Proverbs 31 Days of Discipline

(scheduled post)

For the new year, I drew up a plan following verses 10-31 of Proverbs 31 that goes 31 days. Each day, I will try to learn and be more like the Proverbs 31 woman, praying to the LORD, spending more time helping around the house, having a better attitude in general, and learning alot about being selfless. (Not selfish, selfless. They look alot alike and I know I would read it wrong, so I don't want anyone to read that wrong and be like... "she's learning about how to be selfish?")
Hopefully I can post up the whole plan and publish a free download at my store!

As part of this 31 Day plan, I am going to try to not post for the entire time. I'm starting on Jan. 1st, so this might be the last post for a while- and maybe 

via swagbucks search                                                 the last post of the year!

I want to be able to wear these every day.

I want to wake up and live in a castle, and my first choice is to wear a priceless gown of lucious fabrics.
{via}
Or  maybe I'd wake up in a cabin. I'd hear buggies going by, driving down the main street- the dirt road of the town. I'd see all the women in their calicos, getting ready for a tea party. Then I'd dress and rush downstairs to join in the conversation.
{via}
Perhaps I wouldn't ever fall asleep. The wagon would be too bumpy. Oregon seems so far away, but so close at the same time. I'd pull a dirty dress over my head and impatiently await the day when I can wash my dresses clean and wear clothes that aren't dusty and gross.
{via}
Maybe I wouldn't know what clean clothes wear, in a sense. Everything would be covered with dust. Rickety wagons may lumber through the streets, pulled by donkeys, but I would usually walk.
{via}
Perhaps I'll just wake up and climb out of bed, glad that God put me exactly where He wants me to be.......

What's up with Me: August 24th... and Australorps??

Read it.

Love it.

Want it.

By Jenna Woginrich

I read this and instantly:
POWIE ZOOM!

I want backyard chickens.

Call me strange....... and yes, please pardon the fact that this is a the farthest thing from a fashion-y vintage-y post on this fashion-y vintage-y blog, but I just wanted to share with you.

These are Black Australorp chicks.

Full grown Australorp:

This not-so-cute Ameraucana chicken is pretty fun.

Ameraucana chick:

It's also known as the "easter egger". Can you guess which egg belongs to this gal?

Isn't that great? These hens lay green, blue and even pink eggs! AWESOME!!!

Now, I just have to convince everyone in my surroundings that this is a great idea. I have this $150 plan to make it work- the chicken coop makes up 2/3 of this, sure, but it's a starter coop, and actually quite a good price. I want to get 2 or 3 Black Australorps, and of course, I'd get the day old chicks. SIGH!!! Raise your hand if you also want to join me in holding brand new balls of fluff that make my breakfast! :) Lol.

Really, I think having chickens would be a fantastic experience. And I doubt that I will ever be able to stop having chickens... that is, if I actually start having chickens.

(thinks to self: Slow down, girl. Don't jump to step ten when you have yet to even confirm you will be doing step one. Hehe.)

Ok ok... I think God is teaching me patience, sisters!



Acting Talent

This fall, I'm joining a homeschool acting group! I am SO excited and hopefully I will be able to continue with the group for a long time.

Acting is my pastime.

I never really acted before, I had been in a few plays at church and had done one acting summer camp- which I fell deeply in love with. I did that acting camp a few years back, and I wanted to do more so badly! It was one of the best experiences I've had.

But now, God has opened our hearts and we've decided that acting at that particular theater is not what He wants for us. I was so excited when I heard about the homeschool acting group. I wondered for a while if I would be able to do it. It was confirmed that I would be able to and I'm very impatient for it to start!

Not to long ago, I struggled with the fact that I felt like I didn't have anything that was mine. My sister is quite the chef, and my other sister is a great teacher. I had played around in a few things- ballet, swimming, gymnastics... now I have tap, and that makes me feel like it's mine. But I didn't feel like I have real talent for anything. Suddenly it occured to me that acting is my talent.

Theatre Production of "Oklahoma"

Acting is my passion.

I love acting with everything I am. I repeatedly tell others that I don't like to talk in front of people- unless I'm acting like someone else!

I still felt like I didn't have a sport or active thing for myself, but I read this in an acting booklet:

"It is good to be physically active for the stage, and to practice singing."

Hooray!!! I had something all to myself that was healthy and fun! The best part is that I enjoy it SO much. I don't understand how someone can be a "bad" actor/actress because it just makes so much sense to me. You say your lines and act like the character... but some people just can't do that. I'm completely confused at that concept..... but enough of that! :)

MORAL:
Praise God! I know, it's kind of hard to get that from this post, but that's my point!

P.S. I got all my pictures off Google Search!

