A Texas Sunrise

I'm not exactly sure when exactly this picture was taken. Jesse came into the kitchen while I was getting my coffee and told me that there was a beautiful sunrise outside. He was right! That's one thing about Texas, you'll see some of the most glorious and beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

Okay, I've been tagged. I went around visiting various blogs and was tagged to do this, so here we go.....

Ten Things I Learned In 2005

1. To try to overcome loneliness and not just feel sorry for myself.

2. Math can be extremely weird (like how in the world can there be a limit on infinity?)

3. I couldn't survive without God's love!

4. There are a lot of crazy drivers out there.

5. Strep throat is terrible!!!

6. Hogan's Heroes and hot tea go very well together!

7. Life is more fragile and precious than I really realized (My brother and cousin were both in serious car accidents last year).

8. Don't ever lie down on the floor at my sister's house if the kids are around.

9. Stephen actually gets hyper!

10. Singing Sacred Harp at an Episcopaleon Church can be kinda weird.

Okay, now, I tag all of you reading this! :D

Well, now on to other things....

This past week has so far gone well, just busy and kinda sick with a cold. Boot Camp is starts this Friday!!!!!! I can hardly wait! Course, I'm going to try not to get too excited or I might end up getting sick. That was what always happened to me during elementary school. I'd always get really excited about a play or a field trip and end up making myself excited sick literally. That's why I missed just about every play or field trip during that time. I remember one morning when I was supposed to go on the field trip that day in school and throwing up in the bathroom, but I didn't tell my Mom because I was determined to go on that field trip. Boy, did I end up regretting that! I ended up feeling horrible at this zoo we went to and ended up losing my lunch on the playground. I didn't tell my Mom that I actually got sick that morning until a couple of years ago. She just told me that she thought I had probably learned my lesson. It really is interesting the stuff we don't tell our parents about until years later. There are plenty of things she still doesn't know about that Justin and I did as kids, and she probably doesn't want to know about some of them. She told me so, when I was talking to her one day on the way to math class. She was telling me about some of the stuff she had never told her parents about and I just told her that there were things she doesn't know about that went on downstairs in our old house, and she just laughed and said that she probably didn't even want to know. Ah, moms! What would we do without them?
Hope to talk to you soon and God bless!!!

Well, I guess I ought to post something!

Well, howdy to everybody! I'm glad ya'll enjoyed my last post. I'm sorry I took a while to finally post again! :/ I've been busy doing school and trying to get over my cold. It seems that Dad and I both caught a cold, so there's been a chorus of coughs around the house lately. I also was just plain too tired to get on the computer some days.
Today has gone okay. I went to the museum where I'll work sometimes to do some work Joe had wanted me to finish. It was a bunch of copying for some friends of his. I think I lifted too many heavy boxes of books. Mom probably would have gotten on to me if she knew, but I'm doing okay.
Oh, great! My time to be on here is almost up. Well, I guess I'll try to post again tomorrow if I'm not too busy! I hope all of ya'll are doing okay and not getting too busy like I seem to be. Could ya'll please pray that I find of job! I haven't been able to find anything with all the applying and asking around town that I've done.

My Advocate

The following poem is something that really means a lot to me and describes a lot of my experiences before I actually came to join the PB church. I'll explain some more in a minute.

My Advocate

By Martha Snell Nicholson

I sinned. And straightway, post-haste, Satan flew

Before the presence of the most high God,

And made a railing accusation there.

He said,"This soul, this thing of clay and sod,

Has sinned. 'Tis true that he has named Thy name,

But I demand his death, for Thou hast said,

'The soul that sinneth, it shall die.' Shall not

Thy sentence be fulfilled? Is justice dead?

Send now this wretched sinner to his doom.

What other thing can righteous ruler do?"

And thus he did accuse me day and night,

And every word he spoke, O God, was true!

Then quickly One rose up from God's right hand,

Before Whose glory angels veiled their eyes.

