Interests:Sewing, working on our '77 Camaro, researching debate topic (NATO this year), cooking (sometimes), exercising (occasionally), and bossing my sibs around...but mainly, my interest is thinking--I might not be good at it, but for some reason I tend to do it a lot! Expertise:Bossing sibs and playing the piano Occupation:Student Industry:Medical
As a way to get pictures to everyone without sending out thousands of HUGE e-mails, here are the pictures from our trip to New Mexico, which we took Saturday, August 12-Monday, August 14. If you ever get the chance to go to Sitting Bull Falls, please do. It's absolutely gorgeous. We all hated to leave...
Here come Dad and Mom with the food!!!
This is how the landscape outside of Sitting Bull Falls looks--pretty desolate, eh?
Esther and Lydia on top of the house-type thing we ate lunch in at Sitting Bull Falls.
Looking up toward the hill which Sitting Bull Falls is behind, picture taken from the house-type thing we ate lunch in.
I have more, but Xanga doesn't really like me--rather, I should say I don't know how to manipulate it. Anyhow, there are more pictures on my blog: amateurjournalism.blogspot.com. Enjoy!
Hey guys! Just wanted to let you know that I'm not going to respond to comments or stuff for a little while. We are taking a break from computers. Hope all is well.
Well, I'm just going to give an update of what happened today and what we have planned for the future.
Today was busy and productive. We cleaned out the basement in preparation for relatives coming, we mowed the lawn, tilled the garden and worked on the carburetor for the Camaro.
About the carburetor...there hadn't been any vacuum coming from the carburetor, and we were confused. Then Dad found an old gasket and a new gasket that hadn't (apparently) been put into the carburetor. So, he took it apart and found that we had put the gasket in already. However, the gasket already in there was just slightly different: it didn't have the hole for the vacuum! The makers of the carburetor repair kit had failed to mention that there were two almost identical gaskets for the one section--the only difference was a hole!!! It was good to know that was the only reason for the lack of vacuum--an easy fix, you might say!
We are leaving for the capitol early Monday morning and probably won't be back until late Friday night because we are going to a math & science camp. The lady who is running this is our geometry teacher, and she has offered to let us stay at their house. Us "older" ones are helping the attendees (acting as assistants for the lady), and the younger three are attending. Please pray that we would have a fun and productive time, that we would build new relationships, strenghten old ones, and really be witnesses of God's love to those around us. It's so hard sometimes, isn't it? Especially when one isn't in a very good mood...
After that fun camp, we are coming home and doing a recital at an assisted living home. I'm looking forward to that, as long as I have a chance to practice!!! It's another great chance to witness to those around us.
After THAT, our cousins are coming! We are having cousins (and their parents, of course!) from Arizona and Iowa. In total, about 20 people are going to be at our home. It would be great if you would also pray that we would have an enjoyable time during this visit, that we would be able to befriend the cousins we haven't seen in a while, help one cousin with his struggles, and not be driven over the edge of insanity!!!
Life seems so exciting right now. Isn't it great to be alive? Especially when we know that we are under a loving God's wings...
Sorry, people. I'm in a "thoughtful" mood right now. You really don't have to read, if you don't want to.
It is always interesting to sit by yourself for an hour. For me, walking around our property for P.E. is the time when I most want a pad of paper and a pen. God has a strange way of communicating with us, and some times we don't even realize when He taps us on the shoulder. He has to punch us in order for us to listen sometimes.
However, the Holy Spirit is a gentleman. He won't force you to do anything. If you don't do what He wants you to, He'll let you go down the path you've chosen. Does that sound contradictory? It's not.
God allows us to learn things. We can either learn by simply listening to Him, or He will allow us to be punched on the shoulder. He will allow us to be punched in the stomach. He will allow us to get a black eye if it will teach us what we need to know.
You see, we were put on this earth for a reason: that is to glorify God. However, we don't naturally glorify God. In fact, we do much the opposite. We try to smear His name in the dirt. We wish we didn't exist, and we give God all the grief. Or we don't even believe that we were created by an omnipotent, omniscient Creator, who made us the way He wanted to.
When we sin, we do not glorify God. We disappoint Him. But He does not give up on us. I really don't know when He decides or how He decides (I'll have to find out when in heaven) to convert us, but I do know that after we are converted, after we believe that there is a Savior who died for us, then God starts training us.
Dad has said before that earth is like a boot camp. We get dragged around in the mud, we meet and see all sorts of people. We can experience the worst of the worst, but we eventually learn what God put us on earth to learn. Of course, if you're like me, it takes several tries to get it into your brain...
We are in this boot camp, and it won't always be fun. Sure, there are fun times in life, but life isn't all about fun. It is about learning how to glorify God.
Pardon my thoughts and rant. Hope they made SOME sense!!!
