For His Glory

Let the baking begin!

2011-12-12T12:02:00.001-08:00

Cookie Baking Time with my sister(s):

Today we made Peppermint Sugar cookies with Chocolate Drizzle and gingerbread boys/girls/trees/hearts.

I love baking!

My sister had fun with a different kind of dough- Play-Doh. She made a cool little cake and put in one of the old blown-out Christmas bulbs to make a birthday cake for Jesus! :)

Have you been baking? What is your favorite cookie or thing to bake?

Courageous

2011-12-12T11:26:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the movie Courageous?

I hope so. It has to be the best movie yet! My whole family went opening weekend. It stayed 7 weeks at the theater I worked with friends to get it to. That is wonderful. I am so glad it did so very well and so many people saw it. It has many wonderful messages/lessons within the movie.

Currently it is at a different local theater (the cheap theater) and I went with friends to see it again.

It's a great movie and if you haven't seen it yet, you really should!

Joshua 1:9 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Can you tell the difference?

2011-09-13T05:23:00.000-07:00

Can you tell the (main) difference?

COURAGEOUS Movie Trailer

2011-08-12T12:07:00.000-07:00

I am really excited about this movie! It will be released into theaters on Septemper 30th, 2011.

We thought of driving to see it but the Lord opened a door for me to work with a group to get it to come to a theater in my area. This was something I never thought of doing but it has been a great experience.

Together we needed at least 1000 ticket sales in order for Sony to bring it to our local theater.

We were looking for commitments for ticket sales for the movie. I sent out e-mails and told friends. My mom sent e-mails too. We thought we could get 50 tickets. When we got that many pretty easily we kept spreading the word about Courageous and we thought maybe we could get 100. That would be about 1/10 of what is needed. We did it! Presently we have 136 commitments for tickets! We reached the 1000 and now we get to see this in our local theater and have a movie with such a wonderful Christian message for families in my town!

If you have the opportunity to see this movie, I highly recommend it!

Watch the movie trailer below!

Cheesecake-Stuffed Peaches

2011-08-02T12:41:00.000-07:00

I really like to cook and bake and my mom has been teaching me a lot of new recipes. Here is one we tried the other night and it was very good. I thought I'd share with my friends here!

Cheesecake-Stuffed Baked Peaches:

We made them with fresh peaches! I imagine you could used canned peaches in the off season.

6 peaches, washed, halved and pitted

1/4 cup butter, melted

3 Tbsp. cinnamon-sugar

1/2 of an 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar (we used a little less)

1 egg yolk

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 15x10x1 inch baking pan with parchment paper, set aside. Trim a very thin slice from the round side of each peach half so the halves will sit steady on pan. Dip each peach half in melted butter to coat top. Arrange them on prepared pan. Sprinkle tops of peaches with cinnamon-sugar; set aside. (You can purchase a cinnamon-sugar mixture or combine 3 Tbsp. sugar with 1 tsp. ground cinnamon.)

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese with a mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla. Beat until combined. Spoon cream cheese mixture into peach centers. Bake, uncovered, about 30 minutes or until lightly browned and softened. Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled. We liked ours warm!

Makes 6 servings (2 peach halves per serving.)

Enjoy!

Just coming out of the oven!

Photos & verse

2011-07-08T17:48:00.000-07:00

The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;

~ Song of Solomon 2:12 ~

Grow in the Lord

2011-07-08T06:37:00.000-07:00

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.

~2 Peter 3:18~

Modesty Survey: What the guys say.

2011-07-06T05:33:00.000-07:00

Here is another great thing to read about modesty. It is a modesty survery done at The Rebelution site. This is a great site to spend some time at reading their articles.

This survery was given to guys. It will tell you what the guys think about things dealing with modesty.

When reading... start at

Browsing: General/Other

Click on a subject. Read the sentences that were given. Then the important part is to see if the guys in the survery agree or disagree. That part is in the box below.

Here are some statements that the guys in the survery STRONGLY AGREE WITH:

Despite rampant immodesty all around us, girls who choose to dress modestly do make a difference.

Modesty is an important quality for your future wife to have.

I think this section under open questions was neat to read- the question was:

If you could say one thing to your sisters in Christ about modesty, what would it be?

What guys themselves had to type out to tell us girls was great to read! Check this page out!

Here is the Rebelution blog site of Alex & Brett Harris (Do Hard Things book authors)! They have some good articles there. Check them out on the right-hand column!!

Great videos on modesty

2011-06-30T04:59:00.000-07:00

Here is a great video on Modesty that tells the truth about bikins.

The speaker is a Catholic teen speaker. Whether Catholic or not (which I am not), the info and message is wonderful. Interesting facts on.... Should Christian women wear bikinis

Another great short message from this speaker: Dressing for Love! Covering up to reveal our dignity!!

Modesty Heart Check

2011-06-27T20:03:00.000-07:00

My mom found this post and sent it to me. I thought it was really good and thought I'd share it. Click the link and head over to read

A Modesty Heart Check

The article has good guidelines to follow.

Modesty: What we advertise.

2011-06-20T09:22:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been a bit upset at how some of the Christian girls I know are dressing. We expect to see the unsaved girls dressy skimpy and unmodest but it is upseting when Christian girls choose to dress this way.

My mom and dad have always taught us about modesty and why it is important.

We also had a talk recently (about how some Christian girls don't seem to be convicted to dress modestly)..and mom said she thinks I should use my blog to talk about some of these things. Maybe some other teenagers will think more about what they wear or might comment and share what they think too.

I will post more things on the topic of modesty in posts coming up but this is the first thing I wanted to share!

This says it so well....

Our End-of-the-Year event

2011-06-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

Last night we had our end-of-the-year event with our homeschool group. It's always a great night.

First- these were the amazing clouds on the car ride in...

This is my table, with a lot of the work I did this school year displayed.

My sister and I sang a song for the performance part it was called

"You Are Good" by Point Of Grace. It's the first time we sung together as a duet. We sing together in groups or in choir.

And here is my Shakepeare class! This year we did Othello and I was Desdamona.

We did a goofy picture for fun!!!! A couple of the kids bought some cool

swards and dagers for the play! The three boys being attacked are younger brothers of some of us. They were our ushers that night.

Here I am with two of my good friends! :D

It was SO MUCH FUN this year at co-op! The play went really well. The girl in the white shirt was new to our co-op this year and is now one of my really good friends!

God is so good!

Sunday School Picnic!

2011-06-18T13:29:00.000-07:00

We just had our church's Annual Sunday School Picnic! It is always a fun time!!

Here is my younger sister with the gold fish she cought for her age group game!

This is my grandpa...and me.

The past few years we've played tug-a-war and EVERY year the girls win! I am not kidding! It's really shocking because they have some really strong guys and men on the other side.
Every year we have a big water slide! It is so much fun! Here I am going down with some friends!

As you can see the slide can get VERY bubbly at the bottom! That's even extra fun for some kids. This is my brother!

Here I am in the dining area with some friends!

We had an amazing time!

And all slept really well that night! hahahaha

My first cupcake job

2011-06-16T10:48:00.000-07:00

Recently a someone asked me to do a cupcake job- she said she wanted them just girly and cute. I never really did cupcakes before. My mom, sisters and I have done cooking and creative stuff together but this was a new challenge. And- it was fun!

We worked with fondant before but it is expensive to buy. So we made some homemade fondant. It is SO very much cheaper to make it homemade and I think it tasted better. I will share the recipe if anyone wants it.

Here we are at work....

Here are the flower tops....

The cupcake tower

The cupcakes all ready to go!

Us all ready to go! My little sister was invited to the mommy/daughter tea birthday and I went with the cupakes. We were to dress as girly and princess-like as we wanted.
I JUST got the dress at a Salvation Army Thrift store (for $10.00) It was handmade and my sister and I both wanted it! :) Here is a close-up of the fabric.
At the party- getting the cupcakes ready....
The kid's table -See the cupcake tower. The colors matched perfectly and that wasn't even planned out.

The group of little girls at the party. It was such a cute party! The little girl in the front row making the face is just too cute!

I can't wait to find some time to work with fondant again. We have some upcoming birtdays this summer so maybe I can do the cakes for mom now. :)

The Rochesters: Southern Gospel

2011-05-11T16:36:00.000-07:00

A week ago (or so) we went to see this Southern gospel group. They are a family group of singers that harmonize nicely and play neat instruments. It was a nice night of being encouraged by songs about our wonderful Savior and Lord.

Here is a video but it really is not good recording as far as being able to see them, etc. We sat pretty far back and little children sat all around us. The song still sounds great though. I hope you like it. They have many songs on youtube too.

The family is The Rochesters:

Happy Birthday littlest sis!!!

2011-04-26T06:43:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday to my littlest sister! I love you!

I am so thankful for her!

Narnia Night

2011-04-26T06:33:00.000-07:00

We recently had a movie night at our house for teens/friends. The movie was Narnia: THe Voyage of the Dawn Treader! It was such a good movie...and loads of fun watching it with a big group of friends.

