Preparing for a Future Valentine

So we have guests coming this Sunday, and Kyle* is also joining us for a week at that time as well. This means that there are preparations to make around here, and as Kyle is coming, my mother has let me be a bigger part of the planning and arranging than usual. That means in a small sense, I get to play hostess!!! Yes, I know, it may not seem that exciting, but I disagree. I just love all the little things that go into being a hostess. I love the planning before hand, preparing rooms for guests, making food while they are here, and even cleaning up after they have left. Being hostess is not something that I have had a lot of chance to do, but I love it! One fun example of when I got to be a hostess recently is when a friend of my mother's and her daughter were coming over for an evening. My sister and I were to have our friend to ourselves in the living room as our mothers went downstairs to our little apartment. Before they arrived, I made two different kinds of hot tea,

I have heard that blogging is supposed to be a type of public journal. I guess that is not exactly how I typically approach it, but I think today will be a little different. Being in a relationship* is such a new territory for me. There is so much to learn, and to do, and to pray about. But at the same time, there is also a set future for me, and thus I can focus more on this time that I have where I am still single. "And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord."     -1 Corinthians 7:34-35 I have tried to spend the last few years taking advantage of this time of being single to grow closer to God, and to prepare for my future husband, as I hope I have laid out in this blog. I h

I have a story to tell you all. A story that goes back many years, and at the same time is completely new. I hope that it is one that you will enjoy, as it is now my favorite story to tell. Once upon a time there was a little girl. A girl who dreamed only of the day when she would be able to marry and have children. While other girls talked of their dreams to become ballerina's, actresses, and models, this little girl when asked what she wanted to do with her life merely replied "I want to be a Mom." This little girl grew older, and as she did, her dream grew stronger. This was difficult for her, as sometimes it meant she looked for love in the wrong places, so eager was she to see her dream come to fruition. Her big heart was broken more than once, but each time her heavenly Father picked the pieces back up, and wrapped her tightly in his arms, whispering in her ear. Many miles away from this little girl, there was a young boy. A boy who though quite intelligent

I was reading this morning a book titled Let. It. Go. by Karen Ehman. She was talking in there about the world we live in today, and how fast and simple everything is. Our food can go from the freezer to our mouths in five minutes using the invention of a microwave. We can get from D.C. to Addis Ababa in a mere 17 hours. The fads in cookbooks are "Easy 5-ingredient Meals" and "Meals in Less Than 30 Minutes." Our culture now is such a get-up-and-go, get-everything-done-in-record-time, stay-in-the-fast-lane type of culture. "It's a hurry up world. And my days go flying by." -Rebecca St. James But is that how God operates? When mapping out his plans, does He constantly check for ways to eliminate time waste? As our Father, does he act like the father in Cheaper By The Dozen(I'm talking the original book) and remind us to eliminate wasted moments by buttoning our vests from the bottom up? When He begins to show us His plan for our live, does He

"True femininity calls forth true masculinity. We awaken it, arouse it in a way that nothing else on earth even comes close to."                 -Stasi Eldredge "For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."                  -2 Corinthians 11:2-3 "One man can live on a desert island and do as he wishes within the limits of the form of the universe. But as soon as two men live on the island, if they are to live in peace, they cannot simply do as they please."                                                                -Francis Shaeffer "He who did not spare His son, but gave him up for us all- how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things."                             -Romans 8:32 "A woman who is full of tender mercy

I just wanted to take the time to share some of my favorite websites with you in the hopes that you would be able to enjoy or use them as I do. Recipe Site: All Recipes Love this one, as it has some pretty awesome recipes, has almost everything you might want to look for, and has an easy conversion factor if you want to change the amount you are making. When You Just Need a Smile Site: Magic Button You will just have to check this one out for yourself, but I guarantee it will make your day. Making Plans for the Day: Weather.com This site really has pretty much all the information you would be looking for, and has forecast for even very small towns all over the world. Searching for/Reading Scripture: Bible Gateway Whether you want to search under a keyword, find that piece of scripture in your head, or read a specific reference, this website has it all. It also has many different versions and different languages, so you can read the scripture as you prefer. Memorizing S

To Ponder: 1. to   consider   something   deeply   and   thoroughly;   meditate . 2. to   weigh   carefully   in   the   mind;   consider   thoughtfully . These are two definitions for pondering. The latter is more fitting to the type of pondering that I am currently engaged in. This idea that I am pondering is rather new, and not one that I have thought out thoroughly yet. Certainly not to the point of quoting it as fact. But I have been pondering. I recently read the words of a woman who was pregnant with her third child. In her past pregnancies, she had a form of debilitating morning sickness. The doctors called it Hyperemisis, which is their fancy way of saying "morning sickness that lasts all day long." And this third pregnancy was no different. She was so weak that she couldn't sit up without fainting, let alone get up and take care of her home and family. She was overwhelmed with how she was no longer able to control anything.  "I frette

Today marks a new day in my blogging career. Ok, it isn't really a career. But the fact still remains that today I am doing something new. You are going to see some of my pictures! In the past the pictures posted here have not actually been my own. *surprise* But today, I want to show you a project I did, and thus there are pictures to match. So today's finally completed project: Hand Turkeys! At our home, Thanksgiving is the big holiday. And though our Christmas tree will likely go up barely 3 days before Christmas, our Turkey decorations are already "decking the halls." Even before Halloween, I began working on this project along with my little siblings. The small ones loved tracing their hands, and helping cut things out. They also loved to watch as the turkeys came together. Little piece by piece (because I was too lazy to do very much at a time) the turkeys came together, and now they grace our home and look down into the dining room.  As you can see,