He spoke,"Each jot and tittle of the law

Must be fulfilled; the guilty sinner dies!

But wait--suppose his guilt were all transferred

To Me, and that I paid his penalty!

Behold My hands, My side, My feet! One day

I was made sin for him, and died that he

Might be presented, faultless, at thy throne!"

And Satan flew away. Full well he knew

That he could not prevail against such love,

For every word my dear Lord spoke was true!

I had read this poem when I was younger, but I really didn't comprehend it's full meaning. Not until I came across it again a few days ago did I really realize how much it reminded me of my own experiences.

Okay, you probably now want me to tell you my actual experiences that led to my joining the church. Well, ummm...it is something I cherish and I'm not sure about sharing it on here, but since it might encourage someone I'll go ahead and share some of it.

As a child I had often wondered about baptism and what the point was. It wasn't until I turned twelve that I really understood what it was for. It was around then that I started feeling a burden to be baptized, but I tried to quench it because I was too shy to try to get up in front of everybody. The burden kept growing heavier as I grew older and I felt more and more the burden of sin that I was carrying. It wasn't until I was fifteen that I finally came to have the courage to let my wishes be known that I wanted to be baptised. In the poem I just typed it talked about the devil accusing day and night, and that really happened to me. I remember him telling me how unworthy and sinful I was, and then I remembered a sermon someone had preached about how we are sinful and unworthy, but God see us through the blood of Christ and we are made spotless and clean! After I thought of that he left me, and I want you to know that after I was baptised that I felt a great burden lift off of me. I haven't even told you have the story of my experience, but to hear the rest you'll have to ask me in person. :)

I hope you have been blessed reading this! May the Lord bless you today!!!

Happy Valentines Day!

Well, I know Valentines Day is rather of pagan descent, but it's still nice to give flowers and candy to those that you love! :) I haven't gotten any valentines today but it's just as well. Besides, Dad did give me some candy hearts that he got at work. :D I just picked out the ones I could eat and gave the rest to whoever wanted them.
The ACT on Saturday did go well. I knew the man who was overseeing in and he's really nice and funny. I was able to finish all the sections and felt more confident than the last time I took it, but I sure don't want to take it again! It sure was cold that morning, and I had to walk across the street and across a lot of the high school's campus to get to where the testing was. Oh, well, it builds character as Calvin's father in Calvin and Hobbes would say.








Well, today has gone well. I went around town both today and yesterday dressed up really nice and asked businesses around town about if they had any part-time jobs. I sure did get a lot of no's, but one office did take my name and phone number and other information down, so that's a possibility. It would be so nice to get a job so that I'd actually be able to afford a nice car. :) We were looking at a Grand Dam(sp?), but the deal we tried to work out didn't work out, so we're back to square 1.
Well, I must sign off for now! Talk to you soon and God bless!!!

Flowers bloomin' in the pasture brinnnng back memories of childhood....

Well, do I remember the songs Granny used to play on her CD player while we were at her house. They kind of had a gospel/bluegrass twang. Some of their songs sounded like barbershop, but they were rather boring or extremely weird. We used to have what we would call a day at Granny's house about once a week back when we lived in Georgia. See, a lot of our cousins lived close by so we'd all get together after school and play games or whatever. Well, one time Justin and my cousin David got a tape of one of those songs that sounded weird. It was of Rock of Ages but on the word "cleft" the guy would go a couple octaves higher all the sudden and hold it for a couple of seconds. What Justin and David did was keep rewinding it on that one word. Granny made them stop after they kept doing it and doing it, but it was kind of funny. After most of the cousins quit coming because they grew up, we quit having our day at Granny's house. I still have wonderful memories of playing there and I always think of them when I go back to visit. Ah! memories! Well, I have to go! I did take the ACT today and it went fine. I'll tell you more details later!!! :)

