Week In Review...

Busy, busy, busy!
Sorry I've missed the last Thursday post.

I thought this post could be of some pictures I've taken...
(You can click on the photos to view them larger!)

A few days ago I took some pictures of my babies...




Puff is now flying and likes to fly to the top of my canopy bed!




Fluff still needs training, so I keep her wings clipped!




When she's bad I have to grab her
with a glove because she bites.
She really doesn't like it
and makes the funniest expressions!




My dear singer, Puff, perches on the banjo and sings with me...




My friend, Stephani, has gotten a new pet as well...



She brings little Bell over every Friday now...



I've finally, somewhat, started my 12th grade year.
I'm still waiting for a few more books to come in.
So I've been busy working on that as well as
playing all my instruments and crocheting for Christmas gifts.
With all of that and additional household duties,
I've had a hard time getting on the computer :)

Here are some other photos that I took and edited online...


I love being able to get so close to the birds in our backyard!


This is in tribute to my Dad...



And here's a creepy bug I saw outside by our front rocker...


Oh yes, and last Saturday was my
dear sister, Beth's, 6th birthday!
It's so hard to watch all the younger siblings growing up so fast!
Especially when I remember holding them and changing diapers.
But I do enjoy seeing them get older in many ways!


Well, I thought I'd just post something
since it's the day after Thursday.

Before I go, I thought I'd share a picture of Suzie...




"Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him..."
Psalm 37:7

Youthful Romance... Dangers of Dating... Part 3

(Please be sure to read part 1 and part 2...)



In 1 Corinthians 7:32b-34 we see,
“…He that is unmarried careth for the things
that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:
But he that is married careth for the things
that are of the world, how he may please his wife.
There is difference also between a wife and a virgin.
The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord,
that she may be holy both in body and in spirit:
but she that is married careth for the things of the world,
how she may please her husband.”

Paul says how the married person needs to please their spouse,
but the single one is free to serve the Lord.
In our culture, we’ve completely turned that around!
Those who are unmarried have a great pressure
to be ‘on the make’, but once they get married
they can settle down and please the Lord.
We have it turned around!
God says (Ecc.12:1)
“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth…”
God has a better way!

I’ve had many people say, “If you don’t date,
how are you going to know if that person is God’s will?”
First of all, I fully believe that God
speaks to us in a still small voice.
Also, I believe the Lord has a different way for each person.
But He will let a person know (ideally the young man),
with the help and guidance of parents.
Parental involvement is very important!

You can tell of a person’s character without dating…
through observing, maybe even someone suggesting;
I believe God has a special way of letting
each person know that what is His will!
Pray with your parents
if a specific person has caught your attention.
And if all 3-
the young person (ideally the young man),
the father, and mother-
really feel the Lord speaking and saying “that’s the one”;
and there is no doubt of it being God’s will,
then the young man should go to the lady’s parents.
They should pray about it and if they have every assurance
of it being God’s will, then they let the lady know.
She then needs to pray about it
and feel, without a doubt, it’s God’s perfect will.
Prayer is the main tool here while searching out God’s will!
In this way, 6 people will be hearing from God
and seeking His will:
And if one of them doesn’t feel it’s right,
it may not be God’s will… or His timing.

God WILL reveal it to them if it is His perfect will!
After coming to the conclusion that 2 people are
God’s perfect will for each other,
then social interaction can take place!
They need to commit to being married
before really ‘getting to know each other’.
Some say now they can ‘date’…
that would still be giving occasion to the flesh.
They’re not married, so they have no right to act like they are!

The other concern people have is love.
People say, “You marry the one you love.”
NO!
You love the one you marry! Love is a choice!
It’s not an ‘ooey gooey’ feeling (as my pastor says!);
it isn’t uncontrollable- you choose to love someone!
The expression “fell in love” is absurd!
It seems to indicate you fall in love like you fall into a ditch!
You can just as easily fall out!
No, you don’t accidentally love someone!
You choose to love that person!

If we are truly seeking God and are serving Him in His will,
He will bless us and let us know who His chosen spouse is for us.
Just as He created Eve especially for Adam,
He has created a partner especially for each person today-
if we’re willing to seek it and submit to His will.

