These Three Remain...

Well, I'm off tomorrow (at 4 A.M.) for Mexico! Our church is partnering with another, and we are all heading down for a 6 day mission trip! My dad and I are going on this, while the rest of the family will be leaving the following Tuesday to drive up to Illinois for a conference. After the mission trip my dad and I will fly up to the conference....when this is finished we will be driving up to Michigan to visit some incredibly wonderful cousins! (Traci, Tralene and family ;) ) The next leg of our trip will be to drive through Canada to Niagara Falls, and then all the way down the east coast, visiting special places and friends. :D So that is our general plan....as far as my blogging schedule goes, here it is. Starting Saturday, I will probably do little if any blogging, as I will not be bringing my laptop; I should return the following weekend...in the meantime, please vote in the poll on the sidebar and let me know how you think I can improve the content of my blog! As a perfectionist, I'm always ready for improvement. ;)
When I come back, I should have lots of pictures from Mexico, and as the next 4 weeks progress, I will continue to keep you all updated with pictures and details! :D God bless you all! (By the way, I'd love to come back to lots of comments! I know there are some of you who read this and have never commented! *hint hint* :P )
Please keep us in your prayers as we all travel! Thank you so much!

" We are so utterly ordinary, so commonplace, while we profess to know a Power the twentieth century does not reckon with. But we are "harmless," and therefore unharmed. We are spiritual pacifists, non-militants, conscientious objectors in this battle-to-the death with principalities and powers in high places. Meekness must be had for contract with men, but brash, outspoken boldness is required to take part in the comradeship of the Cross. We are "sideliners"- coaching and criticizing the real wrestlers while content to sit by and leave the enemies of God unchallenged. The world cannot hate us, we are too much like its own. Oh that God would make us dangerous!"

~Jim Elliot

Be dangerous--a living testimony to God's power through weak human flesh!

Happy Independence Day everyone! May God bless America!

“[July 4th] ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.” ~John Adams

“ God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.” ~Benjamin Franklin

“It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.” ~Patrick Henry

“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever.” ~Thomas Jefferson (emphasis mine)

My grandmother wrote this hilarious account of her experience while trying to get a new cell phone ordered a few months ago that I just had to share with you all! Enjoy! :D

All I wanted to do is pick out a new cell phone.
If I renew my Verizon contract for two years, which I had planned to do anyway, I can have practically any telephone I want for free if I buy online. So I am perusing the Verizon web site while talking on my elderly Motorola cell phone to a customer service representative. She says she can't renew my contract with my present telephone because it lacks GPS capability, which is required for 911 operators to know where I am. I am flabbergasted! "What!?" I say to her. "Do you mean these new cell phones know where I am all the time? How can that be possible? Half the time I don't even know where I am, and you're telling me all I have to do is ask my telephone and it will help me find my way home?"
"Absolutely," she assured me. So these new phones are smarter than I am! I'll never get lost again!
("Mom, I think we must have taken a wrong turn."
"Melody, just ask the cell phone how we managed to go two hours out of our way, and how to get back.")
But that wasn't the end of the surprises. I noted that most of the phones are equipped with a Blue Tooth. Now I don't want to sound old-fashioned, but I always thought white teeth looked pretty good on most people. And I told the CS Rep as much. She explained what the Blue Tooth is for, but she couldn't tell me where it got its name. How something that hangs on your ear got named a Tooth I'll never figure out.
Further down the list of the latest features, I ran across a couple of phones which boasted "removable memories." Really, at my age I struggle with half my memory feeling like it has been removed on any given day, so why would I want a telephone with the same problem? Again, the CS Rep (trying to keep a straight face, from the sound of her voice) told me that "removable memory" really refers to "additional memory", stored on a tiny little card that fits into the tiny little cell phone. And when she told me how much memory can be packed onto that tiny little card, I knew -- I just KNEW -- that the Star Trek age is just around the corner. One day soon, I will be able to just slap the Communicator button embedded in my chest, and my blue tooth will activate my GPS and it will all be recorded on my removable memory card. I wonder if I will be able to remember where I put the card?

--Patricia D.

