Tidbits

Hi everybody! Just wanted to let you know - I started a new blog. I'm going use it for putting up Bible verses, quotes, poems, songs, and things like that. Here's the link: http://www.tidbits96.blogspot.com. Oh, and if anyone has an idea for a better title, let me know!

In Christ Alone,

9/11

I wonder... did America really wake up on 9/11? Did we really turn back to God with a repentent heart? Or did we only turn to God for a little while because of fright and crisis? Is the U.S.A. any better off now then she was then, or has she steadily declined?

If we look at America today, we will see that really, we are no better off then we were 10 years ago. Rather, we have been steadily progressing in a path away from God! America
needs to turn back to Him!

However, God showed His Amazing Grace on that day - many people were saved, both physically and spiritually. I hope that we will remember what happened on 9/11, learn from it, and turn back to God.


In Christ Alone,

Earthquakes and Hurricanes

Everybody on the East Coast made it safely? I didn't even feel the earthquake... which, to me, is a disappointment. Dad thinks I didn't feel it because where I live, it was very slight, so you could pretty much only feel it if you were sitting down. Here are the stories of those in my family who did feel it:

Dad - he was somewhere on his way, or doing, his work. He felt his truck moving, and thought, at first, that the peope helping him were playing a trick. But, no, no one was. Then he thought it was a very strong wind... but when he got out of his truck, he didn't even feel the rocking. It didn't even occur to him that it was an earthquake until my Grandmother texted!

Mom - she had an appointment for her teeth. She was sitting in the chair in a position where she couldn't see anyone. All of a sudden her chair started shaking. What in the world?! Maybe the students (she went to a dentistry school thing) were playing a trick on her? She got up and looked around. No, no tricks. Latter she found out what it really was!

Jess - she was at home sitting at her computer. Then she felt the shaking. She also heard the house creak. Again, she thought it was probably the wind. But that would be one strong wind to shake the house like that! And she was sure it wasn't her imagination, either - she could see things shaking. When it was over, she came and told me about it. The thought occurred to me that it might be an earthquake... but here??? Nah. hahah!

Did any of my readers feel the earthquake? I am really disappointed. I lived through an earthquake and wouldn't have even known it if nobody else told me!

The hurricane hit us Saturday night. I woke up at about 4:00 a.m. - just in time to watch the power go out. It was very interesting. It was pitch black. I could hardly see my hand in front of my face! And that's when all the lights are out... kinda scarry.

All in all, we got about 5 inches of rain, the wind went up to probably somewhere around 40 or 50 mph, and the power went out for 38 hours. We do have a generator, which was definately a blessing... we didn't lose any food. Oh, and there was a lot of debris (not sure of spelling). We had an interesting few weeks. But thank God, we were kept safe!

In Christ Alone,

My Teeth are in Chains!

Yesterday I got braces. They HURT!!! Right now, I can't eat anything but soft things, like yogurt, mashed potatoes, and things like that. There's also this annoying thing on the inside of my back teeth that they put on, and whenever I move my tongue, it hurts. And there doesn't seem to be any reason whatsoever for those things to be there! I have to brush my teeth more often, too. I am soooooo 100% glad that my Mom got a waterpik a few years ago. I would say that that thing is definately a must-have for people with braces! I don't know how they can stand flossing, it must take like 15 minutes to floss! I can't wait till my teeth finish their "sentence" (:D) of two years in chains, or at least till I get used to those chains. Right now the only good thing about braces is that at the end of their "sentence" they'll be straight. Everything else... well... let's just say I could do without!

In Christ Alone,

Library Raffle

Yesterday, the phone rang. We let it ring until the message came, as usually. It began "Hi, this is Dan calling from the library..." I expected that a book that we requested came in, but... "Angela is one of the teen winners for the Barnes & Noble gift certificate..." At that point my mouth dropped open! We had a summer reading program at our library, where for every book (as in one book = 50 pages) that you read, you put a ticket in a container for a raffle. The winner of the raffle wins 100 dollars to spend at Barnes & Noble. And this year, I hadn't read nearly as many books as last year. That was definately a surprise!

In Christ Alone,

Independence Day

Happy Independence Day! I pray that America will continue to enjoy the freedoms that our founding fathers faught for over two hundred years ago, and that we will return to being a Christian nation.

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turne from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

~ 2 Chronicles 7:14

In Christ Alone,

Day 30: A Motto

I have decided to make this my motto for the year:

"For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

In Christ Alone,

Whew! I finally finished the challenge! Guess I didn't do it on time, though :(

CHAP conference

In the middle of May we went to the CHAP homeschool conference (in case you were wondering, CHAP stands for Christian Homeschool Association of Pennsylvania :D). I was glad we were able to go both days!


The three main speakers we went to were Doug Phillips, Mark Hamby, and Ken Ham. I was sooooo glad that Ken Ham was able to make it... I've never got to see him speak (at least, only in tapes), and he had been kicked out of a couple of homeschool shows for mentioning that somebody else's "Bible" curriculum wasn't all it claimed to be. Unfortunately, we only went to one or two of his talks, because we had to go to the other speakers.

Mark Hamby's sessions were a lot on parenting, but I still enjoyed them. He is an awesome story teller!

Doug Phillips was great as well. And I was sooooo absolutely glad we went on the second day... if we hadn't I still wouldn't have known anything about the Alone Yet Not Alone movie! At one point, Mr. Phillips was talking about media... how it can be bad, but if it's used right, can be used for the glory of God. Well, he mentioned how he was in a movie. This is what I heard... he was in a movie... was a red coat... in the French and Indian war... That must be Alone Yet Not Alone! I whispered it to Jess, and the next thing he said was that this movie was called Alone Yet Not Alone! Later, Mom talked to Joshua Phillips about it, and he said that the website (http://www.aloneyetnotalone.com) will be up and running sometime soon, and that the movie is coming out this fall. I could hardely contain my excitement! Don't worry, I did get something out of his messages other than that :D.

Oh, and we each got to pick out one or two things to buy. I bought the "Letterbook of Eliza Lucas Pinckney" audio CD. I really love to read or hear read letters and things that are really old... and I know it my sound crazy, but artifacts and things don't excite me much, but if I find a book with the date 1904 on it, that gets me all excited. Anyway, after I listened to that CD, I decided to start a letterbook. I hope I get to fill it up soon.



In Christ Alone,

Memorial Day

I would like to give a great big THANK YOU to all those who have served or are serving in the U.S. military. I pray for them every day, that they would trust in the Lord... and I pray that they will never, ever be called upon to fight Israel.

In Christ Alone,

Sight & Sound: Joseph

Wow, have I got a lot to blog about! Since this is still kinda fresh in my mind, I'll start with this. Yesterday, for Mom's and Dad's anniversary, we went to see Joseph at sight and sound theaters. It was really good! At the beginning it was a little bit dry, but after that it was awesome. In the dream about the stars, sun, and moon, Joseph flew up above everybody's heads. That was neat. The jailer when Joseph was in jail was absolutely hilarious! Apparently, as he said, he'd been kicked in the head by a horse and, after that didn't do much thinking. It made us all laugh... I can't wait to go the the Jonah play next year!

In Christ Alone,