After all, the whole design of marriage was for
a picture of the church’s relationship with Christ.
The Lord says, continually, He has betrothed the church to Him.
We need to make sure we, personally, have a deep and sincere
relationship with Christ before we move to marriage.

Notice also, that God the Father betrothed Christ to the church.
(He, also, uses the word ‘espoused’ sometimes)
This, in itself, clearly states that God’s will and way is betrothal-
He never once mentions dating or courtship!
And if an exhaustive study was to be done,
it would prove that dating is a sin...
in every way it is NOT God’s will!
If only people were more willing to open their eyes!
So many people harden their hearts to such an idea
because it may not be what they want or what they think.
But with all that God refers to in romantic relationships,
if one were to be completely open and willing to submit to God,
they would see how God really looks
at the world’s idea of dating.

Please note this is not just my opinion-
nor was it, I admit, my first choice or desire
when I first studied it,
but I am very thankful the Lord really softened my heart
and opened my eyes on the subject!
And I know now that I’m not the only one!
There are, I know for a fact, many Christians who believe this…
but many more who don’t.
Now I’m not at all saying that God can’t use dating
to bring His will of people together-
but I do believe that dating is His permissive will
and, certainly, not His perfect will in marriage.

In His Goodness, He works with what we give Him,
even if we’re holding back more.
But wouldn’t it be so precious to Him (and us)
if we surrendered that area as well
and really trusted Him to bring our marriage about,
not only with His chosen person,
but His time and way of bringing it about?

I challenge you today, to risk the criticism and the sacrifice,
by being totally commited to
God’s absolute best and perfect will in this area.
I know from experience that people
will mock, criticize, and disagree;
friends, family, even other Christians and church members,
but there comes a great peace in knowing that you are in
God's perfect will and are resting and trusting in Him!
And the rewards will be eternal,
as well as wonderful here on earth!

“And this I speak for your own profit;
not that I may cast a snare upon you,
but for that which is comely,
and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.”
1 Corinthians 7:35

Youthful Romance... Dangers of Dating... Part 2

(Please make sure to read part 1 before this continuance...)



We need not only to focus on chastity
(as mentioned in part 1);
but romance opposed, to not only physical ,
but emotional purity.

Does God have a design there? I believe He does.
This is where the second part of 1 Thess. 4:6 comes in.
“That no man go beyond and defraud his brother
in any matter…”

He not only tells us ‘do not go beyond’,
but also ‘do not defraud’.
What does it mean to defraud?
In businesses, what is defrauding?
Essentially, it’s leading the other party to believe something
and make decisions based on assumptions that aren’t true.
You’re “ripping someone off”.
You’re cheating them by leading them
to believe something that’s not true.

In the area of relations between men and women,
is it possible for one or both parties to defraud each other?
To lead them on?
It certainly is! We call it ‘flirting’.
Paul is saying “Don’t even flirt!”
Now what about dating?
Let's say a married woman and a married man
(not married to each other) wanted to 'go out'.
But they say, “Well, it's nothing physical.
We don’t mean anything that’s really wrong.
Just kind of ‘getting to know each other’;
‘developing a friendship’.”
NO!
You’re not suppose to have that kind of relationship
with someone else’s spouse!
What kind of relationship is right
for one’s spouse to have with another’s?

What about the relationship
of one’s daughter and the other’s son?
Paul specifically wrote to Timothy about relations.
He said to treat older men as fathers, older women as mothers,
and to treat the young women like sisters!
Siblings?! How do treat siblings?
Or better, how should you treat siblings? :)
The thought of being romantic with a sibling
of the opposite sex is rather repulsive!
They may be a great person and all,
but… the thought of kissing that sibling?
No! No way! You don’t treat a sibling like that! Yuck!
Flirting with a sibling? No way! That’s abhorrent!
Paul says the young women and men are to treat each
other like brothers and sisters in the Lord.
We need to make the decision not to be
seeking each other out, but seeking the Lord.

There does come a time, however,
when God wants a man and woman
to move beyond the brother/sister-in-Christ relationship.
So how do we get there?
In our culture it's often said,
“Forget treating them like brother and sister –
treat them like prospects.”
And so many times young men and women
are looking for prospects…
And not just looking, but teasing each other,
and flirting with each other.
Leading each other on and defrauding one another.
Is there a better way?