Happy Fourth of July!!! Part 1

Ok, ok, before we go on with this I just have to say I broke my promise from yesterday. I got on and did all my normal stuff this morning so obviously I won't be NOT getting on today. (Great job Mary, you just used double negatives! What wonderful grammar :| lol)
It's just about 6:18 in the morning.... so that is why I have no pictures to post- yet! I just had to tell you I broke my promise so I could post pictures later today. Hehe.
But I can tell you this-
Today I'm not only going to be celebrating the freedom of our country and be forever grateful to all the men who gave their lives for us, and those fighting for us as well- I'm going to be celebrating the fact that Christ died once for us and gave us eternal freedom. It's not something we have to fight for! The LORD gave us that gift and we don't have to work for it, or fight for it.
Of course, there are occasional battles- spiritual battles. When you run into these, Satan wears you out and comes slowly on you. It gets so terrible, by the time you realize it is a spiritual battle you are usually too worn out to do anything.
But God steps in. Nothing is impossible with God!!!
So celebrate your freedom today, but remember to give all the glory to God!!! He's the one who led us through all these battles so far.

Happy Fourth,
Mary

God is SO good!!!!

Now you may have all heard that I really have been wanting to......

Tap dance.

AND a few nights ago, I was confronted (that's kind of a big word lol) and I suddenly realized that I might NOT be able to. Physically, I might not be able to. This wasn't something that I was just WAITING to happen. I wasn't just hoping that I would come across the right size and then, ta-daa, I could take lessons.

I had engraved in my mind that I was going to be able to do them.

But the truth was, I might not.

So, lying on my floor in deep thought (don't tell me you never just lay on your bedroom floor- lol) I remembered that just the day before my sister had given something up to God- and just hours later was given an answer. I gave it up to God. I don't know how to give things up to God, I had never really had to before. But I did, and I knew that God would help me give it up to him.

That night I went to my first tap dance lesson.

I feel amazing! Sure, I'm a bit sore but I should be, that's normal.

Give it up to God and get answers!! Lol! Lesson learned!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow...

New Story

I'm working on a new story- it's a Rapunzel Redo. I'll show clip-its and snippets of it if you'd like but even if you don't say particularly that you'd enjoy it I'll probably put some up anyway because I like to share my work. ;):) winky.

This is like my rapunzel. She is lonely but in the story she is not all alone....

and also Rapunzel is not the Rapunzel you'd think her to be. Now I've confused you and you'll have to read the snippets I post to understand! ;)

Alright... her hair is awesome but I don't know about the movie. I haven't seen it but I've heard that her hair is sort of... magical. In a review on the movie, it says...

The power of the magic flower and Rapunzel's glowing hair is said to have been derived from a drop of pure sunlight. It makes her hair near sentient, and it's used several times to either heal or rejuvenate.

Rapunzel sings an incantation to the magic flower to unleash its healing properties: "Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine/Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine/Heal what has been hurt, change the Fates' design/Save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine."

A dam breaks, trapping Rapunzel and Flynn in a cave that quickly fills with water. Flynn receives a gash on his hand from a sharp rock. And in the film's most intense scene, Flynn is stabbed by Mother Gothel. She stands behind him and we don't actually see her plunge the dagger in, but we do see her pull back the blade as he crumples to the floor. We're shown a red stain on his shirt.

[Spoiler Warning] Flynn appears to die from the injury, but he's magically revived. And Mother G withers back to her true, ancient age—falling out of a tower window and literally disappearing as her cape smacks the ground below in a puff of cloth and dust.

From Plugged In Reviews: Tangled

I don't know what to think. I know the movie has a lot of positive elements, but if it has any amount of those hidden magical things, I don't want to be a part of that. The Bible says to keep our hearts pure, and feeding ourselves on Disney movies is not biblical. Sorry to say, but I won't be watching the newfangled, awesomely-animated Tangled.

That brings up another thought. I feel left out of all this commotion about Tangled, and I'm getting mixed feelings because everyone says how fantastic it was. But how can a movie be fantastic when it's filled with magic? It could very well be the values of the person watching. My family does not celebrate halloween, we don't have any fairies or witches or mermaids in our house, and strangely enough, we won't be throwing our bouquets at our weddings because it leads back to how witches would choose their next leader.

It really is our values- we have some barbie movies because we babysit alot, and we had to get rid of some of those because of the magic. It's not the magic in the movie, it's the magic itself. It's... well, please don't be offended but I'd like to express my opinion here. Magic, to our family, is satanic. There's no biblical stand for magic. Miracles are a different story- they are from God. They don't just happen because of a 'drop of sunlight' or something.

Well, thanks for listening to my blabbers and please tell me what you think about Tangled. I'd love to get some second opinions about it after you've read the information about it.

God bless,

Mary

To start your day off right:

Well, not to make fun of anyone who does this in the morning but these are two ways of getting up and starting the day:
1. Roll out of bed, pull on some frumpy clothes or a robe, start the coffee maker and read the newspaper.
2. Roll out of bed, stay in your pj's, eat breakfast, lounge around, get dressed, do some chores here and there....
Well, I used to think No. 2 was the good one, the one I made a ritual... but now that I wrote it down, it ain't lookin too great.
But I do know the absolute best way to start your day, no matter what your style is.