Here is some of the group. Sorry for the spots. We are working on putting the ceiling in and there were still lightbulbs hanging and they give photos these spots.
At the end. there was a small group that stayed later and we plated Mafia. Haha- that is a funny game.
I can't wait until our next activity. We hope to have an International Food night. :)

FUN Photography

2011-03-02T19:45:00.000-08:00

Lately I have had fun editing photos of my siblings. Here are some! :)

Great Grandma's 85 birthday

2011-02-14T12:50:00.000-08:00

This week I had a lot of great activities and one of those was a family birthday party for my Great-grandmother. She turned 85 years old. Here my siblings and I are with her at her birthday party:

Please pray for her. She says she is going to Heaven somday because she thinks she is good enough. She needs to understand that she just must accepted the Lord's gift of salvation.

A Young Women After God's Own Heart: Prayer

2011-02-04T06:56:00.000-08:00

I have been doing a devotion book for a little while called "A Young Women after God's Own heart" by Elizabeth George.

Today the chapter was called "A Heart Committed to Prayer".

Here are a few of my notes:

When you and I begin each day by giving all the cares of life to God in prayer, we can then rise up relieved, freed from many heavy weights. -Elizabeth George

After spending some time thanking God for His Son and for His salvation of my soul, I dared to turn my thoughts forward. I prayed, "Lord, what do you see missing from my Christian life?

I dedicate and purpose to spend the next ten years (Lord willing) developing a meaningful prayer life. -Elizabeth George

Prayer teaches us that God is always near-

What can you do when trouble strikes? I mean trouble like a tragedy, a catastrophe, a disaster? Well my friend, I had the opportunity to find out on January 17, 1994 at 4:31 in the morning, when a devastating 6.8 killer earthquake struck our home in California. I was home alone and can only remember trying to save my life by getting out of the house. And, as I cried out to God for reassurance of His presence. And it came from a passage out of the Bible (Psalm 46: 1-2) that I had planted there by memorizing it.

God is our refuge and strength an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear...
(And, by the way, the rest of this passage and the next verse just happens to go like this:
"...though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging"! Sounds like an earthquake to me!)

The more you and I pray, the more we are reminded of God's po

werful presence in time of need!

One man put it this way: "The purpose of prayer is to reveal the presence of God equally present all the time in every condition."

Prayer trains us not to panic-

Jesus said we shoudn't give up, give in, or panic. No, He said we should pray instead! (Luke 18:1) In other words we are not to give in, cave in, or collapse under pressur.

Instead we are to persevere. Turning to God for every need during your regular daily prayer time will ingrain in you the habit of prayer, which can then replace your natural tendency to panic at the first hint of any problem.

Prayer changes lives-
You've probably heard that "prayer changes things." But, once you develop a more regular prayer life you'll discover that "prayer changes you!

As a camel kneels before his master to have him

remove his burden, so kneel and let the master take your burdens.-Corrie ten Boom

But this you must remember,

This one thing you must know

I can not take you burden

until you let it go.-unknown author

I have really enjoyed this book so far and the Bible study group of young ladies. Last time, we got a signed copy of the smaller daily devotional bookfrom Elizabeth George and the leader had a pile of ladies hats that all us girls could pick out a hat or two. It was fun. Here are some photos of us in the hats!

SNOW TUBING!

2011-01-28T06:52:00.000-08:00

Last night my family went snow tubing with our local homeschool association. It was so much fun. I've gone sledding before and on pretty big hills but this was so much better. You could go in groups of up to 5 people holding onto each other's tube handles.

Here is the group of us that usually went together!

Here we are on our first time down. You can kind of see how long the ride is. The guy at the top sets you off and spins you too if you want! IT WAS REALLY FUN!

A Good friend and I: (plus some cute critters - haha)

All us girls (sorry it's blurry)

The whole group:

Inside to warm up with hot cocolate and goodies!

Thanks mom for taking all these pictures for me! :)

Snow!

2011-01-27T08:55:00.000-08:00

It snowed...and snowed... and snowed!

Look closely at our swing set. The snow is almost at the middle wooden bar of the "A" at the end of the swingset.

The snow looks so beautiful laying on the trees! God is the best artist ever!

It is well with my Soul

2011-01-21T07:49:00.000-08:00

This is a really well-done video of this wonderful hymn. I hope you enjoy it.

Horatio Spafford's life is a real testimonty of his strong faith and trust in our Lord!

Through all the tragedies in his life, Hortio walked with God. His heart may have ached but his Faith stayed strong!

Many are the afflictions of righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

Psalm 34:19

Homemade Barrette holder for little girls

2011-01-20T09:02:00.000-08:00

Before Christmas, my mom, my sister and I made up these barrette hangers for little girls. We made a bunch and gave them to our younger sister, and our cousins' little girls.

They are simple to make and fun too-when you make them with other people.

Here is how we made them:

First you need to get ribbons and beads!

Cut all the ribbons to the same length. Then take one ribbon and tie it around the hanger with the string hanging down, then put a bead on and tie another knot underneath it.
Once all the ribbons and beads are on, then at the bottom of each ribbon, tie a not put a bead on and tie another not!
Then you can buy barrettes that match the colors, clip them on and give as gift!

Monster cupcakes

2011-01-07T17:40:00.001-08:00

This is a photo of my sister, me, and two of my best friends. We made these monster cupcakes together and they were as much fun (if not more) to make then they were to eat!

I hope everyone had a very Merry CHRISTmas and a Happy New Year!!

Recent Musical performances

2010-12-22T20:27:00.000-08:00

Last week, we had three musical performances.

The Homeschool choir group I am in performed at a retirement home. It was really nice. Besides our choir songs, my sister and the choir director's daughter, and I all performed on instruments together. I played the piano, my sister played her mandolin while Amy played the violin. It was our first trio together. Here is a picture.

Then we played at the local Rescue mission with our piano teacher and all her students. It was nice because the people there eating were so appreciative. I mainly took pictures of my sister and some friends there. The video my mom took doesn't sound good. The piano there was really out of tune. :(

Then Sunday evening we had our Christmas program at my church. It was a musical called Angels Aware.

Here is a picture from one of the songs about the Ten Commandments:

Here I am with some fellow angels:

My brother sang in a trio for one song and I had a solo part in one song and my sister as well (but in a different song). My parents camcordered the whole performance but video-ing on the camera not as much. Here is a little section on my sister's solo at practice. I think she has a great voice. Enjoy!

BE SURE TO STOP THE MUSIC IN MY PLAYLIST FORM PLAYING IF IT IS, FIRST. THEN LISTEN! :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

On Higher Ground

2010-11-23T07:48:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday, I sang in a group for our church's special music time. My sister, brother and I sang with the three oldest sibling from a family that we are very close with. The girl is one of my best friends.

The song we sang has wonderful words and I just wanted to share them below so I always remember this as well as this song.

On Higher Ground

Lord, lift me up and let me stand
By faith on heaven's table land
A higher plane than I have found
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

Chorus:

I'm pressing on the upward way
New heights I'm gaining every day
Still praying as I onward bound
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

My heart has no desire to stay
Where doubts arise and fears dismay
Tho' some may dwell where these abound
My prayer, my aim is higher ground.

I want to live above the world
Tho' satan's darts at me are hurled
For faith has caught the joyful sound
The song of saints on higher ground.

I want to scale the utmost height
And catch a gleam of glory bright
But still I'll pray till heaven I've found
Lord, lead me on to higher ground.

This past weekend!

2010-11-09T05:33:00.000-08:00

Last week I was part of a drama camp. It was an amazing experience. We learned plays that were historical and Biblical. I made a lot of new great friends. Spent time with older friends and learned much about putting on a good performance with costumes and make-up, etc. The bet part was working with people that love the Lord and seek to honor Him.

Here is my brother with two of his new friends, twins. They did a pilgrim theme play called Giving Thanks.

My sister and I were in the play called Raise the Flag. It was very patriotic, reminding us that we have a Christian heritage.
Then on Sunday I played God of Wonders at church. My mom videoed it and it's on her blog here if you want to here/see it.

Update

2010-10-19T06:58:00.000-07:00

Hey All! I found this in my list of posts that never got posted. It is a few weeks old so sorry. I will post more soon about the play my sister and I were in this weekend.

Wow! We had a busy and very week. Last Sunday my dad spoke at an "older folks" home. My sister and I did a duet (piano/violin) and we sang with the residents there.

We had a great field trip to a local orchard and bakery. It rained a little but we learned a lot and it was fun.

We had another great activitiy the next day. We went to a wonderful missions place where we packed up things they take to needy areas throughout the world. Last time we made up meal packeges (you can read about that here). This time we sorted and packed seeds. Burpee donated millions of seeds to them!!

Last week

2010-10-09T05:47:00.001-07:00

This week my class with the little ones was around the book, Fool Moon Rising.