A good idea would be to do a whole Bible study
for yourself on the topic of dating.
So, here comes the concordance:
D… D-a… D-a-t… dating… it’s not there!
God doesn’t say anything about dating,
so anything goes, right?
Not at all!
There is a phrase repeated in the Bible,
“given in marriage.”
Now that implies ownership.
How can you give something you don’t own?
But who owns what when God talks about
being ‘given in marriage’?

In weddings you clearly see it is the father,
but that’s not really real; just a formality-
everyone knows it was the bride’s choice, right?
Well, instance after instance the Bible shows that
there was parental involvement in marriages.
Lots of Scripture implies that parents need
to have some say in this whole thing.
Why, the Bible doesn’t say anything about dating!
Dating is a sin!
It’s giving ‘occasion to the flesh’! (Gal. 5:13; Rom. 13:14)

Here are some things that helped us come to the conclusion
that dating is, in fact, a sin.
1st argument can be historically.
Where did dating come from?
Dating is a real recent phenomenon; something new in history.
It hasn’t always happened.
Even as near as 100 years ago, the man went to the girl’s father.
The father would then ask, “Are your intentions honorable?”
Now what did he mean by that question?
What did he mean by ‘honorable’?
He really meant,
“Are you committing yourself to marrying her?”
And if the young man couldn’t convince the father
that that was his intention,
he wasn’t allowed to see the girl!
Essentially, he was proposing to the father!
Before any social interaction between
the young lady and himself.
Well, unfortuneately, not too many people
are impressed with or interested in that answer,
so we move on.

Before we move on, let’s define our terms.
We currently practice something we call dating.
Well, essentially, we can define dating as:
“A social relationship between and guy and girl
that both parties understand to be temporary.”
It’s a temporary romantic relationship.
Now both parties may harbor the hope that it may
some day grow into something more permanent,
or they might not.
But in any case, they both understand it to be temporary here.
And the whole focus is enjoying each other now.
Even if you have ‘high moral standards’;
and intend that ‘you’re not going to cross the line’,
still, the whole focus is on current, temporary enjoyment.

Now to propose an alternative – betrothal.
Some would say, “What about ‘courtship’?”
Courtship has, for the most part, become
‘Christian’ dating! – still no permanent commitment.
Now, betrothal doesn’t necessarily mean
that the parents make an alliance with a complete stranger
or someone you particularly don’t want to marry.
It really means that a man and woman are
committed to marry each other
before having any romantic relationship.

Now, let’s go back to dating.
Typically, a guy sees a girl he ‘likes’ and asks her ‘out’.
They go out and maybe talk or something or other…
it’s just so fun to them!
They want to do it again. So, another date and more follow…
soon, the things that were so special at first
start getting a bit dull.
Say they move on to something new… slowly.
Maybe they hold hands, sit with each other in church, etc…
They just keep rolling downhill, but how do they stop?
Well, they decide it best to ‘brake up’.
This hurts and is very painful.
So, he decides soon after to ask a different girl out…
they have fun, but it wasn’t the same
as the first time he’d gone out.
And they could ‘move forward’
a little easier and quicker than the first time.
People watch and are saying,
“Awww, how cute! They’re preparing for marriage!”
BALONY!

‘Breaking up’ and pairing off
is more preparation for divorce than marriage!
There is much pain and wounding.
Do we need to see youth groups as ‘happy hunting grounds’?
Where you’re either the hunter or the hunted-
where everyone is enticing each other,
flirting with each other …
No!
We should, instead, be focusing on the Lord.
To seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and then trust that all other things will be added unto us.

God the Father knows what we need –
He’ll provide what we need…
at the right time!
Can we trust Him?


{{more to come next week}}

May we spend some heartfelt time
in deep meditation and prayer,
seeking God's Truths, will, and best...
in this, particular, area
as well as all areas of our lives.


"Search me, O God, and know my heart:
try me, and know my thoughts:
And see if there be any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting. "
~ Psalm 139:23-24

Thursday Thoughts...

Today we had a Nor'Easter intruding.
There was a tornado warning earlier
and we all sat around in the hallway for about 45 minutes.
I thank the Lord He answered our prayers and protected us!

Last week, though, we did have a few nice days of sunshine.
We took advantage of the weather and went to the ocean.
Here are the beautiful autumn Atlantic waves we enjoyed...




