. However if you'd like to read what I briefly wrote last Thanksgiving, go here.
Also, as a re-print from last Thanksgiving, I'm pasting George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation below.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their Joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanks-giving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26^th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the greatest degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executived and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

George Washington
City of New York
October 3, 1789

Dangers of Psychology, part 1

Psychology. Almost everyone has heard the term. Some associate it with people reclining on couches or identifying an ambiguous blob of ink. Some don’t have a clue what it is, and most importantly, some don’t recognize its dangers. Because my brother and I recently studied Psychology took the Psychology CLEP in October and Education Psychology November 5th, I thought I would post some of my thoughts about the dangers of psychology while it is fresh in my mind. As I began typing this, I realized that there was actually a lot to say, so I’ll break it up into two posts for you. :)

Psychology is usually defined as the study of mental processes and behavior. In other words, Psychologists desire to answer the age-old question: “Why do people do what they do?” The problem with their answers begins with their starting point. Depending on the type of psychology you observe, you may believe that men are simply animals, basically good, or that “good” is dependent on what the society deems appropriate. So I cannot suggest that all psychologists believe that man is basically good. However, they have similar conclusions—punishment is bad, rewarding is good. To keep from further confusing you, here are definitions of the basic psychological beliefs:

Structuralism— focused merely on the structure of the mind
Functionalism— focused on the function – environmental influences, experience is adaptive
Psychoanalysis— Sigmund Freud is the founder. Believed in unconscious mental processes and how childhood development affects your current problems. Developed the superego (conscience), ego (middle guy, trying to please both your conscience and the id), and id (bad guy).
Behaviorism— centralized how the environment changes you, uses classical conditioning to change your responses
Humanistic— self-centered, people are basically good, choice and individuality are important
Cognitive— placed importance on thinking processes, change your thinking to change your actions

Because psychologists do not believe the Bible, sin is absent, and everything you do “wrong” has to be explained as something else. Freud explained that things considered right were simply the expectations of the society, and not necessarily good. You should do what feels good to you (pleasure principle) and let your id (the bad guy) go and have fun. Murder may not be wrong therefore, and could be excused by stating that the person was abused as a child, or has a mental disorder. Yes, it may sound ridiculous, but this is what many psychologists believe, and it leads to numerous problems in society!

To be continued....

Awesome New Movie!!!!

My brother and sister and I watched Come What May last night, and we absolutely loved it! It is a must see!!

RIGHT NOW, for a very short time (I believe today is the last day, but I'm not positive), Come What May is available for viewing on Godtube - the whole movie! So go here and watch it while it's still there! It's in 5 sections or so. You can also watch the trailer here.

This is a well done movie by homeschoolers and students at Patrick Henry college. The film group is Advent Film Group. There are a lot of great things in this movie. I still wouldn't recommend this for younger children, not because of language or violence or stuff like that, but because the court issue centers around the Roe vs. Wade case, is over the heads of youngsters and discusses abortion. Nothing is inappropriate in my opinion though!

If you watch it, please tell me what you think of it!!

Maiden's Quest--pictures of formal

Katie wanted to wear formals to Maiden's Quest tea party. In order to make a formal I found at the thrift store modest, I had to get out a needle and thread and put my fingers to work! I added sleeves, a small top piece, and a little material on the sides of the shoulder straps. The neat thing is that I didn't buy ANY material!!! I used the extra on the bottom to put on the top. :)

top piece added (above)

top completed!

My sister did my hair (She's incredible! She makes up her own hairstyles and tries them on me)

Cake I had to take a picture of! (no, I didn't make it)

Check this out!

My friend Vanessa has written a fantastic post on Halloween, and why Christians should not celebrate or participate in it. Please hop over to her blog and read this post!

Here's a short quote from her post:
"When Christians participate in Halloween, it sends a message to children that witchcraft, demonism, Satanism, and the occult are something fun, entertaining and harmless. "

Now you have to read it. :)

Sewing

A few weeks ago I made purse for my friend's birthday. This is my first purse to make, and with my sister's help, I actually finished it and didn't completely ruin it. :) I don't enjoy sewing very much, but my sister and I wanted to make purses for our friends, so I took on the challenge! The reason I don't like sewing very much is because I'm a perfectionist. My sister will tell me over and over, "It looks fine. Keep going. It's fine. Hurry up!" :)
Here's the finished product...