The book is about how the moon is very boastful and proud, singing songs about himself and talking about how astronauts landed on him, etc. But then he realizes one day that he isn't the greatest light but that God created the Sun to be the greatest light. and....just as he reflects the Son's light, we are to reflect the SON's light!!

Our verse was:

Genesis 1:16: God made two great lights; the greater to rule the day...

We made suns with rays that the children could write ways to let their lights shine for Jesus and we made astronaut suits...

Then they played spaceship for awhile.

Here I am with my little astronauts :)

Then later in the week......

We got to see a musical performance, JOSEPH at a Chrisitan theater. What a wonderfull person Joseph was! The show was just amazing.

I want to be able to believe in God's promises for my life and bless others with His love and being forgiving- just as Joseph did throughout his life!

How great is our God! :D

The Whispering Rabbit

2010-09-28T22:06:00.000-07:00

My 4th teaching class was on the Golden Book The Whispering Rabbit by: Margaret Wise Brown (and illustrated by Cyndy Szekeres)

The story is cute. It is a rabbit that yawns and a bee flies into her throat. She thinks the bee is sleeping and is worried that she might wake it and get stung. She asks her friends (animals) what they think she should do. The wise owl Told her to cover her mouth when she yawns (manners). The groundhog eventually tells her to whisper so she doesn't wake the bee and if she yells she might startle it.

So we put Proverbs 15:1 with it: "A gentle answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger."
We had felt bunny rabbit hand puppets that they "sewed" then added wiggle eyes and a wooden bumble bee.

We even found these for the snack. The kids even got why we chose HONEY flavor (bee)

We had this game so we used it. The kids dropped the balls into the bee hive and if they did it, music went off.
Again we played a version of Duck, duck, goose. They LOVE this. :) We played Rabbit, Rabbit, Bee!

This was my favorite picture from the day!

The Crayon Box That Talked

2010-09-26T12:34:00.001-07:00

Here we are at the third class I'm teaching!

The class I taught last week was around the book: The Crayon Box That Talked

The themes were about living together in harmony with one another and also COLORS

Out first color activity was a color hunt: We had the worksheets like the photo and pictures from magazines for them to choose from and glue on.

We played with Play-doh!!

and...
we played with colored ribbons!!

Us... outside playing!

One of my cutie-pie kids!

Even though this class is a lot of work, I am really enjoying it. I am thankful the Lord gave me this opportuniety.

Missionary Girls club

2010-09-17T20:54:00.000-07:00

Our church started a missionary girl's club last year. There weren't any meetings during the summer but we just had our first one for this year.

Last year one of the times we made packets for a missionary named Brook Ford who is a missionary in Tanzania. She has a missionary girl's club there and last year we sent them packages and letters and I even recieved a letter back from the girl I wrote. (Read about that here)

Well, Miss Brook Ford is back in the US on furlough until January so she came here to tell us more about the girls and what she does and to share her testimony.

Here's a picture of most of the ladies/girls at our meeting. Brook is in the center in the yellow outfit

She did a slide show and told us a lot of interesting things about Tanzania.

We made necklaces for Brook to take back to Tanzania and give to the girls in her girl's club.

Here are some of the notes from her talk.

Miss Brook Ford leads the missionary girl's club there, she also does ladies visitation and a ladies meeting.

They do a scripture memory program. They have a sheet with 31 memory verses. If anyone learns one side of the page, they get a New Testament. If they learn both sides, they get a New Testament and a complete Bible.

At their church meeting they use a car battery to run a keyboard, a speaker and the microphone and then they just charge the battery.

90 percentof homes there have no running water or electricity.

nother project Brook did this past year was make a CD of Christian songs sung by friends there in Swaheli. She gave each of us a CD and a book with the words and then the translation back in English

Here is one of the songs off the CD (sung in Swaheli). See if you recognize what song it is. Click below to listen.

Other things: Food is very hard to come by from many Tanzanians.

Some other neat thing she said in her talk-

At their Christmas party last year, they gave each girl a mosquito net as their gift.

They were very appreciative. (Malaria mosquitoes mostly travel at night she said)

They get baptised (symbol of our faith) in the river. In that culture, they can not take of the Lord's supper until baptized. When they get up out of the water, the ladies greet them with flowers to celebrate.

A neat story she told us is................ in her last newsletter she said that they needed some packets of Kool-aid. She needed 140 Kool-aid packets for the rest of that year. She said she got so many she stopped counting at 1300. She said this is just one reason that her main verse recently is

Ephesians 3:20

"That He is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we ask

or think, according to the power that worketh in us."

My 2nd class

2010-09-17T10:04:00.000-07:00

This past week, the class I taught was all around the book Adeline's Porcupine.

This is a really great children's story. If you have someone young you can read to, I receommend getting this book and reading it to them.

Here I am reading the story to the kids.

Since the main character in this story is a porcupine, we played a version of Hot Potato but used a stuffed pprcupine Webkinz to pass around.

The Bible verse we put with this book was Romans 12:21 "Do not be overcome by Evil but overcome evil with good." The song we used for this game was Overcome Evil with Good by Steve Green.

The children liked this.

The other animals in the story were cats and dogs that laughed at the porcupine and didn't want her to be part of their group of friends (until the end of the story). We had puppy and kitty ceramics for the kids to paint. They like doing the painting.

Here's my little class. They each have a puppy or kitten stuffed animal.Like in the story we had a puppy parlor.

Thanks to anyone praying for me as I do this. I am enjoying it and learning a lot. The kids are adorable. It does take a lot of work though to be prepared.

Eve Part2

2010-09-15T21:35:00.000-07:00

Eve was also the only woman to live in the Garden of Eden before there was sin! She lived in peace and harmony and had a closeness to God there.

But then sin entered the world.....

Satan succeeded in getting Eve to doubt the thruthfilness of God's word and the godness of His motives.

Gen. 3:1 says that the serpent was the sneakiest beast that the Lord made.

When Eve began talking to the serpent, she had no idea how far-reaching the consequences would be.

We need to remember that sin has consequences that reach future generations.

Satan operates through deception and disguise.

Satan (serpent) sugggests to Eve that God is with-holding something good from her. (Gen. 3:4-5)

Adam was right there with Eve when this all happened... and he said nothing. He was the leader and could have stopeed her.

Genesis 3:6 says "...and she gave also unto her husband with her. "

Now... how Adam and Eve dealt with their failure:

Geneisis 3:7-8:

1. They hide from each other- covering themselves with fig leaves

2. They tried to hide from God ("among the trees of the Garden")

then... Gen. 3:9-11- God comes to man: He asks where Adam is but He knows where he is. He just knows that there is no longer the closeness that was before sin.

He is giving an invitation to repent.

God holds Adam accountable even though Eve was the first to eat of the forbidden fruit. Adam failed to lead rightly (This too is sin.)

Gen 3:12-13: Adams answer:

Adam blames Eve and God

Vs 12:

Adam blames Eve .."that woman" (blaming Eve)

"that You gave me" (blaming God)

Eve blames Satan vs13:"the serpent decieved me, and I did eat."

** Our human tendency is to blame.-instead of taking responsibility for our sins.

Punishment:

Serpent: Cursed above every beast.

Must crawl on belly and eat the dust of the earth.

To the Women: Great pain and sorrow in childbirth. And subjection under husband's rule.

Adam: Will now take hard labor to grow food. The ground will now grow thorns and thistles.

Physical death for both man and animals.

Adam and Eve were sent out of the garden of Eden into a harsh world. And mankind now had a sinful nature.

How does this historial story of Adam and Eve apply to me today??

Remember sin has consequences. It's not just the consequences from our sin itself but our willingness to deal correctly with that sin.

Eve

2010-09-14T14:22:00.000-07:00

We (the girls in my house) started a Bible recently about the Women of the Bible. The first woman we just studied was Eve. (makes sense to start with her- she was the first woman.)

Most know that God created Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into him- then God created Eve from one of Adam's ribs-

Here are some notes I took during our study of Eve.

Eve's strengths blended with Adam's so that together they were something neither could be separately. In fact Gen. 1 shows us that it took both Adam and Eve to accuarately reflect the image of God.

Eve was the 1st helpmate to a husband. (she was the first wife ever)

Eve was named by Adam.- Hebrew word Hava - means the mother of all living. (Gen. 3:20) Seven times in Gen. 1 we read " and God saw that it was good."........ But it was not good for man to be alone. He was created incomplete so that God could complete him with Eve.

It takes both male and female to fulfil God's purposes given in Gen. 1: 26-28.

God's Purposes:

1. rule over all living things on Earth

2. Be fruitful and multiply

3. Fill the Earth and subdue it.

God brought Eve to Adam (it wasn't his job to find a mate.)

Eve was 1st women, wife and mother.

Think about that......She had no mother to teach her things.

She raised her children without another women on earth to guide or support her.

It was neat to sit and think briefly about how it might have been for Eve. She experienced many wonderful, beautiful things and then hard things too. She was the first woman to do everything she did.

Look for Part 2 of this soon. :)

Having fun with Photography

2010-09-14T04:41:00.000-07:00

While waiting for my camera to get back,

I've been playing with some photos.