The children were excited to get their feet in the water...



Mom and I enjoyed sitting up on the shore,
reading and savoring the breezes and sounds of waves...





But I have to say my favorite thing at the beach
(besides the view of the water) is the sea oats!

These things are so cute and they seem to sing in the breeze!


Last Saturday we went to our friends' house
and surprised Mrs.C with a morning visit for her birthday!
We had a great time fellowshipping and had a nice time of tea.
Stephani and I enjoyed having a spot of tea with the moms.
Or should I say, a pot of tea! (several, actually!)
My mom recently got something called "Blooming tea".
It's very fascinating as you drop a 'tea ball'
into boiling water and it forms into a flower
while making green tea!
The flower is edible and it's very interesting to watch!

We tried quite a few different blooms...


The children enjoyed watching it bloom out of the ball too...


The tea tasted, particularly, good to me
that I didn't even need to add any sweetening!
(I usually need sugar, honey, and creamer!)

It was very fun to watch the flowers bloom
and to drink the tea it made!



This week we had revival at church with Dr. D.M Hardison.
It was a wonderful time of preaching and a visitor got saved!
Revival was definately refreshing to my soul
and revived my spirit!


Lately I've really been fiddling and playing my,
(as our assistant pastor says), my 'one man bluegrass band' ;)
violin, guitar, and banjo.
I like to arrange hymns with my guitar, banjo, and fiddle.
Unfortunately, I can't play them all at once,
so I sometimes record the separate parts
and put them together.
I've also been playing a few Irish jigs on my fiddle.
Maybe I'll record it and post it sometime.


Tomorrow holds, Lord willing,
a rainy day with our 'Friday Friends'.
Well, I hope you enjoy your weekend!


"What shall I render unto the LORD
for all his benefits toward me?"
Psalms 116:12

Youthful Romance... Dangers of Dating... Part 1

Over the next few weeks, I'd like to share something I wrote last week.
...derived from a sermon by Johnathon Lindvall with added notes by me.
**Disclaimer: I do not, necessarily, recommend his sermons
nor do I agree with everything he says, however,
the principles are still based on Truths **



Romance is one of the most wonderful things God made.
What do we do with wonderful, valuable things??
The more valuable your treasures,
the higher your fences around them –
you guard them!

God has placed some very high fences
around this wonderful treasure He created.
God intended a relationship between a male and female
not only for the passing on of life, but for pleasure as well.
But God has placed some strong Scripture against its misuse…
Such as “Thou shalt not commit adultery” and many other
scriptures against adultery and fornication.
What pretty much sets in many a Christian young person’s mind –
“OK... adultery... fornication…bad!
I’m not suppose to do those things!
But let’s define our terms. How far can I go? Where is the line?”

So many times we can read a book or listen to a tape
or sermon on ‘How far can I go’; but realize that everyone
has a slightly different answer. And sometimes not so slightly!
Even in Christian circles there is a wide diversity
of viewpoints on ‘How far can I go’.
This does not mean there isn’t a firm answer.
Just because opinions differ
doesn’t mean that God hasn’t spoken on this issue.

Let’s really try to address this issue from God’s Word;
Let’s look at what God’s Word says.
In 1 Thessalonians 4:3-6 He says,
“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification,
that ye should abstain from fornication:
That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel
in sanctification and honour;
Not in the lust of concupiscence,
even as the Gentiles which know not God:
That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter:
because that the Lord is the avenger of all such,
as we also have forewarned you and testified.”

Now there’s a problem with this question “How far can I go” –
Anyone who has any wisdom in the Lord
can tell what’s implied by this question.
It’s really saying “Tell me where the line is, and I’m going
to get as close to that line as I can without crossing over.”
Is that pleasing to God? NO!
God wants us to give Him our hearts; where we would say,
“What would be God’s ideal?
How much can I possibly please God?”
Let’s go for God’s ideal- What is His highest standard?

In this passage (1 Thess. 4:6) there are 2 things
Paul says we are to be careful of.
“That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter:
because that the Lord is the avenger of all such,
as we also have forewarned you and testified.”

One is that we do not go beyond. And then he dropped it.
The other is that we do not defraud.
Let’s talk about them both.