I have a couple of recipes for you today! The first is something new I tried just a few moments ago, and turned out really good! Parmesan Black Bean Salad Ingredients: 2 ilbs of Black Beans 1 large Onion 1 bottle of Italian Dressing 1/2 C of Parmesan Cheese Bag of Tortilla Chips 1) Cook Black Beans to desired tenderness. Mushy would not work the best. Drain and rinse in cold water till cold. 2) Chop Onion and stir into Beans along with Parmesan and Dressing. 3) Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to eat. Best eaten with chips. Serves a party of 12 to 20 people. The second recipe is a traditional recipe that we have had for my birthday for years. You are very privileged to receive this recipe. (I say that as I am putting it up on the internet for everyone to see). Sunshine Pie Ingredients: 1 Pie Crust 1 box of Instant French Vanilla Pudding 1 1/2 C of Milk 1 container of Cool Whip 1/2 C of Peanut Butter Approx 1 C of Powdered Sugar Yellow Food Colo

After a two week vacation to Orlando with many stops on the way there and back, I learned so many things that could be helpful to know in future traveling with a spouse and children. I am not sure of this shall turn into a long post on the subject, whether it shall become a series, or whether I shall only write a few of the many things I learned. I am naturally one of those people who likes schedules, and likes to know how things are going to lay out before they do. For those of you familiar with the Myers Briggs test, this would make that last letter in my personality a J instead of a P. However, many of my family members would all fall under the P category. They love to fly by the seat of their pants, relish the moment, cross that bridge when they get there. So I am much more flexible than most in the J category, and this sneaks out sometimes. Like when I am posting on a blog, and have no set idea of what I shall post about next, or decide to make a series out of a post that w

It has been two weeks since I posted last. You may as well know that my writing comes in spurts. When I get in the mood, I write like crazy, and at other times... I just don't really write. This was especially difficult in High School when I was required to write essays or written narrations quite frequently. Thus some of the them were simply brilliant, and others were not so good. Sometimes I can get myself in the mood with the right music, but as the 'right' music is always something different, that doesn't always work. Since I posted last my family started working on a very large project. A project of picking apples off of 3 very abundant trees, and finding ways to process and use them with a very limited amount of canning jars. After some deliberation and miscommunication, we finally decided that the best way to use the most apples in the least amount of space was to make apple butter, as it was very concentrated. So first thing, we removed the stems and cho

Purity Ring: Definition:    a type of promise ring that also pledges abstinence; also called chastity ring.  Example:    Wearing a purity ring is typically accompanied by a religious vow to practice celibacy until marriage. If you looked up "purity ring" in the dictionary, this is the definition that you would find. But when I got my purity ring at the age of 12, it meant SO much more than that. It wasn't merely a ring that promised celibacy, or chastity, but purity in all manners. It meant keeping my entire body pure, my heart pure, and my mind pure. It meant allowing my father to have a lot of say in the way I conducted myself around men, and in my eventual courstship/engagement/marriage process. These were the vows that I made when Dad and I went to a Christian bookstore and picked out a heart shaped ring with a cross on it when I was 12 years old. And wearing the ring is meant to daily remind me of those vows.  Wedding Ring: 

I almost always have some kind of format for a blog post in mind. Some kind of theme or main idea, or the like. But today that is not the case. Essentially today, I am just writing in a sort of online journal, and don't even really know where it will take me. Actually, right now it is taking me to the trampoline with a certain little Baby Girl*, who is quite insistent. Playing with Cutey* and Curly* isn't good enough for her, she needs her Hannah to come along. So I will need to pause for the moment in order to go play with her. Leaving the computer and blog behind right now is harder than it should be. I will be back later.... ...It is now almost 40 minutes later, and Baby Girl voluntarily left the trampoline. The situation that just happened is quite frequent at my home. That moment when you have something you wish to work on or get done, and a family member wishes you to engage in their lives. I am faced with this so many times a day. I am sorry to admit that just now wh

  This past Friday evening I watched the recent film, Les Miserables, for the first time. Though I definitely would not label this movie family friendly, I highly recommend it for more mature audiences. I have grown up listening to the soundtrack of this incredible story, but watching this film put some things into place for me, and the music became so much more meaningful.  Two of the characters in this film that really stood out to me were the characters Fantine and Javert, played by Anne Hathaway and Russell Crowe respectively. In the story, they are both greatly blessed by the protaganist, John Valjean. Valjean takes Fantine out of the gutter and granted her grace when Javert would have had her killed for her "crime." Then later Valjean lets Javert go with no strings attached when he has the opportunity to kill this man who has chased and haunted him for years and never shown an ounce of grace or mercy. WARNING!!! May be spoilers if you wish to see the film, a

 Yes, that is a picture of a plush gallbladder. But I found it both cute and fitting for this post. The inspiration for this post actually came from a funny little cartoon I found on Pinterest. For those of you who have read my Pinterest Series , yes I do still surf Pinterest from time to time merely for a good laugh, but I still try to make it a practice to pin mostly those things that are useful and helpful. The cartoon that follows is the inspiration for this post: At first this cartoon gave me a good laugh, but then it made me think. The sign in the background especially grabbed my attention. "You have a purpose...maybe." When talking about literal organs, this is pretty funny, but isn't this exactly how many of us Christian's often feel?     "If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to