It's something called Color Splash and it's fun to use on photos!

Here's some:

Shakespeare-Heads! haha!

Don't worry, this game does not hurt- it was a lot of fun,

even though it looks vilalent!

So, what do you think of the photos?

My mom and I both really likes the one with my brother and the butterfly. I think it makes the butterfly look almost 3D.

First Co-op Day

2010-09-11T13:33:00.000-07:00

Our Homeschool Group started up again after having the summer off. I'm glad as I really like co-op

Chemistry class- It was actually really fun.

I am so happy the Lord gave me great friends at Co-op!

We were doing watercolor paintings for art class!

2010-09-10T15:59:00.000-07:00

Just a photo I took at our co-op day today that I like...

More photos from our day (yet to come).....

Teaching

2010-09-10T15:56:00.000-07:00

This week I started teaching a preschool/elementary class to children whose siblings are in Classical Conversations classes. The class is 2hours and 15 minutes. It is an enrichment class for them but it is mainly a children's story with themes carried throughout our whole class. It's really neat too because I get to teach them about the Lord and everything He created, etc.

There are two kids missing from the bottom photo but it is most of my class with me. Here is my class with me. They are really cute little kids!

Please pray for me as I continue to do this over the next 6 weeks.

Playing with a Picture

2010-09-02T20:11:00.000-07:00

My camera is being fixed right now.Thankfully I can still borrow mom's from time to time.

I took this photo a little while ago so I was playing around with it! I think it turned out pretty cool! What do you think?

Baking from a mix

2010-09-02T13:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had to do some quick baking after our school lessons. We had a luncheon today at our church after the funeral of a Godly older man from our assembly. He is my cousins' grandpa. He was my Sunday School teacher a few years back as well as for my one sister and one brother (the older ones). He battled cancer for a year and is now in Heaven with the Lord.

The committee my mom is on was to bring desserts. It was funny because we just read one of the recent articles at a blog we read regularly called Raising Homemakers about using Box mixes. Here is the link to the article!

Here are two recipes we made using box mixes.

The first made cookies and they are delicious. The second recipe is one we've made for years. It's banana bread but is more like banana cake.

I just thought you might like to try them if you have a box mix in your pantry.

Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies

(recipe from Taste of Home magazine simple & delicious)

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 pkg. (18 1/4 z.) chocolate cake mix

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup peanut butter chips

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add cake miz; beat on low until blended. Stir in cho

colate and peanut butter chips. Drop by rounded Tablespoon 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes or until set. Cool for 3 minutes and then remove to wire racks. Store in air tight container. Makes 4 dozen.

Photo of our batter:

This recipe is our banana bread recipe. It is one of our favorites. We also make a Banana Oatmeal loaf (this one is more nutricious and from scratch). :-) but here is the one with a cake mix... (and pudding mix)....

Banana Bread

1 to 2 small (over) ripe bananas

1 pkg. yellow cake mix

1 pkg. (4 serving size) vanilla (or banana) instant pudding

4 eggs

1 cup water

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (optional)

Place bananas into bowl and mash. (the fun part!) Add remaining ingredients. Blend then beat (with mixer) at medium speed for 2 minutes until well mixed. Pour into a well-greased and floured 10" tube/ bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes. Cool in pan at least 15 minutes. Turn pan over on top of a serving plate. Allow to release from pan onto plate then finish cooling.

* May also be baked in a 9x13" pan (for more of a cake): Bake this 50-55 minutes or use 2 loaf pans and bake 50 minutes.

Let me know if you try these recipes and what you think.

P.S. My camera had a problem and is back at the manufactures. :( There was a blur in the screen at the bottom (like if your thumb got in the way) but it never goes away and shows up on the photos now. I am not sure what happened to it but it is under warranty so I'm glad of that but I am missing my camera. In the meantime maybe I'll find time to play with a few photos I have loaded in my computer.

Down on the Farm

2010-09-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

My youngest siblings are starting their school year with a Farm-theme unit. So we went on a field trip to a local dairy farm with a few other homeschooling families we know.

A friend of ours, me, and my sisters

Here is a picture of most of the kids in our group:

This is where they milk the cows:

Watching them put the milk in the containers and the lids on!

That's my cutie-pie brother in yellow

Here I am in the nursery...Baby cows. (calves)

If you cant tell this is a fake cow! JK! You Could "milk it" It was actually water! My littlest sister liked this. I doubt she'd like the chore though if we lived on a dairy farm. ????

Feeding one of the little cows! You wouldn't think so but you really have to hold it tight. They have quite a hold on it.

This cow was born on my sisters birthday! :D (the day before our field trip)

This is a tractor that was there! :) It's a Farmall (even though my bros T-shirt says JOhn Deere are the best.) We aren't farmers so we don't really have a brand preference. (his T-shirt was a hand-me-down. hehe)

We had an awesome time! Plus at the end we got cockies, with Orange Milk and also Chocolate milk!

Oh Yeah, and there was a super cool corn maze (except for boys had to throw ears of corn!)

Lil sis Birthday!

2010-08-25T10:13:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to wish my sister a very Happy Birthday!

You are a great sister and one of my best friends! I am so glad the Lord made us sisters!!

We had a fun day celebrating her birthday! We had off school. We had a big brunch and played Dutch Blitz (card game). Then we went and bought her gift and went bowling in the afternoon! It was fun! I ♥ my family

Happy Birthday!

2010-08-21T06:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my little brother!

I am glad to be your sister, and part of your life!

You've come such a long way from when you were in the NICU!

I love you!

Answer

2010-08-21T05:44:00.001-07:00

Here is the answer to the last post:

Thanks for guessing. It was fun!

Do you notice anything?

2010-08-19T10:45:00.000-07:00

Summer is almost over!

2010-08-19T10:32:00.000-07:00

Summer is almost over but I am really looking forward to our school year! Yesterday we had our Homeschool Group's summer picnic at our house. It was nice to see everyone again. I look forward to our group having the monthly co-op again.

Here are a few pictures my mom took of me with some of my friends.

Now, us being goofy! :-)....

Now,just my best friend, me, and a good friend....

Water wars

2010-08-09T13:12:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was very busy and a lot of fun. One thing we did was go to my dad's work picnic.

Here's one of the fun activities we did there....

verses....

Tractor Pulls

2010-07-26T09:36:00.001-07:00

Over the weekend, we went to see tractor pulls and monster truck pulls. It was really fun. I had never been to this before.

Here is some of what we saw...

This was our favorite tractor..think green...

This was our favorite truck. :)

It was a lot of fun! Have you ever been to tractor pulls or monster truck pulls?

P.S. Can you believe that they said that ONE of those large tires costs $3,000. Ouch!

God's plan

2010-07-21T08:19:00.000-07:00

Recently at church my mom got a gift from her seceret sister, and on the card it had this quote on it.

I don't have to figure out why or how or when.

God has a plan, and I'm committed to it.

That commitment frees me from having to worry about the details.

~ Barbara Johnson

Don't worry about anything ~ instead, pray about everything.

Tell God your needs and don't forget to thank Him for answers.

Philippians 4:6

This reminded me of a song that says "I know who holds tommorow and I know He holds my hand". Isn't it great that we don't have to worry about what will happen tommorow because it is all in the Lord's hands!

New piano pieces

2010-07-13T12:02:00.000-07:00

I recently got a new book of piano songs from my piano teacher. The book is called A Splash of Color. What is really neat is that each song was created to "enhance an awareness of imagery through color". So each song's title includes a color. I am choosing between the following two songs which one I want to play at a recital (in the future)

I need help choosing which song. So.. I am asking you to let me know which song you like best.(Leave a comment)

These songs are new to me and I have not had much time to practice them yet so bare with any mistakes or sour notes.

Also one song is called "A touch of Gold" and the other is entitled "Forest Green"...can you pick which is which????

Each performer at the recital will also dress in the color of the song they are doing. I think that will be even more fun!! I'm looking forward to it!

Now help me choose so I can really get working on it! :)

Thanks!!!

Twice God's

2010-07-11T07:39:00.000-07:00

Today I read this in my devotionals and really liked it and wanted to share it...

Once there was a little boy....."This little boy was happy. He felt a sense of accomplishment as he picked up his newly finished boat. It was the sort of boat only little boys can build. It was made of painted wooden parts. It was nice. Best of all, it was his. He set it on the water in the brook, and it sailed beutifully. One day the little boat was left by the side of the brook, forgotten. He didn't mean to forget his precious boat, but he left it behind . Later he looked for his precious treasure, but it was gone! Though he searched long and hard, he could not find it. One day the boy was walking past the barter store in town. He stopped short. There in the window front was his little boat! Oh, he must have his boat again! He checked the price then ran home to scrape together his available earnings. Running to the store, he breathlessly handed the money to the clerk and hugged the little boat to his chest. "Now," he said to the boat, "you are twice mine- first I made you, then I bought you!"