Concerning ‘not going beyond’
implies that even though this question
(‘how far can I go’) has some problems with it,
it is one that must be answered.
How can we ‘not go beyond’ if we don’t know where the line is?
Where’s that line?
And then we’ll come back to defrauding, because frankly,
that’s going to push the line even further – to the glory of God.

In Matthew 7:12 we have ‘The Golden Rule”:
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that
men should do to you, do ye even so to them…”

Let's illustrate with a story...

There was a well known Bible teacher who had a son
that was one night going on his 1st date.
Now, his son was really nervous, so he decided to ask
his dad if he could talk for a minute.

“Dad, I need some advice. I’ve never gone on a date before –
what should I do? Should I hold her hand?
Should I kiss her? What do you do on a date?”

“Well son, let me ask you a few questions.
Tell me, are you going to marry this girl?”

“Marry her?!?! Dad, it’s only a date! I mean, well,
it’s possible that some day I might marry her, but probably not!
No, no! I’m not going to marry her!”

“OK, fair enough, I just wanted to know.
Son tell me, if you don’t marry this girl,
is it possible someday you might get married?”

“Well, I think so. I’d like to be married some day.”

“OK. Well now, if you don’t marry this girl,
what are the chances of her marrying someone else?”

“Well, she’s a nice girl. She’ll probably get married some day.”

“OK. So tonight you’re taking out some girl
who’ll probably not be your wife.
And in fact, some day she’ll probably be someone else’s wife.
So- you’re taking out somebody else’s wife tonight!”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of it that way, dad.”

“Well, OK, I’m just thinking here.
You know son, if you don’t marry this girl,
that means you’ll marry some other girl.
What do you think the chances are that that girl,
whoever an wherever she is, could be going on a date?”

“I hadn’t thought of that. I suppose, maybe.”

“All right. Tell me son, what would you like the guy who is
taking out your future wife to do with her on a date?”

“Oh! I see! The golden rule!
Do unto others as you’d have them do to you.”

It’s very clear, isn’t it?
And yet that principle is so seldom applied to
romantic relationships in young people.
We don’t think in term of ‘property’ and ‘ownership’.

In 1 Corinthians 7:1, Paul takes it even further.
“Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me:
It is good for a man not to touch a woman.”
Now what things do you think the Corinthians
could have written to him about?
Maybe, just possibly, asking the question of “How far can I go?”
Now that’s a pretty straightforward answer! –
‘It is good for a man not to touch a woman.’

We, parents and young people,
need to set our standards high, saying,
“I’m going for God’s best.
That’s what God says; I’m going to do it!”
Not touch? Well, what does that mean?
No holding hands? No shaking hands?!
Where do we draw the line?
In fact, the issue is not so much the physical.-
If you want to be safe in the physical area,
you have to take it further to what’s in your heart.
In Proverbs, the son was told not only to keep
his body from ‘strange women’, but was told to guard his heart!
The heart is the issue! Guard your heart!
Not only are we to be physically pure,
but we need to be emotionally pure.


{{more to come next week...}}

May we spend some heartfelt time
in deep meditation and prayer,
seeking God's Truths, will, and best.

A Plan...

Since I rarely seem to find time to post,
I thought I'd set aside special days for it,
as an attempt to blog more regularly
and make good use of my time.

My plan is to post as follows (if able)...

EVERY MONDAY ~ A spiritual post
EVERY THURSDAY ~ An update post with photos

There may be a few impromptu posts here and there,
but I will try this schedule and see how it works out.
I hope you enjoy your weekend.

"See you" on Monday, Lord willing!

Being Right With God

As I needed a lot of rest yesterday,
I seized the opportunity of listening to a few sermons.
I absolutely had to take notes on this one...