What I'm doing

In school:
~ History - reviewing history facts, reading a Western Civ. book and watching videos to prepare for a CLEP test in December
~ Math -reviewing and studying for College Algebra CLEP in November
~ Worldview - Worldviews of the Western World, year II
~ Latin in the Christian Trivium, year III

In piano:
Minuet, by J.S. Bach
Sonata Facile, by Mozart
(for fun) Sanctuary, All in All, Come Thou Fount, and other hymns and choruses a group of friends and I are singing to :)

For ministry/job:
teaching beginning piano

For fun:
photography
singing with Luke and Katie

For this weekend:
baking cookies
sewing to a formal I found to make it modest (pictures coming hopefully next week)
I'm going to a Maiden's Quest Retreat!

tag

I've been tagged by Vanessa and Kira! Seems like these tags go in phases, because I've seen a ton of bloggers with them recently. :) Not many people left to tag...
I've done a similar tag before, but this one is different, and there are quite a few random things about myself, that I thought I'd give it a try. :)
Rules are as follows:
1. Link to the person(s) who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag sixish people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know he or she has been tagged.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

6 random things about myself:

1. I love to sing—especially harmony!
2. I love to be with people—it’s where I draw my energy (I’m definitely an extrovert)
3. I’ve never driven a car. And I’m 16-- eligible for a driver’s license. :)
4. I like for things to be neat and orderly, and it sometimes drives me crazy when they are not.
5. I’m a perfectionist on most things—but not everything. Depends on what it is and how quickly I want to finish, or if my sister is saying "It's fine, please hurry up!". :)
6. I wear skirts a majority of the time. Not because I have to, but because I love them!

I tag...
Kristen
Sara
Zac
Becca

Even if you don't have anyone to tag, please participate!!!

Re-post #2

Here is my courtship post from July '07.

Courtship?!? Why?
If you're a homeschooler like I am, you've probably received the popular question, “Why aren’t you going to date/why don’t you date?” In response, I’d like to give some of my perspective on this issue.

First of all, many people haven’t ever heard of courtship. When you tell them you aren’t planning on dating, the first thing they think is, “How are you ever going to get married?!” So let me give a little insight into courtship. Courtship is designed with the thought that marriage is permanent, and so to find an appropriate mate requires discernment, with the guidance of parents. In courtship, you do not have a romantic relationship, but rather one with a high standard, godly and honorable.

There are many ways to “do” courtship, but there are a couple basic principles and stages. The first stage is, obviously, friendship. If a young man thinks a certain woman could be his future bride, he then discusses it with his parents and prays. If his parents agree and are at peace with it, he will get the father’s permission, concluding that marriage will be probable. One difference between dating and courtship is the father is involved in courtship. In most dating scenarios, it is boy and girl alone. Most of dating has to do with useless infatuations and “this person likes this person this week”. There is no long term commitment, especially if the participants are not ready for marriage! In an ideal courtship situation, the families will have already known each other for a while, and perhaps go to the same church. With this, the father would have a pretty good idea of what the man’s beliefs are, his character, and his relationship with his parents and siblings. Usually the father will have questions to ask the young man about theology and doctrine, his life goals, and other things. For instance, if the man was planning on being a missionary in another country and the woman he wants to court doesn’t want to leave the state, there would be a problem. After a period of months of examination and determining God’s will, and both agree that it is God’s will for their lives, they decide to marry. This is called the engagement/betrothal stage.

These are my thoughts on courtship. Of course, each and every courtship is unique. There will be differences in every courtship story you hear. I personally have not reached the age to court, so what I know is what we’ve learned and what my family thinks will work. In conclusion, I would like to add a section from a book I highly recommend. It is called, So Much More, by Anna Sofia & Elizabeth Botkin.

How should a girl relate to young men? The Botkin girls respond, “When in the presence of young men, we should act as though our husbands might be in the room watching us. We should pray that no young men ever rob us of feelings we are saving for our husbands, and in the same way, we must not defraud other young men of what belongs to their wives, because God has chosen wives for them, too. It is almost as though they are already married, and this fact should affect the way we treat them, so that they will think of us “as sisters, with all purity” (2 Timothy 5:2).

John W. Thompson explains his views why dating makes this difficult: Dating, even Christian dating, generally results in a series of emotional attachment or bonds with different dating partners. To express this language of romance, a young woman gives a piece of her heart to a young man when she becomes emotionally involved with him. By the time she meets the man she will marry, she will have only a fragment of her heart left to give. Even without going out on a date, a young woman can give pieces of her heart to several young men during her youth, so that by the time she marries, she is no longer a one-man woman (1 Tim. 5:9) Yet Paul’s analogy of Christ and the church in 2 Corinthians 11:2-3 explains that a pure maiden saves her love for one man only, not just physically but emotionally too. The goal is not just physical purity but emotional purity--only one romance for life!