The Lord made each one of us. He called us His own, but through the soiling of sin, we drifted and were alienated from Him. Christ died for us while we were yet sinners and paid the full price to buy us back. We were found despite our lost condition. Now we are twice God's. He made us, and-through His grace and by our faith-He bought us.

"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. ~1 Corinthians 6:20

Devotional from "Beside the Still Waters"

This story written by: Wayne .E. Miller: Rushsylvania, OH

Renaissance photo shoot

2010-07-09T12:51:00.000-07:00

Last year, my sister and I sewed Renaissance dresses with our sewing teacher. Today was pretty warm but I wanted to use my new camera and we talked my mom into letting us have a fun photo shoot (followed by popsicles.)

Here are some of the pictures I took of my sister:

Fun with second cousins

2010-07-09T06:02:00.000-07:00

This week my second cousins came over, and we had a lot of fun!

Here are some pictures!

Mom's Cousin Rachel and my little second cousins!

Jacob played basketball with some of my siblings.

He lifted my brother up to his height for this picture! :)

Swinging my littlest sister and little 2nd cousin! :)

Having fun on the trampoline! She could not stop laughing!

~Baby Anna~

A God-focused life

2010-07-05T17:57:00.000-07:00

A God focused life is when our hearts and minds are so focused on God that our whole lives reflect Him.

Colossians 3: 1-2

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. "

1. Focus : discipline

vs. 1: Set your heart on things above (emotions/affections)

vs. 2: Set your minds on things above (thoughts)

What can we do to set our hearts and mind on things above: Read God's Word, Pray, Think (about what we do/say) seek God's will and then be willing.

A God focused life will be consumed with eternal things. (things that make an impact and last for eternity).

What areas of life is God prompting me to reaccess?

2. Kill sin: Collossians 3: 5-9:

these things make God angry (vs. 6)

A God focused life will kill sin.

3. Embrace our new nature. Col : 3 : 5-9

The more we grow in Him, the more we'll become like Him.

vs. 11: Race, religion, wealth: All the same in Christ.

vs. 12: We are chosen, Holy and dearly loved!

Clothe your self with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

vs. 13: Bear with one another. ( Chill and pray about it.)

God bore all sins. We can bear small things with grace. Forgive.

vs. 15-17: "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or in deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

song:

"When it's all said and done

There is just one thing that matters

Did I do my best to live for truth?

Did I live my life for You?"

All my teasures will mean nothing

Only what I've done for heart's reward

will stand the test of time.

... Did I live my life for You?

Sermon Summary : July 4th, 2010, Speaker: Sam Logan

Recent photos I took with my new camera

2010-07-02T11:41:00.000-07:00

Cool angle of the Harpsichord!

Piano Keys!!!!

Flowers in the sunlight

Major FIRE we had recently!

A cute photo I got of my littlest sister!

My little brother loves climbing this tree!

Global Outreach experience

2010-06-23T16:21:00.000-07:00

Today, some of my family and friends from my church went to help out at a Global Outreach Center. It was really neat. It's amazing how just a little bit here in America can do so much good in other countries with their starving children.We made food packets for children in countries like Ethiopia, Zimbabwa, and Guatamala. Each bag feeds a child one meal a day for a week.

The room had 10 -12 stations and we worked on 2 stations. Our station made up 15 boxes that each held 36 bags of food. (in an hour and 45 minutes).

The above picture shows the food that we packed in bags: Chicken Protein, Dried Veggies, Soy, and Rice (in that order)

We held the bag under the large funnel while they spoon/scoop in the ingredients.

...And yes we had to wear hair nets, I know they are not fashionable but it was worth it!

Then we took the filled bags and weighed them to make sure they had the right amount.

Then the bags got sealed. Above my brother is working the sealing machine.

Finished bags waiting to be boxed

At the very end, we all came together and prayed for the children and families that would be recieving the food.

The room that we worked in made enough bags (in 1hour and 45 minutes) to feed 41 children for the whole year!! That's amazing!

It was a wonderful experience and I hope to volunteer there again soon!

Father's Day

2010-06-20T17:50:00.000-07:00

Today is Father's Day and I am going to post some photos from our day!

I am very thankful for my dad. He is great, and the best dad ever!

This is a picture of my siblings and I with our dad and grandpa (my dad's dad)

Then mom took some pictures of us while the younger ones mostly played. We were waiting for our aunt and uncle (and cousins) to arrive to all go out to eat.

Here are two pictures mom took that I like:

My sister and I

...and me... and a tree! :)

Happy Father's Day! I hope everyone that happens to see this knows their Heavenly Father!

The Water slide & other games

2010-06-13T13:52:00.000-07:00

One of the fun parts of our Sunday School Picnic is the large water slide we do. Here are a few moments from that too!

This picture shows the size of it.

Below: my bff, her brother and I are going down the slide together.

My (one) brother's age group played Minute-to-Win-It games. These were challenges they had to try to do within one minute's time! They looked fun and challnging but glad I didn't have to try doing them! :)

This one they wore a pantyhose hat that had a baseball in the bottom of the one leg. They had to swing it and knock down a long line of water bottles in a minute.

Another Minute-to-Win-it game was:

Placing an Oreo cookie on your forehead (hands behind back) and getting the cookie to go into your mouth. It's hard to do... and messy too! They had a few other games too but these two looked the most fun and funniest too.

This little guy loved his snow-cone. I think the photo is really cute!

By the end of the day, we all felt like this little guy......

It was a really fun day!

Tug-O-War Boys vs. Girls

2010-06-13T13:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our Sunday School Picnic. It was so much fun (as it is every year). We had a morning softball game, then lunch and a gospel message. Then we had games according to your age followed by the aweosme water slide and then supper. They also had a snow cone table open all day!

One of the teen games was tug-o-war, boys vs. girls! Watch the videos to see who won!

Round One:

Round Two:

The boys didn't win until they got some of the dads and men to join their side.

A little update

2010-06-07T18:40:00.000-07:00

Well, this past weekend was interesting. ;-) It was fun! But now my brothers are actual Super Smash brothers! Ugh!

Sunday my sister and I had our final recital of this school year. It went well, I guess. I was nervous though. Two of my good friends were there with their families but I am glad they were there.

Here is a picture of my awesome Lil Sis with me! She is one of my bestest friends! :)

Recently my mom got me this shirt! I love it. Since it is my bloggin' name I wanted to get a picture of it for my sidebar so this evening mom took a camera FULL of pictures of me.

You should see what I went through with this photoshoot but it was fun! She actually got some good pictures of me. I might post some of the good ones but I don't know... I don't really want so-o many pictures of me on here.

Home-making and Hope Chests

2010-06-02T05:34:00.000-07:00

Over the past year, I've had many discussions and Bible studies that have been about my future plans. I guess as a teenager it is a big topic. I can't plan out my entire future but pray the Lord leads me down the right path and I know He will. I want His will for my life. It would be really neat to be able to see ahead though, wouldn't it?? See who my husband will be and see my future family and what life will be like but I have that all to look forward to. ...like my own little mystery to figure out. :) However, I have many years to become prepared.

Mom (and I) made an online friend years ago, who is a great artist, but also sweet young Christian example. Her name is Breezy and you should visit her blog. She has many wonderful things on her blog. Recently she wrote this post The Invisible Hope Chest. (go read it!)

As Breezy says "As young women, not yet married, we have the responsiblity to become as well-rounded and useful as we can be."

I have started an actual hope chest but it only consists of two cookbooks right now, as I enjoy learning to cook and bake new things. My next sewing project is my first hand-made apron for myself. I've made many but always for other people.

Anyway, mom read Breezy's article to us (my sister and I) before bed one night last week and ask us to think of the things that we would like to have in our Invisible Hope Chests so here is my list (so far)....

I am cooking and baking but will continue to improve and learn new skills in the kitchen

I am also working on a project with my mom that might someday be able to become a small business if I want/need it to be (if the Lord works that out to happen)

I am doing many Bible studies (and will also continue this always)

I have sewing time/lessons with a super-sweet older lady from our church. My sister and I go there and we will continue with her as long as she wants.

Being the oldest of 5, I've learned many lessons. When my youngest brother and sister were babies, I changed diapers and helped my mom in feeding them meals or dressing them and doing hairdos on my little sister. Now they are starting their homeschooling lessons and I am helping mom teach them so I think I am learning valuable lessons just within being the oldest in my family.

Skills I hope to add to my Invisible Hope Chest:

Canning and preserving

growing herbs and learning their uses

Cake decorating (I like working with fondant... it's like edible play dough)

Mom is going to show my sister and I how to make braided rugs, too.

stars/constellations (I imagine sitting outside at night with my family and pointing them all out to my kids)

how to create and run a website (for possible business). My dad can teach me this.

Bible (always more to learn)....We (my mom and I) are soon starting a book called Marriage Assurance (by Jim Binney).

I know I will be adding much more to this list but that's what I have for now.

I like how Breezy said we could start saving good books to read to our children. I think I will start adding some of my favorites to my actual hope chest, too. I never thought of that.