Being Right With God by Dr.Bill Behrins:

Being 'right with God' is to be 'useable of God'.
When we 'get right with God', we're putting ourselves
in a position where God can use us.
Now, if you have something that isn't useable,
it's worthless, is it not?
A highway is pointless to have if noone can use it.
God says in Isaiah 40:3...
"The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the LORD,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God."
The Lord is likening our lives to a highway.
He wants so much to use us,
but that highway needs to be of quality condition.
Someone may have all the talents in the world,
but that person's abilities are worthless
if he is not right with God.
In the next verse, the Lord gives us
4 things to perpare our highway:
"Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain "
and hill shall be made low:
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough places plain:"


1. "Every valley shall be exalted..."
He's not going down into the depths and then up.
We need to raise the low places in our lives.
We can NOT live in the world with filth and sin
and ever hope to be used of God.
Christians are saying and doing things today
what they wouldn't think of doing years ago.
We have become so accustomed to the sin of this world.
We have truly lost sight of how God looks at sin.
He says in Proverbs 26:11 -
"As a dog returneth to his vomit,
so a fool returneth to his folly."
Think of just how disgusting it is for a dog to vomit,
and then go strait back and eat it!?!
If we'd get just as sick about sin,
we'd have a lot less sin in our lives.
We mustn't compare ourselves to the rest of the world,
but to the Word of God.
We had better worry about what God thinks of us
rather than what other people do.


2. "...And every mountain and hill shall be made low..."
We need to bring the high places down.
Can anyone guess where this might be directed to??
Pride!
Are we looking at other's faults or our own?
Well, we're going to answer for our own problems, not others'!
We have enough in our lives to pay attention to!
We need to really see that God not only doesn't like pride,
He HATES it!
He's not going to put up with a proud person!
"...him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer."
Psalms 101:5
Pride says "I know an area I need to deal with, but won't do it."
It is a satanic sin saying we don't need God in some areas,
when, in fact, we need Him in ALL areas in our lives!
As soon as the Holy Spirit deals with us and we resist it;
it may seem like a small thing to us,
but we're literally going to battle against God!
"...for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble."
1 Peter 5:5
This is very serious going against God!
We cannot win.


3. "...And the crooked shall be made straight..."
A hard fact of life is, that some people
may never be able to sing,
play music, be good at conversing, be very intelligent, etc...
We sometimes focus on all of the things we can't do.
But there is one thing everybody CAN do,
and that is to DO RIGHT!
It doesn't matter who you are or what your background is,
if you really want to do what's right, you can do it.
We sometimes give the devil too much credit.
"The devil made me do it" is the lamest excuse.
He does not take our free will and force us to sin!
If we really, truly, want to, we can do what's right.
We can be the right daughter, right sister, right friend;
have the right attitude, listen to the right music,
speak kindly, be obedient, tell the truth.
Doing right is always a choice,
which everybody CAN make!


4. "...And the rough places plain:"
So many times we justify some pleasures as 'little sins'.
No sin is little to God.
Who sets the sensitivity level of the Holy Spirit in our lives?
Why is it when a sermon is preached
that it just grips some hearts,
but with others it's like gripping jell-O (... unaffective)?
The Holy Spirit has the same power in everyone's lives...
some are just more willing to let it convict than others.
We need to desire a high sensitivity level.
Sin may seem to start out "small" and maybe "cute" or "fun";
but it doesn't remain small, cute, or harmless.
But maybe we think 'we can handle it'.
Well, The Lord says...
"...And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."
James 1:15
It is very important that any 'little' sin in our lives
we must get rid of as soon as possible.

Now, God says
"For he that soweth to his flesh shall
of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth
to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."
Galatians 6:8
If we are willing to do all of these things, there will be results.
We will have real peace and joy.
We will be a real testimony to the world around us.
One of the biggest reasons that family, neighbors,
and people around us never come to Christ is
because they do not see any difference
or anything they want in us.
But if we are truly right with God, others will notice.
And though at times they may mock, in their hearts
they truly desire the peace and real joy they see in us.

So in order to be right with God,
there are things we need to add and get rid of.

What an admonition from the Lord!

Vacation Bible School...

Last week was Vacation Bible School.
The theme was "Dino Detectives".
I thought I'd share some photos of the great week.
(You can click on the pics to enlarge them)

Mom and I did registration and handed out snacks...

We were wearing dinosaur hats that the
2,3,4 class was so generous to lend us ;)
(Excuse the photo... it's a bit grainy)

All of the children(and adults) had a great time.
We were very blessed to have quite a few visitors!
Here is Carolynne in her class(2s,3s,4s)...


Beth in her class (K-3 grade)...

It is very strange to say that my younger
sister is going into 'first grade'!
It's bittersweet watching them grow up so fast!

