27 September 2007
My Favoritest Sister’s Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today is my wonderful sister‘s birthday. :) I would like to let her know how much she means to me.
You are my most favoritest sister in the entire WORLD!!! Yes, you are my ONLY sister, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re my FAVORITEST sister! You have been my best friend, for my entire life. “Four Score and Seven Years Ag–”, okay, okay, so you’re not that old. I really am going to be serious now. Thank you so much for all you’ve done for me. You’ve let me squeeze you ’til you gasp for oxygen, you’ve “let” me tickle you, bug you, and even get on your nerves now and then. I’ve said all of that, so that I could now say, “YOU’RE THE BEST SISTER ON THE PLANET!!!” Thank you for being a godly role-model in my life, I don’t think you realize how much of an impact you’ve actually had on me. I love you SO dearly much!!!!! There is so much more I can say about how wonderful you are.
Thanks be to God for blessing me with such a wonderful sister!
May He bless you in the coming year!
I shall leave you with this verse, may you remember it all your days.
“One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord
And to meditate in His temple.” – Psalm 27:4
25 September 2007
Character Counts
by Gregg Harris
Mr. Harris’ High Expectations:
1. That we would rebel against the low expectations of our culture.
2. That we would do something with it because we care.
3. That we would make these truths the foundation for our future lives.
The nature of a tree defines its fruit. If you’re a crab apple tree, you cannot produce Golden Delicious apples. You can’t pretend, because when people come close to look at your fruit, they will see the staples that you used to staple the delicious apples to your limbs. You cannot hide and pretend.
Character : : the moral strength to do what is right–especially when it costs you, and in secret when only God can see. Character is given from God. It cannot be aquired just because you want it. Moral Character is actually what is in your heart, what you really are on the inside.
You cannot change your moral character–you need a conversion, a spiritual change, a change of heart.
There are only two kinds of people:
Lovers : : they lay down their lives for others, they are the servants of God, Christians.
Murderers : : they kill others to save themselves, servants of Satan.
You are either a lover or a murderer.
Every time you feel God should give you something, you are being a legalist.
You can pretend to be a Christian (lover), but if it isn’t real it will end up giving way.
“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.” -2 Timothy 3:1-5
Nominal Christians may act like a believer because it is easier for them to act like one then not–they’re just going with the flow. Nominal Christians read their Bible, pray, and go to church because their family does it. They go along to get along.
Are you just going along to get along with your parents?
Have you ever changed? Are you a wolf in sheep’s clothing?
If you are a Christian, it will be displayed in your life, and you will continue to be like one. That shows who you really are.
It’s hard to let your pride go.
God can grant a will to do so much!
20 September 2007
Do Hard Things
by Brett Harris
He told the story of his first shower (click here to read his blog post about it).
Do not say “I can’t do this.” We are guilty of defining our limitations by what seems difficult to us.
These days our culture expects more of babies than teenagers. They expect babies to learn to walk, speak, be toilet trained, etc. And yet they don’t expect teenagers to gain communication skills, to understand and master math, etc., with the excuse “they’re teenagers, what do you expect?”
We live in a culture that expects us to survive instead of thrive.
We should not be afraid of hard things just because they’re hard.
Everything worthwhile in life causes someone to do a hard thing.
Salvation came to us by Jesus Christ dying on the cross to bear his chosen one’s sin. Do you think that was easy? His Father rejected Him, and turned His face away from Him, just so that we could know Christ, have a personal relationship with Him, and be able to live eternally in the paradise of heaven.
What does applying “Do Hard Things” look like?
1. Do Hard Things means fighting the sins in your life and recognizing the enemy.
2. Do Hard Things means battling discouragement and complacency.
3. Do Hard Things means doing more than what is required.
4. Do Hard Things means getting over your fear of failure.
5. Do Hard Things looks different for each person.
6. Do Hard Things is often small things.
7. Do Hard Things is your BEST life, not your easiest.
What is God’s standard? To be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:16) and a servant (2 Corinthians 6:4-10).
Do Hard things for the glory of God!
16 September 2007
The Myth of Adolescence
by Alex Harris
Examples were given of three young men and their amazing accomplishments at a young age. (You can listen to one of the examples here.) Young people like this were not uncommon or abnormal as they are today.
And we don’t even realize what’s happened.
What’s changed?
Society views teens through the lens of adolescence.
Adolescence : : to grow up.
We, as teens, have been reduced to only being consumers.
High School : : a means of occupying teens during this period in their lives, and forces them to remain childish for much longer than necessary.
The modern category of young men and women today would be completely foreign to those in the early 1900′s and earlier.
Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can’t. You’re right.”
When we say we can only do “so much” and stopping where we think we can do no more or any better, we are only going as far as it is “easy” for us.
Our current ceiling is where the floor ought to be.
“Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.” – 1 Timothy 4:12
God expects great things of these years!
There have been men, such as Andrew Carnegie, who spent their childhood preparing for their future adult years.