Breezy and frends also started this site

Check it out!

What skills are in your Invisible Hope Chest? I'd love to hear!

Water tubing

2010-05-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

We have been having A LOT of fun on the water lately!

Here is a short video of one of the fun things we like to do on the water....

School's Out for the summer!

2010-05-28T21:09:00.000-07:00

The Divine Dance

2010-05-26T19:56:00.001-07:00

We finished up reading the book I've posted about before called The Divine Dance...

Here are a few things I really liked from the last chapters and wanted to share...

"God knows us. He knows our dreams, our goals, our strengths, and our weaknesses. He has given each of us talents which to give Him glory. "

"God didn't give you your gifts so you could sit on them and let them go to waste until you are older. He gave them to you so you could use them now. Your youth is an asset to whatever gifts you possess, because it means you can spend your whole lifetime using your gifts for God's glory. I think many of us tend to view high school and college not as stages on which to dance but merely bridges to cross. We view these short intervals not as places themselves but as roads to other places."

God didn't wait until you were old to give you salvation, so don't wait until you are old (er) to give Him glory! "You are part of God's divine plan, and He has a purpose for you. The stage of your life has been set just to His liking. The question is: Is the dancer ready?"

"Life is full of steps and stages, costumes and characters, short notes and long pauses. All of those things are orchestrated by the One who not only knows our names but also knows our hearts. When we set our heart's to do His will, we begin to dance His divine dance...the way HE choreographed it for us."

I thought of this song... I hope you dance...

(and I hope you dance.... For His Glory) :)

Something new.. that's fun too!

2010-05-25T18:57:00.001-07:00

Okay... here is what rolled in today....

We wanted to get a golf cart for awhile but today my dad got

one! It's a lot of fun.

Something new to learn to drive!

Riding off into the sunet ... or I guess it's away from the sunet here. :)

Isn't the sky pretty though?

Cool pics

2010-05-24T20:07:00.000-07:00

Here are two pictures from over the weekend, as well. I think they are really cool photos. They were both taken at a birthday party. The first one is from when we were playing outdoor games. My cousin kicked off her cowboy boots to run and play and they landed this way in the grass. Mom took this photo. I think it is really neat antiqued and it also brought these 2 verses to mind.

Proverbs 3:6: In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thypaths.

Ephesians 6:15: And your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

I took the next photo and it's just another picture of God's amazing creations.

My (not so senior) pictures :)

2010-05-23T21:17:00.000-07:00

This weekend we also went to my cousin's 16th birthday party. Mom took a lot of pictures (I took some too) In between the games, I was swinging on a tree swing, talking with some of my friends and she started taking a bunch of photos of me.

I call them my (NOT so senior) pictures :)... here are a few...

End-of-the-year event

2010-05-23T20:50:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was very busy. Friday evening was our end-of-the-year event with our homeschool group/ co-op. We had display tables, then musical performances and our Shakespeare play, The Merchant of Venice. We had a pretty good turn-out and even though I was nervous, everything went well and I had a lot of fun.

Here I am at part of my table:

My sister and I did our duet (Be Thou My Vision, me on piano, and my siser on the violin) but it certainly wasn't close to our best. My sister stood behind me and had the tempo going too fast. (I think she was nervous). So between that speed and my own hands shaking, I could barely keep up. Many people didn't notice I guess, but we did. I really wanted it to be much better, like it is when we practice at home. But... we play it at least twice more in June, one time in our recital in just 2 weeks and another time for special music at church (on Father's Day). Sorry J we didn't do it as well as we really wanted to.

Then onto the Shakepeare play..... That went very well. Everyone knew their lines and it was a lot of fun. I am no longer Nerissa now- that is kind of a relief.

Here is a picture of our cast:

Also- just a day before our event I finished the dress I

was sewing. Here it is: (can you tell I like the color yellow?)

Flying

2010-05-15T11:03:00.000-07:00

Today I had the opportunity to fly in a small airplane. Our neighbor friend is a commerical airline pilot. Since it is a small plane only my dad, sister and I could join him but my brothers will be going next week.

I even flew it all by myself! It was so much fun!! It was neat to see God's world from that view.

Here are some photos....

My first time flying a plane! (and I can't even drive a car yet)

farmland.....

.......and a quarry

I wonder if this is a man-made lake... doesn't it look a little bit in the shape of a man! :)

New happenings

2010-05-01T08:30:00.001-07:00

A lot of new things have been happening here lately. Our piano is getting tuned, I am really excited about that. They had to take a whole piece out so that it could be fixed. We should get it back this week sometime and it will be tuned so I am excited for that. I miss playing it a lot!

Here is a picture of the piece that was taken out:

I started soccer, I have had two practices and I just got my soccer T-shirt, I am number 72! So far I enjoy it and not just because my friends are there. I enjoythe game too. Our coach is really nice. He is a homeschool dad to seven children.

Yesterday we had a young-people's event that my parents set up called Serve One Another.

Outside of spilling ranch salad dressing on the boy I was serving, it was a good evening!

My best friend and I both just happened to wear black & white. :)

We each got a Serve One Another scripture text that a sweet older couple from our chapel family made. It is a beautiful sunrise photo taken in Zambia, Africa. I like what the back says too.

"In Zambia, centeral Africa, the setting sun signals the end of another day.

God gives us opportunities every day to serve Him by serving others. Do we use these opportunities to bring joy to His heart? It is our Lord's desire, indeed His command, that we serve one another. ~ And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will recieve the reward of the inheritance, for your serve the Lord Christ." ~ Colossians 3:23-24

Through one of the games we played at the Serve One Another night, I learned that one of my good friends has a favorite singing group called GLAD. I never heard them before. Mom looked them up and I think they are very good too. I really enjoy (good) music with musical instruments but I like accapella singing a lot too. Here is a song from this group, Glad. Maybe you will like them too. :)

Have a wonderful day!

You Do the Math!

2010-04-26T06:21:00.000-07:00

Here is a video that I want to share.

Be Thou My Vision Duet Piece

2010-04-21T12:09:00.000-07:00

Here is the main song I am working on right now. It is a duet with my sister on the violin. It still needs work in the middle section and much practice. We plan to play this at our homeschool group's end-of-the-year event as well as for special music at our church.

It is Be Thou My Vision and the arrangement is done by a friend of mine.

"This hymn was first written in the eighth century by an unknown Irish poet as a prayer asking God to be his Vision, his Wisdom, and his Best Thought by day or night.

In 1905 Mary Elizabeth Byrne, a scholar in Dublin, Ireland, translated this ancient Irish poem into English. Another scholar, Eleanor Hull of Manchester, England, took Byrne's translation and crafted it into verses with rhyme and meter. Shortly thereafter it was set to a traditional Irish folk song, "Slane", named for an area in Ireland where Patrick reportedly challenged local Druids with the gospel. It is one of our oldest hymns."

Hymn history taken from Then Sings My Soul by Robert J. Morgan

One Thousand Gifts

2010-04-20T05:42:00.000-07:00

This is a random, on-going list of things that I am thankful for...

187. Sitting down and playing the piano or harpsichord after a long day! (or anytime, really)
188. Alan Parks..his music, message and testimony (He recently visited my church) Check out his music Here!

189. finishing up schoolwork (for the year).
190. planning things for next schoolyear

191. That I learned my Shakespeare lines!
192. The memory verse program at my church
193. Bouquets of beautiful flowers!

194 The fun "girl times" with my mom and sisters!
191. The dress I am sewing for my sister (should be finished really soon!) ...hopefully for her birthday
192. The vest that I am sewing for Shakespeare play! (that will transform me into a boy)
193. Teaching Textbooks...makes math much easier for me!

me...8 months old :)

194. photography (so anxious to get me OWN camera!)
195. planning parties

196. ..that I can talk to my mom about anything.

197. when my younger siblings behave! :)

Photography: God created the colors.

2010-04-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

Today we were outside after some morning school lessons. We made a fire to burn some brush and had our lunch by the fire. Then mom gave me an assignment for art/photography. She told me to take the camera go around and take pictures of God's wonderful creation finding something to photograph for every color. Here are my photos....

Red

Orange

Yellow

Green

Blue

Purple

Violet and Pink

God created all the colors...and gave them to us to enjoy!

For His Glory,

God's Girl

The Divine Dance: What are the next steps?

2010-04-10T22:08:00.000-07:00

This struck me as we read again from The Divine Dance" by Shannon Kubiak Primicerio

"When your heart is tuned to God's song, He will put you in the right place at the right time to use you For HIS Glory!"

God has gifted each of us for our time and our place here on Earth...in our dance...for Him!

"When tomorrow comes and the scenery changes, you will find you are ready to learn the next number on the next stage of your life. Give God time to let his plans unfold. Don't worry about the next step. God will make sure that you make it to wherever you need to be. And when you hear a pause in the music or can't make out the tune, sit at your Teacher's feet and listen for what's next."

Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harms you, plans for hope and a future." This is a great promise as none of us know what our future holds. (except ultimately Heaven if we are saved...and I hope if you are reading this you DO know for certain where your eternal future will be. If not, please leave me a comment.)