Inspiration!

Girls, here is something to inspire you, encourage you, and convict you! This is the beauty that lasts, by Nancy DeMoss. If you have a few minutes, skim over it. If you have more, dig into it! It's a written record of one of the daily programs by Ms. DeMoss. Here's a quote directed towards younger women...
"We have young moms who listen, we have teenagers, we have single women, we have young married women, women who are in their 20s and 30s—just all those younger seasons of life. What you need to hear is that this is the goal.

Don’t tune it out and say, “Oh, this is for older women. This isn’t for me.” If you’re not learning and seeking to develop these qualities in your life now, you’re not going to have them when you’re an older woman. These are qualities that every believer needs to be seeking to cultivate. You need to be seeking to cultivate these now, whether you’re 16 or 26 or 36 or 46—and I’ll let you decide when you’re not “younger” anymore."

This is part of a series, and I haven't read them all (not sure if they're all up or not), but I encourage you to take some time to soak in this truth!

Decorated room!

Hello to all in the blogging world...
I know a lot of my recent posts have been pictures and a few words, and I apologize, but that's all I have time for right now! October appears to be an extremely busy month, with almost every weekend filled, and two CLEP tests! We'll see how long it takes me to get some "real" stuff up. :)

Recently (although it seems like a LONG time ago) I celebrated my 16th birthday. At my request, we worked on decorating my room we painted in May. I still didn't have anything on the walls, because I didn't know what I was going to do. With the help of a mother who is a wonderful interior decorator and a creative sister, we made it look much better! Katie did a lot of sewing for me as well! She made the 4 pillows on the bed, and the round one she made up without a pattern! She also created the wreath with some flowers we picked out. What I love the most though, are the 2 frames we designed/made. I've been wanting to Scripture up on walls in frames, but I never expected to make some so beautiful! I really wanted to incorporate the Rebelution's theme - Do Hard Things with a verse, and you'll notice that below.

pillows my sister made!

Notice the new bedskirt (but don't look too closely, or you'll see a place that hasn't been sewn yet) :)
The heads are back ;) (top of bookshelves)

wreath

curtain and pillow material

Ephesians 5:15-16 with "Do Hard Things" below :)
The small frames are going to hold some pictures I've taken, but haven't been printed yet.

"True Beauty"...

Fellowship with Believers

We had a special church day Sunday. We had planned to go to the park after the service, but because of some marsh mosquitoes present recently, the men decided it would be best to stay at church. Instead, we rented the gym, and played some fun active games! Some played basketball, some wall-ball, some volleyball, some took pictures and played [;)] while the little kids ran around. We played a really fun game of volleyball, although we weren't good at all! It's so wonderful to be able to fellowship and play with like-minded believers, without having to worry about things you would with unbelievers or friends who are believers but aren't like-minded. Don't you agree? Here are a few pictures from the occasion...

I love this picture, although it's a bit blurry. (result of flash off in these pictures, gym kinda dark)
My brother has his feet off the ground!

wall-ball....

Tyler

While we were there, I thought I might as well have fun! :) Here are a number of pictures I took, in Tyler and on the way home.

We had to take the dog!

Dakota was in the middle of the 2 middle seats, but Katie wanted to hold him lol

Teeter-totter fun!

Trees look taller from this angle :). But really, they had some massive trees there!

One of the trees that split near our cabin

Another tree completely lost it's top half!

There were a ton of leaves on the deck

Swings...

And the beautiful sky above!

Answers to my Quiz

For those of you who took the "how well do you know me" quiz, here are the answers.

Q. What is my favorite color?
A. sky blue

Q. What game do I dislike most?
A. RISK

Q. Which of these subjects do I like best in school?
A. History (the reason I asked "which of these" is because I have multiple)

Q. Which is my favorite food?
A. Sweet Potatoes

Q. What is my favorite soda?
Dr. Pepper

Q. Favorite kind of pizza?
A. cheese

Q. Favorite of the following?
A. photography

Q. Which do I love to do?
A. Spell/grammar check (yes, I actually consider this fun!)

Q. Favorite instrument?
A. While I do play clarinet and a tensy bit of guitar, piano is by far my favorite.

Q. Which is most difficult for me?
A. Being gracious with my words (the other three I usually don't have problems with ;) )