Here is Will in his class (4-6 grade)...


I took advantage of the quietness,
before handing out snacks, by reading "A Virtuous Woman"...


I made all of the snacks during VBS
and I think Tuesday's was the favorite...


I'll try to post the recipe for these sometime.
It literally took me almost all day to make them!

In addition to Rally Time (singing, penny offering, etc...)
there was a nightly puppet show...


I did the radio while the others did the puppets...


Here is my dear friend and I...

Miss Stephani in the 2s,3s,4s class.


Miss Ally :)

The last night was an ice cream fellowship.
All of the children (and adults :o)
enjoyed ice cream after the VBS classes.
For every night a child was there,
they were able to get an extra topping.
Mom and I (and 2 other workers)
helped with dishing out the ice cream...


It was a great week of Vacation Bible School.
Sorry it has taken me so long to update.
This week my mother came down with bronchitis/pneumonia.
I believe she is starting to feel better, praise the Lord :)
So we've been pretty busy.
I hope you all are enjoying your August!

Here At Home...

We arrived home last Saturday!
It has been very nice to be back home
and reunited with Daddy.
We also took an additional member home...

Suzie. (She just had a haircut before we left.)
She was my Gramma's dog but she decided to give her to us.
I must admit, even though I'm not much of a dog person,
she is a cutie and, overall, I do like her a lot :)

It sure was nice to be reunited with my babies, though!

I missed singing with them and training them.
I'm glad to say that they are both now quite tame!
I clipped Fluff's wings the other day so
now she can't fly away from me :)

It was very nice, too, to fellowship with my best friend
after so long of being apart!
We had a sleepover last night to make up for the 5 weeks :)
We had a great time and recorded some songs I thought I'd share.

Since I was/am teaching her violin,
we've been playing a lot of violin duets, as well
as with the guitar and banjo!
Here's a song that she can play very well
and I accompanied her with :)
(Excuse the editing on these clips...
the move clip editer wasn't behaving right)




We also decided to record a few of our favorite songs
that we sing everytime we get together...
(Double click each one to play.)

What A Day That Will Be
(My birds were happy to sing with us too ;)




Well, just thought I'd share!
I hope you all have a great weekend!

Tidbits From Our Trip

We've been here about a month now
and my Gramma seems to be doing a bit better.
We hope to travel home in the near future :)
It's been very busy between doctor appointments,
visiting other family, cooking, cleaning, etc...
I have, however, found time to upload
some pictures online for viewing. :)
Since I had some extra time on my hands today,
I thought I'd post some pictures of the trip here.

One of my favorite highlights of our trip
was watching baby sparrows grow up...

The mommy fed them nonstop from 5am to 9pm!
They're now all out and flying!

My Great Gramma likes it when I play music for her.
It's a great blessing to me to bless her
with good, godly songs...


While staying at Gramma and Great Gramma's,
we often visit my Grampa
who lives only about 20 min. away.
A few weeks ago we went fishing at the pond near him.


My aunt and uncle came as well...


One day there was a great
storm while we were driving...

Tornado sirens were going off and I think it
may have been a funnel cloud that left a lot of damage.

For the 4th of July we went to my aunt and uncles'.
The children had a watergun fight and as I was taking
pictures I noticed it wasn't just the children who enjoyed it...

:o)

Later on we drove up to a park and watched fireworks.



A few projects I've done are
repainting my Gramma's flag...


Also, sewing myself, Beth, and my mom's friend's
2 young daughters dresses...


Wednesday we celebrated my
Great Gramma's birthday at her son's.
My Uncle now owns, what used to be
her business, cottages on the lake.
It was nice to revisit the familiar place that I knew as a child...

He had done a lot of renovating and remodeling as well,
but Lake Huron was still as beautiful as it ever was...


I also had fun attempting to
tune his baby grand(!!!!!)...

I only fixed a few notes because I bent his tool!
The piano is extremly old and the pegs were firmly set,
thus they didn't want to be moved to tune :)

Also, my dear cousin had her baby.
I confess I miss holding babies,
since my siblings are bigger now... bittersweet.
It was nice to hold my 2 week old cousin...



Well, we need to get going
to take my grandma to the doctor.
I just thought I'd share some pictures!
The next time I post I hope to be back home!
Have a great week!