{Psalms 107}

{via}

{Proverbs 21}

{Proverbs 30}

Start your day off right- talk to the Father!

Today....

was a sad day.

Not because something sad happened...

But because something just out of reach happened.

I saw with my little eyes, 5, yes, 5 pairs of tap shoes.

AND they were all this style! THIS EXACT SHOE!!!!! GAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
AND they were sizes 11 1/2 in kids and 3s and 4s and i think another 11 and 1/2.
The FIFTH pair.... was an 8!!!!!!!!!!!
JUST ONE SIZE TOO SMALL!!!!!!

I tried them on anyway, and they fit on my feet. Just not very well. I could hardly feel my toes and they hurt. But I just sat there admiring them on my feet, in complete luxury with those metal taps on my toes.
Then I finally gave in and took them off.
Is it just me or is God giving me a major sign or something?
I have never in my life seen tap shoes anywhere and in the last 5 days I have seen tap shoes at least 3 times. As well as that I happened upon a tap dancing book at the library and picked it up, only to look in it and realize that I LOVE TAP DANCING! Oh wait I already knew that.
So tap dancing has majorly come up in my life PROBABLY for a reason that is yet to be discovered...

you'll probably hear about it soon on here though. :)

I so enjoyed that minute of luxury wearing those tap shoes.

What a Blessed Life we Live

As children of God,

we have such a blessed life.

We are given everything we need,

and so much extra.

God has blessed us all so much.

It is easy to complain.

It is easy to procrastinate,

and be sarcastic,

and gossip.

It is so easy to talk about others and compare ourselves with them-

"We are so much better than them because we follow God."

God wants us to have a humble heart.

He gives us so much and asks so little of us.

Why can we not meet his requests?

If we follow the LORD, anything is possible.

We have to do our part though. We can't just let him into our hearts and let him do all the work. We have a job to do and we need to live up to it.

We need to depend on the LORD. Don't expect to be able to do things by yourself.

The subject of this post is earthly things.

God gives us so many things.

Old things,

wonderful memories.

Then there are the new things.

Electronic gizmos that take up all our time.

The more time we spend with our toys, the more money they make.

But the world isn't just filled with old things and new things.

There are also timeless things.

God gives us so much. He wants us to use our talents and our time to glorify Him.

He gave us wonderful memories.

That's something so much better than a camera.

So today, instead of getting out your camera and trying to capture a memory by snapping photos,

I encourage you to forget your camera. Enjoy yourself, enjoy the moment.

Some things you just can't capture with a camera.

Like when you and your siblings started cracking up about your socks for no reason at all.

Please, do us a favor and don't take four billion pictures of your socks,

trying to capture the moment.

Pictures are just things. But memories are just wonderful. They aren't something we have to replace because they stop working, they aren't three hundred dollars just for good quality, they're free.

And they work better than any camera.

Go out and glorify the God most High today!

Use your talents to please him!

P.S. For an extra challenge, leave your camera at home.

You can't capture the wonders of Christ with a camera.

This post is linked up on http://www.raisinghomemakers.com/

Kiwi..... Pangolin...Markhor.... PUDU!

I have just lately been looking at totally unique endangered animals. Just looking at them (even the disugsting underwater fish and stuff) I am so overwhelmed at the amazing thought and detail God put into every cell!! I think, "God took so much time to make every detail perfect."
But then I realize this is not so. God did make every cell exactly as he wanted it...but He didn't spend hours on end perfecting His creation.
²⁰ And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” ²¹ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
The LORD didn't have to take time creating such beautiful creatures (no matter how gross we may think they are). He didn't take years to create the Earth. He spoke and it was so.
Isn't it so overwhelming, and calming, to know that our God is always with us, no matter what?

I hope you don't mind if I dive a tad into a personal experience. Lately I've been wanting to pursue my talents as an actor. My mother, (how wise you get over the years...hehe) told me that "If it's God's will, I will be able to act".

WHAT?

Why is it that simple? Why couldn't my mind wrap around that? Why hadn't I thought of that? Could it be God put mothers on Earth so that we would have someone to relate to and someone to count on?

Some people say that Christianity, Bible-believing, means your a total failure. Then how come we're succeeding? Why are Christians everywhere uniting and surviving the tolls of time?
Could it be God is a Savior who is perfect and all-knowing?

There is a verse in the Bible that says, (Hebrews 4:14)"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was been tempted in every way, just as we are - but was without sin."
Doesn't that make you feel so content? God has been through everything we are going through. Even more so.

Above: Markhor

Left: Mountain Pygmy Possum

Right: Mountain Pygmy Possum

Below: Pudu

Remember God is with us no matter what. He created every cell of everything.

He is with us now and forever.

He is our best friend,

Our Encourager,

Our Savior,

Our Creator.