The last two weeks have been an absolute whirlwind for us. Thank you all so much for your prayers; we survived! :P God has been so good to us.
I'm not sure exactly where to start, but I guess the beginning would be a good place. Let's see--the real "whirlwind" started Monday morning, May 7 (Kara's birthday :D). I had AP testing at one of the local highschools on Monday, Thursday (my b-day, and I had a graduation rehearsal that same day), and Friday (two tests in a row that day!). Whew! Needless to say, by Friday evening I was exhausted--well, "brain dead" was the phrase I used several times, I believe. Then a mad dash to get everything needed Saturday morning and we were off for my graduation, being held at a huge church close by. That, ladies and gentlemen (wait, are there any gentlemen who read my blog? ;) ), was absolutely incredible. Our homeschooling group put this graduation together, and, well....how to describe it! It was beautiful--we were all amazed. There were twenty-seven homeschoolers that graduated (from our local homeschooling group)! Sometime in the near future I hope to get a video of it put together for you all. We had one of the the Justices of the Texas Supreme Court give the commencement address; that too was phenomenal! I could go on and on about it, but I'll save that for another time when I have pictures and/or video. ;) Anyway, the week after my graduation, I had four more AP exams, the last of which was that Thursday. I am finished with AP exams!!!! Finished! Praise the Lord! :) I am completely finished with highschool (well, except for a few lessons of Spanish II). So this past week has been a sort of "wind down" time for us; pretty relaxed compared to the past few months.
So, thank you all for keeping us in your prayers; the whirlwind is past (I think! :P), but please continue to pray for us. If you all have any prayer requests, please let me know so that I and my family can keep you in our prayers!
Lord willing, my posts will become more regular now, so be sure to continue checking in when you get the chance!
God bless you all!
~Kristen

Ok, for those of you who know me at all, you know that it would take something extremely exciting for me to do this-but believe it or not, I did. As I walked back up the driveway after getting our mail the other day, I saw what I had been looking for (for weeks)-a letter from the college I'll be attending in the fall (yes, I've been accepted! :D). It was from the School of Music there. I could hardly wait to get inside. I plopped the mail on the counter as I entered the house and quickly ran my finger under the envelope flap, so excited and expectant I could hardly stand it-my heart was beating a thousand miles an hour. I opened the two pages enclosed and read the first words, "Dear Kristen, Congratulations! I am delighted to inform you...." I had been chosen for the 4-year music scholarship!!! Then I did it; yes, I really did. I danced. :P I jumped up and down, twirled, and danced! :D When I went in to tell my mother, I don't think my smile could have gotten much bigger. :P Praise the Lord!! I now have 3 scholarships to this college, and I am soooo excited! Oh, I can't tell you how excited I am! All I can say is wow, what a "God thing"-indeed it is! Wow-how amazing, incredible, and awesome He is! :D :D
Whew! So that's my big news for the month! (lol) My life has been as busy as usual; I have had several activities to prepare for graduation, including senior pictures and bios for the graduation ceremony (which will be on May 12)...that, AP studying, and piano has been just about all that I've done the past month. ;)
Our weather has been absolutely gorgeous lately (I consider rainy weather gorgeous, too, by the way :P). Everything is sprouting, turning green, and flowering, including Daddy's garden! :D Yes, he has already had the first of his crop (squash), and his tomatoes, peas, corn, cucumbers, cantaloupe, watermelon, and peppers are well on their way. In addition, Daddy has a little space for some herbs this year! :) I'll be in charge of that. :D
So, I have less than 2 weeks left before my AP exams and my graduation, after which I should be relatively free! :D Our summer is already being planned, with a wedding (:D guess who's?), a mission trip (to Mexico!), and a conference (in Chicago) decided on so far....I'm looking forward to it all!
Thank you all so much for your comments, notes, and prayers! They mean so much!

Hello again, everyone!
I'm afraid that I am a bit overdue for an update! As Kallie mentioned in a comment a while back, life only seems to get busier-such is the case in my life at present, anyway. :)
In case you all have been wondering about me, well, I believe this picture will speak for itself! :P





I have had to "hit the books", as they say, since January and will probably stay there until May when I will graduate ;). So I apologize for my posts becoming so scarce and inconsistent; it is only a temporary condition, Lord willing, but a very necessary and hopefully a productive one. I am studying for several AP tests ("several" being a slight understatement) from about 10 am to 10 pm most days (with breaks, of course!). The tests will be administered in May, and then I should have a relatively free summer! :D In addition, I am increasing my piano practice time considerably, as I recently auditioned for a scholarship and admission into the college from which I hope (Lord willing!) to get my major in Piano, and at which I am currently taking piano lessons. :D Please keep me in your prayers, as these are very important events that will shape the next 2-4 years of my life, most likely; needless to say, I need and want my Lord in on these decisions! I would really appreciate yours prayers; that the Lord would give us (my parents and me) wisdom and guidance, that we would make the right choices and that I would use my time wisely, etc...thank you all so much for your support and encouraging notes! Please don't hesitate to leave a comment or drop me an e-mail; I may not be able to respond promptly, but they mean a lot! Thanks again for your patience in my so far scarce updates-by the middle of May (at the latest) that will hopefully change. :) Love and blessings!
-Kristen

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him."

Today is my now 7 year-old brother Joshua's birthday! If you all want to leave him a note, I'll be sure to pass it on to him! ;) He'd love it!





FYI: A post is currently in progress as to the reasons for my long absence and irregular posting....sorry it's taking me so long! Thanks for your patience! ;) Many blessings!