Ike

“Allison, Allison, wake up…we’re leaving” dad whispered to me early in the morning. “Leaving where?” I mumbled, still half asleep. “The hurricane’s still headed our way; we’re outta here.” I sleepily dragged myself out of bed, hastily thinking through what I would need to take. This is how the morning we evacuated began for me…

We drove up to Tyler and stayed in a small cabin, graciously lent to us by a church where the pastor ordained dad (in another state where he used to pastor). We did not have internet access, and we lost power because of Ike Saturday afternoon. This hurricane was massive in size, and we were awed at the incredible power of GOD displayed, despite the fact that we were not there to witness it. Although we did not know where the storm would hit, or what kind of damage it would do to our home and our dear friends’ homes, we trusted that God would protect us and that His way was best. Thankfully, we only had minor damage at our home. We were blessed to not have any damage inside, despite that we considered that our huge and heavy Asian grapefruits could catapult through our vulnerable schoolroom windows. Power outages were widespread (over 2 million approximated in Houston, plus more all over the country!), and so we were without power until Thursday.

During the time of no electricity, we tried to find things to do, although we seemed to be somewhat distracted by all that was happening. God blessed us with absolutely beautiful weather the first few days home, so we spent a lot of time outside. Thankfully, we could use the tap water, so we cooked on our gas stove, and washed all the dishes by hand. Everything took longer than usual. Meal cleanup was longer, because we had to hand wash all the dishes. We are so spoiled by our electricity! By about 7 or a little after, it was too dark to see, so we spent time reading (as a family and silently) watching Dvds on the computer, and just sitting together and talking where there was light! We were blessed to be able to borrow a nearby church family’s home to do laundry and use their electricity (for re-charging things & keeping some of our salvaged refrigerator and freezer items).

Remember, in the midst of ANY circumstance, God is good, and He is sovereign. He uses natural disasters to bring glory to Himself, and to draw others to Him.

Here are some pictures of the hurricane damage at our house and our neighborhood.

The siding missing from our house

Part of the fence is down, some of the other is leaning

Dad's shed fell apart, and I think it would be completely apart if there was not so much stuff inside holding it together

The fence next door in the field is completely down

Some street signs and stop signs were knocked over

Large trees lost limbs, some trees were leaning, others completely down

This power line leaned really close to someone's house!

Replacing a pole

Close up on above picture

My friend Caleb also has pictures of hurricane damage here.

Power's on!

Praise GOD from whom all blessings flow! Although we were beginning to get used to "living" without electricity, God graciously restored our power to us at 6pm Thursday night. It was quite an adventure living without power. God was SO good and gracious to give us beautiful weather while we were without electricity, but beginning yesterday it started warming up again. We are so thankful that we did not have to endure the Texas heat for days before our power returned. He's never early, but always *right* on time. We were borrowing a dear friend's house for washing clothes, cooking, and doing some school, and they are returning today, so we would not have so much of a luxury. Perfect timing to have power!
Thank you for your prayers. The detailed post of our evacuation, living the past few days, hurricane damage, and pictures is coming next! (Lord willing!)

Hi!!

Hey everyone!
We're home (we did evacuate) and we are safe. We do not have electricity at our house (it's been out since Saturday) so PLEASE PRAY that our electricity will be restored soon!! God has been gracious and given us beautiful weather the past couple days, but soon it will go back to the 90s! I'm am using a friend's internet, so I only have a moment. Our house had some minor damage (fence down, shed apart, etc.), but thankfully nothing major. Praise God! I will explain in detail once our power is restored! :)
Until then...

The Joys of Living on the Coast

My family rarely watches T.V. Occasionally we'll watch a family movie, but we tend to stick to games and such. There is one time when we watch T.V. though, and that is not for pleasure. It is to examine potential hurricanes. Yes, once again, we have a hurricane *possibly* headed towards us. I say "possibly" because we don't know; God has this hurricane in His hand, perfectly controlled, and it will go exactly where He planned for it to go. We however, do not know for sure which way it will turn, or if it will turn at all! But we can trust that His ways are perfect. The hurricane's name is Ike, and if it lands south of us, we will probably have lots of rain, and maybe even tornadoes or power outages (dirty side of the hurricane). And if it hits us--we're outta here. :) But nothing is certain yet in our eyes, and so all we can do is prepare and pray.

Here is the "cone of uncertainty" as my brother calls it. :) This is the possible radius of Ike.