What we’re doing right now, is preparing us for our future lives. We will become the men and women we are striving to be. The teens years are our launching pad for the rest of our lives.
Our expectations have the power to change us–for better or for worse.
We need to be rebelutionaries for the glory of God by rebelling against the low expectations of our culture!
15 September 2007
The Rebelution Tour Conference was held in Greenwood, IN on Saturday. My family and I had the wonderful privilege of getting to go!!! It was a very inspiring and blessed time for us, as I’m sure it was for many others.
This is me, Bre, and Daddy (sitting in the third row) :) (Momma took the picture)
Here’s my name tag. I really like The Rebelution‘s graphics.
They had 1,000 interactive keypads for the teens, and they ran out, so not all of the teens were able to use one. We were given 10 seconds to answer, and while it was counting down they would have humorous music playing (like, the Conjunction Junction song).
Then they would show the results, most of the time.
Here’s Alex speaking during the last session. Brett and Mr. Harris also spoke during that session.
Here’s Breezy and I with Alex Harris.
Here’s me and Breezy with Brett Harris.
They were very inspiring! My family and I were so blessed and encouraged through this conference! The Lord is doing major works in their lives, they have a great God-given talent! May God continue to work in the lives of those they minister to!
12 September 2007
I have a door to an attic on both sides of my room.
Now to clarify:
These are not your stereotypical attics where you store the toys of your past and your great-grandmother’s love letters.
These attics are creepy.
Shall I elaborate?
I shall.
The moment you open the door (in the summertime) the air that rushes out at you makes you begin to persperate immediately (usually being 25°F warmer than it is outside).
After you get over the heat, you begin to look around inside. The first thing that you see–everywhere–are cobwebs.
Now these cobwebs are not your normal stereotypical cobwebs that blow in the breeze in the corners of the room from your living room ceiling fan.
These cobwebs are giant, thick, and creepy.
After that, everything else about the attic sets in.
The wobbly boards used as a “floor.”
The pink insulation for “walls.”
A door laying on the “floor”–from who knows where.
And the low ceiling that makes you begin to wonder why they even made an attic in the first place.
Of course, all of these thoughts rush through your head in a matter of about 2 seconds.
And by the third second you’ve slammed the door shut, hoping never to see such a sight again.
But, you know what? That just makes me appreciate my room so much more. I don’t have to sleep in those creepy attics. I get to have a wonderfully comfy daybed to sleep in and only an occasional creepy spider. :0 Though I hear you’re never more than three feet away from a spider. Uh, very intimidating thought.
God is so gracious and His mercies are everlasting.
God Bless,
12 September 2007
. . . Emily is back into all of your lives.
Well, it is good to be back.
We didn’t use the internet for a few days because we weren’t protected against viruses. Now we are, and all the more better.
To give you an update:
Saturday we saw Avalon in concert. It was a nice evening and we got to see some friends of ours that we don’t see very often. After the concert we went back and meet Avalon. Melissa wasn’t there because her sister Tiffany’s husband died and her sister needed her comfort. Please pray for her family as they grieve their loss (he was a Christian). We got our picture taken with them and their autographs.
Sunday after we went to church, Bre & I went to a friend’s house. We had a great time, playing games, writing a continual story, talking, etc.
Monday, we started another wonderful week of school. That night Momma had a Homeschool Mom’s Night Out for the ladies in our county. (Bre and I stayed upstairs most of the time.) Once just about everyone had left, we came down to visit with a couple wonderful ladies (one was Ami). We stayed up talking–having a wonderful time–until 1:30 AM, and they had to leave. They were lots of fun and a great encouragement!
Yesterday, Tuesday, I got to sleep in. In the afternoon we took off to go to the library (one of my favorite places to go, except for the fact that it’s in a bad neighborhood). After that we headed to Granny’s house for our Tuesday Talkers Club (Granny, aunty Glenna, aunty Lou, cousin Marg, Momma, Breezy, and I). Granny made a delicious meal of BBQ pork and mac & cheese. Later us girls went on a walk–taking pictures as usual–and soaking in a beautiful day with beautiful weather and getting exercise.
I believe that brings us to today.
I hope you all have a wonderful day!
Thank you all for the comments, I really appreciate them. I’ll try to keep up with ya’ll.
May God Bless You All,
4 September 2007
“To save time is to lengthen life.” – Remington Trademark
Remington Standard No. 10. Made during the years 1909-1910 at Ilion, New York U.S.A
Here is my typewriter, that Daddy rescued from a house that was going to be torn down.
It fits quite nicely in my room (vintage style).
Next two images and italicized captions from here.
1876 Ad for Remington’s Sholes & Glidden, $125
Fanny Bindon Bailey, a clerk at the US Coastal and Geodetic Survey Office, lifts the carriage of her Remington No. 2 to read what she has typed.
Ever since I was old enough to walk around I’ve been attracted to buttons and such
Through my experiences with typewriters, I have found that I make a lot of mistakes. I kept having to X letters out. I’m very thankful we have a computer
May God Bless,