Jeremiah 29:11 is a life verse for my parents. They had many years of my dad's schooling when they first were married so this verse became very important to them then. It has been a great encouragement to them and I've heard it often and it is now a great promise for me. Many of my recent Bible studies are dealing with "future", etc. I do look forward to that time but am also enjoying the present!

Our jr. church teacher told us this Sunday that we are all pre-husbands and pre-wives or at least He challenged us to look at ourselves this way this week. I've had some good talks with my mom but we also did a Bible study on Sarah. Most Christians reading this probably know the stories from the Bible of Abraham and Sarah. We studied how she was a loving, loyal, and capable partner in every way to her husband. They both wanted to live lives pleasing to the Lord. Besides being devoted to the Lord, they were devoted to each other.

Some of the choices Sarah made might not have been the best ones, but she was human and imperfect like we all are. She tried to help God's plan along instead of waiting. God does not want -or need- our help, He wants our obedience.

The Latest

2010-04-07T17:01:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great Easter!

It has been very busy here from the usual weekly lessons to other school work and a lot of work around our home... but it has all been great! I've had a lot of fun lately though too! I have a great family and friends so when I am with them, I am usually having a pretty good time.

Here are the Easter eggs that I painted:

I am also working on memorizing lines for a play my homeschool co-op is doing (next month) of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. We just had a practice/dress rehearsal. My mom also helped me do a Renaissance hairstyle. I have to say...I kind of like the fashion and hairstyles that ladies had then.

Here is a picture from one part. If you happen to know this play, my role is that of Nerissa.

This was our first dress rehearsal so that is why the boy does not have the correct pants.

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully our week won't be too busy and I can get caught up with schoolwork and maybe post more. I also have a painting I hope to finish soon!

I am looking forward to the summer!

Happy Easter

2010-04-02T06:44:00.000-07:00

Have a very happy Easter... celebrating the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ!

One Thousand Things

2010-03-29T14:19:00.000-07:00

This is a random and on-going list of things I am thankful for.

171. Cheesecake
172. Brownies
173. Pizza
174. Apple Sauce
175. New recipes
176. Family recipes
177. My (own) first cook book (mom just bought me)
178. Starting my hope chest
179. My future family
180. My friends’ mom coming out of the hospital
181. Rainbows
182. flip flops
183. Sunshine
184. My aunt & uncle (and little cousins) starting to come to our church more!
185. My best friend, Ruth
186. My new projects at sewing lessons

Signs

2010-03-26T04:28:00.001-07:00

Recently we saw this sign at a church near our home. Mom showed it to us and we smiled because at the time my sister and I both had inspirational speeches to do for our speech class at our co-op. A few weeks later we were riding in the car one day. The girls in my family were out for a day doing music lessons and shopping. This day we just really noticed signs and talked about them. I think it started because this was driving right in front of us....... ..but then all day (even week) we were taking notice to signs and tried to get photos of ones we really liked.

...and here they are...

Here are two ...about smiles! :)

..and here is one more church sign we saw.
Now, I look at signs more often when we go out. They CAN be good reminders to us.
Ok... Now I need to go "eat more bananas". :-) (They are good for my sore teeth! I just got my bottom braces on this week and my mouth hurts. I am eating soft foods so this sign was appropriate this week!

One Thousand Gifts...on-going list

2010-03-22T07:44:00.000-07:00

This is a random and on-going list of things that I am thankful for...

153. My African friend Maombi
154. Being able to help others
155. Being able to pray
156. Prayer
157. That God is always there!
158. Godly role models
159. Being the oldest with 4 younger siblings
160. That I have a Christian family
161. Pancakes
162. Scrambled Eggs
163. The baptism at my church on Sunday!
164. seeing my friends walking with the Lord, too
165. Our wonderful Creator
166. Our abilities
167. Our talents
168. when I can make someone else smile
169. Smiles
170. that my family tells each other "I love you" everyday.

My friend from Africa

2010-03-20T06:40:00.000-07:00

Last night, we had our Missionary Girl's Club. We did things for a local mission this month. We gave supplies for a local ladies shelter.
We got letters back too from the girls in a girl's club from Africa. We sent them supplies and notes 2 months ago.

I was happy to get a letter back. We can continue to write to each other but the letters take 2 months to be delivered to them in Africa.

The letters were written in Swahili. A missionary translated them on the back though for us!

My African pen pal friend in the Lord is named Maombi.

I'd really like to meet her someday...but that might not happen until Heaven.

Concert Song: Jubilate Deo

2010-03-14T12:19:00.000-07:00

Here is a video of one of the songs we sang at our choir concert.

A lot of the songs we sang were pretty long and the video that my parents filmed is too long for Blogger to load so this is the only song I could share with you. ..and it is in Latin. Hopefully you will still enjoy the tune.

Jubilate Deo means Shout with joy to God or...O be joyful in the Lord.

Our Choir Concert

2010-03-13T08:59:00.001-08:00

Last evening, we had our choir concert! It was a nice performance! I really liked all the songs we sang.

I enjoyed seeing and hearing my younger sister and brother in the elementary choir.

The singers within my family:

Back to High School Choir:

I made a lot of great new friends too!

I will try to upload a video of one of our songs. I couldn't get it into this post. It wouldn't work but I'll try it within its own post!

More...One Thousand Gifts

2010-03-08T08:59:00.000-08:00

132. Online doodling
133. Fun computer games
134. Lapbooks
135. New Spring blossoms
137. Warmer weather
138. Mom’s chocolate cupcakes baking right now! Yum!
139. Soccer (starting this month)
140. Our choir concert (this week)
141. Babysitting little children
142. Babies
143. Pencil sharpeners
144. calendars
145. Fun activities planned on our calendar
146. Tater tot casserole
147. Speech class
148. Shakespeare (class)
149. Creative writing (class)
150. New clothing
151. The Lord’s ( 2nd ) Coming
152. Heaven

Easy Craft

2010-03-04T16:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we did a fun activity!

First we took washable markers and colored on coffee filters. (They were taped to the table.)

Then, we took a paint brush and splatered water all over each filter.
(It started to look more like watercolor!)

Once they were dry, mom hung them up on the window. They look really cool...... especialy when the light shines through!

Since there is so much white and gray outside. It's a nice way to have colors shine in as we wait for Spring's colors to arrive!

This is a really easy craft and it's fun for all ages. We sat at our kitchen table and all did some. My 3 yr. old sister and 5 yr. old brother were both able to do this on their own (with instructions). Even my mom enjoyed making these!

A music note (get it?)

2010-03-03T15:50:00.000-08:00

Today I had a pretty musical day.... piano lessons and choir practice. Something fun happened by chance today- at choir. My cousin and I did our hair very similar and the whole time we kept confusing our moms. It was not something we tried but funny that it happened.

Also.. here is a short video.. it is just a peek at something I am working on. I just got this song about 2 weeks ago. I have a long way to go on it yet but here's a little preview. I think the song is very pretty. I am playing it with my sister. Sh will be playing her violin along with me. A friend did the arrangement.

Becoming A Pearl

2010-03-02T20:07:00.000-08:00

Mom gave me this article to read. She often does Bible Studies before me (to kind of check them out and she enjoys doing them too) or often she does them with me (sometimes including one or more of my siblings.)
She has been listening (audiobook) to Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris. We started listening to the first CD yesterday. The Harris twins' Rebelution has a blog and website that also include many great articles. We read the modesty ones in our study with doing our lapbooks. It was good to see some of the things that might be stumbling blocks for boys. I just never thought of it that much before of the boy's perspective, etc.
Anyway, the article she gave me (and my siblings) to read is called Responding Correctly to Irritations by Grace Molly

She knows I can get frustrated sometimes being the oldest of five. I know I have things I need to work on in this area and I really liked this article a lot. These things will pop back into my mind and help me the next time I am irritated with anyone.

Here are the things that I really liked/learned from this article:
"God is the one who puts families together. He knows exactly what He is doing. The assortment of gifts and personalities He provides makes the family a very powerful team. However, these differences, which make life colorful and exciting, can also cause a lot of irritations. We need to learn how to handle irritations in a godly way instead of allowing them to cause damage." Our goal can not be for an irritation-free environment. We we'll always have irritations in our lives. "Instead, God wants us to learn how to handle these irritating situations correctly. In fact, this is one of the reasons God has put us in families. "

Our brothers and sisters and parents' personalities and characteristics may annoy us at times, but if we can’t learn to get along with them, we won’t succeed in our relationships with other people later on in life.
"The Lord usually isn’t interested in rescuing us from irritating situations. Rather He is interested in changing us! Just like beautiful pearls are formed when an irritant makes its way into an oyster’s shell, so when we respond properly to “irritants” in our own lives, we will be displaying the beauty of Christ in our lives. "

We need to realize these things:
*First of all, we need to realize that we don’t deserve anything! Everything we have is a gift. The Lord gives and takes away, and He commands us to be content in all circumstances.
*Secondly, we need to look past the irritation and ask God to reveal the bigger picture.
Training in this area may be tough; it requires endurance, humility, and lots of patience—but the fruit is eternal.