Today has gone okay so far. I finally finished reading Quo Vadis! I never want to read it again, frankly. It made the early Christians look like a bunch of Roman Catholics! It supposed to be set in A.D. 64 and the Roman Catholic church didn't begin until about A.D. 300. We all know it began because people mixed their pagan beliefs and practices with Christianity.
Well, math class went fine today. We learned a little about using Calculus in Physics. It was rather interesting, I guess. I really do have a good teacher. :) I also got a 90 on my last test which I wasn't unhappy about.
On Saturday I am going to be going to take the ACT again. I'll be so glad when it's over! Thankfully, I won't have to write another essay since I already did that. I do hope to get an even higher score.
Did ya'll watch the President's Union Address last week? Wasn't it interesting seeing how bad the Democrats made themselves look!!! I mean, sitting down and not clapping about terrorist surveillance and when he commented that the abortion and teen pregnancy rates were down. Then they stood up and clapped when he said that the Social Security problem had not been solved. We already knew how the Democrats were, but it was interesting seeing it as it really was during the speech.
Well, I'm fighting a cold at the moment. On Sunday I think I was squeaking rather than singing alto. One of the members selected "Jesus, Hold My Hand" and I think Mom was doing a solo on the chorus where the altos take the lead because none of the other usual altos seemed to be singing. Maybe they all had colds too. :/ Hopefully, I'll get over my cold before I have to go take that test.
I am sorry, but I must part. I hope to try to post on here more often than I have been. Talk to ya soon and God bless!!! :)

IT RAINED!!!!!

Hallelujah!!! It rained last night! Oh, I'm so happy! I'm not sure how much we got, but it was great to wake up and see everything wet outside! We went about ninety something days without any rain whatsoever. The Lord answered our prayers, but we still need more rain so continue to pray.
Well, I'm at the moment alone in the house. Mom and Jesse are gone to Lubbock because Jesse is involved in something. There's this guy who is doing a study on whether public schoolers or homeschoolers have more confidence in math and how they perform. He's doing this for his theisis and his theory is that homeschoolers are more confident. He is also providing a free IQ test to any kids willing to do it. Course, there is an age limit so I'm too old. I found out about it from my math teacher and I passed it on to mom who got in touch with him. So, that's what they're up to. Dad is at work at the moment and probably won't get home for another hour. So, the house is all to myself! Okay, it is kind of lonely around here I will admit, but I went ahead and got my chores done around the house that I normally do on Saturday. I was doing that because I'm going to take a practice ACT test tomorrow morning and I want to have that other stuff out of the way.
Well, I've lately been reading Quo Vadis for a book report book. It is interesting, but not very accurate regarding the way it shows Christians. It is basically about a Roman soldier who falls in love with a Christian girl during the time of Nero. The problem is that they show the early Christians as being Catholic. Any of us that have study any church history know that the Catholic church did not come along until later. There is also the problem of the Christians in the book basically worshiping Peter and Peter baptizes them by sprinkling them. I guess I shouldn't be too suprised since the guy who wrote the book was Polish.
Well, I guess I shall go for now! Thanks for reading! God bless!

Please Let it Rain!!!

Howdy! Really, we do need rain out here pretty bad. We haven't had any really significant rainfall since October 27th. We did get a little rain early last Friday morning, but it was just enough to dampen everything. It was nice to see it though! There have been several prairie fires in the surrounding areas and several fire bans have been put into effect. Please pray for rain out here in Texas!
Well, the little cuties left to go home about a week ago. I miss them, but I do enjoy it being rather quiet around the house. When they were here it was sometimes hard to think. I am kind of concerned about my nephew Samuel though. He has a little bit of a speech problem and we are kind of wondering if he may have a hearing problem. We think he may have a hearing problem because he seems to always yell when he talks and when Julie tries to get him to pronounce something correctly like Bambi he can't seem to hear her say that last b sound. If you could keep him in your prayers! He really is a sweetheart and I'd hate for him to have those kind of problems when he grows up.
Well, I hope to talk to ya'll soon!!! God bless!