If you'd like to read/learn more about it, you can check here or here. It is proposed to make landfall Saturday morning at 5am. Please keep us in your prayers, asking for God's protection over us, our church family, and all who the hurricane hits. Make God be glorified!

The World's Way vs. God's Way

The World's Way (Taken from a Doritos bag):
"Do SOMETHING"

God's way:
"Do HARD Things"
"Be holy, because I am holy" 1 Peter 1:16
"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12
"What does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the LORD's commands and decrees" Deuteronomy 10:12-13

When my family and I recently saw a Doritos bag, we laughed. "Do something"......
hmm, I'm always doing "something". It was honoring those who were doing something. Of course, it wasn't meant to mean "do anything", but the words they chose made it laughable.

Have you just done "something" today, or did you do something hard?? Don't get lulled into doing simply what's easy, but rather, what's difficult.
I know, it's hard... :)

Now that I've said that, I need to go do my chores and practice piano...

Accomplished this summer

We had a summer filled to the brim, yet I didn't accomplish nearly as much on my own list as I had hoped. However, I did get quite a bit of scrapbooking completed, for which I was delighted!
Here are a few of the better pages I completed...

My youngest brother

blackberry picking

church pictures, my sister helped me design this page!

room

flowers

photos copyrighted Allison, 2008. :)

New from Grace Family Church

The elders of our church have begun to record conversations which they call "H2H" or "House 2 House". If you'd like to listen to any or multiple, be sure to check it out!


(they are all short; the longest is five minutes I believe, but most are just a few)

Rain

I took these when we got rain from Edouard (even though it was a small amount). It's fun to take rain pictures, especially just after a rainfall, when there are raindrops on the leaves! :)

Ocean

The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for He founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. Psalm 24:1-2

This is one of my favorite pictures with my brothers. It's from a couple summers ago. It would be complete if my sister Katie had not been building sandcastles at the time! :) Notice the boys' church shirts?

101st Post!

Oops! It completely slipped my mind when I wrote my previous post! I was intentionally waiting to do a special "100th post". Oh well! I guess it will be the 101st post!
Here's what I was thinking of doing for my 100th post:
It seems common to post something special, or at least mention when you post your 100th post, but I'm not really sure what I should post. :) My 100 favorite things? No. 100 things you need to do before you die? No. 100 great things about Blogger? No! Hmm....... How 'bout 100 things I'm grateful for? (since that's all I can think of!) This will take a while...
Not in a particular order, but rather, how I thought them up:
1. The mercy and grace of my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ!
2. Salvation found in Christ alone!
3. My loving family
4. Our wonderful church family!
5. Parents who are genuinely concerned about training me in the "way I should go"
6. Four younger siblings! I've prayed for more, but I am content with the great ones I have now!
7. A digital camera, to "freeze" time, especially the shots I get of my youngest brother
8. like-minded friends- church friends, pen-pals, blogging friends, whoever!
9. The time Luke and Katie spend in my room at night
10. Air conditioning!
11. A roof over my head
12. brothers who kill the nasty cockroaches
13. A creative sister who helps me design and decorate things
14. A knowledgeable brother who gives me interesting facts, explains things to me, and teaches me things
15. Cute young brothers who make me laugh
16. A family who forgives me over and over for the things I do wrong!
17. hugs from my youngest brother (he loves to give hugs!)
18. A father who teaches me Scripture, and answers my questions about what we believe
19. A mother who spends so much of her time educating us at home from a biblical worldview
20. Parents who are concerned about what God's Word says than what the world says
21. Distance learning so I don't have to leave for "higher" education
22. Parents who care more about me being prepared to be a wife than prepared with a college degree
23. Conferences, which encourage, inspire, and convict me!
24. God's Word - the guide for all of life
25. A comfy bed
26. An alarm clock
27. Books to learn so many things!
28. A library to borrow books from
29. Blogs - to express my thoughts, read others' thoughts, and be encouraged
30. Piano - the beautiful sound of music
31. Singing - to worship our God, especially harmony!
32. Many instruments - to make beautiful harmony
33. Founding fathers - who built our nation on biblical principles
34. Real men who know how to be gentlemen and understand how to correctly treat women/girls
35. Men who laid down their lives for our country
36. Email - a quick way to communicate with my friends
37. Clothes - I've never lacked them
38. Conviction - the Holy Spirit's way of revealing my sin
39. My own room, even though I thoroughly enjoy being with my siblings!
40. People who dress modestly - girls or boys
41. Allergies - well, I have a lot of them, so there must be something decent about them!
42. Freedom to be homeschooled
43. Freedom to worship
44. Tea cups to have lady-like tea parties
45. My parents' wisdom, which ever needs to be imparted to me
46. Braces - which correct teeth irregularities
47. Scrapbooks to display recent family history, photos, and memories
48. Mr. Doug Phillips, whose sermons have brought great conviction, inspiration and encouragement to my family
49. Mr. Geoff Botkin and his daughters, Anna Sofia and Elizabeth
50. The work God is doing in homeschoolers and family integrated churches
51. The work God has done in my life
52. Hospitality - a way to fellowship with, encourage, and bless others
53. A sewing machine - so I don't have to stitch by hand!
54. Dishwashers
55. Washers and Dryers
56. Sleep - to be re-energized for a new day
57. Automobiles - so I don't have to walk
58. Planes - they're fun (and fast!), but I haven't flown on one in years
59. Bikes
60. Babies - who couldn't like them?!?
61. History - from which we can derive many useful lessons
62. Math and science - extremely complex way God proves that He made the universe with order and structure
63. Toothbrush - what would you do without one?
64. Brushes and combs
65. Godly men and women of the past
66. Godly men and women of today
67. George Washington - I love studying about his incredible character!
68. Laughter - "A cheerful heart is good medicine" ~Prov. 17:22
69. Rain - best when it's just sprinkling or lightly raining
70. Cool days -rare here!
71. Vacuums - can you imagine if you had to sweep everything?
72. Brooms - for getting dirt out of corners
73. Blogger - it's free!
74. God's faithfulness - The sun rises and sets every day, and God is faithful to us all the time!
75. Worldviews of the Western World - I really enjoy all that I learn!