WOW! Wasn't that good?

If you want to read the whole article, click the link in the top paragraph.

Funny photo: It's all about the cell phone.

2010-03-01T05:53:00.000-08:00

Got this photo when babysitting.... it's so funny:

....It's all about the cell phone!......

2010-03-01T04:53:00.000-08:00

This is my on-going list of things I am thankful for. The list is in random order.

116.Staying up late and whispering with friends/sister
117. Falling asleep once really tired
118. Waking to each new day and new beginning
119. Having a family that loves me
120. Having my mom and sister as some of my best friends
121. Laughing at “inside” family jokes
122. When children say funny things
123. Fun (inexpensive) jewelry
124. My new Proverbs 3:5 bracelet
125. Beverly Lewis books
126. Nancy Drew books/games
127. Ice cream with waffle cone
128. Chocolate covered pretzels
129. Home popped popcorn
130. Freshly baked cookies... just out of the oven
131. mom's salad with grandma's homemade salad dressing
132. laptop computers
133. Cell phones

How My Week is Shaping Up!

2010-02-26T10:49:00.000-08:00

Sunday was the Lord's day.The message was on 1 Corinthians chapter 4 (Stewards of the mysteries of God).
1 Cor. 4:16: “Therefor we do not loose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, Yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.”
Monday: We spent a little time on school work but mostly we were preparing for company....cleaning and cooking.
We tried something new... chocolate filigree. It was fun but I need more practice. My mom did most of them but let me do some too.

Then Monday evening, we had a high school choir practice. Only two weeks until our concert! The ride to and from was hilarious with my cousins (who are some of my best friends).
Tuesday: We had company all day. It was a family that is coming to our Homeschool co-op this year and we've become good friends with them. I am playing an arrangement of Be Thou My Vision on the piano with my sister playing her violin. One of the boys in this family, close to my age did the arrangement. My sister and I hope to play it at the co-op's end-of the year event . We might also play it in church for special music. We've only been working on it for two weeks now but I look forward to when I can play it well. It helped hearing him play it. Anyway, that was a really fun day.
Wednesday is usually a very busy day for us but this one, we were home the entire day. The morning was spent doing schoolwork. My speech for our next co-op day is done. Now I just have to practice it. After school work was done, I had the privilege of playing with my youngest sister. She is only 3 and she is a lot of fun to play with. I would never miss out on this by saying oh I am too old to play with her. We always have fun. At one point she handed me one of her baby dolls and started showing me how I should take care of it. It was very cute. It made me think that someday the roles might be reversed and real. I might be already a mother and handing her a baby (either mine or hers) and showing her something.

This reminded me how I need to be a role model for my little sister(s).

Thursday: My sister and I babysat at our church for the Woman's Bible study. This was a lot of fun, too. Little children are just adorable. They are so cute and say the FUNNIEST things.
After the Bible study we got to go shopping for a little while. It's always fun when it is just my mom, my sisters and I. My brothers just don't like shopping ...which somehow always make us not like shopping. :-) We were looking for white shirts for our choral concert which we didn't find but I got a really nice brown full skirt that I really like and it was on clearance. Once home… it was schoolwork until suppertime.
Friday: (today) has mostlybeen filled with schoolwork. We did more of the pieces for our modesty lapbooks.
I am doing ARTistic Pursuits Curriculum which I really like and I did a lesson in that. I am also working on a big presidents notebook. Today I did Lyndon Baines Johnson.
I am studying the American Revolution. I am reading Kate and the Spies -The American Revolution, A Sisters in Time book. We hope to start an American Revolution lapbook soon. Science recently changed. Mom got a different curriculum. It is called Evolution vs. Creation. Then of course I'll be practicing piano.
We are also still reading The Divine Dance. This is really a good book!
The weekend should be fun. We don’t have any set plans. My dad has the whole weekend off so we will probably have a lot of family fun. I might even be able to get together with one of my cousins (who is a one of my best friends) or another friend.

You can have JOY!

2010-02-24T14:12:00.000-08:00

The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. ~ Psalm 19:8

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. ~ Psalm 28:7

But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful. ~Psalm 68:3

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ~ Romans 12:12

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. ~ Romans 15:13

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control… ~ Galatians 5:22-23

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ~ Philippians 4:4
Be joyful always! ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:16

This one is a good reminder …especially for those of us who are children living at home:
Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. ~ Hebrews 13:17

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart!" ~Psalm 37 :4

~ “Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.”~ Abraham Lincoln

Heehee!

Every day may not be good, but there’s good in every day!

Do you have a favorite verse or quote about JOY?

More...One Thousand Gifts

2010-02-22T04:38:00.000-08:00

This is my on-going list of things I am thankful for. The list is in random order.

100. Roses
101. Daffodils
102. Lavender
103. Black-eye Susans (flowers)
104. Daisies
105. (actually) liking Shakespeare
106. Encouragement from others
107. Encouraging others
108. Root bear
109. Iced tea
110. This week
111. This day
112. Dishwasher
113. Microwave
114. Washer
115. Dryer
116. Stove
117. CD players
118. MP3 players
119. Music
120. Musical Instruments

One Thousand Gifts

2010-02-15T05:52:00.000-08:00

90. God’s glory
91. God’s grace
92. God’s Word
93. God’s plan for my life
94. God’s Son
95. God’s creation
96. God’s love
97. God’s protection
98. God’s mercy
99. That God is always there
100. God's blessings given
101. God's comfort
102. having peace through God
103. being able to do all things through Him (Philippians 4:13)
104. Each new day

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T04:27:00.000-08:00

John 3:16

Cherry Puddles Cake

2010-02-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

We tried this recipe last night and it is a new favorite. We all loved it!! If you like cherries, I bet you will really like this cake too! We plan to make another for our family's Valentine supper. You could add it to your Valentine's day menu, too!

Cherry Puddles Cake
Ingredients
½ c. margarine, softened
1 c. sugar
½ cup buttermilk
4 eggs (or substitute equal to 4 eggs)
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 can (20 oz.) light cherry pie filling
Confectioner’s sugar, optional

In a mixing bowl, cream margarine and sugar. Beat in buttermilk, egg, lemon juice, and vanilla. Combine flour & baking soda; add to the creamed mixture. Pour into a 13x9x2” pan coated with cooking spray. Spoon small amounts of filling into the batter at equal intervals. (We decided to swirl the top using a knife). Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Dust with confectioner’s sugar, if desired. Makes 24 servings.
One serving: 134 calories, 21g carbohydrates, 3 g protein, 4 g fat.

* If you don't have buttermilk, you can simply make it. For the 1/2 cup needed for this recipe, just pour 1/2 cup regular milk into a cup and add 1/2 Tbsp. vinegar. Let sit for 15 minutes on counter. Then stir it and use it in your recipe!*

Let me know if you try it ... and if you like it!

...and Happy Valentine's Day, too!

My Snowman

2010-02-11T10:26:00.000-08:00

I'm in Deep...

Here I am standing upright in the (unshoveled) snow.

Here is my little snowman! Isn't he cute?

~Snowmen fall from Heaven, unassembled.~ (Author Unknown)

Above The Clouds

2010-02-10T16:06:00.000-08:00

I took this picture from the airplane window on vacation. I thought it was neat to be above the clouds!

More Divine Dance

2010-02-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

More of my notes from...

The Divine Dance By: Shannon Kubiak Primicerio

"Romans 12:1-2 tells us to not be conformed (shaped, molded) into the image of this world but to renew our minds so that we can find God's perfect will."

"You are to worship God so boldly that the whole world will want to worship God. It's not about high jumps. It's not about self glory. It's not even about you. It's not about the dancer; it's about the dance. It's about the story that God has written so the world might know Him.

Mathew 16:26 says " What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?"- The answer is none.

Something I also read recently in my devotional book, had something interesting about this verse: "Over 200 years ago, the tomb of great conqueror, Charlamagne, was opened. There was his body in a sitting position, clothed in the most elaborate of kingly garments, with a scepter in his bony hand. On his knee there lay a New Testament, with a cold lifeless finger pointing to Mark 8:36: "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"

"The woman who dances only for God will be different. She will be unlike anything the world has ever seen. She will be bold and daring, gentle, and caring-all at the same time. She will be you, but she will be more than you. She will be God in you - for the entire world to see. Enjoy the quiet time alone in the studio with God as you meditate on His Word and memorize His steps."

Psalm 100:3 "Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, we are His people, the sheep of His pasture." ~You can neither write your own story nor control how God writes it, but you can count on the fact that the end of the story will make all of the other chapters worth it. "

Elisabeth Elliot once said: "The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian makes me a different kind of woman." (Elisabeth Elliot, Let Me Be a Woman)

These notes come from the book shown above, The Divine Dance, which I highly recommend. The one quote (in red) is from God's Devotional Book for Teens.