Okay, so I only made it to 75. Although I could make it to one hundred, it would be going over immensely detailed things, such as I have already begun to mention--like brooms. So to spare you, and to not have to worry with coming up with any more, I will stop. It was a good thought anyway... :)


Have a blessed week!

First day of school

Today was my first day of my junior year, and also the beginning of college, or at least CLEP tests. :) It went pretty well, except for that I'm not completely done with all my work. :/ (*almost* done, but I was gone part of the afternoon)

On another note, would you mind taking the test on my sidebar? :) -->

Snow Buddies Movie Review

What movies are worth watching, is a difficult question to answer, and varies for each family.

A couple weeks ago, I watched a movie that is rated PG. It was about puppies. Air Bud’s puppies, to be exact. Yet I would recommend this movie to no one. Why? Let me give you my review of “Snow Buddies”…

For a brief overview of the plot, this movie is about Air Bud’s puppies, which live in different homes, yet all in the same town. At a specific time each day, they gather together to play. Because of Budderball, the puppy that loves to eat, they end up on an ice cream truck that is airlifted and dropped in Alaska. Interesting way to end up in Alaska, isn’t it? They meet a husky puppy and they end up helping him and his boy. Like many movies before this one, the plot centers around a child who has a dream to do something that his parents won’t allow, with the air buddies being the perfect answer to the dilemma.

My concern with this movie is not the cheating “villain” during the dog-sled race, but that the young boy (Adam) disobeys his dad’s specific command to not to participate in the dog-sled race. Adam sneaks and pays for the race, trains “his” puppies, and in the end wins the race. What happens then? The dad admits HE was wrong by not allowing him to race. Excuse me, but what’s wrong with this picture? Where’s the consequence for disobedience? Why could they not have structured the plot where the Adam obeys and it becomes a blessing for him? Well they obviously could not because everything in Hollywood’s movies—their worldview, their plots, everything is built upon the wrong foundation, which leads to movies with wrong morals, and the list could go on.

Some other negatives about the movie? Well, there is immodesty, as they show one of the puppies in the beginning teaching a yoga class. The spirituality of this puppy, know as Buddha, is also strange, as would be expected from a pup named “Buddha”. He encourages the puppies in “spiritual” things. (I don’t remember specifics, but it was weird!) The jokes were not funny in my opinion, because they were inappropriate, mostly centered around “potty humor”. A little name calling is interjected (mainly by the bad guy). Ultimately, the plot is similar to many other movies. What ever happened to original plots?

Every family is different in choosing what their children can and cannot watch. However, I hope that you can get a glimpse from my review into the flawed morals and really pitifully done plot so that it will steer you away from wasting your time watching this movie.

Kindred Spirit Network

Kaysie (Cross-eyed blog and Alabaster Box) kindly awarded me with the "Kindred Spirit Award". She has put together this amazing network of "kindred spirits", designed for like-minded bloggers to find each other!
Please check out the new site!!!



And, as tradition, I am supposed to pick some bloggers who I consider "kindred spirits". Since there is not a set number, I will choose...
Kristen at Everlasting Treasure - one of my good pen-pals, very like-minded!
Katlyn at God's Workmanship - my sister!
Sara at Sara's Scribbles - another one of my pen-pals!
Vanessa at Maiden of Purity - one of my like-minded friends I met though the blogging world!
Rebekah at By His Grace and For His Glory - another like-minded blogging friend!

Others who I consider "Kindred Spirits" have either already been chosen or don't do things like this...

More trip pictures & "hurricane prep" :)

These pictures were all taken at a theme park!













Yes, there were rides. Yes, we did ride many of them. No, I do not have pictures to share with you. Sorry...

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Pictures of our "potential hurricane" prep. :)

This is how you prepare for a hurricane...
First you pack the pitifully put-together shed and pack bricks around it so the doors won't fall down...




Then you put garbage bags and tape over a window that could leak...

(it had partially come down when I took these pictures)

Then you "get rid" of the freezer things that would melt if the power goes out! (like ice cream!!) :D

*sigh* I love hurricane prep... or at least the last step! :)

Thought-provoking verse!

I love the amazing truth in this verse!!!




“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”

Acts 17:24-25

The truth that God does not need anything from us, but is the Creator and Sustainer for all life!

Titanic Museum - Branson, Missouri

This Museum was similar to the exhibit we went to in May. (read my post about that here) One thing I found lacking was the acknowledgment of the cry: "Women and children first!". It was displayed more at the exhibit we went to! I think it was mentioned once somewhere. They also seemed to ignore the pride and mistakes the crew had when thinking the Titanic was unsinkable or okay after the iceberg siting. They had some neat artifacts, and it was better than the small exhibit we went to in some ways, but I would really like to see museums like this come from a biblical worldview!! I guess for now I need to visit the Creation Museum in Kentucky. :)

Nancy DeMoss's 41 Evidences of Pride

*These were written towards women (mainly married), but you can apply the same questions to your father or brother as well!

1. Do you look down on those who are less educated, less affluent, less refined, or less successful than yourself?

2. Do you think of yourself as more spiritual than your mate, others in your church?

3. Do you have a judgmental spirit toward those who don’t make the same lifestyle choices you do . . . dress standards, how you school your kids, entertainment standards, etc.?

4. Are you quick to find fault with others and to verbalize those thoughts to others? Do you have a
sharp, critical tongue?

5. Do you frequently correct or criticize your mate, your pastor, or other people in positions of
leadership (teachers, youth director, etc.)?

6. Do you give undue time, attention, and effort to your physical appearance—hair, make-up,
clothing, weight, body shape, avoiding appearance of aging?

7. Are you proud of the schedule you keep, how disciplined you are, how much you are able to
accomplish?

8. Are you driven to receive approval, praise, or acceptance from others?

9. Are you argumentative?

10. Do you generally think your way is the right way, the only way, or the best way?

11. Do you have a touchy, sensitive spirit? Easily offended? Get your feelings hurt easily?

12. Are you guilty of pretense? Trying to leave a better impression of yourself than is really true?
(Would the people at church be shocked if they knew what you were like at home?)

13. Do you have a hard time admitting when you are wrong?

14. Do you have a hard time confessing your sin to God or others? (not just in generalities but

specifics)

15. Do you have a hard time sharing your real spiritual needs/struggles with others?

16. Do you have a hard time praying aloud with others?

17. Are you excessively shy?

18. Do you have a hard time reaching out and being friendly to people you don’t know at church?

19. Do you resent being asked or expected to serve your family, your parents, or others?

20. Do you become defensive when you are criticized or corrected?

21. Are you a perfectionist? Do you get irked or impatient with people who aren’t?

22. Do you tend to be controlling—of your mate, your children, friends, those in your workplace?

23. Do you frequently interrupt people when they are speaking?

24. Does your husband feel intimidated by your “spirituality”?

25. Does your husband feel like he can never measure up to your expectations of what it means to be a good husband, spiritual leader, etc.?

26. Do you often complain—about the weather, your health, your circumstances, your job, your
church?

27. Do you talk about yourself too much?

28. Are you more concerned about your problems, needs, burdens than about others’ concerns?

29. Do you worry about what others think of you? Too concerned about your reputation or your
family’s reputation?

30. Do you neglect to express gratitude for “little things”? To God? To others?

31. Do you neglect prayer and intake of the Word?

32. Do you get hurt if your accomplishments/or acts of service are not recognized or rewarded?

33. Do you get hurt if your feelings or opinions are not considered when your mate or your boss is
making a decision or if you are not informed when a change or a decision is made?

34. Do you react to rules? Do you have a hard time being told what to do?

35. Are you self-conscious because of your lack of education or natural beauty, or your socioeconomic status?

36. Do you avoid participating in certain events, for fear of being embarrassed or looking foolish?

37. Do you avoid being around certain people because you feel inferior compared to them/don’t feel you measure up?

38. Are you uncomfortable inviting people to your home because you don’t think it’s nice enough or you can’t afford to do lavish entertaining?

39. Is it hard for you to let others know when you need help (practical or spiritual)?

40. When is the last time you said these words to a family member, friend, or co-worker: “I was
wrong; would you please forgive me?” (If it’s been more than a month, mark it down!)

41. Are you sitting here thinking how many of these questions apply to someone you know? Feeling pretty good that none of these things really apply to you?

Re-post

*For newer viewers, I'm am going to re-post a few of my first posts. These posts are the kind I had originally planned to post frequently, but they are also the most time-consuming, so I have not had the time to write them as I would like. I have started many, and have ideas for many, but they are not all typed and edited. Until then, you can read some old stuff! Here is my "Doctrine of Biblical Genders" posted July 23, 2007 and written Spring 2007.

THE DOCTRINE OF BIBLICAL GENDERS

When asked to define the equality of men and women, Egalitarianism would say- “Men and women are equal in all aspects. There’s no real difference between them”. Complementarianism would say- “Males and females are equal before God. But they both have distinct gifts, natures, and roles”. The roles of men and women are a big deal in our culture today. Many women have bought into the lies of feminism, wanting to do everything themselves, including taking on jobs. Generally, we have lost what the biblical roles of males and females are.

The Bible says that men and women are created equal, and in the image of God. But where do we draw the line when we say “equal”? God ordained the unique roles of men and women differently, with a purpose and plan in mind. For instance, a woman is to be submissive to her husband. Jesus best demonstrates this as he perfectly submits to the Father.

God created the roles of male and females. Egalitarians argue that the Bible’s teachings were cultural. They try to explain away 1 Timothy 2, which says women can not teach over men, by saying that the women in that century were not well educated, so they could not teach over men. However, Paul firmly states that his rules are directly based on the word of God. (1 Corinthians 14:33-38) He prohibits women from teaching over men because of the created order.

So what are the biblical roles of men and women? Ephesians 5:22-23 says, “ Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” Titus 2:3-5 says, “Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.” 1 Peter 3:7 states, “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.” 1 Timothy 2:-15 also says, “A woman should learn quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing- if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.”

The biblical view of life, as well as male and female roles is counter-cultural. Choosing God’s way will be a model to all around you. People will notice you are different. Philippians 2:15 tells us not to argue and complain so we can “become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you will shine like stars in the universe.” If your roles are biblical, you will shine like stars, and glorify God.

Update on Edouard

Well obviously, we are not out of power. Yay! God directed the storm to the north of us, so other than a little wind and rain, we had no issues. Thanks be to God! Although the original predictions did not appear to give us any more trouble than knocked down power lines because of gusty winds and torrential rains, we are glad to miss the storm. Without power or running water would have been difficult! But we (Americans) are so spoiled. God has blessed us abundantly with the technology we have, heat and AIR CONDITION, and so many other things. And we want to complain when we lose them! Anyway, I got sidetracked. We are fine, and I shall be posting tomorrow!
In the meantime, please keep those affected by the storm in your prayers. Although there is little or no damage (that I've heard of) other than fallen trees, many are without power.

Edouard might be heading our way!

Tropical storm Edouard is developing and is predicted to come our way. They expect it to hit land as a tropical storm or category 1 hurricane tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. If the dirty side of the storm hits us (which is what is predicted as of now), we can expect power outages for a day up to a week, and maybe high wind and rain. But it could also completely miss us. It depends on what God has in store. So, if our power does go out, you can expect a lack of posting for a little while! Whatever happens, we can trust that God's way is best, and any storm He brings, whether physical or spiritual, can be used to strengthen our faith and trust in Him, and ultimately bring Him glory.

"Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us."
Psalm 62:8
"to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever."
